Checkmate Episode 3 Recap
> Checkmate Recap
A red qipao was discovered in Situ Yan's luggage, immediately drawing the attention of other passengers who began to murmur, with some suggesting that Situ Yan himself was the culprit, trying to divert suspicion. Zong Yan vocally accused Situ Yan, pointing out that the phrase "go away" in Russian was heard from the victim's room, a language Situ Yan could speak, making him a prime suspect.
Since Wan Jixiang and the conductor, Liu Zijie, were talking and working respectively, they had alibis, leaving Situ Yan without one. Another passenger, however, interjected that Liu Zijie had first responded to a call from Room Three (Ma Shiying’s room) before Room One (Situ Yan’s room), which would have given Situ Yan enough time to commit the crime and return. Situ Yan recognized the qipao as a deliberate provocation or warning.
Luo Shaochuan ordered everyone to stay calm and remain in their places. Situ Yan, connecting a previous observation about George Blair ordering two meals, suspected there was another person in George Blair's room. He went to George Blair’s door and knocked. George Blair, a diplomat, opened the door but immediately refused to cooperate, claiming diplomatic immunity and stating he had been asleep and not left his room all night.
Luo Shaochuan interjected, asserting his right to investigate a murder on his train, regardless of George Blair’s diplomatic status, and questioning George Blair's stance on rights given the uncertain ownership of the railway between China and Russia. As George Blair attempted to close the door, Situ Yan noticed he was left-handed, a crucial detail, as Ma Shiying's fatal wound was inflicted by a left-handed assailant. Situ Yan then insisted on knowing if there was a woman in the room.
Despite George Blair's initial resistance, a woman’s voice from inside agreed to cooperate. Inside, George Blair introduced the woman as his wife, Fang Ting, who politely excused her husband's concern for her fragile health. Situ Yan requested their passports. While George Blair's passport was in order, Fang Ting’s passport lacked a Chinese name, prompting Situ Yan to ask for it, to which she replied, "Fang Ting."
Situ Yan subtly noted "Xu Fangting" on her luggage, immediately suspecting a connection to the long-past Xu family tragedy. When asked, Fang Ting denied any knowledge of the Xu family tragedy, claiming she was a young child and not in Harbin when it occurred. Situ Yan then asked to examine her jewelry box, where he found pearls identical to one discovered at the crime scene.
Fang Ting explained she had accidentally broken her necklace while packing and hastily put the loose pearls into the box. She reiterated that she had not left the room since boarding and had gone to bed early, knowing nothing about Ma Shiying's death. Situ Yan confronted her with the inconsistency, asking how a pearl from her necklace could be found at the crime scene if she had not left her room. Suddenly, a scream erupted from Qi Hong's room.
Situ Yan and Luo Shaochuan rushed over and found the murder weapon, a dagger, on Qi Hong’s table, hidden beneath her purse. Qi Hong was hysterical, terrified that the killer had planted the weapon as a warning and would return for her. Luo Shaochuan tried to reassure her, stating they were close to identifying the murderer. Situ Yan pressed Qi Hong for more details, particularly about the connecting door to Ma Shiying's room.
Qi Hong recalled hanging her wash bag on the door handle, which obstructed her view of the lock, so she was unsure if the door had been properly secured. Situ Yan probed about her supposed positive relationship with Ma Shiying, and her need to check the lock.
Qi Hong tearfully clarified that she was no longer a prostitute but a singer who sought to merely "make people happy," and she had checked the door out of fear of Ma Shiying's potential unwanted advances. Bai Lu, who was present, urged Situ Yan to stop distressing Qi Hong, and Luo Shaochuan encouraged Qi Hong to trust Situ Yan and arranged for her to stay with Bai Lu for safety.
Situ Yan later reflected on Qi Hong's statement, realizing that a wash bag would not block the door lock, which was positioned below the handle. He also observed that Qi Hong's fingers bore calluses from writing, not playing the pipa, leading him to deduce that she had abandoned her past as a courtesan and had become a writer, implicitly using her craft to honor Mrs. Xu's memory by writing under the name "Huai Chang" and to live a respectable life.
Princess Rong Xiang then requested a meeting with Situ Yan and Luo Shaochuan. She claimed the pearl Situ Yan found was hers and showed them her broken hairpin, explaining that its silver pin had snapped, causing the pearl to fall. She asked Situ Yan to inspect the pearl for dark stains from the tarnished silver, which he confirmed.
The Princess admitted she didn’t know when or where she lost it, as she had worn the hairpin the previous day and put it back without noticing its absence. Situ Yan shared his mounting suspicions with Luo Shaochuan, noting that while most passengers had alibis, he, Qi Hong, George Blair, and Fang Ting did not. He then strategically re-approached George Blair, feigning an apology but pointedly addressing his "wife" as Xu Fangting.
Confronted, Xu Fangting confirmed her true identity, admitting she had hidden it due to fear of being implicated in Ma Shiying’s murder. George Blair vehemently defended his wife, asserting that whoever killed Ma Shiying was a "good person." Situ Yan countered, stating that regardless of motive, a killer remains a killer. Xu Fangting then confessed that she was the sister-in-law of Ma Shiying's victim, Mrs. Xu (Yuqin), and a witness to the Xu family tragedy twelve years prior.
As a twelve-year-old, she watched in horror as Ma Shiying, unable to find money during a robbery, raped her sister-in-law, Yuqin. Her young niece rushed to protect her mother and was brutally murdered. Xu Fangting agonized over her inability to hold her niece or cover her eyes, blaming herself for her niece’s tragic death. George Blair tried to console her, insisting it wasn't her fault.
Xu Fangting confessed her desire for revenge but admitted she lacked the courage to kill Ma Shiying herself, especially after witnessing his unjust acquittal in court despite overwhelming evidence. She recalled that a student named Han Shuang had reported the crime. Situ Yan immediately connected Han Shuang to Bai Lu.
Bai Lu confirmed her identity as Han Shuang, revealing that she was nine years old at the time of the Xu family tragedy and had studied English with Mrs. Xu, who had treated her like her own child. Days before the crime, she had seen a suspicious coachman loitering near the Xu residence, who insinuated that Mrs. Xu was involved in "unseemly things." After the tragedy, the coachman vanished.
Bai Lu reported him, and his description matched the perpetrator Xu Fangting had seen. Situ Yan understood that Bai Lu's hurried use of the name "Bai Lu" during registration was a panicked attempt to conceal her identity, drawing a poetic connection to the phrase "Clear dews become frost thence." Luo Shaochuan realized that every passenger on the train, in some way, was connected to the Xu family.
Princess Rong Xiang revealed that her current servant, Shi Chunshan, was previously the Xu family's cook and had accompanied Yuqin when she married. After the Xu family tragedy, Shi Chunshan had been interrogated and left without a home until Princess Rong Xiang took her in. Shi Chunshan, overcome with guilt, confessed that she had forgotten to lock the back door on the night of the tragedy, blaming herself for allowing the "evil man" to enter and kill Mrs. Xu.
She tearfully denied killing Ma Shiying. Situ Yan then subtly pressed Liao Yun about a framed photograph, revealing her earlier lie. He deduced that the photo was not of her daughter and grandson, but of Liao Yun and her daughter (Mrs. Xu), implying her daughter was no longer alive, and her trip to Harbin to see her was likely the most painful experience of her life.
Situ Yan then confronted Wan Jixiang, revealing that his earlier suggestion about Ma Shiying taking sleeping pills on the train was a fabrication. He deduced that the threatening letter Ma Shiying genuinely feared was not the ones Wan Jixiang had produced, but one Wan Jixiang had burned. Enraged, Wan Jixiang lashed out at Ma Shiying, calling him a "bastard" who should not have killed Mrs. Xu.
He recounted how Mrs. Xu had saved him as a young, thieving street orphan from being beaten to death. He also admitted that he had seen the murderer (Ma Shiying) before the crime, having followed him to Mrs. Xu’s house after a failed attempt to steal from him, though he had not entered the premises. Zong Yan then confessed that he had been Xu Huai Chang's comrade and was tasked with escorting his sister-in-law, Mrs. Xu, to safety.
However, he had gotten drunk on the night of the tragedy, failing to ensure her protection. Liu Zijie, the conductor, also confirmed his long-standing connection to the Xu family, explicitly stating that Mrs. Xu's daughter, "Ying," was his own daughter, and tearfully blamed himself for his daughter's suicide, which stemmed from his distrust in her.
Finally, Qi Hong admitted that she had known Mrs. Xu in Nanjing, where Mrs. Xu, a fervent advocate for reform, constantly urged her to leave her life as a courtesan. This ongoing pressure had eventually led Qi Hong to reveal intimate details about Mrs. Xu's relationship with Xu Huai Chang. Qi Hong confessed her current fear was not of being caught, but that the killer was seeking revenge for Mrs. Xu, and she was implicated.
Situ Yan declared that, with the exception of himself, every passenger on the train was connected to the Xu family. He concluded that this was no mere coincidence but a meticulously planned setup designed to involve him in the unfolding drama.
He then meticulously dismantled the collective narrative they had presented, which described a "fictitious killer" who had boarded the train at Jinzhou, donned a conductor's uniform, used a master key to enter Ma Shiying's room, committed the murder, created a locked-room scenario, escaped through Qi Hong's room, discarded the uniform in Shi Chunshan's room, and then vanished while wearing a red qipao.
Situ Yan highlighted the fatal flaw in this perfect alibi: the train had been stopped all night, making it impossible for such a killer to have simply "disappeared." He then revealed that Ma Shiying's broken watch, which indicated a time of 1:15 AM, was a deliberate misdirection. Ma Shiying, a man obsessed with his watches, would never have worn one to bed. This meant the time of death was fabricated.
Situ Yan theorized that the actual time of death occurred "after" 1:15 AM, which would render all of their carefully constructed alibis invalid. He then pointed to the nine stab wounds on Ma Shiying's body, noting their varying depths, from superficial to a fatal blow through the lung.
Situ Yan concluded that all nine individuals on the train had collectively subjected Ma Shiying to a "trial," each delivering a stab, an act of vengeance, though he firmly stated that their judgment was utterly unlawful.
