With those questions in mind, Jia and Huojin moved ahead with the interrogation of Dai Yaling's neighbor for the movie show.
She was a woman in her mid sixties and as Jia approached her, she immediately felt as if she was one of those kind grandmother characters in a fairy tale. Her amiable and affectionate gaze set her heart at ease as if it was so natural.
It was at that time when Mingshen, who was terribly bored of babysitting Yun all by himself outside, marched in the theater with him.
Jia went straight to him and whispered urgently. "Why did you come back? And why is Yun with you?"
He lazily shrugged. "Your assistant had to leave to help my assistant in moving the bo-"
"Sshhh!" She slapped his mouth shut with angry veins popping on her forehead. "Don't talk about a dead body in front of a child! Have you dumped your brain and sensitivity somewhere!?" She admonished him while still keeping a low voice.
Yun curiously observed the interaction before him, giggling and smiling.
Mingshen grinned with his eyes and made a gesture as if he would shamelessly kiss her palm which had covered his lips. She immediately retracted her hand, glaring daggers at him.
"I was hella bored, Spicy. The little guy can go back to his father now because I want to be wherever you are~"
His carefree attitude was making her mood and concentration only to degrade from bad to worse. "Mingshen, we still have to question Dai Fengge. We got some new information that we have to verify with him. I don't think it's good for Yun to listen in on that," she gritted her teeth.
"Well then ask your colleague here to look after him," he smiled. He then looked around and his gaze fell on the elderly woman. "Or this grandma looks nice enough to babysit him," he shrugged. "My job is done. I babysitted the kid for long enough in proportion to the four hundred Yuan I got from your officer."
They puked blood. Huojin was the first to question, aghast. "You charged from Xiyang!?"
"Nothing in this world is for free, especially Yang Mingshen's help."
The arrogance in his voice was bubbling lava inside Jia which was close to bursting. "I will make you puke that four hundred Yuan out myself," she sneered. "Just you wait."
"I am always ready for your chilliness, Spicy~"
Huojin waved his hand in defeat. "It's okay, Jia. You carry on with the questioning. I will look after Yun."
"Thanks a bunch, Huojin," she gave him a grateful nod.
Ignoring Mingshen's existence altogether, Jia went back to the woman's side with Mingshen merrily following her.
"I am Superintendent Song Jia. I am sorry to meet you under these circumstances…You are Miss. Ma Zhilan, correct?"
She slowly looked up and let out a placid smile. "Hello. Yes, I am Ma Zhilan," her gaze then dimmed, "Indeed, it's a terrible time to meet after having to witness someone's death…"
She let out a small breath and with her eyes gently closed, she remained silent for a few moments as if mourning Dai Yaling's death. She slowly opened her eyes and switched her walking stick from her left hand to the right, her brows slightly furrowing.
Jia caught her discomfort and asked, "Is something the problem?"
"Oh, it's just just my knee dear. Hurts a little," Ma Zhilan nodded. "My granddaughter was in trouble sometime back, and I got slightly hurt during that."
Jia glanced at Mingshen to see if he was interested in doing a quick checkup to which he only shrugged. "She will be fine."
She then asked with concern, "You came here alone? Is there nobody from your family to accompany you?"
"My son and daughter-in-law are busy with work and my granddaughter is at her friend's house to play. I had nothing better to do so I came by myself. It's alright dear. I am doing much better now."
She smiled and nodded in return. "If you are fine with it, we will drop you home. It will be safer than traveling alone."
"Oh that will be wonderful. Thank you, dear," she gratefully accepted her offer.
She cleared her throat and started with her questions. "Can you please tell us from your perspective what happened to Mrs. Dai? You were right beside her, so did you notice her getting sick at any point?"
Jia gave her an account of Dai Yaling's asthma attack just like they did to the young couple during their previous questioning.
Ma Zhilan looked regretful. "I don't know much about it dear. After the interval was over, I was beginning to feel slight pain in my knee. So I took some painkillers that I always carry with me. I started to get some relief, but I was also feeling drowsy and eventually I fell asleep. Then after some time, I felt some uneasy movements from my right side."
"I opened my eyes and felt something fall near my foot. Seems like that was her handbag. I woke up and faintly noticed the woman next to me looking breathless. I wanted to help her, but my head felt heavy with all the sleepiness so I didn't feel much strength in me. Then I heard somebody from the front row talking to her. I couldn't see quite clearly because it was dark, but I think it was a woman?"
Jia said, "Yes. A woman named Wu Yue was in the front seat of Mrs. Dai."
Ma Zhilan gently nodded. "I thought so. I didn't quite catch what she said, but I heard the woman's response from beside me that she was okay. I felt relieved because my drowsiness and the slightly loud movie scenes were making my headache grow worse," she shook her head.
"So you didn't feel that she was in any emergency situation at all?"
"She was restless for some time, but then I felt her going calm. So I thought that she settled down and I too tried to rest…But when the movie was over, we learned that she had passed away. If she was in a dire situation, I believe she would have made more of a ruckus, but she didn't. She was uncomfortable for sure, but she didn't cause any commotion."
"And this happened a little after the interval and not around the end of the movie?"
"Yes."