Couple of Mirrors – Chapter 35: Rescuing Yan Wei
Yan Wei concludes her story. ‘You know the rest,’ she tells Xu Youyi.
‘What about Chu Huizi?’ asks Xu Youyi.
‘I didn’t kill her,’ says Yan Wei.
The two of them are silent for a long moment.
Then Xu Youyi exhales, and stands up. She puts a hand through the bars that separate them. ‘Does that still hurt?’ she asks.
‘You don’t blame me?’ asks Yan Wei.
‘Blame…’ says Xu Youyi. ‘If there’s anyone to blame, I blame myself, for not finding out the truth earlier. You’ve always protected me before,’ she adds. ‘Now it’s my turn.’
‘It’s best for you not to get involved,’ Yan Wei warns her. ‘They haven’t got any evidence against me; there’s not much they can do to me.’
‘They definitely won’t be able to find any evidence against you,’ says Xu Youyi. She adds, ‘From the very first time you put yourself out there to protect me, I knew there was no way I could just walk away from any troubles you might have.’
Yan Wei looks at her, wordless again.
Xu Youyi gets up to go, but before she leaves, she looks back at Yan Wei.
‘Please take good care of yourself,’ says Xu Youyi. ‘And wait for me to take you home.’
Back at the studio, Jiang Bin and Chen Yong are trying to get the front door open. ‘It’s locked,’ Chen Yong announces.
Jiang Bin smashes one of the glass panels, reaches inside, and unlocks the door.
As the two of them search the main room, Jiang Bin declares, ‘Whatever else happens today, I’m going to find that rifle!’
‘There’s nothing here, boss,’ Chen Yong reports after a while.
‘I’ll search the basement while you search upstairs,’ says Jiang Bin.
Jiang Bin searches the darkroom and finds nothing. ‘It’s not here? That’s impossible.’
The framed picture catches his eye.
He knocks on it, hears a hollow sound, and realises that there’s an empty space behind it.
He slides the picture aside…
…only to find the space behind it filled with shopping bags, cosmetics and jewellery.
Back in the main room, Chen Yong tells him, ‘Boss, I didn’t find anything upstairs. How about you?’
At that very moment, Xu Youyi walks through the door. ‘Detective Jiang! What are you doing here?’
‘Oh,’ says Jiang Bin. ‘We were on patrol when we noticed that the glass in the front door was broken, so we rushed in here to make sure there were no burglars about.’
‘That’s so responsible of you, Detective Jiang,’ says Xu Youyi. ‘If you hadn’t said otherwise, I would have assumed that you were the one who broke the glass.’
Jiang Bin coughs. ‘It’s our duty to protect the property of the city’s residents. Why don’t you go and make sure nothing is missing, Miss Xu? We won’t be bothering you any further.’ He and Chen Yong turn to leave.
‘Detective Jiang,’ says Xu Youyi. ‘When can Yan Wei come home?’
‘Do you really think she’ll be allowed to come home?’ asks Jiang Bin.
‘Of course!’ says Xu Youyi brightly. ‘All she’s done is play with a gun. There’s no law against playing with guns, is there?’
‘There’s no law against playing with guns,’ Jiang Bin concedes. ‘But it depends on how you play with them.’
As he and Chen Yong step out of the studio, Chen Yong asks, ‘Boss, do you think she’s gotten rid of the rifle by now?’
‘Unlikely,’ says Jiang Bin. ‘You don’t understand what a weapon like that means to a warrior… Wait.’
He pauses, flashing back to the memory of Xu Youyi tossing the suitcase into the river. ‘She would never do it, but that wouldn’t stop someone else from getting rid of it.’
Chen Yong catches on quickly. ‘You mean… that suitcase?’
‘Get someone to drag the Huangpu River for the suitcase immediately!’ Jiang Bin orders.
‘Boss, you must be kidding!’ Chen Yong protests. ‘The Huangpu River is so broad and deep — how are we supposed to find the suitcase?’
‘I don’t care how we do it, we need to find that suitcase!’ replies Jiang Bin.
Three days later, Police Commissioner Song holds a meeting with his subordinates at the police station. ‘We still don’t have enough evidence against Yan Wei,’ one of them reports.
‘Then you’ll have to interrogate her until she confesses!’ commands Commissioner Song.
‘Yes, Commissioner,’ his subordinates say.
Xu Youyi marches in at that moment, lawyer in tow. ‘I’m taking Yan Wei home with me today!’ she declares.
‘You’ve already detained a law-abiding citizen for three days and three nights without cause,’ she continues. ‘And she’s only a young woman, at that!’
‘A law-abiding citizen?’ Chen Yong protests. ‘Miss Xu, you should watch what you say!’
‘Chen Yong!’ Jiang Bin chastises him. Then he turns to Xu Youyi. ‘Miss Xu, if you truly believe your friend is innocent, why are you in such a rush to bail her out, and why have you obtained the services of the best lawyer in Shanghai?’
‘Please stop talking in circles, Detective Jiang,’ says Xu Youyi. ‘If you have enough evidence against her, you should charge Yan Wei immediately, and set the record straight. If you have no evidence, you should release her at once. Or else I’ll instruct my lawyer to draw up a lawsuit against you, accusing you of abusing your power. I promise you, once news of that lawsuit gets out, it will be all over Shanghai in less than three hours!’
‘Are you threatening us, Miss Xu?’ Commissioner Song demands.
‘You knew I would,’ says Xu Youyi, and Commissioner Song falls silent.
‘Wait!’ someone calls from outside.
Commissioner Song looks towards the door. ‘What’s going on? Who is it?’
One of the police station staff comes in. There’s a woman with him. ‘This is one of the attendants from Jinhua Hotel. She was the third person at the scene of the crime.’
‘I want to file a police report!’ says the woman. ‘It was Yan Wei. She was the one who killed Chu Huizi!’
Xu Youyi can only stare, taken aback.
***
Please view the original manhua here.
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