Chapter 56

Chapter 56

Pei Yuming glanced at Lu Zixuan before explaining to his daughter, “It was your Uncle Lu. The two of them started sneaking around behind my back years ago. They got hotel rooms together and met in secret. Also, Zixuan, you may not know this, but all these years, your father seemed to obey your mother and the Su Family in every way, but he never shortchanged himself. He has a dark-blue phone. Everyone in it is a lover he’s gone out with. You really don’t need to cry injustice for him. The person you should actually feel sorry for is your mother.”

Su Jin stared at Pei Yuming in shock. “You knew… You actually knew everything…”

“You’re lying!” When Lu Zixuan heard him slander his father like that, and saw that his mother was actually going along with it, he grew agitated all over again. “My dad and Aunt Bai aren’t people like you! You were clearly the ones who did wrong, and now you’re turning around and framing good people. The two of you are… you’re simply…”

He seemed to want to throw out some harsh words, but in the end, he couldn’t get them out. He jabbed a finger fiercely at Pei Yuming and said through clenched teeth, “Just you wait. I’m going to find my dad right now. I want to see if you’ll still dare twist the truth and spread lies in front of him!”

With that, Lu Zixuan slammed the door hard and ran off without looking back.

Seeing him leave, Pei Xiaobei glanced at her father, then ran after him.

Su Jin bit her lip, her eyes red. She asked, “Do you love her that much?”

Pei Yuming did not know how to explain this whole tangled mess. “Let’s not talk about that right now. Go check on Zixuan. He’s in a terrible state. We can’t let anything happen to him.”

The two of them hurried out of the hospital after them. Before they even reached the entrance, their gazes passed over the patients coming and going, and they saw Lu Zixuan frantically trying to hail a cab by the gate, with Pei Xiaobei beside him trying to pull him back.

At the sight, Pei Yuming’s instincts screamed that something was wrong. He quickly pushed through the crowded people and ran toward them in a panic.

Just as he and Su Jin rushed out through the main entrance, they both saw Lu Zixuan, his face flushed red with agitation, run as if possessed toward a speeding taxi in the middle of the road. Fortunately, Pei Xiaobei had been following right behind him. At the critical moment, she yanked him back and kept him from being hit.

But neither of them saw the heavy truck behind them, changing lanes and accelerating straight ahead. Pei Yuming and Su Jin watched with their own eyes as the truck sent the two of them flying into the air. A second later, gravity dragged them back down to the ground. The deafening screech of brakes followed, and both of them were swiftly dragged under the truck, their lives uncertain.

“My son!”

“Xiaobei!”

Su Jin’s and Pei Yuming’s screams rang out at the same time. Pei Yuming clutched his painfully throbbing chest and collapsed over the partition. Cao Lei was frightened by the agony on his face and hurriedly got up to check on him.

“Lao Pei, what’s wrong? Are you all right?” Cao Lei waved for the officer taking notes to bring over some water. “Can you hear me?”

It took Pei Yuming a long while to slowly lift his head. He did not answer Cao Lei. He only stared straight at him.

“How are you?” Cao Lei handed him the opened bottle of mineral water. “Drink some water first.”

Expressionless, Pei Yuming took it, drank a small sip, and set it down.

Cao Lei raised his hand and glanced at his watch, then asked, “You went back again?”

This time, Pei Yuming neither confirmed nor denied it. He avoided Cao Lei’s probing gaze and lowered his head, falling silent.

This kind of resistance was rare from him. Cao Lei sat back down in his chair and leaned forward toward Pei Yuming. “Lao Pei, did you discover something else?”
To Cao Lei, Pei Yuming’s attitude was clearly the prelude to offering up a new lead.

But Pei Yuming was unwilling to say it right away. Cao Lei guessed that perhaps the lead was something he found hard to talk about.

But what could it be?

So far, whether it was information uncovered by the police or clues provided by Pei Yuming, everything was a tangled mess overall, with no clear direction. That made it extremely difficult to narrow down the killer.

But if they had to draw one thread out of the chaos, both Cao Lei and the special task force outside the interrogation room leaned toward the conclusion that Pei Yuming was the perpetrator. The reason was simple: judging from his own account, he had conflicts with almost everyone. His motive for murder could be considered fairly clear. But deduction could not be treated as evidence. If they wanted to nail him, they needed solid, genuine proof.

Based on the earlier pace and progress, Cao Lei had once been very confident that Pei Yuming would confess the truth. But from the looks of things now, he had celebrated too soon.

Cao Lei stared fixedly at him. He looked as though he were waiting patiently, but his mind was rapidly replaying everything Pei Yuming had said before. After roughly half a minute, he slowly spoke, testing the waters. “Is it something related to Su Jin?”

But Pei Yuming still said nothing. He did not even move an eyebrow.

Cao Lei continued probing. “Then is it related to Lu Zixuan?”

Pei Yuming still gave no reaction.

“Or your daughter? Did something happen to her?”

At that, Pei Yuming lightly licked his lips. Cao Lei’s gaze sharpened. He knew he had guessed right.

“Was your daughter hurt?” He remembered Pei Yuming mentioning earlier that his daughter had jumped from a building.

The muscles along the side of Pei Yuming’s face visibly tightened, but he still would not speak.

Cao Lei’s patience was gradually running out, and his eyes slowly turned sharp. Judging from Pei Yuming’s reaction, he had indeed guessed correctly, but it was probably only part of the truth, definitely not all of it. In that world Pei Yuming had fabricated, something else must have happened too. Something he refused to say out loud.

Cao Lei ran his tongue over his molars, about to throw out a few harsh words to scare him. But just as he was about to speak, Pei Yuming, who had been silent since a moment ago, suddenly opened his mouth.

“Officer Cao, can you let me rest for a bit? I’m panicking so badly inside. I feel like I don’t have any strength left.”

Cao Lei rolled his eyes inwardly. Come on, brother, your acting this time is really not up to par. Even a traffic idol who’d never filmed a single day in his life could wipe the floor with you.

“Lao Pei…”

Cao Lei planned to lay out the facts and reason with him, but the instant Pei Yuming saw him open his mouth, he clutched his chest and slumped forward. “Ow, my heart hurts…”

Cao Lei: “…”

As soon as Pei Yuming got off the subway, he called Su Jin and told her he would wait for her downstairs at his own residential complex. He had something important to tell her.

Su Jin was very surprised that Pei Yuming had actually asked to meet her of his own accord. Though her tone over the phone was still gentle and mild, she could not hide her happiness. Hearing it made Pei Yuming feel guilty.

Although going straight for a paternity test would be more reliable, Pei Yuming did not know what had gotten into him. He just wanted to ask Bai Xue face-to-face.

As for why he had called Su Jin along, he had a feeling that Bai Xue would not readily admit it. If she really refused to tell the truth no matter what, then he would take Su Jin directly to Xiaobei and get the paternity test done immediately. With Su Jin there, not only would it save time, it would also keep the matter from becoming known to his other colleagues.

Of course, for such a flexible plan, it would be best to give Su Jin a heads-up beforehand.