Inspector Han noted, "So you didnât meet him after coming to this city."
"No, I didnât," Xue Lin shook her head.
"I see," he nodded in acknowledgment. "What made you think that it wasnât a normal death?"
Xue Lin explained, "Itâs the servantâs words. He said that the fourth brother-in-law was sitting quietly. From the back, it seemed like he was sitting but after touching his body, he fell on the floor.
"It made me wonder why it was like that. I mean he wasnât old enough to die so suddenly and peacefully."
She continued, "He was a healthy man. If he had a heart attack, he wouldnât be just sitting on a chair. When I saw his face, it felt like he was just sleeping. It was too neat and too choreographed and itâs because of that I doubted it."
Inspector Han interrogated her, "How do you think they might have killed?" he wanted to know how far she had investigated.
Xue Lin took a deep breath and then added, "And now, after realizing that there was a good amount of sleeping pills on the water jar, I think I know how the killers killed them. They put sleeping pills on the water jar and made them drink from the same jar."
She continued, "It made third and fourth brothers-in-law fall asleep. They were so deep in sleep that they didnât even notice that someone or some people killed them."
Before Inspector Han could say anything, she asked, "Why are you asking me all that? You should have got the forensic report by now."
Inspector Han stated, "We did and guess what, they found nothing but traces of sleeping pills; no poison, no drug."
Xue Lin blinked. "Is that even possible?"
Since she had no clue about this sort of thing, she couldnât tell if there was anything wrong with what she just heard.
"We told the forensic lab to try harder. We will wait for further news. As long as the investigation is ongoing, I would like you two to stay in the city," Inspector Han told them.
"We have to go to Italy to attend my friendâs wedding," Ge Chen finally spoke.
"Iâm sorry but itâs the protocol you must follow," Inspector Han insisted.
After breakfast, Xue Lin and Ge Chen returned to aunt Yufuâs house. She was still at the second uncleâs house.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
They couldnât bury two sons-in-law and it made their hearts heavy. They were howling for the poor, innocent souls. It was painful to stay there.
They took baths and changed into cotton clothes.
Ge Chen sat down on the sofa and turned on the laptop. He put it on Xue Linâs legs.
Xue Lin was lying down on the sofa and kept her legs over her husbandâs lap and reading a book.
Ge Chen spoke first, "I know you are upset but take care of yourself. You have to stay healthy."
"Take care of myself for what? I donât understand," Xue Lin expressed her opinion.
"You didnât eat properly during breakfast," Ge Chen mentioned.
Xue Lin stopped reading her book and stared at him blankly. A long time later, she asked, "Do I look like a pig in your eyes?"
"Not at all," Ge Chen replied. "You look like a cute little piglet in my eyes. You are very cute."
"...You..." Xue Lin lost words and didnât know how to reply to that. Pig or whatever, she didnât want to be either of those. "I can eat like a normal human being at least for once."
"I wouldnât worry if you ate like an average person. You are very small." Ge Chen was an observant person and he cared about her more than he showed it on his cool and collective face.
Xue Lin put down the book on her chest and took a deep breath. She explained, "I couldnât eat. How could I? Even though I had a dispute with fourth brother-in-law, he and third brother-in-law were truly good to me."
She shared her past, "I remember them when I was young, I used to scratch them a lot but they silently endured it and never complained. Their arms would bleed because of my sharp claws but they were so gentle that they couldnât utter a single complaint. All my cousins, especially brothers and brothers-in-law were good to me. I couldnât imagine anything harming them. Itâs truly painful."
Ge Chen placed his laptop on the tea table and leaned forward. He embraced her small body and stroked her back.
Xue Lin who had a poker face till now had her heart crumbled and she shut her eyes tightly. She couldnât shed a single tear but her heart was crying.
----------
After lunch, Xue Lin went to the police station.
Inspector Han was having a meeting. When he was done, he was surprised to see her waiting for him.
"When did you arrive?" he asked.
Xue Lin lazily answered, "Iâve been waiting for ten minutes or so. I know you were in a meeting so I didnât let anyone bother you. Howâs the investigation going?"
Inspector Han took her to his office room and closed the door. "I canât give you the inside information yet but let me give you a piece of news. Your brothers-in-law didnât die from poison."
He explained, "After they were knocked off with the sleeping pills, they were injected with an empty syringe."
Xue Lin was quick to catch what he meant. "Oh, you mean air embolism."
An air embolism, also known as a gas embolism, is a blood vessel blockage caused by one or more bubbles of air or other gas in the circulatory system.
Divers can suffer from lung over-expansion injury. It can even lead to a stroke. The first aid treatment is to administer oxygen at the highest practicable concentration, treat for shock, and transport to a hospital immediately.
Injecting an empty syringe means one is injecting air into the circulation. Air gets coalesced together to form a massive air embolism which could block vessels and the organ supplied through these gets affected, If that a critical organ (heart, brain) one might die.
âWhy didnât I think of that possibility?â Xue Lin frowned. "Wait, to kill a person with air embolism you need a sufficient quantity of air; around 100 ml to kill an adult. The syringes we usually come across are only 2-5 ml. How did the killer do that?"