Chapter 196: with translation of chapter title

The next day, everyone gathered in the ninth Hard Seat Carriage; the door ahead remained closed, and one had to pass this Hard Seat Carriage's trial to continue forward.

Su Mian handed her phone to Wei Xiaowei, who immediately thanked her, saying that if there was anything she could help with in the coming days, she would definitely do so.

In fact, Wei Xiaowei regretted it as soon as she rushed back to the sleeper berth; she had been too frightened then, so without thinking she passed the task to Su Mian.

But she never considered that if Su Mian didn't help her complete the task, she herself would die.

When she tried to open the door again, she just couldn't get it open.

She was so anxious she didn't sleep well all night, but when the task completion signal sounded this morning, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Su Mian is really great, she thought happily, completely unaware that Su Mian's task was also related to this.

Opening the album, there was a photo of a child ghost, its pupils pitch black, and indeed it was the little boy who had lost his toy train.

It looked too frightening; Wei Xiaowei merely glanced at it briefly before closing the interface.

As for that candid photo taken by the Dean, where is it?

Su Mian saw it as soon as she opened her phone this morning.

Some ghost had set it as her wallpaper, making everything dark from last night become concrete and real at this moment, and also dispelling any drowsiness Su Mian felt.

On that handsome face hung beads of sweat, his cheeks slightly flushed from exertion, as if he were enjoying it, his eyes slightly narrowed, his thin lips lightly pursed, lazy yet full of tension.

In the lower right corner of the photo, a hand presses on someone's abs, thumb digging in, reddening the side of the waist.

The pale palm formed a stark contrast with it; Su Mian recalled feeling a bit weak then, so it slid down, but a few strands of her hair still dangled on the man's shoulder.

……

Damn.

Her face flushed crimson; after washing her face several times in the Restroom to calm down, she fiercely changed the wallpaper to a lotus in water, and only then did she gradually settle into the state.

Hmm……peaceful mind and calm breath……uncontended with the world……contentment brings lasting joy……meet life with a smile.

"Eh? Where did Jiang Hong go?"

Last night he kept shouting that he was hungry, and when everyone gathered he had the loudest voice; now not hearing his voice is really unusual.

Everyone looked left and right, also finding it strange; Ye Shuheng shook his head, indicating he didn't know.

"I haven't seen him since this morning."

So they started searching from the tenth carriage backward; the sleeper berth rooms were empty, and Su Mian glanced at Jiang Hong's bunk—the Quilt had been thrown back.

Under the bed lay a pair of sneakers, the bedding already cold; just as she was about to retreat, a scream came from not far away.

"Jiang Hong! It's Jiang Hong!"

He was in the Dining Car; unfortunately, he was already dead, a knife plunged into his chest, lying straight on the floor with his mouth slightly open.

Wei Xiaowei, who discovered him first, covered her mouth and slowly stepped back, while the others furrowed their brows tightly.

"How could this be……Could the killer have already murdered someone?"

"How could the victim be a player?"

Everyone was puzzled, and Su Mian was even more so; although the victim was a player, the one who should have died ought to have been Wang Yan.

Could it be that Jiang Hong himself violated the train's rules, causing his death?

But at a glance the knife is clearly man-made, not some supernatural law.

Ye Shuheng pushed up his glasses and squatted down to look.

"The wound faces upward; the knife was inserted from behind."

"Right, he kept yelling he was hungry yesterday—could he have come out at midnight to look for food and then been……?"

Ruan Ruan looked at Ye Shuheng: "You and he shared a room; do you know when he went out?"

Ye Shuheng thought for a moment, then suddenly recalled something.

"I remember he turned on the light in the middle of the night, almost blinding my eyes, saying he wanted to go find something to eat; I ignored him and went back to sleep."

Su Mian: "Do you still remember what time it was?"

"Around……twelve to two, I think; I didn't check the time."

After discussing for a while, they returned to the ninth carriage and began to discuss the clues.

Su Mian walked at the rear, suddenly narrowed her eyes, and stared at Jiang Hong's feet for two seconds.

Ruan Ruan: "Why would the killer want to kill him? We've hardly even seen him, let alone know any murder motive."

Wang Yan: "We should ask Ye Shuheng; you're closest to him—do you know if he had any conflicts with anyone?"

Ye Shuheng's face showed difficulty; after a moment he nodded: "Back in his freshman year he secretly loved a girl named Zhou Keyu."

"Jiang Hong's family is quite wealthy; he kept throwing money at her to pursue her, and later heard she wanted to represent the school in a national speech competition, so he had his father forge a bunch of certificates for her."

He glanced, intentionally or not, at Zhou Yunfeng; as he spoke word by word, Zhou Yunfeng's complexion began to change.

"Only later did he realize his actions had been making a wedding dress for someone else; one day Jiang Hong tinkered with his computer and discovered that the certificates bore Zhou Yunfeng's name entirely, and the one who finally entered the competition and won the prize was also Zhou Yunfeng."

"He never won Zhou Keyu's affection, yet he ended up boosting her brother's prospects; he used this as leverage, forcing Zhou Yunfeng to take his makeup exams each semester, sign in for his classes, and so on—basically making the siblings work like oxen and horses so that his past glory wouldn't be exposed."

Wang Yan gasped, covering her mouth: "Zhou Keyu is your sister! You never mentioned that."

Zhou Yunfeng's face turned pale then ashen: "I admit, I really did those things."

"But it was all because my family's circumstances were poor; I had talent but couldn't enter that kind of competition on ability alone—I needed connections, and I had no choice……"

"So do you hate him? Do you hate him for forcing you to risk expulsion by taking his makeup exams, and for treating you like a dog, ordering you around?"

Su Mian's gaze was sharp; Zhou Yunfeng couldn't utter a word, his lips trembling as he wanted to retort but found nothing to say.

Wei Xiaowei linked arms with Zhou Yunfeng, anxious enough to sweat on her forehead, and suddenly spoke.

"But Ye Shuheng also had a motive to kill—could it be that just because he said a few words for Jiang Hong yesterday we think he isn't the murderer?"

As soon as she said that, everyone's gaze turned to her, and Zhou Yunfeng instantly gained confidence: "Exactly, wasn't there a rumor before that Ye Shuheng stole Jiang Hong's money?"

Ye Shuheng calmly sipped his tea: "You saw that?"

"……No."

Well, that's exactly it—everyone says it's just hearsay, and you don't even know whether it's true.

I know!

Ruan Ruan slammed her hands on the table and stood up, "It wasn't stealing, it was borrowing. Last year's cultural performance, he rented an extremely expensive piano from the local art museum for the performance. The cost was obtained by deceiving Jiang Hong, saying the class urgently needed money, and getting him to lend it."

I told him at the time, a regular piano would do just as well, but he refused to listen and insisted on renting that one.

"Have you paid it back yet?" Wei Xiaowei asked, Zhou Yunfeng wore a look of disdain.

He definitely can't pay it back; he usually brags that he's the young master of the Leaf family, a noble worth hundreds of times more, and we all believed him.

Only Jiang Hong told me he was pretending, because Jiang Hong found out what his money was being used for.