After such a rant, Zhou Ning almost wanted to applaud him.
He was truly the one Liu Yufei and Xu Dayuan had their eyes on. In just over a month, this guy had changed so much. His interrogation skills had improved by leaps and bounds.
Zhu Xiaoming had never seen such a setup before. It’s likely that he usually strutted around arrogantly, with his mother and uncles protecting him, even if he caused trouble, there were always people to clean up after him. But coddling is still coddling after all.
"Where should I start?"
Zhu Xiaoming said while crying, completely lacking the previous arrogance.
"Start with the photos. How did He Jiahong agree to take such pictures with you? And what exactly is her relationship with you and your brother?"
Zhu Xiaoming thought for a mont and quickly wiped the corner of his eye before speaking:
"Last year, my sister ca ho and said her friend was bullied. She asked us to stand up for her and restore her dignity, so we beat up the guy who was bullying He Jiahong. Afterwards, my sister organized a dinner for everyone, and that’s when we t He Jiahong. It was around the sumr vacation, I forget the exact date.
She was pretty, just my type, so I got her drunk and then things happened between us. She didn’t say anything, and she didn’t even ask to be my girlfriend like other girls would, which surprised .
So, we kept seeing each other, and the number of dates increased. But He Jiahong couldn’t tell and Zhu Xiaoguang apart. Once, Zhu Xiaoguang pretended to be , and she didn’t even notice. We had a lot of fun trading places.
Most of the ti, our dates would take place in that attic, the dormitory building where you caught . Sotis, we’d go to the fifth floor of the salt company. That was where my eldest brother rented a place for Liu Nian and his friends.
In reality, that place was where Liu Nian and his bunch of bad friends stayed. He’d pretty much had his way with every girl in school who was even slightly attractive, and he had even confessed his feelings to He Jiahong.
I was angry. Afterwards, I confronted her and we argued. I told her we should stop contacting each other, but she didn’t fight back, she just cried. I felt a bit soft-hearted for a mont, and then I demanded that she listen to and do everything I wanted, just once. She didn’t refuse, and I could tell she liked .
We went to the attic, drank a lot, and tried positions and spots we’d never tried before. She didn’t refuse, and she even let take photos. Of course, I gave her a copy of the photos too. During that, Zhu Xiaoguang ca by wanting to join us, and Jiahong, drunk, didn’t resist. She didn’t realize that she had played so wildly with the two of us that ti.
Afterwards, I gave her the photos, both mine and Zhu Xiaoguang’s, and she naively couldn’t tell them apart, just took the photos and left. Our relationship ended around this year’s Spring Festival after she found out about our trickery, and tried to resist when Zhu Xiaoguang hit her.
Later, my sister asked us what we had done to He Jiahong because she hadn’t been hanging out with her much recently. We didn’t say anything, and after that, we barely saw her, especially since there were plenty of girls around us.
On March 24, Liu Nian ca to our attic to hang out and ca across the photos. Zhu Xiaoguang challenged him to guess who the girl was. Liu Nian recognized her instantly. Zhu Xiaoguang said he must be interested in her, or else he wouldn’t have recognized her so quickly.
Liu Nian said we had ruined the girl he liked. To punish us, he said we should find He Jiahong and have a fourso, to explore all the unexplored. He was going to get things ready. I objected, saying we had broken up and hadn’t been in touch for over a month.
Liu Nian grabbed Zhu Xiaoguang by the collar and said not to talk nonsense. They had a gathering next Wednesday and wanted us to arrange a car to go together. Liu Nian is crazy. If he wants sothing and doesn’t get it, he destroys it. I know that very well. Even though he’s two years younger than us, he was the type who dared to pull a knife on soone when he was just twelve or thirteen. We didn’t dare to object.
On March 27, Liu Nian had his friends take He Jiahong away from the gathering to go to the food street for dinner. When we drove there, He Jiahong was standing outside. Liu Nian rolled down the window and called her over. She didn’t want to pay attention, but Liu Nian shouted at her:
If you don’t get in the car, I’ll scatter your photos in front of the No. 5 Middle School teaching building and let everyone see that you’re a worn-out shoe, a broken shoe played out by people. Forget about the college entrance exam and dreaming of Qingbei University.
I wanted to stop Liu Nian because although He Jiahong had left a good impression on and we had never made a fuss when we broke up, we didn’t expect him to pull such a stunt. Plus, there were a lot of people on the street. Hearing Liu Nian yell, they all turned to look over, and only then did He Jiahong get in the car.
We had just left when we spotted Liu Nian’s friend chasing after us. Not sure if he was worried about He Jiahong or wanted to get involved, he chased us to the edge of the Automobile City. The guy stopped the car, and He Jiahong got on his motorcycle with him. Liu Nian wasn’t pleased, but he didn’t say anything, and we just followed behind them.
It wasn’t until we watched them enter the No. 5 Middle School that Liu Nian stopped the car and climbed over the wall to get inside; shortly after, we saw He Jiahong run out. Zhu Xiaoguang and I discussed whether we should just drive away. That way Liu Nian wouldn’t be able to do anything more, but Zhu Xiaoguang said if we left now, Liu Nian could very well co to my house tomorrow and torch the place. It’s not like he hasn’t done that before.
We didn’t have to wait long before Liu Nian climbed back over the wall, his mouth sared with blood. None of us dared to ask, but it was obvious he had been hit, considering the palm print was still visible. I guessed he found He Jiahong, He Jiahong hit him, so Liu Nian went even crazier chasing after He Jiahong.
After driving for a while, we saw He Jiahong dash into Jiulaofeng Park. We drove straight in, almost plunging into the pond. Zhu Xiaoguang and I were scared out of our wits and stumbled out of the car, only to find He Jiahong had fallen into the water while Liu Nian was yelling from the shore.
He said, "You want to drown? We’ll wait for you to die and then fish you out of there. We can do it right by the shore, the video’s been sold, we can probably make so money!" He Jiahong started cursing at him, nearly drowning as she bobbed in and out of the water. Zhu Xiaoguang said this girl grew up by the Tuojiang River, she’s a good swimr and won’t drown easily, or else we should have gone up to his apartnt.
Then we left. I was scared, I wanted to go ho. Liu Nian tossed a pack of pills – the blue little tablets, you all know what those are, right? He forced us each to take two. We couldn’t resist and just swallowed them, feeling so bloated it was uncomfortable, and even walking was laborious.
We hid the car and went to the second-floor loft of Building No. 3. We waited for who knows how long until we heard footsteps coming upstairs. Liu Nian pulled out a knife. At that mont, Zhu Xiaoguang and I were terrified. We hadn’t expected him to actually bring a knife; if we didn’t listen to him, we’d be the ones getting stabbed to death.
Liu Nian threatened us, saying that if we didn’t obey, we wouldn’t be able to escape tonight either. What could we say? We obediently followed along, feeling bloated and uncomfortable. At that point, I couldn’t care less if it was He Jiahong or so old lady; I could go for anyone.
Zhu Xiaoming got carried away in his story, seemingly about to describe how he felt at that mont, but he shivered at a glance from Fang Mu and quickly got back to the main point.
"He Jiahong ca upstairs, she didn’t expect us to be lying in wait for her. Just as she was about to open the door, Liu Nian sprang forward and grabbed her hair. He Jiahong scratched his ear; Liu Nian got impatient and threatened her with the knife to her neck. He said if she scread, he would go inside and kill her ntally ill mother first. Hearing this, He Jiahong didn’t fight back.
The key was tossed between the two gates; we followed him up to the rooftop. As soon as she got upstairs, He Jiahong bit Liu Nian. He didn’t pay attention and let go; He Jiahong broke free. She said if we pushed her to the edge, she’d jump. Liu Nian told her to jump then.
She started to charge forward. I was petrified, grabbing He Jiahong by the waist and begging her not to be rash, pleading for her to appease Liu Nian a little. He was insane, and when he lost his temper, not even his own parents could stop him. As she struggled, her shoe flew off and dropped to the ground below.
Later, when she was out of strength, we both fell to the rooftop. I grabbed her hand and made her touch below, saying look what he’s done to with drugs, and I’m even his cousin. So, let’s just go along with him, just get through tonight; we’ll stop making trouble, and we’ll not break up, isn’t that enough?
He Jiahong cursed as a coward and said we were all animals. Just then, Liu Nian ca up from behind, picked up a brick, and smashed it down on He Jiahong’s head. I was so scared I almost pissed myself. Even so, that thing down there still wouldn’t go soft. He Jiahong passed out, and there wasn’t much blood on the ground. Zhu Xiaoguang started crying, asking him what on earth he planned to do.
He said he wanted to do her, then pushed us aside and went to the west apartnt on the fifth floor, laid her on the bed, and ssed around for a while. Hearing their noises, Zhu Xiaoguang and I felt even worse, since we’d taken the drugs. After Liu Nian was done, we each took our turn venting on her.
In between, He Jiahong briefly regained consciousness, but she was confused, then just passed out again. After it was all over, Liu Nian dragged us away. Back at the loft, I was scared and decided to call my uncle, who was the track and field coach Liu Kai.
About half an hour later, my uncle arrived, and as soon as he walked in, he slapped each of us, then gave Liu Nian a shot, which made him drowsy and fall asleep. He handed us each a set of clothes, you know, the kind they wear in hospitals, with long blue gowns that tie at the back.
He said Liu Nian had gone crazy and dragged us into trouble. We were too scared to say anything. It wasn’t until we got to the west apartnt on the fifth floor of Building No. 3 that we realized He Jiahong wasn’t breathing anymore, and she couldn’t be woken up. Even when we shone the flashlight from the phone in her eyes, there was no reaction; her arm was already stiff.
My uncle ordered us to fetch water and rinse He Jiahong off, saying there shouldn’t be any traces left. We had no choice but to follow his instructions. After a hasty wash, he carried He Jiahong to the rooftop.
We didn’t expect it, but he threw He Jiahong’s body down from the west side. Then he told us He Jiahong had committed suicide by jumping off. If one day the police ca knocking, we should just say we dated her before, and knew nothing else.
As for that night, we stayed at our grandfather’s house. He would explain things to the family; Liu Nian was asleep in the dorm and was clueless. He told us to hurry ho and take a shower. As for this place, he would have soone clean it up.
We could only nod, after all, my uncle’s glare wasn’t much better than Liu Nian’s. Apart from what we did with He Jiahong, we really didn’t do anything. As for how my uncle dealt with the aftermath, their house renovations, I had no idea. I’m not lying, none of this really had anything to do with us."
Fang Mu glanced at Liu Yufei and, seeing Liu Yufei nod, confird that Zhu Xiaoming wasn’t lying. Liu Yufei stood up, walked over, and asked coldly:
"You said He Jiahong bit Liu Nian. Do you know where she bit him?"
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