Involve

  "Qin Gongzi, we are in the middle of a case now and don't have time to indulge in romantic feelings with you here." I thought to myself. This guy has got the wrong person. "I need information because I discovered... Guan Xinyue has another lover, or rather, a man who adores her, and that man..."

  "It was indeed one of Shao Yin's ex-boyfriends, Li Bin. Am I right?" Qin Ming's face lit up with a smug smile, and that smile had an unspoken hint of triumph. "Your actions are really swift, I've already heard about it! The people monitoring the Li family called earlier to say that you specifically asked them to pay extra attention. Ye Qing and Li Cheng have both returned home..."

  "What's next?" I tilted my head, they can't be that calm, right?

  "What then? Just an ordinary couple? After going home, isn't it just watching TV, playing with the phone and that kind of thing?" Qin Ming was slightly surprised.

  Since there was no quarrel? Nor dispute? So to say Ye Qing is afraid of Li Cheng? So dare not say anything? Or are these two people already compromised, so they don't want to argue about those things anymore?

  "Or let's talk about Li Bin?" Qin Ming said with a smug face, "See, I didn't get it wrong this time, did I? I told you we have a special connection. You still don't believe me. I flipped through Guan Xinyue's information and thought there should be some intersection between them. Unfortunately, I still couldn't find any possible connection between the two of them. If I had to say there was a clue, take a look at this person, does he look familiar?"

  Qin Ming pulled out a woman's ID photo from a stack of documents and pushed it in front of me. Who is this? It looked somewhat familiar, probably because of the ID photo, I couldn't think of who it was for a while. After a long time, I suddenly realized: "Isn't this... isn't this Shao Yin's mother's photo? How did you get her photo? What does this have to do with the case? Are you still suspecting that Shao Yin is related to this case?" I asked hesitantly.

  Qin Ming held the photo with a serious expression, saying word by word: "Daring to suspect, reasonable inference, isn't this your motto? This was found by a friend I entrusted, very coincidentally, about ten years ago, the woman in the photo was involved in this dispute, she reported the case, saying she was attacked, and even found a suspect. Because the suspect was too young at the time, to protect her, it wasn't publicly handled. However, when flipping through the original files, we discovered a name: Guan Xinyue."

  "What? You said... it's impossible, right? More than a decade ago, Guan Xinyue was only around 10 years old, how could she possibly be related to Shao Yin's mother? It must be a mistake." I shook my head in frustration, the document he was holding was an official record, not some third-rate tabloid, how could there be such a coincidence?

  Qin Ming nodded seriously and said, "En, normal reaction. Exactly the same as my reaction at that time. But in fact, it is so. This is Guan Xinyue's parents' information, you will know after reading it. Although they live in this city in two opposite directions, they indeed have a relationship. Take a look..."

  Right under his fingers, a line of words made my heart skip a beat: it recorded the reason why Guan Xinyue attacked Shao Yin's mother at that time, because she thought Shao Yin's mother had ruined her parents' relationship.

  "Can't be wrong, right? People back then weren't as open-minded as they are now. Moreover, Shao Yin's parents seemed to have a good relationship all along, how could something so melodramatic happen?" I carefully went through those files, but my mind kept doubting.

  "Don't underestimate human nature. After all, in that era, not many marriages were based on one's own volition." Qin Ming said thoughtfully as he looked at me, nodding his head and continuing: "As for the details, only those involved would know. I also checked some information from the Civil Affairs Bureau and found that soon after this incident occurred, Guan Xinyue's parents got divorced, and her mother raised her on her own. What's even more tragic is that two years later, Guan Xinyue's mother passed away due to illness. I think this would make her believe that all her misfortunes were caused by Shao Yin's mother. Does this provide a reasonable explanation for everything?"

  Qin Ming handed me Guan Xinyue's information: Two people who seemed to have no intersection at all, but the trajectory of life kept crossing. Guan Xinyue also studied in our same school, just a year later than us. Could this be another coincidence? Or was she secretly observing Shao Yin back then? A chill ran down my spine.

  "We searched through Guan Xinyue's belongings, her life seemed very monotonous, no friends except those she knew from work. But we found a photo. Look..." Qin Ming handed me the photo wrapped in a evidence bag."

  The photo shows Guan Xinyue in her youth, with a haircut even shorter than the boys', looking like a tomboy, completely different from how she looks later. It wasn't until Qin Ming pointed it out that I noticed the people behind Guan Xinyue were Shao Yin, Li Bin and me, walking together in the photo.

  "Do you think it's a coincidence? This is the only photo she kept, and we found it in her album." Qin Ming's mouth corners slightly rose, apparently wanting to get some praise from me.

  I don't know how to respond, nor can I describe my emotions. Is this the reason why these two people have a connection? Guan Xinyue's purpose was revenge, so she got involved with Li Cheng and also had an ambiguous relationship with Li Bin. But what about Guan Xinyue's murder? How can this be explained? It seems that if Shao Yin becomes the murderer, everything can be explained away. I feel a chill run down my spine - what kind of woman is capable of such patience in seeking revenge on her enemies?

  "Okay, I admit that when I got these materials, I was also very surprised. But it seems like the truth is right here, as for what really happened, probably only Guan Xinyue herself would know. Shao Yin might know something, but all of this doesn't seem so important anymore because Guan Xinyue is already dead and what we need to do now has nothing to do with her motives or goals." Qin Ming put away the materials. His face had a thoughtful expression, shaking his head: "Women are really scary, for revenge like this, spending so much time, is it really worth it? And Li Cheng... I really can't imagine that she would choose to be with Li Cheng..."