Liang Shi let out a soft breath and said, word by word, "Yang Jianni killed her daughter, Qi Jiao."
Chapter 122
Everyone present was shocked when Liang Shi uttered those words.
When Yang Jianni heard the name "Qi Jiao," her pupils dilated for a few seconds, and her struggling body suddenly stopped.
Standing behind Liang Shi, Chen Mian adjusted her glasses, a flash of anger appearing in her world-weary eyes as she stared intently at Yang Jiani.
“It’s you…” Yang Jianni noticed Chen Mian standing behind her.
Her long, dark blue, shoulder-length hair was loose and languid, giving her an air of nonchalance.
Although they were standing with everyone else, it felt like they were from a different world.
Chen Mian curled her lips into a mocking smile, "You still remember me."
Yang Jiani repeated those two words several times, over and over again.
—It's you.
Chen Mian's gaze grew cold, as if she were looking at a dead man.
A moment later, Yang Jianni, like a mad beast, struggled again, even more fiercely than before.
Her eyes were bloodshot, and the cold metal handcuffs were stained with her blood, turning the silver color crimson. She didn't notice at all, her hair falling loose on both sides of her face, and she let out a broken roar at the two of them.
The noise made the two police officers who were arresting her frown instinctively and try their best to hold down her shoulders, but they were still injured by her constant struggles.
The police officers were strong enough, but because Yang Jianni was completely insane at the moment, she didn't care about her own body at all, and even the damage was negligible.
Like a trapped beast, desperately trying to break free of its cage.
It seems there are enemies outside the cage.
After a furious roar, Yang Jianni shouted in her hoarse, broken voice, "You people! Go to hell!"
She was originally an opera singer; she has a beautiful voice, and when she speaks properly, it has a clear, melodious quality.
It's like a clear spring stream flowing over rocks.
But at this moment her voice was completely damaged. It is rare to see someone damage their vocal cords by shouting alone, which shows her despair and anger.
Yang Jianni had lost her usual charm. She spat in the direction of Chen Mian and Liang Shi, but fortunately the two avoided it in time.
That spit landed on the wall.
It was still stained with blood.
Yang Jiani's tears were all cloudy, mixed with her pale makeup.
It looks like a midnight ghost, a bit creepy.
"It's all your fault!" Yang Jianni shouted hoarsely, "Chen Mian! You're the one who deserves to die! It's you!"
"Why did my Jiaojiao have to die! Go die! Why didn't you go and be with her! It's all your fault! You killed my Jiaojiao!" Yang Jianni shouted, but then collapsed to her knees, exhausted.
Liang Shi glanced at Chen Mian, only to see Chen Mian staring at Yang Jiani expressionlessly.
But her slightly trembling body betrayed her emotions.
Chen Mian swallowed, her slender neck gleaming with a sickly white light under the cold sunlight.
Chen Mian's voice was cold, like shards of ice in the dead of winter, turning into a sharp knife stabbing into people's hearts, "Qi Jiao died because of you."
Chen Mian said, "Because of your excessive desire for control and your morbid possessiveness, you made her life a living hell, which is why she committed suicide."
“It was you,” Chen Mian said. “You gave her life, but you also killed her soul.”
Chen Mian's tears suddenly fell from afar, without any intention of crying, just a single crystal tear.
She gives off a cold and aloof feeling, as if she is incapable of being moved by anything in this world.
But when Qi Jiao is mentioned, she briefly reveals her human side.
Gentleness, anger, tenderness.
Chen Mian's icy voice rang out: "You're the one who deserves to die, Yang Jiani."
“Because you didn’t die.” Chen Mian continued, “Qi Jiao didn’t want you to die either, so she went and died.”
Yang Jianni was taken aback by what she said, and stopped struggling. Seeing this, the leader next to her immediately ordered people to drag Yang Jianni away from the scene of the crime.
Chen Mian turned around and refused to face the crowd.
A brief silence fell over the place.
This standoff left everyone completely bewildered, with no one having any idea what the other side was saying.
The officer in charge of the case was Officer Sun from the Criminal Investigation Brigade. He quickly snapped out of the tense standoff, gathered his thoughts, and asked Liang Shi, "What did you just say? What other case do you want to report?"
Liang Shi repeated what he had just said: "I said, what I want to report is that Yang Jianni killed her daughter Qi Jiao."
Officer Sun said, "This is the case we just received from you. The victim is currently receiving emergency treatment at the hospital. We received news from the hospital that he needs a blood transfusion, but he has not yet died."
"No." Liang Shi shook his head gently.
She glanced in the direction Yang Jianni had been taken away and said firmly, "The person being treated in the hospital is Gu Xingyue, not Qi Jiao."
Liang Shi’s next words overturned everyone’s understanding.
She said, "Yang Jiani's actions against Gu Xingyue were intentional assault and attempted murder, while her real daughter, Qi Jiao, died thirteen years ago."
Shortly after Qi Jiao jumped to her death, they pushed her back into the abyss.
//
Yang Jiani was arrested on suspicion of intentional injury and malicious homicide.
This incident brought to light the events surrounding Qi Jiao from many years ago, along with the old stories of the Angel Orphanage.
This is a very large and difficult matter to investigate.
Gu Xingyue's claim of serial killings refers to Yang Jianni first killing Qi Xiangui, and then attacking Gu Xingyue.
When Gu Xingyue reported the case that day, Qi Xiangui's body had already been sitting in the cold basement for two days.
Moreover, his death was brutal, with nearly twenty wounds on his body.
According to the forensic examination, the fatal injury was to the head, and the cause of death was blunt force trauma.
Yang Jiani's weapon was a wrench.
Liang Shi knew very little about what had happened. That day, she went to the police station with Chen Mian to cooperate with the police investigation as the person who filed the report. The process of taking a statement alone took more than two hours.
Chen Mian knew even less, but she talked about Qi Jiao's middle school days.
Because of the argument and confrontation between her and Yang Jiani at the Qi family's door, no one would believe that there was nothing between them.
Chen Mian answered all her questions, but unfortunately, she knew too little, so the information she provided wasn't very useful.
The key point of the matter still lies with Gu Xingyue, who is currently lying in the ICU.
It was a long day.
For Liang Shi, this was just another ordinary day in her life.
She left the film crew after filming was suspended, and in a daze, she received a call from Gu Xingyue. Trusting Gu Xingyue, she called the police without hesitation.
After reporting the incident to the police, cooperate with the investigation and provide as much evidence as possible.
Even though Gu Xingyue said she wouldn't do it if it involved the Angel Orphanage.
But for some reason, she suddenly turned against him.
When Liang Shi provided evidence, he still truthfully told the story of the Angel Orphanage, including Gu Zhaoyuan and Gu Yingbo.
It was only when she called Gu Zhaoyuan that she learned that Dean Gu Yingbo had passed away two days earlier.
It happened to be the day Qi Xiangui was killed by Yang Jiani.
Liang Shi, unable to hide his surprise, asked Gu Yingbo about the cause of his death in a low voice at the police station.
Gu Zhaoyuan said he had a nightmare. After waking up, he kept calling out "Xingyue, Xingyue." After calling out a few times, he jumped from the second floor. He was already in poor health and was also old, so he died on the spot.
Gu Zhaoyuan was preparing for his funeral, and upon hearing this, Liang Shi could only offer his condolences.
She then asked, "Does Gu Xingyue know about this?"
Gu Zhaoyuan paused, then said in a deep voice, "Understood."
The letter that Liang Shi handed over to Gu Zhaoyuan contained Gu Xingyue's phone number, left behind in their unique way of communicating.
After receiving the document, Gu Zhaoyuan didn't dare contact Gu Xingyue immediately, fearing that she would be discovered and bullied because of him, since Liang Shi had said that her current situation was not good.
But just a few days later, Gu Yingbo got into that mess.
Gu Zhaoyuan wept bitterly late at night, unable to hold back any longer, and sent Gu Xingyue a message: "Dad is dead. If you could, could you come and see him? Xingyue."
The message went unanswered, as if it had vanished without a trace.
Gu Zhaoyuan lost interest in it. These past few days, he had been like a walking corpse, numbly dealing with the affairs of the nursing home. Fortunately, he still had some children around to help him, otherwise he would have collapsed.
When Liang Shi heard this, he told him to hold on a little longer, and that Gu Xingyue would go back.
She guessed that Gu Xingyue's sudden action was related to Gu Yingbo's death, and that Gu Yingbo had not yet been cremated or had a funeral.
Liang Shi said, "Wait a little longer, Xingyue probably wants to see Dean Gu one last time."
“No, it won’t do,” Gu Zhaoyuan said. “The stench of the corpse is too strong, and it was a fall from a building. The manner of death is too gruesome. I don’t want Xingyue to see her father like this, and I don’t think her father would want to either.”
Gu Zhaoyuan paused for a moment, then said, "I'll cremate my father's body first, and hold the funeral when Xingyue arrives."
Liang Shi sighed softly, "That works too."
Just a few words, and a person's life was sealed.
After Liang Shi called Gu Zhaoyuan, he requested that the orphanage be discussed after Gu Xingyue woke up. The first thing he would deal with was Yang Jiani's serial murder case.
Serial killings—these four words sound cruel.
But the most terrifying thing is that after Qi Xiangui was killed by a blunt instrument, there were more than twenty stab wounds on his body, caused by a household fruit knife.
And he was murdered while intoxicated.