C15

Wang Aijuan kept shouting and cursing. At the beginning, the medical staff and the police would even try to console her, but after several times of being attacked indiscriminately, everyone just looked at her with cold eyes as she cried.

Because it was an accident at school, teachers such as President Zhang also came to visit. When Wang Aijuan saw President Zhang, it was like seeing a mad bull with a red cloth. She rushed up and pointed at the nose of the old headmaster and scolded him crazily. The vulgar and dirty words made the old headmaster faint on the spot.

The scene was in a panic.

At this time, the door of the operating room opened, the doctor in white coats walked out, Zhou Sitian straightened up, she subconsciously stepped forward, hesitated, and then took her leg back.

The lead policeman had already greeted him, “Doctor, how is the patient’s condition?”

“The dagger pierced directly through the patient’s lungs, the bleeding has stopped, but the patient’s heart and lung function is rapidly declining, probably won’t last through the night.” The doctor took off his mask and said in a heavy tone.

Zhou Sitian only felt her head buzzing, dead, he was going to die. She had thought countless times how great it would be if the world didn’t have Zhou Deqing as a person, but how could he die, how could he die like this!

“Hahahahahahaha, the wicked have their revenge, son do you hear me, the murderer is going down to accompany you right now, down there, you have your revenge, you have your revenge!” Wang Aijuan’s voice was sharp and piercing.

Li Zheng’s eyes narrowed as he whispered in Zhou Sitian’s ear, “Sister, he doesn’t have much time left, if he’s not a murderer, don’t let him die with a bad name on his back.”

Zhou Sitian blankly turned back and stared at Li Zheng dumbfoundedly. Li Zheng stretched out his hand to pat Zhou Sitian’s head, and then without moving, he changed it to a pat on the shoulder.

This height thing was so bad sometimes.

“Not him.” Zhou Sitian’s voice was so low that she couldn’t even hear herself.

“I know.”

“You believe me?” Zhou Sitian looked up sharply, her eyes filled with incredulity, she thought no one would believe her. She was the only one present, Yang Kaijian was dead, and the other was still her father. Even she herself felt that what she said was unconvincing.

“I believe, Zhou Sitian, tell them what you saw, leave the rest to me.” For the first time, Li Zheng called Zhou Sitian by her full name, his eyes so soft that they seemed to glow.
　　
　　For the first time, Zhou Sitian realizes that this once annoying brother who only threw tantrums had somehow become so… reliable.

Wang Aijuan was still cursing the so-called “murderer”.

Zhou Sitian took a deep breath, took two steps forward and shouted, “Shut up! I’ve told you, Zhou Deqing is not a murderer, it was Yang Kaijian who tried to kill me with a knife, Zhou Deqing fought with Yang Kaijian to save me!”

This was the second time that Zhou Sitian had repeated her “testimony”, and the police officers looked at each other, but remain silent. Wang Aijuan tried to rush up again, but was pushed away by Zhou Sitian.

“I’m not lying, the knife was Yang Kaijian’s, he wanted to kill me!”

“You bitch, I…” screamed Wang Aijuan, moving the wooden chair placed in the corridor and making a move to smash it at Zhou Sitian.

Yang Sheng jerked back, “Zhou Sitian, have some conscience. My son is dead, you and he knew each other, and you had been classmates for so many years, so you can’t throw dirty water on the dead! And you and Zhou Deqing are immediate family members, so your testimony is not counted. ”

Yang Sheng looked as if he had poison in his gaze towards Zhou Sitian. Zheng Jianguo who had snatched away his position as production team captain, he could laughingly say congratulations, it was the first time that Yang Sheng was so outwardly emotional.

Testimony didn’t count? Zhou Sitian was completely ignorant of the law, and she looked to Li Zheng in a panic.

“Captain Chen, did you handle He Zhiqiang’s case last night?” Li Zheng smiled reassuringly at her, then turned to the old policeman leading the team and asked a question.

Chen Jun, also known as the old cop leading the team, was visibly stunned, presumably wondering why Li Zheng would mention He Zhiqiang’s case at this point.

“No, the case has been taken over by the county.” Because the new factory was located in Qinghe Town, Yantian County took the law and order of Qinghe Town very seriously and sent someone to take over He Zhiqiang’s case the next morning, figuring that this case would also be taken over by the county public security bureau soon.

“Then I suggest that you should learn more about the case process.”

Chen Jun’s eyebrows furrowed, “What do you mean?”

“It’s late autumn, Yang Kaijian was only wearing a long sleeve, where is his jacket? His cufflinks are damp and wrinkled and this lady just yelled in the hallway that his son didn’t come home last night. My sister got to school at six today and Yang Kaijian was already there. I’m assuming he spent the night in the shed, so ask what normal person would leave a good home and not go home and sleep in the shed in the cold all night.”

“The grove where He Zhiqiang died is not far from Yang’s house, I suggest that you, Captain Chen, can compare the knife Yang Kaijian stabbed Zhou Deqing with He Zhiqiang’s wounds.”
　　
　　”If my guess was wrong, then I’ll apologize.” Li Zheng didn’t give anyone a chance to open their mouth and smiled innocently.

The hospital corridor was quiet, the policemen looked at each other, a young policeman suddenly spoke up: “Captain, He Zhiqiang’s wounds and Zhou Deqing’s wounds do seem to be quite similar.”

Seeing the eyes of the crowd gathered on him, the young policeman laughed dryly twice, “Knives, well, they all look pretty much the same…”

Chen Jun plucked out a glance at the small policeman and spoke, “We will look into the case. Now the families should all go back to rest.” Immediately, he looked at Zhou Sitian with a complex look, “Go see him.”

Wang Aijuan was so angry that her eyes turned red, “Yang Sheng, speak up! You just watched them slander your son like that!”

Yang Sheng’s hand clutched the trolley tightly as he stared at Chen Jun with glazed eyes, “I hope Captain Chen can give my son an explanation, don’t let him go even if he was wrong.” He said ignoring Wang Aijuan’s shouts and pushed Yang Kaijian’s trolley towards the hospital.

No one saw the trembling hands under his sleeves, and Li Zheng’s words made him suddenly remember that he seemed to have seen He Zhiqiang at his door yesterday….

Li Zheng slightly lowered his eyes, “Sister, go see him.”

Li Zheng dared to open his mouth to “guess” that Yang Kaijian had killed someone, naturally it wasn’t just a simple “hypothesis” above, he had just discovered that the bottom of Yang Kaijian’s feet were covered with a reddish-brown substance, a mixture of soil and blood. The color of human blood would change slightly as the contact time with air increased.

This change was obvious at first and then became faint later, and only a time-tested laboratory eyes like Li Zheng’s could spot the problem at a glance. The reddish-brown substance on his feet couldn’t have been just stained in the morning.

“I… “Zhou Sitian opened her mouth, and under Li Zheng’s encouraging gaze, she slowly walked into the hospital room.

The hospital room was very humble, four beds were placed in the four corners of the room, two beds were empty, and a gray-haired old man was lying on one. Because the wound was behind his back, Zhou Deqing was lying on the bed like a turtle, with a pillow on his chest, breathing hard.

When he saw Zhou Sitian enter, his eyes lit up, his lips moved, but he didn’t make a sound.

Zhou Sitian slowly moved to his side, “Are you… okay?”

Zhou Deqing nodded vigorously and spoke, “I’m fine.” His voice was hoarse.

Zhou Sitian’s tears came down, he was dying, why was he still able to say he was fine in front of her as if nothing had happened.

“You…you don’t cry!” Zhou Deqing visibly panicked, he tried to get up, but moved slightly against the wound, making a pained expression on his face.
　　
Zhou Sitian immediately held him down while crouching down and wiping her own tears from her face.

“Don’t move.”

“Fine, I won’t move.”

They were silent for a long time, and Zhou Deqing was the first to speak up, “I heard someone say that your name is Zhou Sitian, sweet girl, it’s very nice.”

“I’m grateful to her, your mother, that I did something wrong to her and she was willing to give birth to you and let your last name be Zhou. I’m…I’m glad I was able to protect you for once. After all these years, I haven’t done anything for you either.”

Zhou Deqing spoke offhandedly and with little logic.

“When I heard in prison that I had a daughter, I was happy. Every day, I thought that when I got out, I would treat her well. Then I did get out, but I was afraid to see you. So sneaking around behind, did it scare you?”

Zhou Sitian held back tears and shook her head vigorously.

“Definitely scared, I saw it all, that day you were running and fell…cough cough cough” he suddenly coughed violently, affecting his heart and lungs, and blood instantly oozed out on the gauze.

A passing nurse rushed over quickly, “You’re not fit to talk right now, lie still and be quiet!”

Zhou Deqing shook his head, “If I don’t say it, I won’t have the chance to say it. Eighteen years… I want to finish my sentence.”

The nurse was mute and looked at Zhou Sitian, then bowed her head and left.

“Hey, Zhou Sitian, Sitian, which two characters are they?”

Zhou Sitian stretched out her right hand, and on Zhou Deqing’s palm, she wrote her name once.

Zhou Deqing smiled like a child, his mouth could not stop saying, Sitian, Sitian.

He inquired curiously about every detail of Zhou Sitian’s life, when do you wake up, when do you eat, what do you like to eat, do you get good grades in school, what are your favorite classes.

When he heard that Zhou Sitian was the top student in school almost every time, his whole face turned red with excitement.
　　
　　The sun slowly set, the room became dark, perhaps because of talking for too long, he didn’t wait until evening, Zhou Deqing’s breath became faint, the doctor stood at the door, but did not go forward to disturb Zhou Sitian and Zhou Deqing.

Zhou Deqing, on the other hand, did not ask Zhou Sitian to call him father from the beginning to the end.

“Dad!” Seeing Zhou Deqing’s eyes slowly close, Zhou Sitian panicked, and called out.

Zhou Deqing trembled all over, tears flowed down from the corners of his eyes and dripped onto the white blanket, only for those eyes to never open again.

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TN:

I- actually cried a bit 🤧