Chapter 190 - 188: Coming Forward Voluntarily

Chapter 190: Chapter 188: Coming Forward Voluntarily

"Ye Qingwu was tortured until she went insane?"

Su Miaoyi was shocked yet again.

She still remembered when Ye Qingwu had announced her retirement from the entertainment industry.

She’d been a big fan, so she had followed the news closely at the time.

When Ye Qingwu retired, she only posted on Weibo. After that, she completely disappeared. Her Weibo and other social media accounts were never updated again.

Thinking about it now, it did seem rather strange.

A popular actress at the height of her fame suddenly posts on Weibo that she’s retiring, and then vanishes without a trace.

She even remembered feeling sad for a while after seeing the retirement post.

She hadn’t been working for very long back then.

She had even tried to get Shen Yanzhou to go to Ye Qingwu’s agency and sign her to the Shen family’s company.

At the time, everyone speculated that she had retired because her agency was bleeding her dry, trying to exploit her for every last penny.

That Ye Qingwu had been forced into retirement by her company.

Su Miaoyi recalled Shen Yanzhou asking her if her brain had been scalded with boiling water.

Then she’d gone to tattle to her uncle, claiming Shen Yanzhou said her brain had blossomed.

After that, Shen Yanzhou got an earful from Shen Jun.

And after that... she was chased around by a furious Shen Yanzhou.

The war finally ended when she kicked Shen Yanzhou into the swimming pool, only for him to pull her in with him. They both ended up getting scolded by Shen Jun.

As Su Miaoyi reminisced about the past, she suddenly realized, ’This is my own memory.’

"Xu Yu said that Liu Namo specifically targeted people in the industry. He would claim to be dating them, but it was just a front. Behind the scenes, he was torturing them," Brother Zheng said.

"It seems Liu Namo had a fetish for it—he loved to torture people. Xu Yu said that Ye Qingwu was with Liu Namo for three years. During those three years, whenever they met, Liu Namo would beat her. He tortured her mentally and physically."

Su Miaoyi frowned.

Brother Zheng continued, "Liu Namo would provide them with resources while torturing them. And the end date was entirely up to him."

"Xu Yu said that when he saw Ye Qingwu back then, she was already incoherent. Her body was covered in injuries, and some of the wounds were still bleeding. Her family was the one who posted the retirement announcement."

"Then why didn’t they call the police?" Su Miaoyi asked.

"Ye Qingwu’s family received a sum of money," Brother Zheng said. "And Ye Qingwu was sent to a mental hospital."

Su Miaoyi was silent for a moment. "Ye Qingwu was so famous. Even after her agency took its cut, she wouldn’t have been short on money. How could they just drop the matter for cash?"

"You can never have too much money, only too little," Brother Zheng said. "We aren’t them, so we can’t understand their way of thinking."

"This Xu Yu sure knows a lot."

"He visits Ye Qingwu at the mental hospital often. He’s wanted to kill Liu Namo for more than a year or two now. He became an actor just to find a chance to get close to Liu Namo."

Su Miaoyi tapped her fingers on the table a few times.

’Not just anyone can become an actor.’

’Not only did he succeed, but he also became quite famous.’

’And even in the cutthroat world of fame and fortune, he never forgot about getting revenge for Ye Qingwu.’

"Liu Namo probably did so many terrible things that his karma finally caught up to him," Brother Zheng said. "Actually, the device Xu Yu made, while powerful, had a lot of flaws. The probability of a one-hit kill wasn’t high."

Su Miaoyi looked at him.

"But it just so happened to pierce right into Liu Namo’s heart," Brother Zheng said. "It was so perfect that the dagger passed between his ribs and struck his heart. When Yan Cheng performed the autopsy, he found that there wasn’t a single scratch on the ribs protecting the heart."

"Maybe his time really was up," Su Miaoyi said.

’The device really did have too many flaws.’

’The bottom of the coffin, the floor, and the device itself were all fixed in place, but Liu Namo could move.’

’If he had shifted just a little, or bent his legs to be shorter, it would have missed.’

’Plus, the device couldn’t be aimed, nor was it manually operated.’

’The probability of hitting a rib was very high.’

’But it hit the heart anyway.’

’He was fated to die.’

Brother Zheng paced back and forth. "I wonder how things are going on their end."

Su Miaoyi glanced at the time. Suddenly, her phone rang.

Brother Zheng hurried over to answer it. After listening for a few moments, he said, "Okay, okay, we’re on our way."

"What’s wrong?" Su Miaoyi stood up straight.

"Xu Jinlan and Meng Yan are here," Brother Zheng said. "They said they have something to tell us. Let’s head over. They’re in the interrogation room."

"Okay." Su Miaoyi followed Brother Zheng.

"Xu Jinlan has been at the hospital. The doctor said she was suffering from extreme shock and that it was best not to agitate her, so our people just kept watch without asking any questions."

"As for Meng Yan... she’s staying at a hotel. The officers on surveillance tried to question her a few times, but she wouldn’t say anything."

"Why would they both come here together right after the surveillance was lifted?"

"We’ll know when we see them," Su Miaoyi said.

In the interrogation room.

Xu Jinlan and Meng Yan sat side-by-side.

Su Miaoyi and Brother Zheng sat across from them.

"Feeling better?" Su Miaoyi looked at Xu Jinlan’s complexion. She still looked a bit unwell, but it was a huge improvement from that night.

Xu Jinlan nodded. "Much better. The fever’s gone, I’m not throwing up anymore, and I’m not so scared."

Su Miaoyi nodded.

"It was the director. He kept saying the set was haunted, which is why I was so terrified," Xu Jinlan said.

"What did you want to tell us today?" Su Miaoyi asked.

"I want to talk about... how Liu Namo used to beat me," Xu Jinlan said.

"Me too," Meng Yan said.

Su Miaoyi looked from one to the other.

"I failed to get into the Film Academy again this year, missing the cutoff by a few points. Then I met Liu Namo, and he said he wanted to pursue me. He told me that if I was with him, I would definitely get into the Film Academy next year. And even before I got in, he’d make me famous."

Xu Jinlan said with her head lowered, "I knew Liu Namo had a lot of power in our circle. I’d also heard things about his girlfriends. Every single one he dated ended up becoming famous."

"That was me," Meng Yan said.

Su Miaoyi looked at her.

But after saying those three words, she didn’t seem inclined to continue.

Xu Jinlan continued, "So I accepted his advances. But after we got together, I discovered he had a violent streak. He would relieve his stress by hitting people."

"He hit hard, like he was trying to kill you. He was incredibly moody. When he was happy, he’d be wonderful to me—so gentle. He’d agree to anything. Even if I made an unreasonable demand, he’d agree if he could do it."

"But when he was in a bad mood, he would beat me to vent his anger. He didn’t treat me like a person."

"Why didn’t you say anything when I asked you that night?" Su Miaoyi asked.

"It was the path I chose. I was too greedy. I wanted fame, I wanted to get into the Film Academy, and I wanted to take a shortcut. Since I chose this path, I felt I had to accept it," Xu Jinlan said. "Besides... Liu Namo changed girlfriends frequently. I could get whatever I wanted from him. I just had to endure it."

"To admit I chose this path... it felt shameful."

"But what if you had lost your life?" Su Miaoyi asked.