Qiu Minmin.

Li Zhuiyuan gently rotated the soymilk bottle in his hand.

“Crawled up from hell to claim your life?”

This line was, in fact, an explicit hint.

If this passage were to be taken in isolation, from the perspective of a normal person, it would seem difficult to understand:

Why did Shi Yuqing, knowing that the old professor had killed someone, still insist on being with him and force him to divorce his wife and marry her?

However, if the perspective were to shift, and more examples were provided:

Throughout history, both in China and abroad, cases of men conspiring with mistresses to kill wives, and women conspiring with lovers to kill husbands, are abundant—so numerous that even novels, dramas, and films struggle to portray them all.

Suddenly, what was once incomprehensible became perfectly normal.

Li Zhuiyuan lowered his head and silently took a sip of soymilk through the straw.

At that moment, he felt an even greater necessity for writing his book. After every surge, he needed to record real-life examples for summation. The effect would surely be much better than his unilateral preaching.

Next, the old professor demonstrated to Li Zhuiyuan the spiritual artistry of an old man.

He used a strategy of retreating to advance, first helping the woman vent her dissatisfaction;

Then, on that basis, he brought up all the beautiful moments they had shared in the past, such as their spiritual resonance;

This was followed by envisioning their future;

Finally, he mentioned their current real-life predicament, hoping the woman would grant him a little more time.

He had merely gone in a circle, returning to the initial problem without solving anything or fulfilling any desires, yet the woman nestled into the old man’s arms, beginning to sob and choke, followed by a period of intimate whispering and mutual endearment.

The two were about to leave.

To avoid drawing attention, the old professor left first, and Shi Yuqing departed a moment later.

Since the door to Li Zhuiyuan’s private room was open, both passed by the entrance when they left.

The old professor was truly old, a retired man, with visible age spots on his neck and face.

Shi Yuqing, however, was not old; she appeared to be in her early thirties and exuded an intellectual beauty.

Li Zhuiyuan noticed a faint glint of malice in the corner of the old professor’s eye as he passed the doorway.

“Since I’ve killed once, killing again isn’t out of the question.”

“Back then, Qiu Minmin was just as insatiable, constantly making demands, which is why I sent her to her death.”

In contrast, a soft glow of emotional satisfaction emanated from Shi Yuqing’s eyes; she seemed quite pleased.

“Xiaoyuan Ge, should we follow them?”

Although Tan Wenbin hadn’t heard what was discussed in the next room, he could tell from the young man’s previous expression that these two individuals were important.

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head.

He said, “Binbin Ge, call the police.”

Tan Yunlong sat at his desk, smoking heavily, the ashtray overflowing with cigarette butts.

Wang Chaonan readily confessed to the murder of Tang Qiuying. The reason was that years ago, while trimming the flower beds, Wang Chaonan accidentally soiled a quilt Tang Qiuying had hung out to dry.

Then, the two had an argument.

This should have been a common, brief dispute in everyday life. Not only did the police not get involved, but even the campus security office wasn’t dispatched. It was resolved simply by the nearby dormitory supervisor’s aunt mediating, telling them both to “say a few less words.”

No one took it seriously at all. Later, when Tang Qiuying went missing, and the police and school investigated her social circle, no one even thought of this incident.

It was like walking down the street and having mud splashed on your shoes by a passing cyclist, and you yell, “Are you crazy?!”

But Tang Qiuying, unfortunately, cursed, “May you be cut off from descendants.”

It was later confirmed that Tang Qiuying and Wang Chaonan had no prior interaction, so Tang Qiuying had no idea that this campus gardener, then in his thirties, had no children.

She might have just blurted out that particular curse word that happened to pop into her mind when she was angry. If she had used a different word at the time, even a more vicious or lengthier one, it wouldn’t have mattered.

But this particular phrase stuck in Wang Chaonan’s mind.

He began to observe Tang Qiuying’s movements, and four months after the argument, while trees were being planted along the shaded path, he seized an opportunity when Tang Qiuying was alone, murdered her, and buried her body in a tree pit.

This type of perpetrator is the most perplexing for the police, falling into a category that defies conventional investigation.

No matter how meticulously you screen, you cannot pinpoint them, yet they are the ones who committed the crime.

The biggest problem now is that Wang Chaonan refuses to talk about Beibei’s matter.

He is driven by an immense obsession, willing to be executed for murder rather than give up his belief that he has a son.

He might even hope to be executed quickly, believing that as long as the child doesn’t find his birth parents, he will remain his son.

Wang Chaonan’s wife has the same attitude. If Wang Chaonan’s problem is extreme paranoia, then his wife genuinely suffers from mental health issues.

“Tan Ge, the comrades from that area have replied. Take a look.”

“So many?”

Parents of abducted children file reports with their local police stations. After being notified, these stations cross-reference the information and then inform parents whose conditions match.

Despair is painful, but even more painful is being repeatedly given hope in despair, only to have it shattered.

Many parents, upon hearing news, travel repeatedly to check, only to find it’s not their child, and simultaneously witness other parents joyfully reuniting with their children.

Rationally, one should be happy for the parents who found their children, but emotionally, it’s like a knife twisting in their own hearts.

Xiao Zhou: “Mainly, boys in this age group are prime targets for traffickers, and many children are named ‘Baobao’ or ‘Beibei’ nowadays.”

“Isn’t there a birthmark?”

“The birthmark is a bit small.”

Tan Yunlong sighed.

“Tan Ge, you don’t need to sigh. The scope is narrowed this time; we should be able to find the child’s parents. Perhaps his biological parents are already on their way.”

“Xiao Zhou, you’re not married yet, are you?”

“Not yet.”

“You’ll understand once you’re married and have your own child.”

“Yes, yes, yes, I understand what you mean, Tan Ge. But, Tan Ge, it’s your treat, isn’t it?”

“Hmm?”

“A case from so many years ago, and you actually solved it and rescued an abducted child. That’s a huge merit. Aren’t you going to splurge a little?”

“All of us are waiting to learn from you at the dinner table. By the way, how did you know there was a body buried under that tree?”

“My son studies at that university.”

“We all know that.”

“One day I went to the school to see him, and we were walking behind the dormitory building. I noticed that tree was the thickest and tallest, so I became suspicious.”

“That’s it?”

“What else? It’s not like I can summon Tang Qiuying’s ghost to lead me to her body, can I?”

“Hahaha, Tan Ge, you’re always joking.”

“But seriously, amazing. Your insight, I admire it.”

Tan Yunlong cleared his throat twice, reached for the teacup on the table, and took a sip.

Just then, someone nearby called out, “Tan Ge, your phone.”

Tan Yunlong stood up from his seat and answered the phone:

“Hello, this is Tan Yunlong.”

“Hello, this is Tan Wenbin.”

“Spit it out.”

“How dare you! What’s your attitude?”

“You punk, believe it or not, I’ll come to your school right now and find you.”

“Come on, come and hit me, come on.”

Tan Yunlong took a deep breath.

He used to introspect, feeling that after every interaction with Xiaoyuan, he would look at his own son with disproportionate dissatisfaction.

He thought it was his paternal mindset being unbalanced, but now he understood that one doesn’t always need to find problems within oneself.

“Dad, the real killer of Qiu Minmin has been found.”

Late at night, police cars once again entered the campus, and the arrest operation proceeded smoothly.

Tan Yunlong leaned against the car door, watching his colleagues take the old professor, Chen Deliang, into the police car.

On the other end, Shi Yuqing had already been apprehended and was now undergoing interrogation.

From the walkie-talkie, he learned that the woman’s psychological defenses were weak; she was already confessing, trying her best to distance herself, claiming she was merely an eyewitness, not an accomplice.

A case from seven years ago, coupled with the recent collective disappearance of individuals related to the case, had greatly increased the difficulty of solving it. Unexpectedly, a breakthrough had now emerged.

On the way back, the young police officers in the car looked at Tan Yunlong with unconcealed admiration.

Xiao Zhou asked the same question again:

“Tan Ge, where did you get this clue from this time?”

Tan Yunlong didn’t want to answer the question, but he had to, as certain information needed to be included in the case file.

“My son studies at this school.”

The other officers in the car listened intently, only Xiao Zhou found the opening slightly familiar.

“There’s an Old Sichuan restaurant by the school’s north gate; I even took you guys there to eat. One night, I came to school to see my son and went up to a private room on the second floor to eat with him. The two suspects were in the next room, and I heard them shouting loudly.”

“Then I conducted some discreet investigations myself and found additional corroborating clues. That’s when I decided to make the arrests.”

In fact, there was a loophole in Tan Yunlong’s narrative, as Shi Yuqing and the old professor might not frequent Old Sichuan, or tonight could have been their first time. This loophole would be discovered upon closer scrutiny.

But he didn’t want to directly say his son heard it, as the subsequent procedural steps would be a bit troublesome, and Xiaoyuan disliked trouble.

Furthermore, as long as the evidence was substantial and confirmed the suspects’ guilt, how the clue was specifically “triggered” became less important.

Sometimes, to protect whistleblowers, police intentionally obscure such tips.

For example, in a criminal case, the victim’s family dreamed at night where their loved one was buried; the police excavated the spot and indeed found the body, eventually tracing the evidence to the real culprit from the same village.

This clearly indicated that someone had witnessed the killer burying the body but wished to remain anonymous while reporting it.

Other officers in the car marveled at Tan Yunlong’s luck, but only Xiao Zhou remarked:

“Tan Ge, your son really brings you good fortune.”

“Ah, so comfortable.”

Tan Wenbin stretched on the bed. After being possessed by a ghost yesterday, he had eaten well and slept soundly, feeling completely reanimated.

“Oh, Xiaoyuan Ge, why are you here?”

Tan Wenbin rubbed his eyes. Usually, at this time, Yuanzi Ge would be with A-Li at Liu Yumei’s place.

“Binbin Ge, haven’t you checked the time?”

Tan Wenbin turned his head to the clock; it was eleven in the morning. Their plan yesterday was to leave for Tong’an Town to find the acrobatics troupe at twelve today.

“Damn it!”

Tan Wenbin immediately got out of bed, grabbed a basin to wash up, and when he returned, intending to pack, he found that the young man had already packed his belongings.

“Um, Xiaoyuan Ge, why didn’t you wake me?”

“There’s still plenty of time; it’s fine if you sleep a little longer.”

Tan Wenbin leaned against the desk and saw a set of talisman needles laid out on the surface.

The young man had bound dispelling talismans, cleansing talismans, and sealing talismans onto needles with red thread.

“Xiaoyuan Ge, are these for firing?” Tan Wenbin asked, demonstrating a throwing motion with a needle.

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head: “These are for Lin Shuyou. Based on my understanding of spirit possession from the ‘Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva Sutra,’ I came up with a simple and crude amplification method.”

“A-You will be very touched.”

Tan Wenbin knew that this set of needles was something Xiaoyuan Ge had simply made this morning. In reality, Xiaoyuan Ge had already designed a series of rich and exciting things for Lin Shuyou.

After this incident, Lin Shuyou’s understanding of the Official General will undoubtedly increase significantly.

This would give him the confidence to challenge his master and grandfather for their position when he returned.

Of course,

This was assuming he wasn’t played to death or rendered useless by Yuanzi Ge.

“It’s about time. Let’s go.”

“The Dragon King departs!”

Tan Wenbin shouldered his hiking pack and followed Li Zhuiyuan out of the dormitory.

As they passed Lu Yi’s doorway, Tan Wenbin deliberately chanted:

“Even against a thousand men, I will go!”

Then, the two stopped at the staircase landing.

A moment later, Lu Yi’s dorm door opened, and Lin Shuyou, carrying his backpack, cautiously walked out.

Hearing his movement, Li Zhuiyuan and Tan Wenbin continued down the stairs.

The two walked ahead, with Lin Shuyou following behind, believing himself to be unnoticed.

At the school gate, Li Zhuiyuan and Tan Wenbin stood separately to hail taxis, a common method to increase the success rate of getting a cab.

Then, Li Zhuiyuan’s side hailed one first. He didn’t rush to get in but negotiated the price with the driver.

Once Tan Wenbin had also stopped a cab, Li Zhuiyuan got into his car. Tan Wenbin immediately abandoned the taxi he had hailed and ran to the front car to sit with Li Zhuiyuan.

The driver who had been stood up was about to curse when the back door opened, and Lin Shuyou got in:

“Driver, quick, follow the taxi in front.”

Tomorrow was the day of the human trafficking transaction, but considering the acrobatics troupe needed to set up their venue and do promotions in advance, they likely would have arrived today.

In a normal exam, entering the exam hall early holds no significance… but what if the exam papers were already laid out on the desk?

Li Zhuiyuan had read the case file on “Grandma Yu,” but it was as if he hadn’t read it at all.

This was because the police had only gathered information on Grandma Yu’s offshoots, perhaps those who had learned from her or were once part of the gang and later went solo.

The clay statue was well-made, but it was truly just a mascot.

Such people are really strange, believing in ghosts and deities yet committing heinous acts that anger both humans and gods.

Tan Wenbin turned his head and saw Xiaoyuan Ge holding a hardcover notebook, drawing on it.

He could clearly see two lines originating from a single endpoint.

The endpoint was labeled “Self.”

One line extended from the “Self” endpoint, sequentially listing: “dormitory,” “high heel sounds,” “Lu Yi possession,” “suppressing the female ghost,” “Ran Qiuping’s letter”… then stretching all the way to “Beibei,” and finally “Grandma Yu.”

The second line also extended from the “Self” endpoint, sequentially listing: “discount store,” “Sun Hongxia,” “Runsheng’s attack,” “faceless dead,” “Ran Qiuping’s letter”… then stretching all the way to “Chen Deliang” and “Shi Yuqing.”

Chen Deliang and Shi Yuqing were parallel branches at this point.

The two lines had a brief intersection in the middle: “Ran Qiuping’s letter.”

Tan Wenbin, recalling Xiaoyuan Ge’s approach when explaining problems to him, asked, “Xiaoyuan Ge, is this a timeline, or… a causality line?”

“Yes, I’m trying to figure out the question setter’s mindset.”

Since confirming his “river walk” had begun, Li Zhuiyuan had focused on these two lines, wanting to resolve them as soon as possible.

Currently, both lines were resolved.

The Tang Qiuying (high heels) line ultimately led to Grandma Yu.

But the Qiu Minmin line ended here.

“Xiaoyuan Ge, besides both involving ‘Ran Qiuping’s letter,’ is there any other connection between them?”

“You don’t have to look forward; try working backward.”

“Huh?”

“I think the lines are interconnected.”

“Oh?”

“Binbin Ge, do you think everything is constant? That what has happened has necessarily happened?”

“Xiaoyuan Ge, what else could it be?”

“From a macro, omniscient perspective, that’s correct. But from our individual perspective, from our viewpoint, can those past events that are unknown to us truly not be changed?”

“Theoretically, until the black cloth is removed the second before, the sculptor can still modify their work.”

“Xiaoyuan Ge, do you mean we’ve all been guided by some unseen force?”

“We’re being pushed by the river current. When she was pushed towards me, relative to her, I was being pushed towards her.”

“It’s just that in the actual process, whoever can grasp this line first will always maintain the initiative in this wave and the next.”

“Like us now.”

“You see, if the Tang Qiuying line were traced backward from Grandma Yu, could it also lead to us?”

“Wang Chaonan was originally supposed to take that villager of his to the acrobatics troupe to buy a child tomorrow.”

“So, if we hadn’t traced this line forward to find Grandma Yu beforehand, then Grandma Yu would have traced this line to find us? We would have been the passive party.”

“Yes, it’s just…”

Li Zhuiyuan’s pen drew two circles around the small branches of Chen Deliang and Shi Yuqing.

“…it’s just, why can’t the Qiu Minmin line connect?”

“Liangliang, come, come chase Daddy! If you catch Daddy, Daddy will buy you a toy car!”

“I’m coming, Daddy, Daddy wait for me, I’m coming!”

A father and son were chasing and playing in an open field.

During their chase, they came to a shed that was being set up.

Various performance props were being unloaded from several trucks.

“Daddy, I caught you! I want a toy car, hehe.”

The man lowered his head, patted his son’s head, and asked, “Liangliang, how much does the toy car you want cost?”

“I don’t know, Daddy. I’ll like any price Daddy buys for me, hehe.”

“Our Liangliang is so good. Daddy will ask how much they sell for, okay?”

“Okay, Daddy.”

The man looked up at the two women walking towards him from the shed.

One woman was young and beautiful, with a graceful figure, while the old woman she was supporting was hunched, with a long face and noticeable sagging skin around her mouth.

The man asked them, “Name your price. How much can you sell for?”

As he asked this question, deep resentment flickered in the man’s eyes.

“Heh, Shi Yuqing, you never expected this, did you? I’ll sell your and his bastard child!”

Continuous bursts have left me a bit drained. My eyes are blurring, and my mind is growing sluggish. I’ll write less tonight; I need to rest and recover.

Mainly, everyone’s monthly votes have been too generous. It feels rude not to write more… Don’t panic, hold me tight, everyone!