Chapter 248: Interrogation

Yang Xinwu’s face turned ashen, as if he had been caught cheating in an exam and taken to the dean’s office. Seeing the drastic change in his expression, Zhang Zhixiang thought to himself, could it be that he had secretly done something like pushing down a female student, and the General Office was going to have a talk with him? But it seemed that this matter was not under the jurisdiction of the General Office.

However, Zhang Zhixiang had already made a decision in an instant. If this was true, he would immediately clean up this “scum” from the school. He had spent so much effort to clean up the group of transmigrators who had ulterior motives and wanted to use their positions to pick up girls. The atmosphere of the school must not be destroyed!

Seeing the principal’s face suddenly sink, Yang Xinwu knew it was not good. He had no choice but to force a few laughs to cover it up.

The next day, Yang Xinwu arrived at the designated location as scheduled: the Farm Café.

During the day, the café had almost no customers. As soon as he showed his membership card, he was led by a waiter to a salon private room on the third floor. Xiao Zishan was already waiting for him there.

The salon private room was mostly used as a meeting room. In the middle was a conference table, surrounded by chairs with backrests. Along the walls were some long rattan sofas.

Besides Xiao Zishan, there were several other transmigrators sitting around the conference room, all with expressionless faces. There was only one woman he knew—Ming Lang’s wife.

“Come, come, have a seat!” Xiao Zishan invited him to sit on the other side of the conference table with his usual enthusiastic attitude—directly facing these people.

On the table were neatly placed notebooks, pencils, and several glasses filled with clean water. The glasses were so clean and bright that they were dazzling.

“Let me introduce you first.” Xiao Zishan coughed. “This is Mu Min, the representative of the National Police… This is An Xi, the representative of the Arbitration Tribunal…” Finally, he mentioned himself. “I am here to attend the meeting on behalf of the General Office.”

Yang Xinwu forced himself to remain calm and greeted each person one by one, but he was secretly terrified: was this a setup to “double-regulate” him?

Seeing that the greetings were over, Xiao Zishan picked up a file bag from the table, opened it, and took out a document.

“Comrade Yang Xinwu, I am entrusted by the Senate to announce to you now: at the request of the National Police Headquarters, and with the approval of the Standing Committee of the Senate and the Executive Committee, we would like to ask you a few questions. We hope you can answer them truthfully.” He continued, “From now on, the entire process will be recorded. This is the authorization letter jointly issued by the Standing Committee and the Executive Committee. You can take a look.” He pushed the document over.

“No need.” Yang Xinwu did not touch the piece of paper with several large seals on it. “Is this an interrogation?”

“No, this is an inquiry,” An Xi, the representative of the Arbitration Tribunal, explained. “We just want to understand some situations. You can choose not to answer the questions.”

“So I have the right to remain silent?”

“Yes, of course, it’s the right to remain silent in a broad sense, not in a narrow sense. You are not a suspect or a defendant. We are here just hoping you can provide some useful clues,” An Xi explained.

“Is it because of Lin Xiaoya’s case?” he said, noticing that An Xi and Mu Min exchanged a glance.

“Yes,” Mu Min confirmed. “Do you know Lin Xiaoya?”

For a moment, Yang Xinwu intended to say nothing—he wanted to protect Yang Jihong. But he immediately realized that Mu Min had mobilized such a large force to specifically find him, so she must have already grasped enough clues. His silence would not change anything.

“Yes, I know her,” he nodded.

For the next hour, Mu Min asked him many questions, including the relationship between Yang Jihong and Lin Xiaoya, and how she got his recommendation. Yang Xinwu answered them all without reservation. However, he repeatedly emphasized that he “saw nothing” and “heard nothing.”

Finally, Mu Min asked, “I hope I can take the water glass you used as physical evidence in this case. Is that okay?”

“Of course.” Yang Xinwu saw his fingerprints clearly on the glass and suddenly understood. No wonder this glass was so new and clean! This was probably to save him some face. After all, having one’s fingerprints taken was not a glorious thing. “Please, go ahead.”

“Thank you.” Mu Min put on white gloves, carefully picked up his glass, and put it in a yellow kraft paper bag.

“If there’s nothing else, may I leave?” The deeply ashamed Transmigrator Yang was anxious to get out of this embarrassing situation.

“We will summon Yang Jihong tomorrow morning,” Mu Min said. “She is the main suspect in this case—I hope you can understand. The summons will be conducted in secret. If it is ultimately proven that she is innocent, it will not leave any impact.”

Yang Xinwu knew from her tone that this was not a negotiation, but merely an announcement.

“What if I don’t agree?”

Mu Min glanced at An Xi, who said, “In that case, the case will be submitted to the Standing Committee of the Senate for discussion. If the final discussion result is to suspend the investigation, we can not summon her. Otherwise, the Standing Committee will issue an order to enforce it.”

“It seems I have no choice.”

“Transmigrator Yang, a life is at stake.” “Alright, I understand. Do as you please,” Yang Xinwu said heavily, seemingly bowing his head under the weight. A moment later, he raised his head: “Don’t torture her…”

“Definitely not. You can rest assured,” An Xi said quickly. “Our Arbitration Tribunal’s legal philosophy is to emphasize evidence and downplay confessions.”

Transmigrator Yang waved his hand, it was unclear whether he was expressing disbelief or that it didn’t matter. He stood up weakly: “I’m going back.”

“Quick! Get a car for Transmigrator Yang!” Seeing his pale face, Xiao Zishan quickly opened the door and called the waiter outside.

“Should we arrest Yang Jihong immediately?”

“Let’s give them some time,” Xiao Zishan said. “A hundred days of grace for a one-day couple…”

“When did you ever consider maids as wives?” Mu Min sneered. “Even a properly married wife can be dumped just like that.”

Xiao Zishan smiled slightly, not taking offense. He raised his hand: “Alright, alright, I won’t interfere in your affairs.”

The fingerprints taken from Transmigrator Yang’s glass confirmed Mu Min’s inference: the fingerprints on the railing were not his—in fact, from the distance between the fingerprints, Salina had already roughly inferred that they belonged to a woman. Thus, Yang Jihong’s suspicion became very high. Then, Yang Jihong’s fingerprints were compared, and it was confirmed that the fingerprints were hers.

Mu Min pressed on and interrogated the arrested Yang Jihong. Since this was the first time a transmigrator’s maid was being questioned, and it might involve the sensitive topic of “the transmigrator’s interests and secrets,” to prevent anyone from finding a topic, the entire interrogation was recorded, and a staff member from the General Office was present to supervise.

Even so, the experienced Mu Min still had no trouble getting Yang Jihong to confess that she was the one who had beaten Lin Xiaoya with the railing on the roof that night and eventually forced her to the edge of the roof and to her death. “It was my fault. I just wanted to teach her a lesson and make her stop pressuring me…” Yang Jihong covered her face and cried. “I didn’t expect her to fall…”

“Aren’t you best friends, good sisters? Why would you be so cruel?” Mu Min pressed for a motive.

“Good sisters?!” Yang Jihong stopped crying and gritted her teeth. “I’m so unlucky to have such a good sister!”

“What did she do?”

Yang Jihong started crying again. From her intermittent narrative, Mu Min pieced together the story.

It was completely different from what she had imagined. There was no maid fighting for favor in the case, nor did Lin Xiaoya have any intention of “taking her place.”

Yang Jihong and Lin Xiaoya were roommates at the maid school and had a good relationship at school. After Yang Jihong was assigned, the two kept in touch by letter. A few months ago, Lin Xiaoya asked for leave to meet Yang Jihong. After they met, Lin Xiaoya proposed that Yang Jihong ask Yang Xinwu to recommend her to senior primary school.

“We had a good relationship at that time. I thought it was not a bad thing that she wanted to study and improve, so I asked the Chief. The Chief was very generous and agreed immediately. I was also very happy and wrote to her to tell her that the Chief had agreed.”

Unexpectedly, Lin Xiaoya asked her out again. This time, her request was much more severe. She wanted Yang Jihong to persuade Transmigrator Yang to sponsor her tuition and living expenses. Yang Jihong seemed reluctant, so Lin Xiaoya took out something.

“What was it?”

“A letter.” Yang Jihong burst into tears. “I was so stupid!”

The letter was written by Yang Jihong before she entered the maid school. The recipient was a fellow villager of hers, also a refugee who had been taken in. Their families had been of similar status in the mainland, both small landlords in the countryside who could read a few characters, and they had always had a good impression of each other.

Yang Jihong’s family was broken and she was displaced. When she was slightly settled, she accidentally saw that her fellow villager had also come to Lingao and was living in the quarantine camp.

After experiencing a disaster and living alone in the world, she suddenly saw an old acquaintance from the past, and one she had a good impression of at that. The admiration in her heart naturally blossomed.

The two met a few times while working on assignment. Because there was no time for long talks during work, they communicated by letter.

Later, Yang Jihong entered the maid school, where the security was strict, and this matter gradually faded away. But as they knew that they would all become the “Chief’s” women in the future, Yang Jihong became afraid again, because the letters between her and her fellow villager, once exposed, would destroy her entire future. The ones her fellow villager wrote to her could naturally be burned. But the ones she wrote to him might still be in the world. In fear, she consulted Lin Xiaoya.

“I didn’t expect her to be so bad, she tricked me out of my letter!”

Lin Xiaoya gave her an idea, telling her to give her a token, and she would sneak out to find that fellow villager and ask him to destroy all the letters. That way, it would be safe.