WWY Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Death from a Sudden Illness

Autumn night, dark clouds pressed down on the entire sky, countless dense rain lines fell vertically to the earth, and the rolling ridges of the suburbs suddenly lit up with lightning, like a phosphorescent giant dragon just out of the water.

There was a small villa complex halfway up the mountain, a wealthy area of the city, with each villa maintaining a comfortable distance from the others.

At one o’clock in the morning, most of the villas only had faint lighting, and the He family was no exception. A few dim yellow lights from the second-floor corridor seemed particularly depressing in this weather.

A flash of lightning shone into the bedroom through the gap in the curtains, illuminating the silhouette of the person on the bed.

He was slender, with a handsome face and soft facial lines, but upon closer inspection, his features were not lacking in masculinity, although they appeared particularly pale in the lightning.

“Lan He, Lan He…”

Lan He’s thin eyelids trembled slightly, and even his long eyelashes shook along with them. The fingers clutching the corner of the quilt curled up uneasily.

“Thump, thump, thump…”

Rhythmic heartbeats sounded like drums, constantly vibrating his eardrums. His delicate brows furrowed tightly, and his breathing became more rapid.

After a long while, he finally struggled to open his eyelids and slowly sat up, clutching his chest.

Subconsciously turning his head to look out the window, he saw a silhouette pressed tightly against the huge French window in the pouring rain, with two faint glimmers shining in place of eyes, like a ghostly figure.

“Crack—”

Another lightning bolt flashed, and he finally saw the expressionless face.

He stared at him quietly for a moment, then his gaze moved to the scar that trailed from the corner of his eye to his ear, and he smiled disdainfully.

The sky brightened and darkened, and when it lit up again a few seconds later, the figure on the window was gone. The constantly sliding rain washed the glass clean and transparent, as if the scene just now was just a mirage brought by lightning.

Startled by the ghostly figure, his heart ached even more severely. He quickly reached for a small bottle on the bedside table with his other hand.

The medicinal spray created a cool sensation between his mouth and nose. He still felt dizzy, as if his skull was wrapped in a ball of paste.

After the pathological stuffiness subsided, he slowly exhaled, turned on the bedside lamp, and got out of bed to pour himself a glass of water.

Suddenly, he felt an ominous aura in the air. He listened intently and heard a very faint and strange sound. The subtle sound came from outside the door, as if something was tapping the floor.

Warily turning towards the door, he stepped barefoot on the cold floor and stood at the end of the corridor, searching for the source of the sound.

The second floor of the villa was only occupied by him, his father Weiyu He, and the family doctor who occasionally stayed overnight. To facilitate care for the two patients, his guest room was between his and his father’s bedrooms.

He subconsciously glanced downstairs through the railing. Because his younger brother Si’nian He was away on a business trip, only the nanny was on the first floor. There were no lights on at night, so he couldn’t see anything.

The “click, click” sound continued to echo rhythmically. He pricked up his ears and distinguished that the sound was coming from the end of the corridor, where his father’s master bedroom was located.

Was he still not asleep this late?

Lan He took a deep breath and walked over slowly.

When he passed the doctor’s room, he paused and glanced at it. The door was tightly closed.

The doctor should be inside, because his father had been unwell recently, and he himself was having an attack. In this situation, the dedicated doctor couldn’t possibly leave without worry.

After hesitating slightly, he chose not to wake him and check the situation himself first.

Walking barefoot towards the master bedroom, he felt a cold current sweeping past his legs before he even got close. When he stood in front of the door, he was stunned.

The master bedroom door was unusually wide open, but the lights in the room were not on. The faint light from the corridor formed a wide fan shape at the doorway.

A withered hand stretched out from the darkness, appearing abruptly on the floor, with an emerald-encrusted gold ring on its middle finger.

The hand belonged to his father, Weiyu He.

Next to the hand, an oval yellow medicine bottle was swaying slightly with the air currents, the edges on both sides alternately hitting the ground, “click,” “click”…

–

The sirens of police cars and ambulances echoed through the mountains and forests, and half an hour later, a cordon was set up around the He family villa.

In this weather, umbrellas were almost useless. Tuxi Ling was soaked from the waist down when he walked into the villa, not to mention his shoes, which had been soaked through as soon as he left home.

Officer Wu Li, with her ponytail swaying, greeted him: “Captain, the preliminary assessment is that the deceased died of an asthma attack.”

“Asthma?” Tuxi Ling put the umbrella by the door and wiped his face. “Weiyu He has asthma?”

“Yes, and it’s been very serious lately. He’s handed over company affairs to his second son, Si’nian He. Oh, Si’nian He is away on a business trip. Only the eldest son, Lan He, and the nanny are at home today. The deceased, Weiyu He’s, room is on the second floor.” Wu Li tapped the notes in her hand. “We just did a preliminary interrogation of Lan He. According to him, he got up to drink water in the middle of the night, heard a sound in the corridor, went out of his room, followed the sound, and saw his father collapse on the ground.”

Tuxi Ling glanced around the villa and nodded, “Let’s take a look at the scene first.”

Although it was clearly an accident, the necessary procedures had to be followed in cases involving human life, especially since the deceased was the leader of a leading enterprise in the province and had been enthusiastic about public welfare for many years. They had to give the public a good explanation.

The rain was heavy, so to protect the scene, the colleagues from the crime scene investigation team had set up long wooden boards on the second floor in advance. They carefully stepped over and saw forensic doctor Ai Chongfei putting the deceased Weiyu He into a body bag, leaving only a white circle symbolizing death on the ground.

Ai Chongfei looked up and smiled: “Ling, you came in the middle of the night in the rain? Dedicated!”

Tuxi Ling gave him a thumbs up in good humor, accepting the compliment, and asked: “Any findings?”

Ai Chongfei paused and said: “On the surface, there are no problems with the traces or the cause of death, but I just feel strange.”

These words pulled Tuxi Ling’s gaze back to him as he was inspecting the scene.

“The preliminary judgment is that the deceased died of an asthma attack, but usually, asthma isn’t a disease that immediately takes your life. If it really got to that point, he should be in the hospital now.”

“Get to the point.”

“Well, the bottle of spray he took out is almost full, and the safety was unlocked, but he couldn’t save himself. I’m confused as to why.”

Tuxi Ling saw the yellow medicine bottle in the evidence bag, picked it up, and looked at it: “What kind of medicine is this? Why isn’t it labeled?”

Wu Li explained from the side: “We asked, and Lan He said that this is a self-administered medicine bought from abroad. The family doctor adjusted the dosage according to the individual’s condition and repackaged it. It’s not sold on the market.”

Understood. With the He family’s wealth, this was nothing.

Tuxi Ling asked again: “There’s a family doctor? Where is he? Didn’t he provide first aid to the deceased?”

Xia Shengbo, who was helping the evidence examiner from the side, replied: “He’s not here, and we can’t contact him. But Ling, isn’t it normal to turn off your phone and sleep in the middle of the night?”

Tuxi Ling looked at him: “Normal? The employer is in the midst of an attack, and he’s not by his side to watch over him, and he turns off his phone?”

Wu Li gloated: “Yeah, and the employer happens to have an attack at this time. Isn’t that too coincidental?”

Indeed.

Discovering that the case had suspicious points, Tuxi Ling’s eyes became sharp.

“Immediately go back and test the drug ingredients.” He instructed, and then asked Wu Li, “The person who found the body, what’s his name again?”

Wu Li quickly pointed outside: “Lan He, the eldest son of the deceased Weiyu He. We asked him to stay in his bedroom, at the other end of the corridor.”

Tuxi Ling walked along the corridor to Lan He’s room, his gaze sweeping over the retro murals on the walls, the expensive crystal chandeliers, and the exquisite carpets in the first-floor living room. He also noticed that the villa’s gate could be clearly seen from this corridor, and there was a surveillance camera on the inside top of the gate, facing the open living room.

“Mr. He, this is Wu Li!” Wu Li knocked on Lan He’s door and pushed it open after receiving a response.

Tuxi Ling habitually tugged at the collar of his brown short trench coat, but his movements suddenly froze after entering the room.

Lan He’s gaze towards him was equally surprised, and he stood up, wrapped in a bathrobe: “It’s you?”

Tuxi Ling’s face suddenly darkened, but due to his police identity and the curious gaze of his subordinates, he still pretended to be calm and walked into the room, making a “please sit” gesture to Lan He.

“Mr. He,” he said almost through gritted teeth, “Hello, I am Tuxi Ling, the captain of the Second Detachment of the Municipal Criminal Investigation Brigade. There are some things I would like to understand from you again.”

After the initial surprise, Lan He revealed an interested expression and chuckled: “Oh, you’re a captain after only three years?”

Tuxi Ling didn’t want to mention that incident three years ago, let alone see this person. He was the black history that he could never erase in his life. Every time he recalled it in the dead of night, he wanted to bang his head against the wall.

He never thought that they would meet in this kind of situation, and he never thought that he would be the He family’s eldest son.

Why would the He family’s son, who had power reaching to the heavens, bother to tease a small police officer like him?

A surge of anger suddenly welled up in Tuxi Ling’s heart, and his body tensed. However, his peripheral vision inadvertently caught a glimpse of a smile hanging on his lips, ambiguous and dazzling.

He took the notes from Wu Li and flipped them fiercely to a blank page: “Mr. He, can you talk about the family doctor?”

Lan He thoughtfully looked at him for a few seconds, got up, and took a towel from the bathroom and handed it over, signaling him to wipe the rain off his face. Then, he started chatting with a familiar old friend: “His name is Man Qin. He’s been serving our He family for ten years. His medical skills are good, and my father trusts him very much. He pays him a high salary.”

He paused: “Am I talking too much nonsense? What aspects are you mainly asking about, Officer Ling?”

Tuxi Ling scrutinized him with cold eyes for a few seconds and said: “Provide his address.”

“I’ve already provided his name, you can check it yourself!” Lan He narrowed his eyes and smiled, “I only know that he lives in Maple Leaf District, I don’t know the specifics. He spends most of his time here at the villa. Oh, right, he mentioned in passing once that he doesn’t have any relatives here.”

Tuxi Ling gave Wu Li a look, and she cleverly ran out to check the address.

Only two people remained in the room. Tuxi Ling suddenly felt uncomfortable. He always felt that Lan He’s eyes were full of scrutiny. He lowered his head and scribbled a few strokes in his notebook, telling himself not to lose his composure while working.

“Was he here yesterday?”

“Yes.”

“When did he leave?”

“This, I’m not sure. I stayed in my room all afternoon yesterday.”

“Did you have dinner in your room too?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“I wasn’t feeling well, so I was sleeping. I specifically told the nanny not to disturb me.”

“So you slept until the early hours of the morning before waking up?”

“Yeah, to be precise, I was woken up by the thunder.”

“You said you heard a sound in the corridor, what kind of sound was it?”

“The sound of the medicine bottle rolling on the floor in the wind.”

“Then what? Did you notice anything unusual, for example, anyone entering the villa without permission?”

Tuxi Ling urgently issued a series of questions, but this time he didn’t get a response from Lan He.

Lan He raised his eyebrows at him: “Aren’t you asking about Man Qin? Why are you asking me?”

Tuxi Ling sneered: “Don’t overthink it, I just want to recreate the situation at the scene.”

Lan He curled his lips, unable to hide the teasing in his eyes.

Tuxi Ling stopped writing, tapped the notebook lightly, raised his eyes, and his sharp gaze pierced through his wet bangs, meeting his in the air.

“Boom—”

Another lightning bolt flashed outside the window, as bright as day.

As the atmosphere became increasingly tense, Wu Li returned. Lan He slowly straightened his body, and Tuxi Ling also withdrew his forceful gaze.

The simple intern officer didn’t notice the undercurrents in the room at all. She walked briskly behind Tuxi Ling, tilted her head to look at the notebook in his hand, and saw that he had drawn a heavy line under the words “afternoon,” almost piercing the notebook.

Tuxi Ling asked: “Can you tell me more about your father’s illness?”

“My father… he developed asthma many years ago, the kind that could be fatal at any time. These years, he has been relying on medication to maintain it. Maybe it’s because he’s getting old, but it’s been particularly serious since the spring of this year. He can’t even manage company affairs. He has to have medicine with him at all times, but it’s still difficult for him to even speak and breathe.”

Tuxi Ling nodded. He had seen a small oxygen concentrator in Weiyu He’s bedroom just now.

“Speaking of the company,” he asked, voicing his doubts, “Why is your younger brother managing it? Isn’t the eldest son the first to inherit it?”

Lan He took out a white medicine bottle from his bathrobe pocket and placed it on the round coffee table next to him: “My heart is not good. I can’t cope with so many things at the company. I’ll die.”

His half-joking tone, as if death was just a trivial matter to him, made the expressions of the two people opposite him turn a little unnatural at the same time.

Tuxi Ling’s anger dissipated for the most part. He saw the shape of the medicine bottle clearly and was puzzled: “You use a spray for heart disease too? I thought it was all those sublingual pills.”

“It used to be pills, but this is a new medicine that Doctor Qin got from abroad last month. I have to say, the effect is really good.”

The medicine bottle he took out was exactly the same as the one at the scene of the death, except for the color, making people feel that something was wrong.

“Can I take a look?” As he spoke, Tuxi Ling had already raised his hand.

“I don’t like other people touching my things.”

Tuxi Ling’s hand stopped in mid-air, and he wanted to withdraw it a little awkwardly, but he heard Lan He suddenly say softly, “But you’re an exception.”