Chapter Ninety-Eight Premeditated Murder
I quietly turned on the voice recorder in my bag, convinced that she would soon reveal some heartfelt words.
“What’s there to be familiar or unfamiliar about? This woman is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Girl, since we get along well, I won’t lie to you. My husband’s car accident was related to their family. He said goodbye to me before he drove off, saying a lot of strange things. As a result, he had a car accident that day. They only paid some money. A human life is irreplaceable. Tell me, how am I supposed to live now, a widow and an orphan?” Lu Hong cried as she spoke.
"Sister, you can't say things like that. Causing a car accident that results in injuries or fatalities is a serious crime."
"Of course I know I can't say things like that," Lu Hong's voice lowered slightly. "I have no choice now. I can't go back to my husband's family. A married daughter is like water spilled from a cup; she can't go back to her parents' home. I can only rent a place here. I originally wanted to find a job, but where can I find a job without experience these days? My husband has always taken good care of me and never let me do anything. Sigh, he used to spoil me. Now that he's gone, he's ruined me." If I didn't know about Lu Hong's past, I would have been truly moved by her words.
“My dead husband was a gambler and had a mountain of debt. He was desperate and had no other choice but to risk his life for money. He promised to take care of us, a widow and her orphan, but now he doesn’t care about anything at all.”
"Sister, I just can't figure this out. As far as I know, Amy is just the director of the advertising department, so why would she need your husband to do things for her? Besides, everyone thinks she's a pretty nice person. Are you sure you're not mistaken?"
"She seems harmless on the surface, but she's really wicked inside. Actually, not only my husband died in the car accident, but also a child. However, the accident was meant to kill the child's mother. She was very lucky and escaped, but I heard that she's been lying in the intensive care unit ever since, and may be in a vegetative state."
I was surprised. How did Lu Hong know so much? Even if Amy was stupid, she wouldn't tell her something like this!
"Sister, you can't say these things carelessly, it's like premeditated murder."
“How could I say such things? My husband is quite smart. I was just afraid that if he did the deed, he would leave and deny it. He recorded it. I only heard the recording when I was looking through his phone a while ago.”
Lu Hong, fearing I wouldn't believe her, turned to get her phone. A 15-minute recording described the entire incident in incredibly detail. Indeed, the car accident was about me, not Chu Zhen. If it were before, I would have collapsed upon hearing the recording, but I remained calm. I couldn't give myself away.
“If you’re familiar with the people at the newspaper, I won’t hide it from you. Although my husband is dead, the evidence is still there. If they think they can just let this go, I’m not so easy to bully,” Lu Hong said resentfully, looking determined to make a comeback. However, she calmed down after a while.
"Lin Yan, I don't have many friends. Could you help me?"
"How can I help?" I was a little curious about what Lu Hong wanted me to do.
“I’ve already told Amy about the recording, and she promised to pay me, but she hasn’t yet. She wants me to hand over the recording before she’ll pay me. I’m not stupid; how could I possibly get money if I gave her the recording? But I think that rich people like them will definitely find a way to get the recording back. You keep it for me. If anything happens to me someday, you must make this recording public.”
"Sis, this might not be a good idea. Why don't we call the police? This is no small matter." I pretended to be flustered because I was sure that Lu Hong wouldn't dare to call the police; she would continue to demand more information from this recording.
"Don't call the police. My son is still in college. I don't care about him, but it will have a bad influence on him. How can he face people with his father who committed murder?"
Looking at Lu Hong, for a fleeting moment, I actually felt that she was still a mother.
When I got home, I played Zhou Jianguo's phone over and over again.
"I only want the woman in the photo to live, so you absolutely must make sure the man is alright."
"Mr. Li, this is no small matter. Have you thought it through?"
"If I hadn't thought it through, would I have let you come? Don't worry, after it's done, I'll pay off all your gambling debts. You still have an elderly mother, right? I'll give her enough money to support her in her old age and see her off when she dies. Don't worry about your son and your wife either, I'll give them some money too."
“Remember, it’s all about a woman’s life~” Amy’s voice suddenly came from the phone.
He paused for a while.
"Okay, I promise you, I'll do it!"
...
Next came the discussion about my commute times, travel routes, and so on. It turned out that the car accident was not a natural disaster or man-made calamity, but rather a premeditated event.
I had an urge to take the recording and call the police, but Chu Yilin's case was still unsolved, and I couldn't afford to alert him. After listening to the recording, my heart remained unsettled for a long time. I put my phone away carefully; I couldn't let Chu Zhen hear it. All of this stemmed from our acquaintance. If we hadn't met, none of this would have happened. I was afraid he would blame everything on me.
"Xiao Ai said you weren't feeling well. What's wrong? Where do you feel unwell?" Chu Zhen looked flustered when he got home. I then remembered that I had made an excuse to go out so that if Chu Zhen asked, I could say that I wasn't feeling well.
"It's nothing, I was just kidding. Song Ji-hyo asked me to come out and help her with the news. There's a challenge on the food street where you have to eat super spicy chicken wings, and she's in charge of it, so she dragged me along."
"That's good. Next time, just tell me the news directly. But, have you eaten any chicken wings? You don't look too well."
"I took two bites, just to see what super spicy was like, and it was seriously too spicy!"
"You can't be tempted by spicy food anymore. Your body can't handle spicy food. I'll cook some old duck soup to cool you down."
Chu Zhen is truly a perfect husband. He used to always worry about my safety and stayed by my side every day. After the abortion pill incident, I told him that if someone wanted to harm me, there was no way to prevent it, so it was better for me to face it myself. He agreed with my idea, and now we have relatively independent time and space.
Every day, Chu Zhen would prepare breakfast and dinner. We ate lunch at work as usual. Especially on the second night after we got our marriage certificate, Chu Zhen gave me all her belongings at once, keeping only a supplementary credit card. The main card was actually placed next to me.
Huang Yanyan said, "Where can you find a man like this? He's the kind of person who enters into marriage with the sole purpose of growing old with one person."
Song Ji-hyo said, "Master Chu is Master Chu. The way he expresses love is the way a master behaves. In today's society, people's hearts are unpredictable. Who doesn't guard against whom? If you change your mind one day, you can just run away with the money. Master Chu ended up leaving with nothing."
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