We Are Filthy, Born From Mud - Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Yes, She Is Lucky.

This time, Zong Yougu chose to search the room with Wu You.

She continued to wander around the room according to the script, subtly observing Wu You as she moved.

She saw Wu You crouch down and take a black box from under the sofa.

This was not in the script.

Her memory was excellent; she couldn’t be mistaken.

Zong Yougu softened her footsteps and tiptoed behind Wu You.

Just as Wu You turned around, she was startled by Zong Yougu.

Zong Yougu stared intently at the box in Wu You’s hand.

Wu You subconsciously hid the box behind her back.

By the rules, they shouldn’t be speaking while searching.

Yet, Zong Yougu spoke with a serious expression:

“Are you thinking of quitting?”

“Huh?”

“I get you. Because I don’t want to do this anymore either. When you want to quit, you try to cause trouble for your colleagues and boss. I understand you.”

Zong Yougu folded her arms and kept nodding.

Listening to all this from afar, Zong Liangu couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

Zong Yougu’s foolishness made her laugh. Her fingers constantly fiddled with the necklace in her pocket.

It was the fake one she had taken from Zong Yougu’s drawer.

The plastic diamond’s facets left indentations on her hand.

She really couldn’t figure out what was going on in Zong Yougu’s mind: vanity, narcissism, stupidity.

The role of the clown was practically true to life for her.

A look of contempt appeared on Zong Liangu’s face.

Because she utterly despised people who couldn’t seize opportunities.

Her decision to have Zong Yougu step in was indeed impulsive, but she also wanted to see Zong Yougu’s performance.

Would she tolerate it? Was she smart?

Zong Yougu was indeed very tolerant; Zong Liangu was ready to compliment her. But now it seemed that this was merely due to Zong Yougu’s excessive dullness.

In other words, Zong Yougu was useless to her. Her existence would only be a hidden danger.

The sharp point of the plastic diamond dug deeply into Zong Liangu’s finger, and a tiny bit of blood oozed from the broken skin.

However, the stupider Zong Yougu was, the more justified Zong Liangu felt in replacing her.

She smiled because she had finally made up her mind to discard Zong Yougu.

“Miss Zong, we’re not supposed to talk,” Wu You reminded her.

“Fine,” Zong Yougu still smiled.

Yet, Zong Yougu continued to follow behind Wu You.

She was supposed to return to her original room, but she changed direction and followed Wu You into the room where Su Tongguo and Yu Zhao were.

Su Tongguo and Yu Zhao looked slightly surprised to see both Wu You and Zong Yougu.

But they quickly adjusted their expressions.

“Yougu, Miss Wu, you’ve finally come,” Yu Zhao managed a smile.

“I accidentally took the wrong turn just now,” Wu You said.

“I accidentally took the wrong turn just now,” Zong Yougu said.

Zong Yougu self-consciously pulled out a chair and sat down. She waved her hand: “I didn’t find anything, and I don’t plan to listen to you talk. I’ll leave next round.”

“But Yougu, we need to try our best to investigate the truth! Only by sharing evidence can we win.”

“Doesn’t the rule say it too? Only one person wins. This isn’t a team competition. Why cooperate? Ugh, you wouldn’t understand. Anyway, I’m leaving next round.”

According to the original plan, in the second round, Su Tongguo and Yu Zhao would come to Zong Yougu’s room after their search and complete this dialogue before Zong Yougu left.

Su Tongguo walked to Yu Zhao’s side, seemingly very angry.

Yu Zhao gently patted Su Tongguo’s back and comforted her in a low voice.

Yu Zhao looked up, watching Zong Yougu with some displeasure: “I can tell you this: next round, we’ll go to the other room. If you still refuse to share, you can stay here. No one will bother you while you deduce alone, Miss Suspect.”

Zong Yougu snorted softly and then lay down on the table.

For no other reason than that she was about to burst into laughter.

Both Yu Zhao and Su Tongguo showed a relieved gratitude after delivering their lines, as if they were freed.

It was hilarious.

“I found this under the sofa just now,” Wu You took out the black box.

Secretly opening her eyes, she saw surprise on both Yu Zhao’s and Su Tongguo’s faces.

They don’t know either?

Zong Yougu was not unaware of the anomaly.

When Wu You told her she took a wrong turn into Zong Yougu’s room.

If Zong Yougu was half-believing at the time, then when Wu You took out the evidence and offered to share it with Zong Yougu, Zong Yougu was certain something fishy was going on.

Was the script wrong? Would the final outcome also change?

Zong Yougu’s eyes stared blankly at a black spot on the floor, deep in thought.

“What is this?”

“It’s a black box. I briefly opened it just now, and there’s a necklace inside. Detective Su, you can keep it for now.”

“Don’t talk about it yet. We’ll discuss it later.”

Zong Yougu listened carefully, while her hand secretly reached into her pocket.

She now had three items in her pocket.

A small piece of cloth, a ring stolen from Wu You, and a fragmented drawing she just searched for, which seemed to be a famous artwork.

“Yougu, we’re leaving.”

Su Tongguo’s voice was a little cold. She walked over and patted Zong Yougu’s shoulder.

She sighed and left to search for evidence.

For the next few rounds, Zong Yougu didn’t cause any trouble.

She stayed alone in the room obediently, trying her best to perform.

After the four rounds of searching ended, the host returned to the stage.

“The four rounds of searching are complete. Let’s see if everyone can uncover the truth.”

Su Tongguo, Yu Zhao, and Wu You stepped forward.

“We have a rough idea of the truth, but we solved it together, not by any one person’s effort.”

“Alright, Detective Su, can you tell us your answer?”

Su Tongguo sighed, seemingly hesitant.

She spoke: “These are the pieces of evidence we found. Some were lost during the search. But from the existing clues, we can tell. This thief must have acted on impulse and hadn’t prepared tools beforehand. They went in after seeing an unlatched window.”

Zong Yougu raised an eyebrow. What Su Tongguo said was also slightly different from the script. Clearly, she too had noticed the anomaly.

“Very well said, a thief who acted on impulse. So, Detective Su, Investigator Yu, Miss Wu, who do you think this thief is?”

“Hmm?” The three looked at each other.

Because there was no identification segment in the original task.

“Alright, you did great.” The host didn’t make things difficult for them.

She turned to Zong Yougu and asked, “Miss Yougu, what clues did you find?”

Zong Yougu looked up, her gaze passing over the host. She saw Zong Liangu in the distance.

She smiled: “I found many clues, but some useless ones I didn’t bring out.”

She took out the pieces of evidence from her pocket one by one.

A small piece of cloth, a ring, a fragmented drawing, and two necklaces.

“Ah, how did this end up with you?” Su Tongguo couldn’t help but gasp when she saw the familiar necklace.

Zong Yougu smiled candidly: “I stole it.”

She then pointed to her costume and said, “See, I’m the thief.”

Even the host was amused by Zong Yougu’s tone. She asked, “Then, Miss Yougu, please tell us your deduction.”

Zong Yougu’s eyes scanned Zong Liangu in the distance again. She smiled and spoke: “Miss Su is absolutely right. I also believe the culprit acted on impulse. And… this thief is definitely an amateur thief. This ring is real. Out of the two necklaces, one is real and one is fake. This shows that she didn’t carefully distinguish between real and fake when stealing. Also, the famous painting was crumpled up by her. She clearly doesn’t know its worth.”

Zong Yougu muttered her complaint, her tone filled with the disappointment of someone wishing for better behavior.

The host tried hard to stifle her laughter. She asked, “Miss Yougu, who do you think the amateur thief is?”

Zong Yougu’s hand paused, seemingly hesitating.

She raised her hand, and her fingertip pointed at herself.

“That amateur thief might be me.”

“Why?”

Zong Yougu picked up the piece of cloth from the table. She said, “This cloth is exactly the same as the one on my body.”

“But isn’t Miss Wu’s outfit the same too?”

Zong Yougu contemplated for a moment. She smiled and said, “But my pant legs are an inch too short. At first, I thought it was because I wasn’t valued, so I didn’t dare to speak much.”

Zong Yougu suddenly squatted down, and the pant legs quickly slid up with the movement.

Zong Yougu unfolded the pant leg: “But look here. There are stitch marks inside. The folded and sewn-up part perfectly matches this piece of fabric.”

Zong Yougu stood up. She was certain: “Therefore, I am the culprit.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Wu You and the two hosts burst out laughing.

Zong Yougu frowned. She asked, “Was I wrong?”

“You were absolutely right, but Miss Zong, the thief was originally supposed to be me…” Wu You squatted on the floor, completely disregarding her image in front of the camera. “Miss Zong, our clothes were actually worn inside out…”

Zong Yougu was surprised. She finally started examining Wu You’s clothes: the top was tucked into the pants, the pant legs were rolled up, and the shoulder seams rested on her arms.

Zong Yougu suddenly understood. She felt her face burn. She explained in a low voice: “I thought neither of us was important…”

Zong Yougu buried her face in her hands.

She had spent most of the day feeling sorry for herself and being cautious all afternoon, only to realize it was all just a misunderstanding.

“Then I’m so lucky…” A muffled voice came from behind her hands.

She peeked at the people around her through her fingers. Everyone was laughing, and it was harmless laughter.

Su Tongguo poked her back with her finger. She said, “Ah, no wonder you were unusually quiet today. You’re in trouble. I’m going to laugh at you for the rest of my life.”

Yu Zhao seemed to suddenly remember something. She picked up the microphone and asked with some hesitation, “So, the original script was just meant to mislead us?”

“That’s right!” The production team’s voiceover sounded completely candid.

Everyone burst into laughter, except for Zong Liangu in the distance.

She put on her hood and efficiently collected the listening devices she had placed everywhere.

She walked further and further away, with intermittent laughter echoing behind her. She couldn’t hear the conversation mixed in with the laughter, but she knew they were all happy.

Hu Yinghua’s car was parked at the entrance. Zong Liangu got into the car, feeling somewhat angry.

Why was Zong Yougu always so fortunate?

“Hey? Why is it you? Where’s Sister Yougu?” Hu Yinghua asked, surprised.

“She doesn’t want us anymore. Drive me back quickly,” Zong Liangu lowered her voice.

“No, I need Sister Yougu to tell me herself. I don’t believe you.”

Zong Liangu closed her eyes and exhaled.

Zong Yougu was always surrounded by goodwill. What exactly was she dissatisfied with?

Zong Liangu knocked her leg. Her knuckle heavily hit her knee. It hurt a little.

Everything is working against her. Time to sleep.