Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Shen Ting’an was the only elder of the Shen family to survive after the tragedy occurred.

Over the years, he had handled her mother’s funeral arrangements.

He had helped her keep her job at the Newspaper Office.

When she was at her poorest, he had pawned his pocket watch to send her money.

She could suspect anyone.

But it was hard to suspect him.

Yet that night, Zhou Huaiyan had said:

“Someone close to you isn’t clean.”

Shen Ting’an’s appearance had been too convenient.

So convenient it was as if he had been listening outside the door all along.

“Uncle,” Shen Zhaoxue said with a smile. “It was stuffy inside, so I came out for some air.”

Shen Ting’an looked at Zhou Huaiyan.

“Officer Zhou is here as well.”

“Mr. Shen.”

The two men shook hands.

Shen Zhaoxue noticed Zhou Huaiyan’s thumb brush against Shen Ting’an’s cuff.

There was ash there.

It wasn’t cigarette ash.

It was the black ash left behind by burnt photographic paper.

Shen Zhaoxue’s heart sank.

Shen Ting’an soon led her away.

In the car, he asked, “Are you still in contact with Zhou Huaiyan?”

“He interrogated me.”

“Zhaoxue, he’s not the young master of the Zhou family he used to be.”

“I know.”

Shen Ting’an sighed. “Don’t touch the matters from three years ago anymore. If your father were still alive, he would want you to be safe.”

Shen Zhaoxue gazed out the window.

“But he died under suspicious circumstances.”

“There are some truths that the living cannot bear.”

She turned her head.

“Have you had to bear them, Uncle?”

Shen Ting’an was stunned.

Then he gave a bitter smile. “Do you even suspect your own uncle now?”

Shen Zhaoxue didn’t answer.

The next day, she obtained the files of the old case from Old Qin.

The records were severely fragmented.

Many pages had been torn out.

The remaining testimony all pointed toward the Zhou family.

But at the very end, a thin slip of paper was tucked inside.

A prison visitation record.

Before her father died, the last person he saw was Shen Ting’an.

Not someone from the Zhou family.

Not a lawyer.

It was her uncle.

Shen Zhaoxue gripped that page tightly.

Old Qin said in a low voice, “Zhaoxue, don’t be too quick to judge.”

“I need to see Zhou Huaiyan.”

“Now?”

“Now.”

She went to Zhou Huaiyan’s manor.

The gatekeeper wouldn’t let her in.

She waited in a teahouse across the street until dusk.

She saw Adjutant Lu lead men out carrying two wooden crates.

The crates were marked with seals from the Secret Service Department.

She followed them quietly.

The car stopped at an old warehouse on North Sichuan Road.

She circled to the back window. Just as she pried open a crack, a light flickered on inside.

Zhou Huaiyan stood under the light.

It was as if he had known she would come.

“Come in.”

Shen Zhaoxue climbed through the window and landed on the floor.

She was still clutching a small knife in her hand.

The warehouse was filled with stacks of case files.

Zhou Huaiyan pulled a file from one of the crates.

“This is what you wanted to see.”

“Why give it to me?”

“Because someone else wants you to see it too. But what he gives you will be fake.”

She flipped open the file.

The first page was a membership list for the Yongning Society.

Shen’s father.

Zhou Mingli.

Shen Ting’an.

Shen Zhaoxue looked up.

Zhou Huaiyan said, “Three years ago, the person who truly left the table early wasn’t my father. It was Shen Ting’an.”

“Where is the evidence?”

“I have it.”

“Then why didn’t you say so earlier?”

The warehouse fell silent.

Zhou Huaiyan looked at her.

His gaze looked as though it had been suppressed for many years.

“Because if I had said it, you would have died.”

Shen Zhaoxue laughed.

Yet her eyes turned red.

“You’re always like this. Deciding for me what I should know and what I shouldn’t. Who gets to live and who I should hate. Did you ever ask me?”

“I did.”

“When?”

“The night before the wedding.”

She froze.

Zhou Huaiyan said, “I went to see you. You were asleep. Your wedding dress was laid out beside you.”

“I asked you, if I didn’t come tomorrow, would you keep on living?”

Shen Zhaoxue’s breathing hitched.

“You talked in your sleep,” he gave a faint, pained smile. “You said, ‘Zhou Huaiyan, if you dare not to show up, I’ll never forgive you as long as I live.'”