Chapter 74

"My mother was pregnant with me when she married Zhou Junmao. I'm her son with her previous husband. Of course, they told others I was born 'premature.'" Zhou Huaijin laughed bitterly. "Outsiders all thought Zhou Junmao was capable, dedicated, public-spirited, patriotic—a standard of virtue and prestige. Mr. Fei, I don't suppose you also think that?"

Fei Du looked up in faint surprise.

"Oh, I've heard that old Mr. Fei never remarried after losing his wife." Zhou Huaijin had evidently misunderstood the reason for his surprise. He spread his hands a little self-mockingly. "What, are these things very hard for you to understand?"

Fei Du said quietly, "So you're saying you've performed a paternity test?"

Zhou Huaijin shrugged. "What would be the point? I've known since I was little that I wasn't his biological son. Zhou Junmao wouldn't have gotten it wrong himself. If he hadn't been sure, he would have done a test. I had no illusions about him. Huaixin is his true only son, and he still didn't care about him at all, never mind me.—You may laugh, but the fact that he never poisoned me is the result of a many-sided game of chess."

Fei Du's hands were still trembling uncontrollably. He had to apply some force to twist the cap off the ice-cold water bottle. At the same time, he glanced at Zhou Huaijin as though nothing were the matter.—Though Zhou Huaijin looked very young, from the date recorded on his ID, he was already thirty-eight.

It seemed that Zhou Huaijin wasn't too clear on the fact that paternity testing technology hadn't been widely available thirty-eight or thirty-nine years ago.

"Are you hinting that Zhou Junmao," Fei Du said, considering his wording, "would have used some not very appropriate means?"

"If not, how else would my biological father have died? Did he really die of a heart attack?" Zhou Huaijin said coldly. "His right-hand man Zheng Kaifeng was a local thug. Birds of a feather flock together. There's nothing they wouldn't have done."

"How do you know?"

"My mother told me before her death. When she was young, she was unsatisfied with my biological father's desire for control and some of his…not very easy to accept hobbies, but she didn't want to divorce him. Meeting all kinds of seduction, she started an affair with Zhou Junmao. Then, egged on by those two pieces of scum Zhou and Zheng, she conspired with them to do this. But could an adulterous couple find eternal happiness?" Zhou Huaijin, temperate as jade, showed the barbs that had been hidden under his skin for decades. "It's ridiculous. Not long after, she found out that this man was even worse than the last scumbag, and she inconveniently had me. Zhou Junmao always thought that she had evidence of their conspiracy to murder Zhou Yahou, and because of that—and because of the company shares she held—he held his nose and pretended I didn't exist."

Fei Du's misgivings were growing heavier and heavier. "Thought?"

"My mother had a secret safe deposit box at a private bank. No one but her and her designated heir could open it. That was the key she used to keep Zhou Junmao under lock. Later it fell into my hands." Zhou Huaijin sighed. "Zhou Junmao is dead now anyway, so I can tell the truth.—In the safe deposit box there was only a package of expired emergency heart medication. Otherwise, would I have had any use for such inadequate and serpentine means to ruin his reputation?"

"You say you're Zhou Yahou's son." Fei Du slowly asked, "Who knows that?"

"Zhou Dalong was virtuous and moral on the surface, but he considered himself to be extremely potent. How could he let others know he was raising another man's child? Aside from Zheng Kaifeng, I think everyone else would have been in the dark. Though Huaixin…" At this point, Zhou Huaijin again looked up at the operating room light. He paused, then said with difficulty, "Since he was little, Huaixin has been more sensitive than other children. I think he must have guessed, he just never said. That child…I watched that child grow up. My mother was tormented all her life by that murder, and she was getting on in age when she had Huaixin. Postpartum depression made her nervous problems worse. She had no attention to spare to take care of him. In the Zhou house, aside from my mother, a stupid murderer, he was the only person I had a blood tie to. He was so small, so innocent. Even though that person's blood flowed in his veins…he only had me, and I only had him."

This pair of brothers had grown up in a twisted home. With evident reasons to hate each other, they had been forced over time to depend on each other for survival.

Zhou Huaijin pressed his hands together and held them to his forehead. "If there is such a thing as retribution, why would it fall on him?"

Fei Du knew that, according to social etiquette, he should now reach out a hand and pat the red-eyed Zhou Huaijin on the shoulder a couple of times to indicate consolation, but his heart was full of indifferent weariness. Like a cold-blooded animal with a slow metabolism, he couldn't be bothered to reach out that hand.

He tilted his head and studied Zhou Huaijin. He responded in a flat voice: "You just said that Huaixin was the old man's 'only son'—so you already know that Yang Bo has no blood relationship to Zhou Junmao?"

"You've investigated Yang Bo and Zhou Junmao's relationship? The police in this country move pretty fast." Zhou Huaijin blinked hard a few times, striving to calm his feelings. He said hoarsely, "Yang Bo… He's very superficial, ambitious but incapable, trails after Zheng Kaifeng every day, professing to be Zheng Kaifeng's student, when in reality he's only learned the surface-level skills. Why would such a person, without qualifications or abilities, his background and his academic record unremarkable, be promoted to such a position at a young age? Of course people started guessing, and that's when the 'illegitimate son' rumors started to flow.

"The rumors were in fierce circulation for a while, but neither Zhou Junmao himself, nor Yang Bo's backer Zheng Kaifeng, said anything to clarify. As time went on, the joker might really have thought he was an unacknowledged prince." Zhou Huaijin twisted the bottle of water and shook his head. "He secretly collected his own DNA and Zhou Junmao's, privately found a not too aboveboard paternity testing organization… He'd even do that by stealth. Some people really aren't suited by nature to mount the stage."

Following along, Fei Du said, "You discovered that he'd privately found someone to perform a paternity test."

"I knew the person in charge of the illegal workshop from playing basketball with him, something along the lines of a golf buddy," said Zhou Huaijin. "A typical example of 'white trash,' a scammer. He knows quite a few people's secrets. He seems like a gourd with a sealed mouth that can keep anything contained, but actually in private deals he'll give up anything, as long as you can meet his price."

"He told you about this business—"

"You ought to say, he gave me this business as a free gift," said Zhou Huaijin. "What I bought was another service. I had him swap in a sample from Huaixin."

Yang Bo, a poor devil who had nothing, had somehow been recognized by the big boss. Most likely he'd felt proud and grateful, perhaps even somewhat awed. He must have conscientiously followed the man he owed a debt of gratitude to, daily exhausting all his resources to make himself seem less average; perhaps he would even have taken the old man with his legendary life as his idol.

But what if he'd found out one day that perhaps all he'd obtained had only been because he was his "idol"'s legal heir?

At first, he would inevitably have been shocked, then quickly hateful, because this meant that his mother had betrayed his father and their family, while his idol had betrayed his trust.

But perhaps this person had a natural weakness and baseness. His none-too-firm hatred couldn't last long. He would quickly have some different thoughts—it turned out that he should have been born with a silver spoon in his mouth, on an equal footing with those "youthful talents" who relied on their fathers to make their way.

Were Zhou Huaijin, Zhou Huaixin, and all their strutting friends in any position to look down on him?

Why wouldn't Zhou Junmao acknowledge him?

He was Zhou Junmao's son, and Zheng Kaifeng's protégé. Everyone knew that relations between Zheng Kaifeng and the Zhou Clan's eldest son were strained. They were sons of the same father, so why did he have to work for a living instead of having a share in the profits of the enormous family property?

To say it another way—couldn't the Zhou Clan be his?

"So it was you," Fei Du said quietly. "'He shall spurn fate, scorn death, and bear his hopes 'bove wisdom, grace, and fear.'"

Zhou Huaijin closed his eyes, lips moving faintly, almost inaudibly adding the next line: "'And you all know, security is mortals' chiefest enemy.'"

Fei Du looked at him with a trace of ridicule. "Goddess Hecate, you've expended a great deal of magic to make Yang Bo think he's Zhou Junmao's illegitimate son, give him unlimited hopes. To what end?"

"Yang Bo is one of Zheng Kaifeng's people," said Zhou Huaijin. "I don't know why Zheng Kaifeng would value him, but the old thing really does treat the joker as his confidant. When Yang Bo was promoted, it was Zheng's opinion against everyone else's. Even Zhou Dalong had some veiled complaints—though in the end he also accepted it. It's a contest, and I don't have enough people or resources. I had to think of some way to break up my opponents' alliance. I needed to stir up Yang Bo's ambition, use him to drive a wedge between Zhou Junmao and Zheng Kaifeng. I wanted to make them all pay the price."

Fei Du looked at him coolly.

"It's true. At this point, I have no need to trick you." Zhou Huaijin pinched the bridge of his nose. "Mr. Fei, although my methods haven't been very aboveboard, it's not as if I used a violent criminal's methods to get revenge. You can criticize me from the standpoint of virtue, but you must admit that what I've done isn't altogether inexcusable."

"President Zhou," Fei Du said slowly, "it's not for me to say whether you should be criticized, nor whether you should pay a price. To start with, we'll see how to define your conduct of wasting police resources cooking up such a big farce. Next we'll see what the results of the investigation into Zhou Junmao's car crash say."

"I didn't expect that Zhou Junmao would die in a car crash. According to my script, the DNA appraisal workshop's head would have told Yang Bo the results, and I would have 'accidentally' gotten ahold of them and run to Yang Bo to excoriate him. First I'd get him angry, then I'd get flustered and assert to him, 'Dad won't acknowledge you.' I understand Yang Bo. He's very superficial. Meeting with that kind of attack, he'd start to ramble. If my luck was good, I could get some recordings that would be useful in the future. Meanwhile Yang Bo would have been provoked. It's likely he wouldn't have been able to hold back, wanting to show me by getting himself 'brought back into the fold.' I had follow-up arrangements for that.—But you can see now that Zhou Junmao died at the wrong time. I had to abort my plan when it had just started."

"When you heard the news of Zhou Junmao's death, you realized at once that while it had upset your plan, it could also be an opportunity. So you hinted to Zhou Huaixin that he should call the police, attract their notice and the notice of the public using Yang Bo as a pretext. Then, when the car crash had been thrown under suspicion, you put together a fine game, making Zhou Junmao's death even more bewildering. First you shifted the blame onto Yang Bo, and then you used the business of the public welfare funds to lead the police to investigate Zheng Kaifeng. While the Zhou Clan was unstable, you'd wipe out your two enemies at one fell swoop, at the same time whipping up the flames of public opinion to completely destroy Zhou Junmao's reputation—"

Zhou Huaijin's throat moved. He didn't expound, as if silently acknowledging it.

Fei Du said, "Weren't you afraid that the Zhou Clan wouldn't recover from the attack, and when it came to you, it would be a shambles?"

"The current Zhou Clan is Zhou Junmao's 'Zhou,'" Zhou Huaijin said quietly. "Whether he's living or dead, it's inextricably linked to his reputation. It's another part of him. I wanted to destroy his gilded image. As for the rest… Isn't it all worldly possessions? Mr. Fei, if you'd also had a thorn in your heart from the time you were little, would you not dare to pull it out because you were afraid of being reduced to poverty and ruin? Money, things… To people like us, sometimes they really don't have the power to attract."

Hearing the words "a thorn in your heart," Fei Du's fingers tightened even further, nearly twisting the water bottle. Just then, a few medical personnel carrying plasma for a transfusion darted past in front of them, hurrying towards the operating room. There seemed to be an ominous rhythm to their steps.

Zhou Huaijin shot to his feet. "Doctor, my little brother, he…"

The Zhou family was Heng'ai Hospital's major financial backer. A staff member who had the look of a nurse said tactfully, "Set your mind at ease, we're doing everything we can to save him."

Zhou Huaijin understood the implication. His steps tottered.

Fei Du took his elbow. "Mr. Zhou, is Huaixin also a worldly possession to you?"

Zhou Huaijin looked like someone had stepped on his tail, his expression altering abruptly. But Fei Du was unwilling to let him off. "When you and your henchman Hu Zhenyu were echoing each other, he'd already realized that something was going on, but he didn't make it public. He even cooperated in helping you two play the game down to the end. Do you know what he said to Hu Zhenyu?"

"I don't…"

"He said he didn't understand any of your business, he only wanted you safe and sound." Fei Du's voice was fast and harsh, like a short, sharp dagger, stabbing into Zhou Huaijin's ear. "When I tried to get it out of him afterwards, he wanted to take the blame for the 'kidnapping' in your place. Mr. Zhou, there's a question I want to ask you. This whole time, you've been telling me a story of a prince's vengeance, full of cause and effect. Why haven't you said a word about the murderous woman with the knife? It's like you know why she was so deranged. Can you tell me—"

The operating room door opened from inside, suddenly interrupting Fei Du's words.

The clock on the hospital wall, marching ceaselessly forward, seemed to pause. Zhou Huaijin's panicked gaze watched the doctor coming out. And at the same time, the phone in Fei Du's pocket vibrated. He got it out and looked. Luo Wenzhou had sent a concise and comprehensive message: "Dong Xiaoqing is dead."

Fei Du stared, letting go of Zhou Huaijin on the spot. His first reaction was to call back. "How are you doing?"

It was noisy where Luo Wenzhou was. Before he could answer, in front of Fei Du, Zhou Huaijin had fallen to his knees with a thump. He heard the doctor saying, "I'm sorry, Mr. Zhou. We really…"

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