AWB Chapter 381 Obedient and Clingy Younger Brother (92)
Chapter 381 Obedient and Clingy Younger Brother (92)
Aunt Chen watched his actions and suddenly broke down.
She tried to escape from him, muttering, "I don't want to die! I don't want to die! Don't kill me!"
But she was a frail woman, and with Zhao Lizhu pressing down on her shoulders, she could only struggle a couple of times like a stranded fish before being helplessly pressed back down.
From initial struggles, it escalated into helpless screams: "Let me go! You madman! I didn't provoke you, I didn't do anything to you! Don't kill me!"
"Didn't your two old, bastard parents sell you to me for 20,000 yuan?" Zhao Lizhu sneered.
"He even specifically told me that you're too old to have children. He told me to do whatever I want with you! Just take you away from that house so you won't eat their food and drink their drinks, and stop your brother from complaining..."
A trace of painful despair flashed across Aunt Chen's eyes.
Actually, given their age, they don't need to be called "auntie" by others.
However, she now dresses old-fashioned clothes that don't match her actual age, always has a hunched back, and her uneven hair has a lot of white hair.
She looked about ten years older than her actual age, and was practically no different from Zhao Lizhu.
Jin Shuhe tapped his hand lightly under the table twice, trying to get Aunt Chen's attention and make her watch him so as not to provoke Zhao Lizhu.
But Aunt Chen was now consumed by fear and anger and didn't notice anything amiss.
As if someone had suddenly touched the most painful spot in her heart, she suddenly went berserk and kicked the table legs, trying to overturn the heavy, thick table.
But it was no use; the table just shook twice...
"Why did they sell me? Why did they sell me to you, you worthless piece of trash! Zhao Lizhu! You're not a man at all! You're a madman, a ghost that crawled out of a grave!" Aunt Chen screamed, her hair disheveled, her whole body trembling, tears streaming down her face.
"Snapped--"
"Clap--"
Zhao Lizhu grabbed her collar and slapped her hard across the face with his rough hand.
He was no longer the honest and simple man he had been for so many years. His cloudy eyes, gleaming with a murky and dark yellow fierce light from years of smoking and drinking, were now gone.
Not satisfied with just one slap, he struck her twice more, until the woman he was controlling had a bloody nose.
"stop!"
Jin Shuhe stood up and tried to approach the two of them. Aunt Chen reached out and tried to grab Jin Shuhe, but the next second, a gleaming blade was pressed against her throat.
"Don't hurt her!" Jin Shuhe frowned. Aunt Chen's behavior had really angered Zhao Lizhu.
"I originally wanted you to leave this world peacefully, but since you're unwilling, I can chop you into pieces! This dumpling soup won't taste good once it gets cold... How about I use your bones to make some pork rib soup for Xiao He?"
Zhao Lizhu applied force, and a thin red line appeared on Aunt Chen's neck.
"Didn't you have something to say to me? Shouldn't you also have something to ask me?"
Jin Shuhe knew it was unrealistic to persuade him to put down the weapon now; he had given up on being human, like a beast that had been completely unleashed.
He seemed to have decided to end his life today, so now he could do whatever he wanted and was able to do.
“Yes, some things, if we don’t say them today, we may never have the chance to say them again.” Zhao Lizhu tilted his head and looked at him, then smiled.
"You won't have the chance to hear it anymore... We've never had a proper conversation in all these years, Xiao He. I've always considered you my son, you know that?"
Jin Shuhe felt a surge of unease and didn't answer him, but just stared at him intently.
Zhao Lizhu seemed to have been disobeyed. He clenched his fist with the hand that wasn't holding the knife and slammed it hard on the table, making a dull thud.
He seemed to feel that the sound could not express his feelings, so he smashed an unopened can of beer against the wall.
The can exploded, splattering beer all over the room, and the faint aroma of malt filled the air, making the atmosphere even more eerie.
“I know you look down on me. You think I'm uneducated, that I didn't go to school much, and that I can't read many words. You also think I'm incompetent and can't earn much money, so you look down on me! I've seen through your vanity since you were little…”
He said matter-of-factly, “But it’s okay. I treat you like my son, I treat you like my offspring. I think there will definitely be a chance for me to teach you properly… to let you know that children, as juniors, cannot and should not act like this.”
"You have to respect me, respect your elders! Not follow a woman around like a dog, wagging its tail and begging for mercy!"
He seemed to think that what he was saying made perfect sense, nodding as he spoke to show his self-affirmation.
And she looked at Jin Shuhe with a neurotic, childlike gaze.
"You were with that slut when you were little, and she spoiled you rotten! You're not a man at all! I've talked to that slut about you so many times, asking her to give you to me. But she told me you were her child! She absolutely refused! She even looks down on me... The way she looks at me, the way she smokes in front of me, she just looks down on me! What right does she have to look down on me! A whore who's been ridden by a thousand men and ten thousand women! Look what she's made you into!"
Jin Shuhe tried his best to suppress his anger. He just wanted to swallow all his words back and make him apologize for it word by word!
But he couldn't. Jin Shuhe clenched his fists, his nails digging into his palms until they bled, warning himself not to act impulsively.
Zhao Lizhu clearly didn't think there was anything wrong with what he said.
He kicked the chair that Aunt Chen was sitting on and shouted, "Pour me a glass of wine!"
Aunt Chen was so frightened she almost collapsed, and then she looked at Jin Shuhe.
Jin Shuhe gave her a barely perceptible thumbs-up, signaling her to do as Zhao Lizhu said.
Blood was flowing from Aunt Chen's nose and the corner of her mouth. The only person she could trust now was Jin Shuhe. So she struggled to sit up, went to the kitchen to get a glass, and came back to pour Zhao Lizhu a glass of beer.
"Oh!"
The cup was smashed hard on the ground.
"Damn it! Pour me a glass of baijiu!" Zhao Lizhu roared viciously.
Aunt Chen had no choice but to go back to the kitchen, find a bottle of loose liquor, and pour him a glass.
Zhao Lizhu gulped down two mouthfuls, drinking too quickly, and his face contorted from the spiciness.
"Tsk——"
He picked up another bite of food and put it in his mouth, as if he really was the head of the household and everyone else had to obey him.
“You’re such a clueless kid. That slut won’t support you anymore, why don’t you come to me? Do you think I’d stop you from going to school?” He looked at Jin Shuhe.
He commented, "Who is that Xiao Lu? I'm extremely dissatisfied with her! I also disagree with you being with her! What kind of job does she have, showing her face in public..."
"So what if she has a few stinking coins? She's so much older than you! I don't agree! What are you doing? Are you marrying into her family? From now on, you'll call her parents 'Mom and Dad,' and you'll be all filial to them during holidays. You have no backbone at all!" he scolded sternly.
"I've always hoped that you would find a woman who would take care of you at home, put you first in everything, never go out in public, and never dare to say a word against you—an obedient and virtuous woman!"
Suddenly, a nostalgic look appeared on his face: "Like a woman like your mother."
"How dare you mention my mother?" Jin Shuhe said coldly.
"Your mother should have married me back then! I'm a million times better than your dead father! Why! Why did she have to marry someone else when I loved her so much!" Zhao Lizhu suddenly broke down and shook his head, looking extremely pained.
"How could the woman I love so much be willing to marry your dead father!"
"So you killed her?"
“I didn’t mean to kill her…” Zhao Lizhu pounded his head. “I loved her so much! I wanted to be with her so much! I was even willing to treat you as my own child! Because I loved her, I was even willing to raise you and take care of you after she died! But you didn’t appreciate it!”
"Just because I'm poor, just because I can't come up with the 30,000 yuan that the old folks from the Jin family gave me!" He looked at Aunt Chen:
"Yeah... I spent 20,000 yuan on this piece of junk! It's because I didn't have money back then, so I don't blame her. She had no choice, there was nothing she could do, so I forgive her..."
Aunt Chen burst into tears: "You're talking nonsense! Zhao Lizhu, you're not a man at all! Having a baby? Having a baby my ass! The whole village knows about your scumbag affair. Do you think they'll forget just because you married me?"
"Say one more word and I'll rip your mouth open!" Zhao Lizhu flipped the plate of stir-fried potato shreds onto Aunt Chen's head, and the oil from the plate mixed with blood on Aunt Chen's face.
“I didn’t kill her! I helped her find peace! Do you know how much money your dead father owed? Do you know how much pain your mother endured? Do you know how many times she cried in secret? But your mother is a good woman, Miao’er is a good woman… She was willing to stay with your father until the end! She was willing to do that, so I will grant her wish! I will save her!”
"Do you know what I originally planned?" He looked at Jin Shuhe, as if he was completely immersed in his memories: "I'll take care of Miao'er's matter, then kill your father, and then I'll take you away. Miao'er, you, and I will be a family of three!"
Jin Shuhe thought he had gone mad.
At this point, he could no longer be shocked, because all his emotions had been pushed to the limit. As Jin Shuhe listened to him speak, he seemed to hear a kind of booming sound in his ears.
"If you think you did nothing wrong, why did you hide it? Why did you hide it?" Jin Shuhe heard his own voice, which sounded as if it came from a distance, as if it had lost its sense of space.
"Although I know I'm not wrong, I have no choice. I still have to watch you grow up for Miao'er, so I can only keep it a secret... Hahaha, I never expected you to become a policeman. Since you really want to know, then I'll tell you, and that will fulfill our father-son bond..."
“Didn’t you tell me that I found out about you?” Jin Shuhe coldly exposed him.
Zhao Lizhu narrowed his eyes, revealing deep and menacing wrinkles at the corners of his eyes.
"What are police? Xiao He, you don't think that just because you're a police officer you can look down on me, do you? Back then, weren't these the same bunch of good-for-nothings I made fools of? They all went to school, right? They all have education, right? And yet I still managed to fool them for so many years..." He chuckled.
"If I had had those good conditions when I was young, I don't know how successful I would be now! Who the hell would dare to look down on me! I'm a man of high status! You still dare to argue with me here? You would have been begging me to be your son long ago! You're all snobbish!" Zhao Lizhu downed the rest of the liquor in one gulp.
"Really? Do you really think you're that smart?" Jin Shuhe's tone became indifferent. Ignoring or questioning someone who was so narcissistic yet insecure and sensitive was the thing that would break his defenses the most.
“Back then, I stood right in front of those idiots, hahaha, I even had blood on me, and no one suspected me! Wasn’t I smart enough?” Zhao Lizhu looked at Jin Shuhe: “How did you figure it out?”
He couldn't help but ask in the end.
"It's because of your presumptuous actions! Why were you so nervous when I said my mom's gold ring was for me?"
Shortly after Jin Shuhe entered the room, before Zhao Lizhu was exposed, he heard about the gold ring and his expression changed instantly, unable to contain himself.
"Because you told the police back then that some of the family's valuables were missing, including my mother's wedding ring, but my mother never wears rings at home."
Jin Shuhe pulled a cloth bag out of his pants pocket; it was the same one that Aunt Chun had given him.
Inside was a thin gold ring.
"Back then, you were thinking of linking the cases you were handling to the serial murders from back then, right? You're nothing like what you said about wanting to help my mother get rid of her. You were plotting murder. No matter how eloquently you speak, it won't change your despicable thoughts and horrific behavior."
Jin Shuhe slipped the ring onto her little finger and gently dangled it.
"You told what you thought was a flawless lie ten years ago, and you told it again just the other day."
Jin Shuhe himself didn't know how many times he had read that case file; he could recite almost every witness's testimony.
That day he asked Wu Qidong, "Uncle Wu, do you remember that I went back to the crime scene?"
Wu Qidong did not remember.
Jin Shuhe stared at the blurry child's footprints separated by the forensic department. For that week, his dreams were almost entirely filled with the scene of the day the incident occurred.
Jin Shuhe recalled it countless times, until his head ached terribly, because he was unwilling to believe that suspicion.
However, Jin Shuhe finally confirmed that he had never gone back that day. Both his own memory and the evidence at the scene proved the accuracy of his memory.
Zhao Lizhu is lying.
Jin Shuhe finally convinced himself to believe this conclusion.
"You know I'm under the bed, right?" At that time, Jin Shuhe was in complete darkness and stuffiness, but he could still feel a thick, cold gaze watching him through the mattress and bed frame.
Zhao Lizhu lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and exhaled the smoke.
He chuckled, "Of course I know. When I got back, there were such obvious little footprints, leading from the living room to the bedside..."
"What, you think you can turn into sea foam and fly out of the house like the Little Mermaid? Do you remember when I told you the story of the Little Mermaid when you were little? I specially learned that story. Your deadbeat dad never told you any stories, haha!"
He suddenly adopted a loving expression: "Your little footprints are so tiny, so cute..."