Card Room

Chapter 72 - Extremely Quick Train 5 – Death of Li Zhemin

Once they discovered that Li Zhemin was dead, the other three old men in the same room immediately started to scream.

The shrill screams alarmed the other passengers in the same carriage and the remaining eight elderly people of the tour group ran over.

The old lady who had dinner with Li Zhemin yesterday nervously touched his body. “Old Li, wake up, wake up!” The other two old ladies next to her wondered, “What’s going on?” “What’s wrong with Old Li?” “Oh my god, he isn’t waking up for so long. Surely he isn’t dead?”

Hearing the word ‘dead’, the elderly people were shocked and whispered to each other. Some even took a step forward and removed the quilt of the deceased to check the situation.

Yu Hanjiang stated, “Everyone, please go outside and don’t move the body!”

The train attendant’s face was extremely serious and his voice was as frightening as thunder. Yu Hanjiang’s sharp eyes swept through the crowd and they automatically took a step back with white faces. They left Room 2 and created a path for Yu Hanjiang.

Yu Hanjiang strode into Room 2 and quickly swept a glance over the scene of the crime.

The coats and caps of the four people in the tour group were hung from the hangers of the top and bottom bunks. The three beds 2B, 2C and 2D were slightly messy because the old people just got up. However, Li Zhemin’s 2A bed was extraordinarily neat.

Yu Hanjiang removed the quilt. Li Zhemin had changed into a set of plaid pyjamas and the clothes were neat. He obviously hadn’t fought with people nor were there any signs of struggle. He had been killed in his sleep and even at the moment of death, Li Zhemin was smiling like he was dreaming, his face extraordinarily quiet.

Most people over 60 years old slept very lightly and it was easy for them to wake up. There were some who found it hard to sleep in the middle of the night.

Room 2 had four elderly people and once one of them was awake, the risk of the murderer being found was very high. Apparently, the murderer knew these old people’s habits very known and confirmed that everyone fell asleep before moving.

It was reasonable to infer that it was easier for the three people staying in the same room as Li Zhemin to commit a crime. It was because they could always observe whether other and Li Zhemin was sleeping to ensure they wouldn’t be found.

Still, they couldn’t completely exclude the possibility of the elderly people in Rooms 1 and 3 from committing the crime. After all, they were colleagues for many years. They knew each other very well and often travelled together. They would be aware of who had insomnia, who was sleeping and who was snoring.

The tour guide Qin Shiyue was washing up. She heard the cries from inside the carriage, hurriedly washed her face with a towel, put it back in her washing bag and quickly ran back.

She saw that the door of Room 2 was surrounded by a group of people and nervously asked a familiar old lady, “Zhang Yi, what’s going on?” The old lady pointed to Room 2 and explained, “Old Li seems to be dead…”

Qin Shiyue’s expression changed and she quickly walked past. She found that the crew member of the 6th carriage was checking the situation of the deceased.

She came to the door and the other person just looked up.

His eyes were cold and sharp enough to pierce the bottom of people’s hearts. Qin Shiyue was startled by his cold eyes and took a deep breath to adjust her mood before asking in a quivering voice, “U-Uncle Li is really dead? What is going on here?”

The people around her shook their heads. “I don’t know.”

The bald old man suddenly said, “Is it a heart attack? I remember that Old Li was at risk of a heart attack!”

An old man next to him echoed. “Yes, Old Li has high blood pressure and had a heart disease for many years. His bed was originally on the upper bunk but he was worried his disease would strike in the middle of the night and he specifically changed beds with me.”

Another old man said, “He took his medicine on time every day and had surgery on his heart previously. It was said he got a stent!”

The three men who mentioned the heart disease were the old men who lived in Li Zhemin’s room.

Yu Hanjiang ignored their wild guesses and whispered, “Little Qin, can I trouble you to go to the 4th carriage and call the attendant there to come.”

Qin Shiyue nodded with a pale face and quickly headed to the 4th carriage.