Chapter 87#

Orientation Party#

Huaicheng, Municipal Public Security Bureau. Under the pale lights, Yuan Shou’s lips were cracked and his face was haggard. He sat nervously in front of the chair, his hands clasped uneasily, and fine sweat constantly emerged on his forehead.

Yuan Shou: “At that time, the budget given by the state was not enough, so the construction of the underground exhibition hall of the gymnasium was temporarily delayed. Su Jiande came to the office to find me and wanted to discuss this matter with me. But I was on a business trip in the neighboring city at that time. On the day he disappeared, I was not at Huaian University at all. I knew nothing about this matter.”

The police looked at the record and raised his eyebrows: “You quarreled with Su Jiande before?”

Yuan Shou swallowed and nodded: “Yes. I wanted to change the cement company because the first cement building materials factory had an accident during that time. Considering the safety of the students, I wanted to change to a better quality one. My brother runs a cement company. I trust him very much, and he repeatedly guaranteed me that there was no problem with the quality of his family’s products, so I wanted to switch to the cement factory under his name.”

The police frowned tightly: “But your brother’s cement company was fined two million by the Market Supervision Bureau very early because of the cement counterfeiting problem.”

Yuan Shou’s face turned pale and said: “Yes, I didn’t know. He hid it from me. I don’t know about the cement market and was deceived. But after discovering that his company had a criminal record later, I immediately cut off cooperation with him.” Seeming afraid that the police would continue to ask questions, Yuan Shou took the initiative to speak. He said: “Comrade police, I remembered. That day, not only did Su Jiande go to find me, but my brother also came to the school to find me.”

Yuan Shou took a deep breath and said: “The two of them should have met. My brother has seen Su Jiande. My brother must know about Su Jiande’s disappearance!”

Several policemen looked at each other and frowned in unison.

In addition to the alibi, Yuan Shou also provided a lot of evidence. After quarreling with Su Jiande, he became annoyed and only wanted to change the supervisor, planning to fire Su Jiande after returning. When Su Jiande sent him a message, he also replied very perfunctorily, saying that he was not at school and Su Jiande could do whatever he wanted.

Yuan Shou didn’t need to kill anyone at all.

The one who really had a motive for murder was Yuan Shou’s brother, Yuan Ming. The state cracked down on the chaos in the cement market that year. Su Jiande’s series of reports caused Yuan Ming’s company to be completely sealed up, and his career and life were ruined overnight.

The police subsequently found Yuan Ming.

Looking at the DNA tested from the wall, the ironclad evidence was there, and Yuan Ming finally confessed. The middle-aged man in a suit with a fat head and big ears covered his face and cried bitterly in the interrogation room, telling the whole truth that had been buried for many years.

“On July 23rd, I came to the school to borrow money from my brother and met Su Jiande. I drank some wine that day and felt a little dizzy. I asked Su Jiande what he was doing here, and he said he came to discuss things with my brother. I lied to him and said I knew where my brother was and I would take him there.”

“I took him to the construction site. Su Jiande walked in front, and I picked up a chainsaw from behind…”

Yuan Ming choked with sobs: “I drank too much that day and my mind was not very clear. He caused me to go bankrupt. At first, I just wanted to beat him up to vent my anger. I didn’t expect to use too much force and hack him to death.”

“I regretted it after I hacked him to death, but I had no choice. I was very scared. I knew I had killed someone. There happened to be a cement mixer next to me… I had no way out, so I pushed him in.”

The body of the person in the crushing cylinder was mixed and ground with cement ash and crushed stones.

The rumbling sound of the mixer was like a curse.

Yuan Ming whimpered and sobbed.

Yuan Ming was arrested for intentional homicide.

When he was handcuffed and sent to prison to await trial.

Yuan Shou just happened to go out of the Public Security Bureau.

It always rained in September in Huaicheng. Yuan Shou looked at his brother who was lost and regretful in the rain, took off his glasses, and hypocritically wiped his face with his clothes. He couldn’t tell whether he felt lucky or pity in his heart. He sighed, took the key, and opened the car door.

Leaving the police station, Yuan Shou drove the car all the way onto the viaduct.

There was a heavy rainstorm outside. He turned on the radio in the car.

Actually, Yuan Shou was in no mood to listen to the radio broadcast now, but his heart was surging and his emotions were intense, and he urgently needed to divert his attention.

Even though he was prepared to be interrogated, he couldn’t help feeling fear and dread when he really entered the police station.

Although he did nothing.

While turning on the radio, he put a memory card into his phone and opened a video protected by layers of passwords in his phone.

That was a surveillance video, a surveillance video of the gymnasium construction site. He installed a small camera in the corner because he was afraid that the workers would be lazy. Unexpectedly, by a strange combination of circumstances, it helped him record the scene of the hated person being tortured and killed. Su Jiande was actually stronger than his brother. But this man had been honest and well-behaved all his life, and never thought that someone would attack him from behind.

In the video, the sounds of beating and scolding, screaming, chainsaw, and the subsequent dragging sound, the sound of rolling stones, and the sound of shoveling mud rang out in sequence. Only the blood was vivid in the shaking and blurred picture.

After Yuan Shou returned from his business trip that year, he slowly took down the camera and didn’t report his brother. He cut out the video and put it on the card, watching it with relish for a long time. When you hate someone, the malice in your heart is completely uncontrollable.

You wish he would be hit by a car and die when he goes out, wish he would die suddenly in front of you.

Yuan Shou thought hatefully.

People like Su Jiande who cut off people’s source of income deserve to die.

Boom, silver snakes flashed like lightning over the city, and the rainstorm covered the sky and earth. In the warm and comfortable car, the hostess’s voice was gentle and moving, gentle and smiling.

[Hello everyone, it is now 8:30 pm Huaicheng time. Welcome to Little Mouth Telling Stories, I am your good friend Little Mouth.]

[After Little Mouth received a submission about school violence last night, many listeners resonated deeply and told Little Mouth about their similar experiences in their student days. Sigh, Little Mouth was very sad to read it. I hope every child in the world can grow up happily.]

[A parent friend said that his daughter was pushed down the stairs at school, causing paralysis in both legs, and her whole life was ruined. However, because the murderer was under twelve years old, the court considered it negligent injury and did not sentence him. The parent friend was very angry. He didn’t want compensation. He wanted the murderer to break his legs together with his daughter to be fair. What can Little Mouth say about this.]

[Little Mouth can understand this parent’s feelings, but Little Mouth hopes this parent friend will calm down and understand that the purpose of punishment in our country’s criminal law has never been to retaliate for the victim. The purpose of punishment has always been punishment, education, and prevention. Although it is said that “a life for a life is justified”, in a modern society, we do not advocate “lex talionis” (law of retaliation).]

[Everyone is an adult, be rational, don’t act impulsively.]

The concept of “lex talionis” comes from primitive society and is recorded in ancient slavery laws.

For example, the “Code of Hammurabi” records: If a man destroy the eye of another man, they shall destroy his eye. If one break a man’s bone, they shall break his bone. If one knock out the teeth of his equal, his teeth shall be knocked out.

——An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

Hearing this, Yuan Shou couldn’t help thinking of the female student who came specifically to ask him for the key to the old gymnasium. He knew she was Su Jiande’s daughter, and he knew she had been looking for her father for many years. That female student hated him and suspected him. But what was the use? He was innocent and did nothing.

The one who killed was Yuan Ming. Even if he did some irrelevant tricks in the middle, he was completely not guilty of death, not even a crime.

Yuan Shou hummed a song and drove the car to Huaian University without any psychological burden.

*

The police sent the closing result and Yuan Ming’s interrogation video to Su Wanluo together.

Su Wanluo sat on the hospital bed, her slender fingers sliding across Yuan Ming’s neck in the video. Her thin nails were like knives, scratching again and again, light and ruthless.

Her father died so painfully and desperately. How could the death penalty be enough?

How she wished this person could suffer as much as she and her father did. To be crushed to pieces, to be cut into a thousand pieces!

“Luoluo, are you okay?” Liang Qingqing saw that her expression was wrong and asked worriedly.

Hearing her friend’s voice, Su Wanluo seemed to wake up from the paranoid and crazy state just now. She shook her head and forced a smile: “I’m fine.”

Liang Qingqing reached out worriedly to touch her forehead: “If you feel uncomfortable, just take a good rest.”

Su Wanluo nodded. There were many things blocking her heart.

The white walls in the ward reflected the pale light. Su Wanluo’s long hair was draped over her shoulders, and her face was haggard.

After hesitating for a long time, she whispered: “Qingqing, I found my dad.”

Liang Qingqing’s eyes widened instantly.

“What?”

Huaicheng City, Xinghu District, Jingang Community.

After Liang Qingqing returned home, she felt very depressed. She entered the password, held the door handle, pushed the door open and found that the lights in the house were actually on.

Liang Qingqing was stunned: “Dad?” Her father worked in the City Third Hospital, and working overtime was common. Sometimes when there were many surgeries, he even lived in the hospital for several days. Why is he at home today?

Dr. Liang walked out of the kitchen, took off his apron and put it in the washing machine. After washing his hands and drying them, he showed a refined smile to Liang Qingqing.

“You’re back. I got off work early today and made your favorite fish. Come and eat.”

Liang Qingqing slowly said “Oh”.

She put down her bag, washed her hands, and looked at the steaming fish with thick soup on the table. She felt listless and had no appetite at all.

Dr. Liang slowly picked out the bones for her with chopsticks and asked: “Do you have something on your mind?”

“…Mn.” Liang Qingqing nodded. She said in a muffled voice: “Dad, how can bad people in this world be so vicious?”

Dr. Liang frowned and said seriously: “Did you encounter something?”

Liang Qingqing shook her head: “No. It’s my friend’s father. Her father has been missing for more than ten years, and it was only recently found out that he was murdered. This happened in Huaian University. For the reputation of the school, the police didn’t report it widely. I just feel so sad. How can someone be bad to this extent? Do people really not want a conscience for money?”

Dr. Liang put a piece of fish into Liang Qingqing’s bowl and comforted: “Good is rewarded with good, and evil is rewarded with evil. If they don’t want a conscience, they will always pay the price.”

Liang Qingqing smiled bitterly: “But justice delayed is not justice. I think the death penalty is light for that murderer, let alone an indirect murderer who is still at large.”

Dr. Liang was silent for a long time, and suddenly said slowly: “Qingqing, I have seen many innocent people die in the hospital. Ages range from young to old: children, teenagers, elderly people. A four-year-old child was playing on the road and was hit and killed by a driver who didn’t have eyes; a withdrawn teenager was rumored and slandered by neighbors, suffered from depression and jumped from the psychology department building of the city hospital; and an eighty-year-old man was first kicked out of the house by his son to sleep under a bridge, and then kicked down the stairs by his son, breaking all his bones and dying.”

Liang Qingqing widened her eyes in disbelief: “Oh my god…”

Dr. Liang said slowly: “But none of the murderers will be sentenced to death. The driver who caused the accident only needs to pay funeral expenses and death compensation; the rumor mongers are not even considered indirect killers; as for the old man, there is no surveillance or video, and his son insisted that the old man accidentally fell down the stairs while walking.”

Liang Qingqing ate the fish in her mouth, actually a bit stunned.

“But none of those murderers had a good end.” Dr. Liang said: “Civilized society does not pay attention to blood for blood, gratitude and revenge. But some people cannot appease the anger of the victims unless they die.”

Liang Qingqing suddenly felt that the father in front of her was a bit strange. She did not agree with some of her father’s views. She opened her mouth and wanted to say something.

But Dr. Liang had already spoken calmly: “Don’t worry, bad people will get retribution. People who don’t respect life don’t deserve to have life either.”

Liang Qingqing ate this meal very silently. She was already a bit down, and after hearing her father’s words, instead of being relieved, she felt even more depressed. When she cleaned up the dishes and put them in the dishwasher, Liang Qingqing suddenly remembered something and turned back: “Dad, Huaian University returns to school tomorrow.”

Before entering the study, Dr. Liang nodded and said: “Mn, okay. I’ll help you send your luggage over after I get off work tomorrow.”

Liang Qingqing looked at the closed door of the study and suddenly felt a burst of helplessness.

After her mother died, she felt that her father seemed to have become a different person.

*

Tickets for the orientation ceremony of this session of Huaian University were speculated to sky-high prices. The reason was none other than that everyone wanted to see the true face of that mysterious noble son.

It was also strange to say that shortly after the director posted photos of Ning Weichen and Ye Sheng on the BBS, that thread became garbled. The director realized later that this was not very polite, and deleted the shooting tidbits and photos together. For a time, wails and question marks covered the campus forum of Huaian University.

The two influential figures among the freshmen had long been rumored to be god-like. Many senior sisters and brothers racked their brains to buy tickets from the student union just to see the true faces of the two. Especially Ning Weichen, the addition of family background, appearance, and education made him infinitely “deified”.

Ye Sheng didn’t mix in the internet or forums at all. If he knew that the ticket handed to him by the monitor could be sold for a good price, he would definitely sell it without hesitation.

For him, the best way to welcome new students at school is to do nothing.

The orientation ceremony was held in the old gymnasium. With red brick walls and white corridors, the old gymnasium looked like a big church from a distance. There was a heavy rain last night, and the ground was full of the fragrance of osmanthus. The orientation party was divided into areas according to classes, and there were no fixed seats. Logically speaking, a dormitory should sit together, but Ye Sheng was a participant in the promotional video and got the qualification to sit in the front row.

Huang Qiqi gave Su Wanluo two tickets.

Because the heroine chose a major related to architecture, the Department of Architecture and the Department of Civil Engineering helped them a lot during the shooting.

Su Wanluo’s physical fitness was better than ordinary people. While Chen Can and Xie Wenci were still wailing in the hospital bed, she had already been discharged, and Liang Qingqing accompanied her. Several people sat together.

Xia Wenshi was born to love joining in the fun. Seeing Su Wanluo and Liang Qingqing, he immediately greeted them happily. They had played the four-corner game together in Luohu Mansion before and had a revolutionary friendship of life and death, not to mention that Su Wanluo and Liang Qingqing were also his junior sisters in the same club.

Xia Wenshi said enthusiastically: “Junior sister, is your health better?”

Su Wanluo smiled and said: “Much better.”

Xia Wenshi: “Sigh, this is really an undeserved disaster for us.”

Luo Xingyan, who was dragged over to watch the campus secret love blockbuster in the back row, rolled his eyes and thought: You are not an undeserved disaster, you completely brought it on yourselves.

Huang Qiqi was curious: “What exactly happened that night? Why did you all end up in the hospital?”

Xia Wenshi waved his hand: “Don’t mention it, extremely unlucky.”

Su Wanluo smiled and didn’t say anything. She knew some secrets needed to be buried deep in the bones.

After chatting, Xia Wenshi asked curiously: “Where is Xiao Ye? Why hasn’t Xiao Ye come yet?”

The director was taking pictures everywhere with his mobile phone and said: “I don’t know. But I think with Ye Sheng’s personality, whether he comes or not is a question.”

Huang Qiqi shook her head: “NO, Director, you guessed wrong. Although Xiao Ye has ‘Brother is not gregarious’ written all over him from inside out, he has never done anything ungregarious.”

The cameraman leaned over and nodded: “I can see this point. Ye Sheng was really impatient and wanted to leave on the spot during the shooting. But he actually acted silently throughout the whole process until the end.”

Xia Wenshi said proudly: “Xiao Ye is very dedicated.”

The director sneered: “No emotion, no technique, all relying on opportunism. Don’t think I don’t know, he stared at the chandelier in a daze the whole time later.”

Liang Qingqing burst out laughing.

Xia Wenshi thought it was necessary for him to prove for Ye Sheng: “Everyone has shortcomings, don’t be so harsh. When Xiao Ye worked in my haunted house, I felt he was omnipotent and could do anything.”

Huang Qiqi said: “The one who really has no shortcomings is Junior Brother Weichen, right?”

Talking about Ning Weichen, everyone sighed for a while.

Xia Wenshi thought for a while and said seriously: “If a person drives a Bentley Arnage Limited Edition at the age of seventeen, then his shortcomings are not called shortcomings, they are called personal characteristics.”

Director: “Damn, you are so superficial.” He turned his head and asked the cameraman: “How much is the Bentley Arnage Limited Edition.”

The cameraman checked his phone: “Thirteen million.”

Director: “…”

The director turned his head: “So what are your Junior Brother Weichen’s personal characteristics?”

Several people looked at each other.

Su Wanluo smiled and said: “I think only Junior Brother Ye Sheng should know this question.”

Although Ning Weichen was mysterious and unpredictable in the school, and his limelight was unparalleled. But those who had really gotten along with the two were more willing to contact Ye Sheng.

Ye Sheng’s coldness was on the surface, while Ning Weichen’s coldness was in a place they couldn’t see.

Ye Sheng finished taking a shower and came outside the old gymnasium. Stepping on the osmanthus on the ground, he walked into the venue alone. The party hadn’t started yet, and the lights in some places in the front row were not on. Ye Sheng walked in from the front door, his figure hidden by the darkness.

People in the back row didn’t notice that this campus influential figure had arrived at the scene.

After seeing the director, Su Wanluo, Xia Wenshi and the group, Ye Sheng walked towards that area.

“Xiao Ye!” Huang Qiqi smiled and waved at him.

Ye Sheng nodded expressionlessly as a response. Although Xia Wenshi and the others saved a seat for him in the middle, Ye Sheng didn’t sit there.

He sat next to Luo Xingyan.

Luo Xingyan lifted his peaked cap, bit a lollipop listlessly, and complained directly after seeing Ye Sheng: “They were complaining about your acting skills just now.”

Ye Sheng didn’t make a sound.

Luo Xingyan said: “They said you have neither emotion nor technique.”

Ye Sheng didn’t even look at him, lowered his head and replied to Ning Weichen’s message with his mobile phone, saying indifferently: “If you are so idle, go investigate Jiahe Mall again.”

Luo Xingyan chuckled twice.

Ye Sheng looked cold, lowered his eyes, but his fingers typed and replied to messages non-stop.

This cloying stickiness of a young couple in an online relationship disgusted Luo Xingyan. He took down the lollipop and said with a fake smile.

“What’s wrong, the Crown Prince is so clingy, sending you thirty messages a minute?”

Ye Sheng didn’t speak.

More than thirty.

If it weren’t for the big-eyed monster in the phone, he really wanted to throw the phone directly to Luo Xingyan and let him reply to that young master back and forth.

After Ye Sheng reported his location in the gymnasium, he turned off the phone directly.

The opening ceremony of the orientation party was the school song.

Subsequently, people filled the seats one after another.

Ye Sheng sat in his seat, raised his eyes, and looked clearly at the chandelier on the stage.

A cheap product of shoddy quality, no matter how gorgeous, is full of loopholes.