Red Bean Lives in the Republic of China - Chapter 51

Chapter 51

Wang Peter and the newlywed couple parted ways at the entrance of the Keyu Theatre.

After they got back to the He Mansion, there was no word from Wang Peter for the rest of the day. Just as they were about to head back to their room after dinner, the phone rang.

After a few seconds, a servant approached He Yunqin and said, “Second Young Master, Inspector Wang is on the phone.”

He Yunqin had been listening to Yu Hongdou’s chat with his mom and sister, but when he heard there was finally news from Wang Peter, he quickly pulled Yu Hongdou up from the sofa.

Everyone was surprised to see him take Yu Hongdou with him to answer the phone. Even He Ningzheng, who usually kept his cool, couldn’t help but laugh and said, “You take your wife along to answer the phone? She just finished eating! Why not let her sit down, have a cup of tea, take a breather, and chat with others? Why drag her into this?”

Upon hearing that, He Yunqin glanced at Yu Hongdou and smiled at his older brother, saying, “She definitely wants to hear this call. She wouldn’t feel comfortable just hanging out in the living room.”

Mrs. He smiled and shook her head, saying, “Let him do what he wants. As long as Hongdou isn’t upset, it’s okay.”

Even though Yu Hongdou was cheerful, she had just joined the He family and was still a bit shy. After hearing this, she felt it wasn’t her place to respond to her mother-in-law and brother-in-law. She kept a calm smile on her face, but her fingers were quietly scratching He Yunqin’s palm.

He Yunqin, lost in thought, suddenly felt his face heat up for no reason. He also scratched her palm in response in front of everyone and casually took Yu Hongdou away as if nothing was wrong.

“Bai Feng has gone back to her apartment on Qixia Road, saying she had a headache and refused to see me. I was wondering if we should try to scare her; otherwise, it would be extremely difficult to get any information out of her.”

He Yunqin held the receiver in one hand and the microphone in the other. 

Yu Hongdou tiptoed to listen closely, but the man was not only tall but also had a straight back. After reaching for a while, she could only barely hear a rustling sound in the receiver and could not hear what Wang Peter was saying at all.

Feeling frustrated, she simply grabbed He Yunqin’s arm pulled it down and glared at him in pretended anger.

Feeling that, He Yunqin lowered his eyes and realised what she was anxious about. Seeing that the study door was closed, he thought no servants would dare to come in, so he simply said to Wang Peter, “Wait a moment.”

As he said that, he pulled out the chair beside the desk, sat down, and pulled Yu Hongdou onto his lap.

With the unexpected movement, Yu Hongdou’s face turned red instantly, and she looked at the man with copper coins-like eyes. 

He Yunqin pointed at the receiver calmly. 

She got the message and moved closer to listen to what Wang Peter was saying.

“As for the night when Yang Yutian was murdered, there were a lot of plays scheduled, and the guests who came to listen to the plays changed several times. The people in the troupe were either busy on stage or busy greeting the guests. It was already difficult to make mistakes, so who had time to take care of the rest? I checked around this afternoon and no one noticed which guest brought in larger items.”

He Yunqin said, “What if the murderer is someone from the Keyu Theatre? He doesn’t have to pretend to be an amateur theatre fan. He can just go to the backyard at any time.”

Wang Peter replied, “So everyone can lie, but traces and evidence are reliable.”

After a pause, he said, “I went to Xu Yishan’s house this afternoon to check again and indeed found a similar pit behind the bedpost.”

He Yunqin sneered.

Without waiting for him to speak, Wang Peter said hurriedly, “Okay, no need for you to nag; I will stop drinking. But there is one thing worth noting. The murderer left traces of ropes after committing the crime in Yang Yutian’s room, but they were all cleaned up at Xu Yishan’s house, and there were only dents in the room that could not be wiped off.”

“It shows that the murderer is becoming more and more savvy. Since there are holes, have you measured the distances between the beams? Report the numbers you measured to me.”

Wang Peter then reported a set of numbers.

Yu Hongdou interrupted and said, “Where are the cigarette butts? Inspector Wang didn’t mention cigarette butts in Yang Yutian’s room, but Xu Yishan’s room specifically mentioned the cigarette butts in Changlemen.”

Wang Peter said, “Because Xu’s house is a private residence, but Keyu Theatre is crowded with people. When I went to check the scene, the people from the troupe, the fans who heard the news and ran in to watch the excitement, and the police had already rushed in several times. Yang Yutian’s house was a mess with cigarette butts piled up on the floor. How could I notice which cigarette butt should not be there?”

He Yunqin and Hongdou exchanged a glance before asking, “What about Xu Yishan’s social connections? Have you asked Mrs. Xu if Xu Yishan knew Yang Yutian in the past?”

“Mrs. Xu said that Xu Yishan often went to the Keyu Theatre to listen to operas, so it was not uncommon for him to recognise the actors there. But she didn’t know whether Xu Yishan knew Yang Yutian before. She only said that Xu Yishan’s family was poor when he was studying, and he moved around with his widowed mother before he got married, so he knew a lot of people from all walks of life.”

After all, they were acquaintances. He Yunqin had heard a few things about Xu Yishan’s family in the past. He stroked his chin and said, “Xu Yishan has indeed become successful recently. His father died early, and his family was very poor. He was extremely smart. He was admitted to the original Nanyang Public School in the first place. Mrs. Xu was the daughter of the Lulu Department Store. She met Xu Yishan in college. Because Xu Yishan was good-looking and good at studying, Mrs. Xu liked him and later took the initiative to persuade his family to agree to their marriage.”

After getting married, Xu Yishan gradually began to make friends with Shanghai celebrities through the relationship between the bookshop and his wife’s family, and that was how he got to know the He family.

Wang Peter said, “Although Xu Yishan is now rich, he was indeed poor for many years in the past. Yang Yutian is indeed a famous singer, but he is an actor after all. In my opinion, the intersection of their social relations can be pushed back further, preferably before they become famous. Xu Yishan often went to the Keyu Theatre, and his wife always thought he went there for Bai Fengfei. Now it seems that this may be a misunderstanding. In fact, he, Bai Fengfei and Yang Yutian already know each other?”

“And now two of them are dead.” He Yunqin raised his eyebrows. “Inspector Wang, I have long advised you not to be too stingy. Take this case, for example. You should at least send a few more people to keep a close eye on Bai Fengfei. She is not only a key witness but also the next victim.”

Wang Peter chuckled and said, “Where can I find an assistant now? I can’t conjure anyone tonight, so I have to call you.”

He Yunqin seemed to have expected Wang Peter to do this. He sneered and paused for a moment before saying, “Then you wait.”

After hanging up the phone, he thought for a while, looked up and said to Yu Hongdou gently, “Wait for me outside; I’ll make a call.”

Yu Hongdou was stunned. His tone was gentle, but his expression was extremely serious, which showed that there was no room for negotiation on this matter. She pouted slightly, stood up and walked out.

She closed the door and listened with bated breath. After a while, she vaguely heard He Yunqin say a few words, but she couldn’t understand a word he said because he was speaking in German.

Yu Hongdou became more unhappy. ‘He Yunqin is incredibly sharp in seeing through people’s minds. Hmph! Did he think that I would eavesdrop?’ She didn’t want to listen anymore and slowly walked away.

After the call finished, He Yunqin came out of the study and saw Yu Hongdou standing in front of the large glass window at the end of the corridor. She did not turn back even though she heard the door open.

He walked slowly behind her and stood behind her. “Inspector Wang is too busy; I’ll find him a few assistants. Because my friends are rather mysterious, I can’t easily reveal their identities,” he said while looking out the window.

Hearing that, she turned around and looked up at him.

He lowered his eyes and smiled at her. “Go back to the room.”

With a red face, Yu Hongdou let him take her hand, and they headed back to their room. 

Yu Hongdou went to the bathroom to shower. When she came out of the bathroom, she noticed He Yunqin sitting at the desk in the outer room, busy writing something.

She approached and leaned over to see that he was sketching a blueprint. The axles, screws, levers, ropes, and other components were already taking shape.

She simply pulled up a chair and sat across from him, resting her chin on her hand, and asked, “Are you designing the murder weapon used by the killer?”

He Yunqin smiled. He knew that Yu Hongdou was quick to grasp things and could easily follow his line of thought. He nodded, keeping his gaze on the paper, and explained, “Based on the evidence left at the two crime scenes, the murderer did use this tool to hang the victims from the beams. I’ve roughly pieced it together. The mechanism is straightforward and not hard to construct. As long as the victim is subdued beforehand and the rope is secured, the murderer can gradually turn the pulley to hang the victim on the beam without much effort. The tricky part lies in a few aspects: First if the murderer isn’t someone from the Keyu Theatre, how could they create this tool to be small and unobtrusive? Not only did they manage to bring this tool to the opera in plain sight, but they also knocked on the doors of Xu Yishan and Yang Yutian. After killing them, they calmly took the tool and left. If it had been a large or oddly shaped object, it would have raised alarms for the victims.”

Yu Hongdou nodded in agreement. “Yang Yutian and Xu Yishan are both tall and strong. If they had been alert, the murderer would never have found an opportunity to kill them. And if it wasn’t someone from inside the theatre, it would be odd for the murderer to bring anything else to the theatre, which is why Inspector Wang speculated it might have been something like a birdcage. Secondly, the victims wouldn’t just let him hang them from the beams, so the killer must have used different tactics to overpower them first. I’m starting to think that the murderer might have slipped something into their drinks to knock them out and then stuffed something in their mouths to keep them from screaming for help. Otherwise, the whole plan wouldn’t have gone off without a hitch. Based on the clues we have, it seems more likely that the victims were familiar with the murderer and didn’t see their death coming at all.”

Yu Hongdou remembered the scene at the Keyu Theatre during the day and said again, “And Bai Fengfei has been acting really weird since the incident. Maybe she knows all three of them. She’s the key player in this whole thing.”

He Yunqin set down her pen and said, “I’m just waiting for the autopsy report on these two.”

Yu Hongdou was about to respond when she suddenly heard a series of soft, rapid sounds coming from the terrace in the inner room. It sounded like it was raining. The rustling autumn wind mixed with heavy rain hit the window, causing the delicate white gauze hanging on either side to flutter.

A cool breeze filled with rain swept into the house.

Yu Hongdou stood up and walked to the inner room to shut the French window.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door, and it was a servant delivering tea. Maybe He Yunqin had given prior instructions, as the servant placed the tea on He Yunqin’s desk, set down the tea bowl, and quietly left.

One cup contained Biluochun, a tea He Yunqin frequently enjoyed, while the other was osmanthus tea sweetened with honey.

Yu Hongdou picked up the cup and took a sip. It was warm and sweet.

Both of them were unusually silent because each focused on their own tasks.

The only sound was the soft rustling of the fountain pen. 

He Yunqin was deep in thought, writing and adding details to the tool, while Yu Hongdou quietly flipped through a German dictionary.

Outside, it was raining and windy, but a warm light gently filled the room.

After reading for a while, Yu Hongdou suddenly recalled a phrase that suited the moment. ~Fruits fall in the rain, insects chirp under the lamp.~

Noticing that He Yunqin’s work was nearly finished, she glanced at him under the light and asked with a slight frown, “Aren’t you going to sleep?”

End of chapter 51

Have a nice day!