Skin - Chapter 66

T/N:

I owe you guys a huge apology. First of all, i made a mistake. The ch66 you guys read earlier, that is referring to last week’s update (04/05), wasnt ch66. There was a mixup and i uploaded the wrong chapter. So now im uploading the right chapter 66 and ill upload chapter 67 later, in a day or too. Really sorry.

Chapter 66 – The Video

　　When Meng Zhao and Lu Shichen returned to the ward, Xu Yingying had calmed down a little.

　　Meng Zhao sat down and said to Xu Yingying, “Let’s continue. Let’s stop here for the past and talk about your imprisonment.”

　　”If you had only told Gao Hui about this past experience, Wu Weihan would not have taken such extreme actions.” After a pause, Meng Zhao looked at her and said, “Did you say anything else?”

　　Xu Yingying’s mental state was even worse than before. She was silent for a while and whispered, “I told him that I wanted to report it to the police.”

　　”Report to the police? It’s been so many years since the incident happened. Do you think it’s possible to overturn the verdict based on your confession alone?” Meng Zhao stared at her and suddenly had some guesses, “Or do you have the key evidence that could have put Wu Weihan to death?”

　　Xu Yingying hesitated for a moment and nodded.

　　”What evidence?”

　　”I was at the scene and secretly recorded a video.” Xu Yingying paused for a moment and continued, “Zhao Tong’s mental state had already collapsed, but Wu Weihan showed no intention of stopping. I couldn’t bear to watch it anymore, so I planned to sneak away. But when I was about to go down the stairs, I was afraid of getting into trouble, so I found a sheltered place to hide and recorded the scene…”

　　Xu Yingying actually recorded the video at that time… Looking at the weak Xu Yingying in front of him, and thinking about what she did in the whole incident, Meng Zhao thought: ‘Can’t stand it? Then why didn’t she step forward to stop Wu Weihan? She actually had the leisure to secretly record the video… She must have seen that something was about to happen, and the first thing she thought of was to leave quickly to clear herself, and then suddenly changed her mind and secretly recorded the video, wanting to use this video as a trump card to protect herself and fight against Wu Weihan.’

　　But Meng Zhao didn’t say it. He looked at Xu Yingying and asked, “Where is the video? Do you still have it?”

　　Xu Yingying nodded: “At my home.”

　　Meng Zhao turned his head and looked at Lu Shichen. He originally thought that Xu Yingying could only give a confession after waking up, but he didn’t expect that she actually kept the video of the scene. In this way, the school bullying case will go for a retrial, and Wu Weihan will be held accountable.

　　”Please be more specific about the location of the video.” Meng Zhao said to Xu Yingying.

　　Xu Yingying told Meng Zhao the specific location where the video was stored. Meng Zhao immediately called a police friend from the Baoyue District Police Station and asked him to go to Xu Yingying’s home to find the video.

　　Ten minutes later, the friend from the police station sent the video to Meng Zhao’s mobile phone.

　　Meng Zhao turned on the video and saw on the screen that several students in school uniforms were surrounding Zhao Tong, who was wearing a red dress. Some of them were shouting insults at him, while others were pushing him.

　　Due to Xu Yingying’s shooting angle and the pixel of her mobile phone at the time, the video looked very far away and the picture was blurry, and the faces of several people could not be seen clearly.

　　The moment he saw the video, Meng Zhao’s expression changed.

　　Lu Shichen noticed his abnormality and asked, “Is it the video that Zhao Yunhua saw in the Internet cafe?”

　　”Yeah.” Meng Zhao looked up and asked Xu Yingying, “Who else did you give this video to? Wu Weihan?”

　　”No,” Xu Yingying shook her head and denied, “If Wu Weihan knew that I secretly recorded the video at that time, he would kill me.” After hesitating for a moment, she said, “I…I gave it to Zhou Yan.”

　　”Zhou Yan?” Meng Zhao’s heart was shocked and he immediately asked, “When?”

　　”About half a year ago, Zhou Yan found me and said he wanted to overturn Zhao Tong’s case. He asked me if I had any evidence. After Zhao Tong’s death, I always felt guilty and often dreamed of Zhao Tong asking for help and then committing suicide. So when Zhou Yan came to me, I was hesitant again and again, but finally gave him the video. He promised me that he would keep it a secret, and I didn’t want to live in the shadow of Zhao Tong’s death all my life…”

　　Thinking that the reason why Zhao Tong was bullied was because of this person in front of him, and then thinking of Zhao Yunhua’s tragic death, Meng Zhao could no longer control himself and sneered: “Conscience.”

　　Xu Yingying lowered her head and was silent for a moment before she spoke again: “Officer Meng, I know you look down on me. To be honest, I look down on myself too. I am sorry to Zhao Tong and Zhou Yan. I deserve what I have become today. But back then… I only wanted to get rid of my family and my nominal parents by relying on Wu Weihan.”

　　Xu Yingying couldn’t control her emotions when she said this: “You have no idea how it feels to live under someone else’s roof and suffer humiliation since childhood. I studied hard, helped them with work, and never caused them any trouble. I tried my best to please them, hoping that one day they would treat me as their own child. But since they gave birth to their own son, they didn’t want me to go to school anymore, nor did they want me to spend their money anymore. They even want to marry me off early…”

　　Xu Yingying became very emotional, tears falling down her cheeks: “I don’t want to be treated coldly and bossed around by them my whole life. I also wanted to go to school, and I wanted to have freedom and my own life like you guys…”

　　Looking at Xu Yingying in front of him, Meng Zhao’s mood became more and more complicated. At this moment, he didn’t know what else he could do except remain silent.

　　After taking a deep breath, Xu Yingying tried to calm herself down: “After Zhou Yan’s death, I could no longer remain silent with peace of mind. I used to think that Zhou Yan’s death was likely to mean that Wu Weihan already knew about the existence of this video. That’s why I wanted to rely on Gao Hui’s power to hand this video over to the police. I hoped the police and Gao Hui could protect my safety…”

　　”How did Wu Weihan know about the existence of this video?” Meng Zhao frowned and looked at Xu Yingying, “Are you sure you didn’t tell him about it?”

　　”No.” Xu Yingying shook her head. “I really don’t know how Wu Weihan got the video. Their family is so powerful. Maybe Zhou Yan and I have been targeted since the moment he found me.”

　　After finishing the confession and coming out of the ward, Meng Zhao and Lu Shichen sorted out the whole story: “So the whole thing that happened is that Zhou Yan got this video from Xu Yingying, and wanted to use it to overturn the case for Zhao Tong and Zhao Yunhua. But this matter was known to Wu Weihan. Wu Weihan processed the audio of the video, forged it to be Zhou Yan’s voice, and sent it to Zhao Yunhua, inducing her to accidentally kill Zhou Yan. After Zhao Yunhua failed, his people carried out a second attack on Zhou Yan?”

　　”But the question is,” Meng Zhao fell into thought, “if only Xu Yingying and Zhou Yan knew about this video, then how did Wu Weihan know about it? And if he knew about it right away, why did he wait for half a year before taking action? Did something happen in between?”

　　He raised his hand and held Lu Shichen’s arm: “Let’s go to the detention center to see Wu Weihan and see what he has to say.”

　　As soon as they touched, Meng Zhao realized something and let go of Lu Shichen. The action seemed very deliberate.

　　‘Habits are really scary,’ Meng Zhao thought to himself, ‘when did I develop the habit of pulling Lu Shichen for no reason?’

　　As soon as he walked out of the hospital, Meng Zhao’s phone rang. It was Director Xu calling: “Xiao Meng, come over to my place.”

　　”Director Xu, I’m in the hospital. I have collected important evidence and information from Xu Yingying. Wu Weihan must be interrogated immediately.” Meng Zhao said into the phone.

　　”Come over now. Wu Weihan can’t get away. Let someone else take care of the interrogation first.” Director Xu said and hung up the phone.

　　”Director Xu asked me to come over right away,” Meng Zhao put away his phone and looked at Cheng Yun, “Xiao Cheng, call Ren Bin and go interrogate Wu Weihan together.”

　　”Should I interrogate Wu Weihan?” Cheng Yun immediately widened her eyes, looking embarrassed, “Brother Zhao, have you forgotten that I’m still an intern? I’m not qualified for this kind of thing, and Brother Bin is not good at interrogation…”

　　”Ren Bin is not good at interrogation. What about you? I have trained you for so long, and taught you so much, especially about interrogation, but you haven’t made any progress at all?” Meng Zhao glanced at her.

　　”Of course there is progress, but…” Cheng Yun was still afraid. Suddenly, a plan came to her mind and she looked at Lu Shichen with shining eyes, “How about, Consultant Lu, you come with me? You will be in the monitoring room at that time. If I get stuck for a while, you can remind me through the headset, okay?”

　　After Cheng Yun finished speaking, Lu Shichen didn’t react.

　　Meng Zhao knew Lu Shichen’s personality and knew that he would most likely reject Cheng Yun directly. He was just about to open his mouth to give Cheng Yun a way out, but he didn’t expect Lu Shichen to just say “hmm”.

　　Meng Zhao looked at Lu Shichen with some surprise, but there was still no expression on Lu Shichen’s face.

　　Cheng Yun was very happy: “Thank you, Consultant Lu!”

　　”Then you must protect Consultant Lu.” Meng Zhao warned.

　　”Don’t worry, Brother Zhao,” Cheng Yun bent her elbow, “My fighting performance is two weeks higher than Brother Bin’s.”

　　After returning to the Municipal Bureau, Meng Zhao quickly went upstairs and walked to the door of Director Xu’s office. He could vaguely hear the sound of conversation in the room, so he raised his hand and knocked on the door.

　　”Come in.” Director Xu’s voice came over.

　　Meng Zhao pushed open the door and as soon as he entered the room, he saw the man sitting on the sofa.

　　The man was tall and thin, about fifty or sixty years old, with a signature head of gray hair, and a face vaguely similar to Wu Weihan. ‘Is this… Wu Jiayi?’

　　Although he had seen Wu Jiayi several times in newspapers and on TV, he had only seen his outline each time and had never seen him in person. The moment he looked into Wu Jiayi’s eyes, Meng Zhao felt something was a little strange, but he couldn’t tell what it was.

　　Meng Zhao didn’t have time to figure out where this feeling came from. Director Xu, who was sitting on the sofa, waved at him and said, “Come here, Xiao Meng.”

　　He motioned Meng Zhao to sit across from him, and introduced him to Wu Jiayi, “This is Meng Zhao, the captain of our criminal investigation unit. He is also responsible for solving this case.” After that, he said to Meng Zhao, “Xiao Meng, this is Mr. Wu Jiayi. I think there is no need to introduce him further.”

　　”Hello, Officer Meng.” Wu Jiayi shook hands with Meng Zhao and praised him, “I didn’t expect that the captain of the city bureau would be so young and still be able to solve such a major case. I admire you.”

　　He looked at Director Xu again: “Director Xu is also an old friend of mine. I won’t say any more polite words. You have been contributing to Mingtan City for so many years. We who run the business have seen it. Without you, we can’t survive.”

　　Director Xu smiled and said, “It’s all part of my job, and I should do it.”

　　Compared to the two elders who were enjoying themselves, Meng Zhao looked stern. He was a little angry at Xu Ju’s attitude, but he couldn’t get angry. As for Wu Jiayi, after he looked at him carefully again, the strange feeling became stronger.

　　‘This face seems familiar,’ Meng Zhao thought, ‘it seems like I have seen this person somewhere a long time ago…’

　　After a while, Meng Zhao finally couldn’t stand this hypocritical and flattering atmosphere anymore. He faced Wu Jiayi and said, “You definitely didn’t come here just to praise us, did you?”

　　Wu Jiayi immediately put away the smile on his face and nodded, “It seems that Officer Meng has guessed the purpose of my visit this time. Yes, I am here for Wu Weihan’s matter.”

　　Meng Zhao was disdainful and was about to persuade the old father to give up the hope of letting the police show partiality, but Wu Jiayi slowly stood up and bowed deeply to Director Xu and Meng Zhao:

　　”I apologize to the Municipal Bureau and Mingtan City for my son’s behavior. Wu Weihan committed an unforgivable crime. As a father, I have an unshirkable responsibility. The purpose of my visit is not to hope that Director Xu and Officer Meng will bend the law for personal gain. I just think that Wu Weihan’s case has caused so much trouble to Mingtan City and the police officers, and I should apologize on his behalf. I also promise you that if the police need me, I will fully cooperate with the investigation. Moreover, I have made arrangements for the follow-up of this matter. I will do my best to help the victim materially and spiritually and handle the aftermath of this matter.”

　　His sincere words were completely unexpected to Meng Zhao, but Meng Zhao was not moved at all. He sat opposite Wu Jiayi, looked at him, and asked calmly: “According to Mr. Wu, were you completely unaware of what Wu Weihan had done before?”

　　Director Xu said nothing, picked up the teacup, glanced at Meng Zhao, and then looked at Wu Jiayi.

　　Wu Jiayi nodded and sighed, “I have been busy with my career these years. I have indeed neglected to discipline Wu Weihan. I only have this one son and I have been too indulgent with him. If I had known that he had such dangerous ideas, I really would not have let him go out alone to start a business. If I had fulfilled my responsibilities as a father, he would not have done such a heinous thing. I am sorry for those girls and their parents.”

　　Director Xu still didn’t speak.

　　Meng Zhao thought for a while, glanced at Director Xu, and continued to say to Wu Jiayi: “From what I know, it seems that the young master harmed not only the little girl, but also an elderly woman. She was imprisoned in the basement of the sanatorium controlled by the young master. Do you know about this?”

　　”What’s going on?” Wu Jiayi asked.

　　”According to the hospital’s tests, this old man had been injected with drugs for at least ten years, and Wu Weihan was only a teenager at that time. Who put this old woman in there? What grudge did Wu Weihan have against this old woman? Do you really not know?”

　　”I really don’t know much about these things,” Wu Jiayi said. “According to what Officer Meng said, this matter is indeed very strange. I hope Officer Meng can investigate whether the construction of this basement or this old woman’s imprisonment is related to my son. We will definitely not shirk the crime committed by Wu Weihan, but if it is an unrelated crime, I hope Officer Meng can investigate it clearly.”

　　Meng Zhao sat opposite, observing Wu Jiayi’s expression as he spoke: “Definitely.”

　　Wu Jiayi chatted with Director Xu for a few more words, then stood up and said, “I won’t bother you any more. I’ll take my leave now.”

　　After Wu Jiayi left, only Director Xu and Meng Zhao were left in the room.

　　Meng Zhao looked at Director Xu: “What do you think?”

　　Director Xu slowly walked back to his desk, took a sip of tea, and said, “Capitalists only care about profit.”

　　”Are you saying that Wu Jiayi’s apology this time was not sincere, but was just a means to protect his business image and clear himself of the matter?”

　　Director Xu looked at Meng Zhao with sharp eyes: “What do you think?”

　　Meng Zhao thought for a moment and said, “It is basically impossible to say that he was completely unaware of what Wu Weihan did. It is not easy to judge whether he was involved or not based on the existing evidence. The old woman’s case is not that simple. I will investigate further and will not let any criminal go.”

　　Director Xu looked at Meng Zhao and nodded. “You continue to investigate. If you encounter any difficulties, I will try my best to help you solve them. Also, you must be careful and not be as reckless as before.” Director Xu emphasized, “If this matter really involves Wu Jiayi, the resistance behind it will only be greater.”

　　Meng Zhao nodded and said, “Yes.”

　　”In two days, we will hold a live press conference on the ‘Dark Cage’ incident. You will be the spokesperson as the deputy captain of the special task force. Dozens of media will come to the scene, not only local media from Mingtan City, but also some national media. You should prepare in advance and announce the current progress of the investigation to the public to dispel everyone’s current doubts.”

　　”Okay.” Meng Zhao responded.

　　Coming out of Director Xu’s office, Meng Zhao was thinking about what Wu Jiayi had just said when he saw Cheng Yun walking towards him.

　　”Why did you come back alone?” Meng Zhao asked her, “Where is Consultant Lu?”

　　”It’s time for dinner,” Cheng Yun said, “Mr. Lu said he won’t be coming up and will wait for you in the car.”

　　”Got it.” Meng Zhao said, and quickly went downstairs.

　　Walking to the car, Meng Zhao opened the door and got in: “How did it go? Did Wu Weihan reveal anything?”

　　Lu Shichen sat in the passenger seat and looked at him: “Let’s talk about it during dinner.”

　　”Okay, what do you want to eat?” Meng Zhao thought for a moment, “There’s a restaurant nearby that makes really good fried shrimps, shall we go?”

　　”You decide.” Lu Shichen said.

　　Meng Zhao drove the car to a nearby Chinese restaurant.

　　The first floor of the restaurant was not big, so Meng Zhao took Lu Shichen to the second floor and found a secluded place by the window to sit down.

　　Lu Shichen took the wet wipes provided by the restaurant waiter, tore open the package and wiped his fingers clean.

　　Meng Zhao was slightly lost in thought as he watched Lu Shichen’s movements. This movement reminded him of the scene last night, when Lu Shichen also wiped his fingers clean one by one with a tissue, and then threw the dirty tissue into the trash can.

　　”What are you thinking about?” Lu Shichen looked at him.

　　Meng Zhao finally came back to his senses and after realizing his own association, his face suddenly became red.

　　”Nothing.” Meng Zhao raised his hand, clenched his fist and put it to his lips, then coughed softly. “Let’s talk about the case. What was Wu Weihan’s reaction?”

　　”Wu Weihan vehemently denied that Zhou Yan’s death had anything to do with him.”

　　”Denying it vehemently? Do you think he’s lying?”

　　“It’s hard to say.”

　　”Wu Weihan learned that Zhou Yan had obtained the video and wanted to overturn Zhao Tong’s case, so before Zhou Yan took action, he tampered with the video and sent it to Zhao Yunhua, hoping to use Zhao Yunhua to kill Zhou Yan. The whole thing makes sense, but how did Wu Weihan know about this video? Also, what’s on that whitewashed wall? Is it another piece of evidence about the school bullying case? But what kind of evidence can be on the wall…” Meng Zhao sighed, “After going around in circles for a long time, we finally got back to the beginning, but still have no clue.”

　　”What did Xu Yingying’s boyfriend say?”

　　”He said that he was drunk that day and accidentally told Wu Weihan what Xu Yingying had told him. As for asking Xu Yingying to go to the sanatorium, he had no idea what Wu Weihan was going to do. He just thought he was doing a favor for a friend. Gao Hui did this simply because his company had a lot of business dealings with the Wu Group. For his own benefit, he wouldn’t care about the life and death of a sex partner. Xu Yingying told Wu Weihan about Zhao Tong’s kind advice to her. Now she told her trusted boyfriend about her plan to call the police. Unexpectedly, Gao Hui sold her out just like she did back then.” Meng Zhao said, shaking his head gently, “This is retribution.”

　　The waiter in the restaurant started to serve the dishes. The fried shrimps were golden in color, and the shells looked crispy and juicy, which made people’s appetites grow. Meng Zhao picked up the chopsticks and put a few shrimps in front of Lu Shichen: “Let’s eat, and stop talking about the case.”

　　After leaving the restaurant, Meng Zhao drove Lu Shichen back to Yuhu Bay.

　　The car stopped downstairs, Meng Zhao got out of the car and walked up to Lu Shichen: “The task force has a lot of things to do recently, I think I will stay in the bureau every night, if you have anything, please call me at any time.”

　　Lu Shichen looked at him: “Is it because the task force has a lot of things to do, or is it because you are afraid that something will happen to me?”

　　Meng Zhao’s breathing stagnated again. ‘Did this man have to express his thoughts so directly…’

　　‘Okay, it can’t be so awkward every time we meet.’ Meng Zhao thought about it and decided to lay things out and make things clear.

　　He took a deep breath and said, “Lu Shichen.”

　　”Um.”

　　”What happened last night was an accident. You and I both lost control.” As soon as Meng Zhao opened his mouth, he realized that this was much more difficult than any interrogation he had ever done. “I don’t want to avoid this matter, but for me, it is a little hard to accept for the time being. I need time to figure it out and convince myself. And for the two of us, this is not a normal development process. I think our relationship needs to get back on track, step by step.”

　　”Officer Meng’s words are really high-sounding.” Lu Shichen’s tone faded into a hint of sarcasm, “So what you mean is that we just need to pretend that nothing happened last night.”

　　”It’s temporary!” Seeing that Lu Shichen didn’t agree with him, Meng Zhao said helplessly, “Then according to you, what should we do?!”

　　”I thought you just needed to follow your instincts.” Lu Shichen said.

　　Meng Zhao blurted out, “I shouldn’t have followed my instincts…” He stopped mid-sentence and waved his hand, “Forget it, let’s talk about this later. Also, I won’t care about your previous affairs or ask about them, but you have to solve them thoroughly, understand?”

　　Lu Shichen looked at him, frowning slightly: “…What?”

　　”Okay,” Meng Zhao didn’t give him a chance to speak, and turned back to the driver’s seat, “Go upstairs quickly, I have to go back to the Municipal Bureau to work overtime.”

　　After saying that, he opened the car door and got in.

　　Meng Zhao let out a sigh of relief only after watching Lu Shichen walk into the corridor.

T/N :

I’d like to inform that the continuation of LSC and MZ’s intimate scene is available, thanks to one of the reader finding it. According to the rules, im not allowed to upload any NSFW content. Thus, ive decides to upload it on my KoFi account. I realised that these scenes are pretty short so i’m not sure whether i should upload it separately or all together. Whoever is interested in reading the content, can either dm me or comment down here about how you’d prefer it.