In interrogation room number 4, the person being interrogated was Qin Yonghui, and the lead interrogator was Chen Hao.
Qin Yonghui was dressed in a pale green Zen robe, her hair, half white, neatly tied back. Despite wearing handcuffs, she held a string of prayer beads, which she was slowly turning.
As if from long hours spent chanting before the Buddha, she exuded a tranquil aura that could calm people down. Even in the interrogation room, she seemed no different from being before the Buddha.
If Chen Hao hadn't already been briefed on the case beforehand, he would have truly been deceived by her demeanor.
"Qin Yonghui, do you know why we brought you all here?" Chen Hao asked.
"Whatever you wish to investigate, I will cooperate fully," Qin Yonghui said slowly.
"But I have a request, can I be with Yao'er? He has intellectual disabilities and doesn't understand anything. I'm afraid he'll be frightened."
Her tone was gentle and calm, even her request was delivered placidly, giving one the illusion that it was impossible to refuse.
"Captain Chen, is that possible?" the assistant beside him couldn't help but ask in a low voice.
Chen Hao countered, "Aren't you worried about your own biological daughter? I saw she was quite scared on the way here."
"Xuan'er is an adult and can take care of herself. Yao'er is different from her. His illness hasn't been cured, he has intellectual disabilities, and he requires more care," Qin Yonghui said slowly, looking at the prayer beads in her hand.
The assistant who had just spoken felt speechless. He had seen how Qin Xinxuan looked when she was brought in; she was in a very bad state. Conversely, Qin Xinyao was full of energy.
Even if Qin Xinyao had mental issues, he was still a healthy man, whereas Qin Xinxuan was just a delicate girl. It wasn't as if she favored men to this extent, was it?
More importantly, Qin Xinxuan was her biological daughter, and Qin Xinyao was the son of her twin brother. No matter how close, he wasn't her own child.
"Are you sure it's not because you feel guilty towards him?" Chen Hao said abruptly.
Qin Yonghui's thumb, which was turning the prayer beads, paused. She looked up at Chen Hao. "I don't understand what you mean by that."
"Why would I feel guilty towards Yao'er? Yao'er's father is my twin brother. What's the difference between him and my son? His parents are dead, and he's ill. I, as his aunt, brought him here to raise him. Is there anything wrong with that?"
"Is that the truth?" Chen Hao retorted.
Qin Yonghui: "What else could it be?"
"Bring Qin Xinyao over to her," Qin Beiting suddenly said from the monitoring room.
"Yes," Chen Yongyue responded and immediately had someone make arrangements.
In the interrogation room, Chen Hao heard the instruction from the monitoring room through his earpiece and instantly understood what they were planning.
"Alright, we agree to your request," he said to Qin Yonghui. "But later, you'll have to tell us clearly in front of Qin Xinyao how Third Master Qin died back then."
"..."
Qin Yonghui's heart skipped a beat. As she hesitated, the interrogation room door opened, and Qin Xinyao was brought in.
"Are we playing hide-and-seek here?" Qin Xinyao asked innocently upon entering.
"Yao'er, are you alright?" Qin Yonghui immediately turned around upon hearing his voice, her face full of concern.
If she hadn't been locked to the interrogation chair, she probably would have rushed over, appearing like a mother filled with maternal anxiety.
"Wow, I found you, Auntie. Hide-and-seek, it's so fun, so fun!" Qin Xinyao said, clapping his hands like a three-year-old. The handcuffs made a clanging sound.
Seeing his silly appearance, Qin Yonghui felt a mix of heartache and sadness. What would happen to him if she were no longer around in the future?
A staff member brought over a chair and had Qin Xinyao sit down. "After Captain Chen finishes questioning, we'll take you to see pretty sister."
"Wow, is pretty sister still here? I want to see pretty sister. I want to see pretty sister!" Qin Xinyao said, looking around eagerly.
In the monitoring room.
Yu He watched Qin Xinyao's silly demeanor through the monitor, her gaze deep.
Suddenly, Qin Beiting's deep voice reached her ears, "Do you think the Qin family owes him an Oscar?"
Yu He: "..."
In interrogation room number 4, Chen Hao had his subordinates give Qin Xinyao a nine-section ring puzzle to appease him, and the interrogation continued.
"Speak, the truth about Third Master Qin's death twelve years ago," Chen Hao said.
The assistant placed his hands on the keyboard, ready to take meticulous notes. He thought they had satisfied Qin Yonghui's request and she would confess truthfully, but the outcome was not as expected.
"So many years have passed, I don't remember clearly anymore," Qin Yonghui said, turning her prayer beads. "When I made the statement back then, I said everything I should have. You can retrieve the statement from that time."
"If you had told the truth back then, the Qin family wouldn't be in this situation now!" Chen Hao tapped the table with the voice recorder in his hand.
"Amitabha," Qin Yonghui rotated her prayer beads and began chanting, ignoring everything.
Seeing this, Chen Hao opened his voice recorder and played a recording.
"That day, when Sister Hui called me to Ya Garden, it was strange. No one was around. The servants seemed to have been deliberately sent away. I entered the main hall of Ya Garden, and Third Brother was lying on the ground, covered in blood. His eyes were still open, his body had half gone cold..."
Qin Yonghao's voice came from the voice recorder, interrupting Qin Yonghui's chanting.
This recording was the one Qin Beiting had gotten Qin Yonghao to confess last time.
Qin Yonghui's hand, which was turning the prayer beads, paused, then turned even faster, murmuring, "Form is emptiness, emptiness is form. Form is not different from emptiness, emptiness is not different from form..."
She appeared calm, but the increasingly fast turning of her prayer beads betrayed her inner turmoil.
Chen Hao turned up the volume of the playback, continuing to play, wanting to see how long she could hold out.
Qin Xinyao, who seemed oblivious to everything, played with the nine-section ring toy in his hands, but in reality, he pricked up his ears, listening without a sound.
In the monitoring room, Yu He narrowed her almond-shaped eyes and asked the staff to turn up the volume on her earphones, also listening intently.
Qin Beiting put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his embrace.
The recording continued: "I was also scared at that moment. Then Sister Hui came out and asked me what I was doing. Why was Yong'an lying on the ground?
"She went forward, and only then did she seem to see that Third Brother was in trouble. She then questioned me about what I had done to Third Brother.
"Although I was panicked at the time, I still noticed something was wrong. It was she who had arranged to meet me at Ya Garden, and she was late, yet Third Brother died here. Everything was very suspicious.
"I quickly found bloodstains on her sleeve. I asked her about the bloodstains on her clothes, and she immediately started crying.
"At that moment, I realized the murderer was her, and she wanted to frame me!
"Seeing that I had exposed her, she cried and told me she didn't do it intentionally, that she was just too emotional at the time and couldn't control her emotions. Because Third Brother told her that he was going to give the position of family head, which was passed down from their father, to their sixth brother.
"The 'throne' that everyone was fighting for, Third Brother obtained it so easily and wanted to give it to their sixth brother. She couldn't accept it and got into an argument with him in a moment of impulsiveness, then accidentally stabbed Third Brother with the fruit knife she was holding."
"Clatter—" The string of prayer beads in Qin Yonghui's hand suddenly broke, and the beads rattled and rolled onto the floor.