I See Murders Before They Happen

Chapter 143: Chapter 141: Both Want to Take Responsibility

”You both want to take all the blame, and neither of you is willing to push it onto the other. This was never going to work.”

Zhuang Yanzheng looked at Lu Qiaoqiao.

”She’s just trying to take the fall for me,” Lu Qiaoqiao said. ”She has nothing to do with it.”

”We don’t solve cases based on just one side of the story. We have evidence pointing to two culprits. We found Zeng Shuang on the surveillance footage, and she’s already confessed. The fruit knife, the murder weapon—you bought it.”

”The wounds on the deceased were inflicted by two different people, according to our professional forensic examiner’s report.”

”Aside from the parts of your confessions where you each admit to your own actions, the rest of your stories are riddled with holes.”

”Lu Qiaoqiao, just confess.”

Lu Qiaoqiao fell silent. A few seconds later, she suddenly shouted, ”I already told you I did it all myself! You want a killer? I’m admitting I’m the killer! I’ll plead guilty, I’ll face justice, just send me to court and close the case! Why won’t you let it go? Why?!”

”Isn’t one person dying enough?! For two scumbags! Do you really have to take two lives in return?! Isn’t it enough that someone confessed? Isn’t that enough for you to give the public an answer?”

Zhuang Yanzheng frowned and said sternly, ”We’re not looking to just find anyone to give the public an answer. We’re looking to uncover the truth of the case and give the public a *real* answer.”

”Our job is to maintain social order, deter crime, give everyone a safe and stable life, and put their fears to rest. It’s not to grab some random person to placate the public and hastily close the case, allowing criminals to continue running rampant and showing contempt for the law!”

”No one is above the law. Not Wen Zouyu and Guan Yang, and not you and Zeng Shuang!”

...

Zeng Shuang and Lu Qiaoqiao confessed.

The two had met after Lu Qiaoqiao broke up with Wen Zouyu.

They ran into each other at a coffee shop.

Ex-girlfriend and ex-girlfriend. Short-form video apps always recommend people you might know.

So they had both seen each other’s profiles on the app.

As two people wronged by the same scumbag, they sat down together and got to know each other.

They didn’t exchange contact information, but they had an unspoken agreement to frequent that coffee shop.

After Lu Qiaoqiao’s father passed away, she returned to Jinghai with the intention of killing Wen Zouyu.

While she was planning it, she ran into Zeng Shuang at the coffee shop again.

As they talked, they both realized what the other was thinking.

So they discussed it and planned everything together.

The Triazolam was indeed taken from Wen Zouyu.

But Lu Qiaoqiao had gone to their dorm the night before the murder, found it while rummaging through their things, and took it.

She took all of it.

Then she gave it to Zeng Shuang.

Zeng Shuang put it all in the alcohol.

While Zeng Shuang was drinking with them in the dorm, Lu Qiaoqiao was waiting in the stairwell outside, holding a newly bought fruit knife.

As for killing Guan Yang, besides preventing him from identifying them, the most important reason was that he had hurt Zeng Shuang.

Guan Yang was already part of Zeng Shuang’s plan from the beginning.

The rest of their stories was mostly consistent with what both Zeng Shuang and Lu Qiaoqiao had said.

Facing two strong men, their only option was to drug them unconscious before making a move.

Other than that one flaw, they had done their best to erase all the evidence.

The two had agreed that if they were questioned, they would claim to know nothing.

However, they were both also prepared to take the full blame to protect the other if they couldn’t get away with it.

But Zeng Shuang confessed as soon as she was brought to the municipal bureau.

”I didn’t go to Zeng Shuang’s apartment or company. I went to the coffee shop where we always met. It was also on my way,” Lu Qiaoqiao said. ”In the spot where we usually sit, she left a few letters. I understood what they meant. She was telling me to live a good life.”

”I guessed that she wanted to take all the blame,” Lu Qiaoqiao said. ”So I came straight to the municipal bureau. Actually, it didn’t matter whether she stabbed him or not. I’m still the one who killed them.”

”There’s something I still don’t understand,” Lu Qiaoqiao asked. ”Not many people knew that Wen Zouyu and I broke up. As his girlfriend, I should have been the first person you looked for.”

”So why did you find Zeng Shuang first, his ex from years ago who he’d had no contact with?”

”Why did you only question me when you went to Jinghai University, but you brought Zeng Shuang directly to the station? No matter how you look at it, I should have been the prime suspect.”

Because Su Miaoyi had seen Zeng Shuang.

Zhuang Yanzheng, of course, did not answer her.

Zeng Shuang said, ”I didn’t want to live anymore anyway. There were flaws in our plan, and if you kept investigating, you would have definitely found us both. I figured if I confessed, you might close the case and stop digging, and that would save her.”

While Zhuang Yanzheng was interrogating Lu Qiaoqiao, Su Miaoyi also saw some images.

They were scenes from after Zeng Shuang had drugged Wen Zouyu and Guan Yang unconscious.

Zeng Shuang reached for the knife in Lu Qiaoqiao’s hand.

Lu Qiaoqiao said, ”I’m more familiar with human anatomy. Let me do it.”

She made her move.

As Lu Qiaoqiao was about to drag their bodies...

Zeng Shuang took the knife when she wasn’t looking and stabbed Wen Zouyu.

Wen Zouyu’s eyes opened, then he passed out again.

Zeng Shuang was about to stab him a second time.

But Lu Qiaoqiao stopped her just in time.

Lu Qiaoqiao had tried to stop the first stab, but she wasn’t fast enough.

Outside the interrogation room, Zeng Shuang and Lu Qiaoqiao saw each other.

”How could you be so stupid!” Zeng Shuang frowned at her.

Lu Qiaoqiao smiled. ”Look who’s talking. If we weren’t stupid, how could we have fallen for a bastard like Wen Zouyu?”

Zeng Shuang looked at her smile and smiled back, but tears started to fall.

Lu Qiaoqiao was also smiling. ”Now I can go see my father. I never even got to see him one last time.”

Zeng Shuang cried even harder.

”Don’t cry. Let’s be friends in the next life, too,” Lu Qiaoqiao said.

Zeng Shuang nodded. ”Okay.”

...

The case wasn’t completely closed; they still hadn’t traced the source of Wen Zouyu’s Triazolam.

Busy until the afternoon, Su Miaoyi finally returned to Weiyang Palace.

She was waiting for the elevator on the first floor. When the doors opened, she saw Shen Yanzhou inside.

He was coming up from the parking garage.

”Whoa,” Shen Yanzhou said, looking at her. ”I was about to look up the number for the zookeeper. I thought a panda had escaped.”

Su Miaoyi glanced at him, not wanting to talk.

”No matter how busy you are, you can’t wear yourself out like this,” Shen Yanzhou said.

”Mm,” Su Miaoyi mumbled, leaning against the elevator wall.

”It’s dirty,” Shen Yanzhou said.

”I’ll just wash up when I get back,” Su Miaoyi replied.

Shen Yanzhou looked at her.

Su Miaoyi said, ”Don’t you have work?”

”I’m off work.”

Su Miaoyi thought she was so exhausted she’d lost track of time. She glanced at her phone.

3:53 PM.

”You’re off work this early? Does your company have such great benefits?”

”I’m the boss. I get off work whenever I want,” Shen Yanzhou said.

Su Miaoyi looked at him. ”......”

Shen Yanzhou watched her with a smile.

”Does being the boss make you so great?” Su Miaoyi felt like his smile was incredibly punchable.

”Mhm,” Shen Yanzhou said, nodding with a gentle but very punchable smile.

The elevator doors opened.

Su Miaoyi glared at him. ”You just wait. After I wake up, I’m going to find a truckload of goons to take care of you.”

With that, she walked out.

Shen Yanzhou followed her out. ”Alright. You go get some sleep. I won’t run away.”

...