Sheriff Uncle, open the door quickly! I've come to solve a case!

With the hamburger, Bai Zhizhi forgot about what had just happened.

He was dangling his short legs, eating a hamburger with his mouth covered in sauce.

"Eat slowly, no one's going to take it from you." Qin Qingzhou, like a real dad, very naturally wiped the sauce off her mouth.

Bai Zhizhi was too busy eating to pay attention to him and kept making "woof woof" sounds.

"Did you have the police contact Yao Panlan?" Qin Qingzhou asked in a voice only Li Ku could hear.

Li Ku nodded: "I contacted her; she'll be off work tonight."

"Then let's go there tonight."

At that moment, Qin Qingzhou received a message notification. He took it out and saw that it was a photo sent by forensic doctor Hu Siqi.

He squinted at it for a moment, his expression slightly serious: "Did you find a ring during your on-site investigation?"

"A ring? I don't have one."

Qin Qingzhou showed the photos to Li Ku: "Teacher Hu discovered that the deceased had traces of a ring he had worn for many years on his ring finger, but we did not find the ring at the scene."

"The thing the killer took was most likely this ring."

Qin Qingzhou paused for a moment: "If what was taken was really a ring, then this case is a crime of passion."

"Yao Panlan is now a prime suspect. It seems we don't need to go to her; instead, we should ask her to come see us."

"The ring has been returned to its rightful owner!"

A childish voice interrupted their thoughts.

The two looked over and saw Bai Zhizhi, whose face was a mess, peeking at their phones.

"Don't talk while eating."

Li Ku patted Qin Qingzhou on the shoulder: "Captain Qin, how dare you speak to our little master like that!"

Qin Qingzhou was speechless.

Li Ku immediately fawned over Bai Zhizhi and picked up a French fry, placing it in front of Bai Zhizhi's mouth.

"Come, Master Zhizhi, ah~"

"Ah~"

Bai Zhizhi opened her mouth wide, took a bite out of the fries, and her eyes narrowed with delight.

Seeing that Bai Zhizhi was enjoying his meal, Li Ku rested his head on his hand and asked in a low voice, "What did Master Zhizhi mean by 'returning things to their rightful owner' just now?"

"How silly! Of course the item should go back to its owner!"

"It's a ring? The owner of the ring?" Qin Qingzhou frowned.

"Uh-huh!"

Who owns the ring?

Bai Zhizhi's gaze fell on the child's McFlurry next to her, and she couldn't listen to Qin Qingzhou's words anymore: "Zhizhi wants a McFlurry too!"

Li Ku jumped up: "I'll go buy it for Master Zhizhi."

The conversation ended abruptly.

Although Qin Qingzhou really didn't want to believe the child's nonsense, her words inexplicably bothered him.

That evening, a group of criminal investigators went to the police station near the scene of the crime.

The police station had received the information and detained Yao Panlan at the station under the pretext of investigation after she left work.

Yao Panlan was locked in the interrogation room, but because there was no concrete reason, she could not be handcuffed.

Qin Qingzhou sat opposite her, quietly observing her.

Yao Panlan was slightly plump, but her features were beautiful; she didn't look forty years old at all. She sat there somewhat at a loss.

He took out Zou Fei's photo and placed it in front of Yao Panlan: "Do you recognize him?"

"No……"

Qin Qingzhou coldly interrupted her: "Don't even think about lying to us police officers."

Yao Panlan sighed deeply and lowered her head: "I know him..."

"What's the relationship?"

"lover."

Does your husband know?

"Of course I don't know."

"According to witnesses, you used to go to his house every week. Why didn't you go this week?"

"We had a fight, so I didn't go out of spite."

Qin Qingzhou took back the photo: "Do you know he's dead now?"

Yao Panlan pursed her lips into a thin line and nodded gently.

What were you doing on the night of the incident?

"I'm working overtime at the factory."

"Can anyone prove this?"

Yao Panlan nodded hurriedly: "Yes, people who were working overtime with me at the time can testify to this, and my husband was also working overtime at the time, so he can also testify for me."

As Yao Panlan spoke, she slapped her hand on the table. Qin Qingzhou glanced down and noticed a faint ring mark on her ring finger.

"Officer, I really didn't kill him. I don't know who he offended. I really didn't do anything! Our argument was just about relationship issues. I wouldn't kill him for that!"

"We didn't say you killed him; we were just asking a normal question."

Yao Panlan breathed a sigh of relief and slumped her shoulders helplessly.

"How long have you been married to your husband?" Qin Qingzhou suddenly asked.

Yao Panlan found it a little strange, but still answered honestly, "Two years."

"It seems like your relationship isn't going well; I noticed you've taken off your ring."

When the ring was mentioned, Yao Panlan's face stiffened, and she guiltily withdrew her hand and placed it under the table.

Qin Qingzhou noticed it.

"No, it's just that I gained weight after giving birth and the ring gradually became too small for me, so I took it off."

Qin Qingzhou then asked a few more questions, and Yao Panlan answered them honestly despite being nervous.

After leaving the interrogation room, the recorder printed out the entire transcript for him, and Li Ku and Zhao Tai returned home with a full copy of the transcript.

Li Ku excitedly shook his ID bag: "Captain Qin, the ring you mentioned has been found!"

A woman's silver ring reflected the light in the document pocket.

Each pair of couple rings has a serial number. You can find the serial number of one of the rings and then find the buyer based on the serial number.

This step went very smoothly. The IT staff quickly found the Taobao store selling the ring based on the serial number and retrieved the buyer's IP address.

The next step is to wait for the IT department to find the IP address.

Meanwhile, they had to wait for the police to bring Yao Panlan's husband, Cao Qiang, over.

As for Yao Panlan, the police station found several excuses to temporarily detain her.

It was already past midnight when we got back to the criminal investigation team, and everyone was exhausted.

Qin Qingzhou went to the office to get his coat and saw Bai Zhizhi sleeping on the sofa. Only then did he remember that there was a child next to him.

Bai Zhizhi heard the door open and opened her eyes with a whimper: "Uncle?"

Qin Qingzhou felt a surge of tenderness in his heart. He took off his travel-worn coat, picked her up, and gently patted her back to lull her to sleep.

Bai Zhizhi felt the familiar presence and slowly fell asleep again.

I was finally getting used to having someone waiting for me when I came home, but soon I'll have to see them off again.

Qin Qingzhou kept telling herself that she had been too busy to pick up the DNA report, and that she would wait until the case was over before sending Bai Zhizhi away.

Then they greedily savored this precious time that they had finally managed to drag out.

……

The next day, Qin Qingzhou was awakened by rustling sounds and felt particularly heavy on her body.

He opened his eyes, and Bai Zhizhi's sly smile loomed large before him.

When Bai Zhizhi saw that Qin Qingzhou had woken up, he felt particularly guilty and hid something behind his back.

Qin Qingzhou slept on the sofa all night, but her neck was so sore that she didn't pay much attention to it.

What are you doing?

"Zhi didn't do anything~ Good morning, Uncle~"

The tone of his voice also sounded particularly guilty.

What are you doing?

Qin Qingzhou was completely baffled, so she got up and went to the bathroom to wash her face.

Xu Shan came to work eating an egg and was surprised to see Qin Qingzhou: "Qingzhou, you... look so different today."

Then he left with a strange smile.

Qin Qingzhou: "?"

Not only Xu Shan, but everyone on the way to the restroom had a strange expression.

It wasn't until Qin Qingzhou saw herself in the mirror in the bathroom that things changed.

"...Bai, Zhi, Zhi!"