“What are you standing there for? Call 120!”
“Yes, yes, call 120 now…”
Some of the Zhang family members who rushed into the room panicked, while others kept their heads.
Zhang Nan followed the adults inside. One glance at the horrific scene in the bathroom made her stagger back several steps. Tears instantly streamed down her face.
Aunt Meishu had actually committed suicide?
Why would Aunt Meishu kill herself? Cousin Zhang Hua had come back from abroad, and Aunt Meishu had finally started eating again.
Cousin had even helped Aunt Meishu reach a divorce agreement.
Zhang Nan was terrified. She tried to push forward, but a hand pulled her back. “Don’t make things worse!”
She was dragged out into the corridor.
Zhang Nan was shaking all over. She cried and kept repeating, “Auntie wouldn’t kill herself. Why would she kill herself? We need to call the police, call the police!”
Lu Meishu had already been cut down from the rope by Zhang Zhijun.
Zhang Zhijun kept shouting “Meishu” while tears poured down his face.
“Why hasn’t the ambulance arrived yet?”
“Meishu, Meishu, hold on…”
“Meishu, it’s all my fault.”
Although someone had suggested calling 120, everyone could see that Lu Meishu was beyond saving.
The divorce papers in Zhang Hua’s hand scattered across the floor.
Zhang Nan’s confusion was the same as Zhang Hua’s.
Why did Mum commit suicide?
Just yesterday evening, Mum had eaten the food he brought her.
Mum had even said she would take a bath, sleep, and tomorrow would be a new day.
Zhang Hua didn’t know where he found the strength, but he forcibly took Lu Meishu’s body from Zhang Zhijun’s arms. “Forget 120, we need to call 110. I don’t believe my mother would commit suicide. I don’t believe it!”
Zhang Hua insisted on reporting it to the police.
The Zhang family looked at one another.
Did Zhang Hua mean this was murder?
But who would murder Lu Meishu?
This residential compound wasn’t a place just anyone could enter.
No one had heard any intruder last night. If it was murder, then the person with the greatest suspicion would be… Zhijun?!
No, impossible!
The thought appeared and was immediately rejected by everyone.
Zhang Zhijun was the one who had done wrong. If the marriage was broken, they could just divorce. Why kill her?
Last night, Zhijun had already agreed to the divorce. The asset division would be decided by Grandpa Zhang: roughly 70/30, with Lu Meishu receiving seventy percent and Zhang Zhijun thirty.
Zhang Zhijun had not objected to this arrangement. He had even said he was willing to give everything to Lu Meishu.
Grandpa had considered that Lu Meishu’s health was poor and that she wouldn’t have the energy to manage certain businesses herself, so some would still need Zhang Zhijun to handle them.
The whole family felt Grandpa’s division was perfectly fair. He hadn’t shielded his wrong-doing son just because Lu Meishu’s natal family was weaker. Having such a patriarch was both a deterrent to the younger generation and a source of security for the daughters-in-law who married into the family.
A man willing to give all his assets to his wife in a divorce, how could he possibly murder her?
Someone immediately tried to calm Zhang Hua down.
The commotion was already too big. Who knew what outsiders would say about the Zhang family.
Zhang Hua said nothing. He only hugged his mother’s body tighter.
He had never seen a dead person before, yet at this moment he felt no fear at all, because the deceased was his mother.
When she was alive she would never harm him. Dead, she would never frighten him either.
Zhang Hua was not afraid, but he felt utterly alone.
He remembered the words he had used yesterday evening to comfort his mother: grandchildren and daughters-in-law could never be as close as one’s own son.
A grandchild was still blood-related; a daughter-in-law was an outsider with no blood tie.
Infinite regret surged in Zhang Hua’s heart. If he had known this would happen, he would have taken Mum away yesterday!
Anywhere would have been better than leaving her in the Zhang house.
Even with not a single penny, at least she would still be alive.
Zhang Zhijun kept shouting “Meishu”, completely out of his mind. He cursed his son, calling Zhang Hua a bastard for delaying Lu Meishu’s rescue.
People who suffer a devastating blow really do lose their senses like that.
Grandpa Zhang pushed past the family members and slapped Zhang Zhijun hard twice across the face. “Because of your momentary infatuation you destroyed your family and killed your wife. You animal!”
Zhang Zhijun collapsed to the floor from the two slaps.
Grandpa Zhang declared firmly that they would call the police.
Let people talk if they wanted.
Zhang Zhijun’s scandal of having an illegitimate daughter couldn’t be hidden much longer anyway.
Now that a life had been lost, whether Lu Meishu committed suicide or was murdered needed to be determined by the police.
“This is a human life.”
Tears streamed down Grandpa Zhang’s old face. “If we don’t report it, how can we face little Hua? Whatever we do in life, we must be able to live with our conscience!”
…
A death had occurred in the Zhang family.
Originally no one outside knew the family was in crisis, but once Lu Meishu died, Zhang Zhijun’s affair and illegitimate daughter could no longer be concealed.
Grandpa Zhang decided to report it. The police came to investigate. The preliminary conclusion was suicide.
Zhang Hua refused to believe his mother would take her own life.
The police had already learned the full story. Looking at the haggard Zhang Hua, they felt pity. “This isn’t the first case like this we’ve seen.”
Relationship disputes and family conflicts, sometimes the tiniest thing can make someone act rashly in a moment of despair.
Some drink pesticide, some jump into the river.
The most terrifying part is that neither method brings instant death. Before dying, the person suffers immense pain. Suicide is just an impulse. Some regret it when it’s too late. The police have seen people who drank highly toxic pesticide and howled in the hospital for days before dying, and jumpers who, in their final regret, clawed at the bridge pier until their fingers were bloody pulp yet still couldn’t climb back up.
The officers didn’t know how to console Zhang Hua. You only get one life. Many terminally ill patients still fight desperately to live. It was just a husband’s infidelity. She had money and a son. She could have any man she wanted!
“Have you checked my mother’s phone?”
Of course the police had thought of what Zhang Hua was thinking. “The last message on your mother’s phone was sent to you. She said good night. It was sent at 23:24. Her time of death was roughly between 2 and 4 a.m. We’ve examined the phone. If anything was deleted we can recover it.”
At 23:24 Lu Meishu had sent her son a good-night message.
Nothing in the message seemed unusual.
When he received it, Zhang Hua had been negotiating the divorce terms on his mother’s behalf.
Because it concerned Zhang Zhijun and Lu Meishu’s marriage breakdown, every important member of the Zhang family had been present at the talks: Zhang Hua, Zhang Zhijun, the elder Zhang couple, Zhang Nan’s parents, and an aunt who lived in the capital.
During the negotiations, the only people who could move freely around the house were Zhang Nan and the housekeeper.
The housekeeper had worked for the family for many years and was nearing retirement age. Whether the couple divorced had nothing to do with her. She had no reason to stir up trouble.
As for Zhang Nan, the family hadn’t wanted her too involved in the divorce talks, so she had squatted by the door eavesdropping the whole time.
The girl had heard every detail clearly, which is why, the moment talks ended, she had immediately suggested Zhang Hua hire a lawyer. In Zhang Nan’s view, even thirty percent was too much for Uncle Zhang Zhijun. She wanted the mistress and the illegitimate daughter to get nothing!
It was a childish thought, but very sincere.
Even the housekeeper had no motive to gossip in front of Lu Meishu, let alone Zhang Nan, who hated to see Lu Meishu hurt.
The talks had lasted until around 00:30. Afterwards everyone went to their rooms to sleep, including Zhang Zhijun.
Lu Meishu had refused to speak to him, so these past days Zhang Zhijun had been sleeping in a guest room.
Zhang Hua was also sleeping in a guest room.
The house was in an old residential compound, originally allocated to Grandpa Zhang.
The family liked having everyone together. A few years ago when the neighbours next door moved out, the Zhangs bought the unit and combined the two flats into one large home so they could all fit.
Both father and son were in guest rooms next to each other. If Zhang Zhijun wanted to go upstairs, he would have to pass Zhang Hua’s door.
The police asked Zhang Hua, “Did you hear anything unusual last night?”
Zhang Hua shook his head gently.
The international flight had left him exhausted. After returning he hadn’t rested at all: first consoling his mother, then negotiating divorce terms for her. He didn’t even know what time he had fallen asleep.
Could Mum really have taken her own life?
Was it because she actually didn’t want the divorce?
If that was the case, didn’t that mean he had forced his own mother to her death… The thought made Zhang Hua’s heart ache until it went numb.
