Feng Qiushi's body trembled uncontrollably, his eyes filled with fear.
She watched as Xu Xinghe slowly stood up and walked towards her step by step. Her eyes seemed to see right through her, making her lose even the courage to lie.
Xu Xinghe walked up to Feng Qiushi, looking at her trembling appearance, without a trace of pity in her eyes.
Before Feng Qiushi could say anything, she raised her hand and delivered a resounding slap, the sound particularly jarring in the enclosed mill room.
"Aiding and abetting evil! How dare you say you didn't know?" Xu Xinghe's voice was icy cold. "Did you kill Erlaizi? When Xu Mingli ordered you to do it, why didn't you say you didn't know?"
Feng Qiushi was knocked to the side by the blow, his cheeks instantly swollen and red, and tears welled up uncontrollably.
Erlaizi's death is the biggest shadow in her heart. During this period, she has been plagued by nightmares day and night, always dreaming that Erlaizi comes to take her life. Her mind has long been on the verge of collapse.
Now that Xu Xinghe had directly exposed her, her mental defenses crumbled instantly, and her body trembled even more violently. Yet, she still instinctively tried to deny it, "I didn't! I didn't kill Er Laizi! I don't even know Xu Mingli! Don't wrong me!"
"You're being framed?" Xu Xinghe sneered. "Xu Mingli is in my hands right now. He's confessed everything. You still dare to be stubborn? It seems you won't shed a tear until you see the coffin!"
After she finished speaking, she grabbed Feng Qiushi's arm and forcibly pulled her up from the ground. "Come on! I'll take you to see him and see if you can still hold on!"
Feng Qiushi struggled desperately, trying to shake off Xu Xinghe's hand, but she held it tightly and he couldn't move at all.
Zhang Cishu followed behind the two men, opened the courtyard gate, and pushed Feng Qiushi into the jeep.
The car sped along and soon arrived at the bathhouse.
Xu Xinghe dragged Feng Qiushi into the woodshed. The moment they pushed open the door, a foul, sour smell hit them.
Feng Qiushi subconsciously looked up and saw Xu Mingli lying on the ground, bound hand and foot, his face as pale as paper, his lips cracked and dry, his eyes closed, and his breath weak. He had obviously fallen asleep and did not even react when they came in.
Seeing Xu Mingli's half-dead state, Feng Qiushi was so frightened that his legs went weak and he sat down on the ground with a thud, his eyes filled with terror.
She had never seen Xu Mingli so disheveled. This was no longer the person who could control her; he was clearly a useless piece of trash who could die at any moment!
Xu Xinghe stepped forward, grabbed Feng Qiushi's hair, and forced her to look up at Xu Mingli. "Look carefully! This is the person you've been protecting! You think he'll protect you? Let me tell you, he impersonated Shen An, found a stand-in to stay in Hongqi Village, and even made you and that stand-in do things for him. He killed Er Laizi's father to frame Jiang Linchuan, and later, fearing Er Laizi would be exposed, he made you kill Er Laizi! Do you really think I don't know any of this?"
Feng Qiushi's hair was pulled painfully, tears and snot mingled together, and he kept muttering, "It wasn't me... I was forced..."
"Forced?" Xu Xinghe released her grip, looking at her slumped on the ground, a mocking smile playing on her lips. "If you don't tell the truth, you won't just be an accomplice, you'll be the mastermind. Do you know what Xu Mingli said? He said it was all your doing, that you instigated him to kill, to frame Jiang Linchuan, and that he was just used by you!"
Xu Xinghe deliberately fabricated these words, knowing that the two of them were already in the same boat and understood each other very well.
Sure enough, upon hearing this, Feng Qiushi's face turned deathly pale, and his body trembled violently.
She knew Xu Mingli's character all too well; he was absolutely capable of shifting responsibility onto others!
"No! It wasn't me! He forced me! Xu Mingli forced me!" Feng Qiushi suddenly broke down, crawling on all fours to Xu Xinghe's feet, clinging tightly to her leg, crying out, "I'll tell you everything! I'll tell you everything! Please don't think of me as the mastermind! I was forced!"
Xu Xinghe looked down at her, "Wouldn't it have been better to do this earlier? Cishu, drag her to the next room, don't let her wake Xu Mingli."
Zhang Cishu responded, stepped forward, pulled Feng Qiushi up from the ground, dragged her to the empty room next door, and threw her on the ground.
Feng Qiushi knelt on the ground, wiped away her tears, and choked out the whole story, “I used to be a nurse at a mental hospital in Shanghai. After Xu Mingli was admitted, he often talked to me, saying that he was not sick at all and that his family was very rich. At that time, I was being bullied by some mental patients, and he would help me, so I believed him and confided in him. Later, he asked me to help him escape, saying that he would take me with him and give me a good life. I was confused for a moment and ran away with him.”
“He bought the false identity of Shen An and brought me to Heilongjiang Province. He said he hated you and Jiang Linchuan and was determined to destroy you. Later, he found Er Laizi’s father and killed him to frame Jiang Linchuan. I didn’t know about this at first; I only found out later!”
"Later, when you started investigating the cause of Er Laizi's father's death, he was afraid that Er Laizi would reveal something, so he forced me to kill Er Laizi. I didn't dare, so he threatened me... I had no choice but to listen to him. Also, the gunshot wound on his arm was from when he tried to dispose of Er Laizi's father's body. He didn't dare go to the hospital and could only treat it himself, which resulted in him being crippled... It was because of the gunshot wound that I found out that he really killed Er Laizi's father!"
Feng Qiushi became more and more agitated as he spoke, tears streaming down his face. "He did all this to prevent you from marrying Jiang Linchuan. He still wanted to be with you and then find a way to get the Xu family's assets so he could take the money and go abroad to enjoy a life of luxury!"
After she finished speaking, she collapsed to the ground, feeling utterly powerless, as if a heavy burden had been lifted from her shoulders, yet she was filled with fear.
She knew that even if she was forced into it, the fact that she killed someone could not be changed.
She's finished, no matter what!
After listening to Feng Qiushi's tearful account, Xu Xinghe showed no sympathy whatsoever. Instead, she let out a mocking laugh, her voice icy cold. "Forced? You're good at making yourself look good. Dare you say that when you went with Xu Mingli, it wasn't because you were greedy for the promises he made? Didn't you want to get the Xu family's assets and live a good life abroad with him? If there weren't these benefits, would you have willingly worked for him?"
Feng Qiushi suddenly looked up, her eyes filled with panic. Of course, she was a little panicked, but more so because of her feelings for Xu Mingli!
"Yes, I admit I was a bit greedy, but who in the world isn't? Who doesn't want a good life? And I truly loved him back then! I thought he could give me the life I wanted. I had no idea he was so audacious that he would actually kill someone! If I had known he was this kind of person, I would never have gone with him, even if it meant death!"
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