She tried to compose herself and sat down without letting too much emotion show. "Yu Wei," she began, "do you know who I am?"
Yu Wei looked up at her, but his eyes were vacant, as if he didn't remember her at all. He just shook his head mechanically.
Zhan Jiayi thought he was playing dumb. She stared at him and said, "Look at me! I, Zhan Jiayi, am someone Yang Shasha ordered to be kidnapped..."
Upon hearing Yang Shasha's name, he suddenly stood up agitatedly and yelled, "Don't mention her name to me!"
The prison guard next to him immediately told him to sit down. When he refused, the guard forcibly held him down to make him sit still.
Zhan Jiayi feared he would become too emotional, so she spoke more gently. "Okay, I won't mention Yang Shasha. Then you must know who Xie Qining is, right?"
Yu Wei chuckled and said, "Of course I know. He's just a good-for-nothing."
"He's dead. Did Yang Shasha order you to do it?" Zhan Jiayi asked.
Yu Wei threw his head back and laughed a few times. He looked at Zhan Jiayi, tears welling in his unfocused eyes. "He deserved to die. No one ordered me. I thought if I took his life, Shasha could be with me. But I was wrong, terribly wrong! She won't like me, nor will she care about me!"
He had thought that as long as he protected Yang Shasha, she would see his sincerity.
No matter how heartless she was, after all he had done for her, she wouldn't abandon him.
But the reality proved she was that cruel and had no affection for him.
He had been on the verge of collapse these past few days, unable to accept this cruel reality. When Zhan Jiayi mentioned Xie Qining, he blurted out what he had been holding inside.
Zhan Jiayi asked, "Is what you're saying true? You took it upon yourself to have Xie Qining killed, and Yang Shasha didn't even know?"
"I know she has always loved Mr. Yang," Yu Wei replied, not answering her question directly. "But Mr. Yang is dead. Only I can take care of her. Yet she didn't choose me, choosing such a useless man as a husband. If Xie Qining were also dead, she would have no choice but to be with me, with me!"
Zhan Jiayi looked at him. Although his mental state was unstable, what he said made sense.
Logically, Yang Shasha had no motive to kill Xie Qining, while Yu Wei, out of his love for Yang Shasha, did.
It seemed this matter was indeed not instigated by Yang Shasha. Yu Wei had unilaterally caused Xie Qining's death, thus ruining Yang Shasha's well-laid plans.
Yang Shasha had used Yu Wei's affection for her to make him do her bidding, but it was precisely Yu Wei's love for her that also destroyed her schemes.
Zhan Jiayi's lips curled into a cold smile as she looked at Yu Wei. She deliberately provoked him, "What a shame. Why would you fall for a woman like Yang Shasha? She only treats you like a dog. She'll never care about you. You just accept your legal punishment."
With that, she stood up and left the interrogation room without another glance at Yu Wei.
As they left the detention center together, Susu didn't know if Zhan Jiayi had gotten the answers she wanted.
In the car, Susu asked her, "Did Yu Wei talk to you?"
Zhan Jiayi nodded and said, "He admitted he ordered Xie Qining's death and that Yang Shasha had nothing to do with it."
"I knew it would be like this," Susu said helplessly. "He's still protecting Yang Shasha."
Zhan Jiayi replied, "I think what he said is probably true. He didn't take the blame for Yang Shasha. He had more of a motive to kill Xie Qining than Yang Shasha did."
Kang Xi, out of professional habit, asked, "What was his motive?"
"He loved Yang Shasha so madly that he couldn't stand Xie Qining being her husband. Xie Qining was in prison abroad at the time, so he took the opportunity to kill him," Zhan Jiayi speculated.
Susu thought it made some sense. "Then it really seems Xie Qining's death has nothing to do with Yang Shasha."
"Our police will investigate this matter thoroughly," Kang Xi said, believing evidence was paramount.
Zhan Jiayi remembered something and said to Kang Xi, "When I saw Yu Wei just now, he seemed to have a lot of resentment towards Yang Shasha. You police can interrogate him again; perhaps you can break his psychological defenses."
"Okay, I'll tell my colleagues working on this case," Kang Xi accepted her suggestion. He had the car take them back before returning to the police station himself.
After returning to the Xie family mansion, Zhan Jiayi called William from her room and asked him to report to the authorities locally.
She instructed him to state that Xie Qining's death was not a suicide but a murder, and that an inmate in Lancheng had already confessed to ordering Xie Qining's death abroad.
Upon hearing this, William knew what to do. After all, he was a renowned lawyer and was very familiar with the legal system.
After her phone call with William, Zhan Jiayi sat by Xie Zhendong's bed, looking at him, unable to move. She was in a dilemma: should she tell the old lady the truth of the matter?
She sat by the bed and held Zhendong's hand. She saw tears in his eyes, his mouth opening and closing continuously, but no sound coming out.
She asked anxiously, "What's wrong? Do you want water, or something else?"
He didn't blink at her question, his eyes wide open, trying desperately to make a sound.
Zhan Jiayi realized what was happening and leaned her ear close to his mouth. "Zhendong, tell me what you want to say. I'm listening."
He exerted all his strength and managed to utter two words: "Qi Ning..."
Zhan Jiayi understood. He had heard her conversation with William and knew that Xie Qining had been murdered.
"Zhendong, don't worry. I will make sure the person who killed Qi Ning is punished and doesn't get away with it."
Xie Zhendong tried to say more, but only managed to make "ah ah ah" sounds.
Zhan Jiayi held his hand and comforted him, "You can't rush when you want to speak. The doctor said we'll take it one step at a time, and you'll recover."
Xie Zhendong stopped trying to force himself to speak and closed his eyes. Tears rolled down his cheeks.
He had been the one to handle Xie Qining's funeral arrangements, yet he hadn't realized his own son had been murdered.
If his hands could move, he would have slapped himself hard.
Zhan Jiayi thought he was tired and wanted to sleep, so she stayed by his bedside, watching him fall asleep.
...
The next morning, Susu and Tianyi were having breakfast when they received a call from Kang Xi.
"Sister Susu, I have good news for you. The colleagues in charge interrogated Yu Wei last night, and he confessed to everything," Kang Xi said excitedly. "He admitted that many things were instigated by Yang Shasha."
"That's great!" Susu exclaimed, putting down her chopsticks. "Then Yang Shasha can be prosecuted."
"Yes, the police have sufficient grounds to arrest Yang Shasha."
"I'll tell Tianyi right away and call you back later," Susu said, hanging up immediately.
She looked at Tianyi and said, "You can hand Yang Shasha over to the police now. Kang Xi said Yu Wei confessed..."
"My ears aren't deaf. I heard everything Kang Xi just said to you," Tianyi replied calmly. "Don't worry, I'll have someone send Yang Shasha to the police station today."