Chapter 68

When Bai Luorui arrived at Longyue Elderly City, Wei Hong and Du Ruoxin were already there.

This elderly care city was completed a few months ago, and the interior decoration had been finished long ago. However, due to the lack of an opening ceremony, it hadn’t been put into operation yet. The vast expanse of buildings resembled an unattended deserted city.

Bai Luorui had most of the access permissions here and knew the security guards on duty. She had made two access cards for her companions. Previously, they had imprisoned Zhang Peicai here.

Even if someone shouted loudly here, no one outside would hear a thing. This place had once been the scene of Zhang Peicai’s death, but now, the bloodstains and various traces inside had been thoroughly cleaned by Du Ruoxin and her.

Bai Luorui opened a door, entered a room, and found Du Ruoxin sitting on the sofa, while Wei Hong leaned against the wall. Both of them looked up as she entered.

The three culprits had finally gathered here, each of them with blood on their hands, the blood of the elderly and Zhang Peicai.

Before Du Ruoxin could speak, Bai Luorui sat down beside her and spoke with anger in her tone, “You are still as timid as you were when you were a child!”

Du Ruoxin expressed what was on her mind, “If there really is an email, if it has really been sent out…”

They still didn’t know what Zhang Peicai might have left behind, how much each of them was implicated. Perhaps the contents could ruin all of them.

“Nothing will happen,” Bai Luorui said, “Why are you panicking? Maybe that method of preservation is just something Zhang Peicai made up to deceive people. Maybe he didn’t find out much at all.”

Du Ruoxin pursed her lips. She didn’t understand why Bai Luorui was so angry with her. They were originally like crickets tied together. Now, no one could escape. When Bai Luorui mentioned the word “deceive,” she broke down. Tears slid from the corners of Du Ruoxin’s eyes. She initially tried to wipe them away with her hands, but eventually couldn’t wipe them away. “You are lying to me! Bai Luorui! You big liar! Didn’t you say you would handle it well?”

Now, she deeply regretted it. If she hadn’t gone to find Zhang Peicai in the first place, would the outcome be different?

Now, she deeply regrets whether the outcome would be different if she hadn’t gone to find Zhang Peicai in the first place.

All the turning points in the situation occurred one month ago.

Before, Du Ruoxin had heard from Zhang Mingxuan that Zhang Peicai had been with another woman recently, arousing her suspicion. However, when she discovered that the woman was Bai Luorui, she was shocked. So, that day, she went to the hotel to find Zhang Peicai.

Zhang Peicai didn’t notice anything unusual about her. When he went in for a shower, she secretly opened his computer, where she found an unfinished article titled “Heiress of the Witch: Unveiling the Chaos of Nancheng Elderly Care.”

Du Ruoxin rushed out of the room, drove all the way to Bai Luorui’s house. It was pouring rain that day. She only walked a short distance, and she was already soaked through. When she arrived at the gate of Bai Luorui’s villa, Du Ruoxin’s hair had turned into strands, and her whole body was dripping wet, looking extremely disheveled.

Bai Luorui was startled when she saw her. “Du Ruoxin? Why are you here?”

“My husband… the man who recently got close to you, he knows what you are doing now, knows about our past…” Du Ruoxin’s eyes were full of panic. After organizing her thoughts, she told Bai Luorui the whole story, including her relationship with Zhang Peicai and the fact that Zhang Peicai, for the sake of investigating the news, had anonymously approached Bai Luorui.

After a moment of silence, understanding the severity of the situation, Bai Luorui said, “Fortunately, fortunately, there’s still time, it hasn’t reached the worst outcome.” Then, she said calmly, “I’ll handle it.”

She grabbed Du Ruoxin’s ice-cold hand. “Let’s handle this together.”

At that time, Du Ruoxin, like eighteen years ago, chose to stand on the side of friendship.

Little did she expect that next, Bai Luorui, along with Wei Hong, kidnapped her husband Zhang Peicai. They subjected him to severe torture and various torment, but Zhang Peicai never uttered a word. Later, Zhang Peicai died.

When Du Ruoxin saw his body, she felt that she was done for. Once again, Bai Luorui assured her that she would clean up the body.

That day, Wei Hong put the body in a large black bag, driving a takeout car. She and Bai Luorui followed far behind, arriving at a riverbank. She was still responsible for keeping watch, while Bai Luorui and Wei Hong used a cart to dispose of the body. At that time, she optimistically thought that this place was so remote that even if discovered, it might take a long time.

However, the police quickly came looking for her.

Reflecting on it now, Du Ruoxin realizes that ever since she met Bai Luorui twenty years ago, it seems like she has fallen into hell. All Bai Luorui brought her was fear and death. She believed in her time and time again, but she deceived and used her every time. If she had stopped taking dangerous risks earlier, wouldn’t they be in a less dire situation now?

The more Du Ruoxin cried, the sadder she became, crying hysterically. For herself, for Zhang Peicai, for her childhood, for her friendship. However, time cannot turn back.

Until Bai Luorui impatiently interrupted her, “Stop crying. If you keep crying, it won’t bring people back to life.” She wiped away Du Ruoxin’s tears, “Your eyes are swollen. What about tomorrow’s ceremony?”

Tomorrow is the day of the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Longyue Elderly Care project, and Du Ruoxin is the scheduled host. Only now does Du Ruoxin remember this. She looked up, tears still lingering at the corners of her eyes, “I can’t go. My heart is in chaos, and I can’t host it at all.”

“You must go! I must go too!” Bai Luorui’s tone was resolute. “The police have no evidence! Zhang Peicai only has some speculation on his side. He hasn’t had time to leave any evidence! They’re calling you today to test you. As long as we get through this, no one will know our secret.”

Du Ruoxin was stunned, even forgetting to cry. Bai Luorui’s words seemed to have a kind of magic that could enchant her heart. The woman is usually easygoing, but once she decides something, there is a cold and firm determination about her, as if life and death are not a big deal. This attitude makes people involuntarily believe in what she says.

“And, Wei Ge is still here, he will protect us.” Bai Luorui said, looking towards Wei Hong, her eyes glistening with moisture, just like Du Ruoxin’s who had just cried.

“Stop arguing,” Wei Hong, who had been standing on the side, suddenly spoke up. He lowered his eyes and looked at them, his gaze seemingly transcending time. The scene in front of him seemed not to be two mature and beautiful women but two little girls. And the place they were in didn’t seem to be the Longyue Elderly Care project, but the Wushan Nursing Home from years ago. He had long been accustomed to being a protective older brother for them. Wei Hong made a decision: “If the police come looking, you can just blame me. I’ll take responsibility for everything.”

“Wei Ge…” Du Ruoxin was momentarily stunned, calling out to him.

Bai Luorui remained silent for a moment and said, “You don’t have to do this.”

“There’s nothing to consider. Anyway, the police won’t believe that weak women like you would kidnap and control Zhang Peicai, torturing him and finally disposing of the body. Besides, the one who threw the body away was me,” Wei Hong said, brushing off the dust on his clothes. “I’ve already faced those police officers. They might remember my face. Remember, if asked, just say I had personal grievances, plotted against Zhang Peicai for wealth, and took his life. That way, the matter will end.”

Meanwhile, within the Nancheng City Bureau, a team led by Song Wen was busy. “Has Du Ruoxin’s car been tracked?” Since Du Ruoxin left, they had placed a tracker on her car. In fact, even without manual tracking, they had many methods to determine Du Ruoxin’s whereabouts.

“Tracked. Their gathering point should be at Longyue Elderly Care,” Fu Linjiang said with a sigh, glancing at Song Wen beside him. “They deliberately took a detour, seems like they have a high sense of alertness.”

“Linjiang, continue contacting the traffic department, prepare to investigate the medium-sized takeout vehicles that left Longyue Elderly Care and headed out of the city that night. Check the company where Wei Hong works,” Song Wen ordered briefly. According to their reasoning, Longyue might be the first crime scene. As long as they found the vehicle transporting the body, there would be traces on the car, serving as tangible evidence. Song Wen then turned to Zhu Xiao and asked, “How is the Cyber Police’s preparation going?”

Zhu Xiao replied, “Captain Song, rest assured. We guarantee that relevant information can be obtained and absolutely won’t leak out.”

“Good.” With the main details of the case already reasoned out, only the arrest remained. Song Wen instructed a few subordinates, “Get everything ready.”

“Yes!”

Du Ruoxin couldn’t remember when she fell asleep, maybe she hadn’t slept for more than a few hours. She thought about the bed she was lying on, a bed Zhang Peicai had once shared with her, feeling as if black hands were reaching out from underneath, wanting to tightly embrace her.

Before six in the morning, Du Ruoxin got up and started applying makeup. The thick foundation couldn’t hide the heavy dark circles under her eyes.

After a night, all of Bai Luorui’s previous comforting seemed to have lost its effect, unable to alleviate her nervousness. Du Ruoxin had a premonition that she was sliding into an abyss, and… no one could pull her back.

Just before six, Du Ruoxin finished applying her foundation, but knocking on the door interrupted her. Her body trembled, and after hesitating for a while, she went to open the door. She already knew what awaited her outside the door.

Sure enough, there were several police officers standing outside the door, some Du Ruoxin recognized, and others she didn’t. Song Wen positioned himself opposite her: “Miss Du, please come to the police station with us. We are formally arresting you on suspicion of killing your husband, Zhang Peicai.”

Du Ruoxin seemed to have anticipated this outcome long ago. She remained calm and indifferent, seated in the police car. She had prepared some words to repeat in her mind, hoping the police would ask her something. However, in the end, they didn’t ask anything.

Halfway through the journey, Du Ruoxin couldn’t help but ask, “Have you found the email he left?”

Fu Linjiang, sitting next to Du Ruoxin, glanced at Song Wen. It wasn’t until Song Wen nodded at him that he spoke: “We did find an email, but it wasn’t for public release; it was intended for you.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Du Ruoxin asked again, “Can I see what he left for me?”

At this point, she became curious. Was there any evidence inside, pointing at her, or perhaps something Zhang Peicai had said? Or maybe he pointed fingers at Bai Luorui. In any case, the police must have found other relevant evidence; otherwise, they wouldn’t have arrested her directly.

Song Wen nodded at Fu Linjiang, and Fu Linjiang took out his notebook, opening the video.

In the video, Zhang Peicai, wearing his usual shirt, looked calm. The background was the Hua Ting Hotel where he had stayed. His tone was just like when he recorded those investigative videos: “When you see this video, I should already be dead. I set this email to be automatically sent to my wife’s inbox. If this step is not completed, I hope whoever receives this information can show my last words to my wife, Du Ruoxin.”

Hearing this, Du Ruoxin was somewhat surprised. She didn’t expect that Zhang Peicai’s final words would be for her.

Zhang Peicai in the video sat up straight: “…The thing I love most in my life is secrets; that’s the meaning of my life. In the many years of our marriage, Ruoxin, you always complained that I didn’t love you enough, and that feeling might be correct. My love for you can’t surpass my love for my work. So, in my eyes, you’ve always been in second place.”

“At the same time, I can feel that you also have reservations about me. Your heart holds secrets that even your husband can’t touch. So, in your heart, I’m not in first place either.”

“Perhaps, that’s a kind of fairness.”

“We didn’t have children, both retaining our own stubbornness, not falling into the mundane routine of life. To others, we seemed free and wealthy, but we weren’t happy. When you proposed a divorce, I wasn’t too surprised. After so many years of marriage, we had love, joy, mutual support, and care. When the seven-year itch came, we argued every day, and life couldn’t go on. At that time, I was contemplating what caused the estrangement in our marriage. Why were the rifts between us getting wider?”

“At that moment, I conceived an idea. I wanted to explore your secrets, using my best skills to enter you, to enter your heart.” Zhang Peicai in the video stared at the camera, his expression smiling, but it sent shivers down Du Ruoxin’s spine.

“So, I began to recall every detail of our interactions, remember the words you said, eat the things you liked. I traced your growing-up experience, sought out the teachers who taught you, visited the neighbors near your home, and even followed you after work.”

Seeing this, Du Ruoxin hugged her arms, sobbing quietly. Besides sadness, there was also fear and a chilling feeling deep in her heart. They had been married for so long, sharing the same bed, but today, watching this video, she realized that she didn’t truly know this person. This behavior made her uncomfortable, even a bit scared and disgusted.

“…Maybe these things are a bit perverted, but I’ve never been a moral person. The thing I’m best at is discovering things that others can’t know. So, I spent effort investigating my wife’s secrets. For someone like me who didn’t grow up in Nancheng, it felt like opening an incredibly exciting book.” At this point, Zhang Peicai’s smile gradually faded. “I found out the person behind the Wushan Nursing Home was you.”

Du Ruoxin covered her mouth, trembling helplessly. So, Zhang Peicai had investigated Wushan Nursing Home because of her.

“At first, I only knew that you had lived here, and then I started looking for various information… I found out that this place is shrouded in death.”

“I became insanely fascinated by this place and the news. At that time, I had a premonition that this was the legendary story I had been seeking throughout my life, the most explosive news. As long as I completed it, I could satisfy all my curiosity, even if I stopped writing immediately, even if I died right away, it wouldn’t matter.”

“It was like an enticing puzzle. Faced with it, the more I dug, the deeper I went. I went through past newspapers, visited the abandoned site myself, step by step entering the world of the witch Xia Weizhi. Then I realized that those records were too flat. I wanted to know more about the three-dimensional characters, more about the stories behind them. I began using various methods, found people related to the place, questioned them one by one. The elderly had long since died, but there were some children from back then, now grown up. Then… I got some hints and help, getting closer and closer to the truth.”

“I understood a lot of things, understood why you became such a woman…”

“I got close to your childhood friends, and I also discovered what Bai Luorui was doing… but she herself actually claimed to be righteous.”

At this point, Zhang Peicai suddenly paused, remaining silent for a few seconds before continuing. “Then… I discovered some other things… The truly frightening part is not Wushan Nursing Home, not Xia Weizhi, but the devil hidden behind them.”

As the video reached this point, a look of confusion appeared on Du Ruoxin’s face. What exactly happened? What kind of person could be scarier than the witch Xia Weizhi? However, Zhang Peicai did not elaborate on this question.

“…When I confirmed that I was being targeted by those people, I knew my time was running out. I hoped to choose my own way of execution. I didn’t disclose what I found but instead promised you a meeting. I watched you secretly using my computer through the bathroom glass, hurriedly escaped. I knew that your involvement in this matter might be deeper than I imagined.”

Zhang Peicai continued speaking: “…I won’t leave any evidence against you. Regardless of your past, you were once my beloved wife. As for Bai Luorui, I once placed some small devices in her office. If someone is lucky enough to find them, they should be able to bring her to justice.”

The person in the video concluded: “So, the original intention of this matter was for me to find the problems in our marriage, to get close to your secrets. I regret your past. Perhaps, between people, they should maintain the ultimate distance. Every person, even the most ordinary, may have dark secrets in their hearts that others cannot know or are afraid of being known…”

At this point, Zhang Peicai suddenly smiled: “But I don’t regret what I did, even if it costs me my life. Dying with secrets unknown to others is a fascinating feeling for me. I am very happy. When I die, you are still my wife. A woman like you, cold and indifferent, deserves someone like me, a madman. I hope that in the end, it’s not you who kills me.”

“In the end, I love you.”

The video finished playing, frozen in place.

The car drove through a bumpy area, suddenly shaking. Sitting in the front seat, Lu Siyu turned to look at the woman in the back seat. His eyes were indifferent and cold, devoid of any emotion. He was speculating whether the person in Zhang Peicai’s testament, the one that made him hesitate, was the man behind Xia Weizhi. And what kind of connection he had with this nursing home and Xia Weizhi.

Du Ruoxin was stunned for a few seconds, lowered her head, and started to cry. Her shoulders trembled, and this time, her tears seemed more genuine than in the previous inquiries. She suddenly collapsed, crying, unwilling, not knowing if it was for her love or for her life. She realized that her well-guarded secrets had been torn open long ago. The first person to enter was Zhang Peicai, and there would be more people in the future.

The painful and scarred past, which used to cause her so much suffering, was no longer a secret.

Her world had collapsed.

Suddenly, all those exculpatory statements became meaningless to her.

She couldn’t explain what she felt about Zhang Peicai, whether it was love, hatred, dislike, or nostalgia. She just suddenly realized that this man was already dead.

Du Ruoxin cried for over ten minutes until the car stopped at the entrance of the city bureau. Only then did she come to her senses, trembling, and said, “I will tell you everything I know.”

TN:
Walls have ears.

Doors have eyes.

Trees have voices.

Beasts tell lies.

Beware the rain.

Beware the snow.

Beware the man

You think you know.