My Dearest General: It Has Always Been You

"Miss Wu." Qin Weizhe nodded as he opened his notebook and pen. "Miss Wu Ruoqing, right?"

Wu Ruoqing's voice was weak and raspy as she answered. "…Right."

It was 2.30 am, the time when people were usually deep in sleep. At times like these, they would be prone to psychological attack and Qin Weizhe decided to make use of it to throw a huge bomb. "The scandal about Wu Wengen and your husband, can you tell me about it?"

Wu Ruoqing was petrified and her haggard face abruptly lost all colors. "W—What?"

"There have been some rumors that Wu Wengen was engaged in an unusual relationship with your husband. Is that true?" In this context, Qin Weizhe didn't elaborate anything. The term 'unusual' didn't only have one meaning. By this, he could measure Wu Ruoqing's reaction.

As he expected, anger, humiliation and pain flashed through Wu Ruoqing's eyes even though she tried hard to cover it up. "I—I don't know what you're talking about."

Qin Weizhe's lips curled up. "I have got some evidence here that you might want to see." He opened the laptop and showed it to the woman. He sneered as horror emerged on her face. "Let's see, if you can't answer this, let me ask you another question."

Qin Weizhe slammed the laptop shut, leaned forward and whispered, a chilling yet wide smile painted on his face. "Miss Wu Ruoqing, how does it feel to kill your own brother?"

***

The interrogation room closed behind him and Qin Weizhe took a seat. "I'm sorry to make you wait."

The man in front of him replied with a tired and sad smile. "It's okay. How about it? Have you found Wengen's killer yet?" Seeing Qin Weizhe's somber expression, the man added wryly. "Mr. Police Officer, Wengen is my best friend. His death pained me very much. I hope that you can get him justice as soon as possible."

"Alright, we will do our best." Qin Weizhe forced a smile. "Let's start then. May I ask for your name, Sir?"

"I am surnamed Cui, given name Qiqiang." The man answered earnestly. "I am 32 years old, the same as Wengen."

"Oh?" Qin Weizhe raised a brow. "You must have known him for a very long time?"

"Yes." Cui Qiqiang rubbed his face, his eyes reddened as he spoke. "We were university classmates when we first met. How long has it been? 10 years? 12 years? I—I never expected that he would—"

Qin Weizhe offered him tissues. "My deepest condolences, Mr.Cui."

"No, it's okay." Cui Qiqiang took a deep breath and recomposed his emotion.

Once again, Qin Weizhe threw another bomb. "The scandal between you and Wu Wengen, is it true?"

Cui Qiqiang was immensely shocked. Then, a wry smile flashed across his face. "What scandal? It's just bullshit. Me and Wengen were the best of friends, we were roommates back in university and Wengen often invited me to his house. I didn't know how such a rumor came by, but it's just so cruel. We were clearly best friends, but people twisted all of our gestures and closeness as something more. In the end, those rumors destroyed Wengen."

"So, the reason why he moved out of the Wu Family after you got married is because of that?"

Cui Qiqiang hesitated before nodding. "Wengen has always been very kind. He knew that I and Ruoqing were in love with each other and if he stayed, then we would often meet. Who knows what kind of rumors will spread again by then? He really loved his sister and didn't want her to get hurt. So, he took the initiative to live by himself to refute those people's speculation."

"In the end, did you keep in touch all these years?"

"Not often. We called each other from time to time. Sometimes, when Ruoqing returned from abroad, she would buy some gifts and we would go together to Wengen's place to hang out."

"When was the last time you saw him?"

"It's…around a month ago? Wengen was drunk back in a bar then and he called me, saying that someone has been chasing after him and maybe, he would no longer be single soon. He sounded delirious and I was worried about him, so I went to pick him up and bring him home."

"Which bar is it?"

Cui Qiqiang's brows knitted as he tried to recall. "If I'm not wrong…it's Dreamscape Bar or something like that? It's Wengen's favorite bar and he often went there."

Qin Weizhe scribbled on his notebook and nodded. "Do you know that he asked for leave from his work after that?"

"No…" Cui Qiqiang shook his head, confused. "Is there something wrong with his job? Did he make some enemies?"

Qin Weizhe tapped on his notebook that was filled with dense writing. Wu Wengen had been missing for three weeks. But then, he called work, saying that he would like to ask for leave for a while. His neighbors were accustomed to him having business trips so they weren't alarmed by his absence. It was only the housewives in the apartment district that were gossiping about his disappearance. However, those talks couldn't be taken seriously either because they would talk about anything and anyone.

In short, Wu Wengen's disappearance was completely normal yet after that, he vanished into thin air. And the next moment, he had already turned into a corpse whose body wasn't even intact.

"Last question," Qin Weizhe smiled. "As Wu Wengen's best friend, who do you think will have such a grudge against him enough to kill?"

Cui Qiqiang's shoulders trembled minutely. "I don't know…Mr. Police Officer, Wu Wengen is the kindest and gentlest man I have ever known. Such a person…I don't know who would hate him so much…"

"Alright." Qin Weizhe rose from his seat and patted his shoulder. "Rest assured, we will definitely catch the killer!"

"Thank you…" Cui Qiqiang buried his face into his palms and wept. "Thank you very much…"

***

Qin Weizhe entered the monitor room and looked at Cui Qiqiang's pitiful appearance from the one way mirror. "What do you think?"

Ru Meiqi crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Sly. Good performance. Impeccable." After saying that, she yawned, tears pooled up on the corner of her eyes.

Qin Weizhe's heart ached seeing her so tired like this. "If you're sleepy, go rest."

Ru Meiqi hummed and didn't insist. "If there's any emergency, call me. I will be in the lounge."

He stared at her back and only turned back when he heard Luo Ning's voice. "Detective Qin, if we didn't have that video, then I would have believed all of his words. He's so terrifying."

Seeing how his entire person became muddled, Qin Weizhe burst out in laughter and ruffled his hair. "The most believable lies are those that's mixed with truths. He's just too smart for his own good. Well, if we don't have a god level hacker that is Wang Chengbing who dug out that video from Wu Wengen's computer, then we will be fooled too. First, he said that he's just an ordinary white collar worker, but his hands have thick calluses that can only be obtained by regular training with knives and guns. Second, when I leaned close to pat his shoulder, his whole body tensed up in subconscious movement like he's ready to attack me anytime soon if I made a move."

Shock couldn't be used to describe what Luo Ning felt right now. "Knives and guns? What kind of person is he?"

"It seems like we can only know if we test him." Qin Weizhe turned to another police officer and asked. "Have you got what I asked for?"

"Yes, sir. We have obtained Mr.Cui's fingerprints and hair."

"Nice, get it tested for DNA right now. Anyway, we can detain them for 20 more hours so let's get it done by then."

"D—Detective Qin…" Luo Ning choked on his breath and horrifying chills ran down his spine. "W—Why do we have to test his fingerprint and hair? Don't tell me…"

Qin Weizhe tapped his forehead with his notebook and smiled. "It's exactly what you're thinking about. Now, we have sufficient proof and witnesses. The only thing left is to catch the real murderer."

Luo Ning felt that he was suddenly thrown into another dimension. "What real murderer? Aren't they the murderers???"

"Tsk." Qin Weizhe clicked his tongue and gave a mysterious smile. "Little Luo, you are still too inexperienced."