Chapter 76.1: “Do you have painkillers, stomach medicine, and heart medication at home?”

Perhaps it was the desire for material comfort and lust that led Ji Lin to hold Bai DuanDuan on the sofa, kissing her passionately. Bai DuanDuan was completely unable to resist the frequent kisses and blushed, her heart racing and breathless. Fortunately, just before things got out of hand, Ji Lin finally let go of Bai DuanDuan.

He straightened out her disheveled clothes and then gently kissed her cheek. “Alright, let’s discuss the new evidence approach for the Xie Miao and Tian Mu case.”

?????

Confused, Bai DuanDuan looked at the man’s awkward posture and wondered why he suddenly brought up work in such a cold manner. Was he serious? Although Bai DuanDuan wasn’t in a hurry to do anything, the man’s sudden stop and the complete shift to such a cold work topic, was this normal for a man? Um… is there no problem?

He pulled out a “new evidence” from the drawer under the coffee table, which was provided by Lin Hui during the Tian Mu case. Methodically and calmly, he analyzed the materials and said, “I have reviewed all the materials, and this is the only breakthrough possibility.” He took out a photo from the materials and said, “This is it.”

Although the topic changed quite quickly, once it involved the case, Bai DuanDuan completely forgot about the romantic atmosphere just now and became serious. She had seen the so-called “new evidence” that Lin Hui had supplemented several times, but she couldn’t find any problem with it. Lin Hui had been meticulous in his investigation and evidence collection, and the investigation had once again reached a stalemate.

So now, as she looked at the photo that Ji Lin had pulled out, Bai DuanDuan furrowed her brows and asked, “So what’s the problem with this photo?”

Bai DuanDuan had looked at this photo several times as well. This photo was the ironclad evidence that Tian Mu claimed to have taken while secretly following Tang Li and Lu Shuisheng on a dinner date. Indeed, the photo showed Tang Li and Lu Shuisheng sitting close together, with an intimate posture, as if afraid that no one would know they were involved in a romantic relationship. However, while eating hot pot, the two were even holding hands with their fingers interlaced, and Lu Shuisheng’s other hand was holding a meatball with chopsticks, about to feed it to Tang Li.

This was obviously a staged shot, and Bai DuanDuan admitted to herself that even if she and Ji Lin, who were still in the honeymoon period of their relationship, were to eat hot pot together, they wouldn’t be holding hands and feeding each other so exaggeratedly. It was a bit too forced and overdone.

However, looking at this photo alone, even if it was staged, the photo is genuine and not a fake. Without other evidence, it is still not enough to prove anything.

“Look at what they ate for this hotpot,” Ji Lin reminded.

“I saw a lot of meatballs, fatty beef and lamb, shrimp rolls, fish, tofu, bean curd, and various vegetables…” Bai DuanDuan replied, confused.

“Take a look at the amount of food on this table and in the cart next to it.”

Ji Lin didn’t say anything, and Bai DuanDuan hadn’t noticed yet. But with his prompting, Bai DuanDuan quickly realized –

If it was just Tang Li and Lu Shuisheng eating, then they clearly ordered too much food.

Bai DuanDuan almost suddenly realized, “So there must be at least a third person!”

Ji Lin was too meticulous! He could even deduce such a subtle clue from the amount of food ordered!

Ji Lin nodded, “This photo must have been hastily fabricated by Tian Mu after he found out that we had obtained Tang Li’s bank records. At the time, there was no time for Tang Li to get to know Lu Shuisheng. Tian Mu couldn’t let his wife go meet Lu Shuisheng alone, especially when they had to pose like this. There had to be someone familiar with both of them to guide them, and even with that, someone had to take the photo to create the effect of sneaking a picture. But if too many people knew about it, the news would naturally leak out. The safest option was to find someone involved in the case to take the photo.”

“Also, if I were Tian Mu, I wouldn’t feel at ease with my beautiful wife having a private meal with another man without me there to supervise, especially if that man is richer than I am.” Ji Lin looked at Bai Duan Duan and thought for a moment before adding, “But if it were you, it is definitely not okay. When you didn’t know the whole truth about Lin Hui’s situation, I had thought about it. If you were going to have dinner with him alone without knowing the truth, even if I’m suffocating, I’d still have to go with you. I couldn’t stand you having dinner alone with him.”

“…”

Okay, let’s talk about the case, but what does this have to do with me? Besides, when did I ever have a meal with a strange man? I look so innocent and virtuous, keeping to myself, don’t I?

Ji Lin glanced at Bai DuanDuan as if he knew what she was thinking, and pinched her face, “I know you’re great, but you do look a little too alluring. It’s not that I don’t trust you, but I have a sense of crisis.”

Who is Ji Lin! He sounded like the disciplinary committee member who led a campaign against puppy love and urged everyone to study hard, only to be the first one to fall in love. Wasn’t he the one who led them from a romantic atmosphere into a discussion about socialist legal construction and criminal cases? And now he’s trying to flirt with her…

It’s infuriating.

She can’t let him get away with it!

Bai DuanDuan calmed herself down and refocused on the evidence analysis of the case: “So you mean that the hot pot was actually eaten by Tian Mu, Tang Li, and Lu Shuisheng together?”

“Yes.” Ji Lin nodded. “As long as we can retrieve the surveillance video and prove that Tian Mu, Tang Li, and Lu Shuisheng were eating happily and peacefully together, we can prove that, firstly, the photo was misleading and taken out of context; secondly, Tian Mu had already known Lu Shuisheng for a long time, and everything that happened in the arbitration court was staged. After all, if Tang Li and Lu Shuisheng really had an extramarital affair, Tian Mu would have found out when they were eating hot pot together. How could they have been so calm and peaceful?”

“But even if we make this deduction, there’s still a big problem.” Bai DuanDuan stared at Ji Lin. “Where do we get the surveillance video from?”

Just as she was about to ask which hot pot restaurant it was, Ji Lin pointed to a plate covered by a cabbage leaf in the photo. “I scanned the photo and enlarged it. There’s a hot pot restaurant logo on this plate. It says ‘Lao Yi Lao.'”

Bai DuanDuan’s eyes lit up. She didn’t expect Jilin to find so many clues from just a simple photo. Lao Yi Lao is a very popular internet-famous hot pot restaurant in A City. It’s also very favorable to them. There’s only one branch in A City, and it’s not a chain, so they don’t need to go to several chain stores to confirm which one it is. They can almost accurately locate the store, which will undoubtedly save them a lot of time.