When A Snail Loves - Chapter 67.3

As a result, the next day when Ji Bai came home from work and was trying to make out with his wife, he received a call from Shuhang.

This was different from the earlier light hearted conversations, his tone was much more dignified, “ I know about Yao Meng’s past.”

Ji Bai was silent for a moment – he had avoided talking about Yao Meng. However, he also knew that if Shuhang was determined, he would certainly find someone to investigate.

“Then will you pursue her or not?” Ji Bai asked.

Shuhang did not answer immediately.

It was sunset when he called Ji Bai. His car was parked outside a cafe.

Yao Meng was inside the cafe. Every afternoon, she comes here and sits upstairs for a while. Shuhang was pursuing her very closely, naturally he was clear in his mind.
At that moment, Aa he sat in the car, he watched Yao Meng come out from the cafe. She was still so beautiful and gentle,
“ We’ll talk about it.” He hung up the phone. Quietly across the traffic and the crowd, he looked at her slim back.

Suddenly, across the street a BMW convertible drove over and slowly stopped in front of Yao Meng. Yao Meng smiled sweetly as she walked toward the man in the car.

Shuhang’s eyes looked straight ahead all through out.

——

Feng Ye was the one who was driving. He wore a suit and as he had shaved off his beard, his whole persona was once again restored to that of a tall and handsome man. Perhaps because of the difficulties/hardships he had gone through, his forehead had more wrinkles than someone of the same age. He came out, opened the passenger door for Yao Meng, and smiled as he watched her get in the car.

After the death of Lin Qingyan, the police had thoroughly searched his home. Finally, in a locked basement, they found all the evidenc – potassium cyanide, aphrodisiacs, chains and many photos of the victims. They even found photos of eight victims of the ‘Angel Killer’ case. This evidence, coupled with Ji Bai’s statement of Li Qingyan’s confession, finally enabled Feng Ye to be cleared of charges against him.

But there were several other missing persons about whom the police could find no information or any bodies. They could not determine if Li Qingyan was responsible. The police could not even discover if he had hidden them in other places.

In accordance with the will of Lin Qingyan, his huge estate/property was all left to Yao Meng. However, according to the Hong Kong lawyers’ estimates, about one-third had been inherited from Ms Qin, that is, Feng Ye’s mother. Yao Meng agreed to give up her rights for this part of the estate, and it was returned to Feng Ye. The handover procedures were in progress.

They had both been harmed by Lin Qingyan, but they also had the same set of friends. While they were sad and indignant, they readily admitted Feng Ye in their circle one again.
Feng Ye was here to pick up Yao Meng today, as he had invited a few of their high school classmates to his villa for a party

As Yao Meng sat in the car, Feng Ye softly said, “For dinner, I have arranged for a barbecue, and your favorite caramel pudding.

Yao Meng: “Thank you.”

The afternoon sun was a little hot. Feng Ye bend down and saw that her slender neck had reddened under the sun. With a hand on her back, he asked, “Is it too hot? Should I roll up the windows?”

Yao Meng smiled and shook her head: “No, the sun is fine.”

Feng Ye nodded his head and stood behind her. As his gaze moved sideways, he noticed a Cadillac and a tall man beside the car staring at them.

Feng Ye recognized him – Ji Bai’s friend Shuhang. At the previous Full Moon celebration, he had seen him.
Their eyes met over the distance. Feng Ye smiled faintly towards him, but just his smile caused a pang of depression in Shuhang’s heart. Feng Ye started the car, and left with Yao Meng, leaving a trail of dust behind.

——

Feng Ye had bought a villa in the suburbs of Lin City. It was surrounded by lush trees, and was a quiet and elegant place. Several friends sat together in the garden by the barbecue; drinking, chatting, talking about the year ,and so forth.

Compared to his earlier unruly behaviour when he was young, Feng Ye was a lot more gentle and introverted. He sat near Yao Meng, taking care of her very naturally. At this time some of their classmates joked: “You two were accidentally separated years ago, now aren’t you considering being together in the future?”

When everyone was laughing, Feng Ye also laughed. With his hand on the back of Yao Meng’s chair, his black eyes quietly watched her. Everyone could see his expression and deduce his intentions quite clearly, and smiled.

Yao Meng smiled and said, “Don’t talk about the past. Do you want the wings burnt?”
Feng Ye started slightly, while everyone else immediately crowded around: “They’re done, they’re done, give them over!”
After eating for a while, Feng Ye went into the house to get more food. Yao Meng chatted with the others for a period of time, then placed her handbag on the chair, and entered the house to visit the bathroom.
The villa was brightly lit. She walked a little way down the corridor, then suddenly stopped.
The door of the room on the right was partially closed, but she could still see several photographs displayed on the wall. One was of Feng Ye with two elderly people – Yao Meng recognised his deaf-mute parents; another was their high school graduation photo; yet another was an extremely large, skilfully taken photograph – that was from the year when they had started their relationship. Feng Ye had saved half a month’s food allowance to pay for having her photograph taken.
She gently pushed the door open.
The room looked like a display room of some sort. Apart from the photographs, there were many other objects – antique cameras, books, and even some small sculptures.
Right at that moment, Feng Ye’s low, gentle tones sounded from behind her: “A lot of things have been thrown away, and I’ve only been able to locate a limited number of them. I’ve just casually placed some here.”
Yao Meng turned to smile at him: “Later you can add more to your collection.”
Feng Ye did not reply. His tall body leaned against the side of the cabinet, and he looked at her wordlessly. The atmosphere inside the room became charged with something undefinable.
Yao Meng naturally understood what he was thinking, but pretended she had not noticed. Instead, she looked with great interest at a row of dolls inside the cabinet. Their faces were carved from mellow, yellow wood, and were round and cute, extremely lifelike. They had shiny black stones for eyes, and their little mouths seemed to be inlaid with porcelain or jade, which gave off a bright lustre.
She smoothly changed the topic: “Where did you buy these? They are very unusual. May I take them out to have a look at them?”
Feng Ye took one and handed it to her: “Of course. A friend personally crafted them, and gave them to me.”
Yao Meng exclaimed in admiration: “Your friend is highly skillful!” She put down the doll: “Let’s go out.” She had just started for the door, when she was seized by the waist, and Feng Ye pulled her back.
Yao Meng’s breathing accelerated, and she reflexively pushed him away. Feng Ye’s arms were powerful and gripped her tightly. He lowered his head to look at her. The room light cast his handsome face in a hazy glow.
“Xiao Yao (Little Yao), whether in the past or now, whether working in Hong Kong or on the run . . . I have never stopped loving you for even one day. Can you give me a chance, and return to my side?”

——。
By the time Yao Meng and several ex-schoolmates left Feng Ye’s villa, it was already very dark. After a short stretch of road, at an intersection, Yao Meng parted from the others.
She did not return home straightaway, but parked the car at the side of the road. This was a main road, so it was brightly lit, and there were several small roadside shops, with a fair number of people eating supper by the roadside. The atmosphere was lively and cheerful. She sat quietly for a while, then called Xu Xu.
Xu Xu had put the baby to bed, and Ji Bai was still showering. She had just picked up a stack of information Ji Bai had brought back just that day from the police station, intending to look through it. When she saw Yao Meng’s number on her handphone, she laughed: “Did you call because of Shuhang?”

”
Yao Meng also laughed: “He’s not a problem, I’m not going to accept anyone at this stage.” After a pause, she added, “Just now, Feng Ye proposed that we get back together, and I refused.”

”
Xu Xu thought for a while: “That’s the right decision.”

Yao Meng leaned against the car seat, and looked up at the glittering stars set in the dark blue sky: “Why? What’s your opinion of him? Tell me frankly.”
Xu Xu replied: “He’s not a good match for you. When he was young, he was proud and arrogant. Afterwards, he was in a miserable situation for 3 years, living a dark and dreary life in the forest – of course, this is not an absolute fault, but the two of you have too much emotional baggage which are/is linked to each other. I think it would be much better if you could have a new start in future.”
Yao Meng was slightly startled, and said softly: “Actually, I didn’t think quite so far. It’s just, what is past, is past. I don’t have any feelings for him.”
“Ah. That as well.”
This response made Yao Meng laugh. Initially, she had felt a little depressed, but was now much happier: “All right, go and keep my godson company. I’ll come visit in a few days. Bye.”
Both hung up. Because of her, Xu Xu was reminded of Lin Qingyan again. She put the stack of information Ji Bai had brought home to one side, retrieved the old case file from her drawer, and perused it once more.

——
Yao Meng hung up and replaced the handphone in her bag. She was just about to start the car, when she was suddenly transfixed.
Opening her bag, she carefully searched through the contents, and discovered her house keys were missing. On thinking back, in the garden, she had gotten up to go to the bathroom, and had left her bag on the chair. Her keys had probably dropped out at that time.
Yao Meng felt somewhat embarrassed at having to turn back to find Feng Ye, but she didn’t mind that much. Looking up, she realised it was a one-way street. Since Feng Ye’s home was not far away, she locked the car and walked towards the villa.
Against the dark night, the lights shone brightly. This was the most exclusive private residential estate in the city. There were security guard posts at regular intervals, and a row of luxury boutiques, still open, were at the side. She walked along the boulevard, step by step towards Feng Ye’s home. Soon, she saw the iron gate of his villa.
She was just about to press the doorbell, when, through the decorative fretwork of the green wall, she saw Feng Ye. He was sitting by himself on the porch recliner, with the life-like doll she had previously looked at in his hand, and a small smile playing about his mouth.
Momentarily surprised, Yao Meng stood stock still, watching him. She then saw him raise the doll to his lips, and kiss it lightly on the mouth. The moonlight was especially clear and bright, and the pearly white object in the doll’s mouth, so much like teeth, shimmered softly.
Yao Meng suddenly shivered. After quietly standing there for a moment, she slowly, soundlessly retreated.

——
At the same time, Ji Bai finished showering and entered the bedroom. He saw Xu Xu had taken all the information out of the file and arranged it neatly all over the table, looking at it with great concentration.
“Are you still looking at Lin Qingyan’s case?” Ji Bai asked gently.
Xu Xu sighed and said: “Hubby, do you remember, I’ve told you once, before Lin Qingyan died, he said it was only after Tan Liang had killed the third victim that he sought him out to be his scapegoat. After that, when we analysed the case, we concluded that potassium cyanide was very hard to procure. It was possible that Lin Qingyan bought his cyanide off the black market in Hong Kong, but Tan Liang was only an ordinary university graduate, pedestrian forest ranger. Where would he be able to buy it? We’ve never found out how regarding that.
Just now, I looked through the case file again. When I compared the cases, the third murder was too similar to the previous two murders. Thus, at that time, we thought, Tan Liang just so happened to frequent the internet forums and was well-informed as a result, he just so happened to be familiar with the ‘Angel Killer’ case, he just so happened to encounter Lin Qingyan committing a crime, which triggered his own criminal bent, leading to him using the same method to imitate Lin Qingyan’s crime.
Such a large number of coincidences makes me uneasy, and I have always felt that something is not right. The more I looked through the case file, the stronger this feeling grows.”
Ji Bai nodded, what she said echoed his own doubts. He stroked her head: “Let’s have another look at the case file.”

He sat by her side, and casually picked up from the table the information he had brought home that day from the station. Zhao Han had handed it to him when they were going off work, saying it was follow-up information from the ‘Angel Killer case’ which they had received from Hong Kong that afternoon.
After reading a few lines, his initially composed face changed expression. He quickly scanned through the information, and looked up at Xu Xu. In a low voice, he said: “A week ago, the Hong Kong side dredged up a mass of skeletons from the high seas. After DNA testing, it has been confirmed that they belong to the other nine victims who had disappeared in the ‘Angel Killer’ case that year. From the skeletons, it is clear that all the victims were dismembered, while some had their organs removed, and their teeth pulled out.”
Xu Xu was alarmed. As she read through the information, her face grew grave, and she murmured: “It’s not possible that this is Lin Qingyan’s work. It doesn’t fit at all with the characteristics of his criminal methods, and is even further away from his criminal psychology. It can only be that another person did this.”
She looked up fiercely and exchanged glances with Ji Bai, both of them noticing the other’s shock.
That year in Hong Kong, was there another psychopathic serial killer?

Translators – Miumiu, shl

Editor – Librismuse