Chapter 102: A Love Too Heavy to Bear

Page (1/3)
Chapter 102: A Love Too Heavy for Life to Bear

Tang Zhong’s words were so domineering and incisive, yet his expression stayed calm as still water. Wen Jing thought to herself that he and she truly were worthy of being called mother and son: the same composure, the same sharp cruelty, the same refusal to leave his opponent even a breath of ground.

In the interrogation room, when he had lifted the baton and struck again and again at the man who had tried to harm him, it had been a shockingly arresting sight.

It had been such a long time since she’d seen such a young man.

“If I hadn’t come, then?”

“This world has no use for any of its ifs,” Tang Zhong said with a smile.

“Just an if,” Wen Jing insisted.

“Just an if,” Tang Zhong said, frowning in thought. “If you hadn’t come, I would have handled it differently. For example, I could have called the school first and let them step in before the police were called. It would have been more trouble, but in the end the school has to deal with things from the students’ side.”

“Then it wouldn’t have ended as cleanly as it did now. I wouldn’t have had the courage to swing a baton in that interrogation room. A child only dares to be bold when there is adult support behind him. If a boy were fighting outside and his father didn’t support him—if his own father slapped him instead—how long would he dare to keep the fight up?”

“Then you already knew I’d be coming even before deciding to call the police?”

“When they were hitting me with batons, I had my own doubts too,” Tang Zhong said. “And in that moment, anyone would be unusually irritable.”

“Because he is a professional killer. So you need not take any responsibility for this case.”

“If Jiang Tao reports the case, you could still receive a reward of one million Huaxia coins and two hundred thousand U.S. dollars. Of course, the Yunu Peak Precinct would benefit from that too. They can’t put all the credit on you alone.”

“I understand,” Tang Zhong said. “And it also has to preserve the police’s dignity.”

“Also, because he’s a professional killer, I can’t yet find out who hired him.” the woman added.

“Understood,” Tang Zhong said. “I’ll be cautious.”

“Come back with me.”

“I still have friends waiting for me,” Tang Zhong said with a smile. “They stayed while I was detained. Now that things are over, how could I leave before them?”

Wen Jing didn’t insist and turned back the way she had come.

Tang Zhong watched her retreating back in thought, then took several deep breaths of the crisp mountain air and only then followed from a distance toward the Yunu Peak Precinct.

When Tang Zhong returned, the Audi carrying Wen Jing had already gone far away. A lawyer was left behind to handle the follow-up formalities. After all, it was a homicide, and they wanted everything properly handled so no one could seize a loose end later and make trouble.

The precinct chief, Li Botao, had changed his entire demeanor and politely invited Tang Zhong to dine with him, but Tang Zhong refused. He also invited him to rest in the VIP room at the station with his classmates that night—again refused.

When Tang Zhong reached Hua Ming, Liang Tao, and Li Yu, he smiled and said, “You all hungry?”

Ah—

Hua Ming and Liang Tao rushed over and hugged him hard, and even usually-shy Li Yu joined in.

Page (2/3)

He Na, Luo Huan, and Cheng Pei, three girls, laughed happily at the side, pleased to see their brother return. What had happened that day had been so twisted and strange that seeing Tang Zhong standing before them made it hard to believe it was real.

“Second, you’re all right now? No injuries at all?”

“Come on, who was that little girl? She was so fresh-faced. Nice figure, too—curvy and all...” Hua Ming said with a crooked grin.

“It’s good you’re unharmed,” Li Yu said.

The three girls came up to congratulate Tang Zhong too, while wondering among themselves how he had been released so quickly.

“He was a professional killer,” Tang Zhong explained. “The police confirmed his identity, so they let me go.”

“Oh. That woman was a female officer, then.” Hua Ming nodded. “I thought she had that commanding air.”

Then his smile turned even more lewd as he muttered in a low voice while hugging Tang Zhong’s neck, “When you went out for a walk, you didn’t seize any chance for little maneuvers, did you? A policewoman is more tempting than other women. It’s the allure of the uniform.”

Tang Zhong ignored him and turned to the girls. “You’re all hungry, right? Let’s go to elder sister-in-law’s place, eat something, stay the night, then catch tomorrow’s train back. How is that?”

No one had any heart to continue traveling now.

“Oh dear. It’s a shame Yihan left earlier.” He Na sighed.

Hua Ming and Liang Tao both fell silent, then shot He Na a glance of irritation.

“She was frightened. Better to rest back home,” Tang Zhong said with a smile.

His expression remained unchanged, betraying nothing.

--------

“Run, Tang Zhong, run, Tang Zhong—ah—!”

Qiu Yihan sprang upright from the bed with a cry, hands clawing the air as if shooing away a man trying to come near her.

“Yihan, my little heart...” An elderly woman ignored the slaps Yihan’s hands dealt out on her face with loud cracks and pulled her tightly into an embrace, tears in her eyes as she cried, “It’s all right now. It’s all right. It was only a dream—just a nightmare that’s ended.”

A middle-aged woman in a white dress, strikingly like Yihan by about seventy percent, sat at the bedside and grabbed her hand. “Don’t be afraid, Yihan. You’re at home. Here with grandmother. There are no bad people here. Where could there be any bad people?”

Through tear-blurred eyes, Yihan blinked and saw that it was truly her mother and grandmother.

“Grandma—!” she called, then collapsed into grandmother’s arms and sobbed.

“Good girl, good girl,” grandmother soothed, gently rubbing her back.

It took quite a while before Yihan calmed down.

“Grandma, has Tang Zhong come back?”

Page (3/3)

The old woman and the middle-aged beauty exchanged a glance, both wearing oddly guarded expressions.

Grandmother released Yihan’s body and said, “Yihan, are you hungry? Why don’t you eat something first? Grandmother made your favorite rice cakes.”

“Yes,” Yihan nodded. The shock had left her exhausted; once she got home she had collapsed on the bed and slept. Since morning she had eaten only two biscuits during a brief rest while climbing the mountain.

Yihan sat at the table and ate; grandmother and mother sat beside her.

Her mother gave grandmother a look. Grandmother nodded, then asked with a smile, “Yihan, who is this Tang Zhong?”

“My classmate.” Yihan had food in her mouth. “Grandma, has he come back? No— I need to call him.”

She fumbled around for the phone and couldn’t find it.

“Where is my phone?” Yihan asked sharply.

“Maybe you lost it,” grandmother said. “Losing a phone is one thing—if she gets hurt, what am I supposed to do—”

“Mom, call the police and tell them to release Tang Zhong.” Yihan turned to the middle-aged woman, her face full of pleading. “Please.”

“Yihan. Whether he can come back is for the police to decide. Murder is not a small matter.”

“But he’s the victim. We were just quietly watching the view at the top when he suddenly rushed at us—”

“Yihan, whether he is a victim is for the police to decide. If he truly is innocent, they’ll certainly release him. If he truly did wrong, they certainly won’t let him go.”

“And you tell me—why did you all run off to play in those hills like that? That place isn’t developed, and there was no adult with you. Do you know how dangerous it was? Did you really want your grandmother to worry herself to death?”

“Yihan, promise grandma: no more running wild. Okay?” the old woman said, wiping away tears.

“Grandma.” Yihan clasped her hand. “Don’t cry. I won’t run away like that again.”

“Yes. Yihan is a good child.” Grandmother’s tears turned to a laugh. “It’s thanks to your brother William this all turned out. Your father is abroad, your mother in Yanjing, and when this happened there was no one here to help. I called your Uncle Ji right away, and your Ji-brother came himself to fetch you. Do you know how happy I was to see you safely here?”

“Once you’re better, you should thank William properly. And when he left, he said: if you ever want to travel, shop, or go anywhere else, call him. He’ll make time to come with you. Didn’t you used to love playing with him most?”

“And promise grandmother on this: don’t run off with the girls from your dorm again—and don’t keep in contact with that boy named Tang Zhong. Something happened this time already; who knows what might happen next?”

“Your Ji-brother said the police suspect the attacker’s real target was him. Think about it—if he were a good person, would anyone take him on like that? He dragged my precious granddaughter to the edge of death. I could hate him to the bone.”

The middle-aged woman lowered her head and sipped her tea, lacking the courage to meet her daughter’s innocent eyes.

Listening to grandmother’s endless admonitions, Yihan felt her body growing heavy, and the rice cake that once tasted fragrant and sweet now seemed bitter.

It was as if she were a young moth wrapped layer by layer in the tightly woven silk web of grandmother’s love—each layer dense, airless.

She could neither move nor break free.