Chapter 4

“Can we talk properly now?”

My smile vanished. My voice dropped.

“No.”

“One person still hasn’t died.”

Me.

I could scarcely remember the truth anymore.

I had lied so often that even I began to wonder whether Hứa Giang Thụ really had tried to rape me.

In fact…

He had been the one protecting me.

Lý Trạch had been a spoiled delinquent since childhood.

Picking fights, causing trouble, doing every bad thing he could.

As he grew older, he played at sworn brotherhood and followed gangsters, fighting and collecting protection money.

He took ninety percent of my pocket money.

“If you tell Mom and Dad, I’ll break your legs.”

Of course I didn’t tell.

It would have been useless.

To my parents, as long as their precious son wasn’t the one getting beaten, he could hit anyone he pleased.

Around that time, Lý Trạch clashed with a boy from the neighboring sports school.

Apparently, he had stolen the boy’s girlfriend.

The boy came over and beat him badly. His eye stayed swollen for days.

Lý Trạch couldn’t let it go and asked his gang leader to help him get revenge.

That was how those friends worked.

Brothers in good times.

Conditions when it mattered.

They could fight.

But they wanted money.

Without it, who had time to stand up for him?

With no other option, he came to me.

“You’re a good student. Tell Mom and Dad you need money for extra classes. They’ll give it to you.”

I laughed.

He knew perfectly well how they treated me.

In public, they always said:

“Our daughter’s the best.”

At home, they never had a kind look for me.

While we argued, his leader arrived.

I remembered everyone calling him Lục Ca.

When I refused to hand over money, Lý Trạch raised a hand to hit me.

Lục Ca stopped him.

“Who’s this? Your girl?”

Lý Trạch snorted.

“Who’d want that? My sister.”

Lục Ca circled me several times.

“I’ll handle your problem.”

“If you haven’t got money, a person will do.”

A teacher finishing work happened to pass.

I ran.

That night, Lý Trạch tried to negotiate.

“Why not go out with Lục Ca?”

“Everyone dates at school these days. Being the boss’s girlfriend would be impressive.”

I refused.

He beat me half to death.

“Just wait. I’ll get you into his bed sooner or later.”

I told our parents.

They called me filthy and said my head was full of dirty thoughts.

If I kept talking nonsense, they would stop me going to school.

I paused and looked at Officer Tôn.

“Have you ever regretted anything?”

“Since the day Hứa Giang Thụ was hurt, I’ve never stopped regretting.”

“If I’d known it would cost him his life, I should have listened to him.”

After my parents’ warning, I had to find my own solution.

I discovered the teacher from the next class took the same route home.

Every day, I timed my departure to follow him.

But on the day it happened, he was off.

I left the classroom nervously.

Hứa Giang Thụ happened to have finished cleaning.

He patted my shoulder from behind.

I jumped.

He smiled.

“What’s wrong? Why so frightened?”

I said I was thinking about a problem.

But that was how he was.

One look, and he could see someone’s vulnerability.

He always found a way to help without embarrassing them.

After a moment, he said:

“I’ve got a problem to ask you about too.”

“If you don’t mind, let me walk you home. You can explain it on the way.”

I thought about refusing.

Then I thought he was a boy.

Surely they wouldn’t dare do anything.

The walk home went smoothly.

I knew Lý Trạch and Lục Ca were following.

But they only watched.

They did nothing.

Before I went inside, Hứa Giang Thụ waved cheerfully.

“If you’re free tomorrow, I’ll ask you about another problem.”

A few minutes later, I realized I still had his keys.

I hurried downstairs after him.

I found him pinned to the ground, being beaten.

“Bastard!”

“No wonder that bitch Lý Kiều won’t listen. She’s got herself a pretty boy!”

“I’ll teach you a lesson.”

“Let’s see if she still likes you with your face beaten to a pulp!”

I rushed forward without hesitation.

Lục Ca blocked me.

He smiled.

“My family’s rich.”

“Killing a pretty boy like him would be nothing.”

“Sleep with me for one night, and I’ll let him go.”

“Otherwise, I’ll cripple him.”

“At worst, I pay compensation.”

“My family’s got plenty of money!”

He laughed.

I knew his father was the city’s most notorious thug.

“All right,” I said.

“Let him go. I’ll do anything.”

Hứa Giang Thụ stubbornly shouted:

“Lý Kiều, don’t listen!”

“I don’t believe they’d dare—Ah!”

Lục Ca picked up a rock.

Brought it down.

Again and again.

I don’t remember how many times.

Only when my throat was hoarse and my eyes swollen with crying did he stand, panting.

Lý Trạch shouted:

“He’s killed him!”

He turned to run and collided with our parents, who had just arrived.

I knelt and begged them to call the police.

I received a thunderous slap.

Lục Ca remained calm.

He called his gangster father.

The man arrived soon afterward.

First, he sent Hứa Giang Thụ to hospital.

Then he took my parents and the homeroom teacher aside and talked privately for hours.

I overheard them while going to the bathroom.

I noticed Hứa Giang Thụ’s MP5 player.

Secretly, I used it to record the conversation.

Lục Ca’s father said:

“Let Lý Trạch take the blame.”

“I’ll find a way to keep him alive.”

He was my parents’ treasure.

Naturally, they refused.

The man continued:

“I know how much you owe in gambling debts.”

“I’ll pay them all.”

“And give you a large sum besides.”

“On condition that Lý Trạch disappears.”

“Let him spend his life in a psychiatric hospital.”

Between money and their son, my parents chose money without hesitation.

I don’t know how they persuaded Lý Trạch.

He said:

“I’ll take the blame.”

“But she has to say publicly that Hứa Giang Thụ tried to rape her.”

“That’s why I attacked him.”

He looked at me smugly.

I knew what he was thinking.

He didn’t know Hứa Giang Thụ was in a vegetative state.

If he had to carry the label of mental illness, Hứa Giang Thụ would carry the label of rapist.

I protested fiercely.

“I’ll call the police!”

“I’ll tell them everything I saw!”

Even the homeroom teacher tried to persuade me.

“Don’t be stubborn.”

“Hứa Giang Thụ’s barely alive anyway.”

“What does a little criticism matter?”

“Exactly!” I shouted back.

“He’s barely alive.”

“So is it that hard to give him back his good name?”

That night, I met his mother.

She dropped to her knees before me.

I can still see the despair on her face.

I thought she would beg me to tell the truth.

Say her son was a good person and could never have done such a thing.

Instead…

“My child, my son was wrong.”

“If he did wrong, he must be punished.”

Then:

“Live well from now on.”

“I apologize to you on his behalf.”

The next day, she jumped from the thirteenth floor.

My parents asked:

“Still going to the police?”

I shook my head.

“No.”

“I was wrong.”

Then I looked at Hứa Giang Thụ in his hospital bed.

“You’ll keep paying his medical bills? You’re certain?”

A few short sentences.

Deciding whether two people lived or died.

That was when I understood.

There was no justice in this world.

“So you killed Lưu Giang Hạo’s entire family?”

Lưu Giang Hạo was Lục Ca’s father.

“Didn’t they deserve to die?” I demanded.

“How did you kill them?”

I laughed.

“What a poor memory you have, Officer Tôn.”

“Six months ago, the Lưu family went on a trip.”

“The brakes failed, and their car went over a cliff.”

“All three died.”

“Obviously, the car was tampered with.”

He moved closer.

“Oh?”

“How?”

“How did you get near them?”

“Tell me in detail.”

“I forgot.”

“And I don’t want to remember.”

His tone abruptly changed. His eyes cut into me.

“You’re lying.”

“You didn’t do it.”

“Thẩm Viên did!”

I froze.

Then laughed aloud.

“Who’s Thẩm Viên?”