Chapter 152
Chapter 152
Qiao Yu clicked his tongue. “What did the poor weeds ever do to deserve that? Why call them worthless? And stop saying things that don’t matter. Keep going! If you still don’t get to the point, I’m confiscating your hanging rope.”
Cheng Dai hurriedly hugged the bloodstained rope in her arms. Cutting straight to the point, she said, “Shen Shi summoned the Chopstick Spirit to kill Bai Panpan.”
“What?!”
The revelation fell like a stone into a placid lake. Shi Xingguang cried out in disbelief, “Impossible! You’re lying!”
“Whether she’s lying or not, no one was talking to you. Shut up.” Qiao Yu was already desperate to learn the truth, and people kept interrupting. It was infuriating.
Shi Xingguang had not witnessed Qiao Yu destroy the ghost and was about to argue again when Luo Yunmeng jabbed him in the side. “Listen first. Save your questions for the end, unless you want the director of the Security Bureau to take you downtown for a cup of tea.”
Shi Xingguang glanced at Shang Yan, who was watching him coldly, and reluctantly closed his mouth.
Cheng Dai sighed. “Those who deserve pity often have hateful sides too. Shen Shi grew up in an orphanage with no one to protect her. On the surface, she seemed pitiful when Ding Ying targeted and bullied her, but I couldn’t bring myself to sympathize with her. She had a vicious mind. She was the one who egged Ding Ying on against Bai Panpan.”
Shi Xingguang tried to hold his tongue, but ultimately failed. Unable to bear hearing his girlfriend slandered, he summoned his courage and defended her. “Impossible. Shen Shi is so innocent. Ding Ying bullied her horribly-how could she possibly hurt someone else? Besides, she had no reason to do any of that!”
Cheng Dai pointed through the air at Xi Qiu. “How did she have no reason? Wasn’t the fact that she liked Xi Qiu reason enough?”
Shi Xingguang’s eyes widened. He turned to Xi Qiu for confirmation, and when he saw the apology on the other boy’s face, he asked, “You knew?”
Qiao Yu interjected, “Of course he knew. Your girlfriend confessed to him today.”
After dropping that bombshell, he ignored the romantic mess between them and looked back at Cheng Dai. “After Shen Shi schemed to break them up, she realized Xi Qiu still loved Bai Panpan, so she invited the Chopstick Spirit to kill Bai Panpan out of jealousy?”
“Exactly!”
That cleared up Bai Panpan’s death. “Then who killed An Yaoqing?”
Cheng Dai looked at Shi Xingguang with pity. “Shen Shi asked the Chopstick Spirit to kill her too.”
After speaking, a strange look crossed Cheng Dai’s face. Qiao Yu frowned. “What doesn’t make sense to you?”
Cheng Dai slowly hummed in acknowledgment. “An Yaoqing didn’t like Xi Qiu. I saw her secretly roll her eyes at him several times.”
Seeing Xi Qiu’s baffled expression, Qiao Yu’s interest was piqued.
This was getting fascinating. These kids’ love lives were far, far too eventful!
Qiao Yu could only admit defeat.
Compared with them, what he and Shang Yan had back then was practically pure love.
“My guess is…” Cheng Dai’s gaze lost focus as she sank into her memories. “An Yaoqing was kind of a tsundere. She didn’t actually hate her older sister, Bai Panpan, as the rumors claimed. On the contrary, Bai Panpan was very cold toward her younger stepsister.
“Whatever Bai Panpan liked, An Yaoqing always showed great interest in. I once saw them arguing. Bai Panpan said, ‘You have Mom, and all I have is Xi Qiu. Why do you have to take him from me too? Do you have to steal everything I own before you’ll be satisfied to see me with nothing?’
“After Bai Panpan ran away crying, An Yaoqing seemed to cry too. She called Xi Qiu a scumbag and said Bai Panpan couldn’t recognize good intentions when she saw them.”
Qiao Yu blinked and ventured a guess. “Could An Yaoqing have dated Xi Qiu to investigate her sister’s death? And maybe she kept taking an interest in everything her sister liked… because she wanted her sister’s attention? She was a tsundere, after all.”
Shang Yan took out his phone and checked the time, then stretched. “It’s getting late. I’ll go bring Shen Shi here.”
Qiao Yu nodded and continued questioning Cheng Dai. “Did Shen Shi kill Ding Ying too? As far as I know, Ding Ying never dated Xi Qiu. Why would Shen Shi kill her?”
Cheng Dai shook her head. “I don’t know. That girl is sinister. I’ve followed her for a long time, and she seems to have some psychological issues…”
Qiao Yu paused, then lowered his gaze. “That’s normal.”
A child without parents to protect her had to obtain everything she wanted by herself.
She could steal it, snatch it, trick someone out of it… There were plenty of ways.
She wanted Xi Qiu. If she couldn’t have his heart, she would settle for possessing him instead.
“Why is Shen Shi so obsessed with you?”
That was what Qiao Yu found strange. He had grown up in much the same place as Shen Shi, so he understood something of how her mind worked.
The only thing he could not understand was… Surely Shen Shi had not fallen for Xi Qiu simply because he was handsome?
There had to be another reason.
Xi Qiu pressed his lips together, his voice strained. “I don’t know either.”
While their discussion continued in full swing, Shang Yan returned with a young girl.
Panic showed on her face. The moment she saw Xi Qiu and Shi Xingguang, the first name she called was Xi Qiu’s.
Shi Xingguang’s lips trembled, disappointment flashing across his face.
Xi Qiu looked at Shen Shi, his expression ugly. “You killed them!”
Shen Shi’s eyes widened, faint tears welling in them. “…What?”
Qiao Yu dearly wished he could drag Chi Shang over and show him what “immersive acting” actually looked like.
Goddammit. He would remember that disastrous performance of *The Legend of the White Snake* for the rest of his life!
“Stop pretending. You were the one who killed them.”
As Xi Qiu looked away, Luo Yunmeng, ever eager to stir up excitement, swept her fingers across Shen Shi’s eyes.
The next second, a female ghost with a long tongue hanging from her mouth appeared before Shen Shi, sticking it out at her and going, “Bleh, bleh, bleh.”
Shen Shi recoiled in fright and murmured with a bloodless face, “The Chopstick Spirit…”
Cheng Dai rolled her eyes. “Chopstick Spirit, my ass.”
Realizing she had let the truth slip, Shen Shi hurriedly covered her mouth, but it was already too late.
Kong Xianya briskly pulled out her handcuffs and secured Shen Shi’s wrists before the girl could struggle free.
Qiao Yu stretched. “Now that we’ve caught you… I have two questions.”
He looked at Shen Shi in puzzlement. “Strictly speaking, Ding Ying never managed to win Xi Qiu over. Why did you kill her?”
Defiance filled Shen Shi’s eyes. She pressed her lips together and refused to speak.
Qiao Yu asked again, “Why did you fall for Xi Qiu?”
Shen Shi glanced in Xi Qiu’s direction. When she saw the disgust on his face and how he refused to look at her, pain spread across her features. As though she had resolved to risk everything, she said softly, “Xi Qiu saved me. When Ding Ying bullied me at the start of the school year, he saved me. That was the first time… the first time anyone had ever stood up for me when I was being bullied…”
Qiao Yu turned to Xi Qiu. “Is that true?”
Xi Qiu froze. It took him a long moment to remember the incident, and then he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “I think you’ve misunderstood. I was pursuing Bai Panpan at the time. She saw you being bullied and pitied you, so she asked me to help.”
The expression on Shen Shi’s face went rigid. “It… It was Bai Panpan who helped me?”
“That’s right. I wasn’t your benefactor.” Xi Qiu hated her to the bone. None of this would have happened if not for Shen Shi.
Shen Shi pursed her lips. She said nothing more to Xi Qiu, instead looking at Qiao Yu. Her voice was utterly flat. “I killed Ding Ying because she discovered that I’d summoned the Chopstick Spirit.”
Everything was finally clear. Kong Xianya gripped Shen Shi by the arm, preparing to take her back. Just as the group was about to leave the school grounds, hurried footsteps suddenly approached from behind.
Shi Xingguang ran over, panting heavily, and demanded loudly, “Shen Shi, why did you date me?”
Shen Shi stopped walking, her expression still cold. “For Xi Qiu… I’m so ordinary that if I hadn’t dated you, he wouldn’t even have known who I was.”
“Was there never even a moment when you liked me?”
Shen Shi lowered her eyes. “Go back. I’m not worth it…”
He wasn’t worth it either.