Chapter 37 Are you here to apologize, or to say goodbye...?
Chu Ci covered her head, her peripheral vision constantly watching the shadow following behind her.
He shook his head vigorously.
Wait, why does her head hurt so much?
Suddenly, her eyes widened.
It's Qian Hui!
There's something wrong with the things he burned!
Without thinking twice, she staggered forward.
Seeing her suddenly speed up, the people behind her also started running.
Chu Ci noticed that the shadow behind him had a watermelon knife, about the length of an adult's forearm, which swayed back and forth as the shadow ran.
The people behind her were chasing closely, but fortunately, Chu Ci was very familiar with this area, and by taking advantage of the terrain, she quickly distanced herself from the people behind her.
Just when she thought she was safe, a gust of wind suddenly rushed past her ear.
She instinctively tried to dodge to the side, but her body was ultimately untrained and she was a step too slow, getting hit hard on the shoulder.
With a "crack," a sound of bone breaking came from her shoulder. Chu Ci clutched her shoulder and looked at the person who had come.
It turned out to be Jiang Yuan.
Jiang Yuan was stunned, not expecting her to dodge so quickly, and he froze, still holding the stick in his hand.
"Sister Aci..."
"Jiang Yuan, it really was you who killed Jiang Caixia."
"..."
Jiang Yuan was taken aback, and the stick in his hand fell to the ground with a thud.
His face was deathly pale, and he waved his hands frantically, "No...it wasn't me! I didn't kill my sister, I didn't kill her!"
Chu Ci clutched her shoulder, her eyes flickering. "You didn't kill your sister. It was Qian Hui who killed her. You were just helping him cover up the truth, weren't you?"
Jiang Yuan's lips trembled as he stared at her in disbelief.
"You guessed it..."
He suddenly bent down and picked up the stick from the ground, his expression ferocious.
"You know, and do the police know too?! You want to send me to jail!"
"No, you've been fooled by Qian Hui!"
Chu Ci stopped him.
"You didn't kill your sister, so you're not responsible. I can let go of the blow just now, but if you and Qian Hui kill me today, then you'll really be going to jail!"
Jiang Yuan stared intently at her, instinctively clenching the stick in his hand, his expression conflicted.
Just as Chu Ci was about to persuade him, heavy footsteps suddenly came from behind him.
As the footsteps drew closer, Qian Hui's curses grew louder: "Jiang Yuan, what are you standing there for! Hurry up and hit her with that stick!"
Seeing Jiang Yuan hesitating while holding the stick, he spat.
"What are you still hesitating for! If you don't kill her today, and she goes to the police, both of us will be the ones who die!"
"Your mother-in-law's family never liked you to begin with. Once you get into legal trouble, let's see if they'll still be willing to let their daughter marry you!"
These words made Jiang Yuan make up his mind completely.
He clenched his fist tightly, his eyes turning fierce. "Sister Aci, don't blame me. This matter originally had nothing to do with you. If you have to blame someone, blame yourself for meddling!"
He swung his club down, but missed completely.
Seeing Chu Ci slip away like a slippery eel, Qian Hui ran over and slapped Jiang Yuan across the face.
"You can't even hit your target at this close range, you useless piece of trash!"
He snatched the stick from Jiang Yuan's hand and ran in the direction Chu Ci had fled.
Chu Ci clutched his shoulder and weaved through the alleyways, using his familiarity with the terrain to take a detour towards the Kwun Tong Police Station.
But the Kwun Tong Police Station building was too conspicuous, and Qian Hui quickly realized what she was up to.
"Jiang Yuan, stop her! She's trying to run into the police station!"
Jiang Yuan clenched his fist and silently increased his speed.
Just as he accelerated at full speed and was about to catch up with Chu Ci at the next intersection, a police car suddenly stopped on the side of the road.
Shen Xiuhe got out of the car and stopped the running Chu Ci, asking in confusion, "Miss Chu?"
He frowned when he saw Chu Ci clutching his shoulder: "What's wrong with your shoulder?"
Upon seeing him, Chu Ci's heart, which had been pounding, instantly calmed down, and he pointed behind him.
"It's alright! I have Jiang Yuan and Qian Hui behind me. They're not going to kill me!"
As soon as Chu Ci finished speaking, Shen Xiuhe's expression turned serious, and he quickly pulled out the gun from his pocket.
"Miss Chu, please hide in the car for a while and don't come out."
Chu Ci then noticed that Shen Xiuhe's brother, the same Shen Sir who had handled the case of Guo Po's granddaughter, was also there.
He pulled out his gun, cocked it, and quickly followed his brother into the alley.
Watching the two men enter the alley with guns, Chu Ci took a deep breath and got into the police car, finally having a chance to check his injuries.
The spot on my shoulder where I was hit was swollen and had turned a dark, almost blackish-purple color.
As for where the fracture occurred, it will probably require a hospital examination.
She clutched her shoulder, took a deep breath, and couldn't understand how these two had targeted her.
Could it be that they overheard her calling Lin Ming?
That shouldn't be the case. She went a long way and left that area before making the call.
Moreover, since she made the call in a public phone booth, even if they saw her make the call, they probably wouldn't know what she said to Lin Ming.
In an instant, she even considered the possibility that Lin Ming was in cahoots with them.
But thinking about Lin Ming's heroic sacrifice in the original book, I subconsciously overturned this idea.
Lin Ming sacrificed himself to save someone; he couldn't possibly be that kind of person.
She closed her eyes and waited in the car for a long time before Shen Xiuhe returned.
He didn't come back with his brother Shen Zaikun behind him; he came back alone.
After getting in the car, he explained to Chu Ci, "Jiang Yuan and Qian Hui have both been arrested. After all, it's a case from the Kowloon City Police Department, so I had my brother take them back."
He glanced at Chu Ci's shoulder. "Shall I take you to the hospital first?"
Chu Ci nodded, "Thank you for your trouble, Officer Shen."
She had a check-up at the hospital, and fortunately it was just a bone fracture, not a serious condition. She just needed to stay in the hospital for observation for two days.
When Grandma brought over a change of clothes, she felt both sorry for Chu Ci and angry, and kept poking Chu Ci's forehead.
"Instead of minding the shop, you insist on meddling in other people's business. Look at yourself, beaten up like this, doesn't it hurt?"
Chu Ci nodded gently, "It hurts."
"It's good that it hurts!" Grandma glared at her angrily. "You need to feel a lot of pain so you'll learn your lesson."
After saying that, she started cursing Qian Hui and Jiang Yuan again.
She didn't know much about Qian Hui, but that didn't stop the old lady from dragging out the Qian family and going back eighteen generations to curse them.
She first berated Jiang Yuan, an acquaintance, then sat down by Chu Ci's bedside and sighed that you can know a person's face but not their heart.
"That young man from the Jiang family, he seemed quite well-behaved and reliable to me. How could he do something like murder? He's completely insane!"
She looked at Chu Ci in confusion, "What did you do that made him want to kill you?"
Chu Ci ate an apple and shook her head. "He was just tricked by Qian Hui. He's probably crying in jail right now."
She spent the whole day in the hospital. The next day, Lin Ming came to visit her with nutritional supplements and also brought her medical expenses.
"This money was pooled together by the Qian and Jiang families to treat your injuries."
After handing the money to Chu Ci, Lin Ming pursed his lips and began to recount yesterday's events to Chu Ci.
Yesterday, after Shen Zaikun and Shen Xiuhe apprehended the perpetrators Qian Hui and Jiang Yuan, Shen Zaikun took them back to the Kowloon City Police Station.
Jiang Yuan's mental defenses were much lower than Qian Hui's. As soon as he entered the police station, he told them everything without any interrogation.
The reason why the two of them attacked Chu Ci had nothing to do with the phone call she made to Lin Ming.
Lin Ming: "It was Qian Hui. He felt that Jiang Caixia's death was related to you, so he wanted to kill you to vent his anger. He saw you at the Jiang family's house yesterday and wanted to kill you to get revenge..."
"Wait a minute," Chu Ci interrupted him, "So, he didn't kill Jiang Caixia?"
Lin Ming glanced at her. "Don't rush me. Let me explain slowly."
He handed the peeled apple to Chu Ci, "Jiang Caixia was indeed killed by Qian Hui, just as you thought, Qian Hui and Jiang Yuan had financial dealings."
"Jiang Yuan also confessed that he stumbled upon Qian Hui's murder scene. He originally wanted to call the police, but Qian Hui promised him a large sum of money and begged him not to tell anyone..."
"Qian Hui killed his own sister, and he just agreed to it like that?" Chu Ci took a bite of her apple.
Lin Ming didn't mind Chu Ci's interruption again, snorted coldly, and looked at the void with a mocking gaze.
"Jiang Yuan said he struggled with the decision all night, but then he felt that his sister was gone and could not be brought back to life, and the family needed money right now, so he agreed to Qian Hui's request."
He peeled an apple for himself, took a bite, and said, "Later, when Jiang Caixia's body was dumped in the countryside, it was the two of them who did it together."
Chu Ci: "Does Jiang Yuan know that his sister was assaulted by Qian Hui before she died?"
"He knows, but he thinks it was a mistake Qian Hui made in a moment of impulse because he loves his sister too much... Impulsive? Impulsive my foot!"
Lin Ming, unable to bear it any longer, slammed the fruit knife in his hand onto the table.
His chest heaved with anger. "If impulsiveness is an excuse, then what's the point of the law? If impulsiveness allows for legal murder, I would have broken his neck right then and there!"
"Do you know what this bastard also said? He said it's all Jiang Caixia's fault, and if Jiang Caixia had married Qian Hui as he suggested earlier, none of this would have happened."
"With the money Qian Hui gave her, she wouldn't need to sell herself in the red-light district, Qian Hui wouldn't make a mistake on impulse, and he himself wouldn't go to jail."
"That beast even said Jiang Caixia ruined his life! What utter nonsense!"
Lin Ming was so angry that he kicked a stool over, but then remembered that he was in a hospital, so he quickly picked it up.
"I'm sorry, I'm really angry."
"It's nothing." Chu Ci munched on an apple, her eyes thoughtful. "Go on."
"Where was I... Oh, this Jiang Yuan looks honest, but he's actually more ruthless than anyone else. Just because Qian Hui promised him 30,000 yuan, he's abandoned all conscience."
Lin Ming paced back and forth in the ward, furious. "Thirty thousand yuan! Thirty thousand yuan! For thirty thousand yuan, he'd even abandon his own sister."
"The neighbors all say that the siblings have a good relationship. Jiang Yuan was even raised by Jiang Caixia herself. How could he do something like this!"
Chu Ci suddenly looked up, "Where is Jiang Yuan's mother? Does she know about this?"
"I understand." Lin Ming pointed to the medical bills she had placed on the table. "I saw her when I went to get the money. This money was pooled together by both families."
"Qian Hui's mother stood in the stairwell and kept cursing, saying that their family shouldn't have taken so much. Jiang Yuan's mother kept crying and said that Jiang Caixia was her daughter and that this was their family matter, and the police shouldn't interfere."
"When she saw that we weren't saying anything, she said she was going to go to jail in Jiang Yuan's place. Honestly, his mother is so unreasonable. Her daughter is dead, and she's still protecting her beastly son!"
Chu Ci's eyes were vacant; she had encountered similar situations in previous cases.
"She probably felt that she only had these two children, and if one of them was gone, no matter what the other did, she had to protect the other one."
Lin Ming: "In the end, it's still because they can't figure things out."
"Oh, right," Lin Ming added, "the daughter that Jiang Yuan likes, her family also came over."
"That family berated Jiang's mother and took away a lot of her belongings, claiming it was compensation for their daughter's emotional distress. The girl went to see Jiang Yuan yesterday and broke up with him; Jiang Yuan was devastated."
In the end, this whole thing just ended up being a complete mess.
"It's just a pity for Jiang Caixia," Chu Ci sighed softly.
That's what she and Lin Ming both thought.
On the day she was discharged from the hospital and returned home, the soul-summoning bell, which had not rung for a long time, suddenly rang.
Chu Ci was awakened by the noise. In a daze, he stared at the constantly trembling soul-guiding bell for a while before he came to his senses.
She stepped out of her room, and there was a knocking sound at the front door.
The sound was quite loud, but it didn't wake Grandma, who was a light sleeper.
Chu Ci turned on the light and peered through the peephole.
In the dark stairwell outside the door, a human figure could be vaguely seen.
She frowned and thought for a moment, then said softly, "Jiang Caixia?"
The figure outside the door turned around, wearing the clothes Qian Hui had burned for her, and silently looked at her through the peephole.
Upon seeing that it was Jiang Caixia, Chu Ci opened the door.
There was a Bagua mirror in the room to ward off evil spirits, so Jiang Caixia didn't dare to come in and just stood at the door.
His pale face held a complex expression as he looked at Chu Ci, seemingly wanting to say something but holding back.
Chu Ci looked at her lowered eyes and chuckled, "Are you here to apologize, or to thank me?"
Jiang Caixia lowered her head, her eyelashes trembled, and she pursed her lips.
Chu Ci smiled knowingly: "Back then, when you introduced Wang Qiang to me and asked me to tell his fortune, you actually charged him quite a bit of money, didn't you?"
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