Skin - Chapter 16

By the time her father arrived, Meng Ruoshu’s clothes had been torn apart by the man. Meng Xiangyu rushed over and started fighting with the man. The man was obviously much better than him. Meng Xiangyu tried to suppress the man, but in the end the man still managed to escape.

　　After Meng Xiangyu reported the crime, Meng Ruoshu cried fiercely and resisted his approach. Meng Xiangyu was at a loss as to how to deal with the situation and comfort his stressed daughter. He could only take Meng Ruoshu away from the police to find his wife, Song Ning. After handing Meng Ruoshu over to Liu Min, he returned to the crime scene. Unexpectedly, he saw that the adult man who had molested Meng Ruoshu had died tragically in the storage room. There were many marks of stab wounds on his body.

　　After the police arrived, they searched for evidence at the crime scene and found that the murder weapon at the scene had Meng Xiangyu’s fingerprints and that the deceased also had Meng Xiangyu’s shoe prints. Because the evidence was sufficient and the motive was clear, Meng Xiangyu was quickly identified as a crime suspect.

　　After that, in the first trial, Meng Xiangyu was sentenced to fifteen years in prison for first degree murder. Such a grim news made the entire family suffer, his aunt Song Ning soon fell ill, and the young Meng Ruoshu also suffered from mental trauma because of the molestation that day. Suffering from self-inhibitory aphasia, she refused to go to school and communicate with others. Under such a situation, all the burden of the family fell on Meng Zhao.

　　After the first trial of Meng Xiangyu’s case, Meng Zhao had no choice but to seek help from Lu Shichen’s father, Lu Chengze. Later, during the second trial, Lu Chengze and his mentor Zhou Mingsheng jointly served as the defence lawyers to prove Meng Xiangyu’s innocence. In the end, he was convicted as suspected. The principle of nothingness saved Meng Xiangyu from prison, but the real murderer at that time was still at large…

　　At a red light, Meng Zhao stepped on the brakes and tightened his grip on the steering wheel. Several veins bulged on the back of his hands because of too much force.

　　When he filled out his application form after the college entrance examination, he applied for the Public Security University as his first choice. He just felt that something strange had happened and hoped to catch the real culprit. However, the case happened so long ago that he had never been able to find an effective entry point to look into it.

　　The car stopped at the hospital’s underground parking lot. Meng Zhao got out of the car and went to the inpatient building according to the address sent to him.

　　When Meng Zhao was studying at the Public Security University, Zhou Mingsheng was a visiting professor hired by the University. He gave several lectures at the University, and Meng Zhao attended most of them. Although Zhou Mingsheng is not his teacher, Meng Zhao always addressed him as “teacher” respectfully.

　　Over the years, Zhou Mingsheng would send text messages every once in a while to care about Meng Zhao’s current situation. Meng Zhao would also share important moments in his life with the other party, whether he was admitted to the OUHK or later admitted to the Municipal Bureau. He would inform Zhou Mingsheng immediately about such things.

　　Until a while ago, Zhou Mingsheng suddenly suffered a stroke and was sent to the hospital. Fortunately, he was discovered in time and it did not cause too serious damage to his brain.

　　Meng Zhao walked to the ward, raised his hand and knocked on the door.

　　The door opened, and Zhou Mingsheng’s wife stuck her head out: “It’s Xiao Meng, come on in. Have you eaten?”

　　Meng Zhao handed her the nutritional supplements: “I’ve eaten.”

　　”You bring something for me every time you visit, never bothering to listen to me when I tell you not to bring anything,” the woman scolded and let him in.

　　Because of Zhou Mingsheng’s sudden illness, his wife, who Meng Zhao had not seen for a long time, looked a little tired.

　　Mr. Zhou Mingsheng was sitting on the bed. When he saw Meng Zhao coming over, he raised his hand and waved: “Xiao Meng is here.”

　　Although his body was fine, he was still recovering, and Zhou Mingsheng’s legs, feet, and tongue were not very sharp.

　　Meng Zhao walked over and called “Teacher”, then looked at the bowl on the table: “Your wife stewed chicken soup for you, it’s so rich.”

　　Mrs. Zhou came over, picked up the bowl, continued to feed her husband, and asked Meng Zhao: “Have you really had dinner? I brought the chicken soup from home. The old man can’t eat much, and there is still a lot left. Let’s eat some more together?”

　　”I’ve really eaten. I just came to visit teacher. He seems to be recovering well.” Meng Zhao looked at Zhou Mingsheng. It was not a lie, but there were still some secret emotions that he had not expressed. In the past, every time he encountered difficulties in solving a case, he would come and chat with the old gentleman for a while.

　　Not only because Zhou Mingsheng, as a doctoral supervisor, had rich life experience and could provide him with other perspectives to look at problems, but also because just by chatting with Zhou Mingsheng for some time, Meng Zhao could think of the darkest time in high school. If he could survive back then, then there was really no need to be too sad about the current situation. Everything would eventually come to a point where the clouds would clear and the sun would come out.

　　”Have you encountered another problem with your case?” Zhou Mingsheng took a few more mouthfuls of the soup, signalled his wife not to feed him, and started chatting with Meng Zhao instead.

　　”It’s not really a problem,” Meng Zhao said. “We’re still investigating. We just encountered some emergencies.”

　　”Do your best and obey fate.” Zhou Mingsheng raised his hand and patted Meng Zhao’s arm.

　　Zhou Mingsheng moved slowly and spoke with difficulty. Seeing that he was a little sleepy, Meng Zhao couldn’t bother him more, so he stayed for a while and then left.

　　When he went out, Meng Zhao had just taken two steps when Mr. Zhou’s wife ran after him: “Hey, Xiao Meng, wait a minute.”

　　Meng Zhao stopped, looked back at her and asked, “Slow down, what’s wrong?”

　　”Do you remember we moved our house some time ago? I found some materials related to your uncle’s case in your teacher’s folder. It’s of no use to us now. I wanted to throw it away but I didn’t, thinking you would need it.” He handed the bag to Meng Zhao, “I remembered this before I went out today, so I brought it over. I had planned to wait until you came over before giving it to you, but I almost forgot about it until just now.”

　　Meng Zhao took it and took out the information inside and looked at it. It was the information about Meng Xiangyu’s case back then. In fact, he had asked someone to get the information about Meng Xiangyu’s case back then. The information handed over by his wife was not necessarily of much use.

　　But he still took out the materials, flipped through them, and said thank you: “Thank you, Mrs. Zhou. On the way here today, I was still thinking about the case from back then.” Before he could finish speaking, a piece of paper fell out of the materials. It was 32 inches in size and filled with words.

　　Meng Zhao bowed and picked up the piece of paper, turned it over and saw that it contained clues to his uncle’s case from that year.

　　He was slightly startled, not because of the content recorded on the paper, but because the handwriting looked familiar. It was not Zhou Mingsheng’s handwriting, but more like… Lu Shichen’s handwriting.

Chapter 17

　　Speaking of why Meng Zhao was familiar with Lu Shichen’s handwriting, the incident dated back to high school, when Meng Zhao used Lu Shichen’s notes.

　　To be precise, it was because of Lu Shichen’s notes that he was able to turn around his academic performance in the last six months before the college entrance examination. It was because of those notes and his hard work that he was finally admitted to the Public Security University in advance.

　　”This is…?” Meng Zhao asked his wife while holding the piece of paper.

　　”Oh, this,” his teacher’s wife turned her head and looked at it, “it seems to have been written by a child at that time. I don’t know the specific situation. I just remember that Mingsheng came back from school and said that there was a boy of seventeen or eighteen years old who had approached him for help with a criminal case. He had not taken on a case for a long time and refused at first, but the boy sat at the back of his classroom every day, silently. Mingsheng saw that he was not too old, so he was afraid that he would be skipping his own classes, so he went over and asked him what the case was, and that was when he found out about your uncle.”

　　”Speaking of it, that boy helped your family a lot, but it’s strange to say that the boy helped, but also asked us not to talk about him to others… Your teacher Zhou really agreed to his request, but so many years have passed and I feel like it’s okay to mention it now. Can you guess who that boy was?”

　　Meng Zhao looked up from the piece of paper: “Was he…Uncle Lu’s son?”

　　”Oh, you know,” the teacher’s wife laughed, “how did you guess that?”

　　”He and I were high school classmates.”

　　”Your Teacher Zhou and I still thought it was a secret. Turns out, you already knew.”

　　”That’s not true,” Meng Zhao denied, “I recognized it based on the handwriting on this piece of paper.”

　　”So are you still in contact now? If you meet him, you have to thank him properly. Mingsheng also told me at that time that Lu Chengze’s son’s personality did not resemble him at all.”

　　”Isn’t it the same?” Lu Chengze and Lu Shichen appeared in Meng Zhao’s mind. Not only did they have the same angular appearance, but they also had very similar auras. How could such a similar father and son be found in the world? He smiled. He said, “I think it’s very similar.”

　　”That’s because you didn’t meet Lu Chengze when he was young,” the teacher’s wife also laughed. “At that time, Xiao Lu was sunny and talkative. In the school, he was the standard candidate for the school president. Later, it may be due to family changes. It’s like he has become a completely different person over the years…”

　　”It turns out that Uncle Lu was like that when he was young.” Meng Zhao agreed.

　　”Isn’t that true?” The teacher’s wife asked with a smile, “Have you heard of the migrant workers’ wage demand case that Xiao Lu took the lead in winning when he was young?”

　　”I’ve heard of it,” Meng Zhao said.

　　That case was a big event that made Lu Chengze famous nationwide. At that time, a real estate company’s capital chain was broken, and thousands of migrant workers failed to ask for wages. Several chose to commit suicide overnight, and the chairman of the company with the help of powerful people, bribed the local media and kept the matter under wraps.

　　The incident occurred not long after Lu Chengze started working. It had been nearly 20 years since then. In that era when the Internet was underdeveloped, those struggling low-level migrant workers simply could not let their voices be heard by more people. The local lawyers knew how terrifying the opponent was, and no one dared to take on such a hot potato case.

　　At that time, it had been two years since Lu Chengze had graduated from university and was working in a well-known law firm. He had an iconic appearance, outstanding temperament, and top-notch abilities. He was highly valued by the leaders in the company and had a bright future. He also had a beautiful wife whom he fell in love with in college, and a lovely newborn son. His life could be described as a happy one.

　　On the day when Lu Chengze went to meet clients out of town, the direction of his life changed. He accidentally learned about the local migrant workers’ wage request incident. After discussing it with his wife, he decided to do it with his wife’s support. He stayed there and took over the case for free.

　　Lu Chengze’s law firm naturally disagreed with his approach. The case was difficult, time-consuming, and likely to be low-paying. It was impossible for any commercial company on the market to take over such a loss-making case. At that time, Lu Chengze was probably very arrogant. He simply quit the good job that others thought had a promising future and embarked on the long road of the salary repayment case, which lasted for eight long years.

　　When he finally won the lawsuit, he thought his life would be smooth sailing from then on. Unexpectedly, he had just returned and planned to go out as a family of three. Unexpectedly, he encountered a serious car accident halfway. His wife, Shi Xin, died on the spot, and he and his son Lu Shichen were hit and seriously injured…

　　In the past, he had only heard about Lu Chengze’s glorious past, but now listening to the teacher’s wife recalling Lu Chengze’s tragic past, Meng Zhao suddenly felt a little sad.

　　It turned out that Lu Shichen grew up in such an environment. His mother died in a car accident, his father’s temperament changed drastically due to grief, and the family of three that was supposed to be reunited was torn apart overnight. Thinking about it in such a way, Lu Shichen’s current personality seems to make sense.

　　”It’s really hard to say what kind of situation he was in. Such a good person, how could he encounter something like this…” The teacher’s wife sighed, “A few years ago, I kept saying that I would introduce him to someone else. He didn’t agree with it at all. In the blink of an eye, he has reached this age, and it seems that he plans to die alone like this.”

　　”It’s understandable,” Meng Zhao said, “After all, there were lovers who had shared weal and woe together.”

　　”Yes, not to mention that Shi Xin was such a good girl… By the way, Xiao Meng, do you not have a girlfriend yet?” The teacher’s wife asked, probably because she felt that the topic was too heavy, and turned her attention to Meng Zhao. She chose to turn to the topic she was good at, “Our school has recruited a new female teacher this year, she is very beautiful…”

　　As soon as she mentioned introducing Meng Zhao a girlfriend, she started talking non-stop. Meng Zhao dealt with it in a few words and found an excuse to run away.

　　To be fair, the girls introduced to him by her were actually pretty good, but Meng Zhao just felt that he had nothing to talk to. In the past, it was difficult to refuse due to her warm attitude, so he went on a blind date twice, but the whole process was like sitting on pins and needles. At the end of the day, he felt even more tired than solving crimes for 24 hours straight.

　　After that, he learned to do Tai Chi with his teacher’s wife on that topic. No matter how much she praised the candidate, he never agreed to go on a blind date again.

　　After bidding farewell to Mrs. Zhou, Meng Zhao walked out of the hospital.

　　He opened the car door and sat in, picked up the document bag, pulled out the piece of paper, and stared at it for a while under the dim street light outside the car.

　　The clues recorded on the piece of paper were not new. They were all the same ones reported by the media. They were more like a collection of clues.

　　It also recorded the time Meng Ruoshu got out of school, the time she was called out, and the time Meng Xiangyu got off work.

　　Meng Zhao remembered the biggest source of conflict between himself and Lu Shichen- the dying dog that was run over by a car was the beginning. The more important reason was that Lu Shichen had questioned Meng Ruoshu.

　　It was not long after the first trial of Meng Xiangyu’s case ended. Meng Ruoshu’s mental state had begun to improve, but her aphasia remained unchanged. She was somewhat resistant to going to school, so Meng Zhao sent her to a nearby Children’s Palace to let her gradually adapt to getting along with her peers.

　　On Saturday afternoon, Meng Zhao went to the Children’s Palace to pick up Meng Ruoshu, but saw Lu Shichen looking down at Meng Ruoshu, who didn’t even reach up to his chest. His expression was cold, as if he was asking Meng Ruoshu something, while Meng Ruoshu, who suffered from aphasia, stood opposite timidly. She shook her head, looking a little scared.

　　When Meng Zhao got closer, he heard clearly what Lu Shichen was asking- he was asking her about the specific time when Meng Ruoshu was molested that day, and how long the molestation lasted.

　　His words immediately angered Meng Zhao. For more than half a year, everyone had carefully avoided talking about that incident in front of Meng Ruoshu, hoping that she would slowly forget it. However, the words from Lu Shichen directly destroyed their efforts!

　　The moment she saw Meng Zhao, Meng Ruoshu stood there and burst into tears, crying heartbreakingly.

　　Meng Zhao clenched his fist and swung it towards Lu Shichen again.

　　Compared with the last fight on the playground, the consequences that time were much more serious. The passers-by even called the police. When the police came, they separated the two of them and took them to the police station.

　　According to regulations, people who fight would be detained, but because both of them were under the age of 18, the police tried to make the two reconcile with each other. Unexpectedly, neither of them had the idea of reconciling, and they stayed there in silence for several hours. The police were so worried that they didn’t know what to do.

　　In the end, Lu Chengze came over and apologised to Meng Zhao on Lu Shichen’s behalf, and the matter was finally ended there.

　　Meng Zhao looked at the clues recorded by time on the piece of paper with complicated emotions. Could it be that… Lu Shichen interrogated Meng Ruoshu at that time just to collect clues to prove that Meng Xiangyu was wronged, and then handed the evidence to Zhou Mingsheng and Lu Chengze?

　　But the method was really inhumane… He said clearly that Meng Ruoshu had been violated. How could he force a little girl who didn’t even reach up to his chest to do that?

　　Meng Zhao recalled his previous evaluation of Lu Shichen – he was said to be unreasonable, but occasionally, he did things that were quite humane.

　　Lu Shichen was really… difficult for normal people to understand.

　　Meng Zhao put the document bag on the passenger seat, started the car, and while driving, the image of Lu Shichen in high school lingered in his mind.

　　For so many years, he had always thought that Lu Chengze went to Zhou Mingsheng first, and that led to the cooperation between the master and the disciple. Unexpectedly, going back to the beginning, it was Lu Shichen who took the first step.

　　In Meng Zhao’s memory, Lu Shichen did skip class once in high school. To be precise, he skipped classes for an entire week.

　　Meng Zhao was in despair at the time. Not long ago, he went to beg Lu Chengze, hoping that Lu Chengze could help his uncle. Lu Chengze had a high reputation. He once made a comeback in court and helped a group of helpless migrant workers win a lawsuit. The seemingly impossible case of migrant workers demanding wages became famous nationwide.

　　But at that time, Lu Chengze was busy with work and had no time to care about whether Meng Xiangyu had been wronged or not, so he declined Meng Zhao’s requests.

　　After that day, Meng Zhao felt that there was no hope of overturning his uncle’s case, so he began to plan what would happen next. He even made plans to drop out of school. After all, once Meng Xiangyu was imprisoned, the family’s source of income would be cut off. He could not afford his aunt’s medical expenses and medical bills with savings alone. There was also the matter of after Meng Ruoshu’s tuition fees.

　　Meng Zhao had made plans. If the court still upheld the original verdict in the second trial, then he would drop out of school and join the underground boxing competitions in a neighbouring city. It was said that he could earn a lot of money if he won a fight. He felt that he had no other abilities, but his fighting skills were still acceptable.

　　At the same time, no one knew where Lu Shichen went. Lu Shichen had only asked his deskmate to take a week’s leave for him, and he didn’t even care whether the head teacher would grant the leave or not. In the end, he disappeared for a week without any reason.

　　Skipping class for a week was considered a serious disciplinary violation, and Lu Shichen was given a demerit for it. The class teacher asked him where he had been, but he just lowered his head and remained silent. When Meng Zhao had gone to the office to ask for leave from the class teacher, he bumped into that scene.

　　Later, the class teacher became furious, saying that some students only focused on developing their grades and not their moral character. She firmly criticised Lu Shichen openly and secretly. Meng Zhao remembered that when the class teacher was spitting on the podium, Lu Shichen was sitting in his seat doing exercises questions as if the person who was being criticised had nothing to do with him.

　　In high school, their class was full of top students, and life was quite ordinary every day. The fact that Lu Shichen skipped class for a week was already considered an earth-shattering event. For quite a while, the top students speculated about why Lu Shichen skipped classes.

　　Even though Meng Zhao was not in the class at that time, he was also deeply impressed by the incident.

　　Because he skipped class that week, Lu Shichen missed the weekly exam, so during the weekly exam the next week, he sat at the bottom of the class according to his grades, which was Meng Zhao’s previous position.

　　As for Meng Zhao, because the two C’s he scrawled on the answer sheet before handing in the paper were all correct, he ranked second from the bottom in the class with a total score of 4 points and sat in front of Lu Shichen.

　　Meng Zhao remembered the incident because he had just before the weekly exam he had received news that Professor Zhou Mingsheng, who often appeared on TV in legal programs and was well-known nationwide, took the initiative to come to his door and said that he wanted to pick up his uncle’s case.

　　Because of that news, Meng Zhao’s dull mood seemed to clear up. Even the maths test paper in front of him became a bit pleasing to his eye. He tried to solve a few questions, but found that he couldn’t solve any of them.

　　He heard the sound of the pen tip rubbing against the paper behind him. It had to be Lu Shichen who was busy doing calculations on the paper. From then on, Meng Zhao focused a little more on his studies. It was also at that time that he realised that because of his uncle’s unjust case, in the past two years of high school, he had barely listened to a single class. He had once fantasised about being admitted to college, but now it seemed that he would never have a chance at college.