Pristine Darkness

Chapter 14

The plot thickens! Ding Mo is excellent at ramping up the suspense . . . what new revelations are in wait for us this chapter? It's great to see our three main characters working together, although Fang Qing seems to have cottoned on to the fact that the Bo Jinyan-Jian Yao couple can be a tad irritating when they work in tandem!

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Translated by ting, shl

Edited by shl

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Not able to find any other fingerprints?

Jian Yao was slightly startled.

Fang Qing sat down, poured himself a large glass of water, and drank it all in one gulp. "Even though Tong Min didn't wear gloves at that time, she didn't leave any fingerprints. The fruit knife left in the room should at least have Zhao Xia's fingerprints, but there weren't any. Someone had wiped off the fingerprints, but there are only two people who would have had that opportunity," Fang Qing said.

"Tong Min . . . and Yao Yuange," Jian Yao whispered.

"When I was in the kitchen and accidentally ran into Tong Min, she wasn't wearing gloves." Bo Jinyan glanced at Jian Yao, "We mentioned before, there are three doubtful points."

Fang Qing also looked at him.

Bo Jinyan was about to speak, but Fang Qing, with eyes alight, was already talking. "First, the spot where Zhao Xia fell isn't right. According to Yao Yuange's oral confession, Tong Min - we'll just call her that for now - once she entered the room, she pushed Zhao Xia and grabbed the fruit knife, but Zhao Xia had fallen near the doorway and landed on her back. It's as if she wasn't even trying to defend herself."

Bo Jinyan's kept his face emotionless as he muttered, "Ahem."

Jian Yao smiled and said, "Second, there are gaps in Yao Yuange's oral confession. He didn't have a proper beginning or a conclusion. He started his statement with extremely specific details and then the details became vague. It's very possible he is lying. Plus, what he was saying about Tong Min was weird."

Bo Jinyan glanced at her with a soft praise in his eyes.

Fang Qing suddenly realised how annoying it was to work with these two people.

Seeing that Jian Yao and Fang Qing weren't saying anything else, Bo Jinyan smiled faintly and said, "Third . . . when we in the courtyard, we noticed that Zhao Xia was actually pretty sympathetic towards Tong Min. Zhao Xia may be the only source of warmth for Tong Minin the Yao family. Moreover,that night, when I was rushing to the courtyard, I discovered Yao Yuange's room door was open. According to the others' oral confessions, that night he had already gone to Zhao Xia's room to sleep. He always required the family to turn off the lights and close the room doors in an orderly fashion, so the door couldn't have been opened by him. Other people wouldn't dare to go open it, either. The door was opened by Tong Min - after she had arrived at the courtyard, the first things she did was to find Yao Yuange. It was he she wanted to kill. Mrs. Bo, you're right, Yao Yuange is telling lies."

"But why did he..." Jian Yao muttered to herself.

"The knife didn't have any fingerprints and the crime scene only gave us two suspects. However, that doesn't constitute proof that Yao Yuange is the murderer. Furthermore, according to the current situation, Tong Min's is still the most likely suspect," Fang Qing said.

"If the murderer is really Yao Yuange, why would he want to kill his own woman?" The light in Jian Yao's eyes dimmed. "What really happened that night?"

"Once we know what Tong Min is hiding, we will know what secrets this family is hiding," Bo Jinyan said profoundly.

The three of them were quiet for a moment. The wind whispered lightly through the window. Everything was calm, but under that calm exterior lurked an indescribable peril.