The Sea Queen of 1985

Chapter 157: Chapter 157: The Consequence of Breaking an Oath

Han Xiaorui had just returned home when she received a phone call. Zhang Fa Cai’s wife, Li Rong, had turned herself in.

What’s more, Officer Li said that Li Rong wanted to see Han Xiaorui.

Han Xiaorui was baffled. ”Officer Li, did Li Rong confess to being the murderer?”

Officer Li replied, ”She did!”

Hearing this, Han Xiaorui nodded. ”Alright, I’ll head over after I grab a bite to eat!”

Han Xiaorui grabbed a quick lunch. ”Xiao Jing, don’t worry about me, and don’t call Lawyer Chen or Ye Feng! The killer has already turned herself in!”

”If she turned herself in, why do they need you to go? This has nothing to do with you!” Han Xiaoqing looked puzzled.

Han Xiaorui shook her head. ”I don’t know either. But since she wants to see me, I’ll go.”

”She’s a murderer, after all. She’s going to be executed. I can’t hold a grudge against someone who’s about to die.”

”When Sister-in-law Xiao Yu gets here later, have her pay everyone according to the records in my notebook.”

”I’ll be back as soon as I can. If I’m not back by five, have Sister Cai make a meal for my boatmen.”

”Okay, I get it, Sis!” Han Xiaoqing replied.

Han Xiaorui took a bus to the police station, where Officer Li led her to see a handcuffed Li Rong.

”Sister Li, don’t blame me for hitting you yesterday. You hit me first! Besides, there was nothing between Zhang Fa Cai and me other than buying and selling fish. Our relationship was purely professional.”

When Li Rong saw Han Xiaorui arrive, she smiled. She had completely come to terms with her situation.

She and Zhang Fa Cai had been a couple since they were young. Life had been so hard back then, and Zhang Fa Cai would hold her and swear to the heavens that he would always be good to her, or else he’d be struck by lightning and die a horrible death.

Li Rong wasn’t sure if Heaven was watching, nor was she sure if lightning would ever strike, but she could make sure Zhang Fa Cai died a horrible death.

If Heaven wouldn’t claim Zhang Fa Cai’s life, then she would!

Li Rong smiled, her expression candid. ”Ever since you knocked Zhang Fa Cai down with that slap yesterday, I knew I had been wrong about you.”

”The reason I asked Officer Li to have you come today was to tell you I’m sorry.”

Han Xiaorui was taken aback, completely surprised. ”It’s... it’s okay!”

’I really thought Li Rong was going to curse me out.’

Li Rong’s expression was placid. ”Do you want to know why I killed Zhang Fa Cai?”

Han Xiaorui nodded instinctively, but then, afraid of getting dragged into it, she quickly shook her head. ”I’m an innocent party here! I don’t want to get involved in your marital problems. I’m just a Little Fish Girl who catches and sells fish.”

Li Rong smiled. ”I asked you here so you wouldn’t feel guilty. Even if I hadn’t bludgeoned Zhang Fa Cai to death last night, I would have eventually.”

”I’ve been with him since I was fifteen. I endured all the hardship, and I don’t regret it. I used to do all the housework and help with the fishing by myself. Then, when our big restaurant opened, his father got sick and his mother became paralyzed. I took care of them for five years.”

”We opened three restaurants, but he only gave me one hundred yuan a month for groceries and medicine. It was never enough, so I always had to ask him for more. He even fired all of my relatives who were working at the restaurants.”

”An accountant at one of the restaurants, someone I’d helped in the past, secretly told me the truth. The three restaurants were making between 1.2 and 2 million yuan in profit every month, and all of it was being transferred out. With all that money, he only gave me one hundred yuan a month for household expenses, and half of that had to be spent on medicine for his parents.”

”After his parents passed away, Zhang Fa Cai asked me for a divorce last week. My daughter is away at college. My son works with him, but he constantly chews him out, saying our son is too stupid to be his.”

”I may not be educated, but that doesn’t mean I’m stupid. Zhang Fa Cai wouldn’t be trying to divorce me, and his attitude toward our only son wouldn’t have changed so drastically, if he didn’t have another woman.”

Han Xiaorui hadn’t expected Li Rong to tell her all this. ’She pitied this poor, yet fierce, woman.’ ”You could have just divorced him and taken your share of his assets. You didn’t have to resort to murder. A life for a life, after all. It’s not worth it.”

Li Rong smiled bitterly. ”That’s because you don’t know Zhang Fa Cai. If I had filed for divorce, I’d probably have been thrown into the sea to feed the fish by now. With him dead, the estate will go to my son and daughter. My life has been a failure, and I don’t want to live anymore. But I refuse to let the man who wronged me keep living.”

Hearing this, Han Xiaorui sighed internally. ’It’s a sad truth that pitiful people often have their own failings.’

”Even though I don’t think it was worth it, I respect your decision. And since you’ve told me so much, let me give you a reminder: the assets Zhang Fa Cai transferred out are all marital property. You’re going to prison, so only your children have the right to inherit. You need to have your son report it to the police immediately and hire a lawyer. He might be able to get that money back.”

Hearing this, Li Rong’s eyes lit up. ”Right, you’re right! How could I have forgotten something so important?”

Han Xiaorui finally breathed a sigh of relief as she walked out of the police station. She hadn’t been the one to provoke Li Rong. Zhang Fa Cai’s death had nothing to do with her.

Chen Yishui, Wu Mengyue, and Liang Xiaoyu were waiting outside. When they saw Han Xiaorui emerge, they rushed over. ”Xiao Rui, what happened?”

Han Xiaorui recounted the entire story.

Liang Xiaoyu spat on the ground and cursed, ”Zhang Fa Cai always acted so magnanimous in his business dealings. I never thought he was such a monster!”

Chen Yishui chimed in with her own curse, ”Back when they were poor and life was hard, a husband and wife could still get through it together. Now that the economy is more open, a lot of guys who open factories or start businesses make some money and immediately start messing around.”

Wu Mengyue remarked with a sigh, ”There was a man from my hometown like that, too. He got rich and divorced his wife. She fell into despair and hanged herself. He just dumped their child on the grandparents.”

”That man is living the good life with his other woman now; they even have a child together. Compared to the wife who hanged herself, I actually admire Li Rong. Why should the man be the one to make the mistake, but the woman is the one who’s driven to her death? If you’re going to die, you should take someone down with you.”

Han Xiaorui, Chen Yishui, and Liang Xiaoyu blinked, exchanged a look, and couldn’t have agreed more.

’At least you don’t lose out.’

Han Xiaorui mused, ”Li Rong’s son is over twenty and her daughter is at university. She has no one left to worry about. That’s probably why she was so determined to take Zhang Fa Cai down with her.”

”Come on, this has nothing to do with us. Let’s go home, make a good meal, and put this whole thing behind us.”

Han Xiaoqing and the other boatmen were waiting anxiously at home.

They were all completely relieved to see Han Xiaorui return.

Granny Cai and Liu Huamei had prepared a delicious feast for the boatmen, and Han Xiaorui paid them their wages right then and there.

With money in their pockets and good food on the table, the atmosphere quickly grew lively.

Just as everyone was finishing up their meal, Chen Nanyang pulled up to the door on his motorcycle.

”Lawyer Chen, you could have just called if you needed something. There was no need to make a special trip.”

Chen Nanyang saw that everyone was eating and didn’t stand on ceremony. ”I’ve been running around all day and just happened to be passing by. I’m starving, so I came to bum a meal. I can fill you in on what I found out today while we eat.”