Qin Guan truly collapsed.
He never imagined he would lose so completely.
Feng Zhi had no alibi for the crime—the kid had been at school constantly from before the incident until now, never stepping away.
That alone completely cleared him of suspicion.
And the only key witness, "Zeng Demei," couldn't be found at all—the only time surveillance captured her was at Bell Sound Alley in the western suburbs. After that, she vanished without a trace.
Of course, she hadn't gone to Xu Ruyi either—after Qin Guan's desperate, hoarse pleas and repeated urging, Old He finally told him: his team had indeed been "monitoring" Xu Ruyi's movements. But they'd found no private contact between Xu Ruyi and "Zeng Demei."
If "Zeng Demei" had really been hidden away by Xu Ruyi, as Qin Guan claimed, the police would have found evidence. If "Zeng Demei" had been bribed by Xu Ruyi, then now would be the perfect time for her to extort Xu Ruyi. She would surely have surfaced.
But she hadn't.
Nothing.
Guanlan Court was calm. Xu Ruyi and Auntie Feng lived peacefully with the child—the only change was that Xu Ruyi had listed the apartment for sale. She planned to sell the large flat.
That was understandable too. Could anyone still live in a love nest tainted by her husband's affair and murder?
Feng Zhi, brought to Guanlan Court by Old He for a few days, was also invited to the police station for several thorough "chats." Nothing came of it—if there had been even a shred of a clue, that stubborn, rigid old detective, who never gave up on digging for the truth, wouldn't have looked so utterly defeated.
And most crucial of all: Qi Min's time of death.
Qin Guan racked his brain but couldn't make sense of it. This point had originally been his surefire winning card—as a criminal defense lawyer, he knew well that the time of death was something ordinary people couldn't alter.
It was even more impossible to fool a professional medical examiner.
Originally, this point alone could have completely overturned everything Xu Ruyi had done.
He could even have cleverly pinned Qi Min's death on Xu Ruyi. The timeline matched. All the details proved Xu Ruyi's early involvement. Xu Ruyi's clumsy, unnecessary theatrics had already aroused police suspicion.
He had the ability to do it. He could almost see the dawn of victory—as long as Xu Ruyi was arrested as a suspect and interrogated, given his understanding of that bitch, she wouldn't last three days before crumbling.
And once she cracked, nothing—not the nanny Feng Xiangping, not Feng Zhi, not "Zeng Demei"—would hold.
But now, everything was reversed.
Qi Min's time of death was one month ago—during the business trip when he was secretly meeting her.
Qin Guan couldn't fathom it. He simply couldn't—how on earth had Xu Ruyi managed it?
Even Qin Guan, as a lawyer who had facilitated false alibis for clients more than once, knew he absolutely couldn't pull off something like this—it was a corpse! What trick had she used? And she'd fooled the medical examiner too?
Qin Guan couldn't figure it out. But he knew this one point allowed Xu Ruyi to nail him firmly to this chain of evidence.
One month ago, during his secret rendezvous with Qi Min at the Lakeside Charm Hotel, he'd used a stocking to strangle her during their passionate encounter—Qi Min's fractured neck bone and the black stockings stained with Qi Min's epithelial tissue both proved it.
Combined with Qi Min's time of death.
Even an amateur could see this was ironclad proof.
Qin Guan could no longer retract his confession. No matter how unwilling he was, no matter how he struggled in the detention center—he struggled, he collapsed, he raged, he frantically called for Old He, he demanded to see Xu Ruyi, he even smashed his head against the wall in self-harm twice.
But it was all futile.
He could only follow this chain of evidence forward—the case was quickly submitted, all pre-trial procedures were completed, and the defense lawyer he requested was in place.
Yes, Qin Guan had finally gotten a lawyer.
Because he was utterly disoriented. He couldn't even grasp the truth anymore. He had no confidence of winning at all.
But this lawyer only plunged a knife deeper into his chest.
It was the lawyer provided by the police.
Simply put, it was one of those inexperienced, unknown junior lawyers, there just to go through the motions and fulfill the procedural requirement.
Naturally, Qin Guan didn't want him. But the people he did want to hire wouldn't touch the case.
As his spouse, Xu Ruyi refused to hire a lawyer for him.
Her refusal was justified: "He cheated and murdered, betraying our marriage and family. Legally, ethically, and emotionally, he cannot be forgiven."
The law firm where Qin Guan had worked had initially, when he was first brought in for questioning, sent someone to actively try to get him out—the boss who'd always admired him. But now, the boss saw him as a disgrace. The moment Qin Guan was formally arrested, the firm fired him at lightning speed, swiftly cutting all ties.
Moreover, not a single person in the entire firm was willing to defend him.
Other firms were the same. Those colleagues he'd had good relations with, who'd helped each other out, those "good brothers" he'd drunk and boasted with—all refused Qin Guan's invitation after receiving it.
Rise to power, and all things flock to you; fall from grace, and all things scatter. Qin Guan was experiencing the brutal reality of cold, fickle human nature firsthand.
And this greenhorn lawyer assigned by the police, whose suit didn't even fit properly, glanced through the case file and tossed Qin Guan a single line: "Not much to say about this case, is there? All the evidence is there—witnesses, physical proof, motive… everything. You can't win."
He advised Qin Guan to confess.
"Better to admit it early. I'll defend you on the grounds of temporary insanity, impulsive killing. How about that? Might avoid the death penalty."
"GET OUT—GET THE HELL OUT—"
Qin Guan flew into a rage. If his hands hadn't been cuffed, he would have lunged and slapped the man hard across the face—if he admitted to murder, what use was this lawyer?
"So vicious, no wonder no one else would take the case, sent me instead," the young man muttered, startled by Qin Guan's frenzy. He stood to leave but couldn't resist a parting shot: "I heard your mother was crazy. Want us to get a psychiatric evaluation too? Plead insanity? Mental illness is often hereditary. Maybe you don't even realize you have problems. Could get you fewer years inside—"
"GET OUT—"
Qin Guan roared the words, his voice ragged. He nearly choked on his fury, stiffening in the visitation room.
The tiger fallen to the plain is bullied by dogs.
He, Qin Guan—a rising star in the legal field, the promising, renowned lawyer Qin Guan—had fallen to such depths.
*The lover who likes to vanish.