Chapter 16 The niece favored by Li Fushui
"Uncle, have you seen my hair clip?"
"My mom said my hair clip is missing..."
Her voice was faint, as if it drifted from a great distance, carrying a chilling aura.
Shen Xiu stood rooted to the spot, turned to run, but was held down firmly by Ji Jingtong.
What are you doing!
He broke down and growled, his body instinctively trying to push Ji Jingtong away and run away, but Ji Jingtong forcefully suppressed him.
If it weren't for Ji Jingtong's hand trembling on his shoulder, he wouldn't be so fearless.
He even suspected that this guy was using him as a shield!
Just as he was about to push the man away and run away, Ji Jingtong suddenly grabbed his shoulder tightly and asked the little girl sitting on the steps below.
"Are you Cheng Yana?"
Cheng's granddaughter, whose full name is Cheng Yana and nickname is Shengsheng.
Shen Xiuhe: "!!!"
He stared wide-eyed and turned his head, looking at Ji Jingtong in shock.
Even if time is of the essence in solving the case, is it really necessary to ask ghosts?
But to his surprise, the little devil sitting on the steps actually responded!
After a brief "hmm," she asked again, like a broken record:
"Uncle, have you seen my hair clip?"
"My mom said my hair clip is missing..."
"..."
"Cheng Yana," Ji Jingtong felt the chill creeping up his back, took a deep breath, and spoke in a dry voice, "Do you know who killed you?"
Shen Xiu suppressed the urge to run away, holding his breath and waiting for the brat's answer.
But this kid just doesn't look very bright; he repeats himself over and over like a broken record:
"Uncle, have you seen my hair clip?"
"My mom said my hair clip is missing..."
...
"Uncle, have you seen my hair clip?"
"My mom said my hair clip is missing..."
...
"Uncle, have you seen my hair clip?"
"My mom said my hair clip is missing..."
...
In the dead of night, in complete darkness, there was an eerie atmosphere.
Her childish voice echoed again and again on the labyrinthine staircase, sending chills down the spines of the two people.
I asked, but I couldn't get an answer.
We can't get out.
The two of them stood on the stairs for an unknown amount of time, until their heels went numb. Only then did the dark sky outside the stairwell window begin to faintly turn blue, and the child's repetitive questions finally stopped.
In the blink of an eye, the little imp in the pink tutu disappeared.
The dimly lit staircase was empty.
The moment it disappeared, Ji Jingtong pulled Shen Xiuhe up and ran upstairs.
Fortunately, the ghost wall that had been trapping them disappeared along with the little ghost.
This time, they sprinted back to the Major Crimes Unit's office on the third floor in just a few steps.
The two people ran into the office and slammed the door shut.
Their backs were pressed against the door, they looked at each other, their eyes filled with terror.
"you……"
"I……"
The two spoke at the same time, and then stopped at the same time.
Finally, Shen Xiuhe spoke first: "We weren't just imagining things, were we?"
Ji Jingtong swallowed hard, his face pale.
He had been standing on the stairs for so long, and now his heels were aching; it couldn't be a hallucination.
"Why do you think we ran into Cheng Yana?" he asked Shen Xiuhe.
This time, the two, who had always been at odds, surprisingly reached an agreement.
They said in unison, "I think it's a message."
"She is sending us a message."
"..."
"..."
The two stared at each other for a long time.
As dawn broke and street cleaners began sweeping the streets below the police station, the aroma of breakfast wafted through the windows, and the two of them spontaneously sprang into action.
"Let's go." Ji Jingtong took off his dirty gloves. "Let's go to the morgue and take another look at the body."
-
Chu Ci woke up as soon as it was light outside the window.
I don't know if it was because of the "crash course manual" she had yesterday, but she was in a particularly good mood when she woke up the next day.
While buying breakfast, she passed by the newsstand downstairs, and the owner, Bao Shiliang, greeted her with a smile.
"Master, do you read the newspaper? I'll treat you!"
Chu Ci: "..."
Even the newsstand owner downstairs knows she's a medium.
She went over to take a look. Her grandmother liked to read all kinds of gossip magazines, and she planned to buy two newly published newspapers to take with her.
Seeing her searching aimlessly, Liang, the newspaper editor, took out two newspapers and said, "Master, these two are both related to you, and they're selling very well!"
One of the newspapers was brought over yesterday by Master Fang; it was about the Cheng family's granddaughter's disappearance and tragic death.
The other one she hadn't seen before was just released this morning.
Liang glanced at the newspaper in her hand and whispered, "Master, I've read this newspaper. It's a firsthand account from a reporter at the publishing house."
"They said a male reporter from their publishing house went to your fortune teller yesterday. You said his wife was going to conspire with her lover to kill him, but he didn't believe you. As a result, he got hacked to pieces when he got home!" He shuddered and pointed to the color picture in the newspaper. "Look at it, it's a bloody mess!"
"I saw on the document that it was all thanks to you, Master, for reminding his colleague. If his colleague hadn't brought people from the publishing house over, he would have been chopped into pieces by now!"
The newspaper reporter smiled obsequiously, "I saw they even said in the paper that once that skeptical male reporter recovers, they'll all come to thank you! Master, with reporters giving their testimonials, you're going to make a fortune!"
His newsstand was right downstairs from the master's house. As more and more people came and went from the master's house, his customer traffic also increased.
His son was recently fired from his job. Since the rent for stalls nearby isn't too expensive yet, he wondered if his son could open a food stall in the area.
While pondering his future livelihood, Chu Ci picked up a newspaper written by a publishing house reporter based on his personal experience, and also chose an entertainment gossip weekly. "Boss, how much for these two?"
"It's free, master!"
Chu Ci naturally couldn't accept something for nothing. After some refusals, he paid and carried the breakfast upstairs.
When she went upstairs, her grandmother was already awake, lying in a rocking chair watching TV.
Seeing her come up with a newspaper in her hand, she asked with a smile, "What big news is there today?"
"No big news, it's pretty much the same as before, this female celebrity hooks up with a rich man, that male celebrity is kept by a sugar daddy, anyway, these entertainment magazines always have the same things."
Chu Ci handed the entertainment gossip magazine to her grandmother, but her grandmother took a fancy to another copy in her hand.
"Oh, isn't this the couple who came to our store yesterday?"
Grandma pointed to the photo in the newspaper and exclaimed in surprise.
But after reading the newspaper, I found that this was not the case at all.
"Hey, these two young men lied to me! They clearly said they were an unmarried couple who wanted to have their fortunes told, how did they turn into reporters?"
But when she saw the male reporter lying on the ground covered in blood, Grandma frowned and sighed.
"Oh, how pitiful! His own wife was having an affair with his own brother, and he even wanted to kill him... How can there be such evil people in this world!"
Grandma read the newspaper over and over again, sighing as she read.
But while feeling sorry for the male reporter, he didn't forget to remind Chu Ci, "I read in the newspaper that their publishing house is planning to apologize to you. Listen to your grandmother, don't accept their apology just because they apologize. That would not be the demeanor of a master."
"Lessons from experience?" Chu Ci chuckled, set out breakfast, and gestured for his grandmother to come and eat.
“Of course, it’s based on experience.” Grandma sat down at the table and picked up her chopsticks. “I started being a fortune teller even before you were born. People are all bullies who prey on the weak, so you have to be assertive!”
Not long after he said that, someone came to apologize.
However, it wasn't anyone from the publishing house, but rather Master He with red eyes and her daughter, Li Meiyun.
Previously, Master He was radiant, prosperous, and composed, speaking loudly and laughing a lot. Now, however, she has a worried look on her face, and even makeup cannot hide the fatigue in her eyes and brows.
She brought gifts and came accompanied by Abbess Fang.
Upon seeing Chu Ci, he immediately pulled his daughter down to kneel without saying a word.
"Master! Thank you so much for saving my family. If it weren't for you, our whole family would have been killed by that bastard!"
She and her husband were fine, but her daughter was only in her twenties, her life was just beginning, and it was almost ruined by that bastard!
Li Meiyun's eyes were swollen like walnuts, her hair was disheveled, and she was clearly not in the mood to dress up. She knelt beside Master He and wept uncontrollably.
Master He cried out, "People say you can know a person's face but not their heart. I thought I had understood this principle long ago, having lived to such an old age. I never imagined I would almost die at the hands of my own people!"
Her face turned bright red, and she couldn't even kneel down.
Master Fang supported her from the side, sighing and advising, "If it hadn't happened, who would believe that such a good young man as Wu Zhenhao could kill someone!"
“That’s right, I heard yesterday that the young man killed someone, and I didn’t believe it!” He Lihua was returning from grocery shopping with her daughter when she ran into the sobbing He Shifu.
She carried a shopping bag in one hand and touched her daughter's head with the other, unable to suppress her fear.
“I had a really good impression of that young man before. I ran into him twice when I was downstairs and asked him to take care of Jingjing!”
That young man was good-looking, fair-skinned, wearing glasses, and had a refined and handsome appearance. I heard he worked for a multinational company and had a bright future ahead of him.
Who could believe that such a person is actually a murderer?
Master He cried her eyes out, blaming herself.
"I looked for someone so carefully, and no matter how I looked at them, I felt that no one was good enough for my Meiyun. I finally met Wu Zhenhao, who seemed perfect in every way, but I never expected him to be such a heartless beast..."
Chu Ci opened his mouth, but was poked by his grandmother.
Grandma gestured for her to be quiet, then walked up to Master He and said with a forced smile, "Now you know you regret it? Who was it that said my Aci was a liar back then?"
"I remember someone saying they wanted to take my Aci to confront that fortune teller, Granny Hui... Who was it? Who was that person?"
"..."
Master He paused in her sobbing, glanced guiltily at her grandmother with her swollen eyes, and then lowered her head in embarrassment.
"At the time, I... just couldn't accept it..."
"I'm sorry, Master, it's all our fault." Li Meiyun knelt beside her mother, choking back tears as she spoke, "Master, you saved us without holding a grudge. We can never repay your kindness. This is our heartfelt gratitude!"
As she spoke, she took out a thick red envelope and handed it to Chu Ci, but Chu Ci refused to accept it.
"Just pay the divination fee."
Although she is not wealthy now, after serving as a public servant for so many years, she still gets goosebumps whenever she sees this kind of bribery.
Grandma also agreed with Chu Ci's approach.
Having practiced fortune telling for many years, I know that people shouldn't be too greedy.
If you take money you shouldn't have, you'll have to pay it back somewhere else.
She pursed her lips, seemingly satisfied with the attitude of Master He and her daughter.
After all, we're in business, so we have to know when to stop with these kinds of things.
"Now you know, right? Our Aci is very accurate in her calculations!"
"Yes, yes, I understand. If it weren't for the master, my whole family would be gone by now..."
Master He nodded repeatedly and apologized, "I was wrong before. I shouldn't have said that the master was a fraud in our building. I'll go find the people who were there and explain it to them in a bit."
“Master He, there’s no need for explanation.” He Lihua hugged her daughter. “The police came over in the middle of the night that night, making such a commotion, everyone in our building knows about your family now.”
They naturally knew that the master had real skills.
In the past few days, a neighbor from the same building, knowing that the master had rented her house, quietly asked her if the master had a good personality and if she wanted to have her fortune told, whether she should give him a big red envelope.
Chu Ci borrowed the hundred yuan that Li Meiyun had given her. Seeing that Master He was holding her daughter and didn't intend to leave, she asked, "Is there anything else?"
"Um, Master..." Master He's cheeks were burning, "I'd like to have my daughter's marriage fortune told..."
"Mom!" Li Meiyun shook off her mother's hand, almost losing control of her facial expression. "Our family has just been through something like this, I don't want to look for anyone else!"
"You child, how old are you now! If you don't find someone soon, will you ever find a good one later!"
Master He kept nagging, and Li Meiyun blushed with embarrassment and stormed out the door.
As soon as I stepped out the door, I bumped into someone.
A young woman stood at the doorway, holding the hand of a stylishly dressed little girl. She gently supported her and reminded her, "Be careful, miss."
She almost bumped into the child, and Li Meiyun quickly apologized: "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry."
"It doesn't matter."
A young woman led a little girl into the house.
Seeing that Chu Ci had a new customer and her daughter didn't want to have her fortune told, Master He had no choice but to leave.
"Master, you have guests, so I won't disturb you any longer." Master Fang greeted Chu Ci and left with Master He.
"Master, I'm going home too."
He Lihua invited her grandmother to go home for a chat, leaving the space here for Chu Ci and the customers.
"Hello, Master." The young woman, holding the little girl's hand, sat down in front of Chu Ci and introduced herself, "I am a maid from the Cheng family. My wife couldn't leave, so she asked me to come and thank you, Master."
She handed Chu Ci an envelope containing money, but Chu Ci refused to accept it.
"You've already paid for the divination, so you don't need to pay any more."
A hint of unease flashed across the maid's face. Chu Ci stood up. "If there's nothing else, please go back."
"Wait, Master!"
The maid quickly stopped her, "Today, besides thanking the master for helping us find our young lady, Madam would also like you to tell the fortune of our second young lady."
"Second Miss?"
Chu Ci looked at the little girl sitting next to the maid, dressed in gorgeous clothes.
She looks a lot like Li Fushui, but as far as she knows, Li Fushui only has one daughter, Cheng Yana, who has died.
"If you get married, won't you only have one child, Yana?"
"this……"
The maid looked embarrassed.
"This second young lady is our madam's niece, the daughter of our madam's sister. Our madam is kind-hearted; after her sister passed away, she took her niece in and raised her."
Chu Ci suddenly realized.
So this is the niece that Old Lady Cheng was talking about, the one who was favored by Li Fushui.
-----------------------
Author's Note: Please comment and add to your favorites!
Here are 20 small red envelopes as a thank you for your support, everyone! [Kiss][Kiss][Kiss]
My next book, "【1990s】The Daily Life of a Mentally Ill Female Supporting Character Going Crazy," is available for pre-order. Please add it to your favorites if you like it! [kiss][kiss]
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
