Checkmate Episode 2 Recap
> Checkmate Recap
Situ Yan and Luo Shaochuan revisited the crime scene, where Ma Shiying had been fatally stabbed multiple times, indicating intense anger from the murderer. Situ Yan observed that the communicating door was locked from the other side, while the window was wide open. Luo Shaochuan initially thought the killer had escaped through the window, but Situ Yan insisted that the murderer was still on the train.
They checked outside and found no footprints, confirming that no one had left from there. Situ Yan concluded that opening the window was merely a diversion, and the unexpected overnight stop of the train was fortunate, allowing them to confirm the killer's presence. He vowed to find the culprit. Inside Ma Shiying's room, Situ Yan discovered a water glass that had contained sleeping pills, a loaded handgun, a pipe cleaner, and a pearl.
Meanwhile, Qi Hong, distressed, rushed to Situ Yan, claiming she found a button in her room that wasn't hers. She was convinced the killer had entered her room and pleaded for Situ Yan's help, trembling with fear. Luo Shaochuan sternly warned her to calm down, threatening that she could be the next victim if she continued to panic. Situ Yan separately questioned Qi Hong about the communicating door.
Qi Hong explained that Liao Yun, the woman with the persistent cough whom Situ Yan had encountered earlier, had been asked to check the door. Annoyed by Liao Yun's coughing, Qi Hong had invited her to her room for cough medicine and asked her to check if the communicating door was locked. However, Liao Yun clumsily opened the door, stumbled into Ma Shiying's room, then quickly retreated. Qi Hong assumed Liao Yun had forgotten to re-lock the door.
She concluded that the murderer must have killed Ma Shiying and then escaped into her room through the communicating door. Situ Yan remarked that this suggested the killer intended to create the impression of a locked-room mystery to mislead investigators into thinking they had jumped off the train. Situ Yan then showed Qi Hong the pearl, asking if it was hers.
Qi Hong scoffed, stating she would not be working in her profession if she could afford such an expensive item. Situ Yan also asked if she owned a red cheongsam, which she denied. Luo Shaochuan then outlined the passenger manifest. From Room One to Seven, the occupants were Situ Yan, Ma Shiying, Qi Hong, Princess Rong Xiang, Zong Yan, Bai Lu, and Liao Yun, respectively. Rooms Eight and Nine were connected and occupied by George Brel.
Wan Jixiang was in Room Eleven, and Shi Chunshan in Room Twelve. Situ Yan theorized that the pearl likely belonged to a female passenger, while the pipe cleaner belonged to a male smoker. Situ Yan dismissed Jin Qiming, who was engrossed in writing, but asked him to leave his camera for photographic evidence, promising to return it. Liu Zijie, the conductor, then recounted the previous night's events in detail.
He said the train's last stop was Jinzhou at 11:58 PM for about ten minutes. It then traveled for over 20 minutes before stopping indefinitely due to damaged tracks ahead. Shortly after the indefinite stop, Ma Shiying rang his bell, only to brusquely dismiss Liu Zijie. Immediately after, Princess Rong Xiang rang for her maid, Shi Chunshan, due to a flare-up of rheumatism. Liu Zijie informed Shi Chunshan.
He then returned to his duty and later drank with Wan Jixiang and Zong Yan. He mentioned that around 1 AM, he responded to Situ Yan and Qi Hong's calls. Qi Hong reported a man in her room, and Liu Zijie found the communicating door to Ma Shiying's room unlocked. He suspected Qi Hong might have left it open for Ma Shiying, but he locked it for her. After delivering water to Situ Yan, he remained in the duty room.
He confirmed that the button found by Qi Hong was not his, as all his uniform buttons were accounted for. He also stated that, by regulation, he was the sole conductor for the first-class carriage, though he sometimes socialized with others. Liu Zijie vaguely recalled seeing a woman in a red cheongsam or skirt going to the toilet but couldn't identify her face due to his inebriation. Next, Situ Yan questioned Wan Jixiang.
Wan Jixiang, Ma Shiying's secretary, expressed his primary concern was getting his last week's salary and vehemently denied any involvement in the murder, explaining his duties were limited to translation and document handling. He reminded Situ Yan that he had tried to help him when Ma Shiying threatened him. Situ Yan referenced Ma Shiying's earlier comment about "scholar's tricks."
Wan Jixiang revealed that Ma Shiying had received two threatening letters recently and believed Situ Yan was behind them, planning to switch carriages after seeing him, but was killed before he could. Wan Jixiang confirmed he did not know about Ma Shiying's sleeping pill habit. After leaving Ma Shiying's room, Wan Jixiang said he drank with Zong Yan. They smoked a cigarette outside the carriage door when the train stopped, but quickly returned inside due to the cold.
He confirmed Liu Zijie briefly joined them for a drink before leaving to answer a bell. Wan Jixiang also remembered seeing a very young woman in a red cheongsam walking by, and suggested asking Zong Yan, who was sober, for more accurate details. Zong Yan, when questioned, asserted that he never drank, citing the need for constant alertness from his military background, contrasting himself with Luo Shaochuan's less disciplined approach.
Luo Shaochuan challenged Zong Yan's combat prowess, but Situ Yan intervened, asking for cooperation. Zong Yan confirmed that after he and Wan Jixiang returned from smoking, he saw a conductor pass by, but it was not Liu Zijie. He described the person as noticeably thinner than Liu Zijie and heading towards the dining car, not returning. Zong Yan was adamant about this identification, emphasizing a soldier's sensitivity to body shapes.
He stated they talked about "women, fighting wars, just chitchat" until 1:30 AM or later, after which he put a drunken Wan Jixiang to bed. He only learned of the murder in the morning from the commotion. He dismissed any personal stake in Ma Shiying's death. Situ Yan then presented the pipe cleaner, asking if it was his, noting he was the only pipe smoker in the carriage. Zong Yan nonchalantly stated it looked generic and he had several more.
Situ Yan probed why Zong Yan was traveling to Fengtian for an "urgent matter" despite leaving his luggage behind, if not for an urgent reason. Zong Yan simply replied he disliked altering his predetermined schedule.
Luo Shaochuan became convinced that Zong Yan was the murderer, theorizing he had bribed Wan Jixiang for Ma Shiying's itinerary, boarded the train, established an alibi with Wan Jixiang, killed Ma Shiying, and intended to be off the train by morning before the body was discovered. Situ Yan, however, felt there were too many conflicting elements: the pipe cleaner, the pearl, the woman in the red cheongsam, and the unknown conductor.
He likened each piece of evidence and testimony to a part of a jigsaw puzzle, believing the truth would emerge once all pieces were assembled. Situ Yan and Luo Shaochuan then interviewed Princess Rong Xiang and Shi Chunshan. Princess Rong Xiang recounted that her rheumatism had flared up around 1 AM, and she had the conductor call Shi Chunshan for a massage. Shi Chunshan stayed for about half an hour (30 minutes).
When Shi Chunshan left to retrieve a quilt for her, around 1:15 AM, she saw a conductor pass by. Shi Chunshan clarified it was not Liu Zijie, but a shorter person she had never seen before. Princess Rong Xiang reiterated that due to her physical condition, she could not have possibly killed Ma Shiying. Situ Yan instructed Luo Shaochuan to search everyone's luggage, suspecting the conductor's uniform would be found in a woman's suitcase.
Situ Yan showed the pearl to Liao Yun again, who firmly denied it belonged to her. Liao Yun mentioned that Bai Lu, the student from the adjacent room, had been caring for her coughing until around midnight, after which Liao Yun asked her to rest. Liao Yun noted that Bai Lu's door made a distinctive noise, but it remained silent after she returned, implying she did not leave her room again.
Liao Yun also denied owning a red cheongsam, stating she disliked the color. Situ Yan gently probed about her earlier accidental entry into Ma Shiying's room, and Liao Yun, embarrassed, stated she was unwell and had mistakenly opened the wrong door, not wishing to recall the incident. Luo Shaochuan also questioned Bai Lu about the red cheongsam and pearl, which she denied possessing.
Bai Lu corroborated seeing a woman in a red cheongsam walk past her room and complained about her faulty door which the conductor had promised to fix. Luo Shaochuan warned Bai Lu and all passengers that if the killer wasn't found before the train reached Fengtian, they would all be taken to the police station for questioning.
Luo Shaochuan then proposed a consolidated theory: a thin, unknown conductor boarded the train at Jinzhou, used a master key to enter Ma Shiying's room, killed him, staged the locked room, and escaped through Qi Hong's room. However, he was still perplexed about how the killer disappeared from the train. Situ Yan simply reiterated his puzzle analogy, emphasizing that every piece of information would eventually reveal the truth.
Situ Yan discovered a document referencing "Xu Huaichang," learning about the "Xu family tragedy" that occurred twelve years prior in Harbin. Xu Huaichang's wife, Yuqin, and their daughter were murdered during a robbery. Mrs. Xu had tirelessly sought justice, and it was noted that Ma Shiying had been in Harbin around the time of the tragedy. This raised the possibility of Ma Shiying being the true culprit of the Xu family tragedy.
Luo Shaochuan's subordinate then reported a significant discovery: a conductor's uniform had been found in Shi Chunshan's luggage. It was also revealed that Princess Rong Xiang was Mrs. Xu's godmother. Shi Chunshan frantically denied ownership of the uniform, claiming she was being framed. Situ Yan, remembering Shi Chunshan's alibi, pointed out that she had been with Princess Rong Xiang all night, making it impossible for her to be the murderer.
He suggested that the killer, after leaving Room Three in the conductor's uniform, changed into a red cheongsam in Room Twelve (Shi Chunshan's room) and left the uniform there. Shi Chunshan again denied owning a red cheongsam or the pearl. Luo Shaochuan, overwhelmed by the mounting suspects, felt that everyone now seemed to have a motive.
Princess Rong Xiang, overhearing the conversation, declared that Ma Shiying "deserved it" and that she would have killed him herself if she had known he was the perpetrator of the Xu family tragedy. She lamented "harming" Yuqin, whom she watched grow up, recalling Yuqin's support for "foreign things" and subsequent flight to Fengtian after being wanted in Nanjing. Princess Rong Xiang expressed deep regret for not keeping Yuqin at home, believing it would have prevented her tragic fate.
She also noted her inability to commit the murder due to her severe rheumatism, and mused that her presence on this train might be destiny. She also conveyed her wish to inform Mrs. Xu's ailing mother of Ma Shiying's death, hoping the news might offer some comfort. Situ Yan then theorized that there was still another woman on the train, noting George Brel had ordered two portions of food.
Luo Shaochuan dismissed this, reminding him that Brel was an American diplomat. At that moment, a subordinate burst in with startling news: a red cheongsam had been found in Situ Yan's luggage. Luo Shaochuan immediately accused Situ Yan of hypocrisy, exclaiming he was "a thief crying 'Stop thief'." Situ Yan, looking at the red cheongsam, pondered whether this development was a challenge or a warning.
