Chapter 209 False Tenderness
After this, the room remained quiet for a long time.
Tan Qin cried until she was exhausted, and the light in her eyes faded.
She glanced at the crowd expressionlessly and chuckled softly.
“I arranged to meet him at the teahouse, asking him to wait for me at our usual meeting place when it was already late at night.” She looked up and glanced at her maid. “Xing’er was waiting for him at the back door of the woodshed. She opened the door and let him in.”
"Having lived in the Grand Tutor's mansion for a year, Xing'er and I know exactly which roads are discreet and safe from attention."
Tan Qin bit her lip and took a deep breath: "At that time, I just wanted him to die."
"He wasn't killed by someone else, I killed him with my own hands."
She spoke these words in a deep and slow voice.
Every word, every sentence, seemed to be mired in deep mud, and she had to use all her strength to say it, little by little.
The incense in the room had burned out, and the originally faint scent had dissipated.
The teacup in Li Jin's hand was half full and had already gone cold.
The sunlight still fell on Tan Qin's face, but it was as cold as the howling wind in winter.
Her soul was decaying, unable to withstand such dazzling light. It seemed as if it would shatter into ashes and turn to dust in the next second.
Tan Qin was unwilling to accept this.
I'm not reconciled to the fact that all I've given is a disgusting and filthy result.
She couldn't face everything that had happened in the past year, and couldn't imagine what kind of future she could have.
Since we've already lost everything, we might as well perish together!
Since everything is beyond repair anyway, we might as well perish together!
She could have simply not appeared that night.
But she decided that she would not only meet him, but also use her own hands to drag him into the abyss.
it serves him right.
A sudden gust of wind rippled the surface of the lotus pond. The fallen leaves, like Tan Qin's broken heart, tumbled to the ground with each step she took.
She couldn't tell when she picked up the shovel, but by the time she stood behind Lin Qin, the shovel was already firmly in her hand.
The man who once described the whole world to her stood quietly by the artificial hill by the lake.
That dark blue outer garment swayed gently in the wind.
His silhouette was handsome, the most captivating light in the autumn night, reflected in Tan Qin's eyes.
In that instant, every little detail of the past flooded back to my mind.
"Miss Tan doesn't need to be perfect in every aspect. If there are things you can't do well, isn't there still me?"
“I like you not because you are a cousin of the Grand Tutor’s family, but because you are Tan Qin.”
"My wife, in the future, we will have a grand estate, and I will take you to travel all over the beautiful mountains and rivers of the Great Wei! I want to leave our footprints in every prefecture!"
"My wife, I will definitely welcome you into my home with a grand procession and a ten-mile-long red bridal procession. We will be together for life!"
Tan Qin stood behind him, smiling, but silent.
She gripped the shovel tightly in her hand. The more love she once had for this man, the more hatred she felt now.
The shovel was raised level, then swung forward in a semi-circular arc, landing with a dull thud on the back of Lin Qin's head.
The man staggered as he was caught off guard by the attack.
He instinctively hunched over and raised his hand to protect his head.
But Tan Qin was determined to take his life.
She swung the shovel, her eyes bloodshot, like a demon from hell, and slammed it down a second time.
After being struck twice with all his might, Lin Qin was dazed. He lost his balance, staggered a couple of steps, and then fell into the lotus pond with a splash.
The man didn't even struggle; he lay face down in the lotus pond, motionless.
Tan Qin stood by the pool, looked up at the sky and laughed, but no sound came out.
It felt as if there was a dark hole in her heart, where nothing could be held back, and nothing remained.
She was like a walking corpse that night.
Dragging the shovel, Tan Qin felt as if her soul had been ripped away. She staggered toward the yard, lost and confused.
After killing the man with her own hands, she thought she could feel a little better and let go of some of the past.
But these were all things she thought.
She was like a wandering ghost until Su Wanying called out to her at the gate of her own courtyard, which startled her awake.
Su Wanying looked at her face suspiciously: "What's wrong with you, little sister? Your face is so pale. It's creepy to be in this yard so late at night." After saying that, she glanced at the shovel in Tan Qin's hand and frowned slightly.
Tan Qin quickly hid the shovel behind her back and said with an awkward laugh, "It's autumn, the flowers have faded, and it's a little sad. But don't worry about it, sister. It's alright."
“…Your shovel is bent.” Su Wanying said, “Give it to me, I’ll get you a new one. I’ll have Qin’er from my room bring it to you in a bit.”
Tan Qin stood there, stunned for a long time, and then, as if possessed, handed the shovel to Su Wanying.
“I thought to myself, this murder weapon is of no use to me anyway, so since she wants it, I'll give it to her.”
After saying this, her withered lips opened and closed as if she wanted to say something more, but no sound came out.
Li Jin sat beside her, tapping his palm with the fan in his hand.
For a long time, Tan Qin remained silent, as if the case had ended there.
But no, this case is missing one last piece of the puzzle.
"You left after you saw him fall into the water. He fell into the water at the edge of the lotus pond, right?" Li Jin looked at Tan Qin's face.
She nodded and replied, "Exactly."
That's the piece that's missing.
The body was found under the pavilion in the middle of the lotus pond, tied to a stone the size of a jar.
To achieve this, either someone had to go into the water and tie the body to a rock underwater.
Either someone on the shore would retrieve the body, tie it with rope, and then sink it in the water along with the stones.
Li Jin recalled Su Wanying's words.
He looked up at Xing'er, the maid standing to the side, and asked, "Where were you that night?"
The room remained quiet for a long time.
A trace of sadness lingered on Xing'er's face. She pursed her lips and knelt down.
“It was Xing’er, it was I who tied that young master Lin to the rock.” She kowtowed on the ground. “I saw that Miss was in very poor condition and went out with a shovel. I was uneasy, so I secretly followed her.”
"Then, I watched as Miss pushed Young Master Lin into the water..." She took a deep breath, "Xing'er also felt that Young Master Lin deserved to die, so she decided to help Miss cover it up!"
Her words were filled with hatred for Lin Qin.
“I am good at swimming, so after Miss left, I found a thick rope and jumped into the lotus pond under the cover of night, where I tied Young Master Lin’s body to the stone.”
"To avoid being discovered, I specifically chose the deepest part of the pool." She paused, "but still..."
At first glance, there seemed to be nothing wrong with what he said, but Li Jin narrowed his eyes slightly and asked another question: "After that, which road did you take back to the courtyard? And who did you meet along the way?"
Xing'er paused for a moment.
She knelt on the ground, staring wide-eyed at the floor in front of her, a bead of sweat trickling down her forehead.
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