Chapter 330 - 328: Is It Her?

Chapter 330: Chapter 328: Is It Her?

Tian Min described how she killed Wu An, and her account was identical to the story Su Miaoyi had told her.

Tian Min then asked her question again.

She asked Su Miaoyi how she knew. How did she know in such detail, even down to where she had struck first?

"You have quite a few questions yourself," Su Miaoyi said.

Tian Min watched her.

Su Miaoyi looked back at her, then said, "Tell me about Wan Shuang."

Tian Min continued, telling them what happened with Wan Shuang. Her account matched the images Su Miaoyi had seen and the theories they had formed.

She had originally planned to spare Wan Shuang. But then Wan Shuang brought up setting her up with a boyfriend and started mocking her to her face. So, she killed her and cut out her tongue.

"Where did the potassium cyanide come from?" Su Miaoyi asked.

Tian Min said nothing.

"Did that woman give it to you?" Su Miaoyi asked.

Duan Wenrui looked at Su Miaoyi.

’A woman? Which woman? There’s another woman involved?’

Tian Min still said nothing.

Su Miaoyi nodded. She more or less understood.

When Mia had come to kill her, their suspicion had fallen on the man and woman from Country D.

And now... with Tian Min trying to kill her, she still suspected the people from Country D were behind it.

Because the last attempt hadn’t succeeded, she knew that as long as she was alive, they would keep coming for her, each attempt more vicious than the last.

Then there was the potassium cyanide in Tian Min’s possession.

The operative that the man from Country D had planted in Jinghai had potassium cyanide.

That was why her thoughts had turned to them.

The reason she had asked Tian Min about the woman, and not the man, was because a woman’s figure had flashed through her mind for an instant during their fight. Her moves had been very similar to Tian Min’s.

"What about Tian Ming?" Su Miaoyi asked.

"He should have died long ago," Tian Min said. "I never touched him because... I guess because I called him ’Dad’ when I was a child. That’s probably the reason. I’m not really sure myself. In any case, I never laid a hand on him."

"Then why..." Su Miaoyi began.

"Tian Shi had a girlfriend in Chang City he was deeply in love with. The girl broke up with him when she found out his father was a gambling addict," Tian Min said. "He promised her he’d cut off all contact with Tian Ming, but who would believe that? What girl would want to be cursed by marrying into a family like ours? So I had Twenty-one kill Tian Ming. Since I had called him ’Dad’ before, I felt it wouldn’t be right for me to do it myself."

"But their sister is a murderer. Do you think that makes it any easier for your brothers to find wives?" Duan Wenrui said.

"I didn’t think I’d get exposed. I came back this time just to deal with Tian Ming," Tian Min said. "But then I ran into Wan Shuang, who was asking for a death wish, so I granted it. I honestly never expected you all to show up so suddenly that day."

"High-ranking officers from Jinghai came to investigate the case. A three-year-old case, suddenly being reopened, and by people from Jinghai, no less? Why? Anyone would find that strange, right? Then, on the very day you arrived, a new case popped up. Even though I was sure I wouldn’t be caught, I felt uneasy. That’s why I used the villagers’ belief in the Sheep Horn God to create this whole scene. It was all to incite them and delay your investigation."

"If I had accidentally left any clues behind, a long enough delay would make them disappear. And if I dragged it out long enough, the case would go cold."

"You’re very cunning," Su Miaoyi said.

"Not as cunning as you," Tian Min retorted.

Su Miaoyi said nothing.

’If they hadn’t been trying to kill me, my chances of forcing Tian Min’s hand or luring her out would have been much lower. I was forced to take a gamble.’

"On the night the rhyme was playing from the general store, were you hiding in Tian Dajiang’s yard?" Duan Wenrui asked. "The one wearing a black robe and a mask."

"That was Twenty-one," Tian Min said. "We’d planned to kill Tian Ming that night. He was always at that place playing cards, and the game would usually break up around eleven. I’d figured out his route home, so I sent Twenty-one."

"But that day, Twenty-one waited from ten-thirty until the middle of the night, when I went to play the rhyme, and Tian Ming never came out."

"Twenty-one is very obedient and good at what he does, but his logic can be... bizarre. You could also just call him stubborn. We don’t contact each other during operations, to avoid being captured in one fell swoop," Tian Min said, sounding exasperated. "I had already played the rhyme. The villagers were terrified. Who would go out on the street at a time like that? Of course they were all hiding in their homes."

"But Twenty-one thought the rhyme would scare Tian Ming into hurrying home, so he kept waiting. He was still there when the police arrived on the street, and he had to quickly hide in Tian Dajiang’s house. It wasn’t until later that I found out a piece of his robe had been torn off. I snuck over to Tian Dajiang’s place, but I couldn’t find the torn fabric. You took it?"

"Yes."

Tian Min fell silent.

"What about Zhao Yongliang? What happened there?" Zhuang Yanzheng asked.

"I don’t know the details about Zhao Yongliang," Tian Min said. "He knew Twenty-one. Twenty-one needed a foothold here, a place that wouldn’t attract suspicion. So he had Zhao Yongliang buy a house in town."

"If Zhao Yongliang bought a house, and no one lived in it, who would investigate? As long as no one was looking into that specific property, why would anyone bother checking what other houses were registered under Zhao Yongliang’s name?"

"I met him a few times with Twenty-one. It seemed like Twenty-one had some kind of leverage on him; Zhao Yongliang did whatever he was told. I don’t know anything else."

"Why kill him?"

"He knew too much," Tian Min said. "If he got caught... he would definitely spill everything. He had to die."

"Alright, let’s talk about the person who sent you to kill me," Su Miaoyi said.

Tian Min looked at her.

"Who was it?"

"I don’t know." Tian Min let out a small laugh. "I really don’t know her name, who she is, or where she’s from."

"You don’t know?" Su Miaoyi said. "Then tell me how you met. When was it?"

"When I was eighteen," Tian Min said. "I was standing on a bridge in Chang City, thinking about jumping off to drown myself. She pulled me back. I told her my story, and she said she could help me get stronger, could make those people shut up, could make them disappear."

"She told you all this, and you weren’t afraid of her?" Duan Wenrui asked.

"Gao Hui and Wan Shuang—they’re the terrifying ones. Tian Dajiang—he’s the terrifying one," Tian Min said. "Why should I have been afraid of the person who saved me? The worst that could happen was death, and I already wanted to die. What was left to be afraid of?"

"And then?" Su Miaoyi asked.

"She stayed with me in Chang City for a while. She taught me martial arts and took me out to have fun," Tian Min said. "It was for almost a year, then she left. I never saw her again. The phone you found—she’s the one who bought it for me back then, and she set up the card, too. She told me to use that phone if I needed to contact her and to keep it well-hidden the rest of the time."

"And your aunt’s family didn’t notice anything for almost a year?" Su Miaoyi asked.

"No," Tian Min said. "My aunt and her family were very busy, and I was attending a vocational school at the time. That school... it was very easy to skip class, so we met up often."

"Is this her?" Zhuang Yanzheng asked, pulling up a photo on his phone.

...