Chapter 517 - 421: Case Closed, a Bowl of Noodles (Part 2)

Chapter 517: Chapter 421: Case Closed, a Bowl of Noodles (Part 2)

He Liyuan heard Guo Jinhua recount how he had confronted Fu Lanting, demanding to know what she was playing at, why she wouldn’t treat Guo Meijing, and why she wanted to give up.

And then Fu Lanting had tried to explain that wasn’t what she meant.

Guo Jinhua’s brow was deeply furrowed. He thought for a long time, his expression pained, before murmuring, "I don’t really remember what she said... Something about taking Jingjing to Qiong Province, I think."

"The doctor had said back then that long-distance travel was risky, so I was worried. But she seemed to be saying it was Jingjing’s last wish."

As he continued to speak, Guo Jinhua’s memory seemed to gradually sharpen.

"So I got furious. It felt like she didn’t want to treat Jingjing anymore, that she was treating it like... a final farewell party. And so, we had a fight."

In the observation room were Shen Xin, Sun Zhao, and the others.

Ding Yuwei said softly, "So that means Fu Lanting never actually said she wanted to give up on treatment."

Shen Xin nodded.

Judging from Guo Jinhua’s account, it seemed Guo Meijing herself had wanted to go to Qiong Province, to Tianya Haijiao.

Guo Jinhua, however, disagreed. He felt the risk was too great and that they should keep searching for other treatments.

Fu Lanting, on the other hand, was perhaps more clear-headed. She knew there was no hope and didn’t want Guo Meijing to pass away with regrets, so she was the one who proposed the trip to Qiong Province.

But Guo Jinhua misinterpreted this to mean that Fu Lanting wanted to give up on treatment and was done trying to cure Guo Meijing.

In the interrogation room, Yang Zeran asked about the trip to Qiong Province.

At this, a smile actually appeared on Guo Jinhua’s face. He said Guo Meijing had been overjoyed.

They saw the ocean, stayed until nightfall, and lay on the sand, gazing at the sky full of stars.

Guo Jinhua was completely lost in the memory. "That night," he said, "Jingjing laid her head on my arm and pointed to the sky. She said she wanted to become a star—just a small one, it didn’t have to be too bright. She hoped we wouldn’t see her, but that she would be able to see us."

As he spoke, tears streamed down his face. He murmured, "I could never understand it afterward... How could she be so mature, so understanding? How did she know so much?"

"So, the thought of her dying was just unbearable. That’s when I bought a bottle of rat poison. I figured if Jingjing died, I’d drink the whole thing and go with her."

Yang Zeran nodded slightly.

So Huang Shaolong’s testimony on that point checked out.

And the next part, at the airport, also matched the investigation. He tried to sneak the poison onto the plane but was caught at the security check.

Yang Zeran asked, "Then after your daughter passed away, why did you wait six months before you got the idea to murder Fu Lanting?"

The rat poison was confiscated in July and Guo Meijing died in August, but it wasn’t until March of the next year that Guo Jinhua reclaimed that same bottle of rat poison.

Guo Jinhua shook his head, a bitter expression on his face. "I don’t know. My mind was just... numb during that period. I can’t remember anything."

"Lanting tried to console me, everyone did. They told me to try and move on. But they aren’t me!"

Guo Jinhua whipped his head around to stare fixedly at Yang Zeran.

It sent a jolt through Yang Zeran, who found Guo Jinhua’s gaze to be exceptionally eerie.

Guo Jinhua continued, "My heart ached, and my head did too. The moment I closed my eyes, I’d hear Jingjing calling ’Daddy’ right in my ear."

"The more they tried to console me, the angrier I got. They had no idea how much I was suffering."

"Then, for some reason, I remembered how she wanted to give up on the treatment. Tell me, how could she be so cruel?"

Guo Jinhua looked up again.

At that moment, it wasn’t just his eyes; his entire expression turned eerie, and even his voice became icy.

In the adjacent interrogation room, even Shen Xin couldn’t help but shiver. He felt that in that instant, Guo Jinhua had become cold and cruel again, just like he had appeared in the detention cell.

It was as if all the malice in his heart had been unleashed at once.

Yang Zeran felt a chill run down his spine. "So what did you do?" he asked.

Guo Jinhua’s eyes grew distant. "I was furious. I felt she deserved to die. She had to pay for Jingjing’s life with her own."

"Especially at night, when she’d showered and wanted to sleep with me, I felt disgusted."

"The desire to kill her grew stronger and stronger. I thought about hacking her to death with a knife, but that would be letting her off too easy."

"Jingjing was in so much pain when she was sick. I had to make her suffer, too. That’s when I remembered that bottle of rat poison."

Yang Zeran drew a sharp breath. He too had the feeling that the Guo Jinhua in front of him had become a completely different person.

After a moment’s thought, Yang Zeran asked him how he administered the poison.

At the mention of this, Guo Jinhua’s expression grew vacant. He thought back for a moment, then said, "I just... did it. I hid the rat poison in a corner of the noodle shop’s utility closet."

"She found it later when she was tidying up. She asked when I bought it, and I said I saw a rat, so I bought a bottle."

"She didn’t ask any more questions. Then I thought about poisoning her slowly. At first, I’d just dip a chopstick in it, just a little, and stir it into her noodles."

"I was afraid of contaminating something else by accident, something I couldn’t wash clean, and hurting someone else. That’s why I always used disposable chopsticks and bowls."

In the observation room, Shen Xin’s gaze was stern.

’Afraid of harming others?’

’He was just afraid of getting caught, of leaving evidence.’

’Still, I was right. Disposable utensils, discarded immediately after use.’

Without a trace.

And Fu Lanting would never have dreamed in a million years that her own husband would do this to her.

Just like that, she had been unknowingly poisoned for over two months.

Back in the interrogation room, Yang Zeran brought up this very point. He asked if, during the more than two months he was poisoning her, he ever felt a single moment of regret.

The question seemed to stump Guo Jinhua. He stared blankly for a moment, then said, "I don’t remember."

"I’d usually do it every few days, in the morning."

"We usually got there early, before dawn. She would set up the tables and chairs. She liked things neat—she’d clean up once before we left at night and then again in the morning."

"I would prepare the toppings we were going to sell, then make noodles for the two of us. After cooking the noodles, I’d dip a chopstick in the rat poison and swirl it in her bowl."

"Then, just as it was getting light out, we’d sit by the door and eat together. She ate hers, I ate mine. As for whether I regretted it, like you asked?"

"I don’t know."

Guo Jinhua shook his head, his voice growing distant. "It just... became a habit."

He used a deeply unsettling word.

Yang Zeran frowned.

In the observation room, everyone else frowned as well.

Old Zhou just shook his head, muttering, "There’s definitely something wrong with this guy’s head. He’s not normal."

Shen Xin didn’t reply, just stared at Guo Jinhua.

’The question of regret was meaningless now.’

’Just listen to how Guo Jinhua himself described it.’

’He’d administer the poison in the morning. Open the shop, his wife would clean and get ready for business.’

’Meanwhile, he would make breakfast for the two of them. Cook the noodles, dip a chopstick in some rat poison, give it a swirl in her bowl.’

’Then, in the light of the rising sun, an ordinary young couple might be worrying about the day’s business, or maybe just making small talk about this and that.’

’And then she would eat her bowl of noodles laced with poison.’

The very image sent a chill down Shen Xin’s spine. It was horrifying.

In the interrogation room, Yang Zeran was also silent for a good while before asking another key question.

Namely, why Guo Jinhua had also poisoned himself.

And the dosage couldn’t have been small. The lab reports from their hospital admission proved that their toxicity levels were nearly identical.

Guo Jinhua snapped out of it. The effort of constantly dredging up the past seemed to be scrambling his memories.

He furrowed his brow, thinking, and then even asked Yang Zeran, "Yeah, why would I poison myself?"

He rolled his eyes upwards, staring at the ceiling, lost in thought.

The silence in the room was hair-raising.

Just when Yang Zeran couldn’t resist breaking the dead silence, Guo Jinhua’s eyes suddenly flew wide open—impossibly wide.

He was partially paralyzed, one side of his face affected. With his eyes stretched wide, his expression became frightening.

As if he’d recalled something terrifying, he whipped his head around and stared, unblinking, at Yang Zeran.

The stare made Yang Zeran’s scalp crawl.

"I remember."

Certain memories were beginning to surface. Guo Jinhua’s voice started to tremble, his face a mask of horror and disbelief. "It was me!" he stammered.

He stared intently at Yang Zeran. "There was this one time," he said, "Jingjing’s head hurt so badly, like it was going to explode. The pain made her whole body convulse."

"She had aspiration pneumonia, too, and she couldn’t catch her breath. Her face was flushed red. She just clutched my hand and told me it hurt, that she wanted to go home."

"I couldn’t take it anymore. I was the one who told her. I said, ’Let’s stop the treatment. We’ll go home. Daddy will stay with you.’"

"I was the one who asked her if she had any last wishes. I was the one who asked the doctor what would happen if we stopped the treatments."

"I was the one who gave up on Jingjing first."

Guo Jinhua’s eyes were wide, his mouth agape. He tried to scream, but no sound came from his throat.

And everyone present, without exception, felt a bone-deep chill.