"As per the estimated time of death, it falls around forty to fifty minutes back. Somewhere from 3.30 to 4 PM. The movie ended at 4 PM. But according to Miss. Wu and you, it seemed the onset was around 2.40-2.45 PM. I am trying to understand the gap here."
Her brows crinkled with thought. "It surely is puzzling."
"Did you notice anything strange around the end?"
"No," Ma Zhilan commented with lament, "I almost missed the second half. I didn't expect to fall so deep asleep. I only woke up because a loud bomb blast scene broke my sleep. The screen was very bright for a second too. The boom rang so badly in my head that I had to take a minute to calm myself. But when I glanced at my neighbor again, she seemed to be still sleeping. I figured she must be like me. Took some medicine and fell asleep."
Jia then asked, "Did you hear Mrs. Dai ask for help from the person on her right?"
"I think I did…She was calling for Feng someone," she scrunched her brows trying to remember.
"Fengge. That's her son's name."
"Oh. Then I understand now. But I didn't hear much response from that side."
That gave Jia further confirmation that Dai Fengge wasn't in his seat at the time. But then what about Yin Xiaoling?
Jia bowed before Ma Zhilan and said, "Thank you for your cooperation, Mam. If we have more questions, we might have to trouble you again."
Ma Zhilan said, "It's no trouble. It was really tragic. Her family must have wanted to enjoy some time together but sadly…" her eyes expressed genuine distress. "That reminds me. I heard you had some issues with looking after the little boy from that family."
Jia awkwardly smiled. "Yeah. The rest of my team is busy with their duties and…" she narrowed her eyes at Mingshen, "somebody else was too lax about it."
The person in question showed no signs of remorse and instead only grinned. She looked back at her. "So my colleague took responsibility for some time."
She alternated her gaze from Jia to Mingshen and back from him to her. "Are you two dating?"
"..."
The expressions on their faces had a complete one-eighty degrees of opposite spectrum of emotions. Jia had a look of horror and disgust while Mingshen's joy knew no bounds.
"I must say you have extremely healthy eyesight too!" He was over the moon. "You are right. Spicy and I are in a very loving relationship-"
He ate his words back when he felt Jia's foot stepping upon his shoe with all the weight of her displeasure. "Don't you dare hint about any possibility of a relationship between us or you will lose your leg today."
"Don't be so shy, Spicy~ You should praise grandma for her excellent observation," he earnestly suggested.
Jia tried her best to retain her composure as she faced Ma Zhilan. "You are mistaken, Mam. We are just colleagues…" she also bitterly added, "unfortunately."
Ma Zhilan stared at them for a moment and softly chuckled. "You two are quite interesting. I can see you both have very different energies and thought processes, but they also complement each other very well in a way."
Jia wasn't sure how to react while Mingshen urged her to speak more with a gleaming gaze. "Please tell us more. Do you feel if Spicy's bright energy would be locked in my lab's dark energy soon?"
"That's not gonna happen this time, Yang Mingshen," she snickered. "Please refrain from daydreaming."
"I can daydream because I can bring those to reality, my dear," he blushed.
"I think you two would get to learn a lot from each other," Ma Zhilan commented.
Jia was speechless. "With due respect Mam, what can I possibly learn from a psy-" she coughed.
A psycho doctor? A crazy doctor? A retarted doctor?
No matter what word I use, I will only terrify the kind grandma.
She laughed. "It's hard to explain at this moment. But it's very important to have different perspectives in your life even if they are stark opposite from yours. His presence in your life and your existence in his life can teach you two a lot of important lessons I feel."
"S-Sure…" Jia smiled her best smile in order to not look dismissive.
"I am sorry I diverted from my original question," she looked embarrassed, "I was asking about the child because I thought I could offer to look after him if you are lacking people. I have a granddaughter around his age myself so I could be of help to you."
"Oh, I think that will be really helpful."
Mingshen smiled. "You have good experience with children. Don't waste this opportunity to charge the officer."
Jia glared at him. "Shut up, Mingshen."
They left Yun to her side who was happy to be beside the gentle looking grandma.
She said, "Let's meet Dai Fengge again. He has more answers to give."
Dai Fengge was in a more distressed state than before when Jia arrived to meet him once again.
"I don't know what is happening…I have lost my mom. Do you understand the seriousness of it! Instead of finding the culprit, you came here to question us again? What else is left for me to answer!"
At first, he was distraught but cooperative with the investigation. But now his patience was thinning.
Jia furrowed her brows. "Culprit? As far as the investigation has led us to, Mrs. Dai's death seems to be an unfortunate accident. She somehow came into contact with something that triggered her allergy and subsequently an asthma attack. Of course this is too soon to make it our final conclusion, but why do you think there might be a culprit? Do you have doubts that this could be intentional?"
Dai Fengge felt at a loss of words. "N-No I mean…I didn't mean it like that."
"Yes, yes, it just accidentally came out of his mouth," His friend, Yin Xiaoling, quickly assured her, "Fengge is in a lot of stress as you can see…Sorry, he is just confused. Of course, why would anybody want to hurt Aunt?" She then whispered under her breath, "unless…"
She narrowed her eyes. "Unless?"