Chapter 20 The Life of a Villain.
Shengfang followed Zhu Qing, changing buses several times. Finally, the bus made several turns and entered Huangzhukeng territory.
The street scene outside the window flashed by, and the child leaned against the car window, looking past the dusty old buildings, and poked at the glass.
Is that Ocean Park?
Zhu Qing followed his gaze.
At this time, the Ferris wheel was suspended in mid-air, and its colorful and bright lights had been turned off.
Ocean Park Hong Kong is too close to Wong Chuk Hang Police Academy.
Every summer night, the cheerful screams and childlike music from the amusement park would drift into her dormitory on the breeze, and even with the windows tightly closed, they could not be blocked out.
"Have you been there?" Zhu Qing asked.
"No." Sheng Fang shook her head, her nose still pressed against the window. "What about you?"
Zhu Qing did not answer.
The answer was obvious: those joyful laughs and shouts, so close, yet always so unattainable. She just hadn't expected that this pampered young master from a wealthy family would also be watching the amusement park with such longing, peering cautiously.
"We're here." She stood up and gestured for Shengfang to follow.
The Wong Chuk Hang Police Academy does not have the concept of summer vacation. The cadet classes usually have a regular training course of 26 to 36 weeks. Regardless of whether it is sunny or rainy, the cadets never stop training and go directly into the police force after graduation.
The playground was now deserted. Zhu Qing led Sheng Fang down a familiar path, walking hurriedly.
Zhu Qing is used to being alone, and she always takes big strides, never waiting for anyone.
The young master of the Sheng family has short legs; no matter how big the steps are, it's useless. He has to run.
The cold moonlight spilled across the campus, casting long shadows of them that remained neither too close nor too far apart.
This distance is like our clumsy companionship.
Since it was a rare treat for him to visit, Shengfang had been imagining what his niece's home would be like on the way there.
Maybe it was small, but I never expected it—
It's so small!
It might be a bit worn out, but I never expected it—
It's so dilapidated!
"I told you not to get your hopes up."
Zhu Qing's current dormitory is in an old annex building. This building is quite old; it used to be used as a temporary rest area for rotating instructors, but its location was far from the main training area, and the conditions and facilities were too rudimentary. After the new dormitory building was built, this place was gradually abandoned.
After graduation, Zhu Qing had nowhere to go, so the school made an exception and allowed her to stay here temporarily until she was assigned to the disciplined forces dormitory.
"Is this place habitable?" Sheng Fang stood at the door, her little face scrunched up.
Although the young master of the Sheng family is usually spoiled and mischievous, a little tyrant who deserves a beating, at least at this moment...
His eyes were wide open, his little expression both innocent and shocked, his disgust genuine and utterly sincere.
Such purity is almost unbelievable, as if the sinister, ruthless, and cunning villain from the original story had nothing to do with him.
"Take it or leave it." Zhu Qing made a move to close the door.
Before the dormitory door closed, Sheng Fang squeezed through the crack and said, "Stay, stay!"
Upon entering the house, the sudden heat wave caught the child off guard, leaving him completely dumbfounded and feeling as if he were being engulfed.
Oh no, it looks like it's about to be cooked.
In the cramped dormitory, there was a bunk bed with iron frames. The old electric fan made an annoying creaking sound when it turned. Sheng Fang suspected that it was hotter than a steamer. When he and a little glutinous rice ball that was about to melt stared blankly at Zhu Qing, she had already poured a basin of water on the ground to cool it down briefly.
Cool water droplets splashed onto the back of the blooming hand.
He shook his head again, unable to bear it. What kind of life was his eldest niece living?
The small desk next to the bunk bed still had work materials on it.
The notebook was filled with annotations, almost overflowing the page.
After a brief cooling down, the steaming dumplings are transformed back into piping hot soup dumplings.
He said matter-of-factly, "I want to take a bath."
The child is so young, but he is a very particular person.
At home, Marissa would immediately prepare a bath with just a word from him. She would take the thermometer several times to ensure the temperature was accurate, and then the toy ducks would get into the bathtub with him, line up on the surface of the bubble water, and he would give them his orders.
However, now...
Zhu Qing glanced at him expressionlessly.
"The communal bathroom is at the end of the corridor in the new dormitory building, and they've just finished their night training at this time."
"Watch your step when you go over there, or you'll get trampled."
Shengfang crouched in the coldest corner, staring at her in disbelief.
His niece is so cold-hearted!
...
In the end, the young master of the Sheng family's bathing plan was officially ruined.
He didn't even get to take a shower.
"I smell bad," Sheng Fang said sadly.
There were no smooth silk pajamas, no baby shampoo, not even a towel! His niece tossed him a plastic basin and told him to dab the water in it with his hands and scrub it a couple of times.
The child cupped the water in his two little hands.
The water was so wide between my fingers that it all ran out before it even hit my face.
The young master stared blankly at his empty little hands, a downward curve to his lips.
This was the most aggrieved day of his life!
Zhu Qing also refreshed her understanding.
A spoiled child who doesn't even know how to wash his face?
As Shengfang strode her short legs to the lower bunk of the iron bunk bed and lay down, the creaking noise started again.
It was hot, so he didn't even need an extra blanket. He lay sprawled out, shirt rolled up, finally feeling a bit of coolness. Just as he was drifting off to sleep, he suddenly sat up with a start, clutching his lower abdomen.
"No!" Sheng Fang yawned, but his tone was unusually serious as he lay back down.
How can you roll over on your belly in front of a girl?!
The young master straightened his clothes, closed his eyes, and smacked his lips. Gradually, his breathing became regular.
As the night deepened, the cicadas chirping outside the window became even clearer.
Zhu Qing hunched over her desk, finishing the report she needed to submit to Inspector Mo tomorrow. He Jiaer, Sheng Peirong, Cheng Zhaoqian… each name fell onto the paper like a silent sigh.
When she finished writing the last line, her pen paused at the period.
This case is really coming to an end.
The alarm clock on the corner of the table points to one in the morning.
Zhu Qing suddenly wondered, could a person lying asleep in a hospital bed perceive the alternation of day and night? The dark green notebook, worn white from Sheng Peirong's constant rubbing, recorded her day-to-day waiting.
Initially, Zhu Qing was simply following the procedure.
But now, it can no longer be treated as an ordinary case.
A rustling sound came from behind.
The little one rolled over, scratched his face in his sleep, and when he withdrew his hand, a mosquito bite appeared on his fair cheek.
The old-fashioned iron window screen had a hole in it, and there were many mosquitoes on the summer night, so Zhu Qing pulled the window shut to make it more secure.
That evening, in the CID room, Inspector Ong said that most of the Sheng family's maids had left.
Especially the Filipino maid Marissa, who refused to stay any longer, fearing she would become the next corpse found in the Mid-Levels mansion.
Chen Chaosheng was dead, and Sheng Peishan was arrested; the media scrambled to report this major news. More reputable television stations parked their interview vans in front of the Sheng family home, spouting platitudes. But those unscrupulous paparazzi were practically ready to break into the villa disguised as water deliverymen.
The fluorescent lights were blinding.
Zhu Qingcai realized that the glaring light didn't affect the child's sleep at all. Instead of being a nuisance, it made him feel safer.
Zhu Qing became curious.
When she was a child, was she afraid of the dark when lying in unfamiliar surroundings?
I didn't think it would happen.
From childhood to adulthood, she has never been afraid of anything.
But looking back, she realized that courage wasn't something she was born with. During those days and nights in the orphanage, she had also tried huddling in a corner, searching for a faint light source.
But as time went by, Zhu Qing forgot those helpless moments.
The old-fashioned fan was still spinning laboriously, blowing out hot air.
The child's breathing became increasingly deep and even.
She shook her head; despite the sweltering heat, the little stove was still sleeping soundly.
...
I woke up on a very hard bed, and my arms and legs felt like they weren't even mine.
The morning sunlight shone on his face, so hot that he couldn't open his eyes.
The little one, like a soft little bun, stretched and slid down from the lower bunk of the metal bunk bed.
Last night, Shengfang was only a little uneasy about the uncertain future, but today, the vague sense of unease has become clearer.
Where is he going?
Zhu Qing looked at the child's drooping head and assumed that he was just still asleep.
She quickly packed her things, locked the door as she left, and reminded him, "Hurry up."
The little one lagged behind.
After a while, Zhu Qing realized that she had been walking too fast and turned around.
The law firm should reschedule the reading of the will within the next couple of days.
Reporters from major Hong Kong newspapers had already set up their cameras and microphones, waiting to capture the expression of this billionaire heir. But no one knew that, walking under the blazing sun, his little face blank, he was just an ordinary, lost child.
Looking at his dejected appearance, Zhu Qing recalled the original plot of her dream from last night.
In the original novel, she was a cannon fodder female supporting character who took a knife for the original male lead. With almost no foreshadowing in the previous plot, she inexplicably became his white moonlight after her death, serving as a tool to drive the plot forward.
After she left the scene, the romantic relationship between the original male and female leads gradually became clear. Originally, the original male lead wasn't attracted to the cheerful and sunny original female lead, but a case unexpectedly deepened their connection.
That was not long after the "Red-Clad Serial Murders in the Rainy Night" incident. In that tragedy, the original female protagonist unfortunately lost all her relatives and was also seriously injured, causing huge psychological trauma and almost leaving the police force forever.
The original female lead was Tsang Wing-shan.
A tragedy tightly intertwines the fates of the two main characters.
The original male lead accompanied her out of the shadows, spending twenty years healing the wounds in her heart...
Twenty years later, they joined forces again to solve a high-IQ crime case that shocked all of Hong Kong.
That criminal—
After his death, the police recounted his life story.
Both parents died when he was young, his second sister was imprisoned for intentional homicide, and his eldest sister exhausted her last bit of life on her sickbed.
He inherited billions alone, yet had no guardian. Social welfare agencies, private schools, dysfunctional foster families… everyone revolved around this orphan, outwardly offering concern and care, but secretly calculating how much they could gain from the custody battle. Throughout this entire process, he was the sole victim.
It's unclear at what point the villain's life went wrong and became twisted.
In short, he eventually became that textbook-level criminal genius.
In the end, good triumphs over evil, and the villain is shot dead by the police.
But at this moment, he is still standing in the sunlight.
Shengfang, with her fair face upturned and clear eyes, innocently asked, "Shall I buy you an apartment?"
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