Ancient Mirror Mystery

Chapter 24

"Is that yours?"

"Of course it's mine. When I found that the butterfly tattoo on my wrist was getting clearer and clearer and I couldn't wash it off no matter what I did, I endured the pain and cut it off with a knife!" Lin Qian raised her right wrist, revealing a section of her sleeve. There was a butterfly-shaped scar on her wrist, which looked like it had healed, leaving a red and extremely unsightly mark.

Ningxia suppressed her nausea and vomiting, and remained silent for a long time.

"So! I think this mirror is indeed strange, as if it's punishing me for everything I've done! After Su Yun accidentally entered my field of vision, I suddenly had another plan! I want to try and see if this mirror will punish other people in the same way?" Lin Qian's eyes flashed with an unfathomable expression, making Ning Xia shudder.

"Su Yun? Her?" Ningxia exclaimed in surprise.

"I discovered from her file that Su Yun is having an affair with a married man, and that man is none other than your own brother, Ning Kang!"

"What?"

These words were like a bomb, leaving Ningxia completely devastated and unable to recover for a long time.

"I deliberately told Su Yun the story from 'The Tale of the Ancient Mirror,' and when the time was right, I took her to the ancestral home, intentionally letting her see Chen Canyu's remains and the mirror! She actually believed me and fainted from fright in the ancestral home. After she woke up, I deliberately hid, and she fled in a panic. My first step was a success. At that moment, I suddenly felt like that princess, experiencing a sense of satisfaction from witnessing someone else's immense fear!"

I really can't believe that Su Yun, a knowledgeable modern woman, would so easily believe that ancient legend! Humph! Lin Qian smiled smugly.

Ningxia remained silent, wondering if what Lin Qian said was true.

"However, I underestimated someone else!"

"who?"

"It's your brother, Ning Kang! I never expected Su Yun to tell Ning Kang everything about me. Of course, he wasn't as easily fooled as Su Yun. He actually started secretly investigating me until one day, he found Xiao Wei with a bunch of photos."

When Xiaowei saw the photos, they were all of my actions in the ancestral home that seemed incredibly crazy to most people, including photos of me whipping Chen Canyu's remains with a long whip. Xiaowei was stunned; he hadn't expected Ningkang to have taken these photos.

Ning Kang, smugly holding the photos, made an outrageous demand of Xiao Wei: he demanded that Xiao Wei give him 30% of the shares, or he would hand the photos over to the local newspaper and the police. If these photos were seen, the entire club would be immediately paralyzed and bankrupt. Xiao Wei, left with no other choice, prepared to give Ning Kang 30% of the shares as a form of cooperation, but I refused!

Since I killed someone ten years ago, I could kill someone else now. So, I had Xiaowei lure Ningkang to the "Qilin Pavilion" in Black Town, intending to trap him in the basement using the same method. But Ningkang was too cunning; he saw through my plan before I even got him to the basement. In the end, I had to feign unconsciousness, then, taking advantage of his momentary lapse in attention, knock him unconscious with an iron rod, and finally, with great effort, hang him from the beam in the second-floor room! But I didn't expect you to break in the next day. In a panic, I had Xiaowei and I push his body into the well together.

"Vicious?" Lin Qian suddenly bent down and pinched Ningxia's cheek. "Aren't you vicious like this? You've got Xiaowei completely bewitched!"

Ningxia suddenly realized something and questioned, "But why did you want to kill me back then? Did you order Zhang Yanfang to run me over with his car?"

Lin Qian looked at Ning Xia's face and said softly, "Because you look so much like someone! The first time you entered the club, I knew you were a vixen! You would definitely ruin Xiao Wei, and most importantly, you look so much like that person! I absolutely cannot let you live!"

"Are you crazy!" Ningxia couldn't believe Lin Qian's motive for killing him and screamed in shock.

"Do you really think I'm crazy? Su Yun's diary is in your hands. Won't you become another threat to us? Xiao Wei didn't even realize this problem and handed the diary to you in a daze! To prevent another blackmailer from appearing, I had Zhang Yanfang start tracking you! When that greedy old man appeared, my plan became even more perfect!" Lin Qian laughed.

"Professor Yu?" Ningxia was somewhat surprised.

"Yes! I deliberately let Zhang Yanfang get close to Yu Youwen, and then exaggerated the value of the box you gave him, claiming someone wanted to buy it for a high price. So, even though Yu Youwen knew the box wasn't a valuable antique, he wavered at Zhang Yanfang's offer and fell into my trap. Zhang Yanfang volunteered to get rid of you, and Yu Youwen actually agreed. So, under my instructions, Zhang Yanfang obtained a photo of you from Yu Youwen's phone, and that night he drove towards you. However, that idiot mistook you for someone else and actually ran over and killed another girl!"

"Did you kill Professor Yu later too?" Ningxia's voice choked as she recalled Chen Ying's innocent death.

"I didn't kill him. After this whole thing went wrong, the old man was terrified all the time, and he wouldn't even answer Zhang Yanfang's calls. He must have been terrified, thinking that the girl's death was his own fault, but he never knew until his death that he was just a tool I used!"

"You killed him!" Ningxia's voice rose, her eyes filled with anger as she stared at the cold-blooded beast before her.

"I didn't kill him! Because he had no idea I existed, and I also found it strange that he died of a heart attack shortly after returning from a trip to Black Town!"

Ningxia remained silent, her eyes still fixed on Lin Qian with intense indignation: "Zhang Yanfang wasn't drowning either?"

"He was too greedy, which led to the accident!" Lin Qian said casually.

"How many people do you want to kill before you're satisfied?" Ningxia asked coldly.

"As long as no one bothers Xiaowei and me anymore, it's fine!"

"But Su Yun and Chen Ying are innocent!"

Lin Qian suddenly looked at Ningxia with a pitying gaze: "You're wrong again! Although Su Yun committed suicide, the ultimate reason was your instigation; and the girl who was hit by the car died because of you! So, the person who killed them wasn't me, it was you!"

"What? What did you say? I instigated Su Yun to commit suicide?" Ningxia suddenly found it both funny and absurd, wondering what kind of logic was going through this woman's mind.

"However, I really didn't expect that you and Ning Kang were actually siblings! You two don't look alike at all!" Lin Qian coldly scrutinized her, trying her best to suppress it, but Ning Xia noticed a hint of panic flashing in her eyes from time to time.

"It's so similar! Your eyes! Your demeanor! You're exactly like that woman from seventeen years ago!" Lin Qian suddenly shook her head. "Could you be her...?"

"What are you talking about?" Ningxia's train of thought was interrupted by Lin Qian's ramblings; she was thinking about another question.

"What I didn't expect was Xiaowei's feelings for you! He's been by my side for so many years, and it's hard for anyone to move him, but as soon as you came, you disrupted his normal life, and he's getting more and more deeply involved! He even stopped me from hurting you several times! Humph! In the end, he was still killed by you!" Lin Qian became increasingly angry, her expression becoming agitated. Her eyes shone with a ferocious light as she approached Ningxia. However, when Lin Qian reached Ningxia and looked at her terrified face, she suddenly stopped.

"You! You're her! You're that person! What are you doing here? What are you doing here?" Lin Qian suddenly screamed, staring at Ning Xia's face, her words becoming incoherent. "What do you want with me? I didn't kill you! I didn't kill you!"

Ningxia was both shocked and frightened, not understanding what Lin Qian was saying. She hurriedly reached for her phone in her back pocket, hoping Fang Jian could hear everything happening here on the phone and come over in time. But where was she? Seeing Lin Qian's expression suddenly change drastically, she couldn't guarantee that she wouldn't be harmed, but she couldn't think of any plan. She was so anxious that tears streamed down her face.

"Help!" Before Ningxia could even cry out, her throat was blocked, and she felt a wave of suffocation. All she could see was Lin Qian's distorted, crazed face. Golden lights flashed before her eyes, her vision throbbed with pain, and her ears rang. She felt her strength waning, and her vision gradually darkened...

"Ningxia." A gentle voice sounded in her ear. She opened her eyes groggily, and a soft white light filled her vision. Where was she? Heaven?

"Ningxia! You're awake!" The gentle voice beside me exclaimed, sounding somewhat familiar.

Looking up, sitting next to him was Fang Jian, whose face was covered in stubble!

"I'm not dead?" Ningxia suddenly remembered Lin Qian's crazed and distorted ugly face and asked in surprise.

Fang Jian quickly adjusted the pillow behind Ningxia's head: "Of course you're not dead! Otherwise, why would you be lying in the hospital!"

What about Lin Qian?

"She's dead!"

"What?" Ningxia recalled the scene just now and heard this ending, which seemed unbelievable. If no one had arrived in time, she should have been the one who died!

"Did you arrive before she almost strangled me to death?" Ningxia asked, taking a sip of the water Fang Jian handed her.

"What? She's going to strangle you?" Fang Jian asked in shock.

"Didn't you see? When did you arrive? Where were we at the time?" Ningxia asked again.

"Actually, she hid you in a storage room inside the clubhouse. I overheard your phone call and went to great lengths to find you. I heard you screaming for help, but I couldn't find you anywhere. After more than ten minutes, we finally found a row of storage rooms near the horse farm. When we went in, you had already fainted from fright, and Lin Qian was dead too!"

"You only found that room more than ten minutes after you heard me scream for help?" Ningxia asked in surprise. It was a miracle that she could endure suffocation for more than ten minutes, but what about Lin Qian?

How did Lin Qian die?

"Died of a sudden heart attack!" Fang Jian seemed unprepared for the complex events involved. "According to the forensic doctor, she died suddenly of a heart attack triggered by extreme fear. At the time of her death, her pupils were dilated to their limit. Even the forensic doctor was horrified by her appearance. She looked like she had seen the most terrifying thing in the world; her mouth was wide open, her face was distorted with terror, and her whole body was stiff like a zombie! Ugh! I can't even talk about it anymore, the more I think about it, the more frightened I get! In short, the way she died was too horrifying; I couldn't bear to look at her a second time!"

Ningxia was so shocked by Fang Jian's words that she couldn't speak. What exactly did Lin Qian see?

"By the way! Did you see anything?" Fang Jian asked cautiously.

"I don't know! Lin Qian choked me and I passed out. When I woke up, I was lying here!" Ningxia shook her head.

"Thank goodness I didn't see it!" Fang Jian breathed a sigh of relief.

"How is Lin Wei?" Ningxia suddenly thought of someone else.

Fang Jian's expression turned extremely grim: "He...was stabbed in a vital spot and has lost too much blood..."

Before Fang Jian could finish speaking, Ningxia already knew the outcome. A heart-wrenching pain immediately spread throughout her body from the deepest part of her heart, and an uncontrollable stream of tears gushed from the corners of her eyes. Ningxia hugged her legs and burst into tears.

Fang Jian glanced at the heartbroken Ningxia, gently closed the door, and left.

"Brother-in-law! When did you arrive? Why aren't you going in?" Fang Jian was somewhat surprised to see Wu Linshan with a deep frown outside the ward.

Hearing the sobbing coming from the room, Wu Linshan placed several sheets of paper in Fang Jian's hands and sighed heavily, "Take a look!"

After reading the documents, Fang Jian stared at Wu Linshan in utter disbelief: "How could this be? This is impossible!"

"I find it hard to believe too! But this perfectly explains why Lin Qian's gallbladder ruptured and she died of shock when she strangled Ning Xia. In fact, many years ago, Liu Fang also died tragically in front of Lin Qian! More than ten years have passed, and suddenly a face so similar to Liu Fang appears, it's no wonder Lin Qian was terrified! Anyone in that situation, seeing a similar face, would definitely think that the dead person was haunting them! Naturally, they would be terrified!"

Fang Jian said quietly, "But how am I supposed to bring it up and tell her that her biological mother is Liu Fang, who died many years ago?"

"I also find it hard to accept, but it's the truth. You think about when would be a good time to tell her!"

"Normally, we should hand these things over to the person in question. Since you're her best friend, fine, you handle it! Whether you give it to her or not is up to you!" Wu Linshan put the documents back into Fang Jian's hands and turned to leave.

Fang Jian looked at the seemingly ordinary documents in his hand, and his expression became complicated.

"Alright! Your brother's matter is all settled. When are you going back to work?" Fang Jian flipped through the calendar in the room and asked Ningxia, who had been silent by the window. Ningxia had been discharged from the hospital a week ago, and Fang Jian had been rushing over to take care of her almost every day after work. Ningxia's spirits were slowly recovering.

"I quit my job!" Ningxia answered softly, her eyes still staring blankly at the sycamore tree outside the window.

Fang Jian was stunned for a moment, then remained silent.

"There's something else I don't understand!" Ningxia suddenly turned around. "Why can't the police find Su Yun's diary, the box, and that rare book that her brother took away?"

"My brother-in-law and the others sent people to look for him! But it's really hard to say where your brother went before he died. China is so big, how can we find him?" Fang Jian explained, but his eyes flickered.

"There must be a secret about Lin Qian among those items! What exactly did she see that night?" Ningxia said as she sat down on the sofa, her brows furrowed and her face full of doubt.

"Don't think about it so much! It's all in the past!" Fang Jian comforted him.

"No! This isn't over yet. There are too many strange things going on here. Even I can't explain where those things came from!" Ningxia pointed to the large cardboard box she had placed under the coffee table. Inside were the strange red dress that she and Fang Jian had found that day, along with those odd receipts.

Fang Jian remained silent for a long time. Even when he first saw these things, he actually suspected Ning Xia, but Lin Qian's appearance later cleared Ning Xia of suspicion.

"What are your plans for the future?" Fang Jian was still somewhat worried about Ningxia's mental state.

I need to go to the 'Qilin Pavilion'!

"What are you going to that godforsaken place for again?" Fang Jian exclaimed.

"I'm looking for those things. Since my brother was ultimately murdered in the 'Qilin Pavilion,' it's possible those items are inside!"

Fang Jian was somewhat annoyed. He paced back and forth in the living room, then suddenly said, "Forget it! You can have it! Those things are all with me!"

"You..." Ningxia stared at him silently, stunned.

"After my brother-in-law found those things at Lin Qian's place, he asked me to give them to you. But I was worried about your condition and afraid that you might be traumatized, so I wanted to wait until you recovered before giving them to you. Since you are in such a hurry to get those things, I will go home and get them for you now!" Fang Jian's expression was also not good. Without waiting for Ning Xia's reaction, he left immediately.

When I woke up, he had already left a note saying he was going back to Shanghai. I was a little frustrated. What was the point of his trip to "Youlanzhai"? Did he find that haunted house last night?

June 30, 2006, cloudy:

I received a call from him yesterday, saying his flight to the city was arriving tonight and he had some unexpected good news for me. After dinner, I dressed up nicely and went to the airport to pick him up; I wanted to surprise him too.

I waited at the airport for over an hour, only to find his flight was delayed and wouldn't arrive until after 11 p.m. I checked the time; I still had over two hours to go. Feeling a bit bored, I sat down at the bookstore counter and casually browsed the latest books to pass the time.

Suddenly, I saw a red figure outside the waiting area's glass window. It looked a lot like Xia, but the red figure flashed by and disappeared into the crowd; I didn't get a clear look. I thought I must be too nervous and had mistaken someone else for someone else—Xia never wears red clothes.

But a little while later, I saw her again in a corner of the waiting area. It really was Xia. I was so surprised. I almost didn't recognize her. She was wearing a very simple and elegant bright red dress, and a beautiful bracelet on her wrist. She looked very outstanding, but I felt something very strange about her.

"Yes, that's me! May I ask who you are?" I was a little surprised.

"I...I am...Xia's sister-in-law!" The voice that had been hesitant for a long time finally gave an answer, which surprised me greatly. Didn't he say that his wife was mentally ill? Why did it not sound like that?

I felt extremely abrupt, and a sudden panic gripped my heart—the kind of panic one feels when someone catches you doing something wrong!

I stammered, "Y-you...hello!"

"I'm not good!" The voice suddenly turned icy.