Chapter 148: Secret

Translator: Azza

Editor: Conspiracing

Chen Shi and Lin Dongxue stood on the balcony between the flights of stairs for a while. He sent a text message to Xu Xiaodong asking him to see what Xue Chengyi was doing.

Xu Xiaodong replied, "He’s in the room."

"Go!"

The two returned and Chen Shi rushed past the cordon as he shouted, "Who’s inside?!"

Xue Chengyi, who was mopping the floor with the mop, turned his head and smiled sheepishly. "I saw that the ground was dirty so I came in and mopped."

Chen Shi said with a cold face, "I have said that there are important clues in the room and that no one is allowed in. Doesn’t that include you? Are you destroying the evidence for the murderer?”

"I... I’m not!"

Lin Dongxue remarked, "Obstruction of justice. Sorry, you have to make a trip with us.”

Xue Chengyi was crying and pleaded. "Don't... Don't give me such a big sin. I didn’t do anything, really!"

"Come out!"

Xue Chengyi put down the mop in misery and pleaded with Chen Shi. "Office Chen, you know me the best. I couldn’t be the murderer. My father died that night and I was so busy with everything. Why would I randomly kill a little nurse?”

"Let's talk back at the bureau!"

"You can’t treat me like this. If it wasn't for me, your daughter would have been ruined by those hooligans. You can't frame me like this."

"We need to separate personal matters from business. If you really are innocent, I will apologize to you."

Xue Chengyi was dejected and took out his cell phone. Lin Dongxue snatched it from his hand and questioned, "What are you doing?"

"I want to call my wife. I have to be accountable and notify her when something has gone wrong at home.”

"What? We’ll notify her!”

Chen Shi took Xue Chengyi's mobile phone and handed it to Xu Xiaodong. He told him to go to Xue Chengyi's house before calling Tang Hui to let her know that her husband was at the bureau. This was to make sure she didn’t flee.

Xue Chengyi knew that he was doomed. The light dimmed from his eyes.

When they got to the bureau, Chen Shi did not cuff Xue Chengyi and even gave him a glass of water. Chen Shi said, "We’ve seen each other so many times, so let’s not talk in circles. The time of the incident was 4:00. What were you doing at the time?”

"How many times have I said that my wife and I went out to eat supper... Officer Chen, what are you playing at?"

"Let me show you a photo."

Chen Shi took out photos that showed both sides of the pillow and let Xue Chengyi see it. Xue Chengyi was covered in cold sweat. He said with a smile still on his face, "I don't know what this is."

Chen Shi put on his gloves and picked up the cup that Xue Chengyi touched. “Your fingerprints are on this. We’ll know once we compare it.”

Xue Chengyi began to sweat raindrops but he still refused to speak.

Chen Shi used the internal phone and called for the forensic analysts to come in and take the cup away. Xue Chengyi was so scared that he swallowed and waited for the process to be finished. The room was silent. Ten minutes later, the analysts sent a report back.

Chen Shi glanced at it and handed it to Xue Chengyi. "It’s a complete match. Your fingerprints are on the pillow."

"I can't see it properly. Can you bring it closer?”

Chen Shi got a little closer, when Xue Chengyi suddenly grabbed it, scrunched it up into a ball and swallowed it.

Chen Shi and Lin Dongxue both laughed. Xue Chengyi had lost his mind. He made such a naively rebellious act. Chen Shi asked, "Are you full? If you aren’t, we can print a few more copies out for you."

"I... I have the right to remain silent."

"Have you watched too many Hong Kong movies? You don’t have that right here in China."

𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

"I won't say anything anyway. I know you guys can’t treat me too poorly. I request a lawyer." Xue Chengyi glanced at the surveillance camera.

"If you’re unwilling to say it, then I will!" Chen Shi retold his speculations again.

Xue Chengyi’s sweat fell like a waterfall. When Chen Shi finished, he gulped, “You...How can you know so clearly? As if you saw it with your own eyes?!”

Chen Shi pointed to his own eyes. "For me, it’s quite similar to seeing it with my own eyes. How long are you going to hide it for? Ah yes, your wife has been brought in and is currently in another interrogation room. If you still don’t confess, maybe her version of events will be more disadvantageous for you."

Xue Chengyi’s psychological defense was finally completely shattered. He said in misery, "I’ll talk!"

In 2001, Xue Chengyi had a lot of business losses. He borrowed a fortune to invest in a friend's clothing company. He didn't think that just as he was about to invest, his mother-in-law became severely ill and needed a huge sum for medical expenses.

Seeing the money go out to her medical fees in hefty sums, Xue Chengyi was very worried. However, in the eyes of relatives and friends, he owned a business, so he had money. They wouldn’t think that he would have any money troubles at all.

One day, in the middle of the night, Xue Chengyi thought it over repeatedly until he decided not to "surrender to fate." He tried to kill his mother-in-law with a pillow. This scene happened to be seen by Tang Hui who had just come back from the toilet.

The two of them argued endlessly. Xue Chengyi pleaded for Tang Hui to grant this to him. His mother-in-law's illness was a bottomless pit. He did not want to put his whole life in it. In the face of her husband's crying and begging, Tang Hui finally agreed.

The two of them killed the mother-in-law together. Six months later, Xue Chengyi’s business flourished, but he always had a thorn in his heart. Every time he faced his wife, he felt a little restless.

This secret made the two of them at variance, even though they seemed to be in harmony. They were detached and alienated from each other. Even if they each had an extramarital affair, the other party did not interfere.

Time flew to over a decade later. Xue Chengyi’s father fell ill and was hospitalized. Xue Chengyi’s worries finally appeared before him. That night, the wife who had never smiled at him for over a decade, threw him a pillow and said, “It’s time you paid back your debt!”

Xue Chengyi was reluctant, but under the threat of his wife's threat to report him, he finally put the pillow over his father's face. He couldn't do it, so his wife pressed his hand down until his father was no longer struggling.

The two thought that things had ended, but they heard a voice coming from behind them. "What are you doing?!"

A small nurse had witnessed the scene of them committing murder. The husband and wife were frightened. The little nurse was about to go to the nurse station to call for help, when the wife immediately took crutches and smashed it on the head of the nurse. (In the version that Tang Hui confessed later, the small nurse was killed by Xue Chengyi).

The two then took the body of the nurse upstairs and threw it out of a window, staging a suicide.

Later, Xue Chengyi called their relatives and friends and the cremation was held that day. He thought that his plan was foolproof. He did not expect the police to have noticed him already at that time...

Xue Chengyi sighed, "Maybe this bit of money was not destined for me. I have been eating and drinking luxuriously for more than ten years, and now it’s time for me to pay back my debts."

Chen Shi said, "If you were not willing to treat your mother-in-law back then, you could have taken her home and stopped her treatment. Why did you do this kind of thing? Modern medical treatment is truly very expensive, and it is understandable that patients need to get treatment that is within their means."

"If I did that, how would my relatives and friends see me? They would say I had no conscience. After all, back when I was completely broke, Tang Hui was still willing to marry me. Her family gave me a lot of financial assistance as well."

"In the end, it's still for the sake of face."

"When a person is alive in the world, isn’t face for others to look at? The appearance may be glamorous, but the inside might still be dirty. Aren’t all the rich like that? I was just particularly unlucky!” Xue Chengyi laughed at himself.

Chen Shi ended the conversation here and stood up. "Mr. Xue, I wish you luck!"