Chapter 6: Farce

Chapter 6: Farce

The slap came out of nowhere, completely unexpected, and caught everyone off guard.

Luo Kaiyang was the first to react, quickly shielding Lin Xiaofeng behind him: "Auntie, what are you doing? Why are you hitting someone for no reason?"

Zhou Meihua's mom, on the other hand, stood with her hands on her hips, pointing at Lin Xiaofeng’s nose and cursing: "I'm hitting him! You good-for-nothing, you lowlife! If it weren’t for him, my Meihua would still be alive and well!"

Lin Xiaofeng stared at her in shock, not even flinching as her spit landed on his face:

"You shameless piece of trash, seducing my Meihua, and now you dare show your face in front of me? I’ll beat you to death, I’ll beat you to death!"

Zhou Meihua’s mom lunged at him again, but Luo Kaiyang quickly stepped in to stop her, saying, "Auntie, Auntie, he and your daughter were in a normal relationship. Are you misunderstanding something?"

"Normal relationship, my ass!" Zhou Meihua’s mom turned and spat at him: "My Meihua used to be so obedient, she never went against my word. But what happened? She came here and started dating! And with some guy from out of town!"

Zhou Meihua’s mom’s eyebrows furrowed: "I told her long ago that I would never approve of this, and that she should break up with him! Stay at home and marry a local boy! But she refused, she even wanted to marry that broke loser! She even had the nerve to argue with me!"

"If I had known, I would’ve broken her legs and kept her locked up at home. It would have been better than her dying here in such a disgraceful way!"

Zhou Meihua’s mom lunged at him again, but Lin Xiaofeng stammered, "Auntie, my feelings for Meihua were genuine..."

Zhou Meihua’s mom glared at him: "Genuine? What the hell is that worth? You’re just a broke loser, can you buy her a car or a house? If she married you, she’d be halfway across the country from us. Did I raise my daughter for nothing?"

"It’s all your fault! If it weren’t for you, Meihua would still be by my side, safe and sound. How could this have happened? You son of a bitch, you killed my daughter! You killed her!"

Lin Xiaofeng listened to her words, staggering back a couple of steps. He wanted to say that wasn’t true, that if they had married, he would have brought Meihua back often. But the words got stuck in his throat as he looked at her face, which bore some resemblance to Zhou Meihua’s but was twisted with rage. He stood there, frozen, speechless.

By now, what didn’t he get?

It wasn’t that Zhou Meihua didn’t want to. She did, she fought for it, she even stood up to you, but she couldn’t achieve the result she wanted.

What had he been doing? What had he been thinking?

Lin Xiaofeng’s lips quivered, and he finally slumped against the wall, squatting down and breaking into sobs: "Meihua, Meihua, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry... It’s my fault, it’s all my fault, I’m so sorry, Meihua…"

The lobby erupted into chaos. Zhou Meihua’s mom, though she looked frail, was surprisingly strong. Luo Kaiyang struggled to hold her back while also trying to console Lin Xiaofeng, completely swamped:

"Auntie, let’s drop this for now. Let’s go see your daughter first, alright?"

Luo Kaiyang tried to coax her gently, but Zhou Meihua’s mom snapped, "See what? She’s dead! What’s the point?!"

Her words brought the room to silence. Shen Qingye looked at her in disbelief.

Luo Kaiyang managed a weak smile: "Auntie, you’re joking, right?"

"Who has time to joke with you?" Zhou Meihua’s mom pushed him away, wiping her tears and pointing at Lin Xiaofeng: "Because of you, I’ve lost my daughter! I don’t care, you owe me her life! Fork it over!"

The other woman who had come with her remained silent, but the boy's eyes lit up, and he chimed in: "Yeah, yeah, fork it over, fork it over!"

Luo Kaiyang’s expression darkened: "Auntie, the person who killed your daughter is someone else entirely. We’ve already caught the murderer—"

"Good!" Zhou Meihua’s mom immediately said: "That person has to pay too! It wasn’t easy raising my daughter to this age, and now she’s dead. You owe me at least 100,000 yuan!"

"I don’t care about anything else, just fork it over!"

The lobby erupted into chaos again, with shouts, wails, and pleas blending into a deafening uproar.

Fang Yun, standing nearby, looked incredulous: "What? Is this really a mother? Her own daughter has died, and she doesn't even ask who the murderer is, just thinking about money? Is she completely consumed by greed?"

Shen Qingye's lips were tightly pressed as she glanced at Zhou Meihua’s mother and the equally frail woman beside her, then cast a look at the plump boy. Lowering her gaze, her voice was heavy: "Let's not linger here anymore; let's go."

The commotion in the hall continued without pause, and it wasn’t until they stepped outside that the surroundings grew quieter.

Fang Yun sighed a couple more times before leaving. Shen Qingye looked up at the azure sky, remained silent for a long while, and finally let out a low sigh.

After leaving the precinct courtyard, Shen Qingye walked forward when suddenly a “beep beep” honk sounded behind her. She turned around to see a familiar black jeep trailing her.

Yue Lingchuan poked his head out of the car window: "Heading home? Need a ride?"

Shen Qingye smiled: "No thanks, I drove here myself."

She glanced at him and asked: "They're still making a scene inside. Shouldn’t Captain Yue check on it?"

Yue Lingchuan casually replied: "Luo Kaiyang can handle it." Besides, he wasn’t skilled at comforting people anyway.

As they walked, Shen Qingye asked: "According to regulations, the deceased's body should be claimed by the family, right?"

Yue Lingchuan said: "Generally, yes." He paused: "But there have been cases where the family gave up claiming the body."

Shen Qingye pursed her lips and stayed silent.

Yue Lingchuan asked her: "Are you worried about Zhou Meihua?"

Shen Qingye nodded: "The Zhou family's situation... I don’t know if they’re willing to claim Zhou Meihua."

Yue Lingchuan said: "It shouldn’t come to that. In rural areas, everyone knows each other's business. If they really took the compensation money and didn’t claim the body, they wouldn’t be able to bear the gossip from their neighbors."

Shen Qingye tugged at the corner of her mouth: "I hope so."

As they spoke, Shen Qingye stopped and walked toward the car parked by the roadside.

Yue Lingchuan glanced at it and raised an eyebrow: "Oh, a Mazda—nice but not cheap."

Shen Qingye looked back at his jeep and smiled: "Captain Yue’s Grand Cherokee could buy two of my cars."

Yue Lingchuan also smiled, watching her drive away. He leaned back in his seat, tapping the steering wheel with his fingers, still feeling a bit restless.

What a pity, what a pity.

-

The car stopped in the yard, and the people in the villa hurried out upon hearing the noise:

"Xiao Feng is back?"

The person, around fifty years old, had dignified and beautiful features with a kind smile: "Tired after a day at work? Come on, dinner is almost ready—let’s eat!"

Shen Qingye closed the car door and responded with a smile: "Not too bad, just sitting in the office all day—it wasn’t too tiring."

She looked around and noticed that apart from her car, there were no others in the yard, so she asked: "Has Mom not come back yet?"

Auntie Chen said: "Director Shen went on a business trip. Her secretary came back in the afternoon, hastily packed a few clothes, and left. Didn’t she tell you?"

Shen Qingye shook her head: "No, she must have been too busy."

She walked to the villa entrance, sniffed, and couldn’t help but ask: "Auntie Chen, what delicious food did you make today? I can already smell it."

Auntie Chen smiled: "Today I saw some bamboo shoots being sold on the street, so I bought some and made a fresh bamboo shoot chicken soup, which is still simmering on the stove. And there’s your favorite scrambled eggs with Chinese toon, plus a stir-fried green vegetable. Don’t just stand there—go wash your hands and eat!"

Shen Qingye said "Okay," and after getting the bowls and chopsticks, Aunt Chen had already set a bowl of soup in front of her: "It's chilly out, have some soup to warm up first."

The chicken soup was still piping hot. Shen Qingye picked up the spoon and blew on it for a while before taking a small sip, her eyes crinkling into a smile: "Mmm, it's delicious!"

Aunt Chen's eyes crinkled as she smiled: "Good, glad you like it. It's been cold lately, I'll make more soup to keep you warm."

Shen Qingye requested: "Then I want pork rib soup tomorrow!"

Aunt Chen looked at her affectionately: "Alright, alright, I'll stew pork rib soup for you."

After dinner, Shen Qingye went out for a walk to help her digestion. When she got back and finished her nightly routine, she shut herself in her room.

She thought back on the day's events, her pen spinning idly in her hand.

First, she was sure the voice she heard wasn't a hallucination. Because before that, she didn't know about Lin Xiaofeng and Li Dazhi. But the voice accurately mentioned their names and pointed out that Li Dazhi was the murderer, and it turned out to be right.

From this, she figured she might have developed a special ability to hear... the voices of non-living objects?

But from morning till now, she'd only heard the pearl hairpin's voice, which suggested this ability had its limits.

So... were the limits on her? Or the objects?

Maybe not all objects could talk? Only those... that had become spirits? Or had some kind of spirit?

Thinking this, she looked around her room. She couldn't help clearing her throat and tentatively asked, "Is there... anything that can talk?"

The room was completely silent.

Shen Qingye, not ready to give up, called out again: "I can hear you, if you can talk, say something?"

Still, there was no movement in the room.

Shen Qingye knocked on her long-used desk: "Can you speak?"

The desk ignored her.

Shen Qingye poked the wardrobe: "Squeak?"

The wardrobe remained silent.

Shen Qingye tried one after another, but nothing responded to her. Just as she was about to give up, a "bang bang" sound suddenly rang out in the room.

Shen Qingye's eyes instantly lit up, but before she could rejoice, Aunt Chen's voice came from outside: "Xiao Feng, what are you mumbling about in your room alone? You have work tomorrow, get some rest early."

Shen Qingye's face flushed with heat, and she quickly responded: "It's nothing, Aunt Chen, I'm just reading, I'll sleep soon!"

"Alright, there's still some milk downstairs, have a little before you sleep."

Shen Qingye responded with a "Yes," and only after the noise outside disappeared did she collapse onto the bed, rubbing her face.

Really...

She exhaled deeply, looking up at the ceiling.

If it's not a limitation on the objects, then is it a limitation on her?

Or perhaps... it's only at a specific time and place that she can hear the voices of those objects—

Wait, specific time and place?

Shen Qingye's heart paused for a moment.

She heard the voice today between 9:30 and 10:00 in the morning, at Zhou Meihua's house.

Zhou Meihua's house...

Shen Qingye suddenly sat up—the crime scene!

Zhou Meihua's house—it was the crime scene!

She hurriedly got up and jotted down this clue. After a moment, she added a question mark at the end, lightly.

Whether it was true or not, it still needed further verification.

Shen Qingye put down her pen, recalled the day's events, confirmed there were no issues, and then walked to her bed, intending to sleep.

But after lying in bed for a while, she opened her eyes again, staring into the thick, ink-like darkness, and after a moment, sighed softly.

She had thought she didn't care, but now, the image of Zhou Meihua lying in a pool of blood kept flashing in her mind.

It wasn't fear, just an indescribable melancholy and a sigh.

A girl in the prime of her life, she should have had a bright future.

Shen Qingye closed her eyes, this time casting aside all distracting thoughts, and slowly drifted into sleep.

·

Early the next morning, with various thoughts jumbled in her mind, Shen Qingye woke up earlier than usual.

By the time she finished washing up and went downstairs, Aunt Chen had already prepared breakfast but wasn't in the villa, probably out grocery shopping.

She was the only one left at home now.

Shen Qingye stood on the stairs, looking down at the items in the living room, and after a moment, suddenly cleared her throat:

"Is there anything that can talk?"

The surroundings were quiet, so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

Shen Qingye waited for a while, then rubbed her face and couldn't help but pout.

·

When she arrived at the office, it was just after seven.

Shen Qingye parked her car and walked straight to the office. Just as she was about to enter, she caught a glimpse of a figure from the corner of her eye.

She paused, tentatively calling out, "Brother Zhengyi?"

At the entrance of the Major Case Division, Wei Zhengyi heard the noise and turned around, looking over with a dazed expression. Upon seeing Shen Qingye, it took him a while to react: "Ah, it's Xiao Shen."

As he spoke, he yawned listlessly, tears welling up in the corners of his eyes. The once neat and tidy young man now had wrinkled clothes, looking disheveled, with dark circles under his eyes so pronounced they could almost drip ink, completely devoid of any semblance of his usual image.

Shen Qingye had a deep impression of him—a young man who had just graduated a few years ago, sometimes dressed too "trendy" for work and had been scolded by Detachment Leader Song a few times.

Thinking of his usual appearance and comparing it to now, Shen Qingye stepped forward, frowning, "You didn't pull an all-nighter here, did you?"

"Exactly," Wei Zhengyi said drowsily. "Didn't sleep all night, didn't rest well yesterday. I'm exhausted."

Shen Qingye said, "Didn't Captain Yue say that you, Brother Jiang, and the others went to catch the serial killer? Didn't you catch him?"

"We caught him," Wei Zhengyi waved his hand and gave a bitter smile. "But he admitted nothing. Brother Jiang, Brother Qiming, and I interrogated him all night, but the bastard didn't give up a single word."

"Admitted nothing?" Shen Qingye frowned. "Didn't we have enough evidence to arrest him?"

"That's what was said," Wei Zhengyi replied. "But we caught him at his home. Afterward, the forensics team searched the place all night but found no trace of blood or anything out of the ordinary."

Shen Qingye's brows slowly knitted together, and Wei Zhengyi continued:

"In other words, that place couldn't have been the murder scene."