I See Murders Before They Happen

Chapter 275: Chapter 273: It’s Not That I Didn’t Tell You

Su Miaoyi returned to Weiyang Palace. Listening to the sounds of someone moving in upstairs, she took another look at the map of Jinghai.

She knew this kind of search was probably useless. The places she was looking at were all spots where it would be easy to bury or hide a body, and it was very possible the corpse was in someone’s home.

That made the investigation even more difficult.

Even if they went door-to-door, it would take ages to search the southwestern part of Jinghai.

But she felt restless if she wasn’t studying it.

’What if I actually find it?’

She spent half the day studying the map.

As the sky gradually darkened, she stretched her back and poured herself a glass of water.

Her phone rang. It was an unknown number.

Nowadays, whenever she saw an unknown number, she assumed it was someone from the Ji Family.

She answered the call, and the person on the other end introduced herself first. "Is this Su Miaoyi? I’m Yan Zhiqing."

"Auntie, yes, it’s me," Su Miaoyi said, a little surprised.

"Am I disturbing you?" Yan Zhiqing asked with a gentle laugh.

"Not at all," Su Miaoyi replied. "I was just wondering why no one had contacted me."

Yan Zhiqing chuckled. "Then my timing is perfect. Have you had dinner?"

"Not yet," said Su Miaoyi. "Are you free? Please, let me treat you to dinner."

"Let me treat you," Yan Zhiqing said. "Are you at Weiyang Palace? I’ll have someone come get you. We can eat at my family’s restaurant—the one you’ve been to before."

"Oh, I can get there myself," Su Miaoyi said.

"Just wait there. I’ve already sent someone to get you."

"Alright."

When Su Miaoyi arrived at the restaurant, Yan Zhiqing was waiting for her in the main hall.

She had brought a small gift for Yan Zhiqing as well.

The two of them went to a private room. The moment she opened the door, the first thing Su Miaoyi saw was Liu Liu.

Liu Liu saw her and seemed to freeze for a second. Then it tilted its head, and its tail began to wag.

It had been sitting, but it shot up to run toward her.

But the other end of its leash was tied to a chair. As it ran, it dragged the chair forward with it.

It stopped and let out a little "ar-woo," wagging its tail as it looked at Su Miaoyi. Then it nudged its head toward the chair a couple of times.

Su Miaoyi was pretty sure she understood what it meant: it wanted her to untie the leash.

"I saw how much he liked you last time, so I brought him along," said Yan Zhiqing. "Are you afraid of dogs? He doesn’t bite."

"Not at all," Su Miaoyi said.

Yan Zhiqing untied the leash.

Liu Liu was instantly in front of Su Miaoyi, planting its front paws on her clothes.

Su Miaoyi ruffled the fur on his face.

Liu Liu was so excited he let out a little whine.

"Please, have a seat," Yan Zhiqing said.

"Alright."

Su Miaoyi sat down, and Liu Liu settled next to her, leaning against her leg.

He kept nuzzling against her leg every few moments.

Su Miaoyi kept her hand on his head, stroking his fur.

Watching how affectionate Liu Liu was with her, Yan Zhiqing smiled at Su Miaoyi. "I wasn’t sure what you like to eat, so I just ordered a variety of things."

"I’m not a picky eater."

Yan Zhiqing gave a gentle smile and had the staff bring in the dishes.

But it turned out the person who claimed not to be a picky eater didn’t touch the tomatoes, celery, or eggplant.

Yan Zhiqing watched her expertly avoid those particular dishes.

She was finally tripped up by a small, round patty that looked like it was made of pumpkin but was actually made with carrots.

To be fair, the patty looked delicious.

So Su Miaoyi tried a piece.

As the flavor spread through her mouth, Su Miaoyi’s eyes widened.

’This patty is a carrot traitor.’

It was a pumpkin patty, but with carrots mixed in.

"What’s wrong?" Yan Zhiqing asked.

Not wanting to taste it any further, Su Miaoyi swallowed it whole. "I thought it was just a plain pumpkin patty."

"It is a pumpkin patty," Yan Zhiqing said with a very serious expression. She even picked one up and took a bite. "See? It’s pumpkin. Try it again."

Su Miaoyi stared at the patty on her plate.

"It really is pumpkin, have another taste," Yan Zhiqing insisted.

Su Miaoyi started to believe her, so she took another small bite.

She squeezed her eyes shut. It felt like the carrots were biting her back.

Yan Zhiqing handed her a couple of napkins.

’When Qin Leyan was little, she was such a picky eater. Shen Shilan and I used to trick her into eating things just like this. But we could never fool her. It wasn’t that she disliked how they looked—it wasn’t a visual thing. She genuinely hated the taste. Even if we juiced them and mixed them with other things, no matter how faint the flavor, she could always detect it. And she’d refuse to eat it. She was so little back then, but her expression, her reaction... it’s exactly the same.’

Su Miaoyi quickly spat it out into a napkin.

Just then, a waiter brought over some juice.

"Here, drink this. It’ll get rid of the taste," Yan Zhiqing said.

Su Miaoyi took a sip, and her eyes lit up. She quickly took a few more gulps. "I’ve never had grape juice this good before."

After she said it, she added a silent thought to herself.

’Actually... maybe it’s not the first time. It suddenly tastes... familiar.’

"If you like it, you should come more often," Yan Zhiqing said.

"I will."

Yan Zhiqing had the staff remove all the dishes Su Miaoyi didn’t like, leaving only her favorites.

By the end of the meal, Su Miaoyi was so full she didn’t feel like moving.

She knew this restaurant was good, but the food had never been as delicious as it was tonight.

The usual fare was on a completely different level from what she had tonight.

She sat in her chair, rubbing Liu Liu’s cheeks.

Suddenly, a ringing filled her ears.

"Help me... help me... help me..."

Su Miaoyi tilted her head and closed her eyes.

Liu Liu also let out a sudden, low whine.

"What is it?" Yan Zhiqing asked.

"It’s nothing." Su Miaoyi pressed a hand to her ear and glanced out the window.

The voice seemed to be coming from the southwest again.

But it was gone in an instant, and she couldn’t hear anything anymore.

After dinner, Yan Zhiqing and Su Miaoyi took Liu Liu for a walk in the restaurant’s back garden.

Yan Zhiqing didn’t ask her anything about Qin Leyan, only making small talk.

They chatted for over an hour before Yan Zhiqing had Su Miaoyi driven home.

Liu Liu insisted on going with her.

In the end, Yan Zhiqing had to grab him by the scruff of his neck and physically stop him from jumping into the car.

After seeing her off, Yan Zhiqing had her own driver take her home.

She sat in the car, watching the city lights retreat past her window, thinking about Su Miaoyi.

The image of her gradually overlapped with the image of a young Qin Leyan.

’Back then, I used to cook a lot. Little Le Yan loved my cooking, so she’d often show up at my house with her little lunchbox, ready to eat. I’ll never forget that tiny little girl standing outside, too short to reach the doorbell, pounding on the door and yelling, "Aunt Yan, I’m here for more yummy food!"’

At the memory, Yan Zhiqing smiled, then wiped away a tear that had escaped.

When she arrived home and walked through the door, she saw Zhuang Yanzheng.

"Mom, you’re back?" Zhuang Yanzheng was waiting for her in the living room; he knew she had gone to see Su Miaoyi.

Yan Zhiqing stared at him and walked right up to him.

Zhuang Yanzheng sensed something was wrong. He immediately shot up from the sofa and shuffled to the side. "Mom, just listen to me first. I didn’t keep it from you on purpose. It’s just... this whole thing is hard to explain, so we all agreed that unless someone figured it out, we wouldn’t bring it up."

"I’m your mother!" Yan Zhiqing exclaimed.

"Mom, we were genuinely worried about how it might affect Su Miaoyi. That’s why we agreed not to say anything unless someone found out," Zhuang Yanzheng explained.

But Yan Zhiqing wasn’t listening to a word he said.

She snatched a throw pillow and started whacking Zhuang Yanzheng with it.

Zhuang Yanzheng turned and fled.

Yan Zhiqing chased him from the living room out into the yard.

Liu Liu had no idea what was going on, but seeing them run, he joined the chase from behind.

Zhuang Yihao happened to get home right then. Not knowing what was going on either, he started chasing after them too, yelling, "What’s happening? What’s happening?"

No one answered him.

In the end, the three-person, one-dog chase concluded with Zhuang Yanzheng getting smacked twice by a throw pillow...