Chapter 341: Lao Qian 3

After listening to Wu Shanqiu's words on the phone, Qi Fei looked at Lao Qian sitting opposite him, his eyes filled with mixed feelings.

He hoped Lao Qian was lying; he hoped that, like last time, he could save the person at the last moment.

However, Lao Qian didn't give him the chance.

Tian Mi was found hanging from one of the pine trees.

"You thought I would give her a chance? The person I gave a chance to was Dong Ziwu, not Tian Mi," Lao Qian said, grinning and revealing teeth yellowed by smoke. "That's right, Dong Ziwu was the one I took to Bu Er Jing, and the keychain used to frame Tian Mi was also placed there by me."

"Dong Ziwu's death, Tian Mi has to take half the responsibility."

"I mentioned to her that I didn't want to work under Dong Ziwu. Just this request, I had tossed and turned for several nights without sleeping before I gathered the courage to mention it to her. Thinking about it now, it's really too ridiculous. I've lived a mediocre life, and without knowing it, I've turned myself into a kowtowing bug."

"Tian Mi scolded you?" Qi Fei guessed.

Lao Qian sneered: "Scolded? You don't understand her. In her eyes, I didn't even have the qualifications to be scolded. I didn't even have the chance to see her. Everything had to be passed on by others. During the construction, it was the assistant who passed the message; after Dong Ziwu came, it was this Supervisor Dong who passed the message. I sent her a message, and I carefully considered and revised those hundred-plus words, cautious, fearing she would be unhappy. The result was being ignored. She didn't reply to me at all."

"Maybe she didn't see the message?"

"Do you think so? I've driven for her and run errands for her. For any information sent from above, she responds immediately. Even if it makes us stay up all night without rest, we have to feedback the results in the fastest time. Her not replying just means I'm not worthy of sending such a request to her directly."

"Then I started looking for the supervisors under her. I thought this was just a small matter, but unfortunately, I was wrong. They all told me that personnel matters are sensitive, they aren't convenient to interfere, or they advised me to endure it. Nowadays, there are many such nepotistic connections, and it's nothing strange."

"Yes, Dong Ziwu didn't have to die. But these things, these things that are insignificant in the eyes of others, accumulated bit by bit, and finally turned into a knife I couldn't take back. This knife had to be carved into Dong Ziwu, although I knew he was just a vulgar one among the masses, although I knew he wasn't heinous. But he was the last straw that broke the camel's back. I had to kill him, otherwise, my life that had hit rock bottom would sink further into the mud and fall into endless darkness."

"You won't understand." Lao Qian repeated that Qi Fei wouldn't understand him, and this old chain-smoker lit a second cigarette.

"Tell me about the process of the crime, starting with Dong Ziwu. He told Meng Qian that day he was going to coordinate a project. Did you deceive him?" Qi Fei asked.

Lao Qian sneered: "This idiot who was eager to make some noise, what project does he understand? He self-righteously brought a lot of garbage projects to discuss, and that day was the same."

"The day before, he put on airs and told me to drive him to discuss a project. By that time, I had searched all possible ways, but I still couldn't transfer out of the Computing Department."

"When this wet-behind-the-ears Dong Ziwu asked me to drive him again, I suddenly felt that I was Tian Mi's house slave, sent by her to serve this young master. As I said, he had to die. This death date was set by himself."

"If he hadn't asked me to drive him, then none of this would have happened."

"As usual, he forwarded the address sent by the other party exactly as it was. He didn't even check the route himself, sat in the back seat of the car, and started flirting with women, not caring at all where I was driving."

"You took him to Bu Er Jing. Why Bu Er Jing?" Qi Fei asked.

Lao Qian sighed toward the sky upon hearing this question: "It's truly heaven's will. Because I knew Tian Mi was going to be nearby that day. Their cars were very similar. Compared to Dong Ziwu, what I hated more was Tian Mi. But I couldn't take action against her for the time being. I thought of framing Dong Ziwu's death on her."

"The clothes she gave to Xu Dong Lai were bought by me because she sent me to buy them. Because she often sent us to do things, I was very familiar with her car. I knew there was a mountaineering tent in her trunk."

"Bu Er Jing, the tent, the keychain, plus the black sedan, it's very easy to lead you toward Tian Mi's direction."

"The trick Zhuang Xueqing used against Feng Yi last time gave me inspiration. I put drugs in the water in the car, and Dong Ziwu soon fell into a deep sleep."

"Thanks to Tian Mi, I was very familiar with the Bu Er Jing area. It had been closed for maintenance during this period, so Tian Mi didn't accompany those old guys to climb the mountain. Dong Ziwu was a rich kid who went to bars after work and was completely unfamiliar with the Bu Er Jing area. I just needed to throw him there and let him fend for himself; it was highly likely he wouldn't be able to survive. Those drainage ditches on the hillsides could be used as slides in the dry season. I wrapped him in the tent cloth and sent him to Bu Er Jing without much effort."

"Then I went down along the concrete trough to retrieve the tent cloth and left."

"If he had enough wisdom, he wouldn't have died there. But he was just such a person who was useless except for lip service and putting on airs."

"There is a shortcut to leave Bu Er Jing. How ironic, this person who was sheltered by his parents and took shortcuts all the way up, in the end, couldn't find the shortcut to leave this road on his own," Lao Qian said with no lack of sarcasm.

"But Lao Qian, when you sent him on his way, your own road was also broken. You endured for a lifetime, for Dong Ziwu, is it worth it?" Qi Fei asked.

The cigarette in Lao Qian's hand was almost burned out. He seemed to have lost all his strength and slumped back into the chair: "My life of being ordered around, being used, and being sacrificed—I just wanted what I learned to be useful to society, I just wanted my efforts to get the return they deserved. Dong Ziwu's appearance trampled on my most ordinary wish. You won't understand this feeling of disillusionment. When I realized this truth, I was already dead."

"What about Xi He? When did he find you?" Qi Fei's question made Lao Qian's body shake. He looked at Qi Fei with a sinister gaze, as if Xi He had possessed him in an instant.

"He just strengthened my determination to kill Dong Ziwu; he did nothing else. He was the only person who responded to me when I was seeking help everywhere, the guiding light that appeared in the darkness," he expressed his worship of Xi He to Qi Fei with extreme fanaticism. "He is the closest human being to a god I have ever met. No, he is a god. He held me when I was at my most desperate."

"You're wrong, he just used your pain to satisfy his desire for slaughter. Lao Qian, I know him, he's just a madman..." Qi Fei looked at Lao Qian with regret. ===== CHAPTER 342 =====