PART.1
"How can you kill someone cleanly and efficiently?" Xu Mingyuan suddenly asked me after the preserved egg and tofu were served on the table.
I looked at him in surprise. He was my college classmate, and we had no contact for two years after graduation. Yesterday, he found me and insisted on inviting me to dinner to catch up. I couldn't refuse his kindness, so I came to this Sichuan restaurant tonight to keep the appointment.
We were chatting about all sorts of things, and when we were in the middle of the conversation, he suddenly changed the subject, which surprised me a little.
"Why do you ask that?" I asked half-jokingly, "Hey, you're not going to…"
"Don't let your imagination run wild." He laughed. "I've read the mystery novels you wrote recently. Your writing is very clever. I asked you out today to test whether you are just good at talking on paper."
I couldn't help but smile bitterly. This guy was still so keen on playing the role of a critic. I wrote a few short stories in college, and everyone else said they were good, but he found a lot of problems. Although in a sense, it did help me make progress.
Even though I knew he was provoking me, I didn't want to refuse. It would be the same as admitting defeat.
"Okay, tell me who you want to kill first." I picked up a piece of tofu with chopsticks and put it in my mouth.
"Hey, I don't mean to kill anyone."
"Why take it so seriously? It's more interesting to feel like you're actually there." I said vaguely, "Everyone has a few people they want to kill in their hearts."
He looked up and thought for a moment: "Well… let's assume it's my immediate boss."
"What kind of character is he?"
"He is arrogant and domineering. He takes all the credit for himself and blames all the mistakes on his subordinates." He answered without hesitation.
"This is simply a combination of hating your boss. No wonder you want to get rid of him. What are his hobbies?"
"Golf, fishing, traveling, etc., are just pretentious things."
"Golf and traveling won't work, because there will definitely be other people present. Fishing is okay, though. You might as well tell him that you've found a great fishing spot in the suburbs. On the way there, find a secluded spot and push him down the hillside to create the illusion of an accident. Be well prepared, be bolder afterwards, and don't let your words and actions reveal any flaws. No one can do anything to you."
"That's it?" He looked disappointed.
"Fiction and reality are two different things." I sighed, "You should know this as well as I do."
He nodded in agreement and bowed his head in thought for a moment: "No, my relationship with him is not good enough for us to travel together."
"Then cultivate him slowly. If something unexpected happens the first time you invite him to go fishing, it will be too suspicious."
"I can't do that." He shook his head. "I'm trying my best now. The best I can do is to prevent it from getting worse."
"Does he have any well-known shortcomings, such as greed for money and lust?"
"Well, I have heard some rumors about female employees being harassed by him." He looked thoughtful.
"You can investigate secretly and find out the details." I thought while chewing. "If he wants to molest a female employee, you can stop him and pretend it's an accidental killing. That's also a solution."
"That's even more unreliable." He frowned. "Not to mention that I don't have detective skills, my boss is tall, strong and powerful. It's hard to say who will kill whom by mistake."
"Poison it." I wiped my mouth with a napkin. "Poisoning, like firearms, is a good way to defeat the strong with the weak."
"How to administer? What kind of poison to use?" He curled his lips and asked provocatively.
"Speaking of poisoning, I have to make one thing clear first. Many people have a misunderstanding that the rarer the poison, the safer it is. In fact, it is just the opposite. The poison that anyone can get is the best poison for killing people…"
I was talking nonstop, but Xu Mingyuan showed a look of pain. He covered his stomach with his hands and began to groan.
"What's wrong with you?" I asked in surprise.
"How disgusting," he snorted. "Whenever I think of my boss's face, my stomach starts to feel uncomfortable."
It has been his old problem that he gets diarrhea when he is under a lot of mental stress. I didn’t expect that he still suffers from it now. This shows how much he hates his boss.
"Seriously," I said, "If it doesn't work out, find another job and stop putting so much pressure on yourself."
"I have to go to the bathroom," he stood up, "I'll talk to you when I come back."
I watched him trot into the bathroom at the end of the corridor and smiled helplessly. Then the waiter came over and placed a pot of steaming boiled fish in the middle of the table.
PART.2
When Xu Mingyuan came back, I was eating and wiping the sweat from my forehead.
"It took so long." I complained, "I thought you were running away to get out of the bill."
He sat down with a thump. "Don't mention it. My boss just called me and yelled at me for a long time over a trivial matter. The effect was almost like taking a laxative."
I looked at my watch. It was almost eight o'clock. "He's still working overtime at this hour?"
"Working overtime?" Xu Mingyuan sneered. "He's out there having a good time with his clients. His way of acting crazy when he's drunk is to call and scold his subordinates, and at the same time show off his power in front of his clients."
"It's really annoying." I asked the waiter to pour him a cup of hot tea. The tea set in this shop is very exquisite, the traditional covered bowl tea, the tea leaves used are also good. The waiter carried a large antique copper kettle, which was even more charming. "Have you ever thought about quitting?"
"I've thought about it countless times, but when it comes to making up my mind, I hesitate."
"What are you hesitating about?"
"Because my boss's wife is Semyon."
"Xie Miao? The Xie Miao from our class? … Isn't this a small world?"
All the classmates knew that Xu Mingyuan had a crush on Xie Miao for three and a half years during his four years in college. Although it was called a crush, Xie Miao had already known it very well. She neither agreed nor refused. Sometimes she went out with Xu Mingyuan, and sometimes she kept her distance from him. It was not until the end of the first semester of the senior year that the two of them finally ended this ambiguous relationship.
Xie Miao is a bright and cheerful pretty girl, who has a clear distinction between love and hate for people, except for Xu Mingyuan. Some people think that she treats him as a spare tire, but Xu Mingyuan doesn't think so, and he even had a fight with the guy who gossiped about it.
"When did she marry your boss?"
“Soon after I graduated from college.”
I said "Oh" and didn't say anything else. Perhaps Xu Mingyuan thought my "Oh" was meaningful, and his face immediately turned red: "Things are not what you think!"
"Um?"
Because of his excitement, his explanation was a little incoherent. I pricked up my ears and finally understood the whole story.
On Christmas Eve of that year, Xu Mingyuan invited Xie Miao to watch a movie. On the way back, they met a few hooligans who robbed and raped Xie Miao in a secluded alley. The hooligans knocked Xie Miao unconscious and tried to take her away by force. Xu Mingyuan fought back and was beaten all over. At this time, his current boss happened to pass by and shouted for help, scaring away the scum.
"He and I took Xie Miao to the hospital together, but when Xie Miao woke up, for some reason he regarded him as his savior! What did he do? He just shouted a few times!"
"Didn't she thank you?"
"That guy used sweet words to make Xie Miao think that it was his appearance that saved the two of us, and he wanted me to thank him instead!"
"Then?"
"Then we had a big fight, and she thought I was a narrow-minded man, so she cut off contact. Ironically, when I started working at this company, I found out that the guy was actually my boss and was married to Xie Miao!"
"So, you don't want to resign because you are unwilling to do so?"
He stared at me. "How can I accept this? If I quit, that guy will definitely describe me as worthless. Wouldn't that just confirm Xie Miao's original misunderstanding of me?"
"What's the point of you staying here and holding on?" I sighed. "It won't prove anything."
"At least I can kill him." Xu Mingyuan said viciously, "It will relieve the hatred in my heart."
"Be reasonable." I patted his arm. "It's no good to think like this."
"You know, Xie Miao was not happy after marrying him." He said in a low voice, "I have met her several times, and every time she insisted in front of me and denied it. I feel that I have an obligation…"
"This is not your obligation." I interrupted him. "No one is anyone's angel. Everyone is responsible for their own choices. Even if she is in trouble and does not need help, you insist on lending a hand. Instead, it is a kind of arrogance and contempt."
These words obviously shook him. He swayed back and forth, mumbling something, and suddenly stood up, "No, I still need to go to the toilet."
I looked at his back and couldn't help but sigh from the bottom of my heart.
PART.3
This time he was away for even longer. When the boiled fish was almost cold, he came back with a very bad look on his face.
"Did you get another call?" I asked helplessly, "If I hadn't known that you were going to the bathroom slower and slower, I would have really wanted to knock on the door."
"You were right, but he called the wrong number this time." Xu Mingyuan sneered, "He drank so much that his tongue was stiff. He wanted to call to order a pizza, but he called my cell phone instead, and then took the opportunity to ask me to order for him."
"Pizza?"
"He has a habit of eating a few pieces of pizza when he's drunk, which helps him to get over the alcohol, and it works better than taking hangover pills. Everyone in the company knows it."
"I see." I nodded. "Well, let's continue with the topic just now…"
"Killing people is just an angry remark. You don't have to take it seriously." He smiled strangely. "You just started talking about poisons. I'm more interested in that. Please continue."
I looked at him with some vigilance. Was this guy really trying to get something out of me? I wanted to fool him, but a thought suddenly flashed through my mind, so I coughed a few times and spoke seriously: "Poisoning seems to be a very simple way to kill people, but it is not as easy as you think. First of all, you have to make sure that the target will eat the poison, otherwise it is easy to hurt others by mistake. Secondly, nine out of ten poisoners who were caught were arrested because the police traced the source of the poison and gradually narrowed down the target."
"What if it's the rat poison sold at street stalls?"
I laughed silently, "It seems that this stuff can't even kill mice."
"pesticide?"
"The smell is too pungent, unless the other person has a blind nose."
"Then…" He pondered over it unwillingly.
"Don't waste your brains. For ordinary people like us, the easiest drug to get that can kill people is sleeping pills, which can only be purchased with a doctor's prescription. But if you want to poison someone with sleeping pills, you need a huge dose. Maybe some black pharmacies dare to secretly sell some banned drugs, but…"
"But even if I get lucky, I won't be able to find a suitable opportunity to poison it."
"That's right." I continued to analyze, "There are many people in the company, and poisoning his home will implicate Xie Miao as well."
"Except tonight." His eyes flashed with a cunning light, "He's in the KTV, and everyone in the room is drunk. I can find an opportunity to poison his glass."
"Oh?" I became interested. "What do you mean by looking for an opportunity? Can you be more specific?"
"He told me the address of the KTV over the phone. It's a place he frequents, and I've been there with him several times with clients. It's a busy time right now, and the waiters are busy. They're drunk and dazed. I can disguise myself as a delivery man and poison the pizza. As long as I'm careful, no one will notice me."
"How do you ensure that others won't eat poisoned pizza?"
"I don't have any relationship with those customers, so it doesn't matter if they are poisoned together… Hey, I'm just joking, why are you so serious? Customers who have dealings with him know that pizza is his special snack, and no one will eat it."
"Okay." I relaxed the muscles on my face. "Even if no one else was hurt, he asked you to help order food, and then he was poisoned by the pizza. You must be the first suspect."
"I won't overlook these details. The box was too noisy, so he must have called me in the stairwell, where few people pass by. Although I can check the communication records, I just need to deny that his second call was to order food from me. I can say that he told me about his work plan for tomorrow."
I was silent. Although what this guy said sounded a bit outrageous, it was indeed feasible.
"As far as I know, there are many people who hate him. At least I am definitely not the most suspicious one. I am usually very respectful to him on the surface." He was very proud. "Like you said, as long as I have a better mentality and can withstand the police's questioning, no one can do anything to me."
"There's a fatal flaw in your plan," I said calmly.
"You mean you'll tell on me?" He lowered his head, his shoulders shaking with laughter. "Why would you do that?"
"There are many reasons, such as for conscience."
"Even if you make yourself the murderer?" He stopped laughing and said in a cold voice, "I can totally say that you are also an accomplice. The whole plan was yours."
"Where's the evidence?"
"What if what I just said was not a plan, but a fact that has already happened?" He lowered his voice, "Inviting you to dinner is also part of the plan. That KTV is very close to here, so close that I can pretend to go to the bathroom and actually deliver the poisoned pizza over there."
I fell silent again.
"You can tell the truth about what happened tonight, but how many people will believe it?" He said aggressively, "Are you so selfless as to risk destroying yourself for a stranger?"
"……No."
We were speechless.
"Don't worry." He said tiredly, "I just poisoned him in my heart. I'm sorry that I said so many excessive words to you when we met as old classmates."
"It's okay." I shook my head. "I understand."
Even so, the atmosphere became awkward and we lost interest in chatting. Xu Mingyuan asked the waiter to pay the bill, and I told him that I had already paid. When we walked to the door and were about to say goodbye , his stomach started to hurt again. I wanted to wait for him, but he insisted on not taking it, so I left without further ado.
It was harder to get a taxi than expected, and I stood on the side of the road for twenty minutes while my cell phone started buzzing in my trouser pocket.
It was a call from a police officer I knew.
"Have you reached home yet?" He asked urgently. "Still outside? Tell me where you are and I'll come find you."
"What happened?"
"Someone was poisoned to death at the place where you just had dinner. I need to know the situation from you."
My head is a little dizzy, what's going on!
PART.4
A girl was lying on a table in the corner by the door, with leftovers and half a cup of tea on it. The customers were gathered on the other side, waiting to be questioned by the police.
"What bad luck!" Xu Mingyuan complained to me with a sullen face, "When I was leaving, I accidentally bumped into her and she fell down. Looking at this situation, it's hard to say when we'll be done tonight, and I still have to go to work tomorrow!"
The policeman next to him asked him to be quiet, and Xu Mingyuan closed his mouth reluctantly.
The forensic doctor arrived soon and whispered something to the police officer after examining the body. The police officer frowned and walked to the back with a serious expression. He came out after a long time, and his expression became even more serious.
He first called Xu Mingyuan into the private room, and after questioning him, he motioned for me to go in too.
"Did you notice anything special tonight?" he asked in a businesslike tone.
I paused: "No."
"It really is a bit like the case in your novel. The poison was in the tea, but this shop uses a large copper kettle to brew tea and add water for customers on site. There is no reason why only the deceased was poisoned while others were safe and sound. Before you came, we asked the guests sitting around, and the deceased did not leave her seat. This ruled out the possibility that someone poisoned the teacup while she was away."
"Suicide, then?" I asked cautiously.
"The surveillance camera in the hotel lobby has been broken for a long time. There is no direct video evidence. It is too early to conclude that it is suicide." The police officer narrowed his eyes slightly. "It is a bit strange to commit suicide by taking poison in a hotel. Moreover, there is no container of poison found on the deceased."
I didn't say anything. This situation was indeed very confusing.
"Xu Mingyuan is your classmate?"
"Yes."
"Did he choose the restaurant?"
"Not really. We wanted to find a place to reminisce about the past and we thought of this place by coincidence. He and I both like Sichuan cuisine, and this restaurant happens to do a good job."
The officer nodded, but his expression didn't relax at all.
"What's wrong with him?" I asked. If he just happened to find the dead person as Xu Mingyuan said, he shouldn't have aroused such suspicion.
"The deceased had an employee ID card on her. She and Xu Mingyuan worked for the same company. Xu Mingyuan initially said he didn't know the deceased, but later changed his statement and said he had some impression of her. It was inconsistency that made it hard not to notice." He explained, "Do you have any impression of the deceased?"
I shook my head. Xu Mingyuan's company was quite large, with hundreds of employees, so it was normal that they didn't know each other.
"I know what you're thinking." The police officer smiled bitterly. "You think it's too far-fetched to doubt him based on this alone. To be honest, I also think it's a bit forced. But when he changed his statement, he was a little flustered. It wasn't the kind of panic caused by fear, but more like anger."
Are you angry?
"He said he was with you all night and didn't sit near the deceased. Is that true?"
"Well… except for going to the bathroom a few times in between."
The direction of the toilet was exactly opposite to where the deceased was.
"Is my intuition wrong?" The police officer slapped his thigh vigorously. "You go out and wait for a while. Can rat poison kill people? After the on-site investigation is completed and personal information is registered, you can leave."
After leaving the private room, Xu Mingyuan came over and asked, "How is it?"
"Nothing, just asking me a few routine questions." I dragged two chairs over and asked him to sit next to me.
"Fortunately, no one heard our conversation, otherwise it would be even more troublesome." Xu Mingyuan said in astonishment, "It seems that some things should be thought about first, and it is better to be cautious and not say them out loud."
"It doesn't matter if you heard it. The person we are talking about is not dead."
"If you explain to the police, you have to explain the whole story clearly. It will reflect badly on Xie Miao."
"Have you been in touch with Xie Miao recently?"
"I saw her half a month ago. Her attitude towards me is still lukewarm. I don't understand what she is thinking. She is obviously having a hard time, but she pretends to be calm in front of me. She is too vain."
"You think she's vain?"
"Girls, how many are not vain? I thought about it when I was in the bathroom just now, and suddenly I figured it out. She married her current husband not because she was confused. She actually knew very well who was better for her. Unfortunately, she only liked appearance after all, and it was more prestigious to be paired with a tall and handsome man."
I chuckled.
"why are you laughing?"
"If you had thought of this earlier, I wouldn't have to go through so much trouble tonight."
"Those involved are confused. Thanks to you as a bystander who enlightened me."
I didn't respond to him, but just watched the forensic examination quietly. I closed my eyes, and countless images appeared in front of my eyes. When I suddenly opened my eyes, the scene investigation was over. The forensic doctor packed up all the items on the table where the deceased lay and took them away, even the large copper kettle.
When the medical examiner was about to leave, I took a deep breath and stood up: "Wait, you forgot something!"
The police officer looked at me in surprise: "What did you forget?"
"You forgot to take this away." I walked to where Xu Mingyuan sat during the meal and raised his teacup: "Check this, there should be something to gain."
Xu Mingyuan's face turned pale. "Don't be ridiculous. Are you saying that someone also poisoned the tea I drank?"
"Don't worry." I turned around and smiled at him: "There's no poison in your tea, the poison is in the lid of the teacup."
As soon as these words came out, Xu Mingyuan's expression changed completely.
PART.5
"The poison was applied to the inside of the cup lid beforehand. Once the cup is filled with hot tea and the lid is closed, the poison will be dissolved by the steam and drip into the tea without being noticed." I picked up the cup and explained to the officer, "So if you only take the deceased's cup, you won't find the poison in the cup or on the lid. I'm afraid you can only conclude the case as suicide."
"So… he is the murderer?" The police officer's sharp eyes rested on Xu Mingyuan.
"What are you talking about?" Xu Mingyuan obviously didn't expect me to do this suddenly. He was shocked and angry, "Why are you…"
"When I was in college, I wrote a short mystery story in which the murderer used a similar method. You criticized it at the time, saying that it was impossible for the police to ignore the cup lid and find that the inside of the cup lid was smeared with poison, and the murderer would be doomed."
"I forgot about it!"
"If you forget, how can you come up with an improved method? You arrived first tonight, so you have enough time to smear poison on the lid of your teacup. When the deceased arrives, distract her and replace the lid. After confirming that the target is dead, find an opportunity to replace the lid again. This way, it will be seamless."
"I admit that I played some excessive jokes on you tonight. If you are angry, you can talk to me in private. There is no need to scare me like this!" Xu Mingyuan shouted, "You need evidence to prove your words. You can check the fingerprints on the cup lid, and the truth will be revealed!
"You were well prepared." I smiled. "I can guess that there won't be any fingerprints on the cup lid in front of the deceased, because you wiped it clean before replacing it. But you didn't expect that I would expose the poisoned cup lid in front of you. You thought that the hotel would remove all traces when cleaning, so it must have not been processed in time, and the fingerprints of the deceased and you must be left!"
I thought this would be a fatal blow, but unexpectedly a fleeting smile appeared in Xu Mingyuan's eyes, a smile full of sarcasm.
My heart sank: That's right, this guy must have accidentally touched the deceased when changing the cup lid. According to his original plan, the deceased should have been found dead after he left the hotel. His plan was disrupted and he couldn't get away calmly, but he had enough time to deal with the fingerprints on the cup lid during the chaotic period before the police arrived.
"Then please take it for inspection." He smiled sinisterly, "I'm really confused as to why you suddenly jumped out to frame me. Now I understand that you are the real murderer. You secretly tampered with it while I was in the toilet."
The police officer looked at me with his brows furrowed. He should have known that Xu Mingyuan was biting back, but although his argument was a bit far-fetched, he couldn't find any basis for rebuttal.
I closed my eyes, turned my face up, and tried to let the hot blood rushing into my brain flow back.
After a moment of silence, I opened my eyes and spoke slowly: "I think it's a pity, really a pity. As a mystery writer, I am lucky to have a reader like you. Not only can you find the flaws in my story, but you can also improve the crime method. We are really soulmates."
"What are you doing? Are you begging for mercy by saying nice things?" There was a smugness in his eyes that was hard to conceal. "It's a pity it's too late."
"Don't be too proud of your success." I said slowly, "You left a backup plan just in case, thinking that even if something went wrong, you could drag me into it, but I can prove that I am not the murderer of that girl."
He was a little doubtful, but immediately said firmly: "Is the last move a bluff? I'm right, you are just a guy who can only talk on paper. If you have any evidence, please show it to us!"
The police officer's cell phone rang. He picked it up and after listening for a few words, he started shouting, "Another person has died of poisoning? Where? In the KTV half a kilometer away? OK, I know. I'll go over there after I finish dealing with things here."
I smiled sadly. "Speaking of evidence, here it is. Officer, have the forensic doctor carefully examine the two cup lids. In addition to the poison, there is another drug ingredient… laxative. I secretly added it to his teacup, and it will definitely cover the inside of the cup lid with the water vapor."
"You…you put laxatives in my tea!" Xu Mingyuan's eyes widened: "Why did you do that!"
"Because I want you to go to the bathroom more often." My voice was emotionless: "Because I want to take this opportunity to go out and kill someone."
"Kill who?"
"Your boss, Semyon's husband." My voice sounded strange even to me. "When you described to me that you were going to kill that man, I was shocked because both your motive and the method of poisoning the pizza were exactly the same… But I never expected that two people who wanted each other to provide an alibi would come together with their own ulterior motives, and this farce would happen."
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone's expression changed.
PART.6
When we were in college, Xie Miao was hot and cold towards Xu Mingyuan, and it was actually all because of me.
I like Xie Miao, but I feel that I am not worthy of her and she won’t like me either, so I have always suppressed these feelings deep in my heart, thinking that no one would know.
However, Xie Miao found out. She hinted to me many times, but at that time everyone knew that Xu Mingyuan was pursuing her, so I couldn't steal her away, so I just hid further away.
When I met Xie Miao again half a year ago, she cried and scolded me. She cried about the misfortune of her marriage and scolded me for my cowardice, which made her hurriedly marry her current husband in order to get rid of Xu Mingyuan.
At that time, I didn't quite understand why she had to get rid of Xu Mingyuan, because Xie Miao explained that she felt there was something vaguely frightening about Xu Mingyuan.
Today, I finally understood.
It is a kind of utter selfishness and hypocrisy that can betray and frame anyone without hesitation when it infringes on one's own interests. The girl who was killed was probably killed because Xu Mingyuan felt threatened.
"Xemyo committed suicide by taking sleeping pills a week ago." My voice was hollow and weak, "but her husband lives a peaceful life. I will never allow such a scum to live in the world."
"I didn't expect that we are the same kind of people." Xu Mingyuan laughed hysterically, "Equally selfish and hypocritical, equally cruel and ruthless…"
I admit that the conversation I had with him at the dinner table, which was full of lies and murderous intentions on both sides, was really ridiculous and shameful.
"I want to thank you." I suddenly smiled, "You are like a mirror. When I saw your ugly face, I saw that I am the same person. That's why I have the courage to end it all."
Perhaps this is also a kind of telepathy.