I See Murders Before They Happen

Chapter 241: Chapter 239: Help Me Find Someone

The ambulance arrived quickly, and the two injured individuals were taken away.

The rest were in the private room, squatting with their hands over their heads.

As it happened, some officers from the municipal bureau were having a meal here, so they got straight to work.

”Name,” Qi Feng asked, going down the line. When he got to the fifth person, the young man suddenly stood up. ”I want to see my dad!”

After he stood up, another one next to him who hadn’t been questioned yet also got to his feet. ”I want to see my dad too!”

Hearing the shouting, Zhuang Yanzheng turned and walked into the private room, looking at the two of them.

The others seemed to want to shout as well, but when they saw Zhuang Yanzheng enter and the look on his face, they plopped right back down.

”Who’s your father?” Zhuang Yanzheng asked, his eyes on the blood on the young man’s hands.

”I, I...” The young man was a little scared of him, but he still said defiantly, ”My dad is Huang Qiang’an of Qiang’an Group!”

”Your name,” Zhuang Yanzheng asked sharply.

”Huang Chen.”

Zhuang Yanzheng then looked at the person next to him. ”And who’s your father?”

The young man first glanced at Zhuang Yanzheng, then at Su Miaoyi, who was standing outside the door.

Zhuang Yanzheng saw his gaze fall on Su Miaoyi. ”What are you looking at her for? I’m asking you.”

”My dad is Ji Sheng of Yao Sheng Group,” the young man said.

After he spoke, Zhuang Yanzheng gave him a second look.

’This is Ji Jiabao?’

He’d never met him and didn’t recognize him.

”Name.”

”Ji Jiabao.”

”Get all that down,” Zhuang Yanzheng told Qi Feng.

Qi Feng took notes while another officer took pictures.

Once the questions were finished, Zhuang Yanzheng headed straight out.

Seeing him just walk away after questioning them, Huang Chen immediately shouted, ”Hey! Do you know who my dad is? Have you heard of Qiang’an Group?!”

Zhuang Yanzheng looked at him and took two steps closer. ”I’ve heard of it. So what? Is your dad above the law? Why don’t you tell me, what illegal things has he done? I’ll have someone bring him in right now.”

”You wouldn’t dare!” Huang Chen shouted defiantly.

”Why wouldn’t I dare?” Zhuang Yanzheng stared at him.

Huang Chen met his eyes, and the words he was about to say suddenly caught in his throat.

Zhuang Yanzheng paid him no more mind and turned to leave the private room.

After recording their names, ages, and other information, Qi Feng asked them why they were fighting.

Including the two sent to the hospital, there were eleven people in total.

Huang Chen and Ji Jiabao were with three other people.

The two who were sent to the hospital were part of a group with four others.

The fight started because the two injured men had swindled money from Huang Chen and Ji Jiabao.

Huang Chen, Ji Jiabao, and their friends had come here to eat, happened to run into them, and a conflict broke out.

The two injured men had brought the knives and were the first to use them.

Then the knives were taken from them, and they were the ones who ended up getting hurt.

There were two knives in total, which needed to be taken back for fingerprint analysis.

After some questioning, both sides had given a more or less complete account of why the fight started.

The restaurant also had security cameras.

Zhuang Yanzheng called the local precinct and had them take over the case.

When the officers from the precinct arrived, they handed over the case and let them take everyone away.

As Ji Jiabao was being led away, he kept looking at Su Miaoyi.

Su Miaoyi pretended not to see him.

After they had all left, Zhuang Yanzheng asked her, ”Did you recognize him from the start?”

”Yeah,” Su Miaoyi said. ”He had his hands over his head and was bent over the table, getting beaten up. I pulled the attacker off him, and when I helped him up, I saw it was him.”

”The oldest one is twenty-five,” Qi Feng said. ”They get swindled but don’t call the police. Instead, they pull knives and start a brawl. What were they thinking?”

”Who knows,” Lu Zhishen said, looking at the blood on his clothes.

’I just bought this shirt. I was worried about getting paint on it, so I was saving it for a day off, and now it’s covered in blood.’

Zhuang Yanzheng sighed helplessly. ”Alright, let’s all head home. It’s getting late.”

Su Miaoyi put her hand on Chu Xingrou’s shoulder. ”Want to come sleep over at my place?”

Chu Xingrou just looked at her.

The few men standing in front of them also turned around.

”What?” Su Miaoyi asked.

”That doesn’t sound like something an upstanding person would say,” Zhuang Yanzheng commented.

Qi Feng nodded in agreement beside him.

”Do I not seem like an upstanding person?” Su Miaoyi asked Chu Xingrou.

Chu Xingrou stared at her, not hearing a word she said. Her mind was completely occupied with the words, ’I can see crime scenes.’

So she just stared at her, not saying anything.

’Okay, that’s enough, I’m starting to feel awkward,’ the voice in her head said. ’Can we please go home? Home!’

Su Miaoyi rubbed her nose, a little embarrassed. ”Alright, then. To each their own home.”

...

「Early the next morning」

Su Miaoyi was woken up by a phone call.

She picked her phone up off the floor and looked at the caller ID.

It was an unknown number.

She answered, ”Hello.”

”Miaomiao, it’s me.” It was Cai Qinglian’s voice.

”What is it?” Su Miaoyi already had a pretty good idea.

”You work at the municipal bureau, so you must know a lot of people. See if you can pull some strings, help Jia Bao out.”

This was the first time Su Miaoyi had ever heard Cai Qinglian speak to her in such a pleasant tone.

Any pleasantness in the past had been completely forced and grudging.

”What’s wrong with him?” Su Miaoyi asked.

”Miaomiao, I heard you were at the scene last night,” Cai Qinglian said.

Su Miaoyi paused for a moment. ”I don’t know the specifics. If he wasn’t involved in anything serious, no one’s going to do anything to him. But if he was, then no amount of influence will help. I can’t help you.”

”Go find Zhuang Yanzheng. I’m sure he can do something,” Cai Qinglian said.

”Speaking of Zhuang Yanzheng,” Su Miaoyi said, ”who’s been spreading rumors about him and me?”

Cai Qinglian went silent.

Su Miaoyi continued, ”You know perfectly well what you’re trying to do.”

”Miaomiao,” the voice on the other end changed to Ji Sheng’s. ”This whole thing is a misunderstanding.”

”Don’t give me that ’misunderstanding’ crap,” Su Miaoyi said. ”If it was a misunderstanding, wouldn’t you have clarified it? If it was a misunderstanding, how did so many people hear about it? Why did so many people go asking Boss Yan and his wife about it?”

”You two are always together, I just assumed...” Ji Sheng said.

”You assumed? Is that all you do, assume? You think your assumptions give you the right to spread rumors?” Su Miaoyi shot back. ”I’m with lots of people every day. I go to the breakfast shop across the street every single day, so why don’t you say I’m with the breakfast shop?”

Ji Sheng fell silent again.

Su Miaoyi said, ”Mr. Ji, who gave you this terrible idea? Did you even think it through before acting on it? Spreading rumors has consequences. Did you think you could threaten me with my reputation? You must be dreaming. You don’t take me seriously, so you just run your mouth and try to ruin me. But did you ever stop to think about the Zhuang Family? If the Zhuang Family had said for one second at the banquet last night that it was all false, the two of you would be the laughingstock of all of Jinghai by now.”

”But the Zhuang Family didn’t deny it last night, did they?” Cai Qinglian said.

Su Miaoyi was taken aback. ”So, you two were secretly gloating all night? You must have been over the moon, right?”

”I’ll clarify things,” Ji Sheng said.

”As long as you admit it.”

”Miaomiao, I’ll handle this matter, but about Jia Bao’s situation...”

Su Miaoyi hung up the phone.

She leaned back on her bed and looked over at An’an, who was sleeping on the bay window.

It was asleep again, and as if annoyed by the noise, it had covered its ears with its tail.

Last night, it had barely slept, running all over the room.

From what she’d heard... it had knocked over its food bowl, scrambled up and down the cat tree countless times, and even ran over her again and again, stomping on her mercilessly.

Su Miaoyi looked at it, then got up and picked it up.

’You didn’t let me sleep last night, so you don’t get to sleep during the day either!’