Chapter 199 Could it be that Li Miao is behind this?
As we followed Li Miao towards the villa area, the sun had completely set. The street lights built in the village and the warm lanterns hanging under the eaves lit up in an instant, but what was particularly noticeable was that there was still no light in the villa area. It was like an isolated area located in the corner of the village, revealing a hint of loneliness and weirdness.
This was something Guan Xia hadn't expected. As they got closer, she subconsciously slowed down her pace. To stay true to her character, she walked half a step behind Li Miao and asked, "Excuse me, why is this villa area so dark? Is there a lack of streetlights, or are they broken, or maybe they're not on at all?"
Li Miao, holding a drone in one hand and a phone in the other, stared straight ahead with a stony expression. He waited a few seconds after Guan Xia finished speaking before replying, "The streetlight's broken. I don't know if it's a bad connection or a problem with the wiring, but it keeps flickering at random times. My dad got scared a few times, so he just stopped using it. But don't worry, the lights in my house are bright. We even have lights on the rooftop and balcony, so it's practically ablaze."
I don’t know if it was Guan Xia’s illusion, but Li Miao seemed to be deliberately revealing information. She was a taciturn person before, but she became talkative when she mentioned her father Li Feng.
Guan Xia instinctively exchanged glances with Pang Le, then hesitated for a few seconds before tentatively asking, "When we were walking in the square before, we heard the village aunt say that the houses in the villa area are not for rent. She had asked several times on her behalf, but was rejected every time. You brought us back so rashly, will your father be angry and kick us out?"
Guan Xia asked very carefully, trying to fit in with the character who was coming to travel as much as possible.
However, Li Miao's reaction was still somewhat sharp, as if she had noticed something. As soon as Guan Xia finished speaking, she suddenly turned her head to look at her. Her expression was still indifferent, but her eyes seemed to suddenly brighten a little. She looked at Guan Xia seriously and said, "Don't worry, I often bring people I like back to rent a house. My dad was very angry before, but now he's used to it. At most, he won't rent to you. I won't hurt you."
When Li Miao said the word "hurt", he emphasized the tone, as if he was explaining, but also as if he was giving a reminder.
Guan Xia pretended to be frightened and shrank back, looking hesitant, but in fact her mind started to work rapidly.
Li Miao said that he often brings back people he likes, so if he suddenly invites them to his home, isn't that a disguised way of saying that he has a liking for them? How is the standard of this liking defined?
Guan Xia subconsciously thought of the drone that had been hovering over the small square. Could it be that Li Miao was using it to observe people interested in the villa area? But when the young girl asked the middle-aged woman in the village about renting an apartment, Guan Xia and the others had watched but remained silent. How did they end up in Li Miao's field of vision? Could it be that their previous actions had revealed something, causing Li Miao to doubt their identities?
Following this idea, Guan Xia became more and more confused. If Li Miao really suspected that they came because of her father Li Feng's case, then doesn't that mean she might be an insider in the disappearance of her mother and Li Song, and she might even be trying to work with the police just to avenge her mother?
But if Li Miao really had a clue, why didn't she call the police directly instead of waiting for them to show up? Could it be that their previous speculation was wrong, and Li Miao didn't stay by Li Feng's side voluntarily, but was restricted and under surveillance?
But the problem is that Li Miao can still go out to work, so it’s not like someone is following her when she goes to work.
The more Guan Xia analyzed, the more he felt that it was all a mystery.
But now was not the time to discuss this, so even though Guan Xia had a lot to say, she only exchanged glances with Pang Le again, then said hesitantly, "Does your dad hate other people renting his house so much? Then we..."
Guan Xia was only halfway through her sentence when she was interrupted by Li Miao. With a somewhat stubborn expression, she said, "My dad dislikes everyone who wants to rent his house, but don't worry, he's just used to being alone and afraid of being disturbed. He won't do anything extreme. Most importantly, he's old and a little nervous, and he's still on his way back at this hour. You have plenty of time to look at the house and then decide whether to rent it or not."
This time, Li Miao spoke for a long time again, and also revealed some information about Li Feng intentionally or unintentionally, and tried her best to hint and invite them to her house.
Guan Xia then pretended to be relieved and looked at Li Miao and said, "That's good. We're just here for a trip. We finally got our annual leave so we can go to some small tourist spots, take in the scenery, take some photos, and relax. We don't want to get into any trouble at all."
After Guan Xia finished speaking, Pang Le added, "Don't worry, little sister. We are not the kind of people who would pester you. We are just trying it out. If your father doesn't agree, we will definitely not force you."
Li Miao seemed to have lost interest. He didn't say anything this time. Instead, he simply turned around and calmly led the way.
The small square was not far from the villa area, and the village committee was also very close to the villa area. After walking for about ten minutes, they had passed through a large open iron gate and entered the villa area, which was shaded by green trees and had many flowers and plants planted on both sides of the road.
Although there were no street lights on both sides of the road, one of the six villas had lights in all the rooms turned on, and even the yard was brightly lit, so it was particularly conspicuous and there was no possibility of not being able to see the road clearly.
From a distance, the villa's wall seemed a little higher than those of other houses in the village. It became even more obvious when approaching. It was indeed much higher, so much so that Guan Xia had to look up to see it. She looked intently for two seconds before realizing that the top of the wall was not covered with broken glass or other things to prevent theft, but rather a row of relatively small stone beasts squatting on the wall at a fixed distance, as if guarding something.
Guan Xia felt a little strange, so she looked at him a few more times until Li Miao's figure walked into the door and disappeared, then she hurriedly followed Pang Le.
When they entered the courtyard, Li Miao had already placed the drone on the stone table and sat down on a swing chair nearby. He acted as if he had no intention of showing them around and said, "Feel free to look around, but try to be quick. It's best to finish within fifteen minutes. My dad will be home soon, and I'm in a good mood today. I don't want to argue with him."
Li Miao seemed to just be informing them and didn't care about their answers. After he finished speaking, he lowered his head and played with his phone.
This young girl's behavior and words were becoming more and more weird. Guan Xia really couldn't control herself. She instinctively looked at Pang Le again, then said hello and walked with Pang Le towards the completely open door.
Guan Xia had just walked a few steps into the door when she was startled by a red light that suddenly came into her sight. She subconsciously took a step back and looked carefully to find that it was a corner of the living room. There was a small altar near the stairs, on which was placed a black and white photo and a tablet. There were also three plates of offerings in front of the tablet. Unlike ordinary fruit candies, it was a combination of chocolate, candied haws and stinky tofu, which was weird and a bit absurd.
In addition to the two white candles burning on both sides of the tablet on the altar, there are also two red lanterns hanging on nails on the upper left and right walls, reflecting the black and white photos on the altar. Upon closer inspection, it seems as if the people in the photos are moving, which makes Guan Xia, an atheist, feel a chill down his spine.
Even though she was a little scared, Guan Xia still observed it with all her might. She easily saw that the person in the photo was Li Miao's missing mother, Lv Xiangmei. But what puzzled Guan Xia was that there was a cushion not far away opposite the altar. The gray fabric was wrinkled and dirty, as if someone often knelt on it to worship.
What made Guan Xia feel even more strange was that there were several obvious white scratches two or three meters behind the futon.
Guan Xia walked over and looked down carefully for a few seconds, suspecting that the traces were left by something hard being dragged, possibly a stool or chair, some heavy furniture that could be moved by one person.
But why is there a stool or chair placed opposite the tablet of Li Miao's mother? Who sits there for so long? Li Miao or Li Feng? Who frequently kneels before Li Miao's mother, Lü Xiangmei? Is it Li Feng, feeling guilty? Or is it Li Miao, who misses his mother?
Guan Xia only felt that this family consisted of a small number of people, just a father and a daughter, but the strangeness revealed by them was more than the several cases she had investigated before combined.
Because they had spent too long in front of Lu Xiangmei's memorial tablet, Guan Xia and Pang Le had just finished touring the first floor. Before they could even go upstairs, the fifteen-minute limit had already expired. Li Miao's voice came from the door, "Time's up. Have you decided to rent it?"
Guan Xia turned around and saw Li Miao standing at the door, as if he was going to ask them to go out and see the guests off.
Although they had only observed for fifteen minutes, Guan Xia and Pang Le had already gained a lot and felt that the trip was worthwhile. So they did not insist and walked out of the villa. Standing opposite Li Miao, they said, "We want to look at other places. We plan to walk around the villa area and then decide whether to rent it."
Li Miao's expression didn't change at all, as if he had expected this. He said coldly, "Okay, go ahead, but don't stay too long. My dad will be back soon, and he won't be happy if he sees you."
This was like a reminder. Guan Xia glanced at Li Miao and carefully observed her expression, but her expression was too calm to tell anything, so she just nodded and said, "Okay."
After saying goodbye to Li Miao, Guan Xia and Pang Le took the opportunity to take a walk around the area while it was still early.
I have to say that although there are only six villas in this villa area, the area is really not small, and it completely occupies all the space at the river bend. Even in very dim light, you can see that the greening is very delicate, but what is surprising is that the trees are not common species. The green belts on both sides of the road are either willows or peach trees. They are beautiful. The peach trees are okay, but the willow trees are not pruned frequently and the drooping branches have occupied the space on the road. Guan Xia and the others have to reach out and pick up the branches or simply take a detour while walking.
Fortunately, when Guan Xia and her friends finished touring the villa area and were about to leave, they saw a figure walking into the villa area from afar. The figure was turning on a flashlight with quite high power, which almost illuminated all the space around him. Even though Guan Xia was still far away from him, his attention was attracted for a moment.
Although they thought Li Feng should not be able to see them from such a distance, just in case, the two of them still sneaked into the green belt beside the road like thieves and hid completely behind the trees until Li Feng entered the only villa with lights on with a flashlight, and waited for a few minutes before quietly leaving.
After brushing off the weeds on their trouser legs, Guan Xia and the others had no intention of continuing to wander around the village, so they simply went straight back to the holiday villa. However, as they were walking, they heard the familiar buzzing sound again.
Guan Xia turned around and looked upwards, and sure enough, she saw a small drone hovering in the air above their heads, but it was some distance away from them, so she had no way of telling whether Li Miao was looking at them through the drone, or as the village committee cadres said, observing the coming and going of people.
After staring at the drone for two seconds, Guan Xia withdrew her gaze and quickly went upstairs with Pang Le.
In order to maintain their persona, Guan Xia and the others could not meet with other people directly at this time, so they first sent a message in the group to make sure that everyone had returned to the room. Then they opened the door a crack and listened carefully to the movement outside. They stuck half of their heads out to make sure that there was no one in the corridor, then knocked on the door and went into Wang Yu's room.
After waiting for five or six minutes, the rest of the people arrived.
Wang Yu had already drawn the curtains, not revealing a trace of what was inside the room. He also closed the windows and turned on the air conditioner. In addition, Guan Xia and Pang Le's room was opposite, and Xu Nian's was next to him, so he was not worried at all that what they said would be heard by others.
They sat in a circle around the only small coffee table in the room. Wang Yu also thoughtfully prepared some snacks and drinks. So everyone drank milk tea and ate the special delicacies while discussing the clues they found today.
Zhong Xiaoyu was the first to speak. She spoke with a bit of excitement and impatiently, "Qi Bai and I met Li Feng when we were rafting in the mountains."
Guan Xia originally thought that they had gained the most, but she didn't expect that Zhong Xiaoyu and Qi Bai had gained even more.
Guan Xia almost exclaimed, "What? You met Li Feng? When? What was he doing at that time?"
When Guan Xia asked these questions, she had figured something out in her mind. No wonder Li Miao was so unscrupulous in taking them home, and acted as if she had complete control over Li Feng's whereabouts. It turned out that she knew he had gone into the mountains, perhaps he went into the mountains frequently, so Li Miao knew the approximate time he would be home so well.
Zhong Xiaoyu recalled the scene and replied, "It was probably around 6pm. I remember Qi Bai and I lined up to go into the water around 5:50pm. We still had to put on our gear and get on the boat, which was around 6pm."
Qi Bai continued, "We saw him after drifting a distance downstream. He was sitting on a large rock about ten meters from the river, sideways, smoking. Because we were drifting so fast, we couldn't see him clearly, but he looked quite worried. I have a feeling his life isn't as smooth as we've made it out to be. He must have encountered something."
As Guan Xia listened, she suddenly couldn't help but recall what Li Miao had said not long ago, as well as the strangely torn altar in the corner of the living room and the cushion that looked like it was often used. She always felt that the abnormality shown by Li Feng must be related to Li Miao.
Thinking of this, Guan Xia quickly recounted everything that had happened to her and Pang Le today.
As expected, everyone's intuition was similar. Guan Xia had just said half of his words when almost everyone frowned, especially Xu Nian and Jiang Yingyao, who had the most experience in handling cases. They looked thoughtful.
Qi Bai, always the loudest one, scratched his head and said in confusion, "What about the flashing street lights, the crazy old man, the altar, and the strange scratches? Aren't we investigating a criminal case? Why does it sound like a supernatural event? Could this be Li Miao's doing?"
Qi Bai confidently analyzed, "Didn't Guan Xia say that? Li Miao's speech, actions, and clothing style are all very strange. Combined with the clues we found earlier, it's obvious that Li Miao is planning revenge for his mother. I think we can find someone to investigate. If the street lamp failure is really related to Li Miao, then it means that Li Miao is indeed an insider of her mother's disappearance and is willing to leak information to the police investigating the case. Then we can be bolder. Maybe Li Miao really has some crucial evidence."
Qi Bai's eyes lit up as he spoke, but the others looked hesitant, especially Xu Nian. After thinking for a few seconds, he shook his head and said, "No rush. This is only our first day here. We don't know anything yet. If we act rashly, we might alert the enemy. After all, this is Wu Yang's hometown. No one knows if there are any members of that organization in this seemingly small village."
Xu Nian's words made sense. Guan Xia suddenly remembered that when she shared her vision at noon, she saw that in addition to Li Feng, there were three other blood-red soul light balls. In addition to paying attention to the movements in the villa area all afternoon, she also shared her vision from time to time to try to find the three criminals.
It’s a pity that I haven’t seen them yet, and now I can’t tell whether those three are related to a criminal organization.
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