Chapter 348: Chapter 346: Sister Ying

Zhuang Yanzheng handed things over to Zheng Qi, then went to ask about the progress on the surveillance footage.

So far, they still hadn’t found any suspicious individuals who had been secretly watching Su Miaoyi.

After checking on the surveillance footage, Su Miaoyi and Zhuang Yanzheng went to inspect the car Lu Xian had driven.

The license plate was a fake, and the car’s interior was spotless, leaving almost no forensic traces.

It looked like a car he had acquired specifically for this trip, not his usual vehicle.

"See anything?" Zhuang Yanzheng asked.

Su Miaoyi shook her head.

It was already dark. The two of them shone their flashlights inside the car. "Everything in here is brand new. I can still smell that fresh-from-the-factory scent."

Zhuang Yanzheng switched off his flashlight and stood by the car. "Lu Xian is cautious. He wouldn’t slip up on a minor detail like this."

Su Miaoyi switched off her flashlight, too. "Let’s see what we can find on his phone."

"Right," Zhuang Yanzheng said. "Come on, let’s head back."

The two walked over to Zhuang Yanzheng’s car together.

"Technically, I’m using Su Miaoyi’s identity now, so do I really have to recuse myself?" Su Miaoyi asked.

"You should," Zhuang Yanzheng said. "Since an investigation is underway, the results need to be squeaky clean. Not many people know your real identity right now, but that number will likely grow over time. Director Meng wasn’t at the city bureau back when you were there as Le Yan, so she’s never met you, but even she knows now. That suggests people further up the chain, possibly even above Minister Qin, are aware. These clean results are for them, too—we can’t give them any reason to find fault."

Su Miaoyi nodded and asked, "Will there be trouble for Minister Qin, too?"

"Don’t worry. We can handle it," Zhuang Yanzheng said. "Lu Xian’s attempt to drag others down with him is so blatant that anyone can see through it. No one will be in any real trouble."

When they reached the car, they both got in.

Su Miaoyi asked, "Are you going to replace this car?"

Zhuang Yanzheng sighed. "I’ll just get the exterior redone."

He then added, "Every single part in this car is top-of-the-line. Calling my car a piece of junk just shows they don’t know what they’re talking about."

"It does look like a piece of junk," Su Miaoyi said. "People online were saying it looks like it’s going to fall apart at any moment."

Zhuang Yanzheng tsked. "No taste."

Su Miaoyi pursed her lips.

After that, neither of them spoke again. They didn’t talk about work, nor did they talk about anything else.

It was because of Lu Xian, and because their families had been dragged into it.

The mood of both had been soured, to one degree or another.

They weren’t good at getting sentimental.

Nor were they any good at comforting each other.

They were in the same boat and understood each other perfectly.

Words of comfort would have been empty gestures, anyway.

So they both chose silence.

「At Weiyang Palace.」

Su Miaoyi got out of the car.

Zhuang Yanzheng said, "Don’t take it too hard. If Shen Yanzhou and Uncle Shen knew they were being investigated because of you, they’d both probably be pretty happy about it."

The corner of Su Miaoyi’s mouth twitched. She muttered under her breath, "You make them sound like a couple of weirdos."

"After all, this gives them a connection to you from a time when you couldn’t remember a thing, not even to call one ’uncle’ and the other ’brother’," Zhuang Yanzheng said.

"And what about President Zhuang?"

"President Zhuang?" Zhuang Yanzheng chuckled. "President Zhuang is used to it."

Su Miaoyi: "..."

"Go on back."

Su Miaoyi went back inside Weiyang Palace.

That night, she suffered from insomnia, lying awake for hours.

She forcibly held a squirming An’an, who always got excited at night, in her arms and stared out the window.

It was very late and she was exhausted, but she couldn’t sleep. Every time she thought of Shen Jun still at the city bureau, sleep would escape her.

Shen Yanzhou, who was on a business trip abroad, was already on his way back after hearing the news.

Before boarding his flight, he sent her a message: [Don’t overthink it. If you feel guilty, just call me ’big brother’ when I get back.]

Su Miaoyi replied: [In your dreams, Mr. Shen.]

She didn’t finally fall asleep until just before dawn.

But she woke up again as soon as the sun rose.

There was no news from the city bureau, so she had no idea how things were progressing.

Su Miaoyi sat in bed for a while before getting up to wash up.

Cheng Jue had started university, but she still hadn’t gone to tell the real Su Miaoyi.

After seeing Cheng Jue off to school the day before yesterday, she had planned to visit the real Su Miaoyi yesterday to tell her the news.

But she ended up investigating the brick factory case instead. She was free today, so she would go today.

After washing up, she went across the street from her complex for a meal, then bought fresh flowers, fruit, and some of the real Su Miaoyi’s favorite foods.

She took a taxi to the cemetery.

Carrying her bags and holding the bouquet, she walked up to Su Miaoyi’s headstone and saw another bunch of flowers already placed in front of it.

They were already starting to wilt.

Su Miaoyi crouched down and picked up the flowers to examine them.

They didn’t look like they were from a shop. It seemed as if someone had hand-picked them and tied the bunch together with a foxtail grass before leaving it here.

She glanced around.

There was just this one bunch of flowers, nothing else.

’Someone came here to see Su Miaoyi?’

She frowned, her eyes fixed on the headstone before her.

She had written the name "Su Miaoyi" directly on it.

After all, so many people shared the same name; her own case, sharing a name with her undercover identity, was a prime example.

She hadn’t shied away from engraving the name on the headstone.

’But who would have come here?’

Besides her, Zhuang Yanzheng, and Shen Yanzhou, nobody knew the real Su Miaoyi was buried here.

No one knew who this Su Miaoyi truly was.

Su Miaoyi placed the flowers she had bought in front of the grave, arranged the other items neatly, and told her about Cheng Jue starting university. She also recounted some of the other things that had happened recently.

Then she left.

As she was leaving, she asked the cemetery caretaker about the other bouquet. He said he hadn’t placed it there.

According to the visitor log, no one besides her had come to see Su Miaoyi.

But the cemetery was so large, it was entirely possible for someone to slip in without signing the log.

Su Miaoyi left, heading for the exit.

The scenery here was beautiful, but it was quite remote.

It was so remote that hailing a cab was difficult, so when Su Miaoyi had taken a taxi here, she had asked the driver to wait for her.

Lost in thought as she walked out of the cemetery, Su Miaoyi saw her waiting taxi.

As she walked toward it, she saw a black car pull up and stop behind her taxi.

She assumed it was just another visitor coming to pay their respects and didn’t think much of it.

Su Miaoyi continued walking, and then the driver of the black car got out.

It was a woman.

Su Miaoyi instinctively gave her a second glance.

The next second, she froze on the spot.

The woman was dressed entirely in black and wore a pair of sunglasses. She looked at Su Miaoyi, then slowly took them off.

Su Miaoyi’s eyes twitched, and the blood in her veins seemed to flash hot.

It was Sister Ying.

Su Miaoyi stared at her face.

And Sister Ying, sunglasses now removed, was staring right back at her.

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