The Vanished Wife (5)
Jian Tanxi said, "I think we should leave one person here, just in case Mr. Liang suddenly does something unusual and we don't notice? Or what if he runs away while we're out? Although the probability of that is very low."
Qin Man said, "I'll stay. I need to take care of the child. The three of you adults can split up and go find different suspects."
This arrangement is more appropriate, and everyone agrees.
Jian Tanxi said to Xie Wei and Professor Pan, "When you go to the suspect's house, catch an animal. I can communicate with the animal and see if it can provide any clues."
Xie Wei and Professor Pan nodded and said, "Okay."
Xie Wei's goal is the Golden Rose.
Jin Meigui was drinking tea in the tea room when Xie Wei went directly there and told her that he wanted to visit her home.
Without the slightest hesitation, Golden Rose immediately agreed.
Xie Wei looked at Jin Meigui's expression and saw that she seemed completely unperturbed, which eased his wariness towards her.
————
Jian Tanxi took a map and went to Yu Antai's house.
She borrowed a car from Mr. Liang so it would be faster.
About two hours later, she arrived at Yu Antai's house.
Yu Antai lives in the countryside. His house is a very common self-built rural house. It looks quite ordinary, and the outer layer of paint is peeling off.
Jian Tanxi knocked on the door, and after a while, a middle-aged fat man opened it. He had a stubble beard, dark circles under his eyes, and looked haggard, appearing to be in a bad mood. He also smelled of alcohol.
Jian Tanxi asked, "Are you Yu Antai?"
Middle-aged fat man: "That's right."
Do you know where Ms. Jin Mingyue went?
"They came because of her again... I didn't know, the police already asked about it before."
"Would it be convenient for me to come in and have a seat? I'm a detective."
Jian Tanxi presented her detective credentials.
Yu Antai nodded: "Come in."
After entering, Yu Antai sat down on the sofa and said wearily, "There's water on the coffee table, please help yourself. I'm sorry there's no tea."
"It doesn't matter……"
Jian Tanxi poured herself a glass of water and looked around the room.
Yu Antai's home is not large, probably around 80 square meters, with two bedrooms and a living room.
Not far away was a memorial tablet for Yu's mother, with three incense sticks stuck in the incense burner, and a plate with some fruit and peanuts next to it.
Jian Tanxi asked, "How long has your aunt been gone?"
Yu Antai: "It's been almost 20 days."
Do you resent Jin Mingyue?
Yu Antai looked up at her and asked warily, "What do you mean? You suspect that I held a grudge and killed Jin Mingyue?"
"No, I was just asking. I didn't say you killed her. We don't even know if Ms. Jin is alive or dead yet."
"To say I have absolutely no resentment would be a lie. But my mother's illness was very serious, and even if she lent me money, she might not have made it through. In the past, there were always people who made up excuses to swindle money from Jin Mingyue, so it's understandable that Jin Mingyue didn't want to lend money to others anymore. I'm not the kind of person who can't distinguish right from wrong, and I won't blame my mother's death on her."
It sounds like Yu Antai is quite reasonable.
Jian Tanxi asked, "Can I see your house?"
"Look around as you like, I won't stop you."
Jian Tanxi searched carefully. But even after looking through the Yu family's house many times, she found nothing.
Both bedrooms had very few items. In Yu's mother's room, everything was arranged neatly and tidy.
Yu Antai's room was somewhat messy, with some trash and empty bottles inside, and the bedding was haphazardly rolled up.
It seems that since his mother's death, Yu Antai has been despondent and has even lost the will to clean the house.
All the boxes, cabinets, refrigerators, and drawers have been checked, but no clues related to Ms. Jin have been found.
Of course, given how much time has passed, it's possible he's cleaned up the traces.
The only unusual thing was that the walls of Yu's mother's bedroom had just been painted and were very new, which was out of place in this old house.
Moreover, the walls smelled exactly like the new walls in the Kim family's house.
Jian Tanxi asked Yu Antai, "Has your mother's room been repainted?"
Yu Antai: "Yes, I hope to decorate my mother's room nicely. Although I no longer have the opportunity to fulfill my filial duties, I still want to do something for my mother. I will continue to renovate that room in the future."
“You are very filial. Speaking of which, the Jin family also has several rooms that have just been painted, and the smell is the same as yours.”
"Perhaps they used the same type of paint."
"Did you hire the same construction team?"
"No, I painted my own house. I don't know anything about the Jin family."
Jian Tanxi did not press the matter further.
She suddenly thought of a question and asked, "Have you always lived with your mother alone? You're not married?"
Yu Antai: "No."
"Why? You look to be over thirty."
"Maybe you haven't met the right person."
Jian Tanxi nodded and said nothing more.
She went outside, hoping to use her ability to talk to animals to find clues.
Not far away were farmlands, and Jian Tanxi found a sparrow in one of them.
She asked Sparrow, "Miss Sparrow, have you seen this person in the photo?"
Jian Tanxi showed Ms. Jin's photo to Sparrow.
The sparrow said, "No."
How long have you been staying here?
"A few months, I guess."
Do you come to this farmland every day?
"Not necessarily, but they come every now and then."
"Could you call your companions and let them identify the person in the photo? I'll give you lots of food later."
"Wow, thank you so much! I'll call my friends over."
The sparrows called over a large group of their companions, but after looking at her, they all said they had never seen Ms. Jin before.
Jian Tanxi then asked, "Has the man in that house in front left the house these past few days?"
The sparrows chirped in response:
"I don't think so, I didn't notice."
"I didn't notice either; I don't usually pay much attention to humans."
“I’ve seen that man a few times, but he’s always been at home or wandering around the neighborhood. He’s never gone far.”
It seems that Yu Antai is less of a suspect.
Most importantly, if he had really harmed Jin Mingyue, he should have fled long ago instead of staying at home.
Jian Tanxi wanted to ask one or two more animals, but she could only use her ability to communicate with animals three times per game, so she decided to use it sparingly.
She returned to the Yu family home and said to Yu Antai, "I saw a few sparrows outside. Can I take some food from your refrigerator for them?"
Yu Antai said, "Sure, you can choose for yourself. I don't know what sparrows like to eat."
Jian Tanxi opened the refrigerator and found that there wasn't much inside, just some corn, tomatoes, bell peppers, apples, red dates, and biscuits, and none of the food was opened or cut.
Jian Tanxi picked out apples, corn, and biscuits, intending to chop them up and feed them to the sparrows.
She picked up the cleaver and cutting board, only to find that the cleaver was rusty and the cutting board was moldy, looking very unhygienic.
She could only rinse the knife and cutting board with water and then start cutting the food.
This kitchen knife is terrible; it can't even cut an apple, and I don't have any other knives.
Jian Tanxi could only search in her own bag, which contained an interstellar triangular pyramid and a 40-meter-long broadsword, neither of which were suitable for cutting things.
Finally, she found a pair of rusty scissors from a barber, given to her by Ridley, the barber who had three tumors on his head.
Although these scissors are rusty, they are actually very sharp.
She used it to cut fruits and vegetables, which was like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut; she finished cutting them very quickly.
She put the chopped food into a bag, took it outside, and fed it to the sparrows.
The sparrows, seeing so much food, happily began to eat.
Some sparrows seemed to be talking to Jian Tanxi, but now that the effect of her superpower had worn off, Jian Tanxi could no longer understand what the sparrows were saying.
She didn't pay much attention; the sparrows were probably thanking her.
After feeding the sparrows, Jian Tanxi returned to the Yu family home and said to Yu Antai, "Excuse me, I'll be leaving now."
Yu Antai: "Now you believe I'm innocent?"
"Of course, Ms. Jin is not here with you, and I believe you are innocent."
At that moment, Jian Tanxi pulled out a "good guy" card with lightning speed, threw it at Yu Antai, and said, "You're a good guy! Tell me about the last time you saw Ms. Jin."
However, Yu Antai looked at Jian Tanxi blankly and said nothing.
Jian Tanxi found it a bit strange, because a "friend card" could get the other person to agree to something. If she asked someone to say something, they would definitely tell the truth.
But why is Yu Antai not saying anything?
Does the "friend zone" card not work on Yu Antai? Why is that?
Jian Tanxi picked up the "good guy" card that had fallen to the ground and discovered that it was broken. This meant that it had already been used.
So, the "good guy card" did work, but Yu Antai wasn't controlled by it? Could it be that he, like Ou Bao'er before him, has some kind of restriction on him?
Jian Tanxi frowned in thought, feeling that the mysteries were only increasing.
After a while, Yu Antai came to his senses and said to Jian Tanxi, "Did you just throw something at me?"
Jian Tanxi: "No. By the way, have you encountered any strange people before? Did they hurt you, or give you anything to eat? Or put any talismans on you?"
"No."
Are you sure?
"Um."
"Okay, I'll be going now."
————
Xie Wei arrived at Jin Meigui's house.
Golden Rose generously allowed him to search the premises and gave him all the room keys.
Jin Meigui also lives in a villa, but it is much smaller than Jin Mingyue's house.
Before long, Xie Wei finished searching but found nothing.
Golden Rose said, "Now you should believe me? I think instead of wasting your time here with me, you should hurry up and look for my sister elsewhere. The longer she's missing, the more dangerous it will be."
Xie Wei nodded: "I know. However, I have a few more questions I'd like to ask you."
"Go ahead and ask."
Why are there several rooms in your house with freshly painted walls?
"I renovated those rooms because I frequent them. I don't use the other rooms often, so I didn't renovate them."
"Since you're renovating, why did you only repaint the walls? Aren't you going to replace the old floors, tables, and things like that?"
"I don't want to do too much at once, I'll take it slow."
"Did you arrange to paint the walls with your sister? Why are both of your houses painting around the same time, and using the same paint?"
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