Card Room (Rebirth)
chapter-83

Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang were whispering in a low voice. Zhao Zheng found these two looked serious and became more uneasy. He couldn’t help asking, “Do you have a clue about who killed my brother?”

Yu Hanjiang looked back and said, “At present, we can only determine that the murderer is a female your brother had an emotional dispute with. Do you know how many girlfriends your brother had over the years?”

Zhao Zheng told them, “I only know of three official girlfriends.”

Yu Hanjiang requested, “Say it in detail. How did they communicate and how did they break up?”

Zhao Zheng thought about it. “His first girlfriend is his first love, Yu Lin. She was our high school beauty and he met her after participating in a debate during the second half of school. My brother’s eloquence was very good and Yu Lin was also excellent. They got to know each other and my brother actively chased her. They were together for six months but then admitted to different universities. They broke up due to the long-distance relationship.

Yu Hanjiang directly asked, “What step did your brother reach with his first love? Did they sleep together?”

Xiao Lou, “…”

Group Leader Yu’s straight ball made people feel overwhelmed. It was obviously the same with Zhao Zheng. He seemed quite innocent and his ears were slightly red as he said, “One weekend, my brother and Yu Lin went out to play together. Then he sent a message to me in the middle of the night, stating that he changed from a boy to a man. So he and Yu Lin should’ve… done it?”

Xiao Lou quickly took out a pen and paper, writing down the key words.

Yu Hanjiang asked, “What type of personality does Yu Lin have? What major did she study? Was there any conflict before they broke up?”

“Yu Lin was the goddess of our high school. She was beautiful, had good grades and had a decent personality. She is a lady with a great temperament. She finally went to the mathematics department at a huge university. She was so far away from my brother that they broke up. I remember they didn’t have any conflicts and broke up peacefully. My brother was very sad and became drunk at the time.”

Yu Hanjiang followed suit and asked, “What is the situation of the second girlfriend?”

Zhao Zheng replied, “The second girlfriend was during the summer vacation after high school. He was talking to a sister working at the front desk of an Internet cafe. At that time, the university entrance examination was over and we had a lot of time. We went to the Internet cafe to play games over day. That girl was very open and they booked a room after three days. I don’t know her name. We all called her… Yanzi.”

Yu Hanjiang nodded. “The third official girlfriend is Yue Xiaoquan?”

“Yes, Yue Xiaoquan was a sophomore we met when our school held a networking dance. My brother and I met Mo Jiaran and Yue Xiaoquan at the same time. I fell in love at first sight and my brother was the same. We asked them out to dinner.”

Yu Hanjiang asked bluntly, “How far did he and Yue Xiaoquan go?”

Zhao Zheng touched his nose with embarrassment. “They have known each other for two years and last year, they went out on a trip alone for the holiday. My brother is so experienced and I guess that they should’ve also… done it.”

Xiao Lou couldn’t help frowning slightly. This Zhao Quan, it seemed he regarded sleeping with girls as a type of glory. Based on the number of stallion novels Zhao Quan had read, he wouldn’t be satisfied with only conquering three girls.

Yu Hanjiang also thought so and spoke lightly, “It seems your brother’s taste kept changing. First, there was his first love with an elegant temperament. Not long after they broke up, it was a hot girl from the Internet cafe. Then he found the cold Yue Xiaoquan?”

Zhao Zheng’s face was ugly. “I don’t quite understand his taste.”

Xiao Lou smiled. “I think he sees himself as the hero of a stallion novel and collected all types of females.”

Zhao Zheng was surprised. “What does that mean?”

Xiao Lou said, “You know he has three girlfriends but he definitely had contact with more than these three people. In addition the pure girl, the sexy girl and the cold iceberg girl, there should be a lively and cute type, a kind and shy type, an intelligent and gentle type… it is only by acquiring all types of females that he can be satisfied psychologically. Am I right?”

Zhao Zheng’s expression slightly changed and he couldn’t refute it for a moment.

Yu Hanjiang coldly asked, “How long has your brother been reading these novels?”

“He has been reading them since high school. It must be seven or eight years now.”

Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang glanced at each other. It seemed the idea of a harem had been deeply rooted in Zhao Quan’s heart.

He had his first love in high school. This was a time when he was educated and strictly controlled by his teachers and parents. His first girlfriend was also really good so it wasn’t convenient for him to step on many boats. The first time, he deliberately sent a message to his brother stating he had changed from a boy to a man. After becoming a man, there should be a sense of ‘growing up.’

The feelings of high school students were relatively simple. Being admitted to different universities and breaking up was a common result.

After the break-up and the summer vacation after the university entrance examination, Zhao Quan finally started to release himself. There was the sexy woman from the Internet cafe and they booked a room together after only three days. It could be seen that this type of close contact had no ‘sacred feeling’. The woman from the Internet cafe gave him the illusion that ‘it is easy to coax woman’ and the idea of a harem started to ferment in his heart.

The university environment was relatively free and the number of beauties was like clouds. He aimed for the cold and indifferent Yue Xiaoquan.

On the surface, Zhao Quan was truly very talented. He was good at speaking, measured, responsible and had a wealth of experience chasing females. He had a variety of methods to coax girls and Yue Xiaoquan was moved by him. They slept together when they went travelling during the holidays.

However, with his personality, how could he be content with only Yue Xiaoquan? Zhao Quan certainly couldn’t endure two years with only a girlfriend. In the process of his relationship with Yue Xiaoquan, he might’ve stepped on two, three or four boats. He was in contact with different types of girls.

Xiao Lou felt more and more admiration. Wasn’t this brother afraid of getting schizophrenia?

Yu Hanjiang was silent for a moment. “You only know these three and no one else?”

“Yes, I only know the name of these three.” Then Zhao Zheng suddenly added, “Oh, I saw some ambiguous Wechat messages on my brother’s phone. There was a girl who called him ‘Dear’ and another called him ‘Husband.’ The photo didn’t seem to be Yue Xiaoquan. However, my brother often plays games and looks for a wife in the game. I thought it was his game partner and didn’t care.”

Sure enough, Zhao Quan had stepped on N boats and accidentally capsized the boat.

Xiao Lou helplessly asked, “Do you remember the photo and name of the people he called so intimately?”

Zhao Zheng thought carefully. “There was a lovely kitten, a white cat head called Xiao Yu. There was also a person who took photos of herself in delicate makeup. She looked gentle and beautiful and her name was a string of letters.”

Yu Hanjiang asked for all the information that Zhao Zheng knew. Immediately after, he and Xiao Lou rummaged through Zhao Quan’s travel backpack. In a pocket with a zipper at the corner of the backpack was a fingernail-sized USB disk. It wasn’t easily seen unless you were searching carefully. Yu Hanjiang picked up the USB disk and looked at Zhao Zheng. “Do you have a laptop?”

“I didn’t bring one… Ranran has one. I will see if I can borrow it from her.”

He turned around in a hurry. A moment later, he came back holding a pink laptop. Mo Jiaran might have a temper but she had a young girl’s heart. The laptop case was pink and the keyboard attached was also pink. The desktop photo was a cute teddy bear and there were two hard drive partitions. One was a C drive system and the other hard drive contained various shojo manga, anime and idol dramas.

It was a strange contrast and Xiao Lou seriously wondered if Zhao Quan didn’t have any thoughts about his brother’s girlfriend. Yu Hanjiang plugged the USB stick into the interface and there was a prompt to enter the password.

Zhao Zheng thought about it. “Try 147852, my brother commonly uses this password.”

Yu Hanjiang entered this string of numbers and the USB disk was successfully opened. Then…

Xiao Lou, Yu Hanjiang and Zhao Zheng were stunned.

The USB drive had seven folders, respectively named ‘Love Concubine Lin’, ‘Love Concubine Quan’, ‘Love Concubine Yan’, ‘Beauty Song’, ‘Concubine Yi’, ‘Concubine Ru’ and ‘Beauty Mu.’ It made their eyes sting!

Xiao Lou, “………”

The feudal empire had died early yet this brother was still choosing concubines? Yu Hanjiang had a headache and held his temple as he looked at Zhao Zheng. “Your brother’s private life is really rich.”

Therefore, he was punished with castration.

Zhao Zheng seemed to understand their subtext and his full was full of horror. “I-I didn’t know! Don’t look at me like that. I’m…I’m very single-minded. I’ve never even talked to other girls. Don’t tell Ranran…”

One brother was popular while the other brother was henpecked. The gap was really big.

Xiao Lou couldn’t smile. “We didn’t say anything about you. Let’s talk about your brother’s love concubines first. It seems that he has a habit of collecting females and taking photos. Do you know any of them?”

Zhao Zheng opened the folder with an unsightly face. Xiao Lou was ready for the visual impact. Fortunately, Zhao Quan still showed some restraint. The photos were all ordinary photos and didn’t involve any private matters. There were no naked photos.

Zhao Zheng pointed to a photo and said, “This is his first love, Yu Lin. This is Yue Xiaoquan who you have met. This is the Internet beauty called Yanzi… I don’t know anyone else.”

Xiao Lou roughly counted. The number of concubines and beauties collected added up to seven.

In ancient times, three wives and four concubines enjoyed the blessing of the people. The wives lived in harmony but this was under the premise that the ancient wives knew of each other and could accept the setting of ‘serving one husband together.’ In modern society, monogamy had long existed. Females couldn’t stand their boyfriend cheating so Zhao Quan didn’t tell these girls about stepping on N boats.

His IQ wasn’t poor. He could distinguish every girl’s preferences and remember their birthday…

Using such IQ to do bad things? Why go down such a crooked path!

Xiao Lou looked at the seven neat folders and was silent for a moment. “Zhao Quan’s mobile phone photos and chat records have been deleted. The murderer must not have thought that he would have back up photos on a USB disk.”

Yu Hanjiang nodded and wondered, “Do you feel that this Internet cafe beauty has familiar eyes?”

Xiao Lou carefully looked at the photo and touched his chin. “Her left eye has a red mole in the corner. I remember that someone in the female group has the same red mole.” He quickly confirmed it. “It is Liu Xiaoyan! Her appearance and temperament have changed a lot but I can vaguely recognize her.”

Yu Hanjiang’s face was extremely serious. “Sure enough, this female group is related to Zhao Quan. We should carefully check the photos.”

Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou opened all the photos in the seven folders with the clearest frontal view.

The first was Yu Lin. She had a dignified temperament and long and straight black hair. Strangely, Zhao Quan’s relationship with her was during high school but the photo wasn’t of a high school student. It was shot at a university gate. Logically speaking, they had broken up and he shouldn’t have this photo…did Zhao Quan get back together with her?

Yu Hanjiang found her more and more familiar. Then he suddenly said, “Last night, there was a new passenger on the 6th carriage. She is currently staying in Room 4 and she is called Yu Lin.”

Xiao Lou was surprised and immediately took another look.

The second photo was of Liu Xiaoyan. The big sister of the female group used to work the front desk of the Internet cafe but now she seemed to have a successful career. Her image had undergone a big change but the mole at the corner of one eye was still distinct.

The third Yue Xiaoquan was from medical school. She had a clean face, a cold and frosty personality and long, black and straight hair.

If he carefully looked at the fourth one, he could see that it was actually Song Xiaoyu from the female friends group. It was the same long and black straight hair! The girl wore a pure white dress and seemed a bit shy facing the camera. Her face was red and her clear eyes were ignorant. She looked only 18 and seemed innocent. This would indeed arouse a man’s desire for protection.

The fifth was wearing a professional suit and seemed to be a worker. She was wearing silver glasses and her smile was gentle. She looked like a 24 year old working woman. Coincidentally, Xiao Lou happened to see her board the train last night at 21:30. He asked her if she was going to the concert and she said she was going for business. The picture of the girl called Si Yi was placed in the ‘Concubine Yi’ folder by Zhao Quan.

The sixth and seventh girls also happened to be seen by Xiao Lou. They also boarded the train last night at 21:30. They walked together carrying bags and wearing sportswear. They looked like university students and were called Yan Ruru and Cheng Mu. They happened to be placed in the ‘Concubine Ru’ and ‘Beauty Mu’ folders.

The more Xiao Lou looked, the more alarmed he became!

Yu Lin, Liu Xiaoyan, Yue Xiaoquan, Song Xiaoyu, Si Yi, Yan Ruru and Cheng Mu…

Xiao Lou’s voice trembled slightly as he exclaimed with disbelief. “Zhao Quan’s USB disk has photos of seven girls and these seven girls are actually all on this train!”

Zhao Zheng’s face was also full of horror. “What do you mean? All my brother’s girlfriends have come?”

YU Hanjiang carefully looked a the photo used as the mobile phone’s desktop.

This horror-style train photo was apparently done by a photoshop master. Everyone on the train was expressionless, like a corpse. The train to hell… this was what it meant.

Yu Hanjiang stared at the folder on the computer and declared calmly, “The seven girls are all present. Your brother’s concubines have come to collectively give him a funeral.”

Thank you chuna for the Card Room fanart.