I See Murders Before They Happen

Chapter 271: Chapter 269: This Is Your Just Deserts

Su Miaoyi went with Shen Shilan to attend one of her classes.

The lecture hall was packed, so Su Miaoyi found a seat in the corner.

She sat in her corner and listened attentively for a while, but she couldn’t understand a thing, and soon she started to get drowsy.

Her seat was in a corner that was perfect for sleeping.

But everyone around her was listening so intently that she felt a little too embarrassed to actually fall asleep.

She was especially conscious of the fact that Shen Shilan might look up at her at any moment, which made her even more hesitant.

So she propped her head up with her hand and started nodding off, jerk by jerk.

After about five minutes of this, a particularly sharp nod jolted her awake, and she felt someone beside her watching her.

She turned her head to look.

A man was staring at her.

She stared back.

When the man saw her looking, he immediately turned his gaze back to the front.

Su Miaoyi observed him for a moment and decided he seemed normal enough. Then, she pulled a piece of paper and a pen from her desk.

And started to draw.

When the class ended, a crowd of students surrounded Shen Shilan to ask questions.

Su Miaoyi stayed in her seat, wanting to finish her drawing.

She was in the middle of drawing when she sensed someone approaching. She quickly flipped the drawing face down on the desk and turned her head.

It was the man who had been looking at her earlier.

Su Miaoyi looked at him.

"Hi, my name is Di Jia."

’Tiga?’

Su Miaoyi was momentarily confused.

"Are you in the economics department too?"

Su Miaoyi shook her head.

"Then are you..."

"Is there something I can help you with?" Su Miaoyi asked.

"Would it be okay if we got to know each other?" Di Jia said.

Su Miaoyi looked at him, paused, then gave a polite smile. "That might not be convenient."

"Really not convenient?" Di Jia pressed.

"Really. Not convenient," Su Miaoyi said.

"Oh, sorry to bother you then." Di Jia turned and left.

Su Miaoyi lowered her head and went back to her drawing.

Once Shen Shilan was done with the students, she walked over and glanced at what Su Miaoyi was drawing.

The moment she saw it, Shen Shilan almost burst into tears.

This level of artistic skill gave her more of a headache than a poorly written thesis.

’After all these years, she hasn’t improved one bit!!!’

"Is it good?" Su Miaoyi showed it to her.

Shen Shilan, who always favored an encouraging approach to teaching, moved her lips several times, but the word "good" just wouldn’t come out. In the end, she could only manage a nod. "What did you draw?"

"Isn’t it obvious?"

"If you dare tell me that this twisted thing that looks like a bent clothes-drying rack is supposed to be me, I’ll leave you here to find your own way home," Shen Shilan said.

"Uh... this is, this is..." Su Miaoyi scratched her head. "It’s Shen Yanzhou."

Shen Shilan cracked a smile. "Let’s go. There’s a great restaurant nearby. We’ll have lunch there."

"Okay." Su Miaoyi put the pen back, folded the paper, and then, when Shen Shilan wasn’t looking, slipped it into her bag.

After their meal, as Shen Shilan was paying, she reached into her bag and saw the drawing. She turned to look at Su Miaoyi, only to find her standing by a potted plant a short distance away, waiting.

Suddenly, the scene before her seemed to overlap with one from many years ago.

Back when Qin Leyan was still in school, she used to do the same thing—stand a short distance away, waiting for her to pay.

Even her posture and little mannerisms were exactly the same.

After Shen Shilan graduated from college and started working, she became very busy, and they rarely went out together like this anymore.

Shen Shilan watched for a moment, then folded the drawing two more times and tucked it safely into a side pocket of her bag.

After paying, the two of them left and walked toward the parking lot.

Just as they reached the car, she saw Cai Qinglian.

Her car was parked right next to theirs.

"Su Miaoyi?" Cai Qinglian called out, then her gaze shifted to the woman beside her. "Professor Shen?"

Shen Shilan looked at her.

Cai Qinglian stared at them. "Why are you two together?"

Shen Shilan glanced at Su Miaoyi, saw that she had no intention of speaking, and pressed the unlock button on her car key.

Su Miaoyi immediately went to open the car door.

The moment the door was open, Cai Qinglian reached for her arm. "Miaomiao."

Su Miaoyi immediately dodged, not letting her touch her.

Shen Shilan also blocked her, then quickly looked at Su Miaoyi’s arm. "She didn’t touch you, did she?"

"I’m fine."

"Miaomiao, we haven’t seen each other in so long. Since we finally ran into each other today, let’s sit down and talk," Cai Qinglian said.

"Sit and talk about what? We’re not close. Isn’t it normal for us to not see each other for a long time?" Su Miaoyi said. "Mrs. Ji, what do you mean by saying that now? Back when I was in school, didn’t we go two or three years at a time without meeting?"

An even deeper look of disgust appeared on Shen Shilan’s face.

"I, I... I just missed you a little. What mother doesn’t miss her own child?" Cai Qinglian lowered her gaze, putting on a heartbroken expression. "I had no choice back then. If there had been any other way, things wouldn’t have been like this."

"Who are you putting on an act for?" Su Miaoyi called her out directly. "Are you performing for Professor Shen? Showing her such a terrible performance is just plain disrespectful."

Those words nearly scared Cai Qinglian to death.

"I didn’t, I didn’t!" Cai Qinglian hurriedly explained. "Professor Shen, I wasn’t! How could I possibly disrespect you? I really wasn’t."

Su Miaoyi fell silent. ’This level of intelligence...’

’There must be something wrong with the ancestors of the Cais and the Ji Family.’

Shen Shilan placed a hand on Su Miaoyi’s shoulder, gently guiding her into the car.

Su Miaoyi sat in the passenger seat.

Shen Shilan closed the car door and looked at Cai Qinglian. "Mrs. Ji, the Ji Family’s scandal back then caused quite a stir, and I heard a few things about it. Because of what happened, I’ve never had a high opinion of the Ji Family. That’s why we haven’t had any contact all these years."

"We had our reasons."

Shen Shilan’s words were blunt. "You don’t need to tell me your reasons. It has nothing to do with me, and I have no interest in hearing them. What I want to say is this: since you didn’t raise her, stay far away from her. Don’t bother her, and don’t treat her like your tool. We’ve had no contact in the past, and we won’t have any in the future."

Shen Shilan continued, "I am an adult. I have my own likes and dislikes, and I have the right to make my own decisions, which won’t be changed by anyone. I have no desire to associate with someone who could be so cruel to their own child. So, Mrs. Ji, don’t put on a pitiful, insincere act in front of me. Even if it works on Su Miaoyi, it won’t work on me."

"Professor Shen, we are both mothers. You can understand me. I had just given birth; there were many things I had no control over. I didn’t want it to happen either." Cai Qinglian’s eyes started to well up with tears as she spoke.

"I can’t understand," Shen Shilan said. "If anyone had dared to send my daughter away back then, I would have fought them to the death. If others didn’t want to raise her, I could have raised her myself. And another thing... you say you were forced into it back then, but what about after you brought her back? How did you treat her? If you had treated her with even a shred of sincerity, you wouldn’t have ended up in this situation."

"This is your own doing. I also heard that you found a ’master’ to tell the fortune of your unborn child. In reality, you were trying to find out the sex, weren’t you? Because of Ji Sheng’s status, and because gender testing was strictly prohibited back then, even with the Cais’ connections at the hospital, you wouldn’t have dared to use them. After all, being backstabbed by an acquaintance is not uncommon."

"So you went to a master. The truth is, even if the master had said nothing except that it was a girl, you still would have done the same thing. Perhaps everything you’re doing now was also part of his prediction. That’s why he told you that a daughter would bring great disaster to the Ji Family. He must have also foreseen that you wouldn’t treat a daughter well. You thought you were changing your fate by seeking a fortune teller, but how could that visit not be a part of your fate itself? This is the retribution the Ji Family is facing now."

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