Chapter 136 The Shameless Son (ETL)
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Chapter 136 Whose Sin Did the Child Take the Blame For?
Xie Cheng’s pancake was still hot when he slapped it hard onto the old man’s son’s face.
Scallions, cilantro, spicy strips, and oil smeared all over his face. Song Wu doesn’t have a good temper to start with, and he immediately flew into a rage. Cursing and swearing, he rolled up his sleeves and punched Xie Cheng, yelling, “Laozi1 will beat you to death!”
Xie Cheng tilted his head slightly and grabbed the man’s wrist. With a twist, he instantly caused the tall Song Wu to scream in pain. Curling his lip in disgust, Xie Cheng kicked the man in the back of the knee, sending him sprawling to the ground. “Whose father are you?”
Song Wu’s wife saw her husband getting hit and screamed shrilly. She rushed over and scolded, “What are you doing? Why are you hitting him?” She rushed over anxiously, but before she even reached him, a sudden gust of cool wind swept through the living room. The wind abruptly intensified, blowing directly at her without touching anything else, shoving her back 4 or 5 steps until she landed hard on her backside with a scream.
Gu Ye smiled slightly with a sinister expression. “Even your parents can’t stand it anymore. They want to show themselves in broad daylight. If you keep causing trouble, they’ll take you away right now.”
“You… you’re talking nonsense!”
“In broad daylight, where would there be ghosts?”
Though the couple looked fierce on the outside, they were actually quite terrified. The gust of wind had left them drenched in cold sweat; their reaction was less one of doubt and more one of self-reassurance.
Gu Ye coldly said, “If there aren’t any ghosts, what are you so guilty about? Since you’re here, let’s call the police and let them uphold justice.”
At this moment, Li Yujie had already taken out his phone and dialed 110. He couldn’t take it anymore. He had believed this person’s nonsense about settling things privately to avoid trouble, which had led him to this predicament. Who knew there were such shameless people in this world? He truly regretted his actions.
The Song couple was both stunned and dared not cause any more trouble. Song Wu glanced at Xie Cheng. Based on Xie Cheng’s strength and skill just now, he was no match for him. Then, looking at Gu Ye’s demeanor, the chilling aura around him, and his words about the supernatural, Song Wu was truly frightened.
“No need to wait for the police; we agreed to settle this privately.”
“No, I want to call the police and have them investigate last year’s events again. I want to find out if our child really did it.”
Li Yujie picked up the terrified Le Le. Seeing the fear in his child’s eyes, he hugged his son tightly and said calmly, “We’re already going to die anyway. No matter what the police say, if you cause any more trouble, I’ll drag your whole family down with me. If my son can’t live, your son can’t live either.”
These words, coming from the scholarly-looking Li Yujie, carried a sense of desperation. Especially his resolute gaze, chillingly cold when he looked at the man’s son. That terrified Song Wu’s wife. She quickly grabbed her child and ran out in a panic. Gu Ye and the others didn’t stop her, letting her leave with the child.
Song Wu struggled a few times, but Xie Cheng held him firmly; he couldn’t act arrogantly anymore.
Xie Cheng coldly cursed, “Trash, come on. Be tougher, show some guts!”
“You…” Song Wu’s face flushed red, “Call the police if you want! Even if the police come, I’m in the right! Their kid killed my dad!”
Gu Ye said calmly, “Whether this kid did it or not hasn’t been determined yet. Stop talking about this kid.”
“So many people saw it with their own eyes, and their kid confessed. How could it be fake?”
Gu Ye sneered, “This kid was only 4 years old last year. He couldn’t even speak properly. He just said whatever people told him. Can you take a child’s words as evidence? Let’s wait for the police to arrive.”
Xie Cheng released the man and said with a cold expression, “You’d better behave yourself and squat here!”
Song Wu really didn’t dare to confront Xie Cheng. His face was pale as he squatted there, not daring to get up. A few minutes later, the police arrived.
The policeman frowned upon seeing Song Wu. “Haven’t seen you in a while, kid. I thought you’d reformed. What brings you back to trouble?”
Song Wu immediately started yelling, “Officer! They’re bullying me! This kid killed my father, and they beat me up!”
“How could this kid kill your father?” The policeman certainly wouldn’t listen to just Song Wu’s side of the story. Besides, Song Wu had a criminal record; he’d been arrested and re-educated several times for fighting. They hadn’t seen him for a year, and the policeman assumed he’d turned over a new leaf. Now, it seemed that wasn’t the case.
“Who called the police? Tell me, what happened?”
Finally, having a place to vent his grievances, Li Yujie recounted the entire incident in detail.
After listening to the story, the police officer’s head throbbed even more. “Why are you only reporting this now, something that happened last year? Settling this privately, settling that privately… so many things have gone wrong because you guys settled them privately. Car accidents, assaults, rxapes… so many cases settled privately, but how many actually ended well? I’m truly fed up with you all.”
This experienced police officer had seen far too many cases like this. Some people feared damage to their reputation, while others worried about the impact on their families and jobs. But the result was often worse than a lawsuit. Both sympathetic and angry, the police officer berated the family of three. Then, looking at Song Wu, his expression turned cold. “So you came to their house to cause trouble?”
Song Wu clearly recognized the police officer. He had been arrested by him several times and was afraid of him. “I’m not causing trouble, I’m just here to collect my money.”
“Coming to someone’s house to ask for money? What’s the difference between that and burglary? Stand up!” The policeman grabbed Song Wu by the shoulder and lifted him up. Then he told the officers outside, “Take him back! Detain him!”
Song Wu panicked. “Why are you arresting me?”
“Someone will tell you why you’re being arrested when you get to the police station!”
Seeing Song Wu arrested, Li Yujie and his wife visibly relaxed. His arrest meant they wouldn’t have to see him for the next couple of days, and could enjoy a couple of days of peace.
The police immediately opened an investigation and went to the residential complex where Li Yujie used to live around noon to talk to the property management and retrieve the previous surveillance footage. Whether the child was responsible is still debatable. However, more than a year has passed; no one can say for sure if the footage from that time still exists. The police went prepared for the worst because normally, footage wouldn’t be stored for that long.
As for the nanny, since she was the eyewitness, they needed to question her about the situation. Split into 2 groups to investigate, the case finally got back on track a year later, with evidence almost exhausted.
The police who went to investigate the neighborhood soon brought back good news: the surveillance video was still there!
It was a lucky coincidence. Last year, the building management felt the memory card was old and might break down eventually, affecting usability, so they replaced it with a new one. The video from that time happened to be stored on the old memory card, and no one touched it. Right now, the memory card is in the storage room.
The property management staff were very cooperative and worked hard for over an hour at noon, finally finding the old storage device and retrieving the surveillance video from that day.
This residential community is very well managed. They were initially worried about the possibility of objects being thrown from high-rise buildings. These incidents frequently occur online, and often there’s no evidence, making them difficult to handle. To avoid the consequence of not being able to find the culprit, the management deliberately installed several security cameras at high altitudes, specifically targeting the upper floors.
The video showed the wooden block being thrown from a 20th-floor window. Counting the windows confirmed it was from Li Yujie’s former home.
At this point, the police were puzzled. “Every household has window screens. Those living in high-rise buildings with children are even more worried about their kids falling. How did the child manage to open the window and throw the block out? Could a 4-year-old child do that?”
The older man in charge of the case said coldly, “That young man named Gu Ye is right. It’s impossible for a child to have done this. Even if the child confessed, it wasn’t him. How can you believe a child this young, especially one with autism? Who else was in the house at the time? No guests, no relatives, just a nanny. Find that nanny as soon as possible.”
After much effort, the police finally located the nanny’s current whereabouts. Tian Hong, 37 years old, is also from the Capital. Li Yujie hired her as a nanny through a friend’s recommendation.
Tian Hong had previously worked as a part-time helper for the friend; she was efficient, meticulous, and, more importantly, had prior experience as an early childhood educator. The friend thought she was a good match and recommended her to Li Yujie. They said that since she was a local, they knew her well and would feel comfortable entrusting her with the child’s care.
Le Le was different from ordinary children, and Li Yujie didn’t dare to find someone unreliable. So, he listened to a friend’s recommendation and gave Tian Hong 6,000 yuan a month. She won’t have to do any housework, and just take care of the child.
Even though Tian Hong was a local, she lived quite far from Li Yujie’s home. One stays at the East District, the other in the West District. By the time the police found Tian Hong, it was already dark.
Tian Hong’s house is about to be demolished, and she still lives in a single-story house. To put it dramatically, though she was said to be a local resident, her house was just a few steps away from leaving the Capital area.
When the police arrived, Tian Hong’s family was having dinner. The police stood at the door and asked, “Did you previously work as a nanny for Li Yujie’s child?”
Upon hearing this, Tian Hong’s eyes immediately showed panic. “Y, yes, what’s wrong?”
The police officer could tell something was wrong just by looking at Tian Hong. “It’s nothing serious, just that case from a year ago regarding high-rise littering. It’s been handed over to the police, and we’d like to get some information from you.”
“Well,” Tian Hong said awkwardly, “it’s like this, the house was dirty that day, and I opened the window to let in some fresh air while I was cleaning. I didn’t expect the child to throw the toy out the window.”
The policeman asked doubtfully, “It was winter at that time, right? You are saying you opened the windows for ventilation in winter?”
“Yes, the air is too bad. So I wanted to get some fresh air.”
“The air inside was worse than the smog outside?”
Hearing that, Tian Hong’s expression stilled, “Yeah, it’s pretty bad.”
The policeman looked at Tian Hong meaningfully and said, “Are you sure it was a child who did it?”
At this point, Tian Hong also recovered from the shock of seeing the police officer and said firmly, “Yes, that child has autism. He often throws tantrums and will throw things when he loses his temper.”
The police realized that no matter what they asked, as long as Tian Hong insisted that Le Le was responsible, they couldn’t do anything to her without evidence. Since they had evidence of her extorting Li Yujie, as the two had even signed a contract, the officer in charge of questioning her wanted to take her in for further interrogation. “In that case, you come…”
Before the office could finish his words, the colleague who came with the policeman pulled him and interrupted his sentence. The policeman asked in confusion: “What’s wrong?”
The colleague showed him his phone. He had just received a notification from above: [If Tian Hong was determined from confessing, there was no need to take her back.]
The two officers exchanged a glance, unsure why people above would say that, but resolutely carried out their mission. “In that case, we’re leaving.”
Tian Hong breathed a sigh of relief, but the two officers were still puzzled. They called their colleagues at the station to inquire, “Why won’t the boss let us arrest her? Has he found some new leads?”
A colleague from the station said, “We found some evidence. Tian Hong has a criminal record; she was fired from her job as a kindergarten teacher because she hit a child. She’s highly suspicious, but after you brought her back, she absolutely denies it. We have no evidence, so we have to release her. Moreover, the boss received a call from headquarters saying we can’t arrest her today, we’ll arrest her tomorrow. I don’t know why.”
Hearing that, the 2 officers were completely bewildered and helpless. “This case is really difficult to investigate. All the evidence is gone. If the victims had reported it immediately after the incident, things wouldn’t be like this.”
“Investigating after getting the report is also difficult. The building block had the child’s fingerprints, and it would be normal for it to have the nanny’s fingerprints as well. Tian Hong remains a suspect, but there’s still no evidence. The problem now is how to confirm that it was Tian Hong who threw it, and not the child.”
“Did the child say anything?”
“No, the psychologist is with him now. The child hasn’t said a word all afternoon.” Now the case has reached another impasse. Evidence regarding Tian Hong still needs to be found.
At the same time, Gu Ye hung up the phone with Mu Jingfei with a smile. Taking out an incense stick from his backpack, he looked at the night outside the window, and said calmly, “Old man2, let’s come out and have a chat.”
[Banana: Sometimes EN doesn’t have enough words to describe something :v
The top two ‘old man’ and ‘old person’ has a respectful tone in it, but not enough to be called Gentleman or Sir.
While the bottom one is more casual with not much respectful tone]
Raw word count: 3621
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