Chapter 323

Chapter 323

◎The Perfect Stepmother◎

Dou Dou's stepmother, Chen Ke, married his father when she was only twenty-four. At the time, Dou Dou was two. Now in her thirties, she showed no signs of aging. Despite raising two children and being the mother of a three-year-old, with her hair tied in a bun as she sat by the roadside sipping milk tea, she looked as fresh-faced as a twenty-something.

From the car parked across the street, Xiao Ye, though aware that appearances could be deceiving, couldn’t help but voice his doubts: "She doesn’t exactly scream ‘killer for inheritance.’"

Ji Nanxing, also glancing out the window, chuckled. "What’s your read on her, then?"

Xiao Ye studied her again before answering, "*Like* a carefree college student."

Her loosely tied bun with wispy strands of hair, a simple T-shirt and jeans, paired with black-and-white sneakers, and minimal accessories kept her looking crisp and young. Sitting leisurely on a roadside bench, she seemed either to be waiting for someone or simply passing time, exuding an air of relaxed ease.

Ji Nanxing remarked, "You’re way off."

Xiao Ye winced. "You don’t mean she really… got rid of Dou Dou to have her own child?"

Ji Nanxing explained, "Those shoes she’s wearing are a new release from last week, not even available domestically yet. Even at retail price, they’d cost over thirty thousand. Her T-shirt is relatively cheaper, around seven thousand. The jeans are Tom Ford—roughly twenty thousand. But those are small potatoes. That full-carat diamond bracelet on her wrist? Three hundred K easy. And that tiny bag she’s carrying? Two hundred K. Even the hair clip in her bun costs over ten thousand."

He turned to Xiao Ye. "A carefree college student?"

Before coming here, they had looked into Chen Ke’s background. Her family had once been well-off, comfortably middle-class, and they had invested heavily in her upbringing. Unfortunately, before she started college, her family went bankrupt due to business failures, liquidating nearly everything to avoid legal trouble.

After that, Chen Ke worked odd jobs to support herself. After graduating, she joined Dou Dou’s father’s company and married him within two years, becoming a stay-at-home wife.

"No way she’d score this much cash without playing games," Ji Nanxing mused. "Even Dou Dou’s father’s assets only amounted to low tens of millions—and that included all fixed assets and company shares. Based on my assessment of their finances, giving Chen Ke 100 to 200K a month would already be considered generous."

Xiao Ye’s family had only two women—his mother and his sister-in-law. His mother was rarely around, and his sister-in-law, a doctor, seldom wore jewelry, not even her wedding ring. So, he couldn’t tell a Birkin from a backpack, though he could recognize luxury brands in jewelry, cars, and watches.

Hearing Ji Nanxing’s analysis, he had to admit Chen Ke seemed far from ordinary. "Should we loop in the Bureau now, or approach her directly?"

Ji Nanxing shook his head. "Investigating her won’t help. She didn’t kill Dou Dou—there’s no murderous aura on her. I’m just saying she’s not as simple as she seems."

Xiao Ye frowned. "If not her, then who? Could it be a nanny gone rogue?"

Ji Nanxing countered, "Why does Dou Dou’s dad get a free pass?"

Xiao Ye hesitated. "There’s no motive. The family isn’t short on money. Raising a child with a heart condition isn’t that big a burden, and he didn’t have to personally care for Dou Dou. His lifestyle wasn’t exactly cramped by the kid. Surely he wouldn’t kill his own son just to have a healthy child?"

If the agreement had been imposed on Dou Dou’s father—stipulating that he’d lose everything if he had another child—then Xiao Ye would’ve suspected him first. But the agreement was *her* leash, proving that Dou Dou’s father had never intended to have any children besides Dou Dou.

Now that Chen Ke could have a child, it was only because Dou Dou had died, and the empire needed a new heir.

Ji Nanxing swung the car door open and headed toward Chen Ke. "We’ve assumed the agreement was Dou Dou’s father’s idea, putting her in the crosshairs. But what if it wasn’t his doing?"

Xiao Ye froze, then quickly followed. They crossed the street and stopped in front of Chen Ke.

Ji Nanxing spoke first. "Ms. Chen, we need a word."

Chen Ke looked up, puzzled. "Who are you?"

Ji Nanxing pulled out a chair and sat across from her. "You can think of us as Dou Dou’s friends."

At the mention of Dou Dou’s name, Chen Ke’s fingers tightened around her cup.

However, Chen Ke shrugged it off. She looked at Ji Nanxing and Xiao Ye, giving a faint smile. "I don’t care who you are. Dou Dou is gone, and I don’t see what there is to discuss about someone who’s no longer with us. Besides, I raised Dou Dou myself. Not only do I know all his friends, but I’m also aware of everyone he’s ever met or even just known. You two—I’ve never seen you before."

Ji Nanxing said, "After Dou Dou died, he lingered in the mortal world. He’s actually been at home all along. He knows the family has a little brother now—the child is almost three, right? Dou Dou told us he’s been helping you take care of him."

Chen Ke frowned. "What nonsense are you talking? If you're trying to scam someone, you’ve picked the wrong target."

Ji Nanxing lightly brushed the golden bell on his wrist and flicked his fingers, sending a cold, tingling sensation over Chen Ke’s eyelids.

Chen Ke instinctively shut her eyes, assuming she’d encountered con artists. She wondered what substance they’d just sprayed on her in broad daylight, even wondering if they'd drugged her. But the moment she opened her eyes again, she saw Dou Dou standing beside the two young men.

Rather than fear at seeing a ghost, Chen Ke was more struck by disbelief. "Dou Dou? No... Dou Dou is gone. Is this some kind of VR trick?"

Dou Dou, thrilled his mom could see him at last, exclaimed, "Mom! Mom, you can see me now?"

It was Dou Dou’s voice. Chen Ke was so stunned she could hardly believe it.

Dou Dou ran toward his mother but remembered that ghosts can't touch people, stopping just short of reaching her. "Mom, it’s me, Dou Dou! Before, you couldn’t see me, and I had so much I wanted to tell you. That babysitter at home—Mom, you shouldn’t keep her. She hides little brother’s snacks and steals them. And Mom, your missing earring is wedged in the crack of little brother’s rocking bed—he was playing with it and it fell in. Also... also..."

Hesitating, he trailed off. Instinctively, Chen Ke crouched down as she used to, speaking softly. "What else? Don’t rush, take your time."

Dou Dou glanced at the two young men beside him, then back at his mother, before finally saying, "Also... Dad made a will. He said all the family’s assets will go to Lele in the future, and you’ll only get basic support."

Hearing this, Chen Ke actually laughed. She and Lu Kun had signed a prenuptial agreement before marrying—aside from the clause about giving up everything if they had kids, their finances were kept entirely separate. She just hadn’t expected him to guard against her even after his death.

Chen Ke had never held much hope for that man to begin with, so the news didn’t upset her. She looked at the child before her, going to hug him, only for her hand to pass right through.

Ji Nanxing reminded her from the side, "He’s a ghost. You can’t touch him. Time is limited—say whatever you need to quickly. Once it’s over, you won’t be able to see him again."

Even now, Chen Ke still half-suspected this might be some new scam. But after asking Dou Dou about things only the two of them would know, she finally accepted that this was truly his spirit.

For the next ten minutes, Chen Ke did all the questioning—asking where Dou Dou usually stayed at home, whether other ghosts had bullied him, if he’d been sad or scared when no one could see him.

Only when the time was up and Dou Dou vanished did Chen Ke’s eyes redden. Dou Dou wasn’t her biological child, but she’d raised him herself from age two to seven, watching him grow from a toddler who could barely walk to a bright little boy who could call her "Mom" clearly. She really had planned to raise him as her only child.

After pulling herself together slightly, she sat back down across from Ji Nanxing and Xiao Ye, her demeanor calm again save for her slightly reddened eyes. "You said earlier you wanted to talk. What about? Do you need to hold a ceremony for Dou Dou, or is there something else?"

Ji Nanxing tapped the golden bell, muffling the bell so Dou Dou inside couldn’t hear the outside world before speaking. "How did Dou Dou die?"

Chen Ke replied, "A fever set off his heart problems, leading to complications. In the end, they couldn’t save him."

Xiao Ye asked, "Were you the one taking care of him when he died?"

The question sounded like an accusation, but Chen Ke merely shook her head calmly. "My grandfather passed away. I went back to my family to handle funeral matters."

By the time she finished the funeral and returned, Dou Dou was already gone. In just a few days, she’d lost two family members. How she’d gotten through that time was something she still couldn’t bear to recall.

Originally, she hadn’t planned on having children. When she signed the agreement with Lu Kun, she’d been fine with it—Dou Dou was well-behaved, and even if his health was poor, raising him from infancy would ensure he’d be close to her. The idea of childbirth scared her to death; she’d much rather be a mother without the pain.

But after her grandfather’s death and Dou Dou’s passing, Chen Ke suddenly felt she needed a child—for her own sake, to have someone who tied her to this world. Her parents would grow old, and as for her husband, she’d never believed a man could be relied upon.

If nothing else, Lu Kun’s genes were perfect dad material. Dou Dou had been exceptionally cute, and Lu Kun himself was tall, well-built, with no bad habits. As the owner of a company, his intelligence and competence were undeniable. From a genetic standpoint, he was ideal father material.

Chen Ke had even prepared for the possibility that Lu Kun might refuse. If that happened, she’d planned to divorce him after getting pregnant—she wanted a child, not a man.

Unexpectedly, after Dou Dou’s death, Lu Kun told her the agreement was void—they’d have a child, or else there’d be no heir for the business.

Chen Ke figured it was just as well. No need for divorce—it suited her perfectly. And so, their younger son came along.

Chen Ke looked up at the two young men across from her: "You think I had something to do with Dou Dou's death?"

Ji Nanxing: "We're aware of your previous arrangement, and there were suspicious circumstances around Dou Dou's death, so it's hard not to suspect."

Chen Ke immediately sat up straighter: "What do you mean by 'suspicious circumstances'?"

Ji Nanxing: "Simply put, I can see he didn't die of natural causes. Whether it's because he was young or something happened before he died, he doesn't remember the cause of his death. He thinks he died from illness, but he carries the Grudge of a violent death, that won't fade, keeping him from moving on."

By then she'd come to see Dou Dou as her own son and had decided he'd be her only child. So she took great care of him, taking him for regular check-ups, working to help him make friends. When kids didn't want to play with Dou Dou, she would always buy snacks to coax them into spending time with him.

As for Dou Dou, even though she was just a stepmother, she could honestly say she did her best.

Ji Nanxing: "No need to swear. If you'd done it, we wouldn't be talking to you now—we'd have gone straight to the police."

Chen Ke was smart. If it wasn't her, and Dou Dou's death was suspicious, then the answer was staring her in the face.

Goosebumps rose on her skin. That her husband might be a killer—and of his own child—was terrifying.

But why? When they'd made that agreement, it was because he didn’t want another child to take away from the love and inheritance meant for Dou Dou. If he didn’t want Dou Dou, why bother making a no-children agreement with her?

Ji Nanxing: "Dou Dou's birth mother passed away. What about his maternal grandparents?"

Chen Ke: "His grandmother passed away not long after Dou Dou died. His grandfather is still alive, but he suffered a stroke from the shock and is now in a nursing home."

Ji Nanxing: "What was his birth mother’s family’s financial situation like?"

Chen Ke: "They were comfortable but not wealthy. They were an academic family—both her parents were retired professors. Dou Dou’s mother was a talented young girl, but her health held her back."

She'd seen Dou Dou’s mother just once, from a distance. Back when she was still in school, Dou Dou’s mother was her senior. In that moment, she understood what it meant to be described as pure as jasmine blossoms. Dou Dou’s mother was that kind of young girl—clean, elegant, gentle, and lovely.

Dou Dou took after his mother in temperament—gentle and well-behaved. Sometimes, looking at Dou Dou felt like seeing her senior again. It was tragic that someone so lovely had such a short life, cut down by illness.

Ji Nanxing: "Leave us your contact information. We’ll reach out if needed. Don’t mention today’s conversation to your husband."

Chen Ke: "I won’t. Are you going to keep investigating this? How do you plan to proceed?"

Ji Nanxing: "We have our methods."

As long as the person involved wasn’t shielded by something, a single glance would tell him whether they were connected to Dou Dou’s death. But since Dou Dou himself didn’t realize his death was unnatural, and what his spiritual sight revealed couldn’t serve as direct evidence, they'd have to piece together what happened based on what they knew.

They had to uncover the truth to bring the real killer to justice.