Chapter 472: Face
Translator: Azza
Editor: Conspiracing
Song Yuwen’s mother said sadly, “Even if Yuwen was responsible for Wanjun’s death, he has been compensating for it all these years. You said that Wanjun was studying in Australia, and he used part of his salary to financially assist your family. I didn’t know the reason before, but now I know that this child must have felt guilty! I know that Yuwen has always been kind since he was a child. That incident must have been an impulse. Why didn’t you tell us the truth? We would have been willing to compensate in any way. But why didn’t you say anything, and directly... To my son... Would Wanjun come back if Yuwen is dead? Argh, say something!”
Ms. Song shook her head. "I wasn’t the one who wanted to kill Yuwen, it was Wanjun who told me to kill him!"
"You’re lying! She’s dead, and it was you who killed him. You just confessed it just then... How many times? How many times has our family helped you?! You can't even count them all! Why have you done this to us? You ungrateful woman!”
"You’ve helped us, but that's because..." Ms. Song raised her voice and looked at Song Yuwen’s father, who looked a little panicked. Ms. Song pointed her finger at him, "Cousin, the summer when I was fifteen, you said you’d take me to your bedroom to see your collection of flower petals. Then you closed the door, and did... That's why you kept helping us later. You were guilty and you wanted to compensate for it. I didn’t think that more than ten years later, your son would do exactly the same thing to my daughter as you did to me. Your whole family are animals!”
"Is that true?" Song Yuwen's mother looked at her husband in shock.
Song Yuwen’s father had cold sweat all over his face. He shouted, “Do you guys believe her? Would anything true come out of a woman who can hide her daughter’s death for twelve years? I can use my reputation as a guarantee that she made it all up! I helped you because I pitied all of you and felt sympathy for you. It wasn’t to compensate for anything. You’re so ungrateful!”
"You’re actually saying that I’m making it up?" Ms. Song cried and laughed at the same time, then shouted, "Can you swear on that? Would you dare to swear that if that incident did happen, your whole family won’t die peaceful deaths. Do you dare?"
Song Yuwen's father suddenly fell silent. He had a complex expression on his face and looked at his cousin with eyes full of anger.
The two families had shed all pretense of cordiality, and the atmosphere became very awkward. Chen Shi glanced at Lin Dongxue and signaled her to take Ms. Song away. She was handcuffed and on the way to the car, Ms. Song screamed, "You father and son are both beasts. If the upper beam isn’t straight, the lower beam would be crooked. You don’t get punished even though you did that kind of thing. I hate it. I hate that I’m useless and can only be bullied forever by others!”
"Speak less!" Chen Shi said. The relatives had already come down after hearing the commotion. "You’ve already ruined two families. Leave yourself some face!"
Upon hearing the word "face", Ms. Song immediately calmed down and stopped causing a ruckus.
Of course, Mr. Shi was also taken away since he had to be questioned. He got into another police car.
After getting into the car, Lin Dongxue said quietly, "The ugliest thing to see in the world is relatives becoming enemies."
"But to be able to let out love, hatred, and resentment in one breath and not having to cover anything up is also a kind of bliss.” Chen Shi said. He turned to look at Ms. Song who was sitting behind them.
Ms. Song smiled and said to herself, "Mom needs to go away with the police and I’ll come back soon." "You’re a good daughter, I know you care about me. Mom is very happy." "Their family? We won't meet them again in the future. I won’t force you to greet them as ‘Uncle’ and ‘Aunty’ again."
Chen Shi asked, "Talking to your daughter?"
"Yes, she is here. Can you see her?" Ms. Song touched the air beside her with her handcuffed hands. There was already the first sign of craziness in her eyes. It was probably an early symptom of schizophrenia.
Going crazy is a process of rebuilding a balance within people's hearts. It would be strange if Ms. Song didn’t go crazy after living under lies and pressure for twelve years.
Chen Shi said, "She’s wearing a blue dress with a bow tie and has two braids, right?"
Lin Dongxue looked at him in surprise and Ms. Song said with great joy, "I knew that you could see her. No wonder you talked about the case as if you had seen it with your own eyes. I was surprised since the police aren’t gods. How could you have known everything so clearly? So it turns out that you have yin yang eyes[1]!"
Chen Shi smiled. Of course, he couldn’t see Ms. Song’s imaginary daughter. What he described was how Shi Wanjun looked in the photo from twelve years ago.
"At least, you won't feel lonely in prison."
"Ah, prison..." Ms. Song's eyes suddenly dimmed, as if being pulled back to reality. Knowing that she would pay the price for her deeds soon, she said, "You also heard me. I had a reason to kill him."
"What about the security guard?"
"He... He saw me and Wanjun killed him in order to protect me."
"The judge wouldn't believe this rhetoric. Ms. Song, stop struggling. The truth is already out. Your struggles would be in vain."
Ms. Song lowered her head and remained silent in the car for some time. Then she said, "I only have one request."
"As long as it’s not excessive."
"Please keep my going to jail a secret from my friends and family."
"Why? Why would you still care so much about your face even though you’re going to jail?"
Ms. Song smiled in the rearview mirror. "Families like mine don’t have anything. If we don’t even uphold our faces, then we would really be looked down upon!"
She looked at the air beside her and asked gently, "Isn’t that right, Wanjun?"
"Yes, Mother."
Lin Dongxue felt a shock course through her body. She had heard the voice of a young girl. She turned back in fear and looked at Ms. Song again.
It took her a long time to figure out that the voice had been a mimicry by Ms. Song herself. It sounded completely different from her own voice.
She was on the verge of madness, and was perhaps just a step away from true madness. Fortunately, she was arrested before she had truly gone mad.
Lin Dongxue breathed a long sigh of relief. This long case was finally over.
1. People with “yin yang eyes” are able to see things that other people cannot, e.g. ghosts and spirits.
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