Chapter 184: Outrageous
Men have their ways, rats have their paths.
Anyone who can mix in the black market must have their own sources of news. As long as you’re willing to spend money, investigating an ordinary person with obvious facial features is very quick and reliable.
In just one night plus most of the day, Zhang Ze received the information he wanted.
……
By the time he returned to the guesthouse again, it was completely dark, and Su Ning inside the room was waiting anxiously.
After rushing around for a day and a night, Zhang Ze saw that although her spirits were good, she couldn’t hide the fatigue on her face.
She quickly took out the thermos placed by the door, scalded and rinsed it once, then poured him a full cup. “Brother Zhang, warm your hands first and drink some hot water.”
“Good, thanks Ning Ning.”
After he sat down to rest for a bit and drank half a cup of hot water, regaining his strength, he detailed the information he had obtained and his follow-up investigation.
That man was named Zhou Wei. More than ten years ago, he was a second-rate hoodlum in the nearby small fishing village, idle and lazy all day, eating without working.
Together with his wife who dressed up flashily every day and secretly hooked up with men, they were simply a match made in heaven, the most despised trash in the village.
It was truly seeing a ghost with no justice in the world—such people actually prospered, leaping from mud-legged peasants to workers holding iron rice bowls, and even getting rich to buy a big house in the county town, truly becoming people above others.
If there’s no trickery in this, who would believe it? Anyone who knew about it couldn’t help gossiping behind their backs that the two of them soaring to success, even bringing along that equally useless brother-in-law, must have done some bad things against their conscience.
So much time had passed since the incident, and the two never returned to the village, naturally fading from everyone’s sight and gradually forgotten.
“Did you find out the specific address?”
The couple plus that brother-in-law matched exactly the three people the old captain mentioned.
Slowly closing her spread fingers into a fist, Su Ning had a strong premonition that finding them would unravel many mysteries.
“I found out. Now the couple has both son and daughter, and that brother-in-law also found a wife from the city. All three are living quite well.”
“Brother Zhang, let’s eat something first. Later, I want to pay a visit.”
“Good.”
Out and about, the two didn’t fuss, casually ate some filling food, then took advantage of the high moon and dark wind to sneak to Zhou Wei’s house.
With Zhang Ze there, Su Ning didn’t need to think of ways to flip over the wall; she just needed to quietly wait in front of the main gate.
Agile Zhang Ze just did a running start, stepped fiercely on the wall a few times to gain momentum, long arms climbed up, and silently landed in the courtyard.
He quietly drew the door bolt on the main gate, opened the door to let her in, gave her a look with tightly pursed lips, then turned to start searching for Zhou Wei and his wife’s room.
By the time the two, who had finished their activities feeling refreshed and were sleeping soundly, were lifted up from the bed, then five-flowered tied with heads covered in hemp sacks, they were still dazed, not knowing what was happening.
“You, who are you? What do you want?”
Trembling with fear, Zhou Wei mustered courage, his head instinctively turning toward the light source shining through the sack.
At the same time, he shouted bluffing despite his inner fear, “Do you know who Brother Gan is? I’m his sworn brother. You better let me go, or you’ll regret it!”
Hands and feet bound, wearing only floral shorts, the fat bulging out from the ropes trembled with his words, not knowing if from cold or anger.
“Woo woo woo, what do you want? Let me go. If you want to find someone, find the dead fatty. What does it have to do with me? Let me go, let me go!”
Truly a good couple; this woman sells out her husband first at danger. Strangely, Zhou Wei, this old man, wasn’t angry at all.
He even felt it was natural. Clearly terrified himself, he still tried to shield her with his fat body following her words.
With a stance of yes yes yes, do me, do me, don’t do my wife.
For a moment, even Zhang Ze was stumped, not knowing how to judge this man Zhou Wei.
Looking around the room, he took two stinky socks and stuffed them through the bottom of the sack into their mouths, plugging them tight.
Then he casually grabbed a handy tool. Ruthless and few words, he rained blows down on the two.
Until their grunts weakened, he drew the dagger tucked behind his back and pressed it against Zhou Wei’s neck.
The icy touch made Zhou Wei shudder violently. Before fully reacting, he felt warmth surging from the nick on his neck, the bloody smell hitting his face.
“Woo, mmph~”
Thoroughly understanding the intruder’s ruthlessness—no wasted words at all. This was completely coming for his life!
This realization blanked Zhou Wei’s mind; immense fear made him instantly piss himself.
The socks in his mouth were roughly yanked out. “Big brother… big brother, let’s talk nicely. Woo, the money and ration coupons are all in the stone crack under the bed… all yours, don’t kill me!”
“What did you do thirteen years ago? Do you remember?”
Deliberately lowering his voice, Zhang Ze pressed the dagger down another fraction, deepening the thin cut.
“Thir… thirteen years ago…”
Impossible. Back then, only the four of them knew; no one else could!
And indeed, as that person said, afterward no one came looking, not even to ask questions.
So much time passed—how could it be?!
“Can’t remember? Let me help you recall: Blue Lake fishing village, bay cliff, the sack thrown down.”
With each keyword he spat out, Zhou Wei’s forehead beaded with sweat, pupils dilated, mental defenses instantly crumbling.
Even the full peach flower pretending to be dead behind him couldn’t help trembling.
“That, that person said it, it was all that person who made me do it!”
“If you don’t confess honestly, I’ll cut your flesh piece by piece and feed it to your wife to swallow.”
“I’ll say, I’ll say! I’ll tell everything!”
Thirteen years ago, he was still a guy who ate one meal not knowing where the next was, surviving on occasional relief from his wife secretly hooking up with men.
That day, Zhou Wei was preparing to go home when he bumped into a sneaky man carrying something slipping inside. His heart was both happy that dinner would finally be filling and resentfully wanting to stab him.
He didn’t dare really do it. With nowhere to vent his anger, Zhou Wei muttered curses softly as usual, turning away out of the village to squat in some deserted spot—out of sight, out of mind.
He didn’t know if he was lucky or unlucky. Who would think such a desolate place could run into a real deadly matter!
The man who looked refined and scholarly actually laid hands on his still-pregnant wife.
From his strike to the pregnant woman falling, it was just seconds; Zhou Wei couldn’t react, stunned watching the whole thing.
Just like the beautiful woman who fell, shocked. The look in those eyes, he still couldn’t forget to this day.
After the man hurriedly left, he only then went limp-legged to the spot, mustering courage to peer down a few times.
He didn’t know which tendon was off that day; when he came to, he had already taken a shortcut to the bottom of the cliff.
This cliff wasn’t high, still a good distance from the sea, with dense trees and wild banana groves below.
Perhaps fate wouldn’t let her die; not only did the woman survive, but miraculously without major injuries, just fractured leg and arm bones, unable to move.
He was still hesitating whether to save people when he saw a dirty-faced, dirty-bodied man whose face couldn’t be seen suddenly dart out, pick her up, and run off.
Zhou Wei swore it was just the most normal sigh at the time: this wild man carrying a pregnant woman could actually run that fast—truly a freak.
No sooner said than the man who killed his wife caught him red-handed!
“I, I was blinded by lard. What he gave was really too much…”
Two work quotas, three thousand bucks—who could resist such temptation?
Zhou Wei sobbed. He didn’t kill the person; they at most helped transport and dump the body. The crime shouldn’t warrant death, right?
Seeing Su Ning covering her mouth silently crying, trembling all over, Zhang Ze ground his teeth with creaking sounds: Xu Zixin, this beast worse than a dog!
“Are you sure when you picked up the person, she was already dead stiff? That man could kill his own wife and unborn child—could he let you go? Better confess everything clearly, or… I’ll take your life!”
The last sentence squeezed out word by word, that scalp-numbing killing intent almost tangible.
Zhou Wei was practically swearing to heaven, tears and snot smeared across his face. “When we picked her up, she was already motionless in the sack. When we threw her down…”
