Chapter 159 When it said these words, He Zhao had just woken up and was having a late meal with Xiao Hei at home…
When it spoke, He Zhao had just woken up and was having a late brunch with Xiao Hei at home. She had cooked noodles, fried an egg, and each had a bowl. The system was speaking while she was still slurping her noodles; by the time she realized what the system was saying, she almost hadn't finished slurping them down.
She was truly stunned.
He Zhao never imagined that a system would one day say goodbye to him. Because in all the novels and short dramas He Zhao had read, the systems bound to their hosts were always there for life. Even when they needed to find a new host, it was only after the previous one had died.
He Zhao had never seen anyone so eager to leave after only six months of being bound to a partner.
"Are you in such a hurry to use your system and people? It's only been a short time, and you're already running away." It wasn't that He Zhao was reluctant to part with the system; after all, the system wasn't very useful to her, except when she needed to borrow money. It didn't even have the function of giving her an invincible buff.
She had also read about other people who transmigrated to other worlds with a culinary god system and opened small shops. In those high-martial-art worlds, the shop owners all possessed invincible abilities within their own shops. But with He Zhao, aside from being immune to mental attacks, he was completely defenseless against physical attacks.
I've never seen such a useless system.
At least this system is easy to talk to, and quite honest; it's even willing to lend him money. For that reason alone, He Zhao is willing to share a room with the system. At least this system isn't like those in novels, where it might give the host an electric shock punishment if they're not careful—it's a normal system.
The system fell silent, and in its silence, He Zhao felt even more strongly that their system was indeed quite short-staffed.
He Zhao was truly reluctant to part with the system, at least not now. Because—a storm was brewing, and this was the eve of a major battle. If the system disappeared now, who would he borrow money from? Money makes the world go round; this wasn't just a saying, as Qiao Yanyu had proven long ago. If a situation arose that even Qiao Yanyu couldn't handle, and a large-scale support base was needed, then ghost money would be incredibly useful.
So He Zhao played the emotional card. She even stopped eating her noodles, put down her chopsticks and said directly, "System, look, we've only spent so little time together, and I'm reluctant to part with you. And don't be fooled by my current enthusiasm and hard work; it's all thanks to you. Without you, I definitely wouldn't be working so hard."
"You know me, I'm only diligent for three days and lazy for two. Without your supervision, I'll definitely turn back into that lazy He Zhao in no time. Why don't you... stay a little longer?"
As He Zhao spoke, a genuine expression of emotion appeared on his face.
It was just that it was a performance without props, and there was no one to act opposite him. In addition, He Zhao wasn't very good at making such expressions, so it looked a bit fake. Even without using the system's built-in scanner to examine every facial muscle movement of He Zhao, the system could tell from the time it spent with He Zhao that he was acting.
At this moment, the system didn't know whether it should be grateful that He Zhao was still willing to act for it, or sad that she didn't even know how to act well.
However, the system replied: "Please rest assured, host, I will not leave you until the Tonghuan Party incident is over, and I will do my best to assist you."
This relieved He Zhao: "You should have said so earlier, you scared me to death."
In the days that followed, He Zhao continued to set up her stall as before. Even though the long queues of customers left her feeling exhausted, she still diligently ran her stall without being inconsistent in her efforts. The woman in the red wedding dress would also come from time to time, but only a few times.
Today was also the day Red Wedding Dress arrived, and He Zhao once again tried to sell her the extra spicy rice, but Red Wedding Dress refused. Red Wedding Dress didn't look too good. He Zhao knew that Qiao Yanyu and the others had been investigating Red Wedding Dress recently, but there was still no progress, and they hadn't even found out where it was.
He Zhao had mentioned starting with her, but the woman in the red wedding dress appeared very infrequently and without any pattern. To keep an eye on He Zhao, they would have to keep watching her constantly. For the Investigation Bureau, which was already short-staffed and had a lot of work to do, this was a bit of a stretch.
But the fact that the woman in the red wedding dress reacted this way just because someone was investigating her made it hard to say what kind of being she really was. He Zhao's suspicions about her grew, but he had no concrete evidence.
Today, Red Wedding Dress came over, and sitting next to her was Mud Ghost. Red Wedding Dress was a chatterbox, especially fond of talking to people, and her mouth never stopped even while eating. Mud Ghost was a good ghost, unlike the other ghosts who were impatient; instead, he patiently listened to her babbling on and on.
There aren't many ghosts who can understand the Red Wedding Dress's babbling. Most ghosts are in a daze, only knowing "Aba aba" and "want to eat," so very few can actually chat with the Red Wedding Dress.
Because of its mouth, almost all the regular customers knew how Red Wedding Dress died and how unlucky it was. The Mud Ghost even felt some sympathy for it, and they even developed a kind of mutual understanding, since the Mud Ghost had also died a very unlucky death.
The woman in the red wedding dress clearly wanted to chat with the mud ghost a little longer, but because there were too many people in line, she had to leave after finishing her meal. As she left, her red wedding shoes were faintly visible.
Looking at it, the Mud Demon suddenly remarked with emotion, "The shop where they took solo wedding photos is quite particular; they even changed the shoes."
"How so?"
He Zhao didn't quite understand what Lan Ni Gui meant, because she wasn't interested in Hanfu and wouldn't take solo wedding photos, so she had never worn one. Lan Ni Gui explained, "I've had Hanfu photoshoots before, but those studios only provide clothes, not shoes. If you've already said you want to have a shoot, you basically have to bring your own shoes. If you don't bring your own, they won't provide shoes for you to change into."
"Think about it, how many Hanfu sets are there in a photography studio? If each Hanfu comes with shoes, how many pairs of shoes in different sizes would you need? So either the person being photographed brings their own, or they just wear their own shoes for the day."
"It doesn't look like she brought it herself, because the pattern is obviously a set with the Hanfu she's wearing. When you go to choose Hanfu that day, there are definitely many different styles to choose from. It's impossible to be sure that the shoes you bring will match the pattern of the clothes. Most of the time, even if you bring your own shoes, they'll at most be the same color. How could the patterns be the same? So it's probably a set with the clothes, provided by the photo studio."
Hearing what the Mud Demon said, He Zhao quickly searched for photos. She specifically looked at the shoes and found that many of them included shoes. The Mud Demon scoffed, "Those are all model photos. They agreed beforehand what clothes to wear, and even the shoes were provided by the photo studio. But the one in the red wedding dress said she took the photos herself, so how could she possibly have a matching set? That means the photo studio they used must have exceptionally good service to have matching shoes."
The Mud Ghost said with a hint of envy, "I really want to know which studio it was taken at. How come I never encountered such a good photography studio in my life? The quality of its clothes is so high, they look so expensive, and the clothes are also very new, they don't feel like they're from a photo studio. And its hairstyle, it seems like it's not using a hairpiece, but its own real hair, its hair volume is so good. Unlike me, a working-class person, when I took the photos, the dyed hair and the hairpiece had a color difference."
It chattered on and on, but He Zhao didn't respond. It got a little bored and couldn't help but say to He Zhao, "Give me some response! It's embarrassing for me to ramble on like this all by myself." Especially since the guests next to it were watching, the Mud Ghost felt even more embarrassed.
He Zhao slammed his hand on the table and stood up, first thanking the Mud Demon. Then he pulled the Mud Demon to his seat and said, "Help me get some rice here. It's on the house today." After giving the order, He Zhao didn't wait for the Mud Demon's reply before walking straight to the side to make a phone call.
The mud ghost was dumbfounded, but it didn't have a chance to refuse, because as soon as it left its seat, the second guest hurriedly sat down, muttering, "Food, food."
The Mud Demon glanced at Little Black again. Little Black was the only employee at the stall besides He Zhao, but its paws were indeed too small to hold rice. The Mud Demon had no choice but to step in. It used its mud tentacles to pick up the rice scoop and dutifully served rice to the customers.
He Zhao called Qiao Yanyu, and it took a while for her to answer. Qiao Yanyu said "Hello," sounding somewhat tired. Recently, when He Zhao saw Qiao Yanyu, she did indeed look exceptionally exhausted. The work of the past few days, coupled with the difficulty in gathering intelligence, had truly given Qiao Yanyu a headache.
He Zhao quickly recounted his conversation with the Mud Demon and highlighted the key to finding the Red Wedding Dress's identity—the dress itself. He Zhao had genuinely overlooked it before, but now it seemed that the dress was definitely not cheap.
As a wealthy heiress, He Zhao could quickly realize upon reflection that her red wedding dress used a large amount of real silk, the lining fabric was also of high quality, and some of the embroidery wasn't printed but hand-sewn. This whole outfit cost at least tens of thousands.
The Hanfu community isn't large, and even fewer people can afford to pay this price for clothing. Once the retailer is found and confirmed through the purchase list, the true identity of the red wedding dress can be quickly determined.
The only problem is... I didn't take a picture of that red wedding dress, so I don't know what it looked like.
At this moment, Wang Yu, who was next to Qiao Yanyu, raised her hand: "I remember, I also took a second look at that dress, but I didn't expect it to be so expensive. I remember the basic pattern and stuff. Just search for it online, it should be easy to find. Unless it's a custom-made piece, you can definitely find it if you buy it online."
Wang Yu spoke with great certainty, so the matter was entrusted to Wang Yu.
As it turned out, He Zhao's approach was indeed effective; it didn't take long for them to identify suspicious individuals. They even found photos of Hong Jiayi from before her death.
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