The Fake Heiress's Guide to Self-Rescue - Chapter 19
Chapter 19: The Unconscious Cousin [VIP]
I wonder what’s going on in the villa now.
Jiang Qianqian’s heart sank when she thought of Zhao Wen’s mental state and the uncertainty surrounding Li Sheng’s life. She immediately ran back to the villa.
Jiang Jing was still standing where she was, her gaze quietly fixed on Zhang Man. The woman, bathed in the morning light, stretched, lightly brushed the dust from her body, and stood up unhurriedly.
“You’re leaving?” Jiang Jing frowned, staring at her movements, afraid that she would flee.
“Yes,” Zhang Man nodded and walked toward the front door. “I plan to turn myself in.”
“My sister is gone, and I have no reason to keep running,” she said, raising her scarred fingers and lightly tying her hair into a ponytail. She didn’t want to go see the police in such a sorry state. “I’ll just go down the mountain and turn myself in.”
“No need,” Jiang Jing said, pulling out her phone and lightly shaking it. “I already called the police ten minutes ago. If you go down the mountain now, you might run into them on the way.”
Seeing that Zhang Man was still determined to leave, Jiang Jing shrugged helplessly. “Okay, if you want to clear your head, I won’t stop you.” With that, she walked over and patted Zhang Man’s shoulder, then turned and walked toward the villa.
At the same time—
“Are you all okay?” Jiang Qianqian pushed open the villa door, and the sight in front of her made her heart sink.
Zhao Wen’s face was pale, and his body was so thin that he looked like a withered shell. When he saw someone come in, he shook his head vigorously and trembled as he moved back. “No, don’t come over!”
Scattered on the ground were the glass shards left behind when they had broken the windows to escape. The sharp fragments gleamed coldly in the sunlight. Zhao Wen’s palms were already bloody and mangled from the broken glass, but he seemed to feel no pain. He just kept shrinking back as if he were avoiding some unseen horror.
“Li Sheng is dead.” Li Weizhao and Song Zhe came down from the second floor, their faces visibly exhausted. Last night, they were already worn out just from finding Li Sheng’s body in the thick fog and controlling the crazed Zhao Wen.
Last night, the two had just met up in the thick fog when they heard a loud bang from the first floor. They decided to go up and investigate. As soon as they got to the stairs, they heard Zhao Wen screaming, “Don’t kill me!” They followed the sound to Zhang Man’s room. As soon as the door was opened, Zhao Wen rushed out like a madman. When they shone their flashlights into the room, they saw Li Sheng lying on the ground. The wound on his neck was so deep that the bone was visible, and bl00d had soaked the carpet underneath.
“By the time we got there to check, Li Sheng had already stopped breathing.”
Li Sheng’s expression when he died was extremely horrifying—his eyes were wide with rage, the corners of his mouth were cracked, and his tongue had been cut off and was nowhere to be found. Bl00d was splattered on the white sheets and walls, coagulating into large, dark brown stains. Just thinking about the scene of Li Sheng’s body made Li Weizhao shiver.
“His death is quite ironic,” a familiar voice said from behind them. Jiang Qianqian turned around and saw Jiang Jing close the door and walk slowly toward them. “But I guess he got what he deserved. Those who do evil will surely die.”
“You’re here,” Jiang Qianqian said. She looked behind her but didn’t see Zhang Man, so she frowned. “Where’s Zhang Man? Why did you let her stay by herself? What if she runs away?”
Jiang Qianqian was a little anxious and wanted to go out and find Zhang Man. As soon as she lifted her foot, Jiang Jing grabbed her wrist.
“I’ve already called the police,” Jiang Jing said calmly. “Leave catching the bad guys to the police. Daoists are only responsible for sending souls to the afterlife.”
“Besides,” Jiang Jing paused. “She has a knife. If you go there empty-handed, you’ll easily get hurt.”
Jiang Jing’s warm body temperature radiated from her wrist, and Jiang Qianqian felt her face flush. She lowered her head and muttered softly, “Okay, okay, I won’t go. I’ll just wait here for the police to arrive.”
“Um, what about the whole ‘doing evil gets punished’ thing you mentioned… what exactly happened?”
Lu Yige came down from upstairs. His face was still pale, clearly not having recovered from the fright of the night before. When he first saw the female ghost, he was so scared that he fainted. By the time Li Weizhao woke him up, the fog had already cleared.
Jiang Qianqian told everyone about Zhang Ran’s story. Everyone’s expressions were different, and a sense of regret filled their hearts.
Knock, knock, knock.
A sudden knock on the door broke the sad atmosphere in the villa. Jiang Jing was the first to snap out of it. She quickly walked to the door and opened it.
“Hello, we are police from J City. Who called us?” Two police officers had serious expressions on their faces and looked around the room sharply.
“I did.” Jiang Jing raised her hand, her voice calm. She led the police upstairs and carefully checked the scene of Li Sheng’s death.
The two police officers recorded the situation at the scene, finding that it was mostly consistent with Jiang Jing’s report. They then asked Jiang Jing and the others to go to the city police station to assist in the investigation and give their statements.
When Jiang Qianqian got into the car, she saw Zhang Man already sitting inside with handcuffs. When Zhang Man saw her get in, she even raised her hands and smiled wryly at her.
Jiang Qianqian felt a mix of emotions when she thought about how the Zhang sisters’ revenge had cost them their lives. She reluctantly nodded in response and got in the car.
The J City police meticulously cross-referenced their statements and found nothing out of the ordinary. Although the story of Li Sheng’s death was bizarre, only Zhang Man’s fingerprints were found on the bloody knife handle. Zhang Man also confessed to her actions, and the others were released from the police station a day later.
“Ugh, I’m so tired. I’m going to get some serious sleep when I get back,” Jiang Qianqian said, stretching. She had barely slept for the past two days at the police station, and there were dark circles under her eyes.
“Um, may I ask if you know the Daoist Master Luo Yuan?” Song Zhe remembered the purpose of his trip and quickly asked Jiang Jing, who was walking in front of them.
Hearing her shimu’s (master’s wife) name, Jiang Jing’s movements froze for a moment. Then she asked calmly, “Are you looking for Daoist Master Luo Yuan for something?”
“There are some things I’d like to discuss and ask the master about,” Song Zhe said, not revealing the real reason but giving a vague answer.
“Daoist Master Luo Yuan’s disciples, except for one senior sister who went down the mountain, are all cultivating in the Sanqing Temple. No one knows her whereabouts except for her inner-circle disciples and old friends.” Jiang Jing pointed to her face. “Do I look like a senior sister from a sect at this age?”
She really didn’t. Song Zhe knew Jiang Jing’s age. If he told any member of the Xuanmen sect that Daoist Master Luo Yuan’s senior disciple was a nineteen-year-old girl, they probably wouldn’t believe it. That age was a bit too young.
Jiang Jing: Because I’m not the senior sister, I’m the junior sister.
Knowing that the lead was dead again, Song Zhe still didn’t give up and continued to ask, “Then who gave you this talisman? Could you tell me?”
Is there no end to this? Do you have to get a clear answer today?
Jiang Jing “tsk”ed and pulled Jiang Qianqian, who was watching the show, over. “My mom and dad gave me this talisman after they heard I was going to see her.”
Seeing that Jiang Jing was using her as a shield, Jiang Qianqian quickly nodded in cooperation. “Yes, my mom got it from some master. If you want to know, I can ask her later.”
Seeing that he couldn’t get any more information, Li Weizhao quickly came over to mediate. “It’s getting late, so we’ll be going now. See you all later!” With that, he pulled Song Zhe away quickly, afraid that he would keep pestering them.
“Hehe, see you…” Jiang Qianqian laughed awkwardly. When the two of them were far away, she quickly pulled her clothes out of Jiang Jing’s hand.
“You,” she said, straightening the wrinkles in her clothes and sighing helplessly. “You always pull me out to be your shield. If you don’t give me a heads-up next time, I won’t help you.”
Jiang Jing immediately put on a pitiful expression and put her hands together in a pleading gesture. “Yes, yes, yes, I’ll never forget your great kindness.”
Jiang Qianqian and Jiang Jing returned to H City. Jiang Yuying had already heard that Jiang Qianqian had encountered a murderer while filming the show. When she saw the two girls, her tears couldn’t stop falling.
“Oh, Mom, I’m fine. Don’t worry,” Jiang Qianqian said, struggling to get out of her mother’s embrace. She turned in a circle to show her that she was truly okay.
Jiang Jing was still being tightly hugged by Jiang Yuying. Seeing that she was still worried, she hesitated for a moment and lightly reached out to hug her back.
“In any case,” Jiang Yuying said, wiping her tears and giving an order to the two of them, “You two are not allowed to go out alone this holiday. Your mom has to go with you.”
“Okay, okay, we’ll take you with us everywhere we go,” Jiang Qianqian said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry at this “order.” Seeing Jiang Yuying glare at her, she quickly agreed.
The variety show they were filming was suspended indefinitely after a series of accidents.
“But Liu Jin said the director already destroyed all the recordings, so how were they leaked?” Jiang Jing frowned as she scrolled through Weibo. On the hot search list, the hashtag #Li Chuan and Investor’s Illegal Transactions was at the top. The top ten trending topics were almost all occupied by exposés of unspoken rules in the entertainment industry.
“You believe him when he said he destroyed them?” Jiang Qianqian said, holding a glass of lemonade and sitting leisurely on the other end of the sofa. “Someone always keeps these things to sell for a good price.”
Jiang Jing suddenly looked up at her and remembered what Jiang Qianqian had said when they were confronting Zhang Man.
“Could it be you…”
“Shh—” Jiang Qianqian put a finger to her lips. “I’m just keeping my promise.”
“Okay, okay, I’ll tell the kids to go see Xiao Jin tomorrow.”
Jiang Yuying hung up the phone and came downstairs. She looked at the two girls and said with a troubled expression, “Xiao Jin went home after the show. He told your Aunt Liu that he was too tired and not to disturb him.”
“But,” Jiang Yuying said, her face full of worry. “He didn’t come out of his room for a day and a night. When your Aunt Liu went in to check on him, she found that he had been unconscious for a long time.”
“Aunt Liu has already taken him to the hospital for a check-up. The doctor said he fainted from being over-stressed and scared. When the doctor couldn’t do anything, they went to a master to check on Xiao Jin’s situation. The master said he ran into something very powerful, which is why he’s like this.”
Very powerful? Jiang Jing’s eyes narrowed. This definitely wasn’t Zhang Ran. After all, Zhang Ran’s soul had already been scattered, so it was impossible for her to do anything to Liu Jin.
“Aunt Liu said to go over tomorrow and tell the master exactly what you saw so that the master knows how to save him.” Jiang Yuying told them what Aunt Liu wanted, hoping they would go to the Liu family’s house tomorrow to see what was going on.
“We’ll go tomorrow.” Jiang Qianqian and Jiang Jing looked at each other, both seeing the confusion in the other’s eyes. If it wasn’t Zhang Ran, who else could Liu Jin have run into to cause him to be unconscious?