The Mystery of the Inner Demon

Chapter 342 Old Money 3
After listening to Wu Shanqiu's words on the other end of the phone, Qi Fei looked at Lao Qian sitting opposite him, his eyes filled with mixed feelings.

He hoped Old Qian was lying; he hoped that, like last time, he could save the person at the last moment.

However, Old Qian did not give him a chance.

Tian Mi was found hanged from one of the pine trees.

"You think I would give her a chance? The person I gave a chance to was Dong Ziwu, not Tian Mi." Old Qian grinned, revealing his teeth stained yellow from smoking. "That's right, I brought Dong Ziwu to Bu Er Jing, and I also put the keychain that framed Tian Mi there."

Tian Mi bears half the responsibility for Dong Ziwu's death.

I told her I didn't want to work under Dong Ziwu anymore. It took me several sleepless nights to finally muster the courage to bring that up. Looking back, it's ridiculous. I've lived a mediocre life, unknowingly turning myself into a workaholic.

"Did Tian Mi insult you?" Qi Fei guessed.

Old Qian sneered, "Scold? You don't understand her. In her eyes, I don't even have the right to be scolded. I don't even have the chance to see her. Everything has to be relayed through others. When it was being set up, it was the assistant who relayed the messages, and after Dong Ziwu arrived, it was this Manager Dong who relayed the messages. I sent her a message, and I carefully revised those hundred-plus words repeatedly, afraid that she would be unhappy. In the end, I was ignored. She didn't reply to me at all."

"Maybe she didn't see the message?"

"Do you think so? I've driven for her and run errands for her. She responds immediately to any information sent from above. Even if it means we have to stay up all night, we still have to get back to her as quickly as possible. Her lack of response just means I'm not qualified to make such a request to her directly."

Then I started talking to her supervisors. I thought it was a small matter, but I was wrong. They all told me that personnel matters were sensitive and that it was inconvenient for them to get involved, or advised me to be patient, saying that there were plenty of people with connections these days and it was nothing unusual.

Yes, Dong Ziwu didn't have to die, but these things, these things that others consider insignificant, accumulated little by little, eventually became a knife I couldn't retract. This knife had to be used against Dong Ziwu, even though I knew he was just an ordinary person among the masses, even though I knew he wasn't utterly wicked. But he was the last straw that broke the camel's back; he had to be killed, otherwise my already slumped life would sink even deeper into the mud, plunging into endless darkness.

"You wouldn't understand." Old Qian kept saying that Qi Fei wouldn't understand him, and the old smoker lit a second cigarette.

"Tell me about the crime, starting with Dong Ziwu. He told Meng Qian that he was going to inspect a project that day. Did you lie to him?" Qi Fei asked.

Old Qian sneered: "This idiot who's so eager to make a splash, what does he know about projects? He's been bringing in a bunch of rubbish projects to talk about, just like that day."

The day before, he put on airs and asked me to drive him to discuss a project. At that time, I had already explored every possible avenue, but I still couldn't get transferred out of the computing power department.

When this inexperienced Dong Ziwu asked me to drive again, I suddenly felt like I was Tian Mi's servant, sent by her to serve this young master. Just like I said, he had to die; he set his own death date. If he hadn't let me drive for him, none of this would have happened.

As usual, he forwarded the address the other party sent without even checking the route himself. He then started flirting with the woman in the back seat, completely ignoring where I was driving.

"You took him to the Path of No Two, why is it the Path of No Two?" Qi Fei asked.

Upon hearing this question, Old Qian sighed and looked up at the sky: "It was truly fate. I knew Tian Mi was going to the vicinity that day. Their cars were very similar, and I hated Tian Mi more than Dong Ziwu. But I couldn't bring myself to do anything to her right away. So I thought of framing her for Dong Ziwu's death."

The clothes she gave to Xu Donglai were purchased by me. Because I often asked us to do errands, I was very familiar with her car. I knew there was a hiking tent in her trunk.

The two paths, tents, keychains, and black sedans can easily lead you to Tianmi's direction.

The trick Zhuang Xueqing used to deal with Feng Yi last time gave me an idea. I put drugs in the water in the car, and Dong Ziwu quickly fell into a deep sleep.

Thanks to Tian Mi, I'm very familiar with the Bu Er Jing area. It was closed for maintenance during this time, so Tian Mi didn't accompany those old guys hiking. Dong Ziwu, the rich kid who goes to bars after work, is completely unfamiliar with the Bu Er Jing area. If I just left him there to fend for himself, he probably wouldn't make it out alive. Those drainage ditches on the hillsides can be used as slides during the dry season. I wrapped him in a tent and easily got him to Bu Er Jing.

Then I went down the cement trough myself, retrieved the tent fabric, and left.

If he had been wise enough, he wouldn't have died there. But he was just a man who was good for nothing but talking and putting on airs.

"There's no shortcut to leaving. How ironic that this person, sheltered by his parents and taking shortcuts all the way up, ultimately couldn't find a way out of that path on his own," Old Qian said with no small amount of sarcasm.

"But Lao Qian, when you sent him on his way, you also cut off your own path. You endured a lifetime of hardship for Dong Ziwu, was it worth it?" Qi Fei asked.

Old Qian's cigarette was almost burned out. He seemed to have lost all his strength and slumped back in his chair. "In this life of being used, exploited, and sacrificed, all I wanted was for what I learned to be useful to society, for my efforts to be rewarded. Dong Ziwu's appearance shattered my most ordinary wish. You wouldn't understand this feeling of disillusionment. When I realized this truth, I was already dead."

"Where is Xi He? When did he approach you?" Qi Fei's question made Old Qian's body tremble. He looked at Qi Fei with a sinister gaze, as if Xi He had possessed him for a moment.

“He only strengthened my resolve to kill Dong Ziwu, and did nothing else. He was the only one who responded to me when I had nowhere else to turn, a guiding light in the darkness.” He expressed his worship of Xihe to Qi Fei with fervor, “He is the closest human being I have ever met to a god, no, he is a god, who pulled me back when I was in my most desperate moment.”

“You’re wrong. He’s just using your pain to satisfy his bloodlust. Old Qian, I know him. He’s just a madman…” Qi Fei looked at Old Qian with regret.
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