Lady Meilin is seduced by her green tea brother-in-law everyday-Chapter 293: Other motives.

Mei Mei had a feeling that she had shot herself in the foot with her words. Her mother was going to say something that would have one or both of them sulking.

Chi Lian did not let Mei Mei down. "Now imagine protecting them that much and they decide to just abandon you and all you have done to keep them safe and....

"Mom..." Mei Mei jumped in. "I beg you. Can we not do this here? Or hopefully ever."

Chi Lian snorted. They would have to do it sometime, but they had a long way to go so she could zip it for now. "Fine," she said grudgingly. "What do you notice?"

Mei Mei rolled her eyes. "I have not looked at the crime scene at all. Give me a minute?"

Chi Lian reached into her pocket and Mei Mei groaned. Her mother was no doubt getting ready to time the minute while giving her a look that said "I can’t believe it is taking you this long to notice something so simple." Mei Mei hated that look.

She hated it even more when she and Mingzhe were given the same task and her genius brother accomplished it faster than her. They were twins that obviously shared the same genes so why did the genius gene only go to her brother?

It was not fair.

As Mei Mei was lamenting about this, Chi Lian pulled an antique pocket watch out from her pocket and tapped her foot quickly like a nervous bunny.

"That is not helping mom." Mei Mei snapped.

Chi Lian raised her hands and backed away. "Maybe this will help." She had acquired footage of the crime scene from Chen Shanhe.

She displayed it on a hologram, allowing Mei Mei to see the scene of the crime as it had been when the police made entry and found the body.

"Someone tried to remove the floor tiles. Detectives could not tell if it was because they wanted to cover up something or it was about to undergo some repairs." Chi Lian knelt down and started using a portable fan to blow away the dust and leaves that had gathered over the years.

"The owner of the house could have answered that question easily." Mei Mei said.

Chi Lian arched her eyebrows. The look in her eyes said, "You think the detectives did not look for that answer?"

Mei Mei rolled her eyes. "Mom, you taught me to go over a case step by step. I must look at the scene with fresh eyes and not only consider what the detectives found because they already failed. Now, I am going to say something else that maybe they noticed or not. Her throat was cut, where is the blood?"

Chi Lian’s one minute count down came to an end. Mei Mei had successfully found the first clue.

"The body was discovered after two days." Chi Lian stood up slowly. "Detectives assumed that she bled out and it dried naturally."

"Then where is the blood? Even if dried out, there would be signs. The tiles should have changed color at least." Mei Mei said. She looked at the footage of the initial detectives at the scene. "Seems to me like someone cleaned it up."

"The detectives also assumed that." Chi Lian said.

Mei Mei heard the disagreement in her mother’s voice. "But I am guessing that you don’t."

Chi Lian nodded. "I think they were wrong. What do you think?"

"That I should never bet against you in a game of clue." Mei Mei replied with a dry smile. "Also, you are often annoyingly right which tells me that you think she was killed elsewhere and the body was dumped here."

"Continue." Chi Lian smiled with approval.

Mei Mei put her hand on her chin as she pondered some more. "Detectives are not all stupid. At least one of them must have assumed the same thing. For starters, what was An Li doing all the way here?"

She waved her hand and wrinkled her nose. The house smelled of mildew and other rotting natural vegetation. It seemed like nobody had been inside for so many years. She walked into the kitchen, covering her nose because dust clung to everything. Parts of the windows had been shattered and sunlight was slicing through, hitting the old rusted sink.

"I think she was dumped here." Mei Mei said softly. "What could bring a good looking girl her all the way to a dump like this? The Hollow was a bad place even then back then, people like her did not come here for any reason."

Chi Lian shrugged. "I don’t know, young women tend to make silly decisions sometimes."

Mei Mei whirled around. "Really mom!"

Chi Lian rolled her eyes. "I am not talking about you, I am talking about all the young women in the world that have made decisions in their lives that were not necessarily the best. There used to be a fridge in the house back them and detectives found some beer and food.

There were some cigarettes in the kitchen, untouched. The bedroom upstairs had clean sheets and the bathroom was wet, showing sings of usage. Some of them concluded that she was living here temporarily or meeting someone like a lover or a friend."

Mei Mei thought back to the image of An Li. Very clean, very innocent and responsible. "Mmm, I don’t see it. Even if she was meeting a lover, it would not be in a place like this. An Li looked like the kind of girl that wants flowers and a proper date in a nice restaurant not shoddy run down house that smells like old moth."

Chi Lian laughed. "Well, you are right on that. Detectives did not find any sign of her meeting a friend or a lover. She was not dating anyone at her time of death even though she had three young men that were interested in her. They were all investigated and came out clean."

Mei Mei looked at her mother curiously. As puzzling as An Li’s case was, the timing of this duo investigation was a bit off. What was her mother not telling her?

"Mom, why are you looking into An Li’s case right now? The Empress just died, I am sure the Empress Mother wants you to stick to her like glue and help her sail through this period smoothly." She gestured around. "What are we doing here?"

Chi Lian sighed. "I was wondering how long it would take you to notice that I have other motives." She leaned forward and said softly, "Hui Zhenting."