Mr. Yuan’s Dilemma: Can’t Help Falling in Love with You

Mu Chenyan’s heart was conflicted. She truly did not know how to console her.

Wen Ya had calmed down once she had finished crying. Her eyes were red and swollen, and her entire body trembled from exhaustion.

“I’m sorry… Can I… Can I water the Japanese banana tree?”

The corners of Wen Ya’s eyes were streaked with tears. She mumbled something about the ground near the Japanese banana tree being a mess. Aside from Wen Ya, no one knew that her child was buried under the tree. How could she leave this area dirty?

“Of course!” said the police officer who was busy taking inventory of the scene. He continued, “But I have to remind you that this is a crime scene, Mrs. Yuan. You can’t live here anymore because we’ll have to seal it later.”

Wen Ya nodded. “I know.”

She turned and entered the mansion as she spoke. She came out with a bucket of water to wash her vomit away from the bottom of the Japanese banana tree. She filled another two buckets to water the surrounding plants and flowers as well.

Mu Chenyan and Yuan Xuan exchanged glances. Yuan Xuan whispered, “Wen Ya should live in Upper Mansion. Grandmother needs someone to accompany her too.”

Wen Ya nodded. She turned to the police officer from earlier and said, “I’m going inside to take some of my personal belongings. Is that alright?”

The officer looked at Third Young Master Yuan before he turned to Wu Huai who was beside him. Wu Huai nodded.

The officer said, “Yes, but we’ll have to examine the things you’re taking with you. I’m sorry, Mrs. Yuan. We have to question everyone inside this mansion now, but it’s just a formality.”

Wen Ya nodded. “Understood. I’m going to get my things now.”

*

During the next few days, everyone in the major crimes department was extremely busy because of this case.

On one hand, Yuan Zhe held an important position in the government sector. On the other hand, Yuan Tangzhong would have insisted that they solved this case as quickly as possible since it had involved the Yuan Family even if Yuan Xuan had not pressured them.

They were also in a tight spot because the public was pressuring them. Many people had seen the crime scene online because this program was live streamed at that time.

There were only a few people who had watched the live stream in the first place, but it circulated rapidly throughout the internet once they heard about the murder. Screenshots of the video started popping up everywhere. Fortunately, the members of the Yuan Family took action after that and took down all of them.

However, the bad press surrounding this incident would continue to spread with each passing day should the case was not cracked.

The city leaders even appeared to supervise the solving of the case on their own.

Wu Huai felt very disheartened. There were many strange things about this case that they could not make sense of.

The major crimes department had organized a meeting to discuss this. As Mu Chenyan had previously played a big role in solving Sun Xu’s case, Su Qingcheng vouched for her right to sit in on the meeting.

Mu Chenyan was incredibly touched while Zhang Xin could not believe her good fortune.

“Captain Wu, my fellow colleagues, the forensic department has determined that Yuan Zhe was indeed poisoned to death. The time of his death was 10:28 a.m. that day.

“The remaining coffee in the pot was also tainted. It might be a kind of composite poison. Another set of tests need to be done before the exact components can be determined. According to the information that was provided by the reporters who were present, only 40 minutes had passed between when the coffee was made and when the poisoning symptoms began to appear. In other words, that was a lethal poison.”

Su Qingcheng showed everyone the slides with the details of the case before she informed them about the conclusion.

Everyone thought it sounded very suspicious. They started discussing it among themselves.

“The poison was detected in the coffee pot and all three of them drank from it.”

“It’s a lethal poison but only Yuan Zhe died while the other two reporters are fine. How could that be possible?”

“Did the coffee in the victim’s cup have the same amount of poison as the rest?” asked Little Jiang.

“No, there was poison in the victim’s cup, but there was none in the other two cups. Hence, only one person died,” answered Su Qingcheng.

“Could it be that the poison was placed on the sides of the cup?” asked Mu Chenyan quietly.

She was an outsider, but she could not help but ask this question because she thought something was not right about it.

Su Qingcheng smiled. “The reporters who were there also said that they saw Yuan Zhe taking three cups out. He even washed them in the sink before he randomly distributed them. If someone was trying to poison another party intentionally, they’d have to ensure that their intended victim used the tainted cup!”

“The poison could not have only been placed on the inner walls of the cup. How would that explain the poison inside the coffee pot as well?” Wu Huai responded.

“Are you certain that they drank from the same pot?” asked Zhang Liang, the police officer.

“Yes, the reporter said that they drank the coffee while chatting for about half an hour. The victim then had a sudden reaction due to the poison he took in. No one touched the coffee pot after that.”

Su Qingcheng had no experience with cases like this since she had only started this job recently. She was merely relaying the information that the forensic department had concluded from the investigation.

It seemed as though dark clouds were looming above Wu Huai’s head. Cases like this that were without any main threads were enough to complicate his feelings and put him in a bad mood.

He paced around the meeting room. His expression was extremely gloomy without the slightest hint of warmth. He asked suddenly, “What did the servants say in their statements?”

Zhang Liang reported in a hurry, “There were two of them who worked for Yuan Zhe and his wife in the Yuan Family’s Peace Mansion. One of them left several days ago after requesting for leave. Cui Jinhua is their only remaining servant now. Little Cui’s statement showed that she was usually in charge of cooking. Mrs. Yuan would cook occasionally as well. The water that the victim drank before he died was taken from the water filter in his house.”

Wu Huai glanced at Mu Chenyan after hearing that. The woman nodded gently in agreement.

“Has the water source been examined?” asked Wu Huai.

Zhang Liang answered, “Yes, there were no signs of poison inside the clean water.”

Wu Huai sighed. He was so troubled that he pinched himself. “This is so strange. How did the victim come into contact with the poison then?”

Su Qingcheng nearly burst out laughing. It was rare to see Wu Huai like this except when he encountered exceptionally troublesome matters.

Wu Huai turned around, and his gaze fell on Mu Chenyan. Suddenly, a faint smile appeared on his face. His team members always thought that he looked uglier when he smiled than when he cried, and they were right.

“Miss Mu, how was Yuan Zhe’s relationship with his wife?”

Mu Chenyan was already not used to seeing Wu Huai smile. She was even more shocked when she heard him mention Wen Ya. The other police officers glanced at her simultaneously as well. Despite being an outsider here, Mu Chenyan seemed to know more inside information than them.

“Captain Wu, are you suspecting Wen Ya?”

She sounded rather impatient, and her tone was tinged with unhappiness.

Naturally, she was aware of the torture that Wen Ya suffered during her marriage. His death meant that Wen Ya had escaped her violent abuser. However, her innocence was being doubted now.

“Miss Mu, please don’t be swayed by your emotions. I’m merely asking this as a mere formality!”

Wu Huai could tell that Mu Chenyan harbored personal feelings about this.

“It’d be easier for me to judge properly if you’d give me an honest answer! Wen Ya will still be interrogated even if you refuse to answer. She was the closest person to the victim after all.”

Wu Huai continued to stare at Mu Chenyan after he had finished speaking.

Mu Chenyan stood up. Her face clearly showed that she was upset. “If this is merely a formality, you should just call Wen Ya here for questioning, Captain Wu. You don’t have to ask me.”