Wu Jie

Chapter 57

The Village Chief’s younger son disposed of the bodies of the family of three, freezing the elderly couple in a freezer.

The other body was disguised to look like Ming Qingfu.

His movements were extremely practiced, and he remained so calm it was as if he were processing animal carcasses. The remaining four people watched him work, every one of them chilled to the bone.

In the midst of this, he even found the time to go out and buy takeout for the five of them. However, aside from him, only Dongcai managed to eat a few bites.

Everything was prepared.

With that settled, the focus shifted to Donglai.

“Once the police find the body, you’ll have to go back. They’ll definitely question you then, so don’t let any flaws show,” Dongcai said.

Donglai was injured; she had a large bruise on her face and the skin on her hands was torn. She wasn’t particularly brave, having been a good girl since childhood, and she stammered when she tried to lie.

She desperately wanted to play this role well, but her anxiety and tension made it impossible to hide her physical reactions.

The Village Chief’s younger son could only frown as he watched. When he frowned, never mind Donglai, even Wu Jie felt a shiver in his heart.

“Wait until her injuries have healed before she goes back,” Dongcai said.

And so, they could only wait in their hiding place.

Dongcai began teaching her “good student” younger sister how to deal with the police and others.

She wasn’t very focused on her teaching, as her entire attention remained on Li Hao on the other side.

He was meticulously wiping something, occasionally asking Wu Jie, “Do you still remember what happened back then?”

Wu Jie immediately flashed a smile. “Which matter are you referring to?”

“The matter at the infirmary. I gave someone an injection and killed them.”

Wu Jie naturally remembered. Years ago, the Village Chief’s younger son had lacked skill and killed someone with an injection. But at this moment, he couldn’t say that. Wu Jie had spent many years drifting through society and had long since mastered the ability to say the right thing to the right person¹. He immediately replied, “Are you talking about the time Old Man Wang took poison himself and then tried to frame you?”

The Village Chief’s younger son nodded with satisfaction, muttering to himself, “That’s right, that’s how it was.”

Wu Jie thought to himself, how could this man still play at self-deception, especially over something that happened so many years ago? He only grumbled internally, not daring to show a hint of it on his face.

Dongcai listened from the side. As a young person, she naturally didn’t know the truth of what happened back then, but having grown up in harsh conditions, she was extremely sensitive to the emotional shifts of those around her.

She could feel that, at this moment, this lunatic seemed to have truly relaxed.

But Dongcai didn’t have much time to observe him, because Ming Qingfu was constantly watching her.

Ming Qingfu was injured and understood the current situation, so she spoke very little, yet her gaze never left Dongcai.

Ming Qingfu desperately wanted to tell Dongcai that Wu Jie had lied to her, that she had never abandoned her, but she quickly remembered their current predicament.

Her eldest daughter hadn’t been targeted by Wu Jie and the Village Chief’s younger son yet. If she spoke up, those two would surely worry about the girl betraying them, which would only put her in more danger.

She swallowed the words that were on the tip of her tongue. She also wanted to know if her daughter had lived well all these years, but she knew the answer without asking.

With such a large birthmark on her face, Dongcai was always observing others, as if she were constantly on guard. This was not a skill one acquired while growing up happy.

Regarding her own future, Ming Qingfu was not optimistic. Wu Jie likely didn’t have the guts to kill her, but the Village Chief’s younger son was a different story.

She was willing to agree to their plan now because she wanted the two children to be separated from them first.

Once separated, the two children might have a chance to survive.

She likely did not. Once the Village Chief’s younger son got the money, given his temperament, Ming Qingfu felt she had no chance of living.

Therefore, this period of time might be the last she would spend with her two children, especially this eldest daughter she had lost since birth.

In this dim mine shaft, she looked at her eldest daughter, seeing the coldness in her eyes. Her heart ached, and she no longer wanted to ask her any questions.

She suddenly began to worry about her eldest daughter’s future.

Wu Jie and the Village Chief’s younger son were nearby, so there was very little she could say.

“After you go out, you must prioritize your own safety. The money isn’t important.”

The younger daughter nodded and said, “Mom, we will definitely save you.”

She stroked her younger daughter’s hair and looked at her eldest daughter again, but the eldest daughter was unwilling to say much to her.

Ming Qingfu didn’t have time for sorrow; this might be the only time in her life she would have to speak with her.

There was so much she wanted to say.

In the end, she only said, “We haven’t really spent time together, so you might never want to acknowledge me, or maybe one day in the future you’ll really want to talk to me…”

By then, she might already be dead. Perhaps by then, her eldest daughter would know that she hadn’t abandoned her.

By then, her eldest daughter would probably regret not speaking to her now.

“When that time comes, just remember what I’m saying now. I hope you eat well and sleep well. I really…” She wanted to say she loved her very much. But she couldn’t. Wu Jie and the others were right there.

Dongcai was already unwilling to speak to Ming Qingfu. This avoidance didn’t stem from hatred; it was a primal instinct.

She found it difficult to bear such emotional intensity; it was something she had never experienced in her life. Her grandmother’s love was the concern of an older generation, very gentle. It wasn’t searing and blinding like this.

This emotional weight left her at a loss, especially with Donglai standing nearby, looking at her with tearful eyes.

She couldn’t process these emotions, so in that moment, her confusion turned into a form of impatience.

“Stop talking, I don’t want to hear this.”

Her reaction actually put Wu Jie and the Village Chief’s younger son at ease.

And so, once Donglai’s condition had improved slightly, Dongcai led her away. They were going to get the money.

After they left, Ming Qingfu fell silent. She minimized her presence entirely, not saying a single word, sitting there like a piece of furniture.

If she could survive, she would certainly prefer to live.

In her heart, she felt sad for the Fortune Teller’s family, but then she thought that since Ming Wen died, she must have returned to the heavens to be an immortal again. Perhaps the Fortune Teller’s family had gone to the heavens with her.

However, the scene of the Village Chief’s youngest son committing murder inevitably replayed in her mind, and panic began to spread through her entire body.

Whenever the Village Chief’s youngest son stood up to get a drink of water, she would tremble. Because of that slight shudder, he would look over at her, as if he might kill her in the very next second.

Ming Qingfu knew she couldn’t draw his attention. The less of a presence she had, the better.

She began to chant Ming Wen’s name in her heart to soothe her panic.

After chanting it many times, it felt as if Ming Wen were truly by her side, and her panic was slowly suppressed.

Wu Jie, sitting beside her, was not so lucky.

He was even more nervous than Ming Qingfu. He remembered the times in the past when he had drunk with the Village Chief’s youngest son, how he had intentionally or unintentionally belittled the man and bragged about his own glorious days in the city.

With a psychopath like this, once he got the money, wouldn’t he just kill him too?

Originally, Wu Jie hadn’t considered killing anyone, but now that things had turned out like this, he was truly flustered.

Now, Wu Jie worried that every single movement the Village Chief’s youngest son made was a prelude to murder.

After all, back at the scrap recycling station, there had been no warning. The man hadn’t been angry, hadn’t lost his temper, and just a moment before, he had been eating a lively meal with everyone.

Wu Jie replayed every detail of that day over and over in his mind; no one had provoked him.

The Village Chief’s youngest son had simply stood up that day as if to get a drink of water, then picked up an iron bar from the side, came back, and bludgeoned all three members of that family to death.

Consequently, whenever the Village Chief’s youngest son stood up now, no matter what he was doing, Wu Jie wondered if he was about to kill again.

Wu Jie prepared to run.

Ming Qingfu hadn’t fallen asleep; she watched as Wu Jie sneakily fled.

She wasn’t surprised at all. He had been the same way back then. At the time, Wu Jie was running a grey-market business² and even dared to buy iron that thieves had stolen from train tracks. When the police found out and he was facing a fine, he ran away, leaving the mess for her to deal with.

After all these years, his character hadn’t changed a bit.

–

Yun Song obtained a name from Ming Donglai: Li Hao.

At the same time, the technical team reviewing the surveillance footage used facial recognition to find two people who had appeared with Ming Dongqi.

Besides Wu Jie, the other was Li Hao.

When Yun Song saw his personal records and saw he was from Xinghua Village, she found it strange that she had no memory of him at all.

Years ago, she had handled the health records for the residents of Xinghua Village; she had an impression of everyone in the village around that age.

“Father: Li Shun.”

That was the Village Chief’s name.

Yun Song understood why now. She hadn’t seen this man, but she had heard of him. When people spoke of him, they always called him the Village Chief’s youngest son.

Back when he worked in the village clinic, a few months before Yun Song was sold into the village, he had treated someone with an injection that resulted in their death. Although the family didn’t pursue charges at the time, no one in the village dared to go to him for an injection again.

So, he went to the city to work.

As Yun Song looked through his records, she naturally saw the aftermath of those years.

After the Village Chief was arrested, that family must have grown more resentful the more they thought about it, so they went to the police and reported what happened back then.

As a result, the Village Chief’s youngest son was also arrested.

In the records, he had another case.

Negligent homicide, sentenced to eight years.

The records stated that after his release from prison, he had caused severe injury to another person.

The cause was a supermarket checkout line. An elderly person had cut in front of him, and without even arguing, he had beaten the person into critical condition.

Looking at this man’s file, Yun Song began to worry for Li Qingqing.

Fortunately, at this moment, the technical department had tracked down the hiding place of Li Hao and the others.

Over a decade ago, this had been a coal mine. Since it was abandoned, few people ever came here.

Yun Song and her colleagues raided the location at three in the morning.

“No one here. They’ve already moved.”

However, Yun Song caught a scent: the smell of blood.

Following the scent, she found a corner where an iron drum used for storage sat.

Yun Song approached and opened the drum.

–

A few days ago, also in the early morning hours, Wu Jie had fled.

He simply couldn’t handle the pressure of sharing a room with a psychopath who might kill at any moment.

He ran down under the cover of night. At this hour, the Village Chief’s youngest son was asleep; by the time the man woke up in the morning, Wu Jie should have already reached the city.

He had a new plan in mind.

Ever since witnessing the tragic deaths of the Fortune Teller’s family of three, his desire for wealth had diminished. He only wanted to stay alive.

Though his current life had no money, at least he was alive and didn’t have to go to prison.

He didn’t take Li Qingqing with him. He hadn’t seen her in years, their relationship was poor, and besides, she was injured and couldn’t run.

Li Qingqing was in the hands of the Village Chief’s youngest son to be used for money, so he surely wouldn’t kill her.

He ran without any psychological burden.

Soon, he reached the mountainside. The road here was a winding mountain path that spiraled down. It was exhausting, so he sat there to rest for a moment.

Suddenly, he heard someone call his name from above. It was the voice of the Village Chief’s youngest son.

As he was thinking of a lie to prevent the man from realizing he was trying to escape, he looked up, and a large rock came flying straight at his face.

The last thing he saw was blood red.

–

Yun Song looked at the corpse before her. Wu Jie was dead.

Li Hao and Ming Qingfu were gone.

“There seem to be words here.” A colleague noticed words written in blood on the rock wall in the corner.

Yun Song walked over.

“Xinghua Village.”

This was the message Ming Qingfu had secretly left behind.

Translator’s Notes