{"id":3368,"date":"2026-05-15T04:44:50","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T04:44:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/who-is-lying-03\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T04:44:54","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T04:44:54","slug":"who-is-lying-03","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/ko\/chapter\/who-is-lying-03\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Is Lying ? 03"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The next morning, Chen Jing&#8217;an was too tired to get up and see Wei Chengying off to work.<br><br>By the time she woke well into the day, she was the only one left at home.<br><br>After a quick wash-up, Chen Jing&#8217;an grabbed her little cloth bag and headed to the nearby market to buy groceries.<br><br>Now she wasn&#8217;t living alone anymore; every night she had to prep the dishes she would cook that evening in advance. As for breakfast and lunch, she just threw something together to fill her stomach.<br><br>Chen Jing&#8217;an took her keys and went out, only to find the neighbor next door standing by the elevator with bags and bundles.<br><br>&#8220;Are you going on a long trip?&#8221;<br><br>Chen Jing&#8217;an sized up the scene \u2014 it was over the top; they&#8217;d even packed up pots and pans. Could they be moving out?<br><br>Apartment 1302 is occupied by a middle-aged couple. The man looks honest and steady, the woman has a simple, wholesome air\u2014you can tell at a glance they&#8217;re decent folk.<br><br>As soon as Chen Jing&#8217;an finished asking, the man lowered his voice and said, &#8220;Someone died here. That kind of death. No matter how good the feng shui, it&#8217;s ruined now. You and Xiao Wei should hurry and find somewhere else to move\u2014this place can&#8217;t be lived in anymore!&#8221;<br><br>Chen Jing&#8217;an forced an awkward smile and said nothing.<br><br>&#8220;Ding\u2014&#8221;<br><br>Elevator 1 arrived, and when the doors opened, Chen Jing&#8217;an stood there dumbfounded.<br><br>There weren\u2019t many people inside\u2014just two men and two women\u2014but there wasn\u2019t an extra inch of space to stand because heaps of large luggage and a variety of bags were piled around the four of them.<br><br>One of the four, a tall, skinny man, gave them an apologetic nod and said, \u201cSorry, the neighboring elevator\u2019s coming right behind this one. Could you wait a moment?\u201d<br><br>After saying that, he pressed the close-door button.<br><br>The No.1 elevator descended like that, and Chen Jing\u2019an heard the couple beside her whispering:<br><br>\u201cYou see, I was right\u2014everyone in this building has to move out. Who would dare live here now?\u201d<br><br>\u201cHey, why do you think that woman killed herself? So young, not unattractive\u2014what made her so hopeless?\u201d<br><br>After hearing a few lines, Chen Jing\u2019an couldn\u2019t help but join them.<br><br>&#8220;You say she committed suicide?&#8221;<br><br>The woman nodded and told her the gossip she&#8217;d heard that morning: &#8220;The case was solved last night. The woman wrote a suicide note saying she had severe depression, felt life was meaningless, and hanged herself.&#8221;<br><br>Was the suicide note written by her? Was the handwriting verified?<br><br>Chen Jing&#8217;an was writing a similar suspense novel, so she asked in detail. The woman looked at her strangely: &#8220;How should I know? Since the police closed the case, it means she wrote the suicide note herself. Who else would have written it beforehand and left it in her house? Young lady, don&#8217;t pry into this matter. It&#8217;s bad luck. You should leave this place quickly. People who commit suicide wearing red become very vengeful after death.&#8221; &#8220;<br><br>As they were talking, Elevator No. 2 arrived, and this time it was empty.<br><br>The man dragged a box of pots, bowls, and pans inside; the woman went in too, leaving Chen Jing&#8217;an standing alone outside the elevator, dazed.<br><br>&#8220;Hey, girl, are you coming in? If you don&#8217;t come in I&#8217;m going to close the door.&#8221;<br><br>The man shouted once.<br><br>Chen Jing&#8217;an snapped back to her senses and hurried into the elevator.<br><br>With her vivid imagination, she could already envision a plot where murder was disguised as suicide. While perfectly acceptable in fiction, such a scenario would be terrifying if it played out in real life.<br><br>Chen Jing&#8217;an was lost in thought and didn&#8217;t notice the elevator had stopped on the eighth floor. A young woman in a cartoon nightgown stepped in, her hair in a messy bun, carrying two bags of household trash\u2014one in each hand.<br><br>&#8220;Wow, you guys are moving too? My next-door place is completely emptied out \u2014 what on earth is going on?&#8221;<br><br>The voice with a slight accent caught Chen Jing&#8217;an&#8217;s attention.<br><br>The man enthusiastically recounted last night&#8217;s murder case. The young woman listened without a hint of fear, snorting derisively: &#8220;That woman on the fourth floor is mentally unstable. I saw her dragging the guy from the tenth floor into her place in the elevator earlier, claiming they were watching a movie together. Later I found out\u2014she&#8217;s got a messy private life, throwing herself at every man she meets. Who knows how many people in this apartment building have been her bedmates?&#8221;<br><br>The man immediately felt the death stare his wife shot him and hurriedly clarified, &#8220;I don&#8217;t know her at all \u2014 I&#8217;m not involved in any of this.&#8221;<br><br>The young woman chuckled softly, &#8220;Even if you wanted to, you wouldn&#8217;t have the chance \u2014 she&#8217;s already dead.&#8221;<br><br>&#8220;You seem to know the deceased well? What was your relationship with her?&#8221;<br><br>Chen Jing&#8217;an spoke up abruptly.<br><br>The young woman turned her head to look at her; her bare face made her appear only around twenty, her features delicate and spirited\u2014an unmistakable beauty in the making.<br><br>She scanned Chen Jing&#8217;an up and down, and instead of answering asked, &#8220;You look unfamiliar \u2014 newly moved in? Which floor do you live on?&#8221;<br><br>Chen Jing&#8217;an answered, &#8220;The 13th floor.&#8221;<br><br>The young woman let out a long &#8220;oh&#8221; sound. At that moment the first floor was reached; when the elevator doors opened, the middle-aged couple hurriedly began taking out their luggage.<br><br>Chen Jing&#8217;an and the young woman walked down to the first-floor lobby and saw that many people had gathered there.<br><br>I asked around and found out they were all residents of this apartment building.<br><br>Chen Jing&#8217;an stood in the corner listening for a while; the conversation was mostly about the murder on the fourth floor.<br><br>&#8220;These people all paid top dollar for their apartments, and now there&#8217;s been a death \u2014 and such a weird one at that. They&#8217;ve all lost everything.&#8221;<br><br>The young woman tossed out the trash and walked over to Chen Jing&#8217;an&#8217;s side to watch the commotion together.<br><br>Chen Jing\u2019an glanced at her: &#8220;Aren&#8217;t you at a loss?&#8221;<br><br>If someone dies in the apartment building, property values will plummet and everyone living here will lose money.<br><br>The young woman yawned and said indifferently, &#8220;They&#8217;re at a loss because they&#8217;re too scared to live here. If I live here until I&#8217;m old, I won&#8217;t lose any money.&#8221;<br><br>Chen Jing&#8217;an thought what she said actually made a lot of sense.<br><br>&#8220;And you? Will you move out with your boyfriend?&#8221;<br><br>The young woman automatically reached for her pocket, found she hadn&#8217;t brought any cigarettes, and frowned.<br><br>Chen Jing&#8217;an saw through her relationship with Wei Chengying at a glance and was slightly surprised.<br><br>&#8220;We&#8217;ll keep living here.&#8221;<br><br>&#8220;I guess so too.&#8221; The young woman had no cigarette to smoke, so she suppressed the craving and stared at the increasingly agitated people as if watching a show.<br><br>&#8220;You still haven&#8217;t answered my question.&#8221;<br><br>Chen Jing&#8217;an reminded her.<br><br>The young woman sighed. &#8220;Alright, I like you, so it&#8217;s fine to tell you. The woman who died on the fourth floor seduced my ex. I saw their chat logs \u2014 they were filthier than you can imagine. I flew into a rage and went to confront her, slapped her across the face. My ex wanted to break up with me for her; fine, let him leave. I&#8217;m not going to die without him.&#8221;<br><br>&#8220;So, you two are rivals in love?&#8221;<br><br>Chen Jing&#8217;an delivered the concluding remarks.<br><br>That was a long time ago. Let me make this clear: her death had nothing to do with me. I&#8217;m not about to let some jerk ruin my life.<br><br>The young woman, tired of talking, yawned and prepared to go upstairs to sleep.<br><br>Before leaving, she patted Chen Jing&#8217;an&#8217;s shoulder. &#8220;My name&#8217;s Mo Qianqian. I&#8217;m a beauty vlogger on the Cheese live-streaming platform. I go live at 8 PM\u2014if you&#8217;re interested, remember to tune in and show some support, okay?&#8221;<br><br>Moxi Xi was exhausted and, before Chen Jing&#8217;an could reply, took the elevator up.<br><br>Chen Jing&#8217;an didn&#8217;t linger either, but before she could step out of the apartment building, a man in a yellow Taoist robe came rushing straight at her.<br><br>Chen Jing&#8217;an instinctively turned her body, but still bumped shoulders with the other person.<br><br>&#8220;Sorry, I didn&#8217;t hit you hard, did I?&#8221;<br><br>The Taoist priest glanced up, and upon seeing Chen Jing&#8217;an&#8217;s face, blurted out, &#8220;Ah\u2014your forehead is darkened between the brows; today you&#8217;ll have a bloody disaster.&#8221;<\/p>","protected":false},"parent":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"novel":[],"class_list":["post-3368","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/chapter\/3368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/chapter"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3368"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/chapter\/3368\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3369,"href":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/chapter\/3368\/revisions\/3369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"novel","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/novel?post=3368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}