Chapter 163
Chapter 163
I’d seen plenty of videos online of people getting caught in the act before.
Usually, the cheaters caught red-handed would get beaten half to death.
That was even more likely with someone like Meng Yifan, who had such a short fuse. The moment he exploded, it looked like he was ready to commit murder.
He charged straight at Tao Xiaoyu, and neither Song Xiaotian nor I tried to stop him.
Tao Xiaoyu was frozen in terror. Despite how she usually bossed Meng Yifan around, she didn’t dare utter a single word now. Meng Yifan grabbed her by the throat, and she began to tremble violently.
However, I had still underestimated the depth of Meng Yifan’s feelings.
I didn’t realize just how much he loved this woman. Even at this moment, he didn’t actually squeeze her neck, and his raised hand never fell.
He still couldn’t bring himself to hit her.
“Why did you do this to me! Why!”
“They told me you were cheating, but I didn’t believe them! I believed in you! I trusted you!”
His heart-wrenching roars were deafening.
“Everyone said you were no good, but I always defended you! I always spoke of your virtues!”
“The money I earned-I was too stingy to spend it on myself, but I gave it all to you!”
“When your parents were sick, I ran myself ragged for them more than you did! I haven’t even been that attentive to my own parents! How did I fail you? Tell me! Tell me!”
Tao Xiaoyu stared at him blankly, her eyes streaming with tears, but she didn’t say a word.
“Tao Xiaoyu! You’re a goddamn animal!”
“Get out! Get the hell out of my sight!”
Meng Yifan let her go, ultimately choosing not to lay a finger on her.
But a second later, his gaze locked onto Xiang Kai, his eyes nearly bursting with rage. “I’m going to slaughter you today!”
With that, he snatched an ashtray off the table and lunged at Xiang Kai, ready to fight to the death.
Song Xiaotian and I rushed to restrain him. We couldn’t let him do something so stupid.
Xiang Kai wasn’t an ordinary person. If Meng Yifan laid a hand on him today, he’d be looking at a felony assault charge at the very least.
“You bastard! Trying to scare me?”
Xiang Kai cursed arrogantly. “Do you even know who I am? You think you can touch me? You can’t even keep your own woman in line-aren’t you embarrassed? You’re a big guy, but you’re nothing but a pathetic loser!”
Song Xiaotian snapped, “Shut the hell up!”
Meng Yifan had gone completely berserk. Song Xiaotian and I could barely hold him back.
“Meng Yifan! Don’t do something stupid!”
“He’s the CEO of Jiangling Group! If you hit him, you’re finished! He’s not worth it!”
It took over ten minutes of physical struggle before Song Xiaotian and I managed to drag Meng Yifan out of the hotel.
Once in the car, Meng Yifan sat there shaking. With no way to vent his fury, he alternated between sobbing and punching himself.
I had known him for years, but I had never seen him like this.
The end of a relationship is a common occurrence; most people experience a breakup at some point.
It seems like a trivial thing to outsiders, but for someone like him-someone who had given his all, who had poured his heart and soul into it only to be met with betrayal-it was truly unbearable.
Song Xiaotian and I could only try to talk him down and offer comfort.
Compared to being bled dry by Tao Xiaoyu before being betrayed, this was at least a timely cutting of losses.
It was a case of ‘better a short, sharp pain than a long, lingering ache.’
We accompanied him back home. He sat on the sofa, smoking and staring into space, while Song Xiaotian and I got to work. We packed up everything Tao Xiaoyu had used and threw it all out.
Of course, we didn’t throw *everything* away. She had over a dozen designer bags; the expensive ones were worth tens of thousands, and even the cheap ones hadn’t cost less than ten thousand.
We planned to list these luxury goods online to recoup some of Meng Yifan’s money.
The six-hundred-thousand car was likely gone for good; even a lawsuit probably wouldn’t get it back, so we had to let that go.
Time heals all wounds. We believed Meng Yifan would eventually regain his footing, but it would take time. For now, we needed to stay by his side.
Song Xiaotian and I spent our nights at Meng Yifan’s place. During the day, we went out to meet clients, leaving Xie Peng to keep an eye on Meng Yifan.
Even though he was still in a slump, he hadn’t let his work slide.
I believed it wouldn’t be long before he pulled himself back together.
One day.
Song Xiaotian and I were showing a house to a client again.
The client was very conflicted. Although he liked the house, someone had died in it. It was a natural death, but the owner had been an elderly person living alone. The body wasn’t discovered until two weeks later, by which time it had already started crawling with maggots.
The client naturally found it unlucky and said he needed a few days to think it over.
Song Xiaotian and I even thoughtfully dropped him off at his doorstep. Just as we were about to head back to the office, Xie Peng suddenly called me.
His voice was frantic over the phone, saying that Meng Yifan had been taken away by the police.
I was startled and quickly asked what was going on.
“It’s… Tao Xiaoyu is dead! The police said the boss killed her-no, they said the boss is a suspect and needs to go in to assist with the investigation!”
Hearing Xie Peng’s words felt like being struck by lightning.
Because the date of death I had calculated for Tao Xiaoyu was yesterday!
It actually came true!
After hanging up, I told Song Xiaotian about Tao Xiaoyu’s death.
He was so shocked he dropped his cigarette, which burned a hole in his pants.
“Holy crap! No way!”
He stared at me in horror, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “You… when did you cast that hexagram?”
I told him it was seven days ago. The result back then predicted that Tao Xiaoyu would die between eleven o’clock last night and one o’clock this morning.
“Damn! Master Chen! You’re freaking incredible!”
I said we couldn’t be certain of the exact time she died yet; it might not be the exact window I had calculated.
But to be honest, being able to predict that Tao Xiaoyu would die at all was already remarkable. Even I found it miraculous!
“Meng Yifan was just taken away by the police. Even if Tao Xiaoyu died this morning, there’s no way the police could have found him this quickly.”
Having been a police officer, Song Xiaotian was naturally familiar with their procedures. “The police need time to investigate and gather evidence. So, Tao Xiaoyu must have died at least last night. Maybe it really was the time you predicted…”
I frowned. I didn’t care about exactly when she died right now; I was worried about Meng Yifan being arrested.
“Why would the police just grab him for no reason? They broke up days ago.”
“It’s not an arrest; it’s an interrogation, or rather, cooperating with the investigation,”
Song Xiaotian explained. “He just broke up with Tao Xiaoyu, and it was because she cheated. He even caught them in the act and nearly got into a fight. It’s perfectly normal for the police to suspect him first and take him back for questioning.”
“What I’m worried about is whether Meng Yifan actually killed Tao Xiaoyu…”
I started to get agitated. “Of course he didn’t! Last night…”
As I said this, I froze.
We had been staying with Meng Yifan every night recently, but not last night. Last night, he had gone out to dinner with some colleagues, and we didn’t go with him.
He reeked of alcohol today, so he clearly drank a lot last night. Song Xiaotian and I had been exhausted from running around for business all day; I had fallen asleep on the sofa. I heard Meng Yifan come back last night, but I didn’t know what time it was.
I had the feeling it was quite late when he returned, at least well into the early hours of the morning.
I was suddenly struck by a wave of inexplicable panic.
That idiot Meng Yifan… surely he didn’t get drunk, lose his head, and go kill Tao Xiaoyu…