I benefited a lot from chatting with Fina.
Jian Jing had a preliminary understanding of the people at the observation point, but this was not enough, so she went to find Mrs. Lao next.
Mrs. Lao was in a bad mood after losing her husband. Kang She accompanied her, chatting about trivial things and discussing their future life.
"We've invested so much money, so we have to find a way." Kang Lei's business mindset is calm and objective. "It's not easy to find someone to take over here, so you have to think it through."
Mrs. Lao said bitterly: "I didn't expect to make money. Lao's job is very difficult. We can't always get funds. The government's support is a drop in the bucket. I just want to support his work."
Kang Lei said: "Lao's work is very meaningful, and it cannot be measured by money."
"Yes, I think so too. I was moved by his persistence at the beginning..." Mrs. Lao took a sip of champagne and said, "Although we have argued before, I... I never thought that he would leave me like this."
Kang Lei nodded, showing sympathy: "This is so regrettable."
"I really hope the nightmare is not over yet." Mrs. Lao held her forehead, hesitated for a while, and asked, "Lei, tell me the truth, is what Miss Jane said true?"
Kang Lei asked: "The murderer is among us?"
"This is horrible." Mrs. Lao murmured, "Who would want to kill him?"
Outside the door, Jian Jing knocked: "Can I come in?"
"Come in."
She came in with hot milk, biscuits and some candies, offering them as a token of appreciation: "You seem to have not had dinner, so you should replenish your sugar intake."
"You're just in time." Kang She's hand hesitated between the biscuits and milk for a moment. In the end, he didn't dare to eat the high-calorie food and chose hot milk. "Jingjing, talk to us. Do you really think the professor's death was murder?"
"I don't rule out this possibility." Jian Jing sat down and joined the conversation. "But to be honest, I can't think of who wants to kill him. Mrs. Lao, has the professor had any conflicts with anyone?"
Mrs. Lao hesitated and said, "I don't think so."
Jian Jing pretended to think: "Today, I am probably the only one who has a conflict with the professor. He is nothing special to other people, except that he is relatively indifferent to Dr. Cha - what do you think?"
"Yes, Lao cares about Charlie very much." Mrs. Lao admitted, "Charlie is my good friend. We have many common interests, such as watching singing and dancing performances, visiting exhibitions, and chatting about international politics. These are all things that Lao is not interested in. He always thinks that Charlie has bad intentions."
Kang She said lazily: "Men's stomachs are much smaller than women's."
"This is a characteristic of male animals, possessiveness. Only in this way can they ensure that their genes can be passed on to the next generation." Mrs. Lao is worthy of being the wife of a zoologist. Her comments are sharp. "When you are with him, he ignores you. When you are with other men, he immediately becomes nervous."
Kang She raised his eyes, glanced at Jian Jing casually, and asked casually: "So, yes no?"
Jian Jing: “???”
“just one.”
"Does the professor know about this?"
"If he had known, given his temper, he would never have allowed Charlie to come," said Mrs. Lao.
Jian Jing interrupted: "So, what is Dr. Cha's attitude towards Professor Lao?"
Mrs. Lao was stunned for a moment, then said helplessly: "They are not friends, and they don't have any intersection."
"So?" Jian Jing was confused.
"Vanilla, you have to forgive the ignorance of a young girl. We have also been through such times." Kang She said, "Jingjing, Vanilla is saying that men don't care."
Jian Jing seemed to be thinking: "Don't care means that Dr. Cha doesn't love you?"
"Oh, no." Mrs. Lao said, "He is a bachelor, and I have never thought about being with him. I have always loved Lao."
Jian Jing: “…”
Kang She patted her shoulder lovingly and said, "Men's infidelity is mostly due to lust, while women's infidelity is not always due to infidelity, boredom, depression, revenge, or anything else."
Jian Jing was stunned for a moment.
"Jingjing, in your works, love is always pure. It is only when you stop loving that you become a fool. When you love someone to the extreme and cannot get them, you will kill them for love. Life and death clarify everything, separating the clear from the turbid. But the normal state of love is chaos, with good and bad, noble and despicable, all mixed together."
Although she hasn't been an editor for a long time, Kang Lei is the one who founded Jinwu after all, and can still see through the status of each editor at a glance.
"A work is a mirror of life. When readers read your work, they are not only accepting your confession, but also examining themselves. The extreme sense of life and death is far from ordinary people, so people can easily grasp the sense of proportion. However, you cannot be satisfied with this. If you want to achieve higher literary achievements, you have to work harder."
Kang Lei finished speaking, and then said, "Don't tell Mu Cheng about this. He thinks you are still young, and it is easy to make things worse if you write something more profound and complex. I agree with his opinion, but you have to know that there is still a long way to go, so don't relax."
Jian Jingqing couldn't help but nodded.
"Okay, let's get off topic." Kang Lei changed the subject and asked directly, "Vanilla, do you think Charlie had no reason to kill the professor?"
"Cough." Jian Jing almost choked.
The society is too fierce.
Mrs. Lao asked back, "If he is unwilling to give up his belief in not getting married for me, how could he kill someone for me?"
"… One last question." Jian Jing asked, "Why did Dr. Charlie resign?"
Jian Jing ran into Chen at the door of Dr. Cha Li's room. They seemed to be arguing, but when they saw her coming, they stopped arguing at the same time.
"What are you talking about?" she asked curiously.
Dr. Charlie: “Nothing.”
Jian Jing looked at Chen, but he also refused to answer and turned away.
"Doctor," Jian Jing did not chase after him, but took the opportunity to stop Cha Li, "What do you think of the professor's death?"
Dr. Charlie: "He died of a gunshot wound. I know nothing else."
Jian Jing pretended to be surprised and lied to him: "But I heard that you had a fierce argument."
"Who said that? There's no such thing." He replied coldly.
How could Jian Jing be stumped by such a question? She continued to attack: "Because of Mrs. Lao."
Dr. Charlie's expression changed slightly.
"We didn't have an argument, we just had a few words," Charlie said. "This isn't the first time he's always making things up."
"Is it just hearsay? I think he has solid evidence." Jian Jing lowered her voice, "This is not good news for you."
Charlie raised his glasses and asked sharply, "Are you suggesting that I kill Lao?"
Jian Jing: "Obviously you deny this."
"Of course, I didn't kill him." Charlie said firmly.
Jian Jing asked: "What did you do after 8 o'clock yesterday?"
"Are you interrogating me?" he accused angrily, "Listen, you are not qualified to interrogate me, and I have the right not to answer your questions."
Jian Jing spread her hands and said, "Doctor, you don't have to emphasize something that everyone knows. In fact, I just wanted to confirm my own judgment based on my personal suspicions, and your performance... I have to say, it was terrible."
Charlie frowned, a deep ridge appeared on his forehead, and his mouth was tightly pursed. It was obvious that his master was trying his best to restrain his anger.
"Let's talk calmly." Jian Jing opened the trust card, "The deceased is a professor of little fame. The police will definitely investigate carefully. Doctor, you can't become a suspect at this time."
Doctor Charlie said coldly: "Are you threatening me?"
"We just met yesterday. Is it good for me to threaten you?" Jian Jing said, "I want the truth, and what you want, doctor, is an offer from a foreign university. We are not in conflict."
She learned from Mrs. Lao the reason why Dr. Charlie resigned - the topic he was researching was very unpopular, and the university was unwilling to allocate him any more funds, and suggested that he either change the direction of his research or find a way to raise money himself.
Dr. Cha Li was so angry that he resigned. But he did not want to give up his research, so he sent his resume to a foreign school that was studying the same topic, and is currently waiting for a response.
If he became a suspect in a murder case, the coveted offer would probably be far away from him.
Charlie was silent.
After a while, he said, "I have been staying in my room writing my paper and have not been out."
"What can prove it?"
"Ask the guy next door to me," Charlie said. "He can see my room from his side."
The person next door is reporter Li.
His tent was close to the room next to the cabin. If the curtains were not drawn, he could indeed see part of the doctor's room.
It is now 9:40 in the evening, very close to the time of the crime last night.
Jian Jing took a deep breath and went straight to reporter Li's room.
He was startled by the visitor's visit, and his expression was ambiguous: "Miss Jane? It's so late, what do you want?"
Jian Jing opened the door and said, "Doctor Cha is in some trouble. He wants to know if you can confirm that he was in the room the whole time last night?"
Reporter Li was shocked and said after a long while: "How can I do this?"
"You can see him from your room." Jian Jing turned sideways and glanced inside.
Although the tent is equipped with a retractable screen window, the view is not particularly clear, but as long as the inner sunshade curtains are not drawn, you can still vaguely see what is happening inside the cabin.
However, reporter Li apologized and said, "I didn't pay attention to the situation over there. I was very tired last night and went to bed early."
"Nothing at all?" she asked.
Reporter Li spread his hands and said, "I can't help you."
Jian Jing said disappointedly: "Really? That's too bad."
"No way, if I didn't see him, would Dr. Cha be considered the murderer?" Reporter Li looked suspicious, "Ms. Jian, do you really think that the murderer is among us?"
Jian Jing asked: "Don't you think so?"
Reporter Li said: "Who among us has a grudge against the professor? You are here for vacation. Ms. Kang and the professor and his wife are such good friends. I am here to take pictures. I am not familiar with the professor at all. Dr. Cha is a friend of Mrs. Lao. Chen has worked here for a long time. I can't think of any reason at all."
Instead, he persuaded Jian Jing: "Miss Jian, I heard that you are a writer. I know writers have rich imaginations, but novels are novels and reality is reality."
"So, you think the murderer is an outside criminal?" Jian Jing asked back.
Reporter Li shrugged: "This is a more obvious answer."
Jian Jing nodded, not wanting to argue with him anymore. She glanced at his room and said, "As a routine matter, you were in your room the whole time last night?"
"Yes, I was very tired and went to bed early." Reporter Li sighed and said helplessly, "If you want my alibi, I'm sorry, I don't have one either."
"Thank you for your cooperation."
Jian Jing turned and left.