Skin - Chapter 65 PT2

Chapter 65 PT2 – The Start to Zhao Tong’s Misery

　When they arrived at the hospital and Meng Zhao pushed the door and entered the ward, the medical staff were doing various tests on Xu Yingying.

　　Xu Yingying’s eyes were fixed on a certain place in the ward. When she heard someone coming in, she looked at the three people who came over, her eyes seemed a little sluggish. It seemed that the side effects of the drug had not been completely eliminated.

　　”We are the police,” Meng Zhao walked forward, took out his ID and handed it to Xu Yingying, and asked her, “Do you remember what happened before you fell into a coma?”

　　Xu Yingying nodded.

　　”Can you cooperate in giving a statement now?”

　　”Okay.” Xu Yingying was still very weak.

　　The three of them sat down next to Xu Yingying’s bed. Cheng Yun turned on the recorder, and Meng Zhao first asked some basic questions about Xu Yingying, and then quickly got to the point: “Who kidnapped you to the basement of the sanatorium?”

　　Xu Yingying shook her head: “I don’t know that person, I just know that he seemed to be a staff member of the nursing home.”

　　”Why did you go to Wen Yi Nursing Home that day?”

　　Xu Yingying paused before saying, “My boyfriend asked me to go there.”

　　”Your boyfriend? Is it Wu Weihan?” Meng Zhao thought of the executive he had met at Qingtong Real Estate before, “Or is it Gao Hui?”

　　Xu Yingying lowered her head and was silent for a while before she answered, “It’s Gao Hui.”

　　Seeing Xu Yingying’s hesitation when she mentioned the word “boyfriend”, and thinking of what Gao Hui said about them being “friends with benefits”, and that Xu Yingying had been in and out of hotels in this city many times, Meng Zhao had some guesses about the relationship between Xu Yingying and Gao Hui.

　　But he didn’t say it clearly, and continued to ask: “Why did he ask you to go to the nursing home?”

　　”He wanted me to accompany him to see the conditions inside the nursing home. He said he wanted to find a place where his parents could live in peace of mind.”

　　”So the content of the phone call between you and Gao Hui before you disappeared was that he asked you to accompany him to the sanatorium? What happened after you went to the sanatorium?”

　　”After arriving at the sanatorium, a staff member came to take me in. I followed him for a while, and then the man suddenly turned around and sprayed something on my face. Then I don’t remember anything.”

　　”So it was Gao Hui who lured you to the sanatorium and kidnapped you that day?”

　　”No.” Xu Yingying immediately looked up at Meng Zhao, “Gao Hui is not that kind of person. He won’t harm me. He must have been instructed by Wu Weihan.”

　　”What do you mean?”

　　”The day before it happened, I told him about Wu Weihan.”

　　”What did you say about Wu Weihan? Please give me more details.”

　　Xu Yingying’s mouth opened and closed, and her mental state was obviously worse. She spoke with difficulty: “Zhou Yan is dead. I was very scared, so I told Gao Hui what happened back then…”

　　”What happened back then?” Meng Zhao asked immediately. He was sensitive to the fact that what Xu Yingying was going to say next would not only expose Wu Weihan’s crimes back then, but also reveal the truth about Zhao Tong’s suicide. “Is it about Zhao Tong?”

　　Xu Yingying didn’t say anything. She raised her hand to cover the lower half of her face, crying: “I’m sorry for Zhao Tong, I’m not a human…”

　　Meng Zhao immediately thought of what Zhao Tong had written in his diary. He did not care about Xu Yingying’s feelings. He looked at her with a stern expression and continued to ask, “Zhao Tong helped you before, right? What did he help you with? Why do you feel sorry for him?”

　　In just a moment, Xu Yingying burst into tears: “He reminded me to stay away from Wu Weihan…”

　　Meng Zhao frowned: “Not only did you not listen to Zhao Tong, you also told Wu Weihan what he said, right?”

　　Xu Yingying nodded while crying.

　　”How did Zhao Tong know about Wu Weihan?”

　　Xu Yingying shook her head: “I don’t know.”

　　Seeing that Xu Yingying was already crying, Meng Zhao stood up and said, “Let’s re-examine the case later. Cheng Yun, notify the Municipal Bureau immediately and arrest Gao Hui.”

　　Meng Zhao and Lu Shichen walked out of the ward and stood in the corridor, sorting out the information Xu Yingying had just provided.

　　”If the starting point of this bullying case was because Zhao Tong learned the truth about Wu Weihan, then how did Zhao Tong know about it?”

　　After a moment, Meng Zhao looked up at Lu Shichen, and they both said a name at the same time: “Lin Lang.”

　　”Yes,” Meng Zhao continued, “Zhao Tong is Lin Lang’s neighbor, and the two had a good relationship. He may have learned about Wu Weihan from Lin Lang. However, after Lin Lang was sexually assaulted, wasn’t she locked up by her family? Moreover, since then, Lin Lang had refused to go out and see people. How would she have told Zhao Tong about this?”

　　A few minutes later, the two of them pieced together the truth of the past based on the clues they had and the facts revealed by Xu Yingying.

　　Zhao Tong and Lin Lang were of the same age and had been neighbors since childhood. They often went to and from school together and had a very close relationship.

　　It was not until Lin Lang and Wu Weihan started dating that Wu Weihan began to frequently pick up and drop off Lin Lang to and from school.

　　This relationship lasted for two months. Lin Lang’s birthday happened to be a weekend, so Wu Weihan called together his friends and held a birthday party for Lin Lang.

　　With her parents all focusing on her younger brother, Lin Lang felt left out at home, and no one would remember her birthday on this day. Upon learning that her boyfriend had reserved a place to celebrate her birthday, Lin Lang was very happy and dressed up carefully.

　　Before leaving, she knocked on her neighbor’s door and invited her childhood friend, Zhao Tong, to go with her.

　　”Happy birthday, but I won’t go.” Zhao Tong was shy by nature and didn’t like to get along with strangers. Wu Weihan was a rich second-generation with good conditions and a big shot in the class. He and Zhao Tong were completely different people and they hardly ever met. “We don’t know each other well, so it would be awkward if I went. Just have fun with them.”

　　Zhao Tong declined Lin Lang’s invitation, so Lin Lang went alone.

　　That night, Zhao Tong went to bed on time as usual, and had no idea of the misfortune that Lin Lang had encountered.

　But the old building had poor sound insulation, and Zhao Tong’s bedroom was right next door, so near dawn he was awakened by the noise from next door.

　　There seemed to be a quarrel next door. It was the voice of Lin Lang’s mother, and several unfamiliar voices. Zhao Tong heard the name “Lin Lang” and judged from the tone of their quarrel that something bad seemed to have happened.

　　Zhao Tong climbed up from the bed, walked to the door, and looked outside through the peephole.

　　He opened his eyes wide and saw Lin Lang being supported by someone. She seemed unconscious, and the lower half of her skirt was stained with blood.

　　Zhao Tong pushed open the door: “Auntie, what happened to Lin Lang?”

　　Unexpectedly, when Lin Lang’s mother saw Zhao Tong, she immediately snatched Lin Lang from the man as if facing a great enemy and closed the door.

　　Since then, Zhao Tong never saw Lin Lang again.

　　He began to frequently hear Lin Lang’s uncontrolled screaming and crying from the next door, as well as Lin Lang’s mother’s scolding.

　　He speculated what happened that night. Lin Lang went to attend the birthday party held for her by Wu Weihan. Could this incident be related to Wu Weihan?

　　Zhao Tong tried to call Lin Lang and knock on her door, but was always evaded by Lin Lang’s mother.

　　Lin Lang’s mother told him that Lin Lang was mentally unstable due to too much pressure from studying, but Zhao Tong didn’t believe it.

　　He had a vague guess about what had happened to Lin Lang, but he could not find a way to verify his guess.

　　At the same time, his girlfriend had an accident and had to drop out of school, but Wu Weihan, who was his classmate, acted as if nothing had happened. He didn’t even go to see Lin Lang. Zhao Tong felt more and more that Lin Lang’s affairs were related to Wu Weihan.

　　Wu Weihan started a new relationship at school. This time his love interest was Xu Yulin, a classmate. Zhao Tong began to observe Wu Weihan and Xu Yulin frequently. He was a little hesitant whether to tell Xu Yulin about Lin Lang.

　　He had never spoken to Xu Yulin, and his knowledge of what happened to Lin Lang was all based on speculation. If he rashly brought up this matter, would Xu Yulin believe it?

　　But something frightened Zhao Tong happened. After a winter vacation, Xu Yulin did not come to school and her name disappeared from the class’ register. From what her friends told, Xu Yulin had a quarrel with her family, ran away from home and disappeared.

　　Was Xu Yulin’s disappearance really that simple? Thinking of what he saw through the peephole that morning, and looking at Wu Weihan who was still very popular in school, Zhao Tong felt a chill.

　　Xu Yulin’s disappearance did not bring any negative emotions to Wu Weihan, and he soon started dating his next girlfriend, Xu Yingying.

　　Zhao Tong couldn’t feel at ease. He always felt that Xu Yulin’s disappearance had its own reasons. If he had mentioned Lin Lang’s experience to Xu Yulin earlier, perhaps Xu Yulin would not have disappeared. He couldn’t watch another girl get into trouble.

　　As soon as the school bell rang, students in the class stood up immediately. The students who lived in the dormitory went to the cafeteria in groups of three or four, while the day students quickly began to pack their bags.

　　Zhao Tong didn’t move. He pretended to sit at his seat and do his homework, but he glanced at Wu Weihan and Xu Yingying not far away.

　　Wu Weihan was one of the day students. He slung his school bag over his shoulder and told Xu Yingying that he was leaving first.

　　Seeing Wu Weihan leave, Zhao Tong stood up from his seat, walked quickly to Xu Yingying’s side, and whispered, “Come out with me for a moment.”

　　Although she had never spoken to Zhao Tong before, Xu Yingying was still aroused by the deliberately lowered tone. She followed Zhao Tong out of the classroom and walked to a secluded corner of the corridor.

　　”You have to be careful of Wu Weihan.” After stopping, Zhao Tong said to Xu Yingying.

　　”What’s wrong?” Xu Yingying was a little surprised.

　　”Lin Lang and Xu Yulin both had accidents. Before the accidents, they were both in a relationship with Wu Weihan.”

　　After hearing his words, Xu Yingying was stunned for a moment.

　　”Lin Lang is my neighbor. I saw what happened to her with my own eyes. You must be careful.” After Zhao Tong warned her, he turned and left.

　　Xu Yingying stood there, and Zhao Tong’s words made her feel a little scared.

　　Lin Lang from the next class suddenly dropped out of school, but no one in the school knew the reason. What on earth happened to her?

　　Xu Yulin disappeared inexplicably during the winter vacation. Was it really related to Wu Weihan?

　　If what Zhao Tong told was true, would she become Wu Weihan’s third “prey”?

　　Should she distance himself from Wu Weihan? But if Wu Weihan noticed that something was wrong, would she be in the same dangerous situation?

　　Or… was she going to take a risky step and turn this news into a bargaining chip? But was Zhao Tong’s news really accurate? Could it be that the incidents of Lin Lang and Xu Yulin were just a coincidence and had nothing to do with Wu Weihan?

　　Xu Yingying planned to test Wu Weihan.