I See Murders Before They Happen

Chapter 192: Chapter 190: Brother and Sister

After entering the interrogation room, Wang Youxian was extremely uncooperative.

Not only did he refuse to answer any questions, but he also kept shouting.

He shouted that he was being framed and that he wanted to see his lawyer.

Even when they pinned him to the interrogation table, he kept shouting nonstop.

He trembled as he shouted.

Zhuang Yanzheng simply left the interrogation room.

In his current state, they couldn’t ask him anything. It would only make him more agitated.

But it wouldn’t last long.

They would question him again once he calmed down.

Su Miaoyi looked over Wang Youxian’s file.

His parents were divorced; he had lived with his father.

His sister had lived with their mother.

Later, his father remarried, and he had a younger half-brother on his father’s side.

As for his education, he had attended the Film Academy.

He had been working for ten years.

He had appeared in quite a few variety shows.

Some of those shows were very popular.

The file revealed no crucial information.

Just like most people, he went to school, then got a job.

”Besides the stab wound to the chest, did Liu Namo have any other injuries?” Su Miaoyi asked.

”No. The stab to the back was the cause of death,” Yan Cheng said.

Su Miaoyi frowned. She had already told Yan Cheng and Lu Zhishen what she had seen.

”What about Xu Yu...?” Su Miaoyi looked at Zhuang Yanzheng.

Zhuang Yanzheng said, ”He’s not lying, and he gave a very detailed account of the crime.”

Su Miaoyi stroked her chin.

’If Zhuang Yanzheng says he isn’t lying, then he definitely isn’t lying.’

’A very detailed account of the crime...’

”Then... what did Wang Youxian do?” Su Miaoyi asked, confused. ”I saw him, and he tried to run. If he didn’t kill anyone, what was he running from?”

”Nothing in Xu Yu’s confession suggests he had an accomplice,” Zhuang Yanzheng said.

Su Miaoyi fell silent.

”We’ll find out when we question him after lunch,” Zhuang Yanzheng said.

After they ate lunch, news came from Yan City.

The Yan City police had gone to Liang Qi’s maternal grandparents’ place.

”The old couple’s living conditions are terrible,” Zhuang Yanzheng said. ”They’re both elderly and can’t earn a living, so life is very hard for them.”

”What about their children?” Su Miaoyi asked.

”Only one daughter,” Zhuang Yanzheng said. ”She got married and had a son and a daughter, then divorced. The husband took the son, and she took the daughter. After that, she remarried, but not long after, she died in an accident. So that just left the old couple and their granddaughter.”

”A son and a daughter? Divorced?” Su Miaoyi muttered.

”Sound familiar?” Zhuang Yanzheng said.

Su Miaoyi nodded.

”A son and a daughter. The son, Wang Youxian. The daughter, Liang Qi,” Zhuang Yanzheng said.

”They’re siblings?” Lu Zhishen sounded surprised. ”They don’t look anything alike.”

”But in Wang Youxian’s file, his sister’s surname is Wang,” Chu Xingrou said.

”Liang Qi changed her name after her mother remarried,” Zhuang Yanzheng said. ”Liang is her stepfather’s surname.”

”What was Liang Qi’s cause of death?” Yan Cheng asked.

”Her grandparents said the hospital told them it was a heart attack, a sudden death,” Zhuang Yanzheng said. ”The old couple saw Liang Qi at a hospital in Luo City. By the time they saw her, she was already gone. After that, she was cremated and buried.”

Su Miaoyi opened her mouth but said nothing.

’If Liu Namo was pulling strings in the background, the old couple, given their age, probably wouldn’t have noticed anything amiss.’

”Her grandparents said that when they heard the news, they were both stunned. A neighbor had to help them call a cab to get to Luo City,” Zhuang Yanzheng relayed what the Yan City police had told him. ”When they got to Luo City and saw the body, they could barely stand. Luckily, someone helped them handle the funeral arrangements and even sent them back to Yan City. The Yan City police asked who this helpful person was, but the couple didn’t know their name.”

’The people who helped them were most likely arranged by Liu Namo.’

’If everything was rushed, no one would spot any discrepancies.’

”The officer from Yan City said that when he saw the old couple’s living conditions, he felt like squatting on their floor and crying,” Zhuang Yanzheng said. ”He helped contact a local nursing home for them.”

Everyone was silent for a moment.

Su Miaoyi thought about the clips of Liang Qi’s livestreams she had seen online.

She had said she wanted to earn money to buy her grandparents a house and give them a good life.

Life is unpredictable.

Su Miaoyi frowned. ”Doesn’t Wang Youxian care? They’re his grandparents too.”

”They were separated. Maybe there’s no bond between them,” Yan Cheng said.

”Then he...” Su Miaoyi started to speak, but swallowed her words.

’It was still unclear if Wang Youxian had participated in Liu Namo’s murder.’

’So, it was also impossible to determine if he’d done it for Liang Qi.’

...

「The Interrogation Room」

Wang Youxian, having shouted himself tired, was now listless.

Zhuang Yanzheng looked at him. ”Talk.”

”Talk about what? I didn’t do anything. I want to see my lawyer.”

”If you didn’t do anything, why throw your phone and run?” Zhuang Yanzheng asked.

”I wasn’t throwing my phone away. I was throwing out the trash and accidentally threw it out with it,” Wang Youxian bluffed.

”Then why had the phone been completely wiped?” Zhuang Yanzheng asked.

”Wiped? How should I know? I didn’t wipe it. Why would I wipe it?” Wang Youxian’s speech was rapid, his gaze shifty, his expression dazed. ”You’re the ones who broke my phone, aren’t you? So you’re framing me for wiping it. I just threw it out by mistake.”

”Then why did you run?”

”I wasn’t running, I was just driving home! You let me go from surveillance, I was going home!” Wang Youxian suddenly yelled.

But his voice was hoarse, so the shout didn’t come out fully.

”Where’s your home? Does getting home require you to run a checkpoint? Does it require you to ram a police car?!” Zhuang Yanzheng also raised his voice.

His voice suddenly spiked.

Wang Youxian flinched, startled. He was silent for a moment, then said, ”I want to see my lawyer. I want to see my lawyer.”

”You can see your lawyer after you come clean,” Zhuang Yanzheng frowned. ”The Yan City police went to your grandparents’ house to ask a few questions.”

He took out the photos and showed them to Wang Youxian.

Wang Youxian stared at the pictures of the filthy, messy house. His eyes widened, and after a moment, he said, ”What about it? So what? They didn’t raise me. I have no duty to care for them.”

Zhuang Yanzheng latched onto something in his words.

”’He’s a boy,’ they said, ’he’ll never be truly ours. Sooner or later, he’ll go back to his father’s family.’ ’No matter how you raise a boy, you’re just raising him for someone else. It’s a waste of money. He’s a Wang, and he’ll go back to the Wang family sooner or later.’ ’It’s better to raise a girl. Girls are more caring. No matter what, they’ll always be close to whoever raised them.’” Wang Youxian started to laugh.

His hoarse laughter was desolate, and he was clearly agitated.

”They knew Wang Cheng was a drunk who’d beat people when he drank too much, but they still left me behind! They only took my sister. Because I’m a boy, did I deserve to die? Because I’m a boy, did I deserve to be beaten?”

”’She said that once she was settled, she would definitely come back for me. That she’d fight Wang Cheng for custody.’ Well, where was she?! Did she ever come back for me?!” Wang Youxian yelled. ”I was only twelve when they divorced! I wasn’t an adult yet. Did she ever stop to think what kind of life I would have?”

”The fact that they have no one to care for them now—they deserve it! Didn’t they love their granddaughter so much? Fine! I sent her away!” Wang Youxian said viciously. ”I wanted her to know what it felt like to be beaten, too! Why should she get to live a happy life with our mother while I was getting hit? She’s dead, and she deserved it too!”