The Nineteenth Chapter

The first time in her life she'd entered an interrogation room was because she'd calculated her own romantic prospects and ended up calculating herself straight into a police station.

If her grandfather were still alive, he might have been so angry he'd disowned her.

Liu Mumu buried her face in her hands, feeling that she'd brought shame upon the diviner community.

"Liu Mumu, you'd better answer our questions truthfully. Why did you go to the twenty-third floor of Binjiang Building, and why did you stay there for an hour?" Fang Chuan sat across from her with another officer, questioning her with a grave expression.

Her grandfather had taught her from childhood never to lie, so Liu Mumu thought it over and decided she'd answer truthfully.

The police might think there was something seriously wrong with her, but she hadn't spread any superstitious nonsense to other people. At most, she believed in it herself. Surely that wasn't enough to get her arrested, right?

"To be honest, I cast a divination for myself first thing this morning. It said I'd meet my future boyfriend on the twenty-third floor of Binjiang Building, so I went there an hour early."

Liu Mumu returned his serious expression.

To be honest, the officer was shocked by her answer.

Fang Chuan didn't react much, but the officer beside him covered his mouth with one hand. "Pfft—"

Captain Fang looked perfectly calm, but he was thinking, Who did this girl calculate would be her future boyfriend? Consultant Yan?

A girlfriend dropped from the sky. What a surprise, huh?

"Do you think anyone would believe that answer?"

"Probably... right? I'm pretty accurate with my divinations. My dad believes me." Liu Mumu wasn't entirely sure, but the officer's attitude across from her made her think she still had a chance.

"Oh? What's your dad's name?" Fang Chuan asked, speechless. What kind of parent was this?

"Dong Zhenghao."

"..." Too many surprises.

Fang Chuan couldn't help thinking that the father and daughter really were fated to be here together today.

He set down his pen and changed the subject. "Did you know the deceased?"

"What was the deceased's name?" Liu Mumu had been brought straight to the police station and hadn't seen the deceased at all.

"Zhan Hongye."

A flicker of surprise crossed Liu Mumu's eyes. Zhan Hongye was dead? The first thought that came to her mind was, Could Dong Zhenghao have done it?

But then she reconsidered. Her own father probably didn't have the guts to commit murder. Besides, murder meant paying with your life, and he'd always thought his own life was far more important than anyone else's. He wouldn't do something so unprofitable.

"Did you know him?" Fang Chuan asked again.

"Yes. He was the husband of my dad's second wife's younger sister."

"When did you last see him?"

"A few days ago, at a private club. My dad, my stepmother, me, and them all had dinner together." Liu Mumu answered everything Fang Chuan asked without hesitation.

"Did you have any conflicts during dinner?"

Liu Mumu thought back to that day, then said to Fang Chuan, "I don't think you could call it a conflict. I just don't know what he thought of it."

Fang Chuan raised an eyebrow. "Tell me exactly what happened that day."

"Actually, nothing much. He brought a guest to dinner, saying he was a fortune-telling master. The master read my fortune and said I had a bad fate and would bring misfortune to my family."

Fang Chuan sat up straighter. This sounded like a motive.

Even if no one in the family believed in fortune-telling, hearing something like that would still leave a troubling impression. If they did believe it, then Zhan Hongye, who'd brought the fortune-telling master, and Liu Mumu would have definitely become enemies.

"What happened after that?" Fang Chuan's gaze sharpened as he waited for Liu Mumu to continue.

"Then I asked the master if he had a Diviner's License, but he didn't answer me."

This wasn't going the way he'd expected. And what was a Diviner's License?

While Fang Chuan was still wondering, someone knocked on the interrogation-room door.

He turned and saw Yan Xiu come in.

Yan Xiu glanced at Liu Mumu, then said to Fang Chuan, "Take her out."

Liu Mumu was led out of the interrogation room.

Outside, Yan Xiu regarded her appraisingly. "You're a diviner?"

"That's right. I passed the diviner's exam." Liu Mumu stood tall, looking very proud.

Getting a Diviner's License was about as difficult as taking the college entrance exam. Her grandfather had said that fortunately she was young; if she'd been two years older, she definitely wouldn't have passed, and then she'd have had to practice without a license.

"Proof?"

She lifted the red cord around her neck. A wooden plaque, about as thick as a finger, hung from its end. Her name, Liu Mumu, was on the front, and an imprint was on the back.

Yan Xiu nodded toward Fang Chuan. "Try it with your sword."

Fang Chuan took the steel pen from his pocket. Before the sword in his hand could touch the plaque, the imprint on its back instantly turned black, and he couldn't move his hand any farther forward.

"Whoa, that thing's a magical artifact?" Fang Chuan had some knowledge of these things and couldn't help exclaiming.

It was a protective magical artifact, and a powerful one at that. It seemed this girl really hadn't been lying.

Liu Mumu looked confused. How could there be people at the police station who knew about magical artifacts?

She couldn't help asking, "Aren't you police officers?"

"We are." Fang Chuan took out his ID and let her look closely. "See? Special Case Investigation Section. We specialize in cases involving the supernatural."

Liu Mumu gaped. So there were people who handled cases like this? Her grandfather had never told her. If she'd known, she would've reported Zhan Hongye as soon as she'd realized something was wrong with him. She wouldn't have had to go to all that trouble.

Fang Chuan was still chatting with her. "Since you're so accurate, didn't you see that you'd be facing jail time today?"

Liu Mumu kept up her air of a master and said solemnly, "Even masters make mistakes."

She wasn't going to tell anyone that she was right only about half the time when she cast a divination. Masters never made mistakes—unless they happened to get the reading wrong that day.

"All right, Master. Then could you read my fortune?" Fang Chuan pointed at himself.

Liu Mumu took out her ancestral coins and solemnly handed them to Fang Chuan. "Go ahead and shake them."

Fang Chuan looked at the three fifty-cent coins and thought this master was taking things a little too lightly, but he followed instructions and cast a divination.

Liu Mumu studied the result for a while, then looked up at Fang Chuan sympathetically. "Officer, you've been cheated on!"

Fang Chuan was startled, then realized something was wrong. He didn't even have a girlfriend yet. How could he have been cheated on?

He felt a little helpless. "Master, I'm still single."

Liu Mumu: Oh no, I've messed up.

"Ahem. That was a momentary mistake. The weather's bad today. It's not a good day for divination." Master Liu snatched back her coins. She had even thicker skin than Captain Fang.

After the two of them finished fooling around, Yan Xiu's cool voice rang out. "You can leave. Don't leave Qingcheng over the next few days. The police may contact you at any time to assist with the investigation."

Liu Mumu came back to her senses, a little disappointed. They were letting her go just like that?

She put away her coins, then edged over to Yan Xiu. Under Fang Chuan's horrified gaze, she held out her phone to him. "Officer, let's add each other as contacts. You can get in touch with me if you have any questions!"

She might not be getting a brand-new boyfriend today, as fate had promised, but getting his contact information would do.

Romance could always be cultivated slowly. She'd always been especially tolerant of good-looking men.

How bold!

Fang Chuan sincerely thought this girl was a little thick-skinned. Wasn't she afraid Consultant Yan would lose his temper and kick her out?

"I'm not a police officer, just a consultant for the police. You can add him." Yan Xiu was completely unmoved, but he didn't look annoyed by her words either.

To be precise, he seemed a little helpless.

The part about calculating her way into a boyfriend had certainly broadened Consultant Yan's horizons. He still hadn't fully processed it.

Liu Mumu glanced at Fang Chuan, then turned back without hesitation. She refused to add a square-faced man as a contact.

Captain Fang: ??? He felt discriminated against for having a square face.

"Come on, add me. Maybe I can provide you with some new leads."

Yan Xiu expressionlessly escorted her out of the office.

Standing beneath the police station, Liu Mumu sighed to herself. Men really are so cold, heartless, and unreasonable.

The only suspect they'd caught had been let go. Fang Chuan sat in his chair with one leg crossed over the other and said to Yan Xiu, "You're just letting her go? She's Dong Zhenghao's daughter. The father hired a hitman, and the daughter showed up at the crime scene. That's awfully convenient."

The girl was interesting, but Fang Chuan hadn't forgotten his role. He still suspected her.

"Her Diviner's License proves she wasn't lying. As for whether she had anything to do with this, we still need to investigate." "What exactly is a Diviner's License?" Fang Chuan asked curiously.

"It's the mark of a legitimate fortune-teller recognized by the authorities and the entire supernatural community. Only two or three are issued each year, so they're extremely rare."

"She's only twenty and already has one. Doesn't that mean she's especially skilled?" Then he remembered the reading she'd given him about being cheated on and asked, his face darkening, "Could her license be fake?"

Liu Mumu's abilities made it hard not to doubt whether the Diviner's License was genuine.

A faint smile lifted Yan Xiu's lips. The imprint on a Diviner's License couldn't be forged. The only question was whether she'd earned it through her own abilities or received it because her family had a very powerful fortune-telling master.

The supernatural community was built on either master-disciple lineages or family traditions.

It wasn't unusual for people to use their influence to help younger relatives. As long as they didn't go too far, everyone turned a blind eye. But people's status had to match their abilities. Without the proper skills, they couldn't establish themselves in the community.

After a busy morning, Captain Fang invited Consultant Yan to the police canteen to thank him for his help.

Yan Xiu had probably never met someone so shameless, getting rid of him with a ten-yuan meal.

The two of them carried their trays over to a table. As usual, Fang Chuan pulled out his phone and opened a life-simulation game he'd been playing recently.

He was single in real life, but in the game, he had a girlfriend.

A couple of days earlier, he'd just confessed to the most beautiful tavern owner in the game, and she'd accepted. He'd just finished building a new house and was planning for them to move in together.

But when he opened the game, Fang Chuan was stunned. The system had sent him a letter: a breakup letter from his NPC girlfriend.

To sum it up, she'd gotten together with the NPC owner of the hotel next door. They were never meant to be, so goodbye!

Fang Chuan hadn't recovered from the painful experience of being cheated on by an NPC when he remembered the reading Liu Mumu had given him.

He slid his phone over to Yan Xiu and lowered his voice. "Take a look."

Yan Xiu swiped his finger across the screen and read the letter, then raised an eyebrow.

"Is the supernatural community really this terrifying? She can even predict something like my girlfriend in a game being stolen by an NPC? That's ridiculous! It doesn't make any sense at all."

Before, he could've laughed off Liu Mumu's words. But now that it had really happened, he felt goosebumps all over.

When he'd gone to the capital for further training, he'd met plenty of fortune-telling masters. After all, as police officers involved in supernatural cases, they had to go through an initial screening based on their birth dates and fates. Those whose fate wasn't strong or good enough could easily die on the job.

Those masters were all very skilled. Just by looking at someone's face, they could give a rough account of their past. But Fang Chuan still thought that girl was even more terrifying.

Yan Xiu was silent for a moment, then slid the phone back. "Having your girlfriend stolen by an NPC when you're dating her is pretty illogical too."

Fang Chuan: ...

Fine. He'd brought this on himself.

That afternoon, Jiang Jia received a notice telling her to come to the police station to identify the body.

Jiang Jia was completely dazed. She didn't even know how she'd made it to the police station.

Her stepson and stepdaughter, who'd normally kept their distance from her, came along too. Zhan Ni walked beside Zhan Huitian, one hand clutching his sleeve. Zhan Huitian glanced down at her but didn't pull away.

Zhan Ni was young, so Zhan Huitian hadn't wanted her to see the body. But Zhan Ni had refused her brother's kindness.

She saw her dead father clearly. Even though the forensic pathologists had stitched up the body carefully, she could still tell that his body had originally been smashed into many pieces.

Just yesterday, she'd learned that her father had wanted her dead, and she'd been filled with anger. But today he was dead, and in such a gruesome way. Her hatred had turned into anxiety about the future.

Zhan Ni's body trembled involuntarily. She couldn't help thinking of that bottle. Could her father's death... have something to do with it?

Jiang Jia fainted after looking at the body just once. The police station's forensic pathologist treated her, and she soon came to. When she woke up, she seemed completely drained of energy.

She looked devastated and grief-stricken over her husband's death.

Zhan Huitian glanced at Jiang Jia, who was being comforted by two female officers, and let out a mocking laugh.

"Brother, what do we do now?" Zhan Ni asked anxiously.

"We do what we have to. Dad left a will a long time ago." Zhan Huitian's tone was cold.

Zhan Ni looked at him, confused.

Zhan Huitian patted her on the shoulder and said meaningfully, "You're my only blood relative. Even if Dad's gone, I'll still take care of you."

The three of them stayed at the police station until after nine that evening. Since the case was still ongoing, they couldn't take the body home. After answering more of the police's questions, they finally returned home, exhausted.

None of them felt like talking. They each went back to their rooms to sleep.

If Zhan Ni hadn't understood what Zhan Huitian meant before, she finally did the next morning, when Zhan Hongye's lawyer arrived at the Zhan home with his will.

Zhan Hongye had left all his property and company shares to his eldest son, Zhan Huitian.

As for Jiang Jia, she received nothing except a few properties registered in her name.

When she married Zhan Hongye, he was already a success. Naturally, she'd signed a prenuptial agreement.

At the time, Jiang Jia had thought they were in love. She'd believed he would at least honor their relationship as husband and wife. Only now did she realize what a load of crap that was. He hadn't even given her a penny more.

As for Zhan Ni, the daughter who'd been brought back later, she hadn't received any inheritance either.

The will had probably been made before she came back, and he hadn't had time to change it before he died.

Jiang Jia was, of course, unwilling to accept this distribution. She'd been married to Zhan Hongye for five years. She'd married him when she was at her youngest and most beautiful, and now he was dead and she got nothing. Wasn't he clearly screwing her over?

The lawyer hadn't even left when Jiang Jia started making a scene.

Pointing at Zhan Huitian, she said, "I'm telling you, I won't acknowledge this will."

Then she turned and pointed at the middle-aged lawyer standing nearby. "And you. Zhan Huitian bought you off long ago. This will is fake."

The lawyer replied expressionlessly, "Ms. Jiang, this will has been notarized and is legally valid. If you don't acknowledge it, you can file a lawsuit. However, if you continue to slander my professional integrity, I'm afraid we'll see each other in court."

"Then we'll see each other in court. You think I'm afraid of you?" Jiang Jia clearly lacked confidence. She lifted her chin and said to the lawyer, "Old Zhan was murdered, and the killer hasn't been caught. Who knows if someone killed him for his inheritance?"

Zhan Huitian's expression darkened. He said coldly, "Aunt Jiang, you shouldn't make reckless accusations, or don't blame me for not showing my father any respect. Also, I want you to move out of here by this evening. According to my father's will, this villa now belongs to me."

And just like that, Jiang Jia was thrown out of the house.