Chapter 34: Tell Me, Who’s The Murderer?

Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

The interrogation had begun.

However, for a very long time, there was no sound in the interrogation room.

The statement that Huang He was holding was empty. The name of the person being interrogated was not even filled up.

Yes, Tian Xiaoya did not resist throughout the process, but she did not speak either.

She was very smart. Not saying anything would be the best outcome for her.

That “resurrection of the dead” blockbuster show that starred Quan Shaoteng as the male lead, besides proving medically that “Mrs. Zhao” could stand up, and the need to ascertain her true identity, they had no evidence of her committing a murder.

“Tian Xiaoya, Xiao Cheng has fessed up. Why are you still so stubborn?”

Huang He started to get impatient as he tapped the pen against the table. “Don’t take our politeness as kindness!” he shouted in a low tone. “Understand the situation you’re in, tell us the truth, and we’ll go lenient on you!”

Tian Xiaoya remained silent; she did not even bat an eyelid.

To put it nicely, she had strong willpower.

To say it bluntly, it was a typical case of “a dead pig does not fear boiling hot water”.

In any case, she was already sitting here, and whether to come clean or not, there wouldn’t be much difference.

“Tian Xiaoya! I’ll give you another minute to consider!”

Huang He got infuriated, banged on the table, and stood up while pointing at her. “Your unwillingness to cooperate with the police won’t benefit you!”

As everyone knew, torture was not allowed. But if the police had no other means, how would they be able to pry the truth out from a criminal’s mouth?

Nobody responded to the sound of banging except Xiang Wan, whose heart jumped at that instant.

That day, she was also sitting at that same seat, being interrogated. Maybe because Tian Xiaoya was once her ardent reader, and she had communicated with her online for a long period of time, that she had a different perception and even felt sympathy toward her.

Sigh!

She sighed very faintly.

It was a very soft sigh.

Yet Bai Muchuan heard it and turned around all of a sudden. “Teacher Xiang!”

What motive did he have by addressing her so formally?

Xiang Wan squinted her eyes defensively when she looked at Bai Muchuan, whose corners of the mouth turned upward.

“Giving you a chance.”

“?”

“To have a good chat with your reader.”

“…”

This is a whole new experience!

Imagine, inside the interrogation room of the Criminal Investigation Unit, the author communicating with her reader.

Xiang Wan was at a loss if she should laugh or cry. However, from Detective Bai’s stiff face that looked really solemn, there was not a trace that suggested he was joking.

After pondering for a while, she came over to sit beside Bai Muchuan. There was a distance of at least 10 centimeters apart, where she could sense his chilly aura. This was the first time that she had a chance to formally communicate with Tian Xiaoya in real life, after knowing and communicating with her via the internet.

“Er Niu…”

Maybe it was because of the sound of “Er Niu” that felt familiar, Tian Xiaoya finally showed some reaction.

She raised her eyes slightly and looked at Xiang Wan, her lips pursed tightly.

“If I persuade you to give yourself up, it seems kinda cruel. But facing me is your only redemption.”

Tian Xiaoya’s tightly pressed lips made her chin look rigid.

She did not answer, but Xiang Wan knew that she had heard it clearly.

“You know that I’m not a detective. I’m sitting here because I’m a little bit related to the case… Of course, you can still think of me as your friend. Although I do not know what your motive was during your two encounters with me, I guess that you must have something to tell me, right?”

There was still no response.

However, a layer of moisture was forming in Tian Xiaoya’s eyes.

When someone was miserable and sad, they might not cry. But when they meet their close ones or those who cared about them, they would show what they were actually feeling in front of them.

Xiang Wan’s words had come from her heart—what she said were sincere as they were all her true feelings.

“You have to know that the police are already suspecting you, and they will surely have a way to prove your actual identity. Even if your parents are not your biological parents, that a DNA test would have been useless here, don’t forget that the real Mrs. Zhao’s parents are her biological parents. How is it possible to hide the fact that you’re pretending to be her?”

The words “not your biological parents” brought about a strong and putrid flavor of a scar that pierced straight into the softest spot of Tian Xiaoya’s heart.

The layer of moisture turned into anger that she bellowed out in agitation.

“So what if I’m not the real Mrs. Zhao? I didn’t kill anyone!”

Finally, she spoke.

Psychologically speaking, when a person was willing to open their mouth, there would be an opportunity to communicate with them.

Xiang Wan eased up. “Even if you didn’t kill anyone, you still need to tell the police the truth, right? By refusing to say anything, aren’t you indirectly admitting the crime?”

Tian Xiaoya’s lips quivered, her body seemed to become limp, and both of her hands rested feebly on the chair.

“What truth? I have nothing to say. Whatever you wanted to know, you can investigate by yourself.”

She’s really stubborn!

Xiang Wan took a glance at Bai Muchuan who had been silent all the time and knew that she could continue to talk to Er Niu.

“Why don’t you start with how you killed Mrs. Zhao and took over her identity?”

“…I didn’t kill her.” Tian Xiaoya’s dehydrated lips seemed to almost crack, her voice hoarse and agitated. “She’s the one who wanted to kill me! She tried to kill me right from the start! As for taking over her identity… hah!”

She suddenly gave a mocking laugh and wore a twisted expression when looking at Xiang Wan. Next, she suddenly stretched out her hands and stood up. Her legs couldn’t stop trembling.

“Do you know why you can’t get a fingerprint out of this hand of mine? Do you know why my legs have turned into such a state that I almost could not stand up?

“Did you think I’m faking it? Did you really think I’m willing to make myself look like this?”

It’s not her?

A scary thought welled up inside Xiang Wan’s mind.

In no time, she got the confirmation from Tian Xiaoya.

“Perfect example of an exemplary husband? Loving his wife wholeheartedly? They’re all fake, all fake! The moment his wife threatened his self-interests, he made his choice without any hesitation…”

She stopped abruptly.

The interrogation room was silent for a moment.

Tian Xiaoya’s expression had slowly turned from an agitated complexion to that of a woeful sneer.

“That woman is so foolish! She only saw the man’s bitter remorse and thought that when her man kneeled down before her, crying his heart out and begging her, that would be repentance. As a result, even in death, she never knew that she died in the hands of the man whom she thought had repented…”

“I pity her. Her level of intelligence is pathetic, but I’m really glad that she died. For I finally don’t have to worry about my life being in danger…”

“She said that I snatched her man and slept with him. She told me that she will slice me up knife by knife, then gouge out my heart to see what color it is. Heheh, a woman who has not slept with her man for six years, when she saw another woman having a baby with her husband, that look on her face… it’s really crazy, totally raving mad. If she could stand up from her wheelchair, I think she would have killed me…

“And, I don’t have to do anything. I was pregnant with her man’s baby, and that’s enough.”

After saying so much, Tian Xiaoya’s already hoarse voice worsened.

The gaze that was staring at Xiang Wan was undoubtedly a smiling one, yet there seemed to be hatred that came from the depths of her soul.

“You’ve written so many love stories. Tell me, what will men choose at this time?”

Xiang Wan was unable to answer.

For a question that she already knew the answer, there was no need to answer.

“How much that woman hates me equates to how much he hates that woman. He killed her, he pushed her into the incinerator with his own hands where she turned into a pile of ashes… Then, he picked up the ashes, bought a beautiful urn where he embedded my photo, and buried it in my hometown!”

She laughed!

She laughed so hysterically that the corners of her mouth trembled.

“Xiang Gongzi, how do you like this story? Is it more entertaining than your novel?”

Xiang Wan opened her mouth, her scalp felt numb.

“You… how did you become like this?”

“What else? A woman with a mind that only thinks about love, who would come to a good end?” Tian Xiaoya laughed with her hoarse voice, and that laughter was somewhat chilling. “How can it be possible for Tian Xiaoya to live like Mrs. Zhao?”

She laughed again!

“He’s really a genius. It was no wonder that he could do so well in his business. No one would have thought of that, right? He killed his wife, created another disabled wife, and continued to shower her with love and concern, taking care of her when she fell sick, as if… as if nothing had ever happened.”

Someone gave a gasp but no one knew who it was.

Xiang Wan’s breathing somewhat tightened. She looked at Tian Xiaoya’s smile which was uglier than her crying face.

“I was carrying his child, yet I had to suffer all this pain and torture… Tell me, do you think I’ll let him have it easy?”

Is she finally getting to the point?

Xiang Wan pricked up her ears. Tian Xiaoya suddenly leaned over, a flash of mysterious splendor glistening in her eyes.

“I killed him… I killed him! But the police… won’t be able to do anything to me.”

“?” What does she mean?

Thump! Thump! Xiang Wan’s heart beat faster.

Both of them looked at each other, the cells on her body were almost frozen by Tian Xiaoya’s hair-raising gaze.

That made Tian Xiaoya laugh in her hoarse voice, “I killed him. He was a baby boy around six months old! He can move, can kick my tummy, and he seems to know everything except calling me mommy. Maybe he knew that I wanted to kill him. That night, he tossed in my stomach until day break when he finally stopped moving… he died, he finally died…”

Inside the interrogation room, not a sound was heard.

Xiang Wan was affected by her story. She felt helpless and was grieving inside.

As Tian Xiaoya said that, she narrowed her eyes to take a good look at Xiang Wan.

“I remember what you wrote in your book: On the day when Er Niu met him, the whole city was filled with warmth where the sunlight took away the melancholiness. She was like a flower in the dust where the sun made it shine with the most beautiful colors… In just one look, he selfishly forgot about the whole world, his family and his wife, wishing only eternal happiness for her…

“Xiang Gongzi, I believed you. But in the end—you lied to me.

“There’s no eternal happiness. There’s only deception, betrayal, and sins.

“There isn’t any beautiful love in the world. All things seem beautiful because… they have not yet faced the moment it gets broken into pieces.

“Xiang Gongzi, here in the dust, flowers do not grow from it.

“Zhao Jiahang was wrong, the young fella who sells fish was never a good match for the daughter of the rich and influential. Even if he married her, the inferiority complex deep inside his bones would make him suffer a fate worse than death. I’m also in the wrong, the woman who sells tea was never a match for the CEO of a public listed company. Even if she managed to be his lover, it was just malicious exploitation to his advantage.”

The long account of her story stung Xiang Wan’s heart.

She felt like she had finished reading a novel with a bad ending, taking quite a while to recover.

“So Mr. Zhao—who killed him?”

“I didn’t kill him!” Tian Xiaoya laughed again, as if she heard something interesting. “I told him about the modification of the SUV based on your novel. He wanted to use it to kill his wife. In the end, the killer device did not work. After the attempt failed two times, he gave up. Later on, for safety’s sake, he told me to tell Wang Tongsheng to remove that invisible fault. Probably because the device was useless, he did not take it to heart.”

“…”

“Of course, I didn’t tell Wang Tongsheng. It’s just that I’ve forgotten to say it!”

“…”

The truth was cruel, realistic, and upsetting.

The interrogation process was dull and uninteresting, and there was none of the excitement that Quan Shaoteng wanted.

It was just a love story that was so bitter and powerless to describe.

An ordinary yet extraordinary story.

At the end of the whole story, Tian Xiaoya asked a serious and puzzling question.

“So tell me, who’s the murderer?”

…

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