I See Murders Before They Happen

Chapter 60: Chapter 58: Never Been to Jiangcheng

”It seems Miss Su has forgotten me.”

Cai Qinglian and Ji Sheng exchanged a sudden glance, completely surprised that the two had met before.

Su Miaoyi looked at the man before her, searching her mind for any memory of him.

But she came up empty.

”Have we met?” Su Miaoyi asked directly.

Jiang Junrui gazed into her eyes, as if trying to read her expression. ”Are you joking, Miss Su?”

Su Miaoyi looked at him again. He did seem a little familiar, but more than that, she felt a sense of discomfort.

’But he’s definitely not in my memory.’

”When did we meet? And where?” she asked again.

Jiang Junrui didn’t answer right away, his gaze still fixed on her.

Su Miaoyi could feel a quiet probe hidden deep within his calm eyes, as if he were trying to determine whether she was telling the truth.

”In June. In Jiangcheng,” Jiang Junrui said.

Su Miaoyi’s brow furrowed slightly. She had never been to Jiangcheng. ”Mr. Jiang, I’m afraid you have the wrong person. I’ve been in Jinghai all year; I haven’t been to Jiangcheng.”

Jiang Junrui watched her for a couple of seconds, then smiled without saying anything.

At that moment, Ji Sheng stepped in to smooth things over. ”Why don’t we all sit down and talk?”

Su Miaoyi looked at Cheng Yong and Ge Yu, who were standing behind her. ”You two can sit. We’re leaving.”

Cheng Yong and Ge Yu stepped forward.

Hearing that she was leaving, Ji Sheng grew anxious and shot a look at Cai Qinglian.

Cai Qinglian immediately reached for Su Miaoyi’s arm.

Su Miaoyi dodged her again, deftly sidestepping to Ge Yu’s side and linking arms with her to walk out.

Cai Qinglian’s hand froze in midair as she looked at Ji Sheng.

Ji Sheng returned her gaze with a look of utter disgust.

Cai Qinglian glared back.

Jiang Junrui watched Su Miaoyi’s retreating figure. ”Miss Su, could I speak with you alone for a moment?”

Su Miaoyi turned to face him.

Jiang Junrui offered a gentle smile. ”Just here at the club. We won’t go anywhere else.”

Su Miaoyi’s expression remained neutral, but inwardly she was puzzled.

’It’s like he’s assumed from the very beginning that I’d be wary of him.’

Seeing her silence, Jiang Junrui said, ”Take your aunt and uncle home first. I’ll wait for you in the garden outside.”

Su Miaoyi glanced at him. ”That won’t be necessary. You really have the wrong person.”

With that, she left with Cheng Yong and Ge Yu.

Neither Cai Qinglian nor Ji Sheng came out to see them off.

Once they had walked some distance and saw no one around, Ge Yu said, ”Miaomiao, I’m so sorry. We were so foolish. We came all the way from the old district without even thinking to call and check with you first. We got you mixed up in this.”

Cheng Yong, standing beside her, looked just as guilty.

Su Miaoyi looked at them. ”Did they tell you something happened to me?”

Feeling terrible for dragging her into this, Ge Yu’s eyes reddened. ”Cai Qinglian called and said you’d gotten into trouble here, that you’d been forced to drink and... and that someone had taken advantage of you. She told us to hurry over and get you.”

A young woman like her, with her reputation at stake... It was only natural that Cheng Yong and Ge Yu would be worried sick.

”When we got to the entrance, Ji Sheng brought us inside and led us to a private room. We didn’t see you, so we tried to call, but our phones had no signal,” Ge Yu explained. ”Your uncle even got into a fight with Ji Sheng. But...”

”But then they used me to threaten you, didn’t they?” Su Miaoyi finished.

”Ji Sheng said that if we didn’t cooperate, they’d wait for you to arrive and make you pay for it,” Ge Yu said.

”Uncle, are you hurt?” Su Miaoyi asked Cheng Yong.

Cheng Yong was too full of remorse to speak, merely shaking his head.

Ge Yu said, ”Oh, he’s fine. He spends all day stocking and moving goods, so he’s strong. Ji Sheng sits in an office all day; he’s no match for him.”

Su Miaoyi felt much more relieved.

’No wonder the area around Ji Sheng’s eye was a little red.’

’It’ll probably be bruised by tomorrow.’

”Uncle, Auntie, you were just too worried about me.” Su Miaoyi put an arm around Ge Yu’s shoulder. ”But you know what this means? It means you love me. And that makes me so happy. I’m so lucky to have you love me this much.”

Ge Yu looked at her.

Su Miaoyi smiled. ”Don’t be sad. Since you’re here anyway, and I was just about to go clothes shopping, you can help me pick something out. Keep me company.”

”But we...”

”Let’s go, let’s go.” Su Miaoyi walked between Cheng Yong and Ge Yu, linking arms with both of them as they headed out.

As they rounded a corner, they ran into Shen Yanzhou.

Shen Yanzhou glanced at the three of them, gave a polite nod to Cheng Yong and Ge Yu, then turned his gaze to Su Miaoyi. ”Heading home?”

”Thank you for your help today, Mr. Shen. I’ll treat you to dinner some other time,” Su Miaoyi said.

”I’ll be waiting to hear from you then,” Shen Yanzhou replied.

”Okay.”

Su Miaoyi then left with Cheng Yong and Ge Yu.

She took them to the mall next door to buy some clothes, and after that, they had dinner together before heading back to the old district.

Su Miaoyi stayed in the old district for two days.

Then, she was called back.

A case had come up at the city bureau.

Zhuang Yanzheng called to ask if she was free to come back. If so, Shen Yanzhou could be at the mouth of the alley by her apartment complex very soon.

So she rushed out of her home and got into Shen Yanzhou’s car.

”Mr. Shen, were you just in the neighborhood?” Su Miaoyi asked.

’He couldn’t have personally come all this way with his driver just to pick me up, could he?’

”I came to ask you in person. You said you’d treat me to dinner—when were you thinking?” Shen Yanzhou replied.

Su Miaoyi: ”???”

Seeing her confused expression, Shen Yanzhou chuckled. ”This area might be slated for demolition. I came to take a look and do some surveying.”

Su Miaoyi looked at him. ”Is there official news about it yet?”

They’ve been talking about demolishing this area for over three years.

Shen Yanzhou nodded.

Su Miaoyi nodded as well. ’It’s for the best. It should have been torn down long ago.’

Her phone buzzed twice with an incoming message.

It was from an unknown number: [Just testing to see if you’ve blocked this number too.]

It was a message from Jiang Junrui.

Su Miaoyi turned her phone screen off, pretending she hadn’t seen it.

After a moment, she asked, ”Do you know someone named Jiang Junrui?”

Shen Yanzhou looked at her. ”The one from Jiangcheng?”

”Yes.”

During the two days she was in the old district, Jiang Junrui had called and texted her.

And his obsession had shifted from whether she recognized him to... well, now it seemed like he was trying to pursue her.

He was constantly checking in on her, completely relentless.

”The second young master of Jiangcheng’s Fengjiang Group. The future heir,” Shen Yanzhou stated.

”What kind of person is he?” Su Miaoyi asked.

Shen Yanzhou watched her for a moment before suddenly asking, ”Is he pursuing you?”

Su Miaoyi’s calm expression suddenly twisted. It was hard to describe the emotion, but it looked almost as if her face was in pain.

”I saw him leaving the club with Mr. and Mrs. Ji Sheng that day. There have also been rumors recently that the Jiang family might be cooperating with the Ji Family,” Shen Yanzhou said. ”The Ji Family is trying to...”

”I’ve been looking into this Fengjiang Group myself recently. In Jiangcheng, they’re powerful enough to pull any string they want. So why would he come to Jinghai to give the Ji Family a leg up?” Su Miaoyi was completely baffled. ”It would make more sense if they wanted me to marry their eldest son to ward off bad luck, since apparently no one else is willing to. But why is it Jiang Junrui who’s acting like he’s trying to woo me? And he insists he’s met me in Jiangcheng, but I’ve never even been there.”

It wasn’t just this year that she hadn’t gone.

She’d never been there in her entire life.

”Or is this some new kind of opening line for chasing after someone?” Su Miaoyi mused.