FBH Chapter 42

After Father learned that I was the perpetrator of the “7.18” poisoning case, he became very worried and actively contacted Shen Pengfei, who was in Galaxy City, planning to redeem as soon as possible from Shen Pengfei the video of me appearing on Li Yuehua’s balcony and the notebook on which I had written about planning to poison Li Yuehua with sodium cyanide.

Father was so anxious because Shen Pengfei had threatened him, saying that if Father didn’t give him hush money, he would hand over the video and notebook to the police, and the consequences would be unimaginable.

Soon, Father transferred the decoration company he had painstakingly managed for many years, and then took the cash from the transfer and drove alone to Galaxy City to meet Shen Pengfei.

Father transferred the company for two reasons: one was to raise the ransom—this was the most important reason. The other was that he had been diagnosed with late-stage lung cancer and no longer had the heart to run the company.

Ever since Father learned that I was the perpetrator of the “7.18” poisoning case, and that he had been diagnosed with cancer, I often saw him frowning, sitting in a daze, and becoming increasingly thin and sallow.

One afternoon, I overheard Father on the phone with my aunt in his room. He said that if I was gone, he would entrust Tongtong to her, hoping she would raise him.

Hearing this, I was filled with mixed emotions, feeling that my life was about to be dragged into the dark abyss.

That evening, I suddenly developed a high fever accompanied by vomiting. I felt terrible and almost fainted on the way to the bathroom. Father happened to see this, and he quickly helped me to the sofa and asked me where I felt uncomfortable. I lied and said I was fine and told him to go to his room and rest and not to worry about me.

I shook my head and said, “No need.” After saying that, I got up, preparing to return to my dormitory.

Helpless, I had no choice but to follow behind Father.

Of course, Father couldn’t have known what I was thinking. In his mind, I was his only son, and I couldn’t have any accidents. He hoped that I could grow up in adversity, establish a career, get married, and have children to continue the Xiong family line.

Father breathed a sigh of relief. He smiled and told the doctor that he had never heard of a gastrointestinal flu before.

Every morning when I woke up, I would push open the door to Father’s bedroom. I only felt relieved when I saw Father open his eyes because I was worried that he would be swallowed up by his illness and suddenly lose his life in the middle of the night.

Although Father was in low spirits due to his serious illness, he was rarely at home most of the time. He seemed very busy, sometimes not returning until very late.

At home, he often made phone calls behind my back, acting mysteriously. I felt that he was deliberately hiding something important from me.

Out of curiosity, one time I put my ear to the door and vaguely heard him say to the other end of the phone, “Kill him, transport the body out, and bury it deep in the mountains…” I couldn’t help but shudder.

Who did Father want to kill?

I thought of the man who had secretly filmed the video of me appearing on Li Yuehua’s balcony and was using the video to blackmail my father. Father was only at odds with him. Could it be that the person Father wanted to kill was him?

I didn’t ask Father who he wanted to kill because I knew he wouldn’t tell me. At the same time, I was worried that if he knew I was eavesdropping on his phone calls, he might scold me.

Father was doing all of this for me. I felt very sorry for Father.

Mother, Ning Yaohong, and Li Zihan died because of me. Father was willing to kill to protect me. If I had known it would turn out like this, I wouldn’t have gone to Li Yuehua’s house to poison him.

It truly was a moment of error, a lifetime of regret!

Halfway there, suddenly a hand grabbed me from behind, and then another hand covered my mouth. The person who grabbed me said in a low but forceful voice, “Don’t talk, come with me!”

It was a woman’s voice, a voice that sounded somewhat familiar. I was startled and didn’t dare to speak. I was quickly pushed into a white car.

Li Yuehua snorted coldly, not saying anything, and of course not letting me out.

She tied my hands with a rope, then stuffed a towel into my mouth. Then, she got into the driver’s seat and drove the car away.

I was on tenterhooks all the way, not knowing where she was taking me or what she would do to me.

After about twenty minutes, the car suddenly stopped at the foot of a mountain.

“Kneel!” Suddenly, Li Yuehua kicked me, and I staggered, almost falling. She kicked me again, and I staggered again, forced to kneel.

July 15th was the day I sneaked into his house to poison him.

From the moment I was taken by Li Yuehua, I guessed her purpose.

“I…I didn’t…didn’t go…” I usually had a severe stutter, and now, being questioned so fiercely by her, I was extremely nervous and scared, and my stutter was even worse.

I trembled all over, saying incoherently, “I didn’t, you…you’re wrong, I didn’t…”

These words were not unfounded. Once, I overheard Mother on the phone with Li Yuehua, and she said to Li Yuehua, “Maybe Tongtong is your flesh and blood. I think his nose and eyes look a lot like you.”

“What did you say?” Li Yuehua was very surprised. “Who told you that you’re my son?”

“Your mother.” I desperately hoped to deceive her.

“She really said that?” Clearly, Li Yuehua was somewhat convinced.

“She secretly took you to do…do a paternity test. You and your father have no…blood relationship.” I said nonchalantly, deciding to carry the lie to the end.

After saying that, she untied the rope on my hands.

I cursed inwardly, “Go to hell,” and quickly ran away, not daring to stop for a moment.

I got home after nine o’clock.

Because I didn’t know where the 50 yuan Father had given me was, I had to walk back. Several times, I took the wrong road, and I was almost bitten by a stray dog ​​foraging by the trash can.

Worried that Li Yuehua would still cause me trouble, I told him about being kidnapped and what happened. I hoped Father could protect me.

Father was very surprised and asked, “Did you admit to poisoning her house?”

I shook my head and said, “No.”

Father asked again, “Did she let you go?”

“No, I broke free…and ran away.” I never thought about telling Father how I had tricked Li Yuehua because I was afraid it would hurt his feelings.

Father frowned and fell into thought, walking back and forth in the living room with a cigarette in his mouth, suddenly letting out a sneer and muttering to himself, “The best part is yet to come!”

I told him the location.

Father knew that I had hidden the sodium cyanide because I had told him about it.

Why didn’t I throw the remaining sodium cyanide into the trash can, but instead hid it? My idea at the time was that I wanted to find a chance to poison the students who had bullied me and make them pay a painful price for their violence.

Early the next morning, Father took me to the destination in the car. In the stone crevice under the bridge, I found a bottle wrapped in a high-pressure film, and the bottle contained sodium cyanide.

Father held the bottle, a hideous smile on his face.

I didn’t ask Father what he was going to do with this thing, but I almost guessed what he was going to do with it.

Because I was worried that Li Yuehua would still trouble me, I tried to reduce going out. Whenever I had to go out, I would be vigilant and pay attention to the surrounding situation. As soon as I saw Li Yuehua, I would run away.

I was also worried that Li Yuehua would tell the police that someone had seen me entering and leaving the residential area where he lived, so the police would list me as a suspect and launch an investigation.

Hearing what Father said, I felt a lot more at ease.

However, when those two policemen appeared at my door that day, my heart sank. I suspected that the police were there to investigate me, that they might already know that I had been to the residential area where Li Yuehua lived on July 15th, and therefore suspected that the poisoning case was related to me.

I wanted to run away, but the elevator door had already closed, and I had nowhere to escape.

Father had taught me some techniques for dealing with police questioning, but Father wasn’t home, and I was terrified. These two policemen looked very shrewd and stern. Could I handle them alone?

I braced myself and let the police into the house, and then I quickly entered the bedroom, wanting to get rid of the female police officer and close the door, but she was like chewing gum stuck to my shoe, impossible to shake off, which made me extremely uneasy.

I thought the female police officer would ask me what I was doing at Li Yuehua’s house on July 15th, but she asked me for a long time, only asking me why I wasn’t studying. I knew that Li Yuehua hadn’t told the police about my concerns, and I was a little relieved.

The female police officer suddenly saw the notebook on my bedside table. She wanted to take it and look through it, but I quickly snatched the notebook back. I could tell that she was very curious and wanted to see the contents of the notebook even more.

In fact, there were some diaries in it, written by Father in my voice ten days ago, but transcribed by me, for the purpose of dealing with the police investigating the case.

Since it was specifically written for the police to see, why did I snatch the notebook back?

Father believed that the police would be disappointed after reading the “real” content of the notebook, and my not wanting to hand over the notebook might make the police think that I was doing it out of a desire to protect my personal privacy.

After whetting the police’s appetite, I gave her the notebook. I saw her carefully flipping through the diary, as if she was thinking about something. Could it be that, as Father had predicted, the police were fooled by the diary?

Although I tried to think optimistically, I was still very nervous because I didn’t know what the police would ask me next, whether there were traps in their words. It wasn’t until Father came back and called the police out that my tense nerves relaxed.

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