Episode Summary
The investigation shifts to murder as police discover Zhai Xixi bought a large insurance policy for her brother just before dying. Qi Sizhe deduces the killer signaled Xixi to jump, then physically intervened when she got stuck on a drying rack. The missing shoe is found in an upstairs apartment occupied by a squatter agent and his friend, Wang Chen. Wang Chen, Xixi's insurance broker, admits to tampering with the scene to ensure the insurance payout but denies killing her, while new evidence links Xixi's medication to a previous suspect, Li Shuting.
Spoiler Alert
The Price of a Life
We start with some heavy news about Xiao Shan. His condition is tricky. He isn't dying right this second, but he needs surgery fast. The doctor lays this out clearly for Zhu Qingyue. The family knows the score too.
Then the financial reality hits. Li Xiaoxi digs into the father, Zhai Shanjun. The guy is broke. He has been surviving solely on the insurance payout from his late wife, Jiang Meiqi. But here is the kicker. Three months ago, the daughter, Zhai Xixi, took out a massive accidental death policy. It pays out three million. The beneficiary is her sick brother, Zhai Xiaoshan. That timing is way too convenient.
A Broken Family History
Zhai Shanjun opens up to Zhu Qingyue about their past. It is a grim story. Years ago, the family ran into a group of violent criminals while on a trip. The mother, Jiang Meiqi, was stabbed to death. The father survived with injuries. The trauma caused Zhai Xixi to lose her voice permanently.
This tragedy broke the family apart from the inside. The son, Zhai Xiaoshan, blames his father entirely for the mother's death. Zhai Shanjun claims he had no idea about his daughter's new insurance policy. He plays the role of the clueless, grieving father well.
Reconstructing the Fall
Qi Sizhe is done with the suicide theory. He is certain this was murder. The crime scene evidence suggests a second person was present when Xixi fell. Someone also moved the body.
The team focuses on the shoes. The killer took Xixi's left shoe. They went into her apartment. They swapped it for the matching right shoe. Then they left the left shoe on the balcony. This setup required access. It turns out Zhai Shanjun likely left the front door open when he ran downstairs. This gave the killer a perfect window to enter and swap the evidence.
The Signal and the Snag
Han Feng and Wan Guoxin hit the real estate agency. The agent claims nobody visited the empty apartment downstairs recently. The keys are accounted for. But witnesses tell a different story. Someone saw flashing lights from the building opposite the victim's home.
Qi Sizhe runs a simulation. The light wasn't random. It was a signal for Xixi to jump. But the plan went wrong. She jumped but got snagged on a drying rack on the sixth floor. She didn't die immediately. The killer had to intervene. They ran upstairs, avoiding cameras, to ensure she fell the rest of the way.
The Shoe in the Fridge
The killer's escape was messy. After Xixi hit the ground, the killer grabbed the shoe and went to her apartment to make the swap. They tried to flee downstairs but ran into some rowdy teenagers. They panicked and ran up instead. A neighbor came out of the elevator, trapping the killer in the stairwell between floors.
This logic leads the team to room 1006. They check the fridge. There it is. The missing shoe is sitting right inside.
The Squatter and the Broker
Li Xiaoxi goes undercover as a potential renter for room 1006. It pays off immediately. She catches the real estate agent, Zhang Chunmin, cleaning out the place. He isn't the killer, though. He is just a squatter. He made a copy of the key to live there for free. His fingerprints don't match the shoe.
Zhang gives up a name. He lent the place to a friend, Wang Chen. Wang Chen happens to be the broker who sold Xixi that insurance policy.
A Complicated Confession
Han Feng brings Wang Chen in. Wang admits he was there. He claims he and Xixi were friends. He says he saw her preparing to jump and ran to stop her. According to him, she fell and got stuck on the rack. He went to save her.
This is where his story gets twisted. He claims Xixi untied her own shoe. He says he swapped the shoes and hid the evidence to protect the insurance claim. He wanted to make sure her death wasn't in vain. He admits to insurance fraud, not murder.
The forensics are messy. Wang's prints are on the shoe. However, the blood on the laces belongs only to Xixi. Han Feng knows Wang is lying about something. Meanwhile, Gao Yuan finds a pill bottle in Xixi's place. It contains the same anti-manic medication Li Shuting used. The bottle even has similar markings.
