Chapter 73 Gardenia: A Pure and Clear Heart Untouched by Dust
Geng Lihua did not speak and fell into a long silence.
Lei Xiao and Fan Wei did not urge him; one sat and the other stood, both patiently waiting for Geng Lihua to speak.
Jiang Ling stopped taking notes, placed the pen next to the notebook, and pondered deeply.
She knew that Lei Xiao was now asking about the motive for the crime.
Only by figuring out Geng Lihua's motive for murder can we warn others.
From the perspective of criminal psychology, Geng Lihua's crime was indeed a retaliatory murder. However, his retaliation was not an immediate act of revenge, but rather the culmination of long-suppressed hatred triggered by a specific environment or event. From this perspective, Qin Tieshan's initial characterization of it as a crime of passion was not entirely wrong.
The death of his wife, Zhao Shufen, was a devastating blow to Geng Lihua. But at the time, he also needed to raise his daughter, Geng Simin, alone, and the responsibility of survival suppressed his impulse for revenge. He transformed his guilt towards his wife and his resentment towards the medical system into his hopes for his daughter's future.
He refused all matchmakers' introductions, refused to remarry, and poured all his passion into his daughter. He took care of her health, tutored her in her studies, and instilled in her the dream of studying hard, getting into the best medical school in the country, and becoming a good doctor in the future.
However, Geng Lihua's hatred for the medical system, especially the nursing profession, did not disappear; instead, it seeped into his body like a slow poison.
In his daily life, Geng Lihua's bicycle is clean and tidy, and his room is spotless; he and his daughter wash their clothes immediately after changing them, never leaving them overnight; and all the seasonings in his kitchen are arranged in perfect order.
—In his work, Geng Lihua has an almost obsessive pursuit of cleanliness for tools and the environment. His workstation is the tidiest, his work clothes are the cleanest, he always wears gloves during operation, and after finishing a repair, he always checks all the instruments and parts to make sure everything is correct before leaving.
The hatred in his heart did not disappear; it simply continued to ferment, rot, and stink.
"June 15th is the anniversary of my wife's death."
After a long silence, Geng Lihua finally spoke, breaking the suffocating silence in the interrogation room.
Jiang Ling recalled the death notice the search team had found. Just as she suspected!
Geng Lihua's voice was low and hoarse, filled with suppressed pain and a deep-seated longing.
"Nine years have passed, but I still can't forget that day."
"It was just a uterine fibroid, a simple open abdominal surgery would have been enough, how could it have cost her her life?"
"Shufen and I grew up together and have a very good relationship. She is gentle, hardworking, and always smiling. Every day when I come home and see her smiling face, I feel that all the hard work and fatigue are worth it."
“I don’t discriminate against girls, nor do I have the old-fashioned idea that you have to carry on the family line. My parents were in poor health and passed away early, so no one forced me to have a son. I told Shufen that I only want one child, Simin, and after her surgery, the three of us would live a peaceful life. Everything was fine until we encountered those irresponsible medical staff!”
"Shufen died, and the hospital told me it was because of the patient's special physical condition, and they gave me a sum of money as compensation. I was honest at the time, so I didn't make a fuss and just took the money home. But later I did a lot of research and found out that what special physical condition? That was all a lie from the hospital! It was clearly a serious accident caused by inadequate sterilization of surgical instruments and improper operation by doctors and nurses."
"It's a pity that I was in a daze at the time and missed the chance to seek justice for Shufen. I feel resentful when I think about it afterwards, I hate the hospital for its inaction! I hate the doctors for their lack of care and the nurses for their irresponsibility. If the doctors and nurses had discovered the problem earlier and treated Shufen sooner, she wouldn't have died."
"Later, Shufen's whole body turned cold, and she kept shivering in my arms. I just watched her die in my arms, and I just stared blankly at the wall clock, watching the cold hands slowly overlap and finally stop at the 12 o'clock position."
“The hatred in my heart kept burning, burning so hard I couldn’t breathe, burning my whole body. I wanted to die, I really wanted to die, I wanted to go with Shufen to another world, maybe we could find relief. But I have Simin, I can’t die.”
“Every year on June 15th, I can’t sleep. That night it rained heavily. After I put Simin to sleep, I rode my bicycle around outside aimlessly.”
Geng Lihua remembers the scene of that day very clearly.
The wind blew and the rain poured down, but it couldn't extinguish the burning fire in his heart, nor could it dampen the searing sensation in his eyes. At that moment, Geng Lihua wished he could tear himself apart, exposing his heart, his lungs, and his stomach to breathe.
Lei Xiao chimed in at the opportune moment: "Did you bump into anyone?"
Geng Lihua was now in a near-manic state, answering whatever the police asked honestly: "Yes, I was riding too fast and almost hit someone. I didn't look carefully to see who it was. I got off the bike and kept pushing it forward. I kept walking until a white figure suddenly appeared in front of me."
Jiang Ling's breath hitched.
Geng Lihua's voice continued.
"As I got closer, I could see more clearly that the person was wearing a nurse's uniform. A nurse's uniform! The sight of that white nurse's uniform was so jarring that I wanted to tear it off."
Hearing this, Lei Xiao, Fan Wei, and Jiang Ling all understood Geng Lihua's motive for murder.
"As I got closer, I could see clearly that she was a young girl."
"Young nurses! The most useless ones are these blonde girls. When Simin was little, she was sick and needed an injection. Unfortunately, she encountered a trainee nurse who couldn't find a vein no matter how many times she tried. She was completely useless. Keeping people like that around is just harmful!"
"It's because of these incompetent, irresponsible doctors and nurses that there are so many medical accidents! I don't know what I was thinking at the time, but I bent down, picked up a stone from the ground, grabbed it behind her, and smashed it hard on her head. She turned around and tried to scream, so I took out a nylon rope from my pocket and... strangled her."
Lei Xiao asked, "Why are there nylon ropes inside the raincoat?"
Geng Lihua said, "This is my personal habit. Sometimes things happen when I go out in the rain, so it's more convenient to carry a rope."
Lei Xiao asked again, "And then what did you do?"
Geng Lihua thought for a moment: "And then?"
He suddenly smiled, but the smile didn't reach his eyes, giving him a sinister look.
"Then, the girl stopped struggling and fell to the ground in the rain. I bent down and looked at the girl's face. She was very young and fair-skinned, much like the cold-hearted nurse's face when Shufen died. I saw the watch on her wrist. The watch was smashed on the ground, the face was cracked, and the hands were sticking out. I adjusted the hands, and they pointed to 12 o'clock."
Geng Lihua seemed to have thought of something happy, and suddenly tilted his head back and laughed joyfully.
"Ha ha ha ha……"
"Shufen died at midnight on June 15th, nine years ago."
"Nine years from now, on June 15th, I will make this nurse die at midnight!"
Lei Xiao and Fan Wei exchanged a glance.
Lei Xiao nodded slightly; all the details of the crime matched up.
The chain of evidence in this case is basically closed, and the murderer is Geng Lihua, no doubt about it!
But I'm very depressed.
My heart is heavy.
Ke Xiaoyu's death was an accident.
She encountered Geng Lihua at his most manic state at the wrong time, in the wrong place, and wearing the wrong clothes.
It's a real pity that Ke Xiaoyu, a female college student who had no grudge against Geng Lihua, became the victim of his venting of hatred.
Geng Lihua's laughter grew increasingly dry until he could no longer laugh and slumped silently in the interrogation chair.
He thought he would feel good after killing someone, but he didn't.
At the moment of killing, the fire of hatred in his heart was indeed extinguished, and he finally felt a long-lost peace.
But as he hurriedly left, the raindrops hitting his face, and his reason returned, fear coiled around his feet and his heart like a venomous snake.
He killed someone!
Will he be targeted by the police?
Will he be executed?
What will happen to Simin if he dies?
Countless thoughts flooded his mind as Geng Lihua began to devise a plan to evade the police.
He's always been meticulous; he was wearing a raincoat and rain boots when he committed the murder, so there shouldn't have been any traces left at the scene. The only thing to be careful about is running into that person at night. But with the heavy rain and darkness, it's unlikely anyone else could have seen anything.
After waiting all day, no one came to the door.
The police investigation was just a routine questioning. When did the incident occur? He was sleeping at home, of course. A whole bunch of people were sleeping that rainy night; he wouldn't have made a difference.
Geng Lihua suddenly became bolder.
There was also a hint of excitement.
The police won't find anything!
You don't have to pay with your life for killing someone!
The sun still rises, he still works, and he can still watch Simin grow up.
This slight excitement made Geng Lihua unable to suppress his desire to "peep".
Every day after dropping his daughter off at school, he would deliberately pass by the crime scene to look at the police tape that was being used as a "decorative" barrier and listen to the discussions among the crowd.
He would sometimes take a detour around the girls' dormitory on campus to admire the terrified expressions on the female college students' faces.
Geng Lihua was unaware that all of his actions were being recorded by the observation team members and photographed for future reference.
From the time he committed the murder on June 15th to his confession today, the 21st, Geng Lihua's emotions have been like a rollercoaster, sometimes soaring, sometimes sinking, sometimes excited, sometimes fearful. Now, he is eager to confide in someone and wants to find a listener who can understand his pain.
He raised his bloodshot eyes, his lips moved silently, and his gaze passed over Lei Xiao and Fan Wei, landing on Jiang Ling, who was in charge of taking the statement.
He remembered the policewoman.
Yesterday, she disguised herself as a safety inspection investigator. Wearing a white coat, she sat silently to the side. Geng Lihua thought she had delicate features and clear eyes, and looked like a kind girl next door.
At this moment, Jiang Ling, dressed in a police uniform, was writing quietly. In this interrogation room filled with male power and a somber atmosphere, the words "clean" and "warm" came to mind—he should be a good listener.
Jiang Ling keenly noticed the complex and painful look in Geng Lihua's eyes. It didn't seem like a provocation, but rather like the last struggle of a desperate drowning person reaching out to grab a piece of driftwood.
"I...I want to talk to her." Geng Lihua slowly raised his right hand and pointed at Jiang Ling. The handcuffs reflected a cold light that stung his eyes.
Jiang Ling raised her eyes and calmly met his gaze.
Haha, what a coincidence.
I was just looking for an opportunity to teach this murderer a lesson, but he unexpectedly delivered himself to my doorstep.
Lei Xiao and Fan Wei exchanged another glance.
—Then let Jiang Ling go?
—Wasn't Jiang Ling supposed to be a psychology whiz, making Chen Zhigang vomit blood? Perfect, let her take the field and give this bastard a good dressing down. He killed someone and still dares to laugh? Pah!
Lei Xiao nodded: "Old Fan, you and Jiang Ling switch seats."
Fan Wei sat down in Jiang Ling's seat and picked up a pen to take a statement.
Jiang Ling slowly stood up, sat down next to Lei Xiao, and calmly looked at Geng Lihua.
“You…” Geng Lihua’s voice was dry and hoarse, like sandpaper rubbing. He stared intently at Jiang Ling, as if trying to see through her face to someone from another world.
"Do you understand? That feeling? The anger and helplessness of watching the most important person being destroyed bit by bit by those people in white, and being unable to do anything about it?" He tried to find resonance in Jiang Ling, to find a trace of understanding of his killing, even the slightest bit.
Jiang Ling did not answer immediately, but slowly stood up.
She took a few steps forward and stopped at a distance that was neither too close nor too far from Geng Lihua, maintaining an angle that was neither looking down nor looking up.
“Geng Lihua,” Jiang Ling’s voice was clear and steady, “I don’t understand your anger and helplessness, but I know why you have come to this point.”
Geng Lihua froze, staring blankly at her.
Jiang Ling asked, "What exactly caused that medical malpractice incident nine years ago?"
Geng Lihua: "It's the hospital's inaction that's the problem, and the doctors and nurses' irresponsibility!"
Jiang Ling asked again, "Where's the evidence?"
Geng Lihua closed his eyes briefly, then opened them again, his eyes filled with regret: "I didn't understand at first, and I was deceived by the hospital. I signed the surgical consent form, received the death certificate, the body was cremated, I accepted the compensation, and I didn't even know all the doctors and nurses... I have no evidence."
Jiang Ling stared sharply into his eyes: "Then why do you hate doctors and nurses?"
Geng Lihua's body began to tremble, and his voice became unsteady: "It's them! I know it's them!"
Jiang Ling said, "Whether it was caused by your spouse's health condition or by the inaction of the medical staff is impossible to verify due to the passage of time. Your acceptance of the hospital's compensation means you accept the hospital's judgment, and that is the real root of your suffering!"
Jiang Ling stared into Geng Lihua's eyes: "What you truly hate is yourself, isn't it?"
"No!" Geng Lihua raised his head, his eyes bloodshot, his voice shrill and desperate, "It wasn't me, it wasn't me! This is the hospital's fault. I'm just a worker, I have no medical knowledge, I was just deceived by them!"
Jiang Ling ignored his rebuttal.
"People will always find various reasons to forgive themselves. You can't hate yourself for too long, so you turn that hatred into hatred for hospitals, doctors, and nurses."
"This seed of hatred grows wildly in your loneliness, anger, and despair, constantly distorting your self-perception. You generalize your own misfortune to the dereliction of duty of the entire medical community; you interpret the white coat that originally represented saving lives as negligence, indifference, and death. You need someone to bear all your pain; you need to gain a false sense of control and redemption by destroying the weak."
Geng Lihua's lips trembled as he tried to retort, but his throat felt blocked.
“Ke Xiaoyu,” Jiang Ling paused for a moment, the image of Ke Xiaoyu’s pale face after her death flashing before her eyes, “that girl in the nurse’s uniform walking alone in the rainy night, she was unfortunate enough to be encountered by you and become a victim of your pathological psychology. You didn’t even see her face clearly, yet you easily convicted her. You killed her not because she did anything wrong, but simply because she was wearing that uniform, at that time, and in that place!”
"You, this is murder!"
Jiang Ling raised her hand and slammed it hard on the interrogation table.
"Smack!"
A sharp crack echoed in the confined space of the interrogation room, also causing a jolt to Geng Lihua's eardrums.
“She…they’re all the same, they’ll hurt people! I’m doing this on behalf of God.” Geng Lihua growled hoarsely, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, trying to grasp at the last vestiges of twisted logic.
"Acting on behalf of Heaven?" Jiang Ling stopped looking at him and carefully took out a neatly folded piece of paper from the folder she had prepared beforehand—it was a letter that Ke Xiaoyu had sent to her parents two days before she was murdered.
Jiang Ling unfolded the letter, and the delicate yet girlish handwriting was clearly visible under the light.
Jiang Ling read it out clearly, word by word.
Her voice was no longer steady, but tinged with a sad sob.
"Mom, today at the clinic, I gave a little girl who was about the same age as my sister an injection. She was very well-behaved, but I was so nervous that I missed the mark twice. Seeing her holding back her tears made me feel so bad, it hurt more than if the needle were sticking into my own body."
Mom, I'm so sad, I feel so useless. I swear, I will practice harder, read more books, and learn more from the experienced nurses! I will become the best nurse, and never let any patient suffer any more pain because of me again! I will use my hands to warm and heal, just like you taught me…”
The interrogation room was deathly silent.
No one spoke.
Only Jiang Ling's voice reading the letter, like a heavy hammer, struck the air and also hit Geng Lihua's heart.
Geng Lihua suddenly looked up, his eyes wide open as if they were about to burst!
His body trembled violently, as if every word was a red-hot branding iron, searing his twisted soul.
After Jiang Ling finished reading the last sentence, she raised her eyes, her gaze sharp as she stared directly at Geng Lihua, who had instantly turned pale and looked as if struck by lightning.
“Geng Lihua, did you hear that clearly? This is the intern nurse you said would harm people, this is Ke Xiaoyu, whom you knocked unconscious with a stone and strangled with a rope. When she failed to give the little girl an injection, Ke Xiaoyu was filled with self-blame and guilt. She was thinking about how to improve her skills, become the best nurse, and warm and heal more people, instead of being indifferent, negligent, and irresponsible as you imagined.”
Jiang Ling slammed the letter, which still seemed to retain the warmth of the young girl's body, onto the interrogation table in front of Geng Lihua, placing it next to the previous photos of Zhao Shufen and her daughter: "Look, this is a life. Just like your wife and your daughter, she is a living, breathing person with flesh and blood."
Geng Lihua stared blankly at the photo, then suddenly let out a heart-wrenching wail, "Stop talking! Please, stop talking!"
He curled up in the chair, tears streaming down his face, frantically scratching his hair and face as if trying to rip those sharp words and bloody truths out of his mind.
Jiang Ling's words brutally exposed his cowardice, selfishness, and despicable nature, which were disguised as "acting on behalf of Heaven," revealing them to the light of day.
Ke Xiaoyu's letter, filled with self-blame and ideals, dealt him a fatal blow—he killed not a sinner, but a life as vibrant, loving, and eager to become a better person as his daughter!
Geng Lihua's psychological defenses collapsed.
That painful howling was the deepest repentance for the sins committed.
Jiang Ling quietly watched the distraught Geng Lihua and put away the letter.
Her mission was successfully completed.
Even after leaving the interrogation room, Jiang Ling's heart was still filled with unease.
Geng Lihua confessed his crime, and the other two female nurses he had harmed in his previous life were able to survive.
But what about Ke Xiaoyu? What good is Geng Lihua's repentance? This kind and innocent girl died quietly like that.
But what about Geng Simin? With Geng Lihua arrested and her father gone, can she still become a neurologist like she did in her previous life?
I glanced at my watch; it was almost time to get off work.
Today, I can finally leave work on time.
Summer dusks come late, and the western sky is ablaze with a vast expanse of golden-red sunset, casting a touch of warmth onto the solemn gray building of the Public Security Bureau.
Jiang Ling walked to the window and looked into the distance.
Suddenly, her gaze focused on a familiar figure standing under the row of tall sycamore trees that provided a large shady area beside the gate.
His schoolbag was slung across his shoulder, causing one shoulder to slump slightly, but his back was held straight as he tried to be as upright as a sturdy poplar tree.
It is Liang Jiushan.
Why is he here?
The high school entrance exam is this weekend. Instead of studying at home, what is he doing at the city bureau?
Since being transferred to the Municipal Public Security Bureau, Jiang Ling hasn't been able to see Liang Jiushan, who used to frequently visit the police station to review his lessons. To be honest, Jiang Ling kind of misses his lively, chattering manner.
Jiang Ling walked out of the office building.
Liang Jiushan had been keeping an eye on the commotion at the entrance of the Municipal Public Security Bureau. When he saw Jiang Ling approaching from afar, his eyes lit up immediately. He waved his hands and excitedly called out, "Sister Ling! Sister Ling!"
The boy's voice was slightly hoarse, typical of puberty, and it rose a pitch due to excitement, making Jiang Ling want to laugh.
Jiang Ling walked up to Liang Jiushan with a stern face. Just as she was about to ask him why he wasn't studying properly at home, a large bunch of fresh gardenias suddenly appeared in front of her.
The pure white, thick petals were layered upon each other, just beginning to bloom, so full they seemed to burst with moisture. At the center of the flower was a tender, pale yellow, emitting a clear, rich, and slightly sweet fragrance that forcefully entered Jiang Ling's nostrils.
The fragrance is clean and pure, like the untouched dew on a summer morning, and like the pure and clear heart of a young man at this moment, untouched by any dust.
Liang Jiushan lowered his head, holding the bouquet of flowers in both hands. His gaze fell on Jiang Ling's face, and he smiled brightly, saying, "Sister Ling, these are flowers I just picked for you!"
The golden light of the sunset danced on the pure white flowers, and also fell on Liang Jiushan's thick, raven-feather-like eyelashes, casting a small, trembling shadow on his fair cheek. His gaze was focused, seemingly carrying a hint of barely perceptible tension, as if he were holding not a few flowers, but a fragile treasure.
Jiang Ling quietly looked at the bouquet of gardenias.
Because he saved Liang Jiushan and his sister, he was thinking of her and stood at the gate, sweating profusely, waiting, just to bring her the purest and most fragrant beauty of summer.
The weather in June is very hot.
The incessant chirping of cicadas was so loud it was irritating and made people restless.
But at this moment, Jiang Ling's heart suddenly calmed down.
Having been reborn, she made many efforts, and they were all meaningful, weren't they?
Although the dead cannot be brought back to life, some people will live on because of her efforts. Those who live can live better lives, seeing beautiful gardenias and smelling their sweet fragrance, right?
Seeing that Jiang Ling hadn't taken the gardenia for a while, Liang Jiushan asked, "Sister Ling, don't you like this flower?"
His breathing unconsciously softened.
He just... just wanted to thank Jiang Ling, to thank her for being like a lamp, illuminating his and his sister's future.
He just wanted to see Jiang Ling, to see if she was still as friendly to him as she was at the police station after she went to the Municipal Public Security Bureau.
She didn't want the gardenias I picked. Did she think they weren't precious enough?
This is just the most common and ordinary flower in Yanshi in June. The gardenia can be seen everywhere in the flower beds and corners of the streets and alleys.
She remained silent for a long time. Did she feel that she had been too abrupt?
He saw the gardenias in Grandma Liu's yard and for some reason suddenly thought of Jiang Ling. On a whim, he picked a dozen or so newly opened flowers and gave them to her.
Liang Jiushan lowered his head.
Well, he just hadn't seen Jiang Ling in a long time and wanted to find an opportunity to see her.
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