My Roommate Is a Detective Episode 1 Recap
> My Roommate Is a Detective Recap
In the vibrant Shanghai of 1925, Lu Yao, a brilliant graduate with double degrees in mathematics and medicine from Trinity College, Cambridge, and a deacon of the UK's Freemasonry, was abruptly awakened by his landlady, Ms. Wang, informing him that constables were at his door. He hurried downstairs in his pajamas, only to be confronted by Qiao Chusheng, a newly appointed detective inspector from the Concession Police Station. Lu Yao tried to flee but was quickly surrounded and apprehended.
At the police station, Qiao Chusheng interrogated Lu Yao, accusing him of murdering the businessman Chen Qiusheng the previous night. A flashback revealed the events at entrepreneur Nie Chengjiang's housewarming party. Chen Qiusheng had arrived with his subordinates, He Kun, Long, and Hu. Lu Yao aggressively confronted Chen, demanding repayment for money lost due to Chen's fraudulent stock information, which had caused many, including Lu Yao, to lose everything.
Infuriated, Chen ordered his men to physically remove Lu Yao, who was thrown out of the party. Shortly after, Chen went to the bathroom. His three subordinates, waiting outside, claimed to have seen a knife emerge from the mirror, stab Chen, and then vanish. Despite an immediate search, they found no one else in the locked room.
Back in the interrogation room, Lu Yao denied the murder, explaining he fled that morning because he thought he was being arrested for scratching Chen Qiusheng's car in retaliation for being ejected from the mansion. When Qiao Chusheng’s subordinate suggested torture, Lu Yao immediately demanded a lawyer. Just then, Bai Youning, a tenacious journalist for "Xinyue Daily," burst in.
She announced she had run away from home after a fight with her father, the influential Bai Qili, and demanded exclusive access to the murder case. Qiao Chusheng, who owed his position to Bai Qili, reluctantly agreed. Lu Yao, with keen observation, deduced Bai Youning was a tabloid journalist who had just left home and that Qiao Chusheng was a newly promoted inspector indebted to her father, forcing Qiao to let her stay.
Lu Yao refused to be interviewed, citing the principle of "in dubio pro reo" and asserting his innocence without evidence. Qiao Chusheng sent his subordinate to verify Lu Yao's alibi with the car keeper at Nie's Mansion. He then visited Bai Qili, who revealed that the Bank of Sassoon had called to request leniency for Lu Yao, leading them to suspect Lu Yao possessed sensitive insider trading information.
Bai Qili advised Qiao that to succeed in the Concession, he must master its legal "game rules." Meanwhile, Bai Youning visited the Bank of Sassoon, where Lu Yao's colleagues confirmed his genius but also described him as a selfish and disliked narcissist. Concurrently, the car keeper corroborated Lu Yao's story, stating he saw Lu Yao scratching the car around 9 PM, providing an alibi.
However, Qiao Chusheng, now convinced of Lu Yao's innocence but wanting to use his intellect, decided to conceal the alibi. He coerced Lu Yao into helping solve the case by threatening to let Bai Youning's newspaper continue painting him as the killer. Lu Yao reluctantly agreed and asked to visit the crime scene. At Nie's mansion, Lu Yao examined the bathroom, noting the unusual mirrored decor.
He found a loose glass panel, but Qiao assured him checks had confirmed a solid wall behind it. Lu Yao reviewed the witness statements; the three men claimed they saw the stabbing reflected in the ceiling mirrors, as a corner obscured their direct view. Just then, Bai Youning arrived with new information: Long and Hu had recently paid off large gambling debts.
This cast suspicion on them, in contrast to He Kun, who was known for his unwavering loyalty to Chen Qiusheng for sixteen years. Lu Yao declared the initial autopsy superficial and insisted on a more thorough one. He also learned that Nie Chengjiang had recently suffered a heart attack, supposedly triggered by newspaper reports linking him to a past death during a village demolition project managed by Chen. Dr. Zhao, Nie's family doctor, was attending to him.
Lu Yao noticed Dr. Zhao’s expensive Breguet watch, questioning how a family doctor could afford it. Later, Bai Youning provided Lu Yao with a crucial detail about the demolition: Chen's men had indirectly caused the death of an elderly woman by throwing firecrackers into her house, leading to a fatal heart attack. This strengthened Lu Yao's theory that the murderer was trying to frame Nie Chengjiang.
His situation worsened when Bai Youning revealed that the car keeper had retracted his statement, making Lu Yao the prime suspect again. The next morning, a new autopsy report confirmed the killer was an expert and that Chen's body contained an herbal anesthetic, indicating a meticulously planned murder. Lu Yao then revealed his own observation about Dr. Zhao’s watch: the diamonds had been replaced with worthless crystals, suggesting the doctor was feigning wealth.
To demonstrate the murder method, Lu Yao had Qiao Chusheng assist him with custom-made mirrors, proving how a "mirror trick" could be accomplished with a sliding panel and an accomplice. During a re-interrogation of Chen's subordinates, Long and Hu confessed to stealing diamonds from their late boss's watch to pay their gambling debts, but not to the murder. Convinced he knew the killer's identity, Lu Yao returned to Nie's mansion with Qiao Chusheng.
He interrupted Dr. Zhao administering medicine to Nie Chengjiang, revealing that the herbs—Chinese Angelica, ephedra, and lobelia—were dangerous for a cardiac patient and accusing the doctor of attempting to poison Nie. When Dr. Zhao denied it, Lu Yao directly accused him of murdering Chen Qiusheng.
He pointed out the fatal flaw in the doctor's story: as a Harvard-trained physician, Dr. Zhao would know that pulling a knife from a chest wound is the wrong action, contradicting his claim of attempting first aid. When Dr. Zhao weakly blamed panic, Lu Yao demanded he return to the crime scene to reenact the events.
