Chapter 309: Chapter 307: A Problem with the Drinking Water?

Su Miaoyi and Chu Xingrou fell silent after hearing what the woman said.

The woman looked at them and also fell silent for a moment. A few seconds later, she suddenly said, "Oh, right. I just remembered something. Two or three days before Wan Shuang died, a friend and I were heading to the fields to work and we saw Xiao Min."

"What did you talk about?" Su Miaoyi asked.

"At first, it was just a normal greeting. Xiao Min can’t speak, so she just waved when she saw us, smiled, and started to leave. Just as she was about to go, Wan Shuang suddenly said she wanted to find her a boyfriend." The woman’s expression grew angry as she spoke. "Xiao Min is already twenty-seven or twenty-eight. Around here, at that age, your kids would already be in elementary school. Xiao Min’s always been single. The villagers all say it’s because of what happened with Tian Dajiang back in the day, so no one will marry her. Everyone knows not to bring up marriage with Xiao Min, but that day, Wan Shuang just blurted it out."

"After offering to find her a boyfriend, she said something like... the man was older and wasn’t picky about anything, he just needed to find a wife. Just listen to that. What kind of thing is that to say? I cut in and changed the subject, then told Xiao Min to go on ahead."

"But Wan Shuang just complained, saying I interrupted her before she could finish. So I argued back that she shouldn’t have said that. Even if she meant well by introducing someone, that was no way to put it."

"Wan Shuang started yelling at me, saying she was just telling the truth. That a ’broken shoe’ who’s slept with who knows how many men should be grateful to find someone who isn’t picky. She’d been slept with and she was getting old—who would want her? She said I was lucky she could find anyone for her at all, and that I was just meddling for no reason."

"I think Wan Shuang went to Xiao Min’s house later to try and set her up. I don’t know the specifics after that."

"What was Tian Min’s reaction at the time?" Su Miaoyi asked.

"Xiao Min is a meek person. She wouldn’t fight back, she just left. She didn’t really have a reaction. She’s heard that kind of talk for years, so she’s probably used to it," the woman said.

"After she left, could she still hear what you and Wan Shuang were saying?" Su Miaoyi asked.

The woman thought for a moment. "She probably could. Wan Shuang has a loud voice."

Su Miaoyi nodded. After a pause, she asked again, "What’s this about Tian Ming selling his daughter?"

"That’s just nonsense Wan Shuang and her lot were spreading. I’ve never heard anything about Tian Ming trying to sell his daughter," the woman said.

Su Miaoyi thought about what Yue Hong had said.

’It seems Tian Ming really did have the idea of selling his daughter at one point.’

"Alright." Su Miaoyi stood up. "We’ll be leaving for now. We’ll come find you if anything else comes up."

"Okay." The woman also stood up. "Officer, when do you think you can solve this case? I’m honestly... terrified. People keep dying. If you can’t catch the killer, is everyone in this village going to die?"

"No," Su Miaoyi said. "Trust us."

"It’s not that I don’t trust you," the woman said. "I know this is being done by a person, so when a lot of people went out to cause a scene last night, my husband and I stayed put. What I mean is, if the case can’t be solved right away, we’re thinking of going out of town to stay with our son for a few days. We wanted to leave when others first started leaving, but our son is married, and our daughter-in-law is from the city. We’re... just farmers, and we were worried we’d be a bother, so we didn’t go. But yesterday, our son and daughter-in-law must have heard what was happening, because they asked us to come stay with them... They’re coming to pick us up this afternoon."

"If you’re worried, you can go stay with them for a few days," Su Miaoyi said.

"Right, okay," the woman agreed. "The village committee has our contact information. Just call me directly if you need anything."

"Okay."

By the time they returned to the village committee office, Lu Zhishen had already finished the sketch.

"We’ve already run a comparison, and I’ve shown it to the village chief and some other villagers," Lu Zhishen said. "He’s not from Yanjing Village. We’re expanding the search."

Su Miaoyi looked at the sketch, then sat down and drank half a bottle of water. "It’s just as Zhuang Yanzheng said, he made a mistake with the assignments. He should have had Yan Cheng come with us to do the autopsy and had you stay at the city bureau to do the sketch."

Lu Zhishen smiled slightly. "Find anything?"

Su Miaoyi flipped through the phone numbers in a notebook on the table. "Hold on, I need to make a call."

Lu Zhishen watched as she found Tian Liu’s contact information, dialed the number, and put the call on speaker.

Tian Liu answered quickly on the other end. "Who is this?"

Su Miaoyi introduced herself.

"Oh, oh, I remember! Is something wrong? Don’t tell me someone broke into my convenience store again?" Tian Liu said.

"No. The convenience store is safe," Su Miaoyi said. "I wanted to ask you, do you remember the glue Tian Min bought on the morning you left?"

"I remember," Tian Liu said. "She had already bought six tubes the night before, so I was thinking of just giving it to her for free that day. She’d already bought so much."

Lu Zhishen glanced at Su Miaoyi.

"She bought that much?" Su Miaoyi asked.

"She likes doing crafts," Tian Liu said. "She’s always making little things out of small wooden sticks and stuff. She’s liked it since she was a kid, always buying glue. She’s incredibly skillful with her hands. A real quick study, she can learn how to do anything."

"Crafts?" Su Miaoyi repeated.

"Yeah, like making little houses and things. They’re very exquisitely made," Tian Liu said.

Su Miaoyi looked at Chu Xingrou and Lu Zhishen.

When they went to Tian Min’s house, they hadn’t seen anything related to crafts.

"One more thing. Are you normally a very deep sleeper? To the point where you don’t hear any sounds?" Su Miaoyi asked.

Chu Xingrou glanced at her.

"I’m usually a pretty light sleeper, especially after having my kid. I wake up at the slightest noise," Tian Liu said, also finding it strange. "I don’t know what was wrong with me that night. I didn’t hear a thing, even with all that noise."

"So you only slept that soundly on that one night?"

Tian Liu thought for a moment. "Didn’t I go to see my husband the very next day? I slept really soundly at his place that night, too. He even said my sleep quality had improved. But on the third day, I went right back to waking up at the slightest sound."

Su Miaoyi considered this. "What kind of cup do you usually drink water from?"

"I carry a cup with me everywhere. I’ve been using it for over half a year now, take it wherever I go." Tian Liu chuckled. "I’m not good at remembering to drink water, so my husband bought me this cup specifically. This way, it helps me remember."

"You two have a good relationship," Su Miaoyi remarked.

Tian Liu laughed again. "It’s alright. By the way, why are you asking all this? Do you suspect someone put something in my cup?"

"It’s just a suspicion. You should get a check-up when you have time, just in case," Su Miaoyi said.

"Okay, okay, I will." Tian Liu’s voice immediately turned serious.

After the call ended, Lu Zhishen said, "You suspect that both Tian Liu and Yue Hong were drugged, which is why they slept so soundly and didn’t hear anything before the nursery rhyme started, right?"

"Yes."

...

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.