My online dating circle has millions of followers, why would she put a collar on me?

The evening breeze, carrying the chill of late autumn, blew in through the window at the end of the corridor, causing Jiang Yi's T-shirt to cling tightly to his back.

He stood on the steps outside the Zhongshan branch gate, his hands on his knees, head down, breathing deeply and heavily, as if trying to expel all the pent-up air that had been stuck in his chest all morning.

He thought of his mother's illness.

He has congenital heart disease, and his mother has been giving him medication ever since he can remember.

That's why I decided to keep Jiang Miaomiao's news from my parents when I first got it.

Will Jiang Miaomiao inherit her mother's heart disease?

he does not know.

He had never thought about this question, nor had he asked a doctor.

Jiang Miaomiao has always been healthy since she was a child. She rarely even catches a cold. She can run 800 meters and be among the top ten in her grade. In winter, while others are shivering in down jackets, she dares to run wildly on the playground wearing only a sweatshirt.

How could someone like that suffer a sudden cardiac arrest?

He couldn't believe it. Even if she had a hereditary heart condition, she wasn't that old. How could she have an attack at this age?

Unless someone makes her "stop abruptly".

This thought, like a needle, had been stuck in his mind ever since Su Xiaoyue told him last night that Jiang Miaomiao had recanted her testimony.

He recalled that night in the interrogation room, where cold white light poured down from above, there were no windows, no sound, only the metal table and the chair welded to the floor.

Someone turned off the camera, someone took his phone, and someone pushed a pre-written confession in front of him, saying, "Sign it and you can leave."

He didn't sign.

They made him sit all night without water, food, or rest.

He never wanted to experience that kind of despair again in his life. And now, his sister was dead, dead in the detention center, the cause of death being "cardiac arrest," and his first thought was—it was Xia Anmian.

He knew there was no evidence for this thought, and that it might just be a projection of all his anxiety and anger about the matter.

But he couldn't control himself.

The images in the interrogation room, the glass of water that had gone cold, the confession he had signed, the complex look in Zhao Zhiguo's eyes when he looked at him in the corridor, the roar of Zhao Jianmin when he smashed the glass in front of him—all these fragments pieced together a complete picture in his mind, and at the center of that picture was Xia Anmian.

She can mobilize the director of the Public Security Bureau; she can have someone move him from the Chaoyang branch to the Zhongshan branch in the early hours of the morning; she can have a bureau chief sit across from him and say, "If you don't cooperate, then you'll have to shoulder the burden with your sister."

Where is she now?

He heard footsteps behind him, light and steady; it was Su Xiaoyue walking out of the police station.

She stopped behind Jiang Yi, reached out and wrapped her arms around his waist from behind, pressing her face against his back.

Su Xiaoyue's palm pressed against his abdomen through a thin T-shirt, the warmth seeping through the fabric as if to slowly melt the ice blocking his chest.

"Honey," her voice was muffled and slightly nasal, "it's cold outside, let's go inside."

Jiang Yi did not move.

His hands were still supporting his knees, his gaze fixed on the gray-white paving stone in front of him. Fine grains of sand were embedded in the gaps between the paving stones, gleaming dimly under the streetlights.

"Xiaoyue," he said, his voice slightly hoarse, "Do you really think my sister... suffered cardiac arrest?"

Su Xiaoyue pressed her face against his back and remained silent for a few seconds.

"I don't know," she said, shaking her head. "I really don't know."

She released her hands from his waist, walked around to face him, and looked up at him.

"Honey, listen to me." She reached out and grasped his wrist, her fingertips slightly cool. "No matter what happened, we'll find out the truth. Attorney Li has already contacted the forensic pathologist, and the report should be ready by tomorrow at the latest. Let's not jump to conclusions, okay?"

Jiang Yi looked down at her, his gaze lingered on her face for a moment, and then looked away.

"Miaomiao recanted her testimony yesterday. Could you tell me more about it?"

Su Xiaoyue remained silent for a moment. She was unwilling to talk to Jiang Yi about Jiang Miaomiao at this time, but looking at Jiang Yi's pleading eyes, she couldn't bring herself to refuse.

"She said you instructed her, that you edited the chat scripts for her, and that you provided the transfer account."

Su Xiaoyue repeated what she had heard in the interrogation room yesterday, pronouncing each word clearly.

"She was in very bad condition yesterday. Her face was swollen, she had a cut on the corner of her mouth, a large bruise on her cheekbone, and her voice was trembling when she spoke."

Jiang Yi's fingers clenched tightly.

"What did you say?" His voice rose a half-octave. "She's injured?"

Su Xiaoyue nodded: "Director Zhao said at the time that it was an accident. But Attorney Li said that the injury didn't look like it was caused by someone bumping into it."

Jiang Yi's breathing became rapid.

He recalled that night in the interrogation room.

His sister experienced the same thing.

"That's not cardiac arrest."

He abruptly shook off Su Xiaoyue's hand, took a half step back, his eyes were bloodshot, and his voice sounded like it was being squeezed out from between his teeth.

"That was Xia Anmian's doing. She had people beat her, forced her to recant her testimony, and then made her disappear once she was no longer useful."

Su Xiaoyue was slightly swayed by his sudden movement, but she did not back down.

"Honey, calm down." Her voice remained steady, but a layer of worry lingered in her eyes. "We don't have any evidence yet to prove Xia Anmian did it. The forensic report isn't out yet—"

What kind of evidence do you need?

Jiang Yi's voice suddenly rose in pitch, echoing through the empty street.

"I was locked in the interrogation room all night, I signed a confession, my sister recanted her confession, and then she died. Do you think that's a coincidence? Do you believe it?"

Su Xiaoyue looked at him and remained silent for a few seconds.

"I don't believe it," she said, her voice not loud, but every word was clear.

"But we can't act impulsively now. If you go to Xia Anmian and tell her, 'You killed my sister,' will she admit it? No, she won't. She'll just laugh and say, 'What are you talking about?' and then turn and walk away. What will you do then?"

Jiang Yi's chest heaved violently, his lips were pressed into a thin line, and his jawline was taut.

"And," Su Xiaoyue took a step forward and grasped his hand again.

"Even if you find her, what do you plan to do? Curse her? Beat her up? If she really did it, why would she be afraid of you going to find her?"

"Besides, you might not know where she is. We can't find her."

Jiang Yi's breathing slowed for a moment.

"I know where she is," he said.

Su Xiaoyue was stunned for a moment: "What?"

"I know where Xia Anmian is."

Jiang Yi repeated it, his voice a little lower than before.

"I've memorized the address of her studio."

Su Xiaoyue's gaze lingered on his face for a moment, as if trying to determine whether what he said was true or just nonsense uttered in the heat of the moment.

Jiang Yi's expression did not change. His eyes were red, but the light in them was not out of control; rather, it was a colder, more resolute chill.

"Are you sure?" Su Xiaoyue asked.

"I'm sure," Jiang Yi said. "I've seen the address of her studio. It's on the street outside the west gate of Tsinghua and Peking Universities, called 'Yimian Studio.' She's there."

When Su Xiaoyue heard the words "Yimian", her eyelashes trembled very slightly.

She didn't press him about the meaning of the name, but simply held his hand, remained silent for a few seconds, and then said, "Okay, I'll go with you."