Chapter 111 - 109: An Even More Painful Empathy

Chapter 111: Chapter 109: An Even More Painful Empathy

Xiang Lianlian looked like a completely different person.

The first time Su Miaoyi saw her, she had been thin, her skin sallow and withered, like a flower on the verge of wilting.

Now... she was full of life, her skin was fair, and when she smiled, two small dimples appeared at the corners of her mouth.

"Hello, what can I get for the two of you?" Xiang Lianlian greeted them again.

Shen Yanzhou watched Su Miaoyi. The fleeting look of shock in her eyes didn’t escape his notice.

"Ah, I..." Su Miaoyi snapped back to reality and looked up. "Two bowls of beef noodle soup, no cilantro in either, and make them extra spicy."

After she finished speaking, it was Xiang Lianlian’s turn to stare at her blankly.

Su Miaoyi offered a small smile.

Xiang Lianlian said, "Your voice... it sounds so familiar."

"Is that so?" Su Miaoyi laughed. "Everyone says I have a pretty generic voice."

That case had been handed over to the branch office. Zhao Qin, Feng Ming, and the villagers and relatives involved had all been sentenced.

When Su Miaoyi had seen Xiang Lianlian that day, the girl had been unconscious.

Xiang Lianlian had never seen her, so it was normal that she didn’t recognize her.

It seemed she had remembered her voice, though.

But Su Miaoyi had no intention of revealing herself. It was a bad memory, after all, and old faces could bring back old troubles.

’It was all in the past. It was better to look forward.’

Xiang Lianlian studied her for a few more seconds, then smiled as well, took their order, and gave them a number.

Shen Yanzhou went to pay, but Su Miaoyi blocked his phone. "I said it’s my treat. I’m earning money now."

"Right, you’ve even paid rent," Shen Yanzhou said.

Su Miaoyi paid and whispered, "I’ve made tons of money."

Seeing her proud little expression, Shen Yanzhou chuckled.

They found a place to sit.

Before long, their noodles were brought over.

Shen Yanzhou looked at his bowl and said, "You know my tastes pretty well."

Only after he spoke did Su Miaoyi realize what she’d done.

She hadn’t asked him; she had just ordered for him.

Su Miaoyi froze for a moment, looking at him.

Shen Yanzhou looked back at her.

"Tell me..." Su Miaoyi thought for a moment before asking, "how did I know?"

Shen Yanzhou continued to watch her, seeing the confusion in her eyes.

Su Miaoyi met his gaze for a moment, then unwrapped her chopsticks and stirred her noodles.

’She was used to knowing things related to cases.’

’But why did she know so much about a person?’

Just as she was thinking this, she turned over her noodles and discovered a thick layer of beef hidden underneath.

Su Miaoyi’s eyes widened.

Shen Yanzhou raised an eyebrow. His bowl was just as full. "That waitress recognizes you."

Su Miaoyi’s lips twitched, and then she smiled.

After their meal, Shen Yanzhou and Su Miaoyi left.

Xiang Lianlian watched Su Miaoyi’s back until she got into the car.

She whispered, "Thank you."

...

「At Weiyang Palace.」

They got out of the elevator.

Su Miaoyi and Shen Yanzhou went back to their respective apartments.

There were a number of things sitting at Shen Yanzhou’s door—all things he had bought.

Since he wasn’t home, he had asked the property management staff to deliver them to his doorstep.

He looked at the items at his door while listening for any sounds from Su Miaoyi’s side.

He heard her fingerprint lock disengage but didn’t hear the sound of her door opening and closing.

He didn’t think much of it. He opened his own door and started moving the things inside.

As he was moving the last box, he suddenly heard Su Miaoyi start to cough.

The coughing didn’t sound right, and after all this time, she was still outside her door.

Shen Yanzhou rushed over.

He saw Su Miaoyi squatting at her doorway, one hand on the floor for support, the other clutching her throat as she coughed uncontrollably.

Shen Yanzhou immediately knelt beside her. "What’s wrong?"

Su Miaoyi was coughing violently, her face flushed red, as if she were only exhaling and unable to breathe in.

Shen Yanzhou quickly patted her on the back.

Then he pulled out his phone, ready to call for an ambulance.

"Hello, emergency services? I’m at..."

Su Miaoyi grabbed his phone. She tried to speak but couldn’t, so she just shook her head, trying to signal that she was fine.

Her coughing subsided, and she took large gasps of air.

Shen Yanzhou watched her.

A voice came from the phone: "Sir, hello? Sir? Can you hear me?"

"I’m fine," Su Miaoyi managed to say.

Shen Yanzhou spoke into the phone, "Sorry, we don’t need help anymore."

Su Miaoyi had recovered, though she was still a little breathless.

Shen Yanzhou helped her up. "Are you sure you’re okay?"

"I’m fine." Su Miaoyi pushed her door open, sat on the bench in the entryway, and rested for a moment.

’Last time, she’d experienced choking on blood, and she thought that was the worst it could get.’

’But the vision of being strangled today was even worse.’

’So awful that her legs could barely support her.’

Shen Yanzhou didn’t enter her apartment. He returned to his own, planning to get her a bottle of water.

Su Miaoyi didn’t know what he was doing. She leaned against the wall, took out her phone, and called Zhuang Yanzheng. Before it could even ring, she quickly hung up and called Lu Zhishen instead.

’She figured the lack of oxygen must have scrambled her brain.’

Lu Zhishen answered the phone. "Yes?"

Su Miaoyi said, "I saw the face of the killer and one of the victims."

"Okay." Lu Zhishen was in the middle of a skull-based facial reconstruction. He put down his tools. "Hold on, let me get a pen and paper."

"Okay."

Shen Yanzhou returned with a bottle of water, which he opened and handed to her.

Su Miaoyi took a few sips.

Shen Yanzhou had overheard what she said just now—that she’d seen the faces of the killer and the victim.

’She had been with him ever since they left the municipal bureau.’

’Along the way, while they might have noticed different things, he was certain he wouldn’t have missed a crime scene.’

’And if she had seen the killer on the street, she would have contacted someone to make an arrest. Not to mention the face of a victim.’

’None of it made any sense.’

Shen Yanzhou didn’t ask. Instead, he just said, "I’ll let you get to it."

Then he left.

Lu Zhishen’s voice came through the phone. "Alright. Go ahead."

Su Miaoyi glanced at Shen Yanzhou’s retreating back, then closed the door and began describing the killer’s features to Lu Zhishen.

The killer was a man, appearing to be in his mid-thirties.

She had seen everything through the eyes of a little girl, around fourteen years old.

And she’d been peeking through the crack of a door.

She saw a man and a woman arguing.

She heard the woman say, "A divorce? Fine! You can leave with nothing, and we’ll go to the Civil Affairs Bureau first thing tomorrow."

The man retorted, "My parents bought the house, and my parents bought the car. Why should I be the one to leave with nothing?"

"Because you’re shameless!" The woman stepped forward and slapped him. "Your daughter was bullied by that little boy at school, and her face is nearly ruined! It was such a long, deep gash, she lost so much blood! Even the doctor said it will probably leave a scar."

The woman roared in a hushed voice, "And you?! The teacher called you to the school to handle the situation for your daughter. But what did you do? You hit on the little boy’s aunt! Your own daughter has a huge bandage on her face, and you’re hooking up with the attacker’s aunt, even getting a hotel room together! You have absolutely no shame!"

...