Chapter 30
Seeing Shen Wangyou’s stunned look, Lu Ling said it again.
"I said, I found the culprit who caused the fire in the Dong family's house."
Lu Ling paused and continued, "But she has to admit it herself."
"How did you find it?" Shen Wangyou asked.
"Of course she found it through clues, but I can't figure out why she did that."
"Human nature is evil, maybe it's due to one's temperament, or... driven by interests." Shen Wangyou said slowly.
Lu Ling disagreed: "Human nature is good, there must be some connection between them."
After Lu Ling finished speaking, he pointed at Shen Wangyou’s chest and said, “You are a scholar.”
"Then A Ling, can you tell me who this person is?" Shen Wangyou lowered his body and looked at the person sitting on the bed.
Lu Ling forced a smile, then turned cold: "Not at the moment."
Lu Ling originally didn’t want to hide it from Shen Wangyou, but after this man said this just now, she was unwilling to tell him.
Lu Ling went to bed late that night, and it was already past midnight when he lay down on the bed.
The person next to him seemed to notice and pulled Lu Ling closer to him.
"Why is it so late?" The man closed his eyes and breathed very close to her.
Lu Ling was already extremely sleepy and muttered, "I embroidered a purse."
After saying this, he fell into a deep sleep.
——
"Zhenzhen." Lu Ling waved to Zhao Zhenzhen, and when the child came over, Lu Ling squatted down.
"Give."
Lu Ling took out the purse she had just embroidered last night.
The little girl's eyes widened with surprise: "Thank you, sister."
"You're welcome. Zhenzhen, can you tell me where your purse went?" Lu Ling squatted down and looked at the little girl happily touching her purse.
The little girl looked around, then covered her ears with her hands and said to Lu Ling, "I secretly tied it to my mother's clothes. I originally wanted to take it back the next day, but I didn't see it when my mother came back that day."
"Come back? Where did your mother go?"
"I don't know. Besides, when my mother came back, she had a smell on her body that I didn't like."
After Zhao Zhenzhen said this, Lu Ling became more certain of his thoughts.
After playing with Zhao Zhenzhen for a while, the little girl got tired and went to sleep.
Just as Zhao Zhenzhen was comforted, Aunt Zhao came over.
Lu Ling's eyes met hers. "Aunt Zhao, may I have a moment to talk?"
Aunt Zhao nodded, her expression ambiguous.
"Have you seen this bead, Aunt Zhao?" Lu Ling took out the bead.
Aunt Zhao was stunned for a moment, then said, "I've never seen it before."
"Oh?" Lu Ling's eyes fell on Aunt Zhao's slender white wrist.
"I remember Aunt Zhao used to have a chain on her right hand. There was a bead on that chain that looked very similar to the one on my hand!"
Lu Ling pressed forward step by step.
"And this." Lu Ling took out the burnt purse.
"What is this? I don't recognize it." Aunt Zhao's face changed again and again.
"Mrs. Zhao doesn't recognize it, but I do. This is the purse I gave to Zhenzhen. She said she tied it to your belt that day."
Lu Ling looked at Aunt Zhao's expression and continued, "Guess where I found these things?"
With the evidence before her, Aunt Zhao no longer denied it.
"Yes, so what if I did it? If anyone is to blame, it's Dong Shen. He deserves it!"
"Serves him right? Uncle Dong is a humble man, and he's kind to everyone in the village. How can he deserve it?"
Although Lu Ling had not been in Leping Village for long, he had heard villagers praising Dong Shen and his wife many times, and sometimes even Shen Wangyou would praise them.
"He caused my husband's tragic death, doesn't he deserve it? He left my widow and me alone in this world, doesn't he deserve it? He did so many evil things and yet he still has a good reputation, doesn't he deserve it?"
As Aunt Zhao spoke one by one, her voice choked with sobs.
Lu Ling thought there must be a reason behind this, so she didn't reveal Aunt Zhao's true identity in front of Dong Shen and the others, but said it in private. However, she never thought that the reason behind it would be like this.
On weekdays, he saw Dong Shen as a refined, self-respecting and modest gentleman, and the temperament of a scholar was fully displayed in him. But now, after hearing what Aunt Zhao said, she began to doubt whether she was too gullible.
Sure enough, she still can't change her habit of judging people by their appearance.
"nonsense!"
A voice came from outside the door, and then the door was opened from the outside.
Shen Wangyou, Dong Shen, and Qu Lan were all standing outside the door.
Dong Shen's lips were trembling and his eyes were red. It was obvious that he was angry. Qu Lan supported him with a worried look on his face, while Shen Wangyou, who had nothing to do with the matter, stood with his hands behind his back, looking like he was watching a show.
Dong Shen walked into the room, glanced at Lu Ling, and then met Aunt Zhao's eyes.
"Ning Hua, Huairen and I are close friends. How could I harm him? Besides, it's well known that Huairen died in a fire. How could I be the one who caused his tragic death?"
"Yes, he died in the fire, but my husband shouldn't have been in the school that day. It should have been you who was teaching the students that day!" Ning Hua pointed at Dong Shen and said desperately, "If it weren't for you, how could my husband have died in the sea of fire?"
Hulala——
Thunder suddenly sounded and heavy rain followed.
"Ning Hua, didn't I explain to you earlier that I wasn't feeling well that day, and Dong Shen was anxious to take care of me, so I asked Huairen to switch classes with him?"
In order to allow the students to learn more, Dong Shen and Zhao Huairen taught separately. Dong Shen was good at chess and Zhao Huairen was good at writing. In the morning, Zhao Huairen taught writing, and in the afternoon, Dong Shen taught chess.
"You're a murderer too!" Ning Hua pointed at Qu Lan, her hands trembling and tears streaming down her face. "You're not feeling well? You've been feeling unwell before and after, so why did you feel unwell that day?"
The thunder grew louder and the rain began to fall.
Lu Ling felt uncomfortable listening to this. Ning Hua's words didn't make any sense at all.
"You were the one who caused the school to catch fire, right?" Shen Wangyou, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke.
Several people in the room looked at Shen Wangyou in unison, all in disbelief.
"No! It's not me!" Ning Hua shook his head in despair.
Shen Wangyou sneered: "Still not admitting it? Fine, then let me ask you, do you have any grudges with Dong Shen?"
"Celebrating a festival?" Dong Shen was puzzled for a moment, but he quickly remembered, "I remember. I invited Brother Huairen to go drinking in the city. We came back late that day, and Huairen and Ning Hua had a fight. They even stayed at our house. Ning Hua was always mean to me until Huairen passed away."
"If it weren't for friends like you, why would Huairen go drinking with you, smelling of women's powder all over your body!"
"Smell of powder? Ning Hua, don't slander me. Huairen and I are innocent, how could there be any smell of powder!"
"Then what is this?" Ning Hua took out a jade pendant from her pocket, "My husband never wears a jade pendant, and the pattern of this jade pendant doesn't look like something a man's..." Ning Hua's eyes were red and tears were welling up in her eyes.
"That... I don't know either. Huairen did leave for a while that day, but he didn't do anything."
Dong Shen recalled the scene that day. The two of them were drinking, and Zhao Huairen said he had to go to the bathroom. He waited for him alone in the private room, but after a long time, Zhao Huairen still didn't come back. Dong Shen felt uneasy and wanted to go find him. When he opened the door, Zhao Huairen happened to be outside.
Zhao Huairen smiled and said that he was lost. They didn't go to the pub often, so it was normal to get lost. Dong Shen didn't think much about it.
Ning Hua stared at Dong Shen and smiled bitterly.
The laughter echoed in the house, the thunder and laughter mixed together, making people tremble in their hearts.
The rain was getting heavier and heavier, and everything around was getting dark.
"Hahahaha—that's how it is. The fire was actually set in the right place."
"So you originally wanted to burn Uncle Dong to death?" Lu Ling stared at Ning Hua. "How could you be so vicious? There are so many children in the school!"
"No! I didn't mean to harm the children. I didn't expect the fire to be so big and spread to the school. I originally wanted to burn the small house next door. I clearly... I clearly saw him walk into it."
Ning Hua grabbed her hair with both hands, her mouth wide open, her eyes full of disbelief.
When Dong Shen heard this, he fell backwards. Fortunately, Qu Lan supported him and prevented him from falling.
"Ning Hua, Ning Hua, what is your heart made of? You can actually kill your own husband!" Dong Shen panted, pointed at Ning Hua and cursed with shaking fingers.
"No! It's not me! I didn't kill him. I didn't kill my husband!" Ning Hua screamed incoherently.
Then she seemed to remember something, "Yes, I was the one who killed him. He dared to betray me! He deserves to die!"
Thunder rumbled and raindrops as big as beans hit the ground, as if they were going to flood the yard.
"Bang——"
Thunder and crashing sounds rang out together. Everyone looked towards the source of the sound and saw a pool of blood on the ground.
Ning Hua fell to the ground, leaning against the pillar, his face covered in blood.
"Damn it, damn it!" Even though blood was flowing, she still spoke with resentment.
Ning Hua stretched out his hand, as if trying to grab something.
"Ms. Aling, please help me take good care of Zhenzhen and don't let her know that her mother is a murderer." Ning Hua slowly turned his head to look at Lu Ling and spat out a mouthful of blood.
As soon as he finished speaking, Ning Hua's hands fell from the air and he closed his eyes.
Lu Ling's eyes, which had already turned red, were filled with tears.
Although Ning Hua did many wrong things, his concern for her and Shen Wangyou during this period was genuine. If it weren't for her, she and Shen Wangyou might have died long ago.
"Oh, what a sin!" Dong Shen waved his hands, ignored the heavy rain, and walked out of the room with Qu Lan.
Lu Ling took the jade pendant from Ning Hua's hand, looked around, and felt that the jade pendant was very familiar.
"What should we do with this corpse?"
Shen Wangyou frowned, “Let’s find a place to bury it.”
"Now?"
Shen Wangyou glanced at the rain outside, which showed no sign of stopping: "Let's talk about it after the rain stops."
Lu Ling and Shen Wangyou wiped the bloodstains on the ground and settled Ning Hua's body before walking out of the room.
As soon as I went out, I happened to see Zhao Zhenzhen in the corridor, silently wiping her tears.
Lu Ling and Shen Wangyou exchanged a glance, as if asking again: What should we do?
Shen Wangyou shook his head.
Regardless of the heavy rain, Lu Ling ran to the house opposite, squatted down and looked at Zhao Zhenzhen: "Zhenzhen, what's wrong? Why are you crying?"
"Sister, it's thundering, I'm scared," the little girl rubbed her eyes, "Sister, where's my mother? She always comes to accompany me when there's thunder, why can't I see her today?"
Lu Ling took Zhao Zhenzhen back to the house and comforted her, "Don't be afraid, Zhenzhen. Mother has gone far away for something and her return date is uncertain. She told Zhenzhen to play well with her sister. From now on, sister will accompany you, okay?"
Zhao Zhenzhen was confused and said, "Okay." Perhaps she thought of something, and then she said, "Why didn't my mother tell me?"
Lu Ling stroked her hair and comforted her, "Mother left in a hurry today and didn't tell Zhenzhen because she was still sleeping."
"Is that so? Okay then, I forgive you, Mom." Zhao Zhenzhen looked at Lu Ling with her big round eyes. "Sister, can you sleep with me tonight? I'm scared."
"Okay, I'll sleep with Zhenzhen tonight." Lu Ling looked at Zhao Zhenzhen and felt a little reluctant.
Although Ning Hua did something wrong, she took good care of Zhao Zhenzhen.
Since Ning Hua said that before she died, she would take good care of Zhao Zhenzhen.
She wants her to grow up safely and healthily, she wants everything to go well for her, and she wants her to be happy and worry-free!
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