Chapter 663: A Million Times for You (25)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“Team Leader Zhang, don’t address me that way anymore. I’m no longer a team leader.”
“Ah, you can resume your duties any moment if you wish to,” said Team Leader Zhang.
Pan Zhenghui nudged Team Leader Zhang with his elbow and prompted, “Brief Xiaoning about the details of the investigations we’ve carried out for the past couple of days.”
Thus, Team Leader Zhang began telling her about the investigations while walking. When he finished speaking, An Xiaoning stopped in her tracks and asked, “You mean, Xu Youran gave her this apartment?”
“Yes, Xu Youran had even transferred a few million dollars to her account.”
Mrs. Jin’s death immediately came to An Xiaoning’s mind. After being dumbstruck for a few moments, she nodded and continued walking. “Okay. Is Yuan Mingzhu’s mother residing in the apartment alone?”
“Yes, Yuan Mingzhu’s mother has already asked for our help to sell the apartment after the investigations are over. She wants to move back to her own home.”
The three of them exited the elevator. Team Leader Zhang pressed the doorbell of the apartment, after which a middle-aged woman who resembled Yuan Mingzhu quickly opened the door.
She was obviously Yuan Mingzhu’s mother. Her eyes were swollen from crying, and she appeared extremely haggard.
“Hello, Auntie. This is Ms. An, whom we specially requested to make a trip here. She’s psychic, just like your daughter.”
“Please come in, quick.”
The three of them entered the apartment.
An Xiaoning’s first impression of the apartment was that it felt rather stuffy and that the air was stale.
“Which one is the ritual room?”
“This one.” Mrs. Yuan led them to one of the rooms and entered. Everything in the room could be seen clearly the moment she switched on the lights.
An Xiaoning walked toward the altar and took a look at the items placed on it.
An Xiaoning picked up a small pot and emptied it.
She then bent down and squinted to look at the liquid that flowed onto the ground, after which a sullen expression formed on her face immediately.
“Is this some kind of oil? It’s still glistening,” Team Leader Zhang questioned, staring at the ground.
“It’s oil derived from corpses.”
Team Leader Zhang immediately sprung up and asked, “What is it used for?”
“Isn’t it obvious? This will help catalyze the effects exponentially if one uses it to harm others,” An Xiaoning said frankly, right in front of Mrs. Yuan.
“It… it’s impossible. Mingzhu wouldn’t intentionally cause harm to others,” Mrs. Yuan protested, shaking her head fervently.
An Xiaoning stood up and said to her calmly, “If that’s the case, how do you explain the oil? If your daughter didn’t plan to harm to others, where did this apartment and the millions of dollars in her bank account come from? Do you seriously think someone would give those to her for free?”
“According to the investigations, it was said that Xu Youran was the one who gave her those things as a reward for her fortune-telling services,” Team Leader Zhang explained.
An Xiaoning did not buy his explanation at all.
“I know clearly what kind of a sordid person Xu Youran is,” An Xiaoning retorted, rolling her eyes at him before scanning her surroundings in the room once more.
She then proceeded to Yuan Mingzhu’s bedroom, where she rummaged through her closet, only to discover that there weren’t any bizarre or suspicious items inside.
An Xiaoning then picked up the large teddy bear on the bed and casually unzipped the outer casing to take a peek inside. To her astonishment, the teddy bear was filled with a bunch of smaller puppets instead of wool.
“Why are there so many of those?” Pan Zhenghui questioned in bewilderment.
“Bureau Chief Pan and Team Leader Zhang, do you know what these puppets are used for?” An Xiaoning asked, dumping the puppets aside and getting onto her feet.
“No.”
“These things are used when putting a hex on others. Usually, the birth characters, name, and home address of the victim would be written on the puppet, after which the medium will chant a curse. When a medium pokes a certain spot on the puppet with a needle, the victim will feel a sharp pain in the exact same spot on his or her body. That’s one way to torture the victim,” An Xiaoning explained.
“Bullshit!” Mrs. Yuan snapped, refusing to allow her daughter to be branded as an evildoer. “Mingzhu has always enjoyed sewing her own puppets ever since she was a child. That’s just her hobby. It’s definitely not like what you said. Are you really a psychic? You look just like a conman who’s spouting nonsense,” she hissed.
An Xiaoning’s face stiffened in anger. “I’m spouting nonsense? With just one glance at the items she had displayed in that room, anyone who’s learned about rituals can tell that your daughter was up to no good. Auntie, I know you miss your daughter, so I won’t hold it against you, but you’d better not try to cover up and defend your daughter when you’re just an ignorant person who knows nothing about black magic,” she retorted.
Team Leader Zhang interjected, “Auntie, Ms. An is way more skilled than your daughter was. How could you say that she was spouting nonsense…”
An Xiaoning glanced at him and thought to herself, You’re finally saying something that makes sense…
“Boss, someone is calling you again!”
She whipped her mobile phone out to see that it was a call from Jin Qingyan.
“What’s the matter?” she asked over the phone while walking out of the room.
“Yuan Mingzhu is one of the accomplices involved in causing my mother’s death. I was the one who killed her. Don’t interfere in this matter,” said Jin Qingyan.
An Xiaoning stopped in her tracks and answered, “Got it.”
She ended the call and took a look around the other rooms calmly.
An Xiaoning then stared at Mrs. Yuan and said, “Auntie, I suggest you take the money from the sale of the house and return to the countryside to enjoy your retirement. Your daughter ended up in such a plight entirely because she took someone else’s life.”
An Xiaoning shifted her gaze onto Pan Zhenghui and Team Leader Zhang. “There’s no need to investigate about Yuan Mingzhu’s death any further. Let’s put an end to this case.”
While on the way back, Pan Zhenghui asked, “Xiaoning, what you meant earlier was that the vengeful spirit of the victim Yuan Mingzhu killed had come back to take her life for revenge, right?”
“I noticed that the items and amulets she placed on the table in the ritual room were all used to place death curses. That just proves that she had caused the death of someone. I don’t know if the spirit took revenge by killing her, nor did I witness it with my own eyes.”
Certain that his guess was correct, Pan Zhenghui instructed Team Leader Zhang, “We’ll close the case later and tell them that Yuan Mingzhu had died due to suicide.”
“Yes, Chief.”
An Xiaoning remained quiet and stared out of the window.
Since Yuan Mingzhu was one of the culprits behind Mrs. Jin’s death, it was more than obvious who the other culprit was. She knew the answer exactly without having to spell it out loud.
After all, Yuan Mingzhu did not have a feud or bear a grudge against Mrs. Jin. Moreover, she had also accepted such expensive gifts from Xu Youran. She wasn’t rewarded for nothing…
If Yuan Mingzhu had known earlier that this would happen, she definitely wouldn’t have given in to the temptations of accepting Xu Youran’s monetary gifts, would she?
Xu Youran is truly a troublemaker…
An Xiaoning alighted from the car when they arrived at the Gu family mansion and waved them goodbye.
Just as she was about to knock on the door, she was stopped by a man who grabbed onto her wrist. She turned around to meet a pair of eyes that were beaming with joy.
“What are you trying to do?”
“I’d like to invite you over to my place for some tea.”
“I don’t have time for that.” She tried to break free from his grip but to no avail.
All of a sudden, he picked her up in his arms and lifted her off the ground. An Xiaoning’s face contorted into an angry grimace. “Let go of me!”
He did not budge at all and carried her into the car.
He got into the driver’s seat and placed her on his lap.
An Xiaoning felt like hitting him with her heels.
She tried to struggle out of his embrace by twisting her body from side to side.