??27: Chapter 27: Falling for His Trick_1
27: Chapter 27: Falling for His Trick_1
Li Jinhua took a while to respond, “I’m afraid my brother-in-law would hit .”
Li Qiao snorted coldly and said sarcastically, “Why would he hit you if there’s nothing wrong?
It’s because you’re guilty, shaless!
I treated you like a sister, but you tried to steal my man.
From now on, I have no sister like you!”
She took this opportunity to draw a clear line, also to prevent Li Jinhua from finding any chances to trap her.
“Qiaoqiao, you can’t say such things as sisters,” Dong Lai, unable to win the argunt, resorted to playing the emotion card and said earnestly, “If you won’t save face for your sister, at least save so for , forgive her this one ti, okay?
I promise I’ll discipline her well.”
Li Shengcai also said, “Qiaoqiao, Jinhua is younger than you, she’s ignorant, so as her older sister, don’t haggle with her.”
A surge of anger rose in Li Qiao’s chest for no reason.
It was understandable for a stepmother to favor her own children.
But as her real father, not only did he fail to stand up for her, he even accused her of being petty—too much!
She said coolly, “So it’s my fault now?
You must be a stepfather, right?
I’ve never seen a father like this, let Li Jinhua be your own precious daughter then!”
She opened the door and left.
Seeing that Li Qiao was determined, Qin Jin no longer held back and kicked open Li Jinhua’s bedroom door.
Li Jinhua was hiding behind the door, and with a bang, she was knocked to the ground.
Before she could react, her hair was grabbed, and she felt a sharp pain on her scalp, followed by several slaps.
Her cheeks burned hot, her mouth felt numb.
She touched her mouth, and blood flowed from the corner.
The sudden turn of events stunned everyone into silence.
After hitting her, Qin Jin hopped on his bicycle and rode away.
Dong Lai ca to her senses, but Qin Jin was already gone; she rushed towards Li Jinhua with a wailing cry.
“Her dad, look at the dirty trick Loser Qin pulled, there’s not a single good spot left on the child’s face.”
Li Shengcai was determined to settle accounts with Qin Jin.
The neighbors ca into the courtyard, gathering under the pretext of concern.
Looking at Li Jinhua’s bruised and swollen face, they all bared their teeth and shivered.
“Loser Qin sure knows how to hit soone hard.”
The eldest and second sister didn’t want to stay either and after discussing with their n, they took their children and left.
The courtyard emptied out, making Dong Lai and Li Jinhua’s crying sound even louder.
Dong Lai wept over her many years of hard work coming to nothing, secretly cursing Li Qiao for being an ingrate and wishing in her heart that one day Qin Jin would beat her until she was unrecognizable.
…..
At the entrance to Tulou Village.
Qin Jin caught up with Li Qiao and stopped his bike beside her, teasing, “With those short legs of yours, you run quite fast.”
Li Qiao glared at him, “Your legs are the short ones!” she protested.
She was 168 centiters tall—a goddess-like stature, okay?
“What did you stay behind to say to them?”
“I was saying goodbye, of course.
They’re your family—no matter how mad I am, I have to be polite, don’t I?” Qin Jin said nonchalantly.
Li Qiao pursed her lips in a smile, “You’re really nice, so magnanimous.” She sat on the rear seat of his bike, sighed gently, feeling distressed that Li Jinhua had ruined a perfect family reunion, so much so that she even forgot to say goodbye to her two sisters.
Passing by the reservoir, Qin Jin stopped the bike.
“Going ho hungry after visiting relatives isn’t good; let’s catch a fish and grill it.”
Li Qiao raised both hands in agreent, eager to go back early before grandma would ask too many questions—how embarrassing it would be to explain.
Now that spring had ward the air, the ice had lted, and the wind blew ripples across the water, making it undulate and shimr.
Qin Jin walked along the shore before finally spearing a fish near the sluice with a sharpened stick.
Li Qiao looked at him with admiration, “You’re amazing.”
Qin Jin curved his lips slightly, “It’s just a fish.” He took out the knife he always carried, skillfully killed the fish, and removed the scales.
He then found a sheltered spot, dug a pit and set up a simple grill to start a fire and grill the fish.
“You handle the grill; I’ll go catch a couple of sparrows,” he said.
Li Qiao curiously said, “Without a slingshot, how are you going to catch them?”
“Soon you’ll find out.” Qin Jin crouched down, stealthily approached the sparrows gathered on the haystack, picked up a dried branch, aid at the target, and threw it, knocking down two with a single strike.
Li Qiao’s eyes lit up like stars, “Wow!
You’re really amazing, I like that.” It was hard not to be moved by soone who was attractive and knew how to survive in the wild.
Qin Jin: “….” Huh?
Did I hear that right?
“What did you say?
The wind is too loud; I didn’t hear you clearly.”
“I said I like you.” After Li Qiao spoke, she realized she had fallen for his trick, that bad person!
She cleared her throat and continued to grill the fish.
Qin Jin was overjoyed and moved closer to her, asking her to say it again.
Li Qiao didn’t want to repeat it and flipped the fish she was holding.
Qin Jin was busy cleaning the sparrows.
After the fish was cooked, Li Qiao took charge of the two small sparrows, finding the fishy sll too strong, she only tasted one bite and excused herself by saying she was full.
She then lowered her head and drew two hearts in the dirt with a twig, and then drew an arrow piercing through them.
Qin Jin tilted his head, not understanding for a long ti, “What’s this you’re drawing?”
Li Qiao: “It’s the shape of a heart, the one on the left is you, and the one on the right is .”
“Both of us got shot through the heart with an arrow?”
Li Qiao laughed so hard she had to hold her belly, and after she had enough laughter, she explained, “There’s a legend in the West about a love god nad Cupid.
He has a golden arrow that can pierce through the hearts of two lovers and embed itself inside, grant them eternal love.”
Qin Jin raised an eyebrow slightly, surprised she knew about the Western god Cupid.
That’s quite interesting.
Qin Jin finished the fish in his hand, put out the fire, and took Li Qiao back ho with him.
Stepping into the courtyard, Xun Dong greeted the two, “Back from visiting relatives, are you?”
Li Qiao was surprised, “Dr.
Xun?
How co you have ti to co over?”
“It’s because of the case that’s causing trouble.
Zhou Chao refuses to confess that it was him, even going as far as to attempt suicide to prove his innocence.
I thought maybe we wronged him, so I ca over to see if we could find any new evidence to overturn the past findings.
I was passing by, so I decided to drop by.”
Li Qiao: “The hat badge is his, and so are the shoes; it’s hard to overturn the evidence.”
“He said he lost the hat badge long ago, and as for the shoe prints left at the scene, he said he wasn’t the only one who walked there.”
Li Qiao thought for a mont, “What about examining the body again?
Perhaps we could find new evidence.
Also, we could reenact the cri scene.”
Xun Dong was interested, “Let’s give it a try.”
Qin Jin also followed.
The three arrived at the cri scene, with Li Qiao’s height similar to that of La Feng, and following Xun Dong’s earlier speculation that the killer was about the sa height as Qin Jin, Li Qiao and Qin Jin reenacted the situation at that ti.
La Feng had multiple bruises on his body.
According to Xun Dong’s theory, the murderer needed to knock down La Feng and after struggling a few tis, failed to choke him with an elbow, and finally picked up a rake and hit him on the back of the head, which led to Feng’s death.
At this point in the reenactnt, Li Qiao suddenly rembered a line from the autopsy report about a circular bruise on the back.
But fighting here wouldn’t cause such a bruise.
La Feng must have had a fight with the murderer and injured his back before being killed.
She shared her discovery.
Xun Dong was greatly inspired and suddenly excited, “That bruise must be from the handle of a chest, and Zhou Chao’s house doesn’t have that sort of chest.
How did I not think of that before?”
Li Qiao took the opportunity to also share what she had seen of Feng Dezhong that morning with Xun Dong.
Xun Dong imdiately returned to the county to apply for a search warrant.
With the approval, Xun Dong, in a rush, ca back and specifically asked Li Qiao to join.
“You’re observant and have many ideas, you can provide support for .
Qin Jin, you co too, you’re good in a fight, you could help catch the culprit later.”
Qin Jin: “…” Is that a complint or an insult?
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