Free Web NovelChapter 313: Chapter 307: Foreboding Star_1
Xu Dayuan fell silent. From Li Hua’s perspective, indeed, an exceptionally outstanding older sister could be said to be quite dazzling, resulting in her receiving little attention, with virtually no sense of presence.
With their parents gone, without comparison, and having received some compensation, she could have lived more comfortably. Would such a person full of hatred for her older sister plan for years and kill those three potential murderers for the sake of Li Fang?
The answer was obvious, and Xu Dayuan nodded to Li Hua.
"Were you in school from November 3 to 6, 1993?"
Li Hua shook her head.
"I was interning in my senior year, but it was at Ludong Hospital. I didn’t like interning locally, especially after my sister’s incident. I didn’t want to face my crazy parents, so I simply hid away. After graduation, I was assigned to the hospital, and that’s when I returned to Hai’an City."
"What does your husband do for work? What is his name? Do you have children?"
"My husband’s name is Chen Guoqing. He is an internist at the hospital. We are a DINK family, without children."
Xu Dayuan did not ask further, but where was Li Hua and what was she doing at the time of the other two victims’ deaths?
He stood up and waved to Liu Yufei on the side, then shook hands with Li Hua.
"Thank you for your cooperation. We have recorded your contact information, and we will call you if needed for further inquiries. I will arrange for someone to take you back shortly."
Li Hua left quickly without saying much.
Mr. Bai approached Zhou Ning and nervously twiddled his fingers as he spoke:
"While I was waiting for Li Hua, I heard from people in her department that Li Hua owns more than a dozen houses, most of them within Qindao City, including both residential and commercial properties. She’s definitely a wealthy woman, earning tens of thousands a month from rent alone. Despite her father’s company going under, her standard of living hasn’t declined. We can’t compare."
Zhou Ning turned his head towards Mr. Bai, and Bai Ruixin blinked.
"Why are you looking at me like that? Did I say something I shouldn’t have again?"
Liu Yongxin shook his head. He had given up on trying to get through to Mr. Bai. The kid was alright for running errands, but he wasn’t cut out for serious work. Even if Xu Dayuan wanted to help him up, he was like an unhupportable A Dou.
Zhou Ning glanced at the interview room and slowly said:
"In the early nineties, Li Hua and Li Fang’s father was among the top ten in terms of assets in Hai’an City. The car that Li Fang drove was an imported Toyota Corona 2.0. Mr. Zhao checked that the minimum price for that car on the market was 500,000 yuan. How much do you think 500,000 yuan from before ’93 is worth now?
Li Fang underwent knee replacement surgery abroad in the early eighties and took a year off school for treatment. How much do you think that cost? Yet for Li Fang’s father, these were just normal expenses. How much do you think their family lost?"
Mr. Bai was at a loss for words, scratching his head with an embarrassed expression.
"Alright, poverty has limited my imagination. You and Mr. Liu see what I mean. I better get back to work."
After his words, he scampered off. The other two did not speak and looked back at the interview room. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
Zhu Yufen was already sitting in front of Xu Dayuan. She seemed much older than Li Hua, her practical short hair was uncolored and undyed, with evident streaks of white.
I remember Ai Qingsong mentioning that Cui Yushang and their peers were all born in 1967, and this younger sister of Cui Yushang’s was two years younger, so she was born in 1969. She was 43 years old this year, but the scholarly aura on her face made her seem quite approachable.
Zhu Kelin was her maternal uncle and also her current adoptive father. After adopting Zhu Yufen, Zhu Kelin’s biological children died, which is why she changed her surname. Thus, Zhu Kelin must be over sixty years old.
Having acquired Haichanglong with no child remaining, he surprisingly didn’t have the adopted Zhu Yufen continue running the company. Zhou Ning found this somewhat incomprehensible.
At that moment, Xu Dayuan began to ask:
"Zhu Yufen, formerly known as Cui Yufen, your brother is Cui Yushang, right?"
Zhu Yufen nodded her head.
"We are from the Criminal Police Brigade of Qindao City Bureau. We’ve asked you here to cooperate in the investigation of the decapitated serial murders in Hai’an City. I know you’re a teacher, so let’s not beat around the bush. I’ll ask directly, and you give me honest answers if you know, and say you don’t know if you don’t. Is that okay without just nodding or shaking your head?"
Zhu Yufen looked a bit nervous, lightly nodding her head as if feeling she’d done something wrong, giving an awkward smile.
"Okay, go ahead and ask!"
"Which primary school did you attend?"
"Both my brother and I attended Experimental Primary School. We were a year apart in school, as I started a year early."
"Is Cui Yushang’s intelligence normal?"
Zhu Yufen was taken aback, not expecting Xu Dayuan to ask such a question. After a while, she slowly nodded and said.
"My brother is not smart. Our family considered that to be sincerity, but I’m aware that his intellectual abilities are not high. However, he isn’t mentally retarded, he’s just slower to react and has poor learning abilities compared to others.
My grandmother mentioned when I was young that my mother had a difficult childbirth with him, suffering from asphyxia for too long during a three-day labor, resulting in brain hypoxia. My father cared about his image and never let it be mentioned in the family. He even made my brother attend a regular primary school."
"For my brother, not being able to keep up with the pace of learning, always getting bullied, even I often got bullied by our classmates, but that’s all in the past."
By the time Zhu Yufen got to the end, she lowered her head, not looking at Xu Dayuan, as if the question had brought back old memories.
"Does Cui Yushang’s death have anything to do with Zheng Chuguang, Yu Guangyao, Zhang Qiujiang, and Li Fang?"
Zhu Yufen was startled and looked up sharply at Xu Dayuan.
"Li Fang? What does this have to do with Li Fang?"
Xu Dayuan uttered an ’oh’.
"These past few days, we’ve been looking for a lot of students from the Experimental Primary School. Everyone’s story is different; some say Zheng Chuguang and the other two were the bullies of Hongqi Road, always picking on Cui Yushang, stealing his food, beating him up, routine occurrences.
Cui Yushang’s mishap was also because when he fell, those three shouted at him that if his bike was broken, his dad would break his legs. Of course, there are also those who say it was because Li Fang treated Cui Yushang well, and the three were jealous, so they gave him a hard time.
There are all kinds of versions. Plus, the people we investigated include both men and women, from their class and from your brother’s class, and they were all at Hulu Bay on the day of the incident. So, I wanted to ask you if Cui Yushang’s death is related to those four?"
Zhu Yufen stared at Xu Dayuan, seeing that he spoke calmly, even with an indifferent expression.
"I wasn’t there that day, I didn’t see with my own eyes what happened, so I can’t pass judgment. Although Cui Yushang is my biological brother, he wasn’t nice to me. He is the boy of the family, and our parents and grandmother favored him greatly, keeping the good food hidden for him."
At this point, Zhu Yufen paused, sighed deeply, and her eyes became moist.
"His death made me lose everything overnight. My mother was chased away, and as she was leaving, I saw her spitting blood. I didn’t stop her because I knew if I did, next time I might not be so lucky.
Later my father died instantly in a car crash, and I even felt relieved, since at least I wouldn’t have to suffer beatings anymore. Then, in just a few days, my grandmother went insane, every day going to the school gate to wait for my brother. When I tried to stop her, she would bite and scratch me. One day she never came back, and it turned out she had fallen into a ditch, drowned with her face submerged.
The police called me to identify the body, and contacted all the relatives they could from my family. Only my aunt and uncle went. I couldn’t do anything, so I followed my aunt. From that moment on, I changed my surname and became the adopted daughter of the Zhu family. My aunt treated me no differently than a maid.
But unexpectedly, in 1991, my aunt’s fifteen-year-old son got leukemia, didn’t last a few months after the diagnosis, and died. My aunt was so devastated that she wasn’t watched carefully, and she committed suicide by taking pills during the New Year’s after. At that time, I was at school, and there was only a maid at home.
Zhu Kelin said I was a star of calamity, that I’d brought death to my whole family and now brought disaster to his. If I hadn’t come, his son and daughter-in-law wouldn’t have died. Then he, like a madman, took me to all sorts of temples and Taoist temples, making me drink charm water and organizing rituals for my aunt and cousin.
After tormenting me for half a year, he finally stopped. By that time, I had graduated from junior college and was assigned to work as a teacher at the No. 3 Middle School. I was busy with work and didn’t pay attention to what he was doing. Later, he brought home a child not even a year old, cared for by a few maids in the house. I didn’t ask if it was his own or adopted; it was none of my business.
However, Zhu Kelin had sold the house of my family’s old residence and some old items buried by my grandfather abroad. Of course, I only knew about this when he gave me money. After that, except for New Year’s and holidays, I rarely went back to the Zhu family."
Zhu Yufen had said a lot, and by the last few words, tears were already streaming down her face. Much of what she said had nothing to do with Xu Dayuan’s questions, but he did not interrupt.
It seems that Zhu Kelin’s frantic gathering of wealth, even at the cost of stabbing his boss in the back, all stemmed from the guilt he felt towards his son and wife.
Xu Dayuan considered for a moment, then closed his notebook.
"Relax, we just wanted to understand the situation back then, we didn’t mean to touch on your painful past. I’m a bit puzzled though, after your father’s death, your mother never contacted you again?"
Zhu Yufen shook her head and wiped her face with a sneer.
"My aunt said she remarried. She never contacted me; perhaps she thought I was a star of calamity too, and feared that I would burden her new life. Now, I have a good job, a good income. Zhu Kelin even gave me a 10% share in one of the subsidiaries. The dividends aren’t bad. I don’t need family affection."
"What does your husband do?"
Zhu Yufen shook her head.
"Divorced. My ex-husband is also a teacher, haven’t been in contact for over a decade. I have a son who is studying in high school. He will be going to the university next year. As for my brother’s case, I don’t know much, and I choose to forget because it represents the most miserable start of my life. I don’t think I can help you with much, and as for the deceased you mentioned, I don’t know them."
Zhu Yufen effectively sealed the discussion with her attitude, clearly not wanting to continue. Xu Dayuan nodded in acknowledgment.
"Do you know Ai Qingsong?"
Zhu Yufen paused slightly and cocked her head.
"Sorry, I didn’t catch that. Is that the name of a classmate of mine?" freeweɓnovel.cѳm
Xu Dayuan found Ai Qingsong’s photo and identification details, then turned his notebook towards Zhu Yufen.
Zhou Ning thought she would still deny knowing him, given the stance she had already taken, not wanting to continue the conversation. But Zhu Yufen nodded her head.
"I know him. I don’t know his full name; I just call him Brother Qingsong. He was my brother’s classmate. He took great care of me, visited me twice when I was in high school and college. He even helped me a lot when I was assigned my job, but he didn’t leave any contact information. Is he still in Hai’an City?"
Xu Dayuan raised an eyebrow, shaking his head as he looked at Zhu Yufen.
"He’s in Hushang Tumor Hospital, with late-stage liver cancer."
Zhu Yufen clenched her phone tightly, her eyes already red, her knuckles white. After a long pause, she took a breath and laughed at herself.
"Sure enough, I really am a star of calamity."
