(1) Body Parts

Cheng Li began to frequently visit Lu Qian about six months ago.

He claimed that he had changed, promised not to do any more harm, and was fully committed to living a life with Lu Qian.

He also said that no man would want to marry a woman who had been defiled and had a child. Raising a child alone was hard, so it would be better to just settle with him.

When Lu Qian’s father found out, he was furious. If Cheng Li hadn’t been avoiding him, he would have gone after him.

Lu Qian rejected him, but Cheng Li kept trying to win her over. All the baby items were sent for Yingying.

One week, he brought a bag of money, claiming it was compensation for the child.

Lu Qian said it was a total of 100,000 yuan.

“I made it clear that I refused him. I’d rather die than have anything to do with him, do you understand? But I couldn’t change jobs, and I didn’t want to drag my parents into this. I threw away everything he gave me. It’s that simple. Why are you asking so many questions? Has someone reported it?”

Cui Luo said, “Cheng Li was murdered.”

Lu Qian furrowed her brow, then immediately said, “Heaven has eyes, thank the killer for me.”

Shen Wanwan asked, “Lu Qian, you said Cheng Li kept bothering you. How did you plan to deal with it?”

“I… I don’t know,” Lu Qian lowered her head, and in her helpless gaze, there was a trace of sadness. “I don’t know what to do. I don’t want anything else in this life. I just want to raise Yingying. Do you understand?!”

According to Lu Qian, she hadn’t heard about Cheng Li’s death. She was only relieved because he hadn’t come to find her in recent days.

Shen Wanwan left her contact information and also took a photo of Lu Qian’s ID, then returned to the team with Cui Luo.

They reported their findings to Tao Jiang.

“Lu Qian has a strong motive to kill. Cheng Li assaulted her years ago, and now he’s bothering her for the child. I believe a mother would do anything for her child.”

Zou Guodong asked, “Didn’t you say she didn’t have a mole on her face?”

“Moles can be drawn on, it’s not like people get that close to your face to check.”

“Still, you women are capable, you even draw it on.”

Shen Wanwan took out Lu Qian’s photo. “I asked for her photo, it’s in color. We can use it for Yang Chunling’s identification. How is Yang Chunling doing?”

Tao Jiang replied, “Not optimistic. The doctor said it’s organophosphorus pesticide poisoning.”

“How did she get poisoned?”

Shen Wanwan said, “This kind of pesticide can enter the body through undamaged skin, respiratory, or digestive systems. I suspect Yan Bing had a hand in it.”

Tao Jiang asked, “You two have been following them all day, did they come into contact?”

Cui Luo denied, “They never met.”

“Since they never met, how could the poisoning happen?”

Shen Wanwan remembered the phone call Yang Chunling had made that night. She raised her hand, “I have a theory, but I don’t have much evidence…”

Zou Guodong teased, “Is it another intuition?”

Shen Wanwan smiled awkwardly.

Tao Jiang said, “If you have an idea, just say it.”

“Could it be related to the clothes? Yang Chunling deliberately chose this set of sportswear because she had discussed it with Yan Bing. She hid in a public restroom, and Yan Bing wore the same clothes to draw our attention. Then, she changed into another set of clothes and slipped away. The clothes she changed into must have been prepared by Yan Bing in advance. Could there be something strange with the clothes?”

Tao Jiang said, “The doctor did ask about the origin of the clothes. However, I only smelled a strange fragrance. Now that I think about it, that scent is indeed odd. I’ll inform the hospital about it.”

Tao Jiang’s voice was calm, without any sign of anger.

Zou Guodong and the others muttered to themselves. This Captain Tao was too nice to Shen Wanwan. Why weren’t they complaining about women anymore?

“Yang Chunling is unconscious and cannot recognize any photos. Our work here cannot stop. We need to investigate all the women Cheng Li has harmed in the past. We must find Yan Bing,” Tao Jiang said.

Shen Wanwan always felt there was an easier way.

It was because Lu Qian had entered their sights that they thought of checking the women Cheng Li had harmed. But so far, the only thing they knew about Yan Bing was that she had bought Cheng Li, the murderer, to kill Qi Xia. In the end, the one who died was Cheng Liang.

It seemed there was still a story between these people.

Shen Wanwan didn’t finish work until almost ten o’clock.

She grabbed a quick meal at the canteen for dinner, but was still hungry. By this time, there was nothing left to buy.

The Shen family had already gone to bed, so Shen Wanwan dug out a pack of spicy instant noodles.

She found a tea container, poured hot water to cook the noodles.

While waiting for the noodles, Shen Zhuo climbed out of bed, staring at the noodles on the desk, swallowing his saliva. “Sis…”

Shen Wanwan said, “There’s another pack. If you want it, make it yourself.”

After saying that, she lifted the lid, and the aroma of the noodles wafted out.

The seasoning of the spicy instant noodles was a bit simple, but when Shen Wanwan mixed it all together, just smelling the noodles made her mouth water.

She hadn’t received her salary yet, and the food she’d been eating the past few days had been very plain.

Smelling the instant noodles, Shen Zhuo forgot the unpleasantness of the past few days and climbed down from the upper bunk. “Help me bring the noodles over.”

Shen Zhuo never did any work at home.

They say children in poor families mature early, but the Shen family spoiled their only son so much that Shen Zhuo never even washed his own clothes. He lived more comfortably than a young master.

He had never done something as simple as making instant noodles. He usually just tugged at his older sister’s sleeve, and she would prepare everything for him and bring it to him.

Shen Zhuo was used to bossing Shen Wanwan around. He brought a stool and sat down at the desk, casually trying to grab her chopsticks.

Shen Wanwan shot him a cold look and knocked his head. “If you want to eat, make it yourself.”

“Why are you being so stingy?” Shen Zhuo deliberately puffed his lips, “I’m your only younger brother. If you’re not nice to me, when your husband bullies you in the future, I won’t step in to help you.”

This was something Lin Yuying often said, that the siblings should support each other, and that when Shen Wanwan got married and was mistreated, her maternal family should back her up.

Shen Wanwan slammed her chopsticks onto the table with a “snap.” “Shen Zhuo, do you think you’re special or something?”

“What?”

“Look at you, you weakling, do you even weigh 120 pounds? Am I supposed to rely on you to help me in the future? First, try knocking me down! And stop talking about mutual support. We’ve known each other for almost twenty years. What have you ever done to help me? It’s always been me helping you! Are you here asking me for a loan or help?!”

Shen Zhuo was stunned, “…What’s a loan?”

Shen Wanwan didn’t want to explain. “You better listen up, I’m not your maid. I’m not interested in taking care of you, a little kid who hasn’t even grown all his hair yet. Do whatever you want, but don’t expect me to serve you! If you get in my way again, I’ll really hit you!”

After finishing, Shen Wanwan picked up her chopsticks again and started eating her noodles, taking large bites.

It tasted pretty good, as if the person who was just angry wasn’t her.

Shen Zhuo took a while to process what had just happened and finally realized that Shen Wanwan had been scolding him, and quite harshly too—she was saying he was useless.

Was he not good to his sister?!

Shen Zhuo realized he couldn’t come up with any examples of how he had been good to Shen Wanwan.

Angrily, he said, “Hey, I treat you like my real sister, what do you treat me as? Be careful, I…”

Shen Wanwan, still eating, glanced at him briefly and casually rubbed her neck.

Her neck…

Shen Zhuo touched his neck and fell silent.

It dawned on him—his sister had changed! She was no longer the sister she used to be!

Hadn’t he been good to Shen Wanwan? Of course he had!

When he was six, hadn’t he helped her fight?

—

The more Shen Zhuo thought about it, the less confident he felt.

He thought about going to Lin Yuying to complain, but then remembered he had done something similar before. Lin Yuying was really strange—she even defended Shen Wanwan and told him not to disturb his sister while she was working.

Did he want to disturb her?!

Shen Zhuo was unsatisfied with not retorting, and he needed to think of a way to put Shen Wanwan in her place!

As he saw Shen Wanwan finishing her soup, he gathered his resolve and said, “Shen Wanwan, if you keep this up, don’t blame me for not being polite!”

Shen Wanwan picked up her tea container and drank every last drop of soup.

Feeling full, Shen Wanwan had more strength. She pushed the tea container forward and looked up leisurely. “What do you want to do?”

Shen Zhuo bared his teeth and threatened, “You’re going to regret this, you really are, you’re going to wish you were never born!”

Shen Wanwan watched him like she was enjoying a show.

Shen Zhuo said, “If you keep this up, I’ll jump off a building, I’ll break my legs, I’ll make sure you don’t have a brother anymore!”

Shen Wanwan: “…”

She picked up the tea container and stood up. “I still need to wash it. What a hassle.”

Shen Zhuo: “…”

Wasn’t this punishment terrifying enough?!

Shen Wanwan cleaned the tea container and put it back in the cupboard. Shen Zhuo was still chasing after her, threatening, “I’ll jump off the building, I’ll hurt myself, and you won’t see me anymore. If you miss me, you’ll have to visit me on ^[1]Tomb Sweeping Day, also known as Qingming Festival (清明节), is a traditional Chinese holiday that takes place around April 4th or 5th each year. It’s a day when families: Visit the graves of … Continue readingTomb Sweeping Day, so think carefully.”

Shen Wanwan pushed him aside. “I’ll remember to bring you a chicken leg, maybe burn some extra paper so you can have instant noodles down there. Go ahead, jump off the building.”

Shen Zhuo: “…”

It was over. His sister had completely stopped caring about him.

Shen Zhuo followed behind Shen Wanwan in a dejected manner.

Seeing this, Shen Wanwan decided to also deal with the accommodation issue.

She pulled out his bedding and set up three chairs in the living room. “You’ll sleep here tonight, don’t go back to your room.”

Shen Zhuo: “…”

Not only did she not love her dear brother, she was also going to punish him!

“I’m not sleeping here, it’s so uncomfortable, I have to go to school tomorrow, I have to study. You can sleep if you want, but I’m telling Mom if you make me waste my time studying.”

Shen Wanwan was unfazed. “With your grades, how much more can you waste? I don’t believe the teacher will give you negative points.”

Shen Zhuo: “…”

Shen Wanwan added, “Just stay here for two days, and I promise you’ll get a new room right away. Now, sleep here. If you try to go back to your room, I’ll throw you out.”

After that, Shen Wanwan left Shen Zhuo, who was on the verge of tears, and went back to her room.

The old lady wouldn’t treat her grandson poorly, so accommodation was a problem for Shen Wanwan but not for Shen Zhuo.

If the grandson was uncomfortable, the Shen family would find a way to make him sleep comfortably.

Liu Cuixia’s room wasn’t small, so making space for another room wouldn’t be a problem.

Shen Wanwan returned to her room, closed the door, and finally had her own small space. She lay down on the bed, planning her future.

She hadn’t lived through the 1990s, and her understanding of the era was limited to textbooks. Since she had returned with the memories of the 21st century, she couldn’t continue living a poor life.

Shen Wanwan thought about ways to make money, and within two minutes, she fell asleep.

When she woke up again, she heard the sound of a bell.

One ring, two rings, three rings—it was 3:00 AM.

Shen Wanwan instinctively tried to look at her hand… but she couldn’t move it out?!!