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CHAPTER 4
PART 1
The room fell into silence for several seconds, as if the scene had frozen in time. Then, Su Xiaotong and Li Xueli covered their mouths in shock, and Gu Lei's eyes widened as he too was stunned.
"What? Sister Yamei... drowned?" Li Xueli asked in disbelief.
"Yes," Tan Yong said with a sorrowful expression.
"What happened?" Su Xiaotong asked.
Tan Yong didn't answer that question but asked, "Yesterday evening, did Gong Yamei have dinner with you guys?"
"Yes, she has dinner at my place every night," Li Xueli said.
"So, you were the last people who had contact with her before her death."
"I guess so..."
"Now it seems that no one else in the 'big family' knows about this, otherwise, someone would have informed you earlier," Tan Yong said. "Li Xueli, can you notify everyone and ask them to come over to your place if they're available?"
"How should I break this news to them?" Li Xueli felt troubled. "Officer Tan, aren't you in the group chat too? And since you're a police officer, shouldn't you be the one to inform everyone?"
"Okay." Tan Yong took out his phone and composed a message, sending it to the group chat.
[Friends, I have some tragic news to share. This morning, I received a report that a drowned body was found at a certain location in Yuehai. After identification, the deceased is Gong Yamei. If any of you are available, please come to Li Xueli's place. I have something to discuss with you.]
Within two seconds of sending the message, Fan Lin replied with a voice message, "My goodness! Is what you said true, Officer Tan?"
Then it was Xia Qi's tearful voice message, "What? Sister Yamei... Officer Tan, are you sure?"
Wang Xingxing: I'm coming right away!
Han Lei: Me too! Oh my god, how could this happen?!
The last to reply were Yuan Dong and Shen Fengxia, both equally shocked, saying they were out for a walk but would return immediately.
Within ten minutes, the members of the "big family" began arriving at Li Xueli's place. Each person asked the same questions, unable to accept this sudden tragic news. Xia Qi cried with tears streaming down her face, Fan Lin and Han Lei looked utterly lost, Li Xueli and Shen Fengxia embraced and wept... Tan Yong comforted everyone and it took a while before each person regained control of their emotions.
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"I understand that everyone is feeling sad and puzzled about this matter, and I feel the same way. Gong Yamei was our common friend, and you could even say that she was the kindest and friendliest among all of us. But as a police officer, besides expressing our grief and condolences, it is also necessary to investigate this matter thoroughly, that's why I asked everyone to come to Xueli's place," Tan Yong said. "Now, please all take a seat. I need to ask some questions in front of everyone."
Everyone took their seats on the sofa and chairs. Fan Lin asked, "Officer Tan, what do you mean by 'asking questions'? Do you think that Sister Yamei's death is related to us?"
Tan Yong pondered for a moment. "Gong Yamei's body was found at around 11:00 AM this morning, by a person exercising on Huanhai East Road near Yuehai. After receiving the report, I and another colleague went to the scene together. The body was floating on the water's surface near an observation pavilion that extends into Yuehai. It is preliminarily judged that she fell into the water from this pavilion. The recent temperatures have been high, and after more than ten hours, the body floated to the surface and was discovered.
"We organized people to retrieve the body. At first glance, I recognized that it was Gong Yamei. After further identification, her identity was confirmed. The forensic doctor then performed an autopsy, but no signs of beating or attack were found, and the cause of death was drowning. The estimated time of death is between 10:50 PM and 11:50 PM last night."
"No signs of beating or attack, so... Sister Yamei committed suicide?" Wang Xingxing said in astonishment.
"How could that be?" Xia Qi cried. "Sister Yamei was fine when we had dinner together last night. How could she suddenly become so desperate?"
"Drowning deaths have three possibilities: accidental, suicide, and homicide. Now it seems that all three possibilities exist, so what I need to do is to investigate the truth behind this incident," Tan Yong said.
"But Officer Tan, you said there were no signs of beating or attack. How could it be a homicide?" Yuan Dong asked.
"No obvious external injuries don't rule out homicide. Because the perpetrator could have pushed her into the water, and that wouldn't leave external injuries. Besides, we all know that Gong Yamei couldn't swim. She mentioned it during our conversation, saying that she was hopelessly bad at swimming and never learned it," Tan Yong sighed. "In fact, the place where she fell into the water is only about two meters deep, not too far from the shore. If she could swim, she wouldn't have drowned."
"So among the three possibilities: accidental, suicide, and homicide, which one is more likely?" Gu Lei asked.
Tan Yong looked around at everyone. "That's what I want to ask you all, what happened last night?"
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TL CORNER
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