After midnight

Chapter 73: Shengshi Hotel, Yin and Zhao Yunqi have a secret conversation

The dry wind at night swept up the sycamore leaves on the roadside, making a rustling sound. Zhao Yunqi walked slowly and stopped when he passed a noodle shop. There were few pedestrians on the street. He was attracted by the smell of noodles and went in to order a bowl of beef noodles in clear soup.

The noodles only had a light salty taste, but he swallowed them mouthful by mouthful. He originally thought he couldn't finish them, but the noodles in the bowl gradually ran out, and he even drank a few mouthfuls of the soup before reluctantly returning to the street.

He liked walking on the street at this time, but after eating, he still couldn't muster up the energy. He couldn't describe or understand where this state came from, and when it would disappear. He was powerless to get rid of it, and he was in no hurry to get rid of it.

It was not until the creaking sound and the sound of the door closing surrounded his ears that Zhao Yunqi was instantly refreshed. The familiar and suffocating air gradually made Zhao Yunqi walk quickly towards Song Hongda's residence.

The dark courtyard was empty, and Zhao Yunqi was sweating coldly. It was impossible for his uncle to leave the courtyard, as this was Song Hongtian's order. However, Song Hongtian was already dead, and after the elders' meeting, Song Yu had not returned home.

At this moment, Zhao Yunqi saw Song Hongda stepping in from outside, but he decided to ignore him.

"Yunqi, someone broke in."

"Who?"

"Yin from 'Dark Night'."

"What is he doing here?" Zhao Yunqi was horrified.

"I don't know. I just checked. He appeared near Song Hongtian's study, but he has escaped now."

"Did he take anything?"

"No, I checked, and nothing is missing from the study. There was nothing left there except the books on the shelves."

How did the uncle know that nothing was lost? Unless he knew there was something there beforehand. Zhao Yunqi remained silent, and then Song Hongda asked him.

"Yunqi, what are you doing here?"

"Ah, no, nothing. I just want to ask how the preparations for Second Uncle's seventh day are going. Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Don't worry, everything is almost ready. Song Yu will be back in time."

"Then here at the Song Mansion..."

"Don't worry, Yin won't dare come again. It's getting late, and I see you don't look well. Go home and have a rest. We'll discuss everything after Song Yu comes back."

Zhao Yunqi nodded and walked back. After he walked a distance and felt that he had disappeared from Song Hongda's sight, he rushed home almost non-stop.

"Brother?" Zhao Yunshuang, who had been waiting in the living room after Zhao Yunqi left home, suddenly stood up when he saw him come back.

"Well, I'm fine." Zhao Yunqi said and quickly walked into the study.

He spread the letter paper flat on the table and wrote: Yin, I want to see you.

He pondered over the letter for a while, tore up the letter with a sizzle, and took out another piece of letter paper and wrote: Yin, I must see you. He thought for a moment and added two more words, as soon as possible.

Yin, I must see you as soon as possible.

Not long after the letter flew out, Zhao Yunshuang's weak voice came from outside the door. "Brother... has something happened again?"

"It's okay, don't think about it."

Zhao Yunqi couldn't bear to hear Yun Shuang hesitating, trembling, and carefully waiting for a response, so he stood up, calmed down his excessive mood, and opened the door.

"Brother, I made some porridge, would you like to have some?"

"Okay." Zhao Yunqi touched his stomach and felt that he was not very full after eating a bowl of noodles.

Yin's reply was quicker than Zhao Yunqi expected. Before he had even finished his bowl of millet porridge, the letter arrived. He took out a tissue with one hand and used the other to pick up the reply letter that fell on the corner of the table.

The reply was very concise. Yin said: Room 313 of Shengshi Hotel at o'clock tomorrow night.

Shengshi Hotel is a very famous hotel, and it is crowded at night. Eating there will not attract attention at all, after all, the people coming and going are all dignitaries. After Zhao Yunqi finished his meal, he went into the kitchen to wash the dishes and washed the letter under the faucet.

The letter paper immediately shredded into pieces after being stained by water, and the ink also blurred. Zhao Yunqi mercilessly threw it into a trash can full of rotten vegetable leaves.

At about 7:3 the next evening, Zhao Yunqi walked into the door of Shengshi. He glanced around the nearly full hall and walked to the third floor, avoiding people. He had accompanied Song Hongtian here more than once or twice before, so he was quite familiar with it.

He ignored the instructions of the receptionist and turned to the left of the 3rd floor skillfully. If he remembered correctly, room 313 should be here. Yes, he looked up at the room number, and rooms 311 and 312 appeared together, but they were facing each other in front of a wall, and there was no extra room 313.

Yin would not make such a low-level mistake. He had not noticed that there was only room 312. Zhao Yunqi casually grabbed a waiter who had just finished serving the food and asked, "Hello, where is room 313?"

"Which room number?" the waiter asked, almost in surprise, without caring about being polite.

"313."

"Sir, may I ask your surname?"

"My surname is Zhao, Zhao Yunqi."

"Okay, Mr. Zhao, I'll take you there right away."

The waiter spoke quickly, and then walked away quickly. Zhao Yunqi hurriedly followed him. The cheerful sounds of people toasting and drinking in the rooms on both sides were endless, and people kept walking in the corridor, but the waiter walked quickly and moved freely, without worrying whether Zhao Yunqi behind him could keep up.

After turning left and right, Zhao Yunqi ignored the sign that said "No Trespassing" and slipped into the kitchen. The waiter was already waiting at a side door. Zhao Yunqi walked forward calmly, and the door opened with a click. After he walked in, the door was quickly locked, and no one followed him.

After Zhao Yunqi groped his way through a dim corridor, he came to the end of the road. The house number at the end was clearly written as 313. Zhao Yunqi chuckled, turned the doorknob and opened the door. The light was on in the room. It was indeed a place to eat, but there was no wine or food on the table.

"You're here. There are still 20 minutes before the agreed time." Yin greeted him.

"When did Shengshi Hotel become yours?" Zhao Yunqi was not stupid. If Yin did not have complete control over Shengshi, he would never have been able to do this.

“The prosperity has always been mine.”

"Impossible. The Golden Age was established ten years ago. How old were you then?"

Yin smiled and said nothing, Zhao Yunqi could not help but sweat coldly. Since the moment the second and third floors of Shengshi Hotel were built, they have been the first choice for entertaining politicians and dignitaries. There is too much information that can be exposed on the dining table.

"Don't think too much. Opening a hotel is purely for making money. How can you build an intelligence network without a lot of money transactions?"

"So you have other businesses under your name? Do you have any cooperative relationships with the three major families?"

"There are industries and cooperation, but they are just small-scale operations." Yin paused and said, "Zhao Yunqi, is this what you came here to ask?"

"Of course not. What did you mean by breaking into the Song Mansion last night?"

"Song Hongda told you? That's what he meant."

"What are you going to do in Second Uncle's study? Didn't you tell me about An Yan? Will I do it for you?"

Yin glanced at him and said, "We have something to talk about tonight. Are you sure you don't want to come over and sit down?"

Yin sat on the dark leather sofa with his legs crossed and asked him. Zhao Yunqi had no choice but to walk to the opposite side of him and sit down. As soon as he sat down, the sofa sank softly. Before he could ask, Yin said, "That's right, I will tell you everything."

"As soon as I heard that Song Hongtian had died of a sudden illness, I immediately rushed to Jiudu. This is so strange, isn't it? It is said that the first crime scene after a person dies is the most important, but Song Yu and Song Hongda were there at the time, and I didn't have the courage to break in, so I went around and found Dr. Wang who had treated Song Hongtian before. But guess what, he was so hesitant that he couldn't say anything, and when I was planning to visit him again the next day, Dr. Wang died inexplicably."

"When did Dr. Wang pass away?"

"Before you go to Xidu."

"So you actually know that Song Hongtian was poisoned?"

"Yes, it's hard not to know if you've checked a pharmacy."

"Then do you know who killed Dr. Wang? Could the murderer of Dr. Wang also be the murderer of my second uncle?"

"I don't know. Don't worry, just listen to me. The second time I went to see Dr. Wang was in the dead of night. Dr. Wang was already dead but his body was still warm, so the time between me and the murderer couldn't have been long. Dr. Wang was killed with a dagger, in the throat. It was a fatal blow, and there wasn't even a lot of blood spurted out, only a bloodstain."

"Did you see the crime scene?"

"Yes, there is something very strange. Doctor Wang's body was far away from the medicine counter. I guess he knew who the murderer was. The murderer stood in the empty hall waiting for him to pass by, and then killed him with a knife. The reason I say this is because there was a book open on the medicine counter, and the pen was placed next to the book, and a kind of fruit was scratched on the book."

"Illusion fruit, right?"

"Have you seen the book?"

"Yes, the page was folded up, and the book was stuck in the pile. So you did it? Why?"

"No reason. I'm not the real murderer of Song Hongtian. I can't stop you from finding this clue, but I can't just let the book lie there. Compared to this, do you think the person who killed Dr. Wang knew that the poison in Song Hongtian was a phantom fruit?"

"According to what you said, it is largely unknown."

"I think so too."

"One more thing, Yin, what do you think was the motive for killing Dr. Wang?"

"This is very simple, because Song Hongtian's cause of death was not poison. Doctor Wang should be very clear about this. So the murderer must kill him and not let him reveal this information to the Song family."

After Yin finished speaking, the atmosphere fell into a strange silence. Zhao Yunqi turned away his gaze from Yin, wondering whether he should tell him the real cause of Song Hongtian's death. But Yin had been talking for so long, and he didn't mention anything about the night break-in at Song's mansion. He didn't know whether he should trust him.

"But last night was not the first time I broke into the Song Mansion." Yin said suddenly.

"I actually broke in once on the night you and Song Yu left. Thanks to Song Xin, Song Hongda didn't find me."

Yin continued, "At first, I searched Song Hongtian's bedroom, but I found nothing after searching it. I didn't find any clues. Then I expanded the scope and went to the study, and found a series of fragmented footprints in the yard outside the study."

"There was only one set of footprints pointing outwards. It was raining heavily the night Song Hongtian died. The footprints extended outwards and were not washed away by the rain. Instead, they were deeply imprinted into the soil. What does this indicate? It means that someone stayed in Song Hongtian's study for a long time, so long that he could have been the one who committed the crime, or he could have been the one who witnessed the crime."

What...what? Zhao Yunqi looked at Yin in shock. He had never heard of this matter. Did his uncle know this clue? Did Song Yu know it?

"However, it was too late when I found it. It was destroyed in a hurry, so as long as you are careful, you can still find a lot of things to support the speculation I just said. If you want to verify it, you can go tonight."

"I understand. Please continue."

"Since I found this, I would definitely search the study again, but something interrupted me. It was very dark at that time. I was squatting on the ground and felt someone walking in the corridor next to me. You know better than me where the road behind Song Hongtian's study leads to. So when I was about to follow him, I found that there were two people walking in front of me. They were separated by a distance. The figure walking in front of me was easy to identify. She was petite and very familiar with the road conditions. She appeared in the backyard of the Song Mansion in the middle of the night."

"...Song Xin?"

"Yes, thanks to Miss Song's eavesdropping that night, I was not exposed to Song Hongda. More importantly, I was able to find out the real cause of Song Hongtian's death. I think you know it too." After Yin finished speaking, he looked at Zhao Yunqi and stopped talking.

"Yes, I know. My second uncle was strangled to death."

"And then? Don't you have any ideas?"

"How could I not have any thoughts? On the contrary, I was going crazy. After knowing the real cause of my second uncle's death, a terrible guess has been lingering in my mind. How could Song Yu, the first person to touch the body, not notice the pinch mark?"

Zhao Yunqi stood up suddenly, a little out of control. "He was strangled to death. How vengeful and cold-blooded must one be to do that? Even if the murderer hesitated for just one second, Song Hongtian would not have to suffer and die like this. That was his biological father, and Song Yu was indifferent when he saw it?"

"He must have noticed it, but what does that mean? What do you want to say? Are you trying to criticize Song Yu for being inhumane or are you trying to say that Song Yu is the murderer who killed Song Hongtian?"

"No, he's not. I, I don't know either. Song Yu didn't take any action after he found out. I can't convince myself."

"Who said Song Yu didn't take any action? In this situation, Song Yu is much more rational than you. First, he handled his father's funeral and won the position of head of the family. Second, he never forgot to look for clues, otherwise I would not have broken into the Song Mansion at night for the second time."

Yin's last sentence was so jumpy that Zhao Yunqi couldn't understand it for a while.

"Sit down and have a drink of water first." Yin advised Zhao Yunqi, but after he finished speaking, he picked up the water and took a sip first.

After Zhao Yunqi drank some water, he realized that Yin must have denied his guess, which made him feel much better. So he said, "I'm sorry, I lost my composure. But can you explain it more clearly?"

"Yunqi, who do you think destroyed the clue to the footprints?"

"First of all, it can't be the owner of the footprints, because he will definitely not risk coming back... Song Yu? Song Hongda?" Zhao Yunqi asked tentatively, but he quickly continued: "No, it can't be Song Hongda. Uncle will not come out when Song Yu is still in the mansion."

"Yes, Song Yu must have discovered the clue, so he started chasing the owner of the footprints. The intensive and fierce pursuit caused Song Hongtian's assassin codenamed 03 to seek protection from 'Dark Night'. Because of this, I know the real murderer who killed Song Hongtian."

"Who is it?" Zhao Yunqi jumped up as if a thunder had exploded. He stared at Yin fiercely, even wondering why he could hold it in for so long.

He jumped up and accidentally knocked over the cup, and hot water flowed down. Zhao Yunqi went to look at the tiny water mark and felt his right eyelid twitching.