Skin - Chapter 47

Chapter 47 – Lin Lang’s Story

　　At 6:30 in the morning, the breakfast shop in front of the Municipal Bureau set up its stall. The boss and his wife began to busy themselves greeting customers. The aroma of the dumplings wafted from far away.

　　A police car drove out of the Municipal Bureau and sped towards Wenzhao District.

　　On the way, Meng Zhao turned his cell phone over and over in his hand. He wanted to call Lu Chengze to ask about Lu Shichen’s situation, but he was worried about disturbing Lu Chengze.

　　In Meng Zhao’s eyes, Lu Chengze and Lu Shichen were cut from the same cloth, especially their aloof temperaments, which gave Meng Zhao a very similar feeling. So after his uncle Meng Xiangyu’s case was over, although he had kept in touch with Professor Zhou Mingsheng, he had no further contact with Lu Chengze.

　　Besides, Lu Shichen was injured because he helped him to avoid a car accident. Although he didn’t say it, as a parent, Lu Chengze must have had some complaints about him at this moment. Meng Zhao thought so, stopped what he was doing, and called Meng Ruoshu.

　　Meng Ruoshu was still asleep when she received the call. She asked in a dazed voice, “What are you doing, brother? It’s the middle of the night…”

　　”It’s already half past six and the day has dawned. Hurry up and get up. Help me.”

　　Meng Ruoshu was very sleepy: “What can I help you with?”

　　”My friend was seriously injured in a car accident. I have a case to handle. Please help me stay at the hospital. Do you remember Lawyer Lu Chengze? The injured one is his son. Lawyer Lu was kind to your father…”

　　”Got it. I’ll go…” There was a sound from the other end. It sounded like Meng Ruoshu had gotten up. She yawned and said, “Send me the address.”

　　”Call me when you get there, and let me know if there’s any news,” Meng Zhao instructed. “I’ll be there as soon as the case is over.”

　　After hanging up the phone, Meng Zhao felt a little relieved.

　　With Meng Ruoshu guarding there, he would be able to receive firsthand information regarding Lu Shichen’s situation.

　　Meng Zhao looked at the increasing number of vehicles on the road and thought about Lu Shichen lying on the hospital bed.

　　‘Is the unconscious Lu Shichen dreaming? If so, then it must be a good dream, a dream that is enough to arouse his will to survive.’

　　•=•=•

　　Compared to the dilapidated old building where Lin Lang lived alone, the building where Lin Lang’s parents live looks much better. It is a high-rise building with 15 or 16 floors, equipped with an elevator. It is obvious that the house was moved within the past ten years.

　　After getting off the elevator, Meng Zhao took Cheng Yun and walked in the direction to Lin Lang’s parents’ home.

　　A woman’s voice could be heard faintly from inside the door: “Hurry up and get up! I asked you to study but you didn’t want to, and you didn’t want to go to work, what do you want?!”

　　Then, the young man’s impatient roar came out: “Don’t bother me!”

　　Meng Zhao raised his hand and knocked on the door. Footsteps sounded and a woman’s voice questioned, “Who is it?”

　　A few seconds later, the door opened and a slightly older woman stuck her head out: “Who are you?”

　　”Police,” Meng Zhao showed his ID, “I’m here to ask about Lin Lang’s situation. Can we go in and talk?”

　　”Didn’t the police come to question us before? Lin Lang is fine,” the woman looked a little reluctant, “She just got mentally ill due to the excessive study pressure in her senior year of high school, and she doesn’t like to go out…”

　　”Can we go in and talk?” Meng Zhao repeated the question.

　　”…Then come in.” The woman opened the door reluctantly.

　　A middle-aged man in a sweatshirt was lying on the sofa in the living room. He was watching a show on TV about tearing apart Japanese invaders with bare hands early in the morning. When he heard the police coming, he leaned on the sofa and sat up.

　　Meng Zhao walked in, looking around the house as he walked, and chatted: “How big is this house? About 150 square meters, right? It looks like a lot of money was spent on the decoration. What do the two elders do for a living? It seems that their family background is quite solid.”

　　”Small business, small business,” the man stood up, “I just made a little money in my early years.”

　　”You made a little money? I found out that your son still has a house in his name. Buying two houses at once in such an expensive community is not something that ordinary people can afford to do small business. I’m afraid you picked up a gold brick that fell from the sky, right?”

　　The man laughed and said, “Officer, please stop joking with me.”

　　Meng Zhao’s eyes fell on the TV in front of the living room again: “This TV is not bad, do you have the habit of watching the news?”

　　”I don’t watch it much. I’m old, so I watch more TV dramas.” The man smiled and looked a little embarrassed, as if he realized that Meng Zhao came with bad intentions.

　　”Then you can take a look today. A major imprisonment case has just occurred in Mingtan City. It will be exposed in the news soon. Who do you think the main culprit is?” Meng Zhao paused deliberately. “You will never guess that it is Wu Weihan, who used to be in the same class with Lin Lang.”

　　When they heard the name “Wu Weihan”, the expressions of the old couple in front of them changed at the same time.

　　”I heard that Lin Lang was in a relationship with Wu Weihan. Do you two elders know about this? The Wu family is one of the richest family in Ming Tan City, but I can’t understand why the Wu family is so generous to give away two houses just for a premature relationship? One for you to live in, and one for your son as a wedding house. As for Lin Lang, the cause of this windfall, she never goes out anyway, so you just let her fend for herself in the old house. Am I right?” Meng Zhao turned and looked at the couple.

　　He had not yet changed his blood-stained shirt, and his eyeballs were covered with dense bloodshot after staying up all night. At first glance, he did not look like a policeman representing justice, but more like a desperado seeking revenge.

　　The couple fell silent, and Meng Zhao stopped talking too. He stared at the two men, forcing them to speak.

　　After a while, the woman stammered and explained, “Lin Lang, Lin Lang… We also wanted her to move in, but she just refused to go out…”

　　”Why doesn’t Lin Lang want to go out? Tell me, what happened back then that made Lin Lang become what she is now?” Meng Zhao changed his chatty tone and became serious. “Wu Weihan is doomed. If you continue to hide this matter, you will be his accomplices.”

　　”We don’t know anything…” The woman was obviously a little panicked, “Lin Lang was in her third year of high school and she was under too much pressure from studying, so she didn’t go out…”

　　At this moment, the door of a bedroom behind him was suddenly pushed open, and a thin young man walked out. He looked at Meng Zhao and interrupted the woman: “It’s not that the study pressure is too great, they are just lying!”

　　”Get back there, it’s none of your business!” The man who had been silent all this time turned his head and yelled at the young man in a hoarse voice.

　　The sudden change was unexpected. Meng Zhao turned his head and looked at the young man.

　　The young man was about 18 or 19 years old, with hair covering his eyes, and looked like a common street thug. Meng Zhao thought of the conversation he had just heard at the door, and it seemed that the young man was very dissatisfied with his parents’ behavior.

　　”Are you Lin Lang’s younger brother?” Meng Zhao looked at him and asked.

　　The young man hummed.

　　”Do you know what happened back then?”

　　”I know,” the young man turned his head away and lowered his voice, “It was Wu Weihan and others who raped my sister. In order to prevent them from calling the police, they gave them hush money. My sister wanted to call the police at the time, but they locked her up…”

　　”What are you talking about?!” The man walked over, raised his hand, and slapped the young man hard on the back of his neck, “You traitor!”

　　Meng Zhao stretched out his hand and pulled the young man behind him, saving him from the man’s palm: “Come with me.”

　　He looked at the couple in front of him: “Lin Lang wanted to call the police back then, but you locked her up just for these two houses? Suspected of illegal imprisonment, you two should wait for the summons in the near future.”

　　”Officer, we are not imprisoning her,” the woman explained hurriedly. “How can it be imprisonment? How can a girl face others after such a thing happened to her? It would not look good for her if it got out. We are doing this for her…”

　　”It’s not that it’s bad for her, it’s just that it’s bad for your reputation, right?” Meng Zhao looked at the disgusting couple in front of him and said, “As parents, if you do this, are you still human?”

　　After he said that, he grabbed the young man’s arm and took him away from the house.

　　After getting in the car, Meng Zhao asked the young man to sit in the driving seat, and Cheng Yun sat in the back to record.

　　”We need the recording as evidence. What you said about Lin Lang being gang-raped by Wu Weihan and others ten years ago, is that true?”

　　The young man nodded.

　　”Speak.” Meng Zhao said.

　　”It’s true.”

　　”How did you determine that? Did you see it with your own eyes?”

　　”My sister was brought back that morning, covered in blood,” the young man said with his head down. “I didn’t know at first, but then Wu Weihan’s father sent someone to talk to my parents, and I heard it outside the door.”

　　”You said your sister was locked up by your parents at the time. You never thought of helping her?”

　　”I don’t have the key…” the young man stammered.

　　”Did you ever think of calling the police for her?”

　　”I… I regret that incident,” the young man held his head in pain, “I was afraid of them at the time. If I helped him, they would scold me…”

　　Meng Zhao sighed. Ten years ago, the boy in front of him should have been only eight or nine years old. He grew up with such beastly parents. Although he was cowardly, he at least still had a conscience. It was meaningless to blame him now. Meng Zhao continued to ask other questions: “Where is the dress your sister was wearing at the time? Is it still there?”

　　The young man calmed down for a while and raised his head slightly: “It should be with my sister. My parents wanted to take it, but my sister refused to let go of it as if she was crazy. In the end, she didn’t let them take it. My parents lied to that person and told him that they burned the clothes.”

　　”Did that person believe it?”

　　”I have no idea……”

　　Meng Zhao thought for a moment and asked again: “Your sister suffers from mental illness and has not left the house for ten years. Can she still communicate normally with others?”

　　”She only has occasional attacks. When she’s not having an attack, she’s still normal. When I bring her food, I occasionally talk to her.”

　　”We now need your sister to help prove Wu Weihan’s crimes. Do you think she will agree to talk to the police?”

　　The young man shook his head: “She won’t see anyone. If you go in, she will hide and lock the room. She is afraid of seeing people now.”

　　”She doesn’t resist talking to you, right? Then can you try to persuade her to communicate with the police?”

　　The young man shook his head again: “She won’t listen to me. She probably hates me too… She hates our whole family after what happened.”

　　‘Refusing to see people, resisting communication… This is a difficult task.’ Meng Zhao is also a little worried. If he wants Lin Lang to cooperate in identifying Wu Weihan, he must make her let down her guard first. But can this task be completed in a short time?

　　Meng Zhao thought for a moment and made a decision. He said to Lin Lang’s brother, “You have the key to Lin Lang’s place, right? You will open the door and go in later. You have two tasks. One is to hand over the intercom to ensure that Lin Lang can hear what the police say inside the door. The second is to lead Lin Lang to the door so that it is convenient for us to pass things inside. Cheng Yun, you are responsible for persuading Lin Lang to open the door. We will first consider asking Lin Lang to voluntarily testify and hand over physical evidence. If that is not possible, we will consider going into the house to search for evidence.”

　　”Okay.” Cheng Yun nodded.

　　•=•=•

　　Compared with the bustling scene at her parents’ house early in the morning, the shabby building where Lin Lang lived was extremely deserted.

　　While walking up the stairs, Meng Zhao was thinking that if Lin Lang initially wanted to call the police, then her later state of not leaving the house and avoiding people was probably not only related to the experience of being gang-raped. It might have also been closely related to her parents’ attitude.

　　Just now, her mother kept saying, “How can a girl face people after something like this happened?” It is hard to imagine how desperate a girl must have been after being violated and then having to endure insults from her family, which led to the current situation…

　　Although Wenzhao High School is a private school, in order to ensure the admission rate, it offers high scholarships every year to attract a large number of students who rank at the top of the high school entrance examination. Judging from Lin Lang’s family situation, Lin Lang’s academic performance must have been very good back then. It is really unbearable that such a girl has ended up in her current situation.

　　There were still a few steps to Lin Lang’s door. Meng Zhao stopped and let Cheng Yun go up by herself.

　　Because of what happened to Meng Ruoshu before, he understood the mentality of girls who had been violated, especially since Lin Lang had no contact with the outside world in the past ten years. The sudden contact with a man would only make Lin Lang feel more resistant.

　　Lin Lang’s brother walked in front, opened the door with the key, and walked in with the intercom. Cheng Yun was waiting outside the door.

　　A few minutes later, Cheng Yun heard footsteps inside the door and Lin Lang walked to the door.

　　The intercom in his hand also rang at this time. It was the young man’s voice: “Go ahead and talk. My sister can hear you.”

　　Cheng Yun subconsciously glanced at Meng Zhao who was standing below. Meng Zhao nodded at him. Cheng Yun took a deep breath and spoke into the walkie-talkie in his hand.

　　”Lin Lang, I’m a police officer, about the same age as you,” Cheng Yun said, trying to lower Lin Lang’s guard. “Don’t be afraid. I’ll slip my ID under the door and you can check it.”

　　There was no sound in the house, but Cheng Yun knew that Lin Lang was behind the door. She was like a timid burrowing animal, extremely alert to any movement.

　　Cheng Yun squatted down and stuffed half of her police ID under the door, leaving the other half sticking out. If Lin Lang was willing to take the police ID in to have a look, it would mean that she was still willing to contact the police, but after waiting for a long time, the police ID was still stuck under the door, not moving at all.

　　Cheng Yun turned to look at Meng Zhao who was standing at the stairs, and Meng Zhao mouthed “Wu Weihan” to her.

　　Cheng Yun nodded and continued to talk to the door: “Lin Lang, we already know what Wu Weihan did back then. In fact, you are not the only victim in this incident. There are many victims like you. Compared with them, you are lucky. Although you may feel that the word lucky should never be associated with you, Lin Lang, the other girls were locked in the basement. They have been continuously injected with drugs for ten years. It is very likely that they will never wake up. We have caught Wu Weihan now, but those girls are still unable to wake up and cannot provide evidence of his crimes. As victims, can you help them and also help yourself back then?”

　　There was still no movement in the house, and Meng Zhao was at a loss what to do.

　　Cheng Yun’s words were spoken from the bottom of her heart, and he himself might not be able to do better. Is Lin Lang behind the door looking indifferent or slightly shaken at this moment?

　　Meng Zhao suddenly thought of the argument he had with Lu Shichen in the car. At this moment, he suddenly wanted to admit that Lu Shichen was right. For a victim like Lin Lang, this justice that was ten years late might not mean anything to her at all.

　　Of course he could apply for a search warrant and break in to find evidence of Wu Weihan’s crime, but if even the police barged in without warning, would this girl who had been violated and refused to see anyone become even more desperate about the world? Would this action ruin her last chance to get out?

　　But if they just waited for Lin Lang to slowly come out, open her heart to the police, tell the truth about what happened that year, and provide physical evidence of the abuse, will the remaining dozen hours really be enough?

　　Meng Zhao was thinking about how to make a breakthrough from Lin Lang, when his cell phone vibrated.

　　He took the phone and took a look. It was a call from Meng Ruoshu.

　　Meng Zhao didn’t have time to communicate with Cheng Yun. He walked down the stairs lightly and answered Meng Ruoshu’s call: “What’s going on?”

　　On the other end of the phone, Meng Ruoshu said: “Brother, your friend’s heartbeat is suddenly very unstable. The doctor said the situation is not good. Do you want to come and take a look…?”

　　”I’ll be there now.” Meng Zhao’s heart rate increased suddenly and he walked down the stairs quickly.

　　”Okay, drive slowly on the road.”

　　After hanging up the phone, Meng Zhao walked out of the corridor and ran towards the car while calling Cheng Yun: “Lu Shichen is not in good condition. I’m going to the hospital. You stay here with Lin Lang. She hasn’t communicated with anyone in so many years. It’s normal for her to be wary of people. Find a way to talk to her more and let her lower her guard. I’ll find a few female police officers from the police station to assist you.”

　　Cheng Yun responded: “Don’t worry, Brother Zhao, I will do it well.”

　　Meng Zhao got in the car, stepped on the accelerator, and drove towards the road.