It’s Him – Ch42

Setting the Trap

The counselor’s tolerance for Tao Feng stemmed from his family situation.

When she called his mother, the woman cried and explained the family circumstances. The counselor then believed that Tao Feng skipping classes to work was for the purpose of supplementing the family income. Although it was a misguided approach, the matter was made small, and she also helped smooth things over with the school.

Afterwards, Tao Feng did indeed stop skipping classes and remained quiet for several days.

His debts were paid off, and he took on advertising work.

The method used by the other party was indeed effective. As he watched the 50,000 yuan in the backend, he felt his cerebral cortex trembling.

He had fantasized about making big money—millions, tens of millions, even billions…

But in reality, this 50,000 yuan was the most money he had ever seen, and he couldn’t stay calm. He felt an uncontrollable excitement, wanting to jump up and shout, desperate for everyone to know how much money he had earned.

But his rationality remained intact.

The debts were easily settled, leaving him with over 40,000 yuan.

So much money…

He transferred it all into his bank account, still feeling that it was unreal.

In the first two days, he didn’t dare to spend it, afraid something might go wrong. Every day during class, he would take out his phone, open the app, and check if anyone had sent a quality inspection request.

He would worry every time he saw a notification. Would it be discovered?

Two days went by, but there was nothing. No issues at all.

Not only had the company not discovered anything, but someone even came to negotiate another collaboration with him, saying the results were excellent.

He recalled a phrase he had heard often lately.

“This world is like a giant grass-roots troupe.” Yes, not everyone is that smart.

The people he dealt with were just workers, earning a fixed salary, going through the motions of work and life, not doing anything extra.

Moreover, the company was so wealthy, there was no way they would scrutinize these few tens of thousands. To them, tens of thousands were like a few coins to the wealthy—who would bother checking if those coins were spent properly?

As time passed, he became more and more convinced of this, so he began spending.

Money truly is the source of human happiness.

He bought shoes he had been reluctant to purchase before, bought two new outfits, and treated his roommates to a meal, basking in their admiring glances.

Tao Feng quickly became a legend of someone who could start a business and earn money as a freshman.

However, the money wasn’t enough.

He looked at how much others were earning, and everyone seemed fine.

Tao Feng quickly took on two more projects, and this time he earned 200,000 yuan. After the platform took its cut, he was left with 100,000 yuan—a huge sum!

He thought about it and decided to take on two more projects, then stop using this account, letting things settle before closing it down.

It was at this moment that he saw a piece of news—

The funeral of the victim from the Red Balloon serial killings…

He had followed this news before, his focus on the reincarnation aspect. He hadn’t paid attention to the victim’s family.

Now, as he clicked on the news, he saw some familiar faces.

There was a disparity in the media coverage of the serial killer victims. Among the seven cases, the public had long focused on the first and the Qian family case. The other cases didn’t attract as much attention, and not many people dug into the identities of the victims’ families.

By the time Tao Feng looked back at this case, several years had passed, and the people around him knew about it. No one would tell a child, “You had an older sister, but she was killed.”

And his family wouldn’t talk about it either—there were no traces of another child ever existing.

Tao Feng stared at the photos of the funeral, looking at the people there—his parents, grandparents. He felt a sense of confusion.

He quickly flipped through news articles and the details of the case.

He had no idea that his family had once had another child. If outsiders didn’t say anything, fine, but even within his family, there wasn’t a single related item.

He had seen other victims’ families from this case.

Something felt off, and he sensed an unease in his heart.

He reexamined the entire case, the bodies… the basketball court at Jingrong Community…

This unease reached its peak at that moment.

He remembered back in elementary school, a classmate lived in that community. They used to play basketball together.

They had such a good time that they lost track of time. When it got dark, his mother searched for him everywhere. After his mother found him, she scolded him.

He told his grandfather about the incident, hoping for some comfort, but was instead scolded again, forbidden from playing basketball there again.

He had sweated a lot playing basketball, and when he was exposed to the cold wind that evening, his mother beat him again. Afterward, his grandfather scolded him, and he developed a high fever that night. He still remembered holding a grudge over being scolded and beaten, repeatedly saying, “Just kill me, just kill me.”

He remembered it clearly. His mother had knelt down and cried, saying it was her fault. He was so frightened he quickly stopped talking.

He took a lot of medicine and even drank some strange concoctions. His grandfather had also placed a statue of a deity in the house.

He was strictly prohibited from going back to that community. That was a small incident from his childhood.

Tao Feng’s back went cold as he stared at the location of the body discovery in the news.

He had often wondered about the whole “reincarnation” thing.

He didn’t really believe in it, but now, he suddenly realized that perhaps someone had seen the body burial process all those years ago but couldn’t speak out for some reason.

That night, he called his mother.

On the other end, his mother sounded happy, as though she was talking to someone else.

“Mom, go somewhere there’s no one around to take the call.”

“What’s going on?” she asked, walking to the other side.

“From now on, don’t talk to anyone who comes to interview you. Don’t mention you have another son. Don’t cry about it, and don’t say anything about what happened back then. If anyone asks, just say you hope the killer is brought to justice soon.”

There was a pause on the other end. “You… You saw the news. I was worried you were busy at school, so I didn’t tell you about this…”

“Right now, take down the deity statues from the house. Put up the black-and-white photo of that child in the living room, and try to find some…” He had originally wanted to say “find some little girl’s things to put in the house,” but then realized that things from over ten years ago would likely be different from those now, so he stopped the thought. Instead, he said, “Put the photo up and remove the statue.”

“Feng Feng, what are you talking about?”

“Some things don’t need to be spelled out too clearly. You know what I mean. The internet is not like it was back then,” Tao Feng reminded these clueless people. “If anyone comes to the house and sees the statue, and there’s nothing belonging to that child…”

He suddenly thought of the certificates in his living room. “Tear up all of my certificates, and stop telling people you have another son.”

His sensitivity was high—after all, he had been analyzing online trends and the preferences of netizens for a while.

These netizens had seen so many cases. The sharpness from big data was evident—wife murdered, netizens suspecting the husband.

“Back then, everyone was caught up in the serial killer and child abuse cases, and no one noticed the issue. Now, if you keep acting like this, someone will definitely figure it out.”

“Feng Feng—You—” The person on the other end didn’t know what to say.

“Make sure you and Dad and Grandpa explain things clearly. If you don’t want to get caught, you need to be low-key. And don’t interact with that person who talks about reincarnation. It’s very likely someone behind her saw what you did back then, which is why they could pinpoint the location.”

Tao Feng, frustrated that only he seemed smart, warned them, “Once you fall into their trap, your lives are over.”

“So… what should we do?” they asked.

“Stop talking to people. Stay quiet. Don’t contact that person. If you don’t get involved, it’s been so many years already, there’s no way they’ll figure it out.”

He didn’t care whether they listened, hanging up the phone.

He was still anxious. If he was really found out, he would undoubtedly suffer the consequences as well.

In the following days, he started to worry about receiving calls from unknown numbers.

Every time a call came in, his whole heart would skip a beat.

One morning, an unknown call came in, and he answered it casually.

On the other end was a man speaking Mandarin. His heart skipped a beat as he feared the person would mention his family’s involvement in a murder.

However, the person said, “Is this account ‘Xinxin Xiangrong’ being used by you?”

“We have found several instances of violating operation in your advertising videos and need to confirm it with you.”

Tao Feng was in a panic, but he still had to respond with surprise, “Huh? What violations? Are you sure you’re not mistaken?”

“We have verified it three times, and this account has violated the terms of our previous agreement. We hope you can cooperate with our work.”

“Considering you’re a student, we will first try to resolve it privately. If you do not cooperate, we will hand it over to the legal department.”

Tao Feng said, “I don’t know what you mean by violations. Can you give me some time to check the situation?”

“Perhaps because you’re young, you don’t realize this is a violation, and such a level of breach requires compensation. You should be mentally prepared.” The person spoke very politely.

Tao Feng hung up the phone and quickly tried to contact his previous brother. However, the message was rejected.

This was a real problem.

If he had to pay the penalty for the breach, he would have to return all the money he had earned so far.

Forget about the debt he had already paid off, the shoes, clothes, and the money he had spent treating others.

These were small amounts.

The biggest problem was the profit sharing with the platform. Would the platform be willing to return the money?

Two huge problems had suddenly fallen on him.

What should he do now?

Where could he find this much money?

He suddenly regretted not asking his family for help when he only had a few thousand in debt.

His family… his family wasn’t exactly an easy solution. If the issues at home were exposed…

How did he end up in such a family?

Wait a minute.

Tao Feng suddenly stood up!

He remembered his original plan: the reincarnation of the Qian family’s child.

If this plan succeeded, he wouldn’t have to worry about money anymore, and he wouldn’t have to worry about public opinion.

Because, at that time, he would be directly recognized as a child of the Qian family, removing any negative influence of that family in the public’s eyes.

But this was not an easy task. The child from that family was a girl. First, he would have to convince people that she had reincarnated as a boy, and that required solid evidence.

The only breakthrough was the body from the past life.

He could guess that the past life and reincarnation story was manipulated by someone, but the public didn’t know.

As long as the body from the past life was located, he would have no trouble convincing the Qian family.

And the key to this problem was Zhao Xin, the murderer.

But he had been held captive for half a month with nothing gained.

Tao Feng understood that using force wouldn’t work.

——————————————

Zhao Xin received a message.

“Being scolded every day, being watched wherever you go, unable to return to school to teach, and even getting stabbed, isn’t that tough? I have a way to help you get out of this predicament.”

“Who are you?”

“Who I am isn’t important. What matters is that I have a way to help you. Just think about it: if everyone knows you were wronged, how much public sympathy could you gain?”

Zhao Xin looked at the young person, and the arrogance, the feeling of thinking he knew everything, seemed so familiar to him.

It reminded him of Li Xun.

A malicious thought crossed his mind. He didn’t know what had happened in the other person’s life, but he knew that sending such a message meant that the person on the other end was probably the last straw.

So, he replied, “Let’s meet and talk.”