He Jun talked about a lot of the conflicts he had with He Taiyang, and then asked Song Lang for a cigarette. Smoking gloomily, he said, "I know these things sound trivial to you, but as for me, I was so angry that I wanted to kill He Taiyang at the time... Of course, I’m just running my mouth. As someone who’s been to prison, I know how much it costs to act on impulse."

After he finished smoking the cigarette, he continued, “Something happened later that enlightened me about He Taiyang’s attitude. Jingjing and I got together. He Taiyang became very angry when he found out. He said a lot of offensive things to me and told me to get lost. I finally understood that because I’ve been to jail, He Taiyang feels that I’m inferior, so he oppresses me and forbids Jingjing and I from being together."

"How was the relationship between He Taiyang and He Jingjing?" Song Lang asked.

"They have an ordinary father-daughter relationship. He Taiyang dotes on his daughter, but he doesn’t allow Jingjing to take charge of anything in the store. It’s strange, because parents usually help their children to find jobs, but Jingjing just stayed at home every day. He was not anxious about it at all, and also didn’t want to train her to become his successor. I don't know what this old thing was thinking at all. Did he plan to support his daughter her whole life and not let her get married?"

"For all these reasons, you wanted to kill He Taiyang?"

"No, I didn't. I admit that I switched the paintings. I wanted to make use of that old man to make He Taiyang suffer. Once when I was quarrelling with He Taiyang, I revealed this matter and he was terrified. But he didn’t dare to look for the old man because the painting had been hidden by me. Even if he wanted to apologize and make amends, he had to bring the painting! When He Taiyang died, I was afraid that you would investigate and find out, so I quietly put the painting back... To be honest, I thought that I was successful in using someone else to get rid of him, but when I thought about it more, it was impossible. That old man would make it impossible for him to do business again, but wouldn’t kill him directly. After all, he wouldn’t be able to get the painting back even if he killed him and he would just dirty his own hands."

"After all is said, who on earth is this old man?"

"I can't possibly tell you. I won't tell you. You can rage at me at best, but if I tell you, the old man will make it impossible for me to survive in Long'an. I can't afford that."

"Huh!" Song Lang sneered. "I’m guessing it's some underworld boss. Your business is a gray industry, and you have ties with underworld gangs."

He Jun shrugged. "You can guess whatever you want, but I can't say his name."

"If you don't tell me, that’s fine. Let me summarize it for you. You switched that person's painting and framed He Taiyang, but that person hasn't found out, or didn't take any action, right?"

"That's right."

"Then who killed He Taiyang?"

"How would I know? This knife belongs to me, but I really didn't kill anyone. If I killed someone, I wouldn't keep the knife. It's also the knife I carry with me daily. It’s not like I don't have a brain!"

Of course, Song Lang had taken this into consideration. The appearance of this "weapon" showed too many traces of someone trying to shift blame. It was obvious that He Jun wasn’t the murderer.

However, he deliberately didn't say so. Taking advantage of this opportunity to gather more information, he asked, "How did He Taiyang's wife die?"

"She died of illness half a month ago."

"We checked the records at the funeral home, and it was strange that He Taiyang cremated Madam He the same night that she died. You guys had conducted the funeral with her ashes."

"I don't know, I wasn’t home at the time."

"How much do you know about that bowl?"

"I've heard about the legend regarding the bowl, but I don't know when He Taiyang received it. I only found out about it when Jingjing mentioned it to you guys that day. This curio is quite evil. Perhaps it’s really because He Taiyang received the bowl that he’s had a string of bad luck this past month!"

"Thank you. You can go now." Song Lang stood up.

He Jun let out a sigh of relief.

After He Jun left, Song Lang found out that Lin Qiupu had returned. He said, "You want to work overtime again? There’s no overtime pay here!"

"Captain, when I came back, I passed by the murder scene and saw a man loitering around there. Books say that criminals often go back to the crime scene. Could it be..."

"Any distinctive features?"

"Mm, he was about 1.7 meter tall and all wrapped up clothing-wise. The alley was too dark and I couldn’t see clearly what he looked like."

"In the future, you can just phone me directly to tell me about such clues."

"I understand... By the way, why was He Jun released?"

"He Jun isn’t a suspect."

"But he has no alibi and the knife was found at the scene. I think he should be detained for a few days for observation."

"Haha, do you think I’m growing a flower? Observe him for a few days? I can tell if he’s lying or not."

Lin Qiupu very much admired Song Lang's ability to judge whether the other party was lying or not with just his eyes, and asked timidly, "If we want to judge whether a person is lying, do you have to observe his micro-expressions?"

"Today’s my birthday." Song Lang said all of a sudden.

"What?"

"Ha, this is a lie, did you see a change in my expression?"

Lin Qiupu shook his head.

"Most people lie every day. The important point is not the lie itself, but what the other party wants to conceal. The more dangerous the thing they want to conceal is, the more nervous they will get. To judge whether a person is lying or not, it is not only by looking, but also through sounding them out and intimidation. The liar will only reveal their mistakes when they get nervous in front of you, understood?

Lin Qiupu nodded, engraving this sentence in his heart.

Song Lang went to look for Peng Sijue to see if there were any findings. Lin Qiupu followed behind him like a little attendant. Peng Sijue sat alone in the laboratory comparing fingerprints. When he smelled cigarette smoke behind him, he guessed who had come.

"Don't smoke in the laboratory." Peng Sijue furrowed his brows.

"Does the laboratory have an opinion or is it your opinion?" Song Lang sat down nonchalantly, picked up a cup of coffee on the table and drank it. "How’s the fingerprint results?"

Just now at Taiyang pawn shop, Peng Sijue had collected the fingerprints on the safe. He said, “Only the fingerprints of He Taiyang, He Jun, and He Jingjing were found. In addition, I conducted fingerprint identification on the small bowl that He Jingjing had brought over. Guess what the results were?"

"He Taiyang’s fingerprints must be absent."

"Yes, only He Jingjing’s fingerprints were present. Both He Taiyang and He Jun have not touched that bowl."

"It seems that He Jingjing did plant the bowl. Actually, this isn’t a big problem. I guess that she has her own motive..." Song Lang pondered. "Does a biological daughter have a motive for killing her own father?"

Song Lang suddenly sat up. "Is He Jingjing his daughter?"

"What bizarre ideas have you come up with again?" Peng Sijue said.

"He Taiyang didn't let her work, and didn’t allow He Jun to date her. He Jingjing didn't show much emotion when talking about He Taiyang. If she wasn’t his biological daughter, it could all be explained! Let’s go and check the household registration database!"