My Lovely Wife is a Forensic Doctor - Chapter 311

Chapter 311 Suspicious
Rong Jian grabbed the person who spoke and asked for confirmation, “Is Qian Xiaoyu the person you’re referring to?”

“Y-Yeah!” The person looked somewhat nervous as he answered because Rong Jian was wearing his uniform. As such, the latter could understand this; now was the time of emergency, and anyone would be afraid of being questioned. Therefore, he wasn’t surprised and merely continued to ask, “Does she often pass out?”

“I don’t know that. It’s the first time I have seen her pass out, anyway.” The person appeared cautious as he answered.

Just then, Mu Yu interjected, “Are there medical staff here?”

“Yes, there are. We have an infirmary.”

Rong Jian continued to ask, “Is Mr. Tian’s relationship with Miss Qian good? They—”

“I have to work!” the person interrupted him with an apologetic smile. “Just ask Mr. Tian if you have any questions,” he said. After finishing his sentence, he ran away in a flash, completely ignoring Rong Jian’s shouts.

Seeing how speechless Rong Jian looked, Mu Yu explained on that person’s behalf with a smile, “He’s probably afraid that he’ll say something wrong and cause trouble to his superior.”

“He might not cause his superior trouble by telling the truth, but he’ll definitely cause his superior trouble by not answering questions. Let’s go and take a look,” Rong Jian said before quickly stepping outside.

Mu Yu caught up with him as she questioned, “Why would he cause his superior trouble by not answering questions?”

Wu Xing, who had been silent the whole time, answered with a smile, “He didn’t say that he was going to work when we asked him the previous two questions. But once we asked him about the relationship between Tian Maocai and Qian Xiaoyu, he immediately interrupted us, saying that he had to work before taking to his heels. Doesn’t this show that the husband and wife’s relationship isn’t great?”

Mu Yu felt that Wu Xing’s words made sense, but she voiced her doubts again by asking, “Didn’t you guys look into the relationship between this husband and wife yesterday?”

“We did,” Rong Jian replied. “We investigated mainly by asking their neighbors, but we gained nothing. In addition to meeting Tian Maocai for questioning, we’re here at the quarry to get some information from the quarry’s workers today. Tian Maocai was on duty and didn’t come home last night.”

Wu Xing immediately responded, “Actually, I went to look for Tian Maocai yesterday afternoon. However, Qian Xiaoyu was too grief-stricken, and I was afraid that something wrong would happen to her, so I let him send her back for rest first.” As he spoke of this, he turned his opinion. “The way I saw it yesterday, Tian Maocai seemed to care about Qian Xiaoyu very much, but I think it was probably a false front. If he really cared about his wife, he would have changed shifts with somebody last night, wouldn’t he? The way I see it, there are quite a lot of people in this quarry, and he’s the head of the quarry, so he could have easily swapped shifts. At any rate, it wouldn’t have been a problem for him to get a substitute.”

Mu Yu tried to make a guess. “Perhaps he was annoyed by Qian Xiaoyu’s crying voice and wanted to find somewhere quiet to stay? No matter how disappointing Qian Dacheng was, he was his brother-in-law, after all.”

Rong Jian laughed. “You guys don’t have to rack your brains trying to make guesses. Let’s just ask him later.”

“Hey! By the way,” Mu Yu thought of another question. “Tian Maocai is the head of the quarry, whereas Qian Xiaoyu is the cashier. Can this happen with them being husband and wife?”

Wu Xing immediately explained, “Qian Xiaoyu is mainly in charge of logistics at the quarry. The cashier had a minor accident not long ago and is currently resting at home, so she’s taken over the cashier’s job for the time being.”

“I see. Have Qian Xiaoyu and Tian Maocai been working at the quarry all the time?”

“Tian Maocai has been working at the quarry all the time, whereas Qian Xiaoyu joined the quarry seven to eight years ago. She had been looking after her children at home before that.”

The three talked as they walked, but when they arrived at the infirmary, they discovered that the door was open and no one was inside. Rong Jian slapped his forehead. “Just look at how stupid I am! That person said there is an infirmary here, so I assumed Qian Xiaoyu would be sent here after passing out.” Just then, someone happened to be heading their way. Rong Jian immediately stepped forward and stopped the person for questioning. Upon learning that Qian Xiaoyu had been sent to Tian Maocai’s dormitory, he asked for directions to the location. Then, the three of them immediately headed there.

The dormitory was a two-story brick and tile structure, and many damp clothes were hanging on the clothesline both upstairs and downstairs. The clothes included those belonging to adults and children. Many rooms even had some miscellaneous household objects placed in front of their doors. A few families were staying here. Tian Maocai’s dormitory was the first room on the right of the stairs, and its door was closely shut at this moment. Rong Jian stepped forward and knocked on the door.

After quite a while, the door was opened by none other than the man himself. Evidently, he wasn’t surprised to see them again. Tian Maocai opened the door and pointed at the inner room. “My wife is a bit unwell. She needs rest, and I have to take care of her.”

“Is she all right?” Rong Jian asked while peering into the house. It was a small apartment with two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, and a toilet. Its furnishings were very simple and somewhat disordered. The doors to the kitchen, the bathroom, and the second bedroom were open, but the door to the master bedroom was tightly closed.

“The doctor said she has hypoglycemia, but she’ll be fine after some rest,” Tian Maocai answered while ushering Rong Jian and the others in when he saw that they had no intention of leaving. He rolled up the clothes on the sofa and wiped the somewhat dirty sofa with a towel before inviting them to sit down as he apologized, “I’m sorry. I don’t spend much time here, so I rarely clean this place.”

Rong Jian didn’t frown upon the apartment’s condition, though. After seating himself, he said, “If your wife is all right, let’s continue our conversation.”

“Sure, just fire away.” Compared to his earlier attitude, Tian Maocai was obviously much less cordial at this moment.

Rong Jian shot a glance at Mu Yu and Wu Xing before asking Tian Maocai about Qian Dacheng; only then did Tian Maocai answer his questions carefully. His answers were quite consistent with what Qian Xiaoyu had said, but he had paused and thought for a moment before answering a few questions, causing Rong Jian and the others to sense that something was wrong.

“Has Qian Dacheng been to Huacheng before?” Mu Yu suddenly cut in.

Tian Maocai thought for a moment before answering, “He has never been there over the last few years. As for whether he had been there many years ago—”

Just then, the sound of glassware being smashed could be heard from the master bedroom. Upon hearing the clatter, Tian Maocai, who had been carrying a small stool to sit in front of Rong Jian and others for questioning, immediately bounced like a spring. He quickly pushed the door and went inside.

Mu Yu and Rong Jian immediately stood up after him. When they rushed to the door of the master bedroom, they saw Qian Xiaoyu sitting up and looking sideways at the shards of glass on the floor—these shards obviously belonged to broken glass.

“You didn’t hurt your hand, did you?” Tian Maocai asked softly as he worriedly helped Qian Xiaoyu to sit up. After seeing her shake her head, he turned around and took the broom and the dustpan to sweep the shattered glass shards. As he did so, he reproved in a low voice, “It’s lucky that you didn’t hurt your hand! I told you to call me if you want to do something, so why can’t you listen to me?”

“I was a little thirsty, but I didn’t want to disturb Chief Rong and others while they were cross-questioning you, so… I didn’t expect myself to be so weak. I’m really sorry you guys had to see that,” Qian Xiaoyu apologized to Rong Jian in a hoarse voice.

Qian Xiaoyu’s skin was fair and clean with delicately tattooed eyebrows and eyeliners. Her eyes were red and severely swollen, but her double-fold eyelids were strikingly visible, and her beautiful features couldn’t be hidden either. She was slightly plump and her legs were covered under the quilt, but one could tell from her well-proportioned upper body that she was quite tall. Her well-cut shirt showed her D cup breasts just right, and it made her waist seem quite slim. Had Mu Yu not heard from Rong Jian beforehand that she was in her forties, she would have thought that Qian Xiaoyu was no more than 34 years old.

“It’s okay as long as you’re fine,” Rong Jian responded with a smile. He turned around and was about to lead everyone else out of the room when Tian Maocai stopped him. “I’m still worried about my wife, Chief Rong. Can we continue our conversation later?”

“It’s all right, Maocai. Just go—”

“Can we continue our conversation after my wife falls asleep?” Tian Maocai asked in a pleading tone. “She will fall asleep very soon. You guys may hang around nearby; I’ll come and look for you all in a short while.”

Since Tian Maocai had said so, Rong Jian knew that he couldn’t force him to continue their conversation right away. He could only nod and say, “In that case, we’ll wait for you at your office.” Then, he left the bedroom with Mu Yu and Wu Xing.

The three of them were silent along the way until they entered Tian Maocai’s office. As soon as they entered his office, Mu Yu voiced her suspicions to Rong Jian and said, “They were obviously colluding to make each other’s testimonies tally! Why didn’t we expose them? What else can we pump out of them once they finish making their testimonies tally?”

Wu Xing took a disposable cup and poured some water as he asked in reply, “If there really was something fishy about them, could we have pumped anything out even if we exposed them?”

“But—”

“Let’s not discuss this question,” Rong Jian interrupted them. “Let’s put aside the content of their false testimony first. We might as well guess why they colluded to make each other’s testimonies tally.”

“Qian Dacheng must have been to Huacheng!” Mu Yu responded at once as she recalled how Qian Xiaoyu had dropped the glass. “They tried so hard to conceal this for Qian Dacheng’s sake, and he must have committed a crime there! The crime he committed must be connected to Li Jianyun, Zhao Yongli, the murderer and the others—”

“Is it necessary to continue keeping this secret for Qian Dacheng’s sake now that he’s dead?”

Mu Yu became enthusiastic while talking, and she nearly choked when Wu Xing interrupted her. After pausing for a moment, she stuck to her views. “Tian Maocai and Qian Xiaoyu must have something to do with this matter as well!”

“Could Tian Maocai and Qian Xiaoyu be the murderer’s next target?”

“Well… I can’t be sure of that.”

“I was just joking. Please don’t mind that, Dr. Mu.” Wu Xing handed Mu Yu a glass of warm water with a smile. “I think they would have already colluded last night if they wanted to make each other’s testimonies tally. Even if they couldn’t do so last night, they would have plenty of time to do so today since Qian Xiaoyu arrived much earlier than we did this morning. Why did she have to wait until we arrived before giving her false testimony? Wouldn’t it be very easy to give herself away in front of our wise and mighty Chief Rong?”

“P-Perhaps they had colluded long ago and only did so again today because they discovered some flaws at the last moment?”

Rong Jian then responded, “Qian Xiaoyu and Tian Maocai had a ten-minute phone call only after we left Qian Xiaoyu’s home. Ten minutes would’ve been enough to make their testimonies tally, so I think there’s a certain possibility that what Dr. Mu said did happen. We must interrogate Tian Maocai.”

“There’s another thing, Rong Jian!” Mu Yu raised her voice somewhat to catch the man’s attention. “From what we can see, Qian Xiaoyu is very pretty, and the sight of her standing together with Tian Maocai—an ordinary-looking middle-aged man who’s getting thin on top—is not harmonious at all. Their relationship is bad, yet they pretend to be an affectionate couple. Don’t you think there’s something wrong with this?”

Wu Xing asked doubtfully, “How can you tell that the husband and wife’s relationship is bad before we’ve even formally questioned them?”

“Just look at Tian Maocai’s dormitory,” Rong Jian responded. He then explained, “Both the husband and wife work at the same place, and Qian Xiaoyu is a woman obsessed with cleanliness. You went to her house yesterday, and her house was spotlessly clean; we can easily tell from her clothes too. Just think about it—how could a woman stand her dormitory being so dirty and messy? The only explanation is that she’s never been there.”

Upon seeing a door at the back of this office, Wu Xing quickly walked over to the door and pushed it open. When he saw that the door opened to a small lounge, he immediately said, “I think Qian Xiaoyu probably has such a lounge in her office. It seems like they stay in their office lounges while working during the day without going back to their dormitory. Since they go back to An City at night, they don’t have to clean their dormitory.”

“That might not be the case!” Mu Yu disagreed. “There are pots and pans and used instant noodle cups in the dormitory’s kitchen. I believe that Tian Maocai would stay in the dormitory, but Qian Xiaoyu wouldn’t do so.”

“Tian Maocai probably stays in the dormitory only if he’s on duty that night. Earlier on, didn’t he say that he was on duty last night?”

Rong Jian asked in reply, “You and Zihao share a dormitory. Sisi has never stayed there, but has she ever helped you clean the place?” Sisi was Wu Xing’s girlfriend, and she was in charge of logistics in the bureau.

Wu Xing’s face immediately broke into a happy smile. “She does, and she does it often! Zihao said that whenever Sisi comes, our dormitory would change from a pigsty to a place where humans live,” he said. After finishing his sentence, he came to his senses and shrugged. “Now that you’ve said so, I really think that their affection toward each other is feigned.” Suddenly, he was astounded. “Is it possible that Qian Xiaoyu had an affair, so Tian Maocai killed her beloved brother to take revenge?! Sh*t! In that case, we have to investigate him immediately to see if he had time to commit the crime!”

Bang! Just then, the door was pushed open. At the same time, Tian Maocai’s emotional voice could be heard saying, “I didn’t kill anyone!”