After I Was Gone, Mr. Song Said He Loved Me

After hearing Chi Jin’s words, it felt as though an atomic bomb exploded inside my head, devastatingly blasting apart. My hand, frozen over the keyboard, was suspended in mid-air, unable to move.

A few seconds later, I slowly turned my head towards Chi Jin and stuttered, “…What did you say?”

Chi Jin watched my face and said directly, “It was Song Yu who arranged for someone in the detention center to ‘take good care’ of your friend. And then, on the night before your friend was supposed to return to Guiyang…”

Chi Jin paused mid-sentence, hesitating to finish his thought, which immediately tightened my chest, “What happened that night? Speak up!”

Chi Jin glanced away, exhaling a short breath, “That night, while your friend was asleep… the three inmates in his cell… they…”

I stared intensely at Chi Jin’s mouth, my hands clenched into fists by my sides.

Swallowing hard, Chi Jin finally blurted out, “They… raped him.”

“…”

“You said… what… what?” My facial muscles twitched as I spoke, my words nearly slurred.

“They tormented your friend all night. By the time he was found, he had already hanged himself from the cell’s overhead beam. His lower body was too gruesome to look at. It was only from the surveillance footage that we learned he had killed himself early in the morning, when everyone else went out for morning exercise…”

“You… you’re… lying, right? You’re making this up, aren’t you?” I shook Chi Jin’s arms vigorously, desperate for him to give me the answer I wanted.

“I’m not lying to you. After the incident, the entire Yuanguang Detention Center locked down the information. They only announced that the prisoner had a sudden heart attack, was unsuccessfully resuscitated at the hospital, and died a natural death,” Chi Jin said earnestly.

“That can’t be true, absolutely not. You’re lying. Lu wouldn’t die, let alone be raped!”

“You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you? Just to deceive me, right? Say it!” My eyes reddened, and every cell in my body seethed with anger.

“Bai Yu, try to calm down, you…”

Before Chi Jin could finish, I fiercely grabbed his collar and slammed him against the elevator’s mirrored wall with a thunderous crash.

“You want me to help you against Song Yu, right? You hate Song Yu, so you made up these lies to drive a wedge between me and Song Yu, didn’t you?”

“Why would you do this? Why make up that Lu is dead? You damn bastard!” I screamed madly, my overwhelming grief stripping me of my sanity, my fists ready to strike Chi Jin’s face.

Suddenly-

A phone was thrust in front of my eyes.

“See for yourself whether I’ve lied to you or not!” Chi Jin gasped out.

The phone displayed a WeChat conversation between Chi Jin and someone else, who had sent Chi Jin a photo and a fifty-eight-second audio clip.

Although the photo appeared very small at first, I instantly recognized it as Lu.

I snatched the phone and enlarged the photo. Lu lay there quietly on the morgue slab, his eyes closed, his face a pale grey, his thin, parched lips cracked, a purple-red strangulation mark around his neck. His expression bore none of the ferocity typical of death; instead, it seemed almost resigned, as if saying farewell.

I carefully rubbed the photo of the man who seemed to be sleeping with my trembling thumb.

He was too quiet, just like when Grandpa left me, devoid of any life.

In a daze, I remembered the last time I dreamed of Lu. He hugged me so real in the dream, repeatedly calling my name, saying he would always be by my side, promising he would never abandon me.

He clearly said it.

Lu, why would you lie to me? You never lie.

The pain tore at my heart, so intense that I couldn’t breathe.

Silently, tears streamed down my face, blurring the man in the photo. I thought I would cry out loud, but found it incredibly hard to even make a sound in deep sorrow.

My mouth wide open, I stared at Lu’s photo, unable to utter a complete sentence.

I never imagined I would meet Lu again in this way.

Grandpa, dead.

Lu, also dead.

Why did this happen?

I tried so hard, even degrading myself just to save Lu, but why couldn’t even this small request be granted?

Why?

What did Lu do wrong?

He was so young and so kind, why wouldn’t fate give him a chance to live?

Why is it so hard to just live an ordinary life?

Why? Why? Why?

I put away the photo and played the 58-second audio clip. Song Yu’s voice came first, followed by another man’s. It sounded like a recording of their conversation.

For the first 20 seconds, their talk was normal, but from the 23rd second on.

The man suddenly asked Song Yu, “President Song, what do you want to do with that person?”

Song Yu first chuckled softly, then said unclearly, “Just ‘take good care’ of him before he returns to Guiyang.”

The man was silent for two seconds, then laughed and replied, “Understood!”

They both laughed loudly together, exchanged a few more pleasantries, and then ended the conversation.

Even a fool could understand what Song Yu was implying with such a collusion.

I gripped my phone so tightly it creaked, all my anger concentrated in my hands, my knuckles turning a ghastly white.

I wished the neck I was squeezing was Song Yu’s.

I had always thought of him as cold and heartless, but I never imagined he could be so sinister and cruel, arranging for someone in the detention center to secretly retaliate against Lu, using such brutal and vile methods.

Lu was proud and unyielding, with nowhere to turn for help, how desperate he must have been to choose this path.

It’s my fault.

I caused his death.

But-

Lu cannot just die so tragically in prison. I must avenge him.

I must find Song Yu. I must kill him myself.

I frantically pressed the elevator button.

Chi Jin pulled me back in one move, “What are you doing?”

I couldn’t hear anything at that moment, pushing Chi Jin away and frantically pressing the number thirty-three.

“Bai Yu, calm down,” Chi Jin tried to grab me again.

I was annoyed, swung my fist, and hit him.

Chi Jin got serious too, using all his strength to pin me against the elevator wall. He was a head taller than me; I was no match for him, but I still struggled fiercely.

All I wanted was to kill Song Yu. I wanted him to pay for Lu’s life.

No one could stop me.

“Chi Jin, get the hell away from me!” I kicked him in the stomach. He loosened his grip from the pain, and I seized the moment to break free and try to press the elevator button again.

Chi Jin straightened up and dragged me back, throwing me against the elevator wall with such force that the thudding noise made the elevator itself shudder.

I fell to the floor, my right shoulder throbbing with pain, unable to stand up immediately.

“Clear your head! What do you think you can solve by going to Song Yu now?” Chi Jin shouted down at me from above.

I kept silent, struggling to stand using my left hand to support me on the floor, but before I could get up, Chi Jin grabbed my collar and threw me out like a sack.

I groaned in pain, leaning heavily against the mirrored wall, gasping for air. Both my shoulders were numb and sore. I hadn’t realized Chi Jin had such strength, given his usually nonchalant demeanor.

“Feeling more clear-headed now, huh?” Chi Jin barked roughly.

Leaning against the mirrored wall, I looked up at him and mustered a weak, mocking smile. “Chi Jin, aren’t you the one who hates Song Yu the most? Now that I want to go to him, why are you stopping me? Isn’t this what you want to see?”

“Yes, I hate Song Yu, but what can you change by confronting him now? Even if he admits it was him, what can you do to him? Do you have any proof?”

“What about that audio clip? Isn’t that proof?” I countered.

The conversation in the audio clip between Song Yu and that person was clear and straightforward. How could there be no evidence?

“Are you an idiot? That audio is just our subjective judgment. Judges deal with concrete evidence, not just what we say. You think a few words can convict Song Yu? That’s utterly delusional. You won’t hurt him in the slightest; instead, you might end up just like your friend.”

“Then I’ll kill him, we’ll both go down together,” I shouted, my eyes red with anger.

“You can’t even beat me; how are you supposed to kill him? Do you know what Luo Yewen actually does?”

I tightened my face and scoffed coldly, “He’s Song Yu’s assistant, so what?”

Chi Jin looked at me with disdain and snorted, “On the surface, he’s Song Yu’s assistant, but in reality, he’s North America’s No. 1 Bodyguard. You think you stand a chance of getting close to Song Yu? Even if you did, with Song Yu’s cunning, you’d be behind bars before you could make a move.”

Chi Jin’s words hit me like a bucket of ice water, chilling me to the core, and also confirming my suspicions that Lu going after Song Yu with a knife was a trap set by Song Yu himself.

With Luo Yewen being so capable, how could he have allowed Lu an easy chance to hurt Song Yu?

I was foolish, realizing too late.

As Chi Jin said, I had no way to prove that Lu’s incident was orchestrated by Song Yu. That audio clip was at best a casual conversation between two people, and all the motives were my own fabrications. The law requires evidence, not just my word against someone else’s.

I’m a complete failure. I can’t avenge Lu, nor can I clear his name.

There’s nothing I can do for him, nothing but cry.

“What should I do? What can I do?”

“Lu is dead, and it’s my fault…”

“I don’t know… what else I can do?”

“I…” I collapsed to the floor, sobbing uncontrollably.

At that moment, Chi Jin crouched in front of me, his hands gripping my shoulders, looking earnestly into my eyes. “Do you remember what I once told you?”

I lifted my tear-soaked eyelids, looking at him helplessly.

Chi Jin wiped the tears from my face and smiled warmly, “Whenever you’re in trouble, come to me. I’ll help you.”