Roses in Flames

Cheng Lei carried a cup of coffee into Xiao Lin's office.

"Sister Yuntang is beautiful, kind-hearted, and incredibly rich. She treated us to brand-name coffees."

Cheng Lei glanced at Xiao Lin's desk and, seeing there was no coffee on it, immediately leaned closer with a wink. "Boss, why don't you have any? This morning in the elevator, I sensed something was off between you and Sister Yuntang. Did you two have a fight?"

Xiao Lin glared coldly at Cheng Lei. "You can't afford your own coffee, so you have to drink the one she buys?"

Cheng Lei looked at the man with a taut jawline and a face so cold it seemed like a layer of frost could be scraped off. "Boss, that's not what I meant. I'm just curious, Sister Yuntang has only been with our unit for a short time, how did you two get into a conflict?"

"Stop overthinking." Xiao Lin's deep voice carried an undeniable authority.

Cheng Lei took a sip of coffee. "It's really delicious."

Seeing that his boss's expression was getting colder and colder, Cheng Lei dared not dabble in his territory anymore.

He put down his coffee, his expression turning serious. "Boss, can we close Jiang Ning's case now?"

Xiao Lin lowered his eyes and looked at Xu Bainian's testimony again.

"There are still two points of doubt that have not been clarified."

Cheng Lei looked in the direction Xiao Lin was pointing.

Xiao Lin said in a deep, cold voice, "Firstly, Xu Bainian stated in his confession that he strangled Jiang Ning to death and then smashed an ashtray over her head. However, the autopsy report issued by Forensic Doctor Ye shows that Jiang Ning was not dead when she was strangled. Why did Xu Bainian believe that he had strangled her to death?"

Cheng Lei nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, since she's already been strangled, why bother smashing an ashtray over her head?"

Xiao Lin then pointed to another part of the testimony, "Secondly, Xu Bainian revealed that on the day he killed Jiang Ning, Jiang Ning was watching a video of him and Lin Qianqian cheating on each other on the sofa. At that time, Jiang Ning's emotions must have been extremely broken. Under such circumstances, would she still be in the mood to wear rose perfume?"

During the autopsy, Ye Yuntang discovered rose perfume on Jiang Ning's remains.

Only when applied in large quantities before death can the perfume seep into the subcutaneous tissue and then into the bone crevices along with bodily fluids.

Cheng Lei frowned. "Boss, your analysis makes a lot of sense. It really doesn't make sense. A woman who is heartbroken wouldn't spray so much perfume on herself."

"Unless—" Xiao Lin narrowed his dark eyes and suddenly stood up from the leather chair, "Come with me to the forensic room."

Cheng Lei hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Do you need me to come along?"

"Just follow me."

"Yes."

Cheng Lei increasingly felt that his boss must have had a conflict with Sister Yuntang.

……

Forensic room.

Looking at the documents in her hand, Ye Yuntang said to her assistant Xiao Wei, "There are still suspicious points in Jiang Ning's case. Normal perfume spraying shouldn't be able to penetrate into the bones..."

Ye Yuntang rubbed her chin with her fingers as she wrote down the suspicious points in the report. "Xiao Wei, take this to Captain Xiao."

No sooner had he finished speaking than Xiao Lin and Cheng Lei arrived.

Ye Yuntang and Xiao Lin's eyes met unexpectedly.

"Captain Xiao, Lei Zi." Xiao Wei stepped forward to greet him and handed the report in her hand to Xiao Lin.

"Sister Yuntang, you and our boss are really in sync. You've both come up with the same suspicious points," Cheng Lei said with a smile.

Ye Yuntang looked at Xiao Lin again. Xiao Lin's expression was cold and stern, revealing no emotional fluctuations. "Forensic Doctor Ye, when you performed the autopsy on the deceased, were there any abnormalities in her uterus?"

Ye Yuntang handed a document to Xiao Lin: "The uterus is intact, both fallopian tubes are patent, and the ovaries are of normal size."

Xiao Lin's thin, crimson lips, pressed tightly together beneath his high, straight nose, formed a straight line.

For some reason, he immediately arranged for someone to check which hospital Xu Bainian and Jiang Ning had their medical examination reports from back then.

After finding out, Xiao Lin, Cheng Lei, and Ye Yuntang went to the city hospital together.

Cheng Lei drove, Xiao Lin sat in the passenger seat, and Ye Yuntang sat in the back.

No one spoke in the carriage; the atmosphere was somewhat tense.

Cheng Lei tried to lighten the mood, "Sister Yuntang, did you know that Song Che and I used to be mortal enemies?"

Ye Yuntang shook her head. "I don't know."

"During a PE class in elementary school, Song Che kept hogging the horizontal bar and wouldn't let me play. I got angry and went down to pull him, which resulted in pulling down his pants. Little did I know he wasn't wearing underwear, so he was completely exposed."

"We were both stunned. Some classmates nearby started making a fuss. I wanted to help Song Che put his pants back on, but he got so agitated that he peed himself."

"He sprayed me in the face, and afterwards we both hated each other and developed a psychological shadow on each other."

Ye Yuntang was successfully amused. "So, what was the reason you two made up?"

"We both got into the same police academy and fell in love with the same girl online. The girl's voice was just as nice as Wangzai Xiao Qiao's, but she wasn't as pretty as Wangzai Xiao Qiao. At least Wangzai Xiao Qiao was a girl."

Ye Yuntang narrowed her beautiful eyes slightly. "Could it be a burly man picking his toes?"

"He was even more terrifying than a burly man picking his toes. He was just an old man picking his toes. After we found out the truth, we hugged each other and cried. After that, our relationship improved."

Ye Yuntang couldn't help but chuckle, "You two really are brothers in misfortune."

"And what about you? What happened with our boss? Did you have a fight?"

"Who argued with him—"

Before Ye Yuntang could finish speaking, the man in the passenger seat suddenly coughed softly.

Ye Yuntang's words came to an abrupt end.

She glanced at Xiao Lin, then looked at Cheng Lei, who was driving, and said, "Lei Zi, you've gone bad, you've even learned to trick people into talking. I'm not familiar with your eldest son, how could we possibly argue?"

Cheng Lei chuckled, "Actually, our old man is quite nice; he may seem cold on the outside, but he's warm on the inside."

Ye Yuntang thought to himself, "What do you mean?"

If she's cold on the outside but warm on the inside, she'll get angry with her every day.

What type of man does Forensic Doctor Ye like?

"Fair-skinned and clean-cut, refined and polite, with a humorous way of speaking."

Anyway, it can't be someone like Xiao Gou!

……

Upon arriving at the city hospital, the three went to the director's office.

Upon learning the purpose of the three people's visit, the dean instructed someone to go to the archives to find Xu Bainian and Jiang Ning's medical examination records from that year.

An hour later.

The dean handed the files to Xiao Lin.

Xiao Lin put on gloves, took out the documents inside, and quickly scanned them page by page with his dark eyes.

After reviewing Jiang Ning's medical examination results, he then looked at Xu Bainian's.

When he saw the words "azoospermia," his dark eyes narrowed suddenly.

Just as he guessed, the one who couldn't have children wasn't Jiang Ning, but Xu Bainian.

After making a copy of the medical examination data, Xiao Lin and the others returned to the police station.

Xu Bainian was taken back to the interrogation room.

Xu Bainian looked at Xiao Lin with bloodshot eyes and a weary expression. "Officer, I've already confessed. You can sentence me however you want. There's no need for further interrogation... I've come this far, and I accept it all."

Xiao Lin, his face grim, threw the two medical reports onto the table, his voice icy cold, "You weren't the only one who killed Jiang Ning. Are you going to continue hiding this?"

Xu Bainian hesitated for a moment, his gaze falling on the report that Xiao Lin had thrown at him.

Upon recognizing what it was, his pupils contracted sharply.

How...how is that possible?