Song Xingzhi lebte während der Regierungszeit von Kaiser Huizong

Kapitel 17

The bedroom was a complete mess. The television was a pile of charred remains, the walls were covered in soot and charred marks, and the bed and furniture were covered in blackened charred debris. Two blankets lay on the floor, half-burnt. No wonder she needed a sleeping bag!

"Has this place been attacked by terrorists?" he asked her in astonishment.

“Last night, the television suddenly exploded…” she said softly.

A TV exploded? That's something you only see on TV news.

"When? Why didn't you call me? How did you sleep last night?" he asked impatiently, then suddenly remembered the injury on her forehead. He immediately went over and brushed her hair aside, seeing several obvious bruises. "Did you get this last night?" he asked.

"Mm." She nodded.

He looked at her, paused, and asked, "Was it really a TV that exploded?"

"Why would I lie to you?" she said dejectedly.

After confirming she wasn't joking, he asked:

How old is your TV?

“I don’t know. I’ve had it since I was very young.” She seemed oblivious to the sarcasm in his words, and said, choking back tears, “I don’t know why it suddenly exploded last night. I didn’t even touch it.”

"Serves you right!" he cursed. "Excessive frugality is waste, don't you even understand that? What a piece of junk TV!" He was furious at the thought that she didn't braid her hair to hide her wound and keep it from him. She was so distant with him. It seemed she really wanted to break up; his heart sank. He was about to throw down his sleeping bag and leave, but just as he was about to do so, he saw her crying.

“A TV costs several thousand yuan!” she argued, sobbing. “Besides, my dad said that the quality of things made in the past was very good. There were no problems before. They were always working perfectly, so why should I buy a new TV?!”

“Why didn’t you call me?” he asked.

“I don’t want to rely on others for everything,” she said, wiping away her tears. “I just need your sleeping bag. I’ll clean this place up in a few days and then buy a new blanket. I’ll return it to you then, if… if you still want it.”

Her last half-sentence softened his heart. However, he was also slightly disappointed; it turned out she really wanted a sleeping bag, and he had truly been presumptuous this time.

He looked at her for a while, then finally went up to her. Thinking of her helplessness and panic when she faced this disaster alone last night, he couldn't help but feel sorry for her.

"...Alright, alright, it's your own fault for breaking up with me. This is God punishing you." He pulled her into his arms and gently patted her back to comfort her. "How did you get that head injury?"

"Two pieces flew out and hit me."

"Luckily, the fire isn't too big yet, it didn't spread to the neighbors, right?"

She shook her head.

"How come such a loud noise didn't alert the neighbors?"

“They must have heard the noise. But it was very late, many people were asleep, and I quickly put out the fire with a blanket, so they probably couldn’t guess what had happened.”

It's impossible to guess. After all, the chances of a television exploding are very small.

"Is the passbook alright?" He believed that this question touched her heart.

"I'll fight to the death to get my bankbook back." Mentioning the bankbook, she immediately stopped crying and answered him with unwavering determination, as if she were prepared to die with it.

"If you want to protect your money, just write down the account number, and you can report it lost at the bank later." He laughed.

"I've written it all down." She wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes and said aggrievedly, "It exploded suddenly. I didn't touch it at all, so it's not my fault."

Now, he feels that she's starting to see him as her father. She must have often argued with her father like that when she was a child.

"Dad, I didn't move at all, I didn't do anything, I don't know how it happened."

Okay, since you respect me so much, I'll try to think of a way to solve your practical problem.

“Ling Ge, this is an emergency. You should tell your neighborhood committee and your workplace so they can provide you with some practical help, such as giving you some financial assistance, providing you with new bedding and furniture, and perhaps even arranging free temporary accommodation for you.”

"No, I don't want anyone at work to know. I'm suspended now, and if I tell them, they'll definitely look down on me even more. They'll think I can't do anything right and they'll even falsely accuse me of breaking the TV." Ling Ge stubbornly raised his chin.

"You don't want the condolence money? It might be quite a lot."

"I don't care."

"Shouldn't you at least notify the neighborhood committee?"

“I don’t want to notify the neighborhood committee. This morning, someone came to ask me, and I pretended not to know anything. I said I didn’t hear anything. I don’t want my neighbors to know about this.”

Looking at the resolute expression on her face, Jian Dongping suddenly understood her true thoughts. She didn't want the couple who had hurt her to know about this. They were her neighbors, and she didn't want this to become something they could use to mock her in the future. She just wanted to protect her own little bit of self-respect.

“But you can’t keep living in this kind of environment.” He thought for a moment and said, “How about you move into my house for the next few days? My cousin went to work in Beijing at the beginning of the year, and his room is empty now. You can come back after you’ve tidied up this place. What do you think?”

“But we…” She seemed about to bring up the topic of breaking up again, so he immediately interrupted her.

“Ling Ge, I don’t want to break up with you. I can’t bear to lose you as a friend, and I believe you can’t bear to lose me either, because I know you are a sentimental person.”

After he finished speaking, Ling Ge's eyes welled up with tears again. He gently stroked her hair. He had originally intended to bring up the embarrassing incident between them last year, but the atmosphere was clearly not right now, so he decided to bring it up later.

"Jian Dongping, I've realized that being too sentimental isn't a good habit," she said quietly, wiping away her tears.

“But people who value relationships are charming,” he blurted out. He gently patted her shoulder, thinking, “Who in the world treats you better than me? When you were sick, who drove to buy you porridge? Who took you to the doctor? Who brought a sleeping bag to spend the night with you? Who helped you earn extra money, revised your manuscripts, and did your computer data entry, so that you not only saw your lousy writing become printed words but also received a 100 yuan payment? Wasn’t it me?”

"Alright, it's decided then. Don't worry about my dad, he likes you a lot. Just relax and stay at my place for a while. I won't give you the sleeping bag; what do you need a sleeping bag when you have a bed?" He nudged her and said, "Hurry up and pack your things. We'll have someone come and renovate your place tomorrow. Remember, once the renovation is done, you can't move back in for at least three months. What do you think?"

She pondered for a moment, then looked up at him and asked, "Why are you so good to me?"

"Because I like to eat meatballs," he joked.

8. The Pursuer's Journey

That afternoon, after Jian Dongping helped Ling Ge bring her meager belongings home, he quickly took care of four things for her. First, he cleared out all the clutter left in her cousin Jian Zhen's room and moved it to the storage room, freeing up most of the space for Ling Ge's personal clothes. Second, he took her to a department store to buy a new set of bedding. Third, he asked Sister Ping to clean her cousin's room. Fourth, he contacted Lu Min, a colleague in the decoration section of the "Letter" weekly, who soon introduced him to a decoration team. After agreeing on a price, he promised to take them to the site for a site inspection the next day.

After finishing these four tasks, he called his father to report that Ling Ge had arrived at the Jian residence and might stay for a while.

"You two are going to live together? You were just saying you were breaking up this morning, how could it be so fast? If you're going to live together, you might as well just get married." Attorney Jian was overjoyed.

“No, she’s staying in Jian Zhen’s room,” Jian Dong said calmly.

"James, you're wasting my time! From now on, you'll have to pay me every minute you talk to me!" Attorney Jane immediately lost interest and angrily hung up the phone.

Whenever my dad is unhappy, he calls him by his English name.

Jian Dongping knew his father had been hoping for him to get married and have children for years, but he really didn't want to be tied down. Seeing his colleagues scrimping and saving to give their children the best life and for their future, he felt genuine pity for them. He'd rather die than live that kind of life. He didn't care if anyone called him "Dad." Jian Dongping's philosophy was that life should be lived to the fullest, because life was too short.

Of course, it wouldn't be bad if someone were willing to keep him company.

The next morning, after inspecting the Ling family's site with the renovation team, Jian Dongping had a general discussion with them about the details of the renovation. In the end, he decided to wait until he returned from his trip before starting the work. Renovation was a complicated and tedious matter, and he was really not comfortable leaving it all to the soft-hearted and timid Ling Ge.

"Let's start work again when I get back. I'll be back soon." He said goodbye to her at the door before leaving.

After staying at his house for one night, he found that her mood had improved a lot. She had tied her hair back into a neat ponytail and her expression had returned to its usual liveliness.

"When will you be back?" she asked.

"It will take at least three or four days. We'll keep in touch. Don't forget to do what I asked you to do." Jian Dongping had given her a task the night before: to investigate the whereabouts of Zhou Jin's two large suitcases at the train station.

"Don't worry, I'll be there in a bit."

"Don't lose your bus card. Sometimes you can take a taxi, which can save a lot of time," Jian Dongping instructed.

“Okay, I’ll get a call if needed. But I can’t make it a habit,” she said with a smile.

"If you have any requests regarding the renovation, you can contact Lu Min. I gave you her phone number yesterday. She's the long-haired girl who gave me a ride last time, you know her."

"I don't want to see her," she said angrily.

"Why?" Her emotional outburst left him somewhat puzzled.

“She’s your B partner, not mine,” she said.

He knew why she didn't like Lu Min, and smiled gently. Some things don't need much explanation.

"Which way is south?" he suddenly asked.

"Huh?" She was taken aback.

“Give me your left hand,” he commanded again.

She hesitated for a moment before giving him her left hand.

"Very good, just a little slow to react. Ling Ge, you need to remember, the hand you're using to hold the chopsticks is your right hand. As for the south... we'll talk about that later." He grabbed her left hand and squeezed it hard, then suddenly put it to his mouth as if to bite it. She quickly pulled her hand back.

"What are you doing!" she said.

"Let's eat pig's trotters." He laughed as he started the car. The instant he started, he said to her, "Ling Ge, I'm going to eat tomatoes when I get back. I'm letting you know in advance, so don't disappoint me."

"Don't even think about it! Go eat your Lu Min!" she refused decisively.

However, his car had already driven far away.

Ling Ge noticed that Jian Dongping would immediately change the subject whenever she mentioned Lu Min, which made her very unhappy. Although she knew she had no right to pry into his private life, the thought of the beautiful and fashionable Lu Min being intimate with him still made her feel quite uncomfortable. Not long after meeting Jian Dongping, Ling Ge discovered that this not-so-handsome editor had quite a few girlfriends—at least four or five she had met. They weren't necessarily beautiful, but they were all very fashionable, and seemed to be shrewd and capable, with some inexplicable connection to him. He had even categorized them.

“Lu Min and An An are B-type partners, Fang Yu and Lisa are T-type partners, and Xiao Hong is a W-type partner.” He once casually explained his relationships with them to her, but never explained what those letters actually meant. Ling Ge later discovered that the two girls who were B-type partners were the closest to him. Almost every week, or at most every two weeks, whenever he was in the city, he would go to their residences. He shamelessly called it “exciting dates.” Ling Ge didn’t dare to guess what he was doing there, but she noticed that after each date, he always seemed quite exhausted when he returned the next morning and had to sleep until one or two in the afternoon. Once, Ling Ge couldn’t suppress her curiosity and asked him about his relationships with them. Unexpectedly, he was very unhappy. “Ling Ge, this is my private life. You seem to be asking too many questions,” he replied coldly. This was why Ling Ge initially insisted on being just friends with him; she simply couldn’t accept that her boyfriend had such mysterious relationships with other women.

However, since that embarrassing incident between them a year ago, he seemed to have lessened his guard around her. He even went so far as to explain to her, "The reason I have so many girlfriends isn't because I enjoy dating, but because most people in the magazine industry are women, and I can only make female friends. Do you understand?"

She didn't understand. Although she had to admit he was very good to her, he still seemed to enjoy his "exciting dates" without any remorse. He didn't boast about them afterward, but there was a hint of smugness in his expression, as if he really enjoyed them. This morning he even ordered a bouquet of roses for Nancy from some "Tomorrow's Daily" newspaper.

What exactly is he doing?

As Jian Dongping drove, he recalled the information he had reviewed the previous night regarding the Su Zhiwen box corpse case. Ling Ge had brought witness testimonies, crime scene investigation records, and Su Zhiwen's personal file. Jian Dongping carefully read through all the materials and then organized them. The contents are as follows:

Zhang Yufen:

On the morning of May 23rd, after my wife went to the hospital, I followed her instructions and took the key to the storage room into the basement. My wife asked me to take out the cheongsams from the storage room and air them out in the sun. Actually, I also wanted to go to the storage room to check on things, because lately I'd been smelling a foul odor around there, like the smell of dead cats and dogs. When I went downstairs, I found Su Zhiwen in a box. I knew immediately that he was dead. But because the smell was so awful, I didn't look closely.

Su Zhiwen is my wife's husband. The last time I saw him was on May 6th, during dinner. It was their first wedding anniversary, so everyone was there, including him. He seemed to be in a bad mood recently, always with a long face, but that night he seemed to be in a good mood. Several times when I took the food out, I heard him talking, quite loudly. I don't remember what he was saying, but I heard him talking about something about cars. I don't know what he was saying; I always only believe half of what he says, he's an unreliable person. He drank quite a bit that day, constantly putting food on his wife's plate, and everyone else was laughing at him.

I later learned that at the dinner table that day, his wife announced she would give him a lot of money and that she would give him shares in her company after three years of marriage. I don't know if it was a specific amount; I was in the kitchen most of the time, and I only heard about these things from Fang Qi and Fang Rouzhi. I didn't quite believe Fang Rouzhi's words, but Fang Qi wouldn't lie.

After dinner, around 8:30, I was in the kitchen washing dishes and tidying up. I didn't hear anything and didn't go to the living room. I just went to my wife's room to bring her a cup of hot milk. My wife drinks milk every night; she was talking to Su Zhiwen. I put the milk on the table and went back to the kitchen. The only strange thing that day was that the rolling pin was missing. I never expected to find it in the pantry.

What's the relationship between Su Zhiwen and his wife? It's alright. His wife has a strong personality, and Su Zhiwen listens to her a lot. But I don't like him. I think he only married her for her money. He speaks very sweetly and is handsome, but he lacks backbone. He doesn't get along with most people in the family. If I had to say who he's closest to, it would be Fang Rouzhi. I don't know about the others, but I've seen Fang Rouzhi and him whispering together several times. One afternoon, I even saw Su Zhiwen coming out of Fang Rouzhi's room, but I didn't dare tell my wife about it. I was afraid she'd say I was meddling. My wife doesn't like hearing people talk badly about Su Zhiwen; she gets very angry when others do.

On the morning of May 7th, when I got up, I found the front door wasn't properly closed. I assumed Su Zhiwen hadn't closed it tightly when he left, because the day before, I'd heard he was leaving for Hong Kong early the next morning, and that night he'd said he'd sleep in the study, making his own bed. There was a large sofa there, and he slept on the sofa. Luggage? I hadn't noticed. I haven't been to the storage room since May 6th, nor have I seen anyone else go there. Don't ask me to guess; I can't. I don't know who did it. Maybe an outsider did it, but I haven't seen anyone come in, because I always keep the kitchen door tightly closed. If an outsider came in through the garden, they wouldn't have been unnoticed. There's no back door, but if someone climbed over the wall, I don't know.

Shen Biyun:

The last time I saw Zhiwen was on the evening of May 6th. I gave him the key to the storage room in our bedroom and asked him to go there and retrieve a painting by my stepfather, Huang Yaliu. I told him to take the painting to my cousin the next day. I haven't seen him since. Yes, I announced the 3 million at the dinner table. I did this partly to make Zhiwen happy, and partly to tell the rest of the family that no matter how much they belittle or look down on him, it won't matter; I will still favor him as always. Furthermore, I wanted to tell my family that I can dispose of my assets as I please, and they have no right to interfere because they haven't contributed anything to acquiring them.

May 6th was my first wedding anniversary with Zhiwen, and the dinner that day was very lavish. Zhiwen and I both drank some wine. I don't know how the others felt, but Zhiwen was in a great mood and kept talking. Sometimes he's like a child, not quite knowing how to hide his emotions. Because I announced at the dinner table that I would give him money to invest and that I would give him shares in the future, he seemed a little carried away. What did he say? Let me think. Two things stand out in my mind. One was that he used to do jade business near Fujian. He said he once found a truly beautiful piece of jade that he could have sold for a large sum of money. However, after a drinking session, he lost it to a stranger. He said it was the most beautiful jade he had ever seen, so translucent that you could see the person opposite you when you held it up to the light—of course, he was exaggerating. He said he didn't know the true value of the jade at the time. He thought that since he was in the business, he would definitely have a chance to get something better in the future, but who knew that since he lost that bet, his luck had been terrible.

Another incident he mentioned happened over a decade ago. He had just quit his job, was in a bad mood, and being young, he often did unreasonable things. Once, he went to a friend's house in the suburbs. It was late when he returned home, and he didn't see a sign on the roadside, probably saying something like "This road is closed." He tripped and fell, injuring his head. He was furious and wanted to vent, so he threw the sign away and moved the guardrails on both sides of the road—the guardrails sounded very easy to move. After doing this, he left. He said he went back a few days later and learned that a car had crashed where he had fallen that night, killing two adults and an infant. I don't know why he brought this up; maybe he was drunk, or maybe he was just joking. In my eyes, he was just an immature kid. And not a bad person at heart; I judged he was just bragging, not that bad.

On the evening of May 6th, after dinner, I called Zhiwen to my room. Later, Zhiwen went to the storage room, and I read a book in bed for a while. My legs were a little sore, and I wanted to find a hot compress. But Yufen had already gone downstairs; she had just brought me milk. I didn't want to make a scene in the house, so I went downstairs myself. The hot compress was in a drawer of the living room cabinet. When I went to the living room, I only saw Fang Qi watching TV. I didn't see anyone else.

The thing that really upset me that day was that Yushan suddenly announced at the dinner table that she had married Xiang Bing. I've never liked this man. First, he's more than ten years older than her, has no career, and is just a salaried office worker. Second, his personality is unpleasant; he always has a stern face, as if the whole world owes him something. Yushan had brought him to meet me before, but I didn't approve of their marriage. This time, she took it upon herself to marry him, which was a complete provocation. I have no intention of giving her any dowry. This is her own choice of marriage, and she should bear all the consequences, including the consequences of not having a comfortable life. Yushan has always been disobedient. She knows how to care for poor people who have nothing to do with her, but she doesn't know how to care for those around her. It's a huge irony, and I'm very disappointed in her.

Yes, on May 20th, after Zhiwen was taken away, I asked Fang Qi to check the items in the storage room and found that two genuine works by Huang Yaliu were missing.

I believe Zhiwen was killed by an outside thief, who likely hid in a secluded corner near the kitchen and followed him into the storage room. Although those girls are heartless, I don't think they would do something so cruel. I am their mother and elder; I know them.

Fang Qi: