The Villa

Translator: CinderTL

Suddenly, a hand reached over and covered Jiang Cheng's eyes.

At the same time, a soft, tingling voice whispered in his ear, "Why aren't you asleep yet?" Lin Wan'er blinked, her eyes fixed on him.

The two of them were lying on the same bed, with Jiang Cheng positioned close to the edge, leaving most of the space for Lin Wan'er beside him.

Strands of her hair were scattered across half of her face.

Jiang Cheng shook his head, then turned over and closed his eyes.

When the time came, Huai Yi woke Jiang Cheng up, reminding him to be extra cautious and to wake everyone if anything happened.

Weiwei hadn't slept at all. It wasn't until Jiang Cheng patted her that she seemed to snap out of her daze.

Jiang Cheng knew it was because of Du Feng.

For an ordinary woman, witnessing the death of someone familiar in such a tragic manner right before her eyes must have been a tremendous shock.

She had already done remarkably well.

Throughout the night, aside from the sound of wind and rain outside the window, nothing unusual happened. Moreover, just before dawn, the rain outside had stopped.

Taking advantage of the time when Huai Yi and the others were getting up, Jiang Cheng lay back down and slept for a while. The events of the past two days had left him mentally and physically exhausted.

By the time he got up again, everyone was gathered together having breakfast.

The breakfast, which Huai Yi had bought from an outside eatery, consisted of buns, Millet Porridge, and Hot Soy Milk.

He and Cao Yang had just returned from outside.

"The night-shift security guard at the hospital has gone missing," Huai Yi said, taking a sip of porridge. "The hospital has already organized a search party to look for him outside."

It probably wouldn't be long before they called the police.

But whether bringing in the police at this point was a good or bad thing remained to be seen.

"We joined the search for a while," Cao Yang said, his expression turning strange as he looked at Jiang Cheng. "There were two doctors with us, and during our casual conversation, we discovered something."

"This hospital isn't as good as it seems," Cao Yang lowered his voice. "For a long time now, the hospital's performance has been poor, and many people have resigned. The current staff are all old-timers, and the hospital hasn't been able to recruit new employees for quite some time."

Hearing this, Jiang Cheng immediately thought of Zhao Ru.

According to her, she was a new intern at the hospital and had only recently arrived.

Cao Yang was clearly hinting at this as well.

"We didn't directly inquire about that Little Nurse," Cao Yang whispered. "We were worried about alerting anyone."

Turning his head to look out the window at the gradually clearing sky, Jiang Cheng said, "Today, we'll go out to look for clues. We need to investigate the identity of the woman and Zhao Ru's background."

"That's what we were thinking too," Cao Yang said, stuffing the remaining half of a bun into his mouth. "We found an address in the archives earlier, which is likely related to the deceased woman."

After some discussion, it was decided that Jiang Cheng and Lin Wan'er would investigate the deceased woman, while Huai Yi and Cao Yang would look into Zhao Ru.

This Little Nurse seemed to harbor a strange hostility toward Director Qi, often diverting their attention to him.

If it was just a simple diversion, that would be one thing, but Jiang Cheng felt there was more to it.

Moreover, he was curious about Zhao Ru's motives.

Based on her age, she likely had no connection to the case from 18 years ago. Even if she did, it would only be through the grudges of the previous generation.

Yu Yu, Weiwei, and Wang Changguo would stay at the hospital to continue gathering clues.

Although they said so, Jiang Cheng and the others didn't hold much hope for them. Since Du Feng's death, Weiwei's mental state had deteriorated, and Wang Changguo didn't want to leave the hospital room even for a step.

"Come back early," Yu Yu said with concern. "Be careful."

With the money Huai Yi had given them in their pockets, Jiang Cheng and Lin Wan'er hailed a taxi near the hospital. After getting out, they found themselves in front of a residential complex.

The complex looked decent, though the facilities appeared somewhat outdated, and the location was relatively remote. However, more than a decade ago, it would have been considered a rather upscale residential area.

The security booth at the entrance had long been abandoned, its glass so dirty it was hard to see through.

As Jiang Cheng approached, he noticed a table and a chair lying on the ground inside the booth, with scattered trash like food containers and waste paper littering the floor.

It seemed like no one had paid attention to this place for at least several years.

After entering the complex, they realized that the first few buildings were regular residential apartments, but beyond those were villas.

Each villa had a small front yard enclosed by a wall. Since it was early morning, there weren't many people around, except for two elderly men playing chess by the roadside, with a few others watching.

It was clear that most of the residents nearby were elderly, with very few younger people, given the remote location. The driver had mentioned this on the way.

Following the address they had been given, Jiang Cheng stopped in front of one of the villas.

The villa's gate was tightly shut, and the dark green rust-proof paint that had once coated the iron gate had largely peeled off, leaving behind patches of rust.

Of the two wall-mounted lights on either side of the gate, one had its lampshade shattered, while the other was missing its base entirely, likely stolen.

Crouching down and peering through the gap in the gate, Jiang Cheng could see that the villa inside was also in a state of disrepair.

In the yard stood a withered tree, its branches tangled with a plastic bag that had blown in from somewhere.

A gust of wind passed by, causing the bag to rustle loudly.

A few wooden chairs lay toppled on one side of the yard, and there was a small water feature, though it had long since dried up.

To the right of the water feature was a swing.

One side of the swing's rope had snapped, leaving only the other side still hanging. Despite the passage of time, it was still faintly visible that the swing had once been painted pink.

Moreover, judging by its height, it was clearly a children's swing.

The owners must have had a child.

"Hey!" A voice suddenly called out from behind.

Jiang Cheng immediately turned around and saw an elderly man sitting across the street.

The man, who seemed to be in poor health, was seated in a wheelchair, his face stern as he stared at them. "Who are you?" he demanded.

"We heard the atmosphere here is great, so we came to take some photos," Lin Wan'er said casually, brushing her hair back and nodding politely at the old man.

Upon seeing Lin Wan'er's face, the old man's initially irritable demeanor softened somewhat. After giving Jiang Cheng an inscrutable look, he slowly said, "You're here to take wedding photos, aren't you?"

The old man raised his hand and pointed in a certain direction, his tone leaving no room for argument. "Go take your photos over there. Don't stay around here."

Lin Wan'er blinked her beautiful eyes and glanced back at the abandoned villa, her expression curious. "Is there something wrong with this place? I think it has a lot of character."

It was clear that the old man was somewhat impatient, but out of respect for Lin Wan'er, he still lowered his voice and reluctantly replied, "That villa is unlucky, especially for young couples like you who are preparing to get married. It's not good."

(End of the Chapter)

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