Chapter 46: The Devil’s Rainy Night

Chapter 46: The Devil's Rainy Night

"What are you talking about?!" Song Lingwei's expression flickered with panic for a moment, but she quickly regained her composure and said angrily, "My child is obviously my own!"

Chen Weiguo was incredibly smart. Everyone in his family, and anyone who knew him, said that if conditions had been better back then and they could have afforded to send him to school, he would have been an honors student.

He was wasting his talent in such a small town; he should be in Huai Jing doing big business.

Chen Weiguo's face twitched, and his eyes, dark and gloomy, stared intently at Song Lingwei, making her scalp tingle. He then said with certainty, "Xie Guiluan definitely isn't your child."

"He is my child," Song Lingwei said, lowering her head to pick at her food, but her hands were shaking uncontrollably.

Chen Weiguo didn't say anything more to her. He didn't come home for several days, leaving Song Lingwei anxious and unable to sleep well for several nights.

Just when Song Lingwei was about to push the incident to the back of her mind, Chen Weiguo suddenly returned home one noon and threw a few photos at her without saying a word.

Photos of Guan Xingxue holding Cen Wu.

Song Lingwei’s mind went numb. She couldn’t remember what she did—maybe she grabbed Chen Weiguo in a fit of madness, only to be slapped by him.

"You’ve got some nerve," Chen Weiguo said, his deep-set eyes and sharp nose giving him a sinister appearance as he leaned in and slapped her face, "You’d steal a child?"

This wasn’t hard to figure out, but the Cen family never suspected the child wasn't their own and certainly wouldn't have done a DNA test for no reason, allowing Song Lingwei to keep it hidden.

That night, a torrential downpour began, and Song Lingwei's nightmare started. Chen Weiguo threatened her, demanding she go back to working as a prostitute to make money for him, or he would tell the Cen family everything.

Helpless, Song Lingwei had no choice but to follow Chen Weiguo’s orders, accompanying whoever he told her to, and handing all the money she earned over to him.

Song Lingwei wasn’t completely foolish. In a moment of impulse, she had a child, but she knew Xie Mingcheng wouldn’t give her a second thought.

Xie Mingcheng had just married Zhou Li, and he was relying on the Zhou family to become a business magnate in Huai Jing. An illegitimate child would ruin everything. If Xie Mingcheng was willing to pay her off, it would already be an act of kindness.

The worst outcome would be that Xie Mingcheng might try to kill them.

She had known Xie Mingcheng since childhood and understood just how ruthless he could be. She had no more hopes for her own future, only wishing that her child could live a good life with the Cen family.

So she dared not divorce or even run away, enduring her husband's domestic violence and treating herself as a blood bag.

Chen Weiguo used the money to gamble even more recklessly and came home complaining that Song Lingwei was dirty, hitting her harder and harder each time, often leaving her battered and bleeding, and sometimes he would still force himself on her afterward.

The neighbors in the apartment complex couldn’t take it anymore. A few of them came together and banged on the iron gate, shouting, "Old Chen, old Chen, you can't beat your wife like this."

"Get lost!" Chen Weiguo roared impatiently, "I'm beating my own wife, what's it to you?!"

He had considered taking Xie Guiluan to Huai Jing and returning him to the Cen family, who might be willing to give him a large sum of money, but Xie Guiluan was already three years old and remembered more than other children. He would certainly remember the beatings.

If Xie Guiluan told the Cen family, Chen Weiguo might not only fail to get any money but could also end up in legal trouble. It was better to keep Xie Guiluan and have Song Lingwei continue making money for him steadily.

Since Song Lingwei didn’t run away herself, there was nothing outsiders could do. They could only return home, unable to persuade her and fearing Chen Weiguo's wrath.

Standing over six feet tall and only thirty-six years old, Chen Weiguo was a tall and strong man in his prime. No one dared to provoke him.

Xie Guiluan had called the police once because Song Lingwei had a tooth knocked out and her mouth was full of blood. He thought she was going to die and called an ambulance in addition to the police.

However, when the police arrived, Song Lingwei hastily wiped the blood from her mouth, took Chen Weiguo's arm, and told the police, "I just accidentally fell and scraped myself. There was no fight. The child made a mistake. Sorry to trouble you, Officer, for coming out so late."

Chen Weiguo, tall and upright, even if not particularly handsome, still looked like a well-matched pair with Song Lingwei.

Since Song Lingwei insisted she hadn’t been beaten, the police could only give Chen Weiguo a brief lecture before leaving the apartment complex.

Chen Weiguo sneered coldly, took the money, and went out to gamble, without acknowledging her further.

Song Lingwei, her hair a mess, sat on the sofa and cried for a while before grabbing Xie Guiluan and slapping him across the face. "Who gave you permission to call the cops?!" she yelled.

Xie Guiluan's ear bled a little from the slap, but he didn't react much. When he turned his head, his deep, dark eyes—like peach blossoms—still gazed at her.

Song Lingwei grabbed him, slamming him with all her might, then sobbing as she clung to him. She begged, "Xiao Guiluan, don't call the cops again, and don't upset your father."

If Chen Weiguo got caught, he would expose the fact that she had stolen the child. What was the point of all her suffering over the years?

Xie Guiluan had seen Song Lingwei bring many different men home, which disgusted him. They would crawl into her like rats, leaving her with a few crumpled hundred-yuan notes.

A few years passed, and Xie Guiluan was about to turn seven. Worried he'd get beaten too much at home, Song Lingwei sent him to first grade early.

In the deep winter, with snow falling, Xie Guiluan came home to find Song Lingwei lying on the floor, covered in blood.

Her throat had been slashed, nearly severing her trachea, with blood pouring out uncontrollably. Her stomach had a large hole cut into it, and her intestines were spilling out, but she wasn't dead yet, hissing as she breathed.

Xie Guiluan called an ambulance and used gauze to press on her neck's constantly bleeding wound. He crouched next to Song Lingwei, carefully avoiding her spilled intestines.

The paramedics and doctors arrived quickly, gave Song Lingwei emergency treatment, and rushed her to the hospital.

Song Lingwei had a fractured skull, a sunken face, a broken nose, and fractures throughout her body. Several organs were damaged, leaving her requiring a urinary catheter and stomach surgery.

Her once-pretty face was now a mess.

The doctors were surprised she had survived. Thanks to Xie Guiluan calling the ambulance in time and not moving her unnecessarily, she didn't suffer additional injuries.

Song Lingwei stayed in the hospital for over a month before she barely resembled a human being anymore. With no one to talk to, she could only hold Xie Guiluan and cry, saying, "Mom’s being killed by him—he’s a devil!"

Over the years, Chen Weiguo had been spending more recklessly, and she couldn't keep up. She had just given him over a thousand yuan, and in less than three days, he came back asking for more. She couldn't hold back and argued with Chen Weiguo.

This time, Chen Weiguo held her down and beat her mercilessly. He had never used a knife before, no matter how much he beat her, but this time he looked deranged, as if he wanted to kill her.

Stabbing her again and again.

She could almost hear the sound of herself being gutted.

She didn't know what kind of fit Chen Weiguo was throwing.

In the evening, while Xiao Guiluan was doing his homework next to the hospital bed, Song Lingwei wiped her tears and suddenly asked him, "Xiao Lan, do you know a place in this town where we can hide someone so they can't be found?"

Xie Guiluan paused, his long lashes lifting to reveal eyes shrouded in thick fog. His tone was cold as he said, "All you need to do is divorce him."

"...," Song Lingwei tightened the quilt around her, hiding her panic. "What are you talking about, child?"

She wanted to get rid of Chen Weiguo, but she wasn’t exactly sharp. She had tried to poison him before, putting pesticide in his food, but Chen Weiguo noticed something was off before he even picked up his chopsticks.

Another time, when Chen Weiguo was sick, she boiled poison into his herbal medicine, but Chen Weiguo grabbed her instead, forcing her mouth open and pouring the medicine down her throat.

She was taken to the hospital to have her stomach pumped. Her stomach had already been weak, and this incident ruined it completely. After being stabbed several more times, the doctors had no choice but to perform a gastric resection surgery on her.

She had thought about dismembering Chen Weiguo and burying him, but she couldn’t even figure out how to kill him, let alone how to bury him. She wanted to ask Xie Guiluan, but he was too sharp.

Song Lingwei didn't dare to ask further. A caregiver brought her food, and she told Xie Guiluan to eat.

She could only eat liquid food for now, but she had the caregiver buy Xie Guiluan a fish, carefully removing all the bones.

Then she handed it to him.

The woman's neck was still wrapped in gauze, and she looked very pale and emaciated, but her tone was gentle as she said to him, "Xiao Lan likes eating fish, right?"

Xie Guiluan was impatient with removing fish bones. He liked eating fish but didn't indulge often. Whenever she had time, Song Lingwei would help him remove the bones.

The hospital turned off the lights early. After Xie Guiluan finished his homework, Song Lingwei would call him over to sleep.

There were no empty beds in the hospital, and Xie Guiluan, afraid of pressing on her abdominal wounds, always curled up on the broken sofa in the ward. Each time, Song Lingwei would call him over to the bedside.

Song Lingwei propped herself up a little, making space for him and patting the spot as she said, "Come sleep here with Mom."

Little Xie Guiluan was pulled down to lie beside her but kept his legs curled, trying not to take up space. Song Lingwei gently patted him. Outside, the snow fell heavily.

I wonder if the snow in Huai Jing is this big too.

Song Lingwei didn’t press charges against Chen Weiguo and even pleaded on his behalf. Chen Weiguo was detained for a few days and then released, but his attitude suddenly changed. He came to find Song Lingwei and apologized, the tall man bowing as if he were the gentle man he was before the marriage.

Song Lingwei was skeptical, but since Chen Weiguo came to take care of her at the hospital, she saved the money for a caregiver.

At night, she felt comfortable letting Xie Guiluan go home to sleep.

"Xiao Lan," Chen Weiguo held Xie Guiluan's hand and said to him, "Later, go home with Dad. After school tomorrow, Dad will bring you to see Mom."

Xie Guiluan didn’t really care and just followed Chen Weiguo home.

By the time they got home, it was already pitch dark. A woman had just returned from picking up her child from school and called out to Chen Weiguo, "Hey, Old Chen, have you seen my husband, Old Shi? He hasn't been home for over a month. You guys played cards together before, right?"

Xie Guiluan's dark eyes looked up. Shi Yong—he knew him too. They lived on the same floor.

It was an old, dilapidated tenement building. Each floor had a long corridor, housing over a dozen families.

"How should I know?" Chen Weiguo wrinkled his brow impatiently.

"I'm just asking you," the woman didn't dare to provoke him, muttering as she walked away, "Why get so angry."

.

She was just asking casually. Shi Yong gambled often, and debt collectors came to their door every few days. It wasn't unusual for Shi Yong to not come home for months.

Her elderly family members were sick, and she wanted to take care of them, but there was no one to pick up her child. That's why she was looking for her husband.

Little Xie Guiluan, held by Chen Weiguo's hand, could feel that when the woman mentioned Shi Yong, Chen Weiguo's knuckles tightened for a moment, and his palm was sweaty.

When Chen Weiguo took Xie Guiluan home, he went to prepare some food for him. To save money, they kept the lights dim at home. Little Xie Guiluan walked forward in the dim light and, passing by the drawer where Chen Weiguo kept his car repair tools, subtly glanced down.

There was nothing there.

Before he left to visit Song Lingwei, he noticed Chen Weiguo had dabbed a little ink on the drawer handle. Now it had been smudged off. Chen Weiguo had definitely touched this drawer tonight.

A few years ago, Chen Weiguo started using drugs. Once, Xie Guiluan saw him hand Shi Yong a few small white packets. Chen Weiguo was very alert, and Xie Guiluan didn't disturb him.

He followed Shi Yong, holding an Ultraman mask in front of him while running, pretending to accidentally bump into him.

Shi Yong hadn't properly hidden the small packets and got startled, nearly breaking into a cold sweat. When he turned around and saw Xie Guiluan and the Ultraman mask in his hand, he breathed a sigh of relief but then furrowed his brow and scolded, "Go on, go! What are you running around for?!"

Xie Guiluan, with his pale, cold little face and pursed lips, just stared at him. The people in the building were used to this child’s cold demeanor.

Seeing the Ultraman mask in Xie Guiluan’s hand, Shi Yong figured he was just a kid and let his guard down. Since Xie Guiluan didn’t act suspiciously, Shi Yong didn’t think much of it.

He went home after that.

Xie Guiluan tested this several times and became certain that whatever Chen Weiguo and Shi Yong were handling wasn't something good.

Morphine, heroin... whatever it was, he had seen this type of drug wrapped in paper packets on the news while watching with Chen Weiguo.

In the evening, Xie Guiluan sat under the dim light of a small desk lamp, doing his homework. His small hand gripped the pen as he drew a long line on the scratch paper.

Chen Weiguo was likely Shi Yong's supplier, selling him drugs. Shi Yong's temper had been particularly volatile in recent years, and so had Chen Weiguo's. The type of drug they were using would stimulate their emotions.

And now, Shi Yong was missing.

In the deep winter, it got dark early. Even though elementary school let out early, the sky gradually darkened. The next day, Chen Weiguo stayed home to cook instead of picking up Xie Guiluan.

"Dad." When Xie Guiluan got home, he went to the kitchen to find him. His small hand unwrapped a piece of candy, ready to pop it into his mouth.

Chen Weiguo turned around, intending to pat him on the head, but when he saw the candy wrapper in his hand, his expression darkened, and a chill of fear flickered in his eyes. He asked sternly, "Who gave you this?!"

It was a counterfeit White Rabbit milk candy, nothing special—just a knockoff labeled "Great White Bun."

When Shi Yong craved drugs but couldn’t afford them, he would often eat this candy, sitting at the bottom of the old building, one leg crossed over the other, smoking a cigarette while eating the candy.

The ground was littered with his discarded wrappers.

Xie Guiluan said, "An uncle gave it to me."

Chen Weiguo's lips trembled. He put down the spatula and went out to look for the man, but the long, dark night yielded nothing but the flickering of old light bulbs in the corridor. No one was there.

The household across the way was also making dinner. The oil smoke was thick, and the door was open. Chen Weiguo walked over and asked, "Was there a man here just now?"

"Huh?" The woman was confused but, after thinking for a moment, said, "It seems a man did pass by."

That meant he was still alive.

Chen Weiguo’s heart finally settled, though his back was drenched in cold sweat. He went home and scolded Xie Guiluan, pointing at him and saying, "Don't take things from strangers."

Xie Guiluan agreed, the artificial flavor of cheap milk candy melting in his mouth as his dark eyes shifted.

Shi Yong must be dead by now, and Chen Weiguo was the killer.

More than a month later, Song Lingwei was discharged from the hospital. The doctor had suggested she rest for a while longer, but Song Lingwei now had barely over 800 yuan left, and Chen Weiguo certainly wasn’t going to give her any money.

In addition to her surgery, she had also gotten a rhinoplasty.

Chen Weiguo had broken her nose. She could tolerate many things, but she couldn’t bear the thought of being disfigured.

After she was discharged, Chen Weiguo stopped asking her for money and even became unusually attentive.

Still, something felt off. Without money, she felt uneasy, and her newfound aversion to men made it impossible to return to her old job. She decided to find a job at a factory.

The only problem was that the factory was far from home, and she would work ten hours a day, only able to return once a month. She worried that Chen Weiguo might beat Xie Guiluan to death.

But Xie Guiluan encouraged her to go to the factory.

Song Lingwei was indecisive and timid, unable to handle stress, and without a reliable husband. Xie Guiluan was calm and steady, not like a child at all, and she often ended up listening to him.

"Xiao Lan," Song Lingwei said before leaving. She left 500 yuan for Xie Guiluan and took 300 yuan for herself. She worriedly told him, "Do you know the way? Hide the money well. If he hits you, run away and take a bus to find me."

Xie Guiluan said nothing.

Song Lingwei went to work at the textile factory. Chen Weiguo had long since quit his job and spent his days gambling with Song Lingwei's money. Lately, though, he had been distracted during his gambling sessions because weird things kept happening at home.

Xie Guiluan had to pass through several alleys to get home after school. The alleys stank, with sewage flowing everywhere and garbage piling up. On a heap of trash, he found a pair of brown leather shoes.

There was a closed-down clothing store nearby. On a cold night, several mannequins lay toppled over on the garbage pile.

He picked up the foot of a mannequin and used it to press down on the heel of one of the leather shoes, flattening the heel completely to make it look like it had been stepped on. Then he wrapped the shoe in a clean plastic bag, put it in his backpack, and took it home.

In the middle of the night, Chen Weiguo got up to use the bathroom and stepped on the shoe, instantly sensing something was off. Looking down, he saw he was wearing a pair of brown leather shoes—one was fine, but the heel of the other was crushed.

"Ah!!!"

Chen Weiguo broke out in a cold sweat, desperately throwing the shoe away and growling in a rough voice, as if trying to muster courage.

"Dad," little Xie Guiluan seemed to have been woken up by the noise, rubbed his eyes, and came out to ask, "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing," Chen Weiguo stammered, his heart racing like he'd seen a ghost. He gulped and snapped at Xie Guiluan, "Get back to bed! Are you even going to school tomorrow?!"

Xie Guiluan obediently turned back to his room. His pale face disappeared into the dim light as he shut the door, plunging into the cold darkness of the night.

Shi Yong had a slight limp in his right leg and preferred walking on his heel, which made his gait uneven.

He especially liked brown leather shoes.

Back in the day, Shi Yong worked as an office clerk in a factory and nearly became a department head. In those days, he wore a shirt, black long pants, and a pair of brown leather shoes. Everyone in the factory would say how handsome Chief Shi looked.

Shi Yong loved talking about his time at the factory, going on and on until people got tired of hearing it, but he never got bored of it himself.

Chen Weiguo began having nightmares where no matter how many times he tossed out the brown leather shoes, they always reappeared in his bedroom by nightfall.

Sometimes, he’d hear the *tap-tap* of footsteps and jolt awake to find the shoes placed neatly outside his bedroom door.

Chen Weiguo would rush over and stomp on the shoes, like a madman, stomping them into pieces, but it was useless. The next night, another pair of leather shoes would appear in the bedroom.

Song Lingwei got two days off every month-end. When she came home, she noticed Chen Weiguo had lost weight and seemed unusually tense. She quietly asked Xie Guiluan, "What's wrong with your dad?"

Xie Guiluan shook his head.

Song Lingwei didn’t dare provoke Chen Weiguo and didn’t ask further.

Chen Weiguo suspected Song Lingwei. He even followed her to the factory and found that she hadn’t left. He also suspected Xie Guiluan. When he heard the sound of the leather shoes, he would rush in with the shoes, storming into Xie Guiluan's bedroom next door.

But Xie Guiluan would always be lying peacefully on the bed, sound asleep.

Chen Weiguo felt like he was going insane. Back when Shi Yong's drug addiction flared up, he came to Chen Weiguo asking for drugs. Even though Chen Weiguo promised to get some in a few days, Shi Yong cursed him out, calling him a cuckold who was raising someone else’s child. Despite being such a loser, Shi Yong still had a child while Chen Weiguo had nothing.

Chen Weiguo’s blood boiled, and by the time he snapped out of it, Shi Yong was lying on the ground, his head covered in blood, already dead.

With no other option, he chopped up the body, wrapped the pieces individually, and buried them in the mountains behind the house overnight.

When he got home, he wanted to ask Song Lingwei for money to go gamble and try to forget everything, but she refused to give him any money, and he almost killed her too.

He thought he was fearless, but ever since those brown leather shoes appeared, he’s been haunted by nightmares of murder and dismemberment—chopping bones and the sickening stench of blood filling his dreams.

Xie Guiluan considered turning the drugs over to the police, but Chen Weiguo had hidden them inside a drawer lock with a complex mechanism requiring the removal of twelve screws.

Chen Weiguo was also very suspicious and would suddenly come home from time to time.

At first, Xie Guiluan only unscrewed one bolt, and after getting proficient, he started unscrewing two. It took him several months to discover there were twelve bolts in total.

To detect tampering, Chen Weiguo applied ink around the lock core or clipped a piece of paper or a hair strand on the drawer. If anyone touched it, he’d know right away.

Xie Guiluan had to recreate everything exactly as it was to avoid being discovered. The angle of a hair strand, the indentations on a piece of paper—not a single millimeter could be off. After all, he was up against a cunning devil.

Once, Xie Guiluan almost succeeded, but just as he was unscrewing the last screw, his heart tightened. Without hesitation, he immediately screwed the remaining screws back in.

Just as he had restored everything and lay down in bed, pulling the quilt over himself, Chen Weiguo suddenly pushed open his bedroom door.

It was late at night, and everything was pitch black. The tall figure of the man appeared in the doorway, resembling a slim, tall ghost.

Chen Weiguo had intended to go play cards, but halfway there, his footsteps gradually came to a stop. His eye sockets were sunken, his face dark and gloomy. Eventually, he turned around and headed home without hesitation.

He stared at Xie Guiluan for a few moments before checking his drawer. There were no changes.

But the suspicion in his heart wasn’t completely dispelled. The next night, he took Xie Guiluan to the amusement park.

The amusement park stayed open until half past ten and was quite close to the mountains behind. He lifted Xiao Lan and pointed at the dark, beast-like ridge of the mountains, saying to him, “Xiao Lan, you’ve never been to the mountain behind, have you?”

“No,” said Xiao Lan.

Chen Weiguo didn’t let go of any of his gazes. His voice lowered, and he narrowed his eyes. “Daddy has been there. The mountain behind is huge. A kid like you could be buried there and never found in your whole life.”

Xiao Lan’s cold black eyes showed some confusion, as if he didn’t understand what Chen Weiguo was saying.

Holding Xiao Lan in his arm, Chen Weiguo looked at him with a dark expression. Under the deep black night, the laughter and noise from the amusement park were warm, the lights illuminating the cold night. But their backs were cold, with cold sweat trickling down.

Xiao Lan didn’t have much of a reaction. Chen Weiguo’s arm was getting sore, so he finally put him down.

Maybe he was overthinking. No matter how clever Xiao Lan was, he was still just a kid.

But there were more and more things in the house that belonged to Shi Yong—cigarette butts with tooth marks, yellowing pillowcases. One night, Chen Weiguo woke up to find all the shoes in the house had become uneven, one side higher than the other.

When he lost it, he’d start hurling things around, as if that would drive away the ghost. Otherwise, he would run pale-faced into the corridor, shouting loudly.

The neighbors all knew Chen Weiguo had snapped. As soon as they heard him shouting or smashing things, they would lock their doors.

Chen Weiguo decided to leave this place. He had bought several life insurance policies on Song Lingwei more than half a year ago. During those six months, he had also deliberately been nice to her. Killing her would get him hundreds of thousands of dollars.

He bought a rope and an axe, hiding them at home, waiting for the next night when Song Lingwei would return.

A hurricane had passed that year, and it had been raining heavily all night. Especially tonight, the rain was coming down in sheets, and the whole world seemed to be shaking in the storm.

Chen Weiguo didn’t even dare to put on shoes inside, but in the middle of the night, he woke up to find a pair of shoes on his feet, uneven, one side higher than the other. He jolted up, trying to kick the shoes off, but suddenly noticed a small shadow at the door of the bedroom.

“Daddy,” Xiao Lan called softly, saying, “A moment ago, an uncle gave me some candy.”

Trembling, Chen Weiguo reached out and found a large handful of White Rabbit candies piled on the bed.

The storm raged outside.

Having been tormented for half a year, Chen Weiguo completely collapsed. In a sudden burst, he wanted to strangle Xiao Lan, but Xiao Lan had already run out. Chen Weiguo chased after him, his feet clomping in the brown shoes as he searched through the entire building, but by the time he reached the first floor, Xiao Lan was nowhere to be found. Instead, he discovered that the corridor door had been locked tightly.

In the dark, stormy hallway, a faint cough echoed, carrying a hint of a smoker’s voice.

It sounded just like Shi Yong.

Chen Weiguo’s eyes turned bloodshot. He wanted to escape the building, but no matter how hard he kicked, he couldn’t open the door. He could only run upwards. In the deep night, only his stumbling shadow could be seen in the dark corridor.

The shoes clicked, clicked, following him.

He sprinted, but the quicker he ran, the faster the clicking of the shoes followed. He had long forgotten that the shoes were actually on his feet.

He ran all the way up to the rooftop, with the storm swallowing the entire night. He listened to the sound of the tap-tap of leather shoes. There was nowhere to take cover on the rooftop. He wanted to go home, his throat hoarse from sobbing. The iron door to the rooftop was locked tightly, impossible to break open.

"Shi Yong!" Chen Weiguo wiped the rain from his face, trembling all over. He yelled, "Get out here, damn it!"

Shi Yong didn’t come out.

But the sound of the leather shoes followed him step by step.

Chen Weiguo stumbled and fell at the edge of the rooftop. The streetlight was still on in the storm. He stared intently at the tricycle under the light, his mouth filled with the taste of blood, his eyes on the verge of splitting from anger. It was Shi Yong’s tricycle. Shi Yong had indeed been here.

Xie Guiluan, wearing gloves, locked the rooftop door securely and ran home. He began to dismantle the drawer, but halfway through, there was a sudden sound of something heavy falling in the deep night. Even with the torrential rain, it was clearly audible.

The young Xie Guiluan paused, then carefully put the screws back in place, one by one.

He then pulled on a large black plastic bag as a raincoat and ran downstairs to unlock the door to the stairwell.

Chen Weiguo was face down, his limbs slightly twisted, lying on the ground motionless. Blood was flowing out from under him, washed away by the rain, a vivid red pool.

In the downpour, he had fallen like that. Xie Guiluan thought he looked like a butterfly that had been torn apart.

But Chen Weiguo didn’t deserve such a poetic comparison.

He was more like a dismembered mangy beast.

Xie Guiluan went back home, took care of everything, and pulled the quilt over himself, as usual.

Except for Chen Weiguo.

Chen Weiguo wouldn’t come knocking on his door tonight.

The next day, someone heading out to work discovered Chen Weiguo lying in a pool of blood.

By the time the police arrived, Chen Weiguo had already stopped breathing. He must have died on the spot the previous night.

Song Lingwei got a call from the police while she was at the factory. She was terrified, thinking they had come to arrest her. When she rushed to the old building, she learned that Chen Weiguo was dead, and the police had called for a family member to identify the body.

The first thing they confirmed was that no one had pushed Chen Weiguo. He had fallen by himself, and he had been using drugs before his death.

The police didn’t find any extra fingerprints or footprints. Initially, the case was set to be closed as either a suicide or a fall caused by drug-induced hallucinations.

Coincidentally, Shi Yong’s family reported him missing, which led to the discovery of the previous dismemberment case. Though they didn’t find conclusive fingerprints or DNA evidence, their initial theory pointed to Chen Weiguo as the killer.

Things continued to develop that way until an old police officer came to the building and questioned the residents who were home that night. He asked an elderly woman living alone on the third floor.

"This is our bureau chief," a nearby officer explained.

The old woman looked confused, "What bureau?"

"Bureau chief," the officer repeated.

The old woman was even more confused, "What chief?"

The officer: "..."

"Never mind, never mind," the old police officer raised his hand and asked the old woman what had happened that night.

The old woman told him that Xie Guiluan had come by that night and told her not to go out.

Others could hear Chen Weiguo losing it, but she was hard of hearing and hadn’t picked up on it.

"If it weren't for Xiao Lan telling me, I might have really gone out," the elderly woman said with lingering fear, "I was about to collect my clothes."

Many people in the tenement building would hang their clothes in the corridor to dry. She only had a few inexpensive pants that she wasn't worried about being stolen.

On the night of the incident, only Xie Guiluan and Chen Weiguo were at home. If there was a murderer involved in Chen Weiguo's death, Xie Guiluan would be the most suspicious person.

But he was only seven years old, and there was no evidence at the scene, which was why no one suspected him.

The old police officer continued to investigate this lead, and the deeper he dug, the more chilling it became. The biggest breakthrough was when he discovered that one of the heels of the shoes (footwear) Chen Weiguo was wearing when he fell was crushed, matching Shi Yong's habit.

However, Shi Yong could no longer seek revenge. It was likely that someone had used Shi Yong's memory to torture and kill Chen Weiguo.

Xie Guiluan had conditioned Chen Weiguo. When Chen saw Shi Yong's remains, he had only two reactions: to attack or to run away. If Chen had succeeded, there wouldn't have been a pair of shoes by his bed that night; if he failed, he would continue to be frightened.

This became a form of reward and punishment, and Chen Weiguo subconsciously began to adhere to Xie Guiluan's rules.

But speculating about these things was meaningless. They had no evidence, and besides, Xie Guiluan was only seven years old, so they couldn't do anything to him.

The old police officer was silent for a long time. A highly intelligent, extremely calm, and cold-blooded murderer shouldn't be allowed to flourish.

When Song Lingwei arrived at the tenement building, Xie Guiluan had also come downstairs. The heavy rain continued to pour. When Chen Weiguo fell, his face was scratched by a piece of iron, leaving half of his face a bloody mess, with bones exposed.

Xie Guiluan's dark eyes betrayed no emotion; he wasn't fazed by the corpse or the gruesome face.

The police suspected Xie Guiluan and went back to the tenement building to investigate, asking about Xie Guiluan's behavior.

The police didn't say anything, but rumors started spreading that Xie Guiluan had committed the murder.

Though some didn't believe it, the rumors grew. After all, he was usually gloomy and didn't seem like a normal child. If it had been another child, they might not have believed it, but when it came to Xie Guiluan, it wasn't that surprising.

Only the elderly woman didn't believe it. She saw that Chen Weiguo was dead and that Song Lingwei was being suspected by the police, possibly to be arrested. Feeling sorry for Xie Guiluan, she told the police what she knew, hoping to show that Xie Guiluan was a good boy and that his mother wouldn't kill anyone.

The police investigation ended, and the old police officer, wearing a black raincoat, patted Xie Guiluan on the shoulder, crouched down, and asked him, "Xiao Xie, do you know what Pavlov's dog is?"

Xie Guiluan's thin, cold eyelids flickered, but he didn't say anything.

The old police officer didn't ask further. Before leaving, he advised Song Lingwei, "If you get the chance, take him to a shrink to make sure he’s okay."

Of course, Xie Guiluan wouldn't have any psychological trauma. What he hoped Song Lingwei would investigate wasn't this.

He didn't expect Song Lingwei to understand, but as long as she did what he wanted, it would be enough.

But Song Lingwei understood. Despite not being his biological mother, she knew him better than anyone. When she rushed to the bottom of the tenement building that night and met Xie Guiluan's gaze, she knew who had killed Chen Weiguo.

Xie Guiluan had planned to trap Chen Weiguo on the roof, leave the drugs there, and then report it to the police. But he had considered another ending.

That ending was what he truly wanted to see.

The rain grew heavier, and Song Lingwei, feeling utterly desperate, held a black umbrella and Xie Guiluan's hand, parting ways with the old police officer.

The devil who had tormented her for seven years was dead, but the real devil was the child she now held by the hand.

Chen Weiguo gambled and frequented prostitutes. People in the tenement building didn't like him much. Song Lingwei was involved in a questionable profession, and many people thought she was dirty. With Xie Guiluan's incident, things got worse.

Whenever Song Lingwei went out, she faced strange looks everywhere, and some even pointed at her and cursed, telling her to get lost.

Only the elderly woman seemed genuinely worried. She wondered if she had said something wrong and caused all this confusion. She went to find Song Lingwei and asked, "Xiao Song, can I retract what I said before? I didn't say it right. I..."

Song Lingwei just cried.

She regretted not abandoning Xie Guiluan years ago. On that stormy night when she led Xie Guiluan home, she desperately wished she could abandon him again.

But if she hadn’t been able to abandon him at three years old, how could she possibly do it at seven? As long as Xie Guiluan wanted to find her, he always would.

Song Lingwei cried for several nights, crying until her stomach hurt. She went to the hospital and was diagnosed with colon cancer. Her hair was a mess when she returned home, and the young Xie Guiluan stood nearby with his eyes lowered.

"Xiao Guiluan," Song Lingwei wiped her tears and finally made up her mind. She told Xie Guiluan, "Go pack your things. We’re going to Huai Jing to find your dad."

At that time, Xie Guiluan didn’t know what kind of journey they were embarking on. On the day they left, only that elderly woman came to see them off and had even steamed buns for them to eat on the road.

……

The school’s anniversary celebration at Huai Jing No. 1 High School was grand, with the streets lit up by parents' car headlights late into the night, neon lights reflecting off the rain.

In the car, Song Lingwei covered her face.

She was too afraid. Chen Weiguo never knew who had killed him. She didn’t dare to see Xie Guiluan, fearing that one day she too would die without knowing how.

After all, she wasn’t Xie Guiluan’s biological mother.

All the second-year high school students were asked to stay and clean the auditorium. Cen Wu assumed his parents had already left. He had told them not to wait for him, as it would definitely take a long time to clean up. Anyway, there was still a driver with them.

However, just after 10:30 that night, as he left the auditorium, Cen Fu and Cen Mu were still there, and so was Cen Xiao.

It was a cold night with heavy rain. Cen Xiao urged his parents to wait in the car, afraid that if Cen Wu didn’t see them, he might leave on his own. So, he stood outside the auditorium holding an umbrella.

Cen Wu took Xie Guiluan’s wrist and walked over.

He slapped Xie Shangjing. If Xie Mingcheng saw this, no matter who struck whom, he would think Xie Shangjing had disgraced him. Tonight, Xie Shangjing wouldn’t escape a beating with a horsewhip.

Xie Mingcheng believed in the saying "spare the rod and spoil the child." He had grown up in the mountains with eight siblings, all of whom had been beaten. Even though Xie Shangjing was the eldest young master of the Xie family, Xie Mingcheng would beat him without hesitation.

Cen Wu was worried that he might implicate Xie Guiluan, and tonight he didn’t plan to let Xie Guiluan return to the Xie family.

Cen Xiao’s expression darkened. Cen Fu and Cen Mu doted on Cen Wu, and Cen Xiao was no exception. But Cen Wu had gone a bit too far. Xie Guiluan gave Cen Xiao a bad feeling. Cen Wu had been secretly dating Xie Guiluan and even brought him home, which made Cen Xiao feel like something bad was going to happen.

Xie Guiluan’s cold, peach blossom eyes lifted, his skin looking even paler against the night.

He had originally thought that no one could separate him from Cen Wu. Even if Cen Wu stopped loving him, he could wait until Cen Wu fell in love with him again. But when he met Cen Xiao’s gaze, he paused and withdrew his wrist from Cen Wu’s palm.

"Eldest young master," Xie Guiluan lowered his eyes and said softly, "I’m going home now. Good night."

When Cen Wu came out, Cen Fu and Cen Mu turned on the car lights, bright and warm in the heavy rain, illuminating the child’s way home.

The car lights reflected in Cen Wu’s watery eyes, becoming small, bright, and warm reflections.

Xie Guiluan suddenly felt that his affection wasn’t important anymore. He cherished the moonlight on his shoulders but didn’t want to pull the moon down into the mud with him. He preferred the moon to remain far out of reach, never to meet.

The rain poured heavily that night, just like it had ten years ago. Back then, he hadn’t fully understood why he and Song Lingwei had been chased away, nor why Song Lingwei was so afraid that she cried all night.

Even though that man was already dead, no one would hit her or demand money from her anymore.

But he knew that her already unfortunate life had become even more unfortunate because of him.

"Wu Wu," Cen Xiao frowned and called out, "Let’s go."

Xie Guiluan also turned to leave.

Cen Wu glanced at Cen Xiao, knowing that Cen Xiao was really angry this time, but he still chased after Xie Guiluan.

"Cen Wu," Xie Guiluan didn't know how to handle the situation. His dark eyes looked at him, unusually gentle, as he said, "Your parents and brother love you very much, and they only want the best for you."

Mr. and Mrs. Cen, along with Cen Xiao, indulged Cen Wu, but they wouldn't blindly tolerate him when it came to matters of principle.

If Cen Wu just behaved and listened, he could have an easy life without any struggles.

"..." Cen Wu's lashes trembled. He looked at Xie Guiluan and, refusing to use his own umbrella properly, squeezed under Xie Guiluan's umbrella. Xie Guiluan had to support his waist.

The night of the heavy rain was too cold, and Cen Xiao had brought a very fluffy coat for Cen Wu, who clutched it like a soft little bundle.

"I'm fine... really fine," Cen Wu pretended to be clueless, pretending not to get what Xie Guiluan meant. He leaned over to look at Xie Guiluan, staring at him and asking, "But... are you alright?"

Xie Guiluan was momentarily stunned.

"Do you want to go with me?" Cen Wu asked.

Standing on tiptoes, Cen Wu, who was shorter by half a head, clung to Xie Guiluan as if he wouldn't let go until Xie Guiluan agreed, like the moon always following someone.

"...Yes."

Xie Guiluan heard his own raspy voice.