False evidence

Chapter 462 Painted Skin (12)

After the old woman finished speaking, she turned her face away and walked forward unsteadily.

I couldn't help but chase after her and ask her, "How many people were on the bus just now?"
The old woman gave me a horrified look. "Who else? It's just the three of you, and the man who got off the bus first!"

Yan Fengwei looked at me and said, "Isn't there another girl? The one with the ponytail."

"Pah, pah, pah! Amitabha, Amitabha..."

The old woman seemed to have seen a ghost this time, chanting Buddhist prayers as she ran away in a panic.

Yan Fengwei, Cao Xinyun, and I stared at each other in silence for a long time.

We boarded the bus behind the girl with the ponytail from the small restaurant at the train station.

During that time, I not only communicated with her via WeChat, but Yan Fengwei also met her in person. Before getting out of the car, the driver even confirmed that there was such a person, and that her real name was Xiao Hong.

Judging from the old woman's tone, she actually said there weren't any girls...

Cao Xinyun suddenly asked me, "Did you take pictures of the people in the car before?"

Reminded by him, I quickly took out my phone and opened the photo album.

Since it was considered a candid shot, I couldn't use the flash.

Even so, the high-resolution phone still managed to capture Xiaohong's profile clearly.

Upon seeing the photo, Yan Fengwei and I both breathed a sigh of relief.

However, upon turning to the next page, both of them, along with Cao Xinyun, couldn't help but gasp several times.

This photo is of that old woman. When I took the picture, she happened to turn her head back. I was startled by her turning her head, so I deliberately ran to the front of the car to peek behind me, only to find that it was a false alarm.

Looking at the photos now is ten or a hundred times more terrifying than when they were taken.

The old woman in the photo is the same face we've seen before. Only her hair, which was originally styled in a bun, is now loose in the photo.

Moreover, her drab old coat is clearly bright red in the photo!

She even gave the camera a strange smile!

"good luck……"

Yan Fengwei and Cao Xinyun both looked extremely grim.

Now I didn't have to hold back anymore and told them about how I saw two drunkards get on the bus and pay the fare with small bills.

The two men looked even more bewildered. They both said that a man did get off the bus when it stopped. However, the man was wearing a station uniform, so he was probably taking his company bus home from get off work.

After that, besides the driver, there were only the three of us and two women, one old and one young, in the car. No one else got on.

I stood there stunned for a moment, then suddenly remembered that my purpose in coming here was to ride with the car. Now that I've gotten off the car, what am I supposed to do?

Yan Fengwei said that although he did not plan to take a long-distance bus back, he still asked and found that the same minibus was returning at 8:15 a.m. that day.

I asked Cao Xinyun what he was doing there, but he still hesitated and wouldn't say.

I decided to ignore him. Since I was already here, I might as well go with Yan Fengwei. When it got light, I could just take that minibus back.

Yan Fengwei turned on the navigation and searched for the address the ugly female client had given him. After finding it, he said, "Luckily, that place isn't far from here. Otherwise, in the middle of the night, I really wouldn't know where to find a car."

The three of us walked along the curb at night, and I was still thinking about what happened on the minibus.

To verify some things, I went back to WeChat and checked my chat history with Xiaohong. Then I tried sending her a message, making small talk by asking if she knew where Lai's Shop was, but I didn't get a reply.

I sent another message to the group, but no one responded. What I love most is the rain in the South, especially at night; I sleep very soundly listening to the rain.

What I hate most is the rain in the South. It comes suddenly without any warning, and almost every time the weather forecast has to come out to announce it.

Sanhe County is very close to the city, and none of the three of them were prepared, nor was there anywhere nearby to take shelter from the rain.

As soon as the rain started, they were all soaked to the bone.

I couldn't help but want to curse, let alone Yan Fengwei and Cao Xinyun.

They finally spotted a house and rushed over in a panic.

"Damn it, is that ugly old woman deliberately playing me for a fool?" Yan Fengwei cursed in a disheveled manner. "She said she would wait for me, but now there's not even a ghost in sight!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than a creaking sound came from behind.

We were taking shelter from the rain under the eaves when we turned around and saw that the door of this family was open a crack, revealing an old face wrinkled like an orange peel.

I couldn't help but think of the old woman on the bus, and instinctively took a step back.

"What are you doing here?" The person behind the door spoke, and it was then that it became clear that he was an old man.

Yan Fengwei was the first to react, saying, "Sir, we're from the city and not familiar with this place. It's raining, so we can only ask to borrow your place to take shelter from the rain."

He was a seasoned veteran; as he spoke, he slipped an unopened pack of cigarettes through the crack in the door.

The old man didn't answer, but opened the door directly. "Come in, everyone. What's with the cigarettes? Everyone has inconveniences when they're out and about."

We thanked them repeatedly, and only after entering did we realize that it was a general store.

The glass display case was filled with all kinds of cigarettes.

"What, it's you again?" A surprised voice came from the doorway of the inner room.

A girl came out; she looked like she had just changed into her home clothes, but we knew each other.

It turns out to be Xiao Hong, who came in the same car as us!

"Damn it, that bald driver deserves to die," Yan Fengwei muttered under his breath, forgetting that he himself was bald as well.

The driver and Xiaohong were clearly very familiar with each other; he regularly drove the Sanhe route. Even though he knew there was nowhere to stay where we got off, he still insisted on leaving us there. While it's human nature to be kind and it's reasonable not to offer help, we were certainly resentful after being soaked by the rain.

We explained our difficulties to Xiaohong and casually asked her if there were any hotels nearby.

The reply was somewhat unexpected; the front of the place sells cigarettes, alcohol, and general merchandise, while the back is a hotel.

What else is there to say? Just pay for the hotel.

Yan Fengwei was still preoccupied with the lock issue, but he couldn't get in touch with his customer no matter what he did, which made him mutter curses under his breath again in frustration.

Regarding the identity of the unattractive female client, I can only speculate and cannot say for sure. I can only advise him to be more mindful of his words for the sake of his soon-to-be-born child.

Although the private hotel was small, there were still rooms available. For some reason, Cao Xinyun insisted that the three of them share a room.

He requested a triple room, but then said he was hungry and asked the old man who called himself Mr. Sun to make him three bowls of instant noodles.

That suits me just fine.

Seeing that Xiaohong didn't seem to want to avoid me, I took the opportunity while we were eating instant noodles to strike up a casual conversation with her.

We didn't mention anything about what happened in the car, only that this was her maternal grandfather's house. The reason she rushed over in the middle of the night was because it was the third anniversary of her deceased maternal grandmother's death. Her parents were busy with their business and weren't planning a big celebration, so she came alone to help out…

(End of this chapter)