HBWnovel Chapter 30
Chapter 30
Chapter 30
Lu WeiGuo decided to find out the killer and avenge his daughter.
However, he was neither an experienced retired detective nor had any criminal investigation knowledge. He was just a primary school graduate who could barely recognize a few words and worked as a janitor.
He wanted to find out about his daughter, but the new employees did not even know Lu Xue. The old employees would not mention someone who had left more than a year ago either.
There was no door to ask for help and nowhere to search.
"I asked around that for cases like my daughter missing for so long, even going to the police would be difficult. I don't believe them. I'd rather look for her myself," Lu WeiGuo told her, "Seeing her here, the one who killed my daughter might come out."
It sounded reasonable.
However, Jian Jing intuitively felt he was not telling the truth.
It was an extremely subtle intuition, as if a strand of spider silk stuck to the back of her neck, light as a feather without any weight, yet her skin could capture that unusualness.
"Do you have any suspects?" She pretended not to know and continued to ask.
Lu WeiGuo said, "Yes."
The person he suspected the most was the store manager. The reasons were easy to understand: "They all said my daughter had something going on with him, and he got married..." Speaking to this point, the look on the father's face became obscure, "Maybe it was because of me and her mom..."
Jian Jing couldn't help but frown.
She understood Lu WeiGuo's thoughts: Lu Xue was not well educated. Although she only graduated from high school, her promotion speed was unbelievable. Plus other people's gossip, it was unavoidable that the old man would be suspicious.
However, one should not forget where other people's discontent towards Lu Xue came from.
She took credit for things, loved to show off, and was overly enthusiastic... To some extent, these negative evaluations washed away the scandalous suspicions between the two.
"Who told you they had a relationship?" Jian Jing probed.
Lu WeiGuo looked up with confused eyes: "Everyone says so."
"Uncle, believing rumors is dangerous. It may not necessarily be true." Jian Jing cautiously said, "I still have to go elsewhere to investigate - do you have anything else you haven't told me?"
She quickly pulled back and stared at Lu WeiGuo.
The old man seemed to panic for a moment, then calmed down: "What do you want to know?"
Jian Jing stared at him for a long time, then said, "I'll ask you if there is anything."
"Oh, okay." Lu WeiGuo lowered his head and unconsciously scrubbed the floor tiles repeatedly with his mop.
*
Jian Jing went to the 3rd floor cafe and ordered a caramel macchiato and onion rings for herself.
The cashier asked while making coffee, "Teacher Jian, have you found any clues?"
"No clues. After all, it's been a long time." Jian Jing leaned against the counter casually and glanced around the empty cafe, "It doesn't seem too crowded."
"There will be more people during lunch time," the cashier said, "Our place is quite popular online too. Many people come to check-in on weekends."
Jian Jing smiled, "The coffee smells great. There must be employees who come to drink it often right? Any discounts?" She deliberately spoke more to obscure her intention, "Is there a discount for employees?"
"Employees get 20% off. But the only one who comes every day is Manager Sun." The cashier blinked.
Jian Jing touched her face and smiled at her.
"Here is your caramel macchiato and onion rings." The cashier handed over the tray and lowered her voice, "Actually, our coffee here isn't that good. The quality-to-price ratio is not as good as Starbucks."
Her phone alarm went off, it was 10 o'clock.
"I have to go. Manager Sun can think slowly," she said. "Making mistakes is not scary. Admitting and correcting them in time, there are always second chances. But if you stubbornly try to cover up mistakes, you will only head towards destruction."
The blood drained from Manager Sun's face, but she still clung to false hopes and remained silent.
Jian Jing sighed lightly and said no more. The case had been deduced to this point, she had done all she could. If Manager Sun was not beyond salvation, she would surely make the right choice.
No one could escape the cost of crime.
Did she really not regret it every time she looked at the flower bed?
[Task completed, system settlement in progress]
*
Why do so many people want to be celebrities?
Perhaps because of moments like this.
When Jian Jing hurried into the reading room, she was startled by the scene.
In the not-so-spacious room, passionate readers were squeezed together. Their eyes were enthusiastic and adoring, with joyful and passionate smiles on their faces. Some held flowers, some brought cakes. The moment she arrived, they erupted into loud, delightful screams.
The enthusiasm of the fans was hotter than the summer heatwaves. The air conditioner was set to 23°C, yet the indoor temperature was at least twenty-seven or twenty-eight degrees.
Sweat beaded on her back, filled with the euphoria of being the center of attention, and the nervousness of being watched by the crowd.
Jian Jing took a deep breath and quickly activated her "composure" state to calm herself down.
She slowly walked to the center of the stage and bowed deeply: "Thank you everyone for coming to my signing event."
"Ahhh, Teacher Jian Jing!"
"Jing Jing teacher, love you so much!!"
"Hope Demon Doctor sells well!!"
The fans responded with passionate shouts.
According to the procedure, Jian Jing had a short speech before the signing event.
Kangmu City said they could share their creative experiences or thank editors and readers for their support, but they must never mention anything about suicide. If anyone asked, they had to say the incident back then was a misunderstanding, and not explain anything further.
Likewise, they had never heard of the novelist Wu's veiled allusions, they didn't know anything about that, just keep smiling.
"The more you say, the more mistakes you make. The less you say, the fewer mistakes," he cautioned them. "Don't underestimate the interpretive skills of journalists."
However, while they had anticipated some provocation, they hadn't expected the content.
Suicide was old news from months ago, how could that compare to freshly baked hot news?
"Teacher Jian," a reporter stood up, "I think there's something else that requires your explanation more than words of thanks."
She raised her eyebrows: "Please go ahead."
"According to insiders at the bookstore, two hours ago there was a corpse here." The reporter dropped a bombshell, smiling as he rapid-fired more questions. "Teacher Jian, is this true?"
Without waiting for Jian Jing to answer, he continued his machine-gun questioning: "If so, who was the deceased? Why did you conceal this news? What was your relationship with the deceased?"
Silence filled the venue.