Chapter 46: Qin Huairu Frames He Yuzhu

A dead silence filled the director's office.

The words "surgical scalpel" struck the concrete floor like ice picks—cold and hard.

"A surgical scalpel?" Director Yang knitted his brows into a tight knot. "Where would the technical department get a surgical scalpel? Only the clinic has them!"

Zhang Biao, head of the security department, immediately straightened his back. "Director, I will lead a team to investigate the clinic right now! Every single person who has ever had access to the scalpel will be checked, leaving none out!"

"Wait," He Yuzhu spoke. His voice was not loud, but it instantly drew everyone's focus.

He picked up the torn blue-cover notebook and pointed at the tiny, semi-circular indentation on the edge of the tear. "This mark is very fresh, and the edges are sharp. The person who tore the paper is either from the clinic, or... someone managed to get a surgical scalpel from the clinic and brought it into the technical department."

He Yuzhu shifted his gaze to Su Qing, whose face was pale and who was biting her lower lip hard. "Su Qing, were there any abnormalities with the doors and windows of the technical department from yesterday afternoon through last night?"

Su Qing tried hard to recall, then shook her head. "The door... the door lock is fine. The window... the window latch seemed a little loose, but there are iron bars on the outside..." She suddenly stopped, her head jerking up. "The window! The ventilation window on the very inside! One of the bars is broken!"

"It's very thin, hard to notice unless you look closely! It was accidentally bent a few days ago while repairing the pipes, and we haven't had time to fix it yet!"

A narrow gap!

More than enough for a slender arm to reach in, fumble around, and get close to the file cabinet by the window or... the desk near the window!

"Location?" He Yuzhu pressed further.

"Right... right above the drawer where Engineer Chen keeps his notebook!" Su Qing's voice trembled with lingering fear.

All the clues instantly connected in a chain!

An arm capable of reaching in through a narrow window gap, a surgical scalpel leaked from the clinic, and someone intimately familiar with the layout of the technical department!

Director Yang's face turned livid. "Zhang Biao! Focus your investigation on the clinic! Check all scalpel requisition records! Who had access to a surgical scalpel from yesterday afternoon to last night?"

"Who had the opportunity to commit the crime? Also, search the ground outside the technical department's window inch by inch! See if there are any footprints or other traces!"

The security department immediately dispatched men.

The atmosphere in the office was so heavy it made it hard to breathe.

Engineer Chen paced back and forth in anxiety, while Su Qing's eyes were red-rimmed as she tightly clutched the ruined blue notebook.

He Yuzhu walked over to the window, looking out at the heavy night outside.

Li Huaide... this time, his methods were even more insidious than pouring sand. Destroying the original records and splashing the dirty water of plagiarism was intended to nail him firmly to the pillar of shame.

He had to strike back, and quickly!

"Director Yang," He Yuzhu turned around, his tone exceptionally calm, "the pages torn from the notebook might still be found."

"What?" Director Yang and Engineer Chen were stunned simultaneously. The pages had been torn away; where could they possibly be found?

"The person who tore the paper wasn't trying to take the pages away, but to destroy the evidence in the text." He Yuzhu's gaze was sharp. "Acting in haste, they would most likely have crumpled the torn pages into a ball and disposed of them nearby."

"Outside the technical department's window... or the nearby trash can, or even the toilet sewer. While Section Chief Zhang and his men search outside the window, we can try... to restore the handwriting on the paper."

"Restore? How can you restore anything when the words are gone?" Engineer Chen asked, uncomprehending.

"Let's try iodine fuming," He Yuzhu said with certainty. "Touching paper leaves sweat and grease behind. Iodine vapor makes these residues visible, simultaneously revealing fingerprints."

"Sometimes, it can also make faint traces of pencil or ballpoint pen writing—even if torn off or erased—visible. Does the technical department have iodine?"

"Yes! The iodine tincture we use for starch experiments!" Su Qing reacted immediately.

"Hurry! Get the iodine tincture! And bring a sealed glass container!" He Yuzhu commanded.

Soon, Su Qing brought back a small brown bottle of iodine tincture and a large glass desiccator.

He Yuzhu carefully spread out Su Qing's torn notebook at the bottom of the desiccator, focusing on the blank pages that retained the tear marks.

He poured a small amount of iodine tincture into the desiccator and quickly covered it to seal it.

Everyone's heart was in their throat, holding their breath as they looked into the glass cover.

Deep purple iodine vapor diffused inside the container, slowly settling onto the pages of the notebook.

Time ticked by second by second, and faint, blurred yellow marks began to appear on the paper—those were the paper fibers themselves and possible stains.

"It seems... nothing has changed?" Engineer Chen said, somewhat disappointed.

"Wait!" Su Qing suddenly pointed to a blank spot near the tear on one of the pages, her voice carrying excitement. "Look! There! There are... very faint blue traces!"

He Yuzhu leaned closer to the glass wall.

Sure enough! Under the fumigation of the iodine vapor, a few extremely faint, intermittent blue traces appeared in the lower right corner of that blank page!

They looked like the residual pen strokes of the torn-away writing!

"It's ballpoint pen ink!" He Yuzhu's eyes brightened. "Su Qing, is this where you recorded things? Can you recognize what words these are?"

Su Qing stared intently at those blurred traces, trying hard to identify them. "It looks like... like the character for 'stone'... and next to it... is it 'ratio'? The ratio of graphite powder? What I recorded was the graphite powder ratio!"

"Quick! Take pictures!" Director Yang immediately ordered a factory office clerk to fetch an old Seagull camera, and taking aim at the blurred handwriting appearing inside the glass cover, he snapped several continuous shots from different angles!

Although the handwriting was blurred and incomplete, it proved that there indeed had been writing on the torn-off paper! Furthermore, they were the original data recorded by Su Qing!

At that moment, Zhang Biao of the security department rushed in carrying a wave of cold air, his face bearing a mix of excitement and solemnity. "Director! Chief He! We have a major discovery!"

In his hand, he held a transparent evidence bag containing a small surgical scalpel that had been wiped clean yet still retained trace stains.

"A relatively complete footprint was extracted from the mud outside the technical department's window! Size 36, women's cloth shoes!"

"Following the direction of the footprint, this surgical scalpel was found in an abandoned rat hole at the base of the wall!" Zhang Biao spoke at a rapid pace. "The clinic has also been checked! At 3:30 yesterday afternoon, Qin Huairu borrowed a surgical scalpel from the medic, little Liu, under the pretext that her family's Banggen needed a wound cleaned!"

"Little Liu can testify to this! Moreover, yesterday afternoon around 4 o'clock, someone saw her wandering near the technical department!"

"Qin Huairu?!" Director Yang and Engineer Chen were both startled.

Su Qing covered her mouth, her eyes filled with disbelief.

She knew He Yuzhu and Qin Huairu lived in the same courtyard, and while she usually knew the Jia family lacked integrity, she never imagined Qin Huairu would stoop to such actions!

"What about fingerprints?" He Yuzhu stared at the surgical scalpel inside the evidence bag.

"Several blurred fingerprints were lifted from the exterior of the technical department's windowsill, and a relatively clear fingerprint was lifted from the inner side of the window frame! Also on the handle of this surgical scalpel!" Zhang Biao's voice carried the excitement of cracking a case. "They've been sent to the laboratory for emergency comparison! The results will be out immediately! As long as they match Qin Huairu's fingerprints..."

Before he could finish, a young technician from the lab ran in breathlessly, holding a freshly printed report sheet. "Section Chief! The comparison results are out! The clear fingerprint on the inner side of window frame, along with several on the scalpel handle, match completely... with the right index fingerprint Comrade Qin Huairu left when registering as a model worker at the factory union last year!"

The ironclad evidence was irrefutable!

The air in the office seemed to freeze. Qin Huairu... it turned out to be Qin Huairu!

"She... why would she do such a thing?" Su Qing murmured, her voice filled with incomprehension.

He Yuzhu's gaze was cold and profound. Why? For money? For revenge?

Or... acting under someone else's instructions? The shadow of Li Huaide surfaced in his mind once again.

"Zhang Biao!" Director Yang slammed his hand on the table, furious to the extreme. "Immediately! Right now! Bring Qin Huairu to the security department! I want to question her myself—who gave her the audacity to destroy state technical secrets and frame a meritorious contributor!"

The security personnel set out once again, their hurried footsteps fading away into the distance.

He Yuzhu looked out the window at the heavy night. The direction of the courtyard was pitch dark.

Beneath the seemingly peaceful appearance of this courtyard, the filth hidden within ran deeper than he had ever imagined.