"What is this? A safe?" Li Lawyer's voice suddenly appeared. "Wait, don't move it first, let me extract the fingerprints first."
Jian Jing: "..."
Li Lawyer said, "I have a toolbox in my car, wait a moment." He hurried out and hurried back, and really brought a forensic tool kit, "Let me, I'll extract the fingerprints."
Jian Jing watched his performance and asked, "Why do you carry this with you?"
"For those of us in this profession, we occasionally encounter such situations as well." Li Lawyer dipped a brush in powder and gently touched the password lock and door handle of the safe, "Teacher Jian, did you go to the scene to write your book?"
Jian Jing: "Occasionally."
Li Lawyer laughed briefly, "That's true too. Some crime scenes are not like this time, bloodier, even men can't stand it, let alone girls."
Jian Jing politely smiled.
"Look, very obvious fingerprints." Li Lawyer stuck two fingerprints and said, "I will send them for comparison immediately. If they don't belong to Mr. Jiang Guangze, everything will become very simple."
Jian Jing had to stop him, "Let me take a picture."
In fact, just by comparing, it’s not difficult to find the difference between the two fingerprints, one big and one small, not the contrast between the little finger and the thumb - besides, when opening the safe, the thumb is generally not touched - most likely belonging to different people.
She frowned thoughtfully.
“Ms. Jian, I think this case should not be as complicated as the ones you wrote in your novels, full of tricks and drama.” Li Lawyer said unhurriedly, “Based on my experience, most cases in reality are not complicated, just money or feelings. "
Jian Jing raised her eyelids, as if seeing a peacock in full plumage.
He analyzed, "This kind of hidden place must contain a will. Someone knew about this and sneaked in after the chairman fell asleep to steal it, but was discovered by the chairman and had to kill him to keep him silent.”
To be honest, she said, “It makes some sense.”
“Then who was the murderer?”
“Of course the owner of the fingerprint.” Li Lawyer smiled and said, “I will invite others to provide fingerprint comparisons now, do you want to come?"
She decisively shook her head.
Li Lawyer was also arrogant. No longer being courteous, he smiled politely and said, "I hope we can know the answer by dinner time."
The tone was very certain.
Jian Jing returned a subtle smile and turned to the next stop: the study.
Because it was just a holiday villa in use, the furnishings of the study were standard, nothing valuable in terms of written information. But the decoration was very beautiful, classical without being vulgar. The red wood gleamed with a heavy, dark luster in the sunlight. Light and shadow were cast on the latticed window frames, projecting traditional cracked ice patterns.
The antique shelf displayed many ornaments, such as a golden pig, galloping horse, ploughing ox, fierce tiger, coiled dragon, white dog, made of various materials from gold, jade, wood, and so on. There was also a pair of cloisonne vases, crystal glasses, an old inkstone and an antique clock.
On the walls hung several calligraphies. At first glance at the signature, well, they were either works by famous painters in the Republican era, or contemporary famous calligraphers. The works were carefully collected behind glass, seemingly not imitations.
Beneath the window was a zitan wood table, equipped with Zisha tea sets, lustrous and exquisite, probably not ordinary. But they looked brand new, apparently never used before.
Jian Jing enjoyed it alone for a while, then called the old housekeeper over to chat casually.
“It's nicely decorated here. Did Chairman Jiang come here often before?”
“He bought it almost eight years ago. It took three or four years to get it fixed up. It was originally planned to retire here. " The housekeeper recalled the past and lamented, "But he was overworked and didn’t get to enjoy it when he stepped down.”
“What a pity. I heard that Chairman Jiang had stomach cancer before?"
"Yes, about six or seven years ago. At that time we almost thought it was hopeless. He specifically called his children back, but the chemotherapy went very well. His wife took care of him all that time, so he recovered. That’s why he married her afterwards.”
Jian Jing asked, "Did he make a will at that time?"
"He did. He said the group would go to Big Brother and Second Brother, Third Brother would get shares in the water company, and the leftover money and houses from his mistress would be divided up. " After the housekeeper finished speaking, she immediately added, "Of course, it didn’t count after he got married.”
Jian Jing nodded, "Thank you for your trouble, I'll sit for a while longer."
*
After dinner, the Jiang family gathered together again.
This time, Jian Jing saw Jiang Lian’s husband and children.
To be honest, when she saw Jiang Lian’s husband's appearance, she immediately understood why Jiang Lian was willing to let her daughter take her husband’s surname instead, even arguing with her father several times.
The eldest daughter-in-law's husband was quite handsome, with thick brows and big eyes, well-defined features, completely different from the current popular “little fresh meat” idols, but a traditional handsome man, beautiful yet candid, extremely charming.
Believe if he was born a thousand years ago, he would certainly become a male favorite of the Empress, the kind whose name was recorded in history.
Jian Jing couldn't help taking two more looks at him.
"Cough." Jiang Lian cleared her throat warningly and glanced over with a cold smile.
Her husband patted her shoulder comfortingly and asked with concern, "Are you too tired these two days, tonsillitis?"
"No." Jiang Lian took a sip of hot tea and said to her daughter, "Take her back to the room to sleep, must be tired flying back from abroad. "
Her daughter was very sensible, "Mom, I'll keep you company."
"Go to sleep and get over jet lag quickly. The funeral will be tiring." In front of her daughter, Jiang Lian was not so arrogant or indifferent. She stroked her head affectionately and said, "Go back quickly."
The little girl kissed her cheek before obediently going upstairs yawning. Her husband picked up the heavy luggage and tactfully avoided the Jiang family’s internal affairs.
"That’s my husband and daughter." Jiang Lian said.
Jian Jing: "So?"
"Nothing, just an introduction." Jiang Lian said lightly.
Just as Jian Jing was about to speak, Jiang BaiYan suddenly opened his mouth and said very sincerely, "Teacher Jian, my elder sister’s husband looks good, doesn’t he?"
She said, "Not bad."
“Sis, that’s amazing.” Jiang BaiYan poked viciously at her sore spot, intimate yet surprised, “Teacher Jian is surrounded by good-looking men, someone like me probably won’t even make the top three. But brother-in-law can definitely make the top ten.”
Jian Jing: "Pffft."
Jiang Lian’s face turned green.
But this was just a small interlude. Li Lawyer brought the real theme of the meeting.
"Ms. Jian found a secret compartment in Chairman Jiang's bedroom with a locked safe inside. I extracted two fingerprints from the safe.”
Li Lawyer stood in the center of the living room. All the chandeliers on the ceiling were turned on, the glaring lights shining on everyone’s faces so that no subtle expression could escape the eyes.
He looked around at everyone, "This afternoon, I took all of your fingerprints and gave them to a professional friend to compare. The answer came out very quickly.”
The air became very quiet. Someone wanted to speak but restrained themselves.
"One larger fingerprint belongs to Mr. Jiang Guangze. The other one...” Li Lawyer looked them over one by one, finally fixing on a beautiful and graceful face, “Madam Yin, is yours."
Jiang’s wife was stunned.
“It was you?” Jiang Ou suddenly stood up, voice raised, “You killed Dad?"
Madam Jiang was sophisticated and quickly regained her composure. “It wasn’t me. What safe? ”She flatly denied,“ I don't even know there is a safe in the room.”
"There are your fingerprints on the safe." Li Lawyer said coldly, "This is an indisputable fact, Madam. You need to explain this.”
Madam Jiang said, "I know nothing about the safe—what's in there? A will?" She looked at Jian Jing, speaking very fast, breathing rapid.
Jian Jing said, "Unfortunately, I don't know the password and didn't open it. Or does Lawyer Cai know?"
Li Lawyer had invited Lawyer Cai tonight to announce the answer. He calmly said, "The will was indeed kept by the Chairman, but I don't know where he put it.”
"Madam, please explain this matter." Li Lawyer spoke in an interrogative tone.
Madam Jiang said, "I don't know about the safe at all, nor why my fingerprints are there. Someone must be framing me."
She asked the others, "Don't you accept this answer?"
Jiang Qi said, "I don't see anything unacceptable about it."
"What can fingerprints represent?" Mrs. Jiang refuted, "What does this have to do with murder?"
Li Lawyer said: "Time. The chairman has been in this villa for half a month. There were people in the room during the day, so you didn't have a chance to open the safe. And I also asked the doctor that three days before the chairman passed away, he still had poor sleep due to breathing problems, it was only the last three days that he was injected with medication.
"Before that, if you entered the room at night, you would definitely be discovered. It was only on the night he died that you had a chance or motive to take a look at the will."
Mrs. Jiang sneered coldly: "Keep making things up."
Li Lawyer was unmoved: "You made too much noise and woke up the chairman. You know, the chairman was going to change his will tomorrow, if something like this happened at night, he would most likely cancel your inheritance rights. So you went all in and killed him."
"You're talking nonsense!" Jiang Xue couldn't stand it anymore, pointing her finger at his nose and cursing, "Did Jiang Qi tell you to frame the charges on my mom? My mom didn't do this."
Like last night, either she wouldn't open her mouth, or she would spill the beans when she did: "Jiang Ou, it was you, wasn't it? I saw you sneak into dad's room last night."
Jiang Ou's face turned ashen: "Don't falsely accuse people."
"You know in your heart whether it's a false accusation or not." Jiang Xue pressed on aggressively, "After 12, I got up to use the bathroom and saw you come out of the room and go into dad's room - was it you who did it?"
Jiang Lian asked: "When you went to the bathroom, how could you see little Ou? There is a bathroom in your room. His room is downstairs. How did you see him?"
"I, I got up to breathe some fresh air." Jiang Xue said, "Anyway, I saw him."
Jiang Ou asked: "Where is the evidence?"
"Isn't an eyewitness enough?"
Li Lawyer said: "Miss Jiang Xue, given the competitive relationship between you and Mr. Jiang, even in court, your testimony would not be very credible."
Jiang Xue looked to her mother for help.
Mrs. Jiang said: "Then take that evidence and sue me, see you in court."
The atmosphere suddenly froze.
"So, are you not going to explain the fingerprints?" Li Lawyer asked.
Mrs. Jiang remained silent.
He paused for a moment, then turned to Jian Jing: "Does Teacher Jian have anything to add?"
Jian Jing said: "Jiang Xue testified that Jiang Ou went into the room after 12. I want to know, Mr. Jiang Ou, do you admit this?"
Jiang Ou pursed his lips. After a long while, he said: "I didn't go."
"You're lying."