Chapter 35

"What was it?" Qi Fei listened intently; it was all just sordid, dirty business.

Pan Ting's eyes darted away again, and he lowered his voice: "This matter, absolutely, absolutely must not be known by others... Niu Yinzhu made me pay a huge sum of money to that hotel where the incident happened. At first, I didn't understand what kind of crazy move this was. This woman was too calm; she didn't seem like someone of her age. Initially, I thought it was hush money for the hotel. Later, after having more contact with Nancheng Investment, I realized she was far more terrifying than I had imagined."

Qi Fei recalled what he and Zhong Kui had overheard yesterday and guessed seven or eight parts of it, but he still pretended not to know: "How so?"

"This money wasn't for her own use. You police must know whether the scandal at Nancheng Investment is true or false," Pan Ting said with a "you know what I mean" expression.

Qi Fei, however, said expressionlessly: "I don't know."

"The relationship between their boss and the beautiful second-in-command, isn't that known to everyone? It was indeed that hotel, no mistake. Damn it, this Niu Yinzhu was making me pay for someone else's lover's room! But I'm also very strange; besides Niu Yinzhu, only I knew about this. I think that Luo Yin guy is mostly suspicious of me. Just now, Feng Yi called me saying this project has this problem and that problem. Heh, this is a sign of crossing the river and tearing down the bridge. Ever since Luo settled the matter of his wife reporting him, I knew my project would likely fail. They are betting on the fact that these days, people laugh at the poor but not at the prostitute!"

Guessing and hearing it were two different kinds of psychological shock.

Qi Fei knew Lao Qian described Niu Yinzhu as "fawning," but he hadn't expected her to fawn so thoroughly.

However, on the other hand, judging by the hospital records, Qi Fei could be certain that until Niu Yinzhu went missing, she had never been assaulted.

"Are you sure the person you had a relationship with was Niu Yinzhu?" Qi Fei asked.

Hearing this, Pan Ting immediately sat up straight, as if he had been asked the question closest to his heart.

"Let me tell you, if I hadn't seen Niu Yinzhu sleeping right next to me, really, that night, I always thought it was a beauty. Although I don't remember her face, I still remember that great figure no matter how much I drank. It was absolutely not like Niu Yinzhu, who is short and fat!" Pan Ting opened his eyes wide as he spoke.

Qi Fei fell into deep thought. Someone didn't want them to discover Niu Yinzhu's imperforate hymen issue; undoubtedly, they just didn't want to expose that the person who had a relationship with Pan Ting wasn't Niu Yinzhu.

"Who was there the day you drank?"

"It was Luo Yin, Feng Yi, and Niu Yinzhu. I just remember I drank too much. Niu Yinzhu took the initiative to offer to send me back to my room. The things that happened later were out of control, and I don't remember them very clearly either, otherwise why would I say it was a honey trap!"

"Do you mean it's also possible that nothing happened between you and Niu Yinzhu?"

When asked this, Pan Ting retreated, mumbling: "This... I know myself, it should have happened..."

"Then that's strange, Niu Yinzhu was still a virgin," Qi Fei said.

"Ah, that's impossible... There were bloodstains on the sheets. If it weren't for that, I wouldn't have agreed to pay the hotel for her. To be honest, what era is this? My company has lawyers too. Who can say for sure whether this thing was voluntary or forced? But looking at that situation, at least I felt a bit uneasy," Pan Ting said, then asked with concern, "Are you sure she was...?"

"We checked the hospital records. After the incident you mentioned, she went to the hospital for a check-up. I am certain," Qi Fei said affirmatively.

Pan Ting was completely stunned, slumped in his seat, and muttered: "Damn it, it really was a honey trap. They lied to me!"

Looking at Pan Ting's indignant appearance, for Qi Fei, this only increased his suspicion:

"I know you've been questioned many times, but Niu Yinzhu went missing on the trip you asked her to take. At what point did you lose contact with her?"

Pan Ting recalled: "If you really put it that way, the process of losing contact was indeed a bit strange... I remember I was particularly busy in Hai City those few days. During that time, I received a call from Niu Yinzhu. She asked why the person picking her up hadn't arrived yet, her tone very impatient. I saw there were still two hours until her arrival time, so I felt unhappy, thinking that this Niu Yinzhu, following that Feng Yi, had the exact same habit of putting on airs, so I hung up the phone and ignored her."

"Are you sure her exact words were asking why the person picking her up hadn't arrived yet?" Qi Fei immediately became alert.

"I'm sure of this, because it was said very rudely. I was very angry at the time, so I won't remember it wrong."

In the office, Qi Fei was reading through Niu Yinzhu's information page by page. Wu Shanqiu handed him a cup of hot tea and curiously leaned over: "Brother Fei, you've almost worn out this content. What exactly are you looking for?"

"I chatted with Pan Ting, the person Niu Yinzhu went on her last business trip with, and discovered something very strange," Qi Fei said, taking out a hand-drawn chart with two timelines on it. "Look here, this is the time Pan Ting gave for his various contacts with Niu Yinzhu. Normally, from Nancheng to Hai City, it's two hours by high-speed rail and three hours by bus. Before she left, she asked Pan Ting why the person picking her up hadn't arrived yet. About an hour later, she asked him for a location link to the destination. Pan Ting ignored both questions because he was too busy. This is the location of her mobile phone signal captured when the Niu Yinzhu disappearance case was investigated back then, and it was also the last time her message was captured. When she asked Pan the first question, her location was in the suburbs of Nancheng. When she asked the second question, the information captured by the base station showed she was on the highway to Hai City. Because of this record back then, the investigation direction was always searching along the route from Nancheng to Hai City."

Wu Shanqiu listened carefully and also discovered the strangeness in it: "This, usually we would clarify where the destination is before we set off, and only ask where the person picking us up is when we are almost there, right? The order of Niu Yinzhu's questions is a bit strange."

"Mm, it's as if she was in a completely different space-time from Pan Ting."

"I saw in the records that the time they agreed to meet was 4:00 PM. According to the time Niu Yinzhu first contacted Pan Ting, whether by high-speed rail or bus, it was impossible for her to appear in Hai City on time. Did she not mention to the other party that she was going to be late?"

"I confirmed with Pan Ting that Niu Yinzhu's exact words to him were, 'Why hasn't the person picking me up arrived yet?' instead of 'When will the person picking me up arrive?' It sounds more like she had been waiting for a long time and was urging them because she hadn't seen anyone."