Chapter 307: Chapter 305: Actually Found Something Out

"You don’t have a good impression of her?" Su Miaoyi asked, looking at Tian Shi and Tian Xuan.

"It’s not about my impression of her. She was just a bad person," Tian Xuan said.

"Can you be more specific?" Su Miaoyi asked.

Tian Xuan frowned and said nothing.

Tian Shi subconsciously glanced toward the inner room. "She just had a foul mouth. She’d say anything, no matter how nasty."

Seeing him glance toward the inner room, Su Miaoyi didn’t press the issue. "Tell me about your father."

"Nothing to say," Tian Xuan said.

"What was your father like, from what you remember?" Su Miaoyi asked.

"A drunk, a gambler, and lazy," Tian Xuan summarized succinctly.

Su Miaoyi turned to Tian Shi.

Tian Shi was silent for a moment before speaking. "As far back as I can remember, my dad never really took care of us. He barely did any work in the fields; it was always my sister and my grandparents doing the farming, earning a little money to support us. When we got a bit older, we started working alongside our sister. After our grandparents passed away, our aunt would always bring us money and things to wear and use. Later, she took us to Chang City and found us jobs."

"And your mother?" Lu Zhishen asked.

"My father gambled constantly and was in debt everywhere. Debt collectors were always coming to our house. Seeing him like that, my mother started neglecting us too, and she began going out all the time," Tian Shi said.

"When Tian Ming was alive, she spent every day cursing him, wishing he would die. I never saw them being affectionate. Now that he’s really dead, she’s working herself into this state." Tian Xuan snorted. "I really don’t get their relationship."

"Did you know Tian De and his wife?" Su Miaoyi asked.

Chu Xingrou and Lu Zhishen’s expressions didn’t change, and they exchanged no words.

When Su Miaoyi asked them about the deceased, the two brothers understood what this was all about.

"Uncle Tian De was a good man. Sometimes when he saw the three of us siblings working, he would even lend a hand," Tian Shi said. "His wife, though... she was vicious. She was always yelling at Uncle Tian De and had a real sharp tongue. She’d say anything to anyone. I can’t imagine how many people she must have offended. I didn’t like her. I thought she was awful."

"A person like her deserved to die," Tian Xuan said.

Tian Shi kicked the stool he was sitting on.

Tian Xuan looked indignant. He turned to look at Tian Shi, but the moment their eyes met, his indignation vanished, and he fell silent.

Su Miaoyi got a firsthand look at what they called "bloodline suppression."

"That woman wasn’t well-liked. If it weren’t for Uncle Tian De being such a good man, practically no one would have spoken to her," Tian Shi said.

"What about Wu An?" Su Miaoyi asked. "Did you know him?"

"Who’s that?" Tian Xuan asked.

"Everyone in the village calls him Uncle Wu," Chu Xingrou said.

"Didn’t he go missing? Did they find him?" Tian Xuan asked.

Su Miaoyi glanced at him, noting his blunt nature. "We found him. He was murdered."

"Who would want to kill him?" Tian Xuan asked, shocked and confused. "He was all alone and lived such a pitiful life. Why kill him?"

"I didn’t know him very well. He wasn’t one for talking. You could say hi to him and he wouldn’t make a peep," Tian Shi said. "We lived far from him, so we rarely saw him. We just heard from others that he was a quiet, honest man."

"Why kill such an honest man," Tian Xuan repeated.

"How’s business at the butcher shop?" Su Miaoyi changed the subject back to their business.

"Sometimes it’s pretty good," Tian Xuan said.

"Is it just the two of you? Can you manage when it gets busy?" Su Miaoyi asked.

"When it gets too busy, my sister comes to help us," Tian Xuan said.

"It’s good that you live close. You can look out for each other," Su Miaoyi said.

"That’s true," Tian Shi said.

After questioning them, Su Miaoyi and the others left.

The three siblings saw them out.

Su Miaoyi offered a few words of comfort to Tian Min.

Tian Min just kept nodding.

The four of them left.

Su Miaoyi said to Zhao Yongliang, "Keep a close watch on their family."

"Huh?" Zhao Yongliang didn’t immediately register. "Their family?"

"Yes," Su Miaoyi said. "Don’t let them leave the village for the time being."

"Okay," Zhao Yongliang agreed.

Back at the village committee office, Su Miaoyi didn’t go inside, standing in the courtyard for a moment instead.

Chu Xingrou and Lu Zhishen knew she was thinking and didn’t disturb her.

After a while, she said, "Xingrou..."

Just as she called out, her phone rang.

It was Zhuang Yanzheng.

She answered the phone.

Zhuang Yanzheng said, "I actually got something from Mia and her people."

Su Miaoyi was surprised. "What is it?"

"Possibly the killer. We don’t know his real name. They all call him Twenty-one; it’s a code number. We need Lu Zhishen to draw a composite sketch," Zhuang Yanzheng said.

Su Miaoyi looked at Lu Zhishen.

Lu Zhishen said, "You need me for something?"

"A sketch," Su Miaoyi said.

Just as she finished speaking, Lu Zhishen’s phone rang. It was Brother Zheng.

He answered, and after a brief exchange with Brother Zheng, the phone was put on speaker. One of Mia’s subordinates began describing the person’s appearance.

Lu Zhishen went back to the office to sketch.

Zhuang Yanzheng continued speaking with Su Miaoyi. "I showed the victims’ photos to Mia’s crew, but they said they hadn’t seen any of them. I had written the names on the photos. One of Mia’s men—the one who can’t speak Chinese or read the characters—said the two characters for ’Gao Hui’ looked familiar, like he’d seen them somewhere before."

"I had him think about it for a while. He said he’d seen those two characters in someone’s chat history on their phone. He said that person... is one of their own."

"An assassin?" Su Miaoyi asked.

"Yeah."

"Do we know where he’s from?" Su Miaoyi asked.

"No idea. He’s male, and his height and weight match what you saw on the footage. We don’t know his exact age, but he looks to be around twenty-seven or twenty-eight. No name, either," Zhuang Yanzheng said. "They all call each other by number, so they don’t know much about each other’s identities. This guy, Twenty-one, someone only saw his chat history by accident."

"You know how it is. People in their line of work have excellent memories. Even if you can’t read the words, you can remember the shapes."

"With Mia captured, their safehouses are probably all empty. We have no idea where anyone is, do we?" Su Miaoyi asked.

"Right. They’re basically without an organization now, which makes their whereabouts even more unpredictable," Zhuang Yanzheng said.

"He might be here," Su Miaoyi said. "There was another case last night."

Zhuang Yanzheng was silent for a moment, then clicked his tongue. "Talk about brazen. Committing a crime right under your noses."

"Or he could have fled," Su Miaoyi said. "The villagers were causing a scene yesterday, blocking us from entering. He could have used the chaos to slip away."

"Are you three okay?" Zhuang Yanzheng’s voice instantly turned serious.

"We’re fine."

"All of you, be careful. I don’t want you coming back with matching lumps on your heads. People might think we’ve got a new ’head injury’ quota to fill. It’s a bad look for the Bureau," Zhuang Yanzheng said.

Su Miaoyi was speechless. "..."

"Alright, that’s all from me. All of you, be careful. And I mean it. Pay attention when you’re walking through the village, and watch out for ambushes," Zhuang Yanzheng said. "Pass the phone to Chu Xingrou. I have a few words for her too."

Su Miaoyi passed the phone to Chu Xingrou.

...

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.