Chapter 272: You’re the Only One I Adore (5)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Jin Qingyan sat up straight immediately and asked, “Whose phone are you using?”
“Officer Ma’s. My phone was confiscated by the police. I’ll retrieve it later. I’d like to see you, make a trip down to the police station,” An Xiaoning said quickly.
“Sure.”
An Xiaoning hung up and handed the phone back to Ma Jianguo. After taking a look at the dialed number, Ma Jianguo remarked in surprise, “Why is Jin Qingyan’s mobile number so peculiar? There are so many 8’s.”
“Exactly why it’s so easy to remember. I don’t even have to memorize it,” said An Xiaoning.
“Team Leader, we knew all along that you’re not the murderer. Seems like this servant is very suspicious.”
Ma Jianguo turned to Pan Zhenghui and said, “Chief, haven’t the Serious Crimes Investigation Unit been checking up on the servant?”
“The eyewitness’ statements were all they needed to nail Xiaoning as the suspect. The current investigation outcomes are all the same. From the looks of it, I should be focusing on the Jin family. Something smells fishy,” said Pan Zhenghui.
An Xiaoning remained quiet and gazed out of the window at the passing streets, feeling as if her heart had sunk deeper.
Jin Qingyan had already arrived at the police station by the time they made it back. An Xiaoning had noticed his white Bentley with one glance.
It was his car indeed.
As soon as the police car came to a halt, An Xiaoning alighted from the car and strode quickly towards the Bentley.
Jin Qingyan had just gotten down from his car as well.
He had not seen her in half a month.
She had slimmed down a lot and lost all the weight she had just gained recently.
He extended his arms for an embrace, after which An Xiaoning jumped onto him and wrapped her legs around him. “Qingyan!” she exclaimed, hugging him tightly.
Jin Qingyan carried her into the car.
The four men sitting in the police car not too far away were stunned at the scene before them.
Jin Qingyan closed the car door and gazed at the petite An Xiaoning. “I’ve been to the police station several times in the past few days, but I didn’t get to see you. I was told that the higher-ups forbade any visitors.”
“Well, I’m out now. We’d just returned from visiting the parents of that female servant your family hired. We found out that the name of the servant who called me into your grandmother’s room is Liu Yingying. Her parents said that she was working as a servant for your family. But, when the police questioned the butler previously, the butler denied the existence of such a servant. I instructed Ma Jianguo to bring the portrait sketch to the butler. If he still insists on denying it, then I’m certain that there’s something suspicious and fishy about the butler,” An Xiaoning explained.
After giving her words some thought, Jin Qingyan answered, “Is that so? No wonder I had a feeling that it wasn’t an outsider who was behind this.”
“Why?”
“Just a hunch I had.”
“I’ve read Liu Yingying’s birth characters given by her parents and found she’s now dead. But her parents don’t know yet,” said An Xiaoning, holding onto his hand tightly.
“No matter what, I’ll definitely prove your innocence and protect you,” Jin Qingyan reassured her as he reached a hand out to caress her face.
“I’ve missed you dearly for the past two weeks that I was imprisoned.”
He gave her a peck before proceeding to kiss her passionately.
An Xiaoning reciprocated.
They continued to smooch for five minutes before letting go of each other. After two weeks of not seeing each other, they suddenly felt as if they had returned to the honeymoon stage of their relationship again.
Hand in hand, they could guess what was on each other’s mind even though they were not speaking.
“I still have to stay here tonight, you should go home first.”
“It’s chilly, be careful not to catch a cold,” Jin Qingyan reminded her.
“Got it. I’ll get going then,” said An Xiaoning as she let go of his hand.
“Okay.”
Just as An Xiaoning pushed the door open, she was again stopped by Jin Qingyan, who planted another passionate kiss on her lips before letting go of her reluctantly.
She closed the car door, after which Jin Qingyan drove away quickly.
An Xiaoning returned to her office to wait for Ma Jianguo.
Touching her lips subconsciously, she could not help but feel over the moon at the thought of the kiss in Jin Qingyan’s car earlier.
Jin Qingyan bumped into Ma Jianguo and the rest when he arrived back at the Jin family old mansion. Upon sight of him, Ma Jianguo greeted, “Hi, Mr. Jin.”
“Hello, Officer Ma and everyone else.” Jin Qingyan strode towards him and said softly, “Is there any outcome after asking the butler about the portrait sketch?”
“The butler answered that Liu Yingying had worked here before but quit afterwards.”
“Let me have a look.”
Ma Jianguo handed him the sketch.
Jin Qingyan scrutinized the sketch before shaking his head and saying, “No, I saw her on the morning of my Grandma’s birthday.”
Ma Jianguo’s eyes lit up in surprise. “Really?”
“Yes, she broke a vase by accident and I happened to walk past her at the time. I’ve always had a good memory. Let’s keep this a secret for now, I’ll begin investigating around my home,” said Jin Qingyan.
“Alright.”
Jin Qingyan then walked towards the living room with a heavy heart. He had taken the familiar route towards the mansion countless times ever since he was young. Yet, this time, he was dragging his feet along.
He was no fool.
The fact that the butler constantly denied the existence of the servant, even though she indeed existed, could only mean one thing: the butler was lying!
The butler had been serving the Jin family for decades.
He could already be considered a part of their family.
There were only two reasons behind his decision to lie.
“One could be that he lied out of his own accord, another was… Mother made him do so,” Jin Qingyan pondered to himself as he stopped in his tracks.
He could not help but find the entire situation extremely ridiculous.
As much as that was the only conclusion he could come up with for now, what he needed to know now was the reason why the butler was hiding the truth about the servant.
Jin Qingyan gazed at the entrance of the living room.
He felt his heart wrench with immense pain and sorrow.
Although old Mrs. Jin had already passed on for more than half a month, he could still feel her very presence in the mansion.
He still remembered how she used to nag at him and call him to come home for meals.
He stepped foot inside to see that Mr. Jin was seated on the couch, with Mrs. Jin beside him, while the butler was standing by the side.
Mr. Jin let out a grunt upon seeing Jin Qingyan.
“Butler, bring me a pot of tea,” Jin Qingyan instructed as he entered through the door with his hands in his pocket.
“Yes, Young Sir.”
Sitting opposite his father, Jin Qingyan crossed a leg over another and rested his hands on his lap as he stared at his parents.
He continued to stare at them while suppressing his emotions of confusion and bewilderment.
Silence filled the air.
When the butler arrived with the pot of green tea, Jin Qingyan looked up at him slowly and asked, “Butler, you’ve been serving us for years and you watched me grow up. I’d like to ask, how did Grandma treat you when she was alive?”
“Old Madam had always been kind and nice to me. I’m very grateful towards her for always taking good care of me.”
“Since you’re so full of gratitude, then I have a question for you. On the day of my grandmother’s 70th birthday, there was a servant named Liu Yingying who told Xiaoning that Grandma had asked to see her. You denied the existence of this servant when the police questioned you about her. The police made another trip here again just now, and yet you claimed that she did work here before but she had already quit. When did she quit?” asked Jin Qingyan.
“She quit some time ago,” the butler answered politely.
“How long ago exactly?”
“I’m not too sure about that. Age is catching up with me and I’ve become rather forgetful lately,” the butler said calmly, standing tall and still like a statue.