Ch28 - Do me a favour

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The scene was overrun with chaos as screams and wails reverberated throughout, and accompanying all of this were the incessant clicking shutter sounds from the sedulous reporters. 

“Are… are you guys alright?” Mo Qiu called from afar, his complexion sickly white as he rushed over, both eyes filled with fear.

“We’re fine… ugh..” Perhaps Yi Da Zhuang sprinted too fast for his body to handle just then, or maybe he really was hit hard and disgusted by what had happened, as either way he started dry heaving on the staircases. Yet, he continued to wave at Mo Qiu, indicating that he was fine and that it was no big deal.

“What in the world happened?” Mo Qiu asked, peering down the stairs at the crowd that was slowly gathering around again before letting himself collapse on the steps.

I also wanted to understand what had just happened. 

I turned back to look at the scene behind me, only a short moment had passed but Sheng Min Ou had already disappeared from where I last saw him. I stood up, my gaze flickering from sight to sight, until I finally found a trace of his back disappearing from a far corner.

“Wait here for a second, I’ll be… going to handle some things.” I said, hurriedly leaving them with these words before I ran, chasing after Sheng Min Ou.

I rounded the corner and in front of me was the court’s carpark. When I ran into it, Sheng Min Ou had already gotten in his car, and was just a second away from stepping on the gas.

I doubted that I would be able to stop him from leaving, so without giving it too much thought I threw myself in front of his car, blocking his way out. He saw and didn’t motion to turn off the car’s ignition, but he also refrained from simply just running me over.

I panted as I ran to the drivers side of the car, gesturing for him to lower his window.

It was only after a while that the tinted window started descending, revealing Sheng Min Ou’s handsome features.

“What do you want?”

I clamped my fingers on the car window and caught my breath as I asked him, “You, what exactly did you do?” 

He raised a single eyebrow, as if he didn’t understand what I was trying to say.

A wave of frustration rose within, and I wasn’t in the mood to beat around the bush with him, so I unequivocally asked him, “Last time at the trial… what did you say to that woman?”

His index finger tapped on the steering wheel with impeccable rhythm as he listened, as if it symbolised the levels of his patience. Every time he tapped his finger, the amount of patience he had would lessen incrementally.

“The woman?” 

Shit, if I hadn’t already witnessed his irreproachable acting then I really would’ve believed it myself.

I pointed towards the direction of the entrance and couldn’t hold myself back as the volume of my voice creeped up, “The woman who was lying there on the floor, wearing a black one piece dress, she came to the hearing three times and last time during an adjournment she was smoking with you, don’t tell me you can’t remember this!”

I felt enraged and simultaneously fearful. Yet these emotions I felt and the breaking point just then had little to do with the shocking incident which had happened earlier. Whether Luo Zheng Yun died, how he died, when he died, I didn’t care for this at all; whether justice really would be served, whether this world was fair or not, I didn’t care for it either; what I cared about only was… whether or not Sheng Min Ou was involved in all of this.

To determine that Sheng Min Ou had a role to play in all of this through only a glimpse of an encounter that I had only chanced upon was a conclusion that even I found inexplicable. This was something that I couldn’t even justify or explain with my gut feeling, and could not be accounted for either with logic. What was he doing it for? To enforce justice or to protect me? No matter which reason I came up with to explain his motive, it all became absurd and laughable in the end. 

“Oh,” After being given a reminder from me, Sheng Min Ou seemed to have just recalled that someone like that did exist, “Last time, we simply shared a smoke together, and we exchanged a few words.”

In an instant, my heart was in my throat, “What did you say to her?”

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

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“The truth,” he replied softly, giving me just the two words in response.

I was stunned for a second, at a loss for words as I struggled to come up with a response.

“You did it on purpose.” My mind was thrown into chaos, for one second I saw the woman in the black dress outside the entrance again, then in the next it changed to be Qi Yang who I killed ten years ago, “You’ve always been good at it.” 

No matter whether it was getting other people to do the dirty work for him, or to bewitch others with his twisted words, he excelled, flourished at doing all of it. Except ten years ago I willingly and knowingly did it for him, yet what was the reason behind all of this today? What exactly did Luo Zheng Yun do that got on Sheng Min Ou’s wrong side?

Sheng Min Ou’s index finger stilled, suddenly stopping in his repetitive motions in tapping the wheel as his gaze grew steadily colder, as his lips curved upwards in derision.

I felt my heart drop as I mumbled, “I didn’t…”

“You’re right, I’m very good at it, and I do it faultlessly too, no matter whether it was back then or now.” He admitted generously, “Knowing that I have sinned brings me happiness like none other.” 

My fingers unwittingly clutched onto the surface of the car harder, the barrage of his words knocking me off my senses and making me disoriented, as I struggled with discerning whether his words were coming out from the depths of his heart, or if he was saying it to me purely out of spite.

“Do you remember what Dad said to you before he passed away? He said you would definitely become a very, very good person, do you remember?” I couldn’t hold myself back as I grabbed onto his elbow.

His expressions slowly faded as he wiped away all traces of his emotions, not speaking once more as he was taciturn, opting to just stare at me.

At certain moments, mentioning my father was a very good strategy to employ, but sometimes bringing him up would have the opposite effect. His existence was a dose of medicine that healed all things, yet he was also a scar that was etched deeply into our hearts. 

The sports car suddenly let out a frightening roar, like a beast’s furious warning to any bystanders.

“Let go.” He roughly waved off my hand, his patience having completely run out, as he no longer wanted to entertain me in this discussion.

I raised my fist and hit it against the edge of the window, a wave of numbness surging through my hand as I took two steps back involuntarily.

Without waiting for the window to rise up completely, the silver white sports car raced past me like a streak of wind, leaving only dust behind as it dashed out of the car park. 

“Fuck!” I massaged the back of my hand as I stared as the exhaust coming out of the back of his car, kicking at the air by my feet in frustration.

Luo Zheng Yun was sent to the emergency department in hospital as they tried to rescue him for three days, but they were ultimately unsuccessful in saving him. As the defendant had unexpectedly passed away, the trial and case was terminated.

The woman wearing the black dress who had committed the murder was an instant hot topic online, and rumours flew everywhere ranging from her being Luo Zheng Yun’s ex-girlfriend, to an anti fan, to a fired employee, every possible explanation was examined and resulted in a whirlwind of discussions, until… a Weibo blog post which had been automatically scheduled was released.

The poster’s ID was ‘Le Le’s mother, Han Ya’, she was thirty six years old this year and was a dancer in a nightclub. She had a son and gave birth to him when she was aged twenty, and the father of the son was unknown. If her son had continued living, he would be around sixteen years old today. 

The use of ‘if’ was because last spring, the son had taken his own life and killed himself.

She admitted that it was her who killed Luo Zheng Yun, as well as foreseeing her own death. She hoped that her revenge, which she had played out in her mind for thousands of times did not fail. If this world was unable to provide her with the justice she deserved, then it would have to be on her to seek it herself.

This was a scheduled Weibo post, but it read more like a suicide note, and it could be counted as the last thing she left for this world. The whole post was thousands of words long, each phrase written painstakingly with blood and tears, as it delved into her homicide motives in more detail.

Her son Han Le had decided to jump off a building to commit suicide in the spring of last year. At first, she had thought it was because she didn’t show enough care and affection for her son, as well as the pressures of taking the high school exams which had caused this tragedy to occur. She was overcome with remorse, the regret becoming all-consuming, and she had never considered any other possibilities. 

Han Le had always been a big fan of Luo Zheng Yun. All the posters on his walls were of him, his phone wallpaper was set to him, and his keychains had him too. He madly, and obsessively loved Luo Zheng Yun, not tolerating anyone who uttered a single bad word about him. Han Ya once purposefully commented a few words of criticism towards Luo Zheng Yun to tease her son, and in return Han Le ignored her for three whole days. Knowing that Luo Zheng Yun was cherished by her son to this extent, Han Ya specifically packed away anything related to him into a box along with her son’s diary while packing away his belongings.

And so, one year had passed. The scar had not healed completely, and the sorrow and pain still remained, yet Han Ya still diligently and enthusiastically tried to continue living.

It was at this moment that breaking news of Luo Zheng Yun raping male fans came to her attention, and the saturated coverage that was always being broadcasted forced her to pay attention to the case as she became exposed to all the information.

She started feeling ill at ease, it was a feeling that only a mother would have, and it impelled her as she hurriedly returned home and anxiously poured out the contents in the box, flipping open her son’s diary. 

After reading its contents, she sank into an even deeper despair compared to what she had faced when her son committed suicide.

Her son Han Le, a child only fifteen, ended up also falling into the injurious hands of Luo Zheng Yun.

Though Han Le was different to Mo Qiu. He loved Luo Zheng Yun, and didn’t feel pain when subjected to violence and force. Instead, he thought of it as his duty when they were making love. Every time when Luo Zheng Yun proposed to meet up with him, he was over the moon in bliss as he was completely swept up in their romance, which he thought was as sweet as honey.

Yet Luo Zheng Yun this sick bastard may really have twisted desires in this regard, the more obedient and willing the other person was, the more boring he found them. He quickly got tired of Han Le and blacklisted his contact throughout all forms of communication, thereby completely abandoning him. 

The more elated Han Le was during the relationship, the more devastated and heartbroken he became after it ended. He couldn’t understand why Luo Zheng Yun had cast him aside without a single word and he fervently believed that there had to be some sort of misunderstanding between them two. Han Le searched maniacally for him, but he was only still in junior high, and his social networks were fundamentally only comprised of his classmates, so it was of no surprise that finding Luo Zheng Yun, the scum, was beyond his abilities.

The shock and devastation that came with being heartbroken, the pain from being toyed with and then abandoned, pushed this boy that was only fifteen towards a cliff’s edge.

During lunch break, he leapt and fell from the top of the maths block, ending his young life. The only thing he left behind was a short, plain note with less than one hundred words as his final thoughts.

As for his mother, a whole year would pass before she came to find out the truth. 

“My child, my child was only fifteen years old, he will now never grow old, and he will also never have the chance to grow old. All the wonderful things that lie in the future now have nothing to do with him. He will never get to attend high school, or go to university. When other people his age are getting married and having their first baby, he can only lie in the cold ground six feet under, bearing eternal solitude as he suffers there day by day! Yet what about Luo Zheng Yun? He still has his money and power, and he remains unrepentant for everything that he has done.”

“For the past ten or so years, I’ve tirelessly earned money and painstakingly brought up my son under those conditions, I’ve never harmed anyone else, and my child has also never done any bad deeds in his life, but the heavens did not give us their blessings. Luo Zheng Yun would just continue to harm someone over and over again, and not receive any punishment for his wicked deeds. Then there’s the trial, a tedious and difficult process meant to judge him, but in the end it might just result in him sitting in jail nonchalantly for two or so years or even worse, he might not be sentenced to any time at all, I can’t accept this result at all! My child has already lost his future, so why should he be able to live life as he wants? He must pay for his actions, he must die!!”

Liu Yue finished reading Han Ya’s suicide note as tears streamed down her face, the tissues heaped by the side of her laptop becoming a small mountain of its own.

“What a pity, how could Luo Zheng Yun be such a scum, that child was only fifteen and he could still bring himself to do those things.” 

There was a reason why he was called a bastard. I thought that Mo Qiu was the first victim, but I had no idea that it was actually Han Le.

Due to this case, a movement was started online as some people hoped to change the definition of rape that was accepted legally, so that male victims could be included. Though the outcome of this in the future is uncertain, at least there were already glimmers of hope.

Law was continuously being perfected through countless sacrifices, to call it the accumulation and result of humanity’s blood and tears would not be an exaggeration in the slightest.

I glanced at the time on the clock and saw that it was already nearly eight o’clock, so I closed the magazine in my hands and got ready to leave work. 

“Although saying this seems politically incorrect, after Luo Zheng Yun’s death, Ms Han really could be counted as ridding society of a malignant presence.” Liu Yue brought her hands together in prayer, “Ms Han Ya and young Han Le, rest in peace, in the next lifetime stay far away from scum humans, amen.”

Once Luo Zheng Yun’s incident was tied up, I lost contact again with Sheng Min Ou, and I thought that it would be a while where I wouldn’t see him.

However, things sometimes just happened to be coincidental, I didn’t want to cause any difficulties, but the people around me kept stirring up trouble.

It was deep into yet another night, when my phone suddenly started vibrating incessantly. 

I was still in a daze as I murkily blinked to glance at the screen and saw that it was Shen Xiao Shi calling. At first I didn’t want to pick up, thinking that it wouldn’t be a big deal anyways, however one call followed another, and it felt as if if I didn’t pick he would continue calling me through the night.

“Hey, what is wrong with you…” In the end I could only pick up, my voice injected with remnants of drowsiness as I talked through the phone.

Shen Xiao Shi perhaps already sunk into despair believing that I wouldn’t pick up, as all of a sudden after hearing my voice he was stunned and lost for words for a while.

“Feng Ge, you finally picked up!” He replied, his voice evidently nasally. 

I picked up at once that his voice sounded off, so I struggled to sit up and gathered more patience as I asked, “What happened?”

“San Ge, San Ge has been taken away!” Shen Xiao Shi was impatient and angered at the same time, “What should we do?”

Wei Shi this dumbass, he went to eat at one of the street stalls late at night with Shen Xiao Shi, it was hard to park his car on that street so he sat on the car waiting, and told Shen Xiao Shi to get off and buy food. When Shen Xiao Shi returned with the skewers he saw, lo and behold, two police cars parked on the side of the road. He thought that it was because Wei Shi was parked illegally and it infuriated the police so much they had come and were prepared to tow his car off the premises.

When he ran to take a closer look, he found Wei Shi handcuffed on the floor, with the police saying that he had intentionally assaulted someone. 

Shen Xiao Shi was shocked as he exclaimed, “Who did he hurt?”

The police pointed to a middle aged man at the side of the road who was clutching onto his nose, a patch of red blooming from his chest and remarked, “See, over there, he was minding his own business then your friend went up to him and gave him a beating.”

Shen Xiao Shi knew that Wei Shi wasn’t the type of person to resort to violence for no reason and so tried valiantly to defend and clear up the situation for Wei Shi, however the police dismissed his words and took Wei Shi along with them. Shen Xiao Shi was left with only the two skewers he had just bought and at a loss of what to do he could only reach out to phone me.

It was dead in the middle of the night and I had to still go fetch someone from the cells. I took a deep breath, trying hard to gather a sense of tranquility. 

“Calm down first, do you know which police station it is? Go there and wait for me, I’ll… be there as soon as I can.”

After I hung up on Shen Xiao Shi, I flicked through my contacts list in search for Sheng Min Ou’s number. After hesitating for a long while, I chose to make the call.

Someone I knew that excelled at their job as a lawyer and was a person I could rely on at this hour – there was only him.

It was already one a.m., it was very likely that at this time Sheng Min Ou had long since turned his phone off to rest already. While dialling his number, I didn’t have any expectations, rather I just wanted to give it a shot. 

I didn’t know if it was Wei Shi that had great luck, but it turned out that Sheng Min Ou wasn’t asleep. Although the phone was left ringing for a long time, in the end he did still pick up.

“Do me a favour.” I didn’t wait for Sheng Min Ou to speak before cutting in front of him with my words.

He seemed to be doing some kind of intense, vigorous exercise, as even when he spoke his words were interspersed with evident pants, his voice slightly hoarse.

“Why should I?” 

I knew he would say this.

“I saved one of your employees, so count it as returning a favour. I just need you to help me fetch someone who’s being held in a cell…”

He cut me off, “That’s my employee who owes you a favour, go find her and have her repay you.”

I gritted my teeth, about to shatter the phone with my grip. Scared that in the next moment he would hang up on me, I didn’t have time to consider the finer art of negotiation as I uttered the next words, blunt and brusque in my own way. 

“That day, the person who fucked me throughout the night had to be you right? Count it as paying a prostitute back for their service and help me out here, okay?”