I See Murders Before They Happen

Chapter 171: Chapter 169: Her Name Isn’t Zhu Xuan

Su Miaoyi pulled Zhuang Yanzheng into the conference room.

Zhuang Yanzheng stumbled back two steps from her pull before steadying himself.

He looked at her. ”You really have endless energy.”

He said this while flexing his wrist.

Su Miaoyi casually shut the conference room door.

”What’s wrong?”

Su Miaoyi opened her mouth, then paced in a small circle, gathering her thoughts before speaking. ”Zhu Xuan isn’t named Zhu Xuan. Her name is He Qiu.”

”How do you know? Did you see something?” Zhuang Yanzheng’s expression grew serious.

”No, it’s that I’ve met her before.” Su Miaoyi frowned, her temples throbbing again. ”I met her when I was a child, at the Sunshine Welfare Institute.”

Zhuang Yanzheng was surprised. ”She’s from the Sunshine Welfare Institute?”

Su Miaoyi rubbed her temples. She could remember so little.

Besides He Qiu, there was someone else.

There was another person.

A boy, it seemed.

But the boy was too blurry. Even his voice was indistinct; she could only tell it was a male.

Su Miaoyi nodded. ”The mole on the bridge of her nose... I remember it. I remember it very clearly. At the Sunshine Welfare Institute, the director said she was very smart and outstanding, so she acted as the representative for the girls to greet the people who came to donate.”

Listening to her words, Zhuang Yanzheng’s eyes flickered slightly as he watched her.

Su Miaoyi took two steps back and leaned against the conference table.

”Sister He Qiu, here’s the candy I brought for you.”

”Sister He Qiu, what’s this?”

”Sister He Qiu, I’ll come see you with my uncle next time. You have to wait for me.”

”Uncle, where’s Sister He Qiu?”

”She was adopted. She’s not at the welfare institute anymore.”

A flood of voices suddenly rushed into her head.

Su Miaoyi pressed her temples.

’This isn’t Su Miaoyi’s memory.’

’It’s her memory. Her own memory.’

”Not feeling well?” Zhuang Yanzheng asked.

”Headache,” Su Miaoyi said, bowing her head and pressing her temples. ”When I saw her, she looked about eight or nine years old. Her appearance has changed, but I can still recognize her as He Qiu. Besides, she froze for a moment when she saw me this morning. She might have recognized me, too.”

”Are you sure?” Zhuang Yanzheng looked at her and asked, ”Didn’t you say before that the only thing you remember from before you were five was seeing Qin Leyan, and that you didn’t remember anything else?”

Su Miaoyi was still trying to confirm if the He Qiu in her memory was the Zhu Xuan of today. After a moment, she processed the latter part of his question.

She lifted her gaze to look at him.

’I feel like there’s a hidden meaning in his words.’

She had previously said that she was at the Sunshine Welfare Institute before she was five and remembered seeing Qin Leyan and her family come to donate money and supplies.

’That was Su Miaoyi’s memory.’

’What I remembered today was my own memory.’

Su Miaoyi shook her head. ’This feeling of not having my own memories, of having to guess my own identity, is really awful.’

It made her feel that everything around her was familiar, yet utterly strange.

It was as if she were facing a very familiar place, but there was a barrier in the way that she couldn’t cross.

Zhuang Yanzheng met her gaze for a moment, then lowered his eyes. ”What I mean is, can you be certain that He Qiu is Zhu Xuan?”

Without this explanation, Su Miaoyi might have thought she was overthinking it.

But with this explanation...

’He definitely has a hidden agenda.’

”I think so,” Su Miaoyi said. ”We’ll know if we go ask her.”

Zhuang Yanzheng nodded and took out his phone. ”I’ll have Shen Yanzhou pick you up. Go to the hospital or go home and sleep.”

Su Miaoyi grabbed his phone. ”Interrogate her first. We can talk after that’s done.”

”Can you manage with that headache?” Zhuang Yanzheng frowned.

”It’s fine.” Su Miaoyi let go of his phone.

Zhuang Yanzheng said no more and walked out, heading for the interrogation room.

Su Miaoyi followed behind him, thinking.

’Why did he want Shen Yanzhou to pick me up?’

’He really did have a hidden meaning in his words just now.’

’He knows.’

’He’s trying to trick me into telling him something!’

Su Miaoyi glared at his back.

’Then again...’

’It’s only normal that he’d figure it out.’

’Too bad for him, he can’t trick it out of me.’

’Because I’m someone with no memories of my own, only Su Miaoyi’s.’

Zhuang Yanzheng felt a chill run down his spine and suddenly turned to look.

Just in time to see Su Miaoyi’s vicious glare.

Zhuang Yanzheng froze.

Su Miaoyi quickly wiped the expression from her face.

”Are you trying to assassinate me?” Zhuang Yanzheng frowned.

”I, I... This is me showing my respect for you,” Su Miaoyi said.

Zhuang Yanzheng kept walking, listening to her spout nonsense.

”For people our age, this is how we look at someone we respect,” Su Miaoyi said.

Zhuang Yanzheng snorted.

”Really. I may not say it out loud, but I admire and respect you from the bottom of my heart.” Su Miaoyi followed him. ”You’re not just our captain, you’re someone I look up to, my role model!”

”Mm,” Zhuang Yanzheng replied. ”In that case, write a three-thousand-word essay praising me and put it on my desk tomorrow.”

Su Miaoyi’s mouth twitched.

”If I don’t see it tomorrow morning, I’ll want six thousand words the day after,” Zhuang Yanzheng said.

”Then I think I’ll find a new role model,” Su Miaoyi muttered.

Zhuang Yanzheng snorted again, walked to the interrogation room door, and pushed it open.

Su Miaoyi went to the observation room and put on the headphones.

Zhuang Yanzheng sat down.

Zhu Xuan looked at him. ”Are you the only person at the Municipal Bureau? I thought someone else would come.”

Zhuang Yanzheng ignored her question and said directly, ”He Qiu. Your real age.”

Zhu Xuan’s pupils contracted sharply. Her lips moved slightly as she stared at him.

Su Miaoyi watched from the other room.

’Confirmed.’

’It’s He Qiu.’

”I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Zhu Xuan said. ”Did you just go out to interrogate someone else and get our names mixed up?”

Zhuang Yanzheng said, ”Our Municipal Bureau has a very skilled sketch artist. They can draw portraits of you at different ages based on a childhood photo. We’ll know if you’re He Qiu with a single comparison.”

”A childhood photo?” Zhu Xuan asked. ”I don’t have any childhood photos. Stop trying to trick me.”

”You’re so sure we can’t find a childhood photo of you. It seems you know that the Sunshine Welfare Institute’s records were destroyed.” Zhuang Yanzheng watched her.

Zhu Xuan fell silent, not expecting him to corner her like that.

”Even without a photo, we have someone who saw you as a child,” Zhuang Yanzheng said. ”Sketching a portrait from a description is a basic skill for them. It’s just as easy to age up that childhood sketch to see what you look like now.”

Zhu Xuan remained silent.

Zhuang Yanzheng didn’t say anything more either.

After a long moment, Zhu Xuan spoke. ”The girl who caught me... is her name Lele?”

Zhuang Yanzheng didn’t speak.

’When she was little, everyone called Qin Leyan ’Lele’.’

’When Qin Leyan introduced herself, she would often say her name was Lele, rarely using her full name.’

’But... Zhu Xuan’s reaction doesn’t seem like someone who knows that Qin Leyan died two years ago.’

’Lu Jing and Huang Haoxu were both orphans from the Sunshine Welfare Institute. They both work for that man and both know about Qin Leyan’s sacrifice.’

’Zhu Xuan doesn’t seem to know.’

’Could my guess be wrong? Is Zhu Xuan not part of their group?’

...