webnovelfull Chapter 252 Old things
Chapter 252 Old things
Chapter 252 Old things
Lu He stormed back to the Han family villa. Her father happened to be home, sitting on the sofa as if he knew his daughter would return and had been waiting for her silently.
Before Lu He could even voice her opinion, Han's father spoke up: "I know what you want to ask. You want to know why I protected Zhang Xiuru, right?"
Lu He was surprised by her father's frankness, but still nodded: "She poisoned someone, didn't she? That was your wife of many years..."
Mr. Han sighed, a troubled and sad look in his eyes: "I know, but after learning her story, I can't bear to pursue the matter further... I'm already divorced from her, but I can't bear to let her go to jail..."
"Divorced? So fast?" This was unexpected for Lu He. She originally thought her father was blinded by lust and had been led astray by a beautiful woman, but she didn't expect that he had driven Zhang Xiuru away.
However, Lu He couldn't understand what kind of background Zhang Xiuru had that made Han's father unwilling to investigate the murder of his wife and let her leave.
Han's father knew what his daughter suspected, and he said earnestly, "Zhang Xiuru is a very unfortunate person... I actually investigated her, but I didn't expose her because I felt it was too difficult for her to live such a struggling and difficult life..."
The story dates back more than a decade to a small city where a home invasion and murder case shocked the entire city. The victims were a well-known teacher couple. However, twenty years have passed and the murderer has still not been caught.
This case was thus buried deep in the annals of time.
Zhang Xiuru, the only survivor in this case, is probably forgotten by the people in the small town. She left the city too early, when she was just a junior high school student.
Zhang Xiuru's mother was a gentle yet resilient woman. She was Zhao Jiacheng's teacher, and at school, she always wore a gentle smile, treating each student with patience and care.
Zhao Jiacheng was a special student among her many students. He came from a poor family but was very ambitious. Zhang Xiuru's mother took good care of him in terms of his studies and life.
But Zhang Xiuru's father was the complete opposite. Although he was also a teacher, when he returned home and took off his suit, he became a completely different person, violent and abusive, and would beat his wife.
Little Xiuru was often awakened in the middle of the night by her mother's crying and her father's beatings and scoldings. Fear was like an invisible net, tightly enveloping her.
Countless times she hid in a corner, trembling, her heart filled with helplessness and despair. During those days, the house seemed to be filled with gloom, with not a single ray of sunlight able to shine in.
Zhang Xiuru also secretly went to the police station to report the crime. With tears in her eyes and a trembling voice, she said to the police, "Uncle, please, my father beat my mother, please save my mother."
However, the police merely made a perfunctory record and did not take any substantial action.
In their eyes, Zhang Xiuru's father was a highly respected and outstanding teacher in the city, an honest and upright person, and the couple was also a model family and an exemplary couple. How could such a thing be possible?
Perhaps it was just a minor family conflict; the couple had a few words to say that scared the child, and the child exaggerated it.
This incident completely broke Zhang Xiuru's heart. She knew that no one in the world would believe her, and no one would come to save them.
However, fate always takes an unexpected turn.
That day was another nightmarish night.
After finishing his social engagements, Zhang Xiuru's father got extremely drunk and returned home where he began to beat and kick his wife.
Her mother's pleas were particularly piercing in the quiet night. Xiuru hid in her room, covering her ears tightly, tears streaming down her face.
Just when she thought this was yet another endless torment, she suddenly heard the sounds of fierce fighting. She cautiously opened the door and saw a scene she would never forget: a person descended from the sky, like a deity wielding a vajra, and instantly punished her wicked father.
The visitor was Zhao Jiacheng. It turned out that in order to prepare for the college entrance examination, he had found a teacher to give him extra lessons, and he was here tonight for the class.
As soon as I reached the door, I heard the teacher crying and screaming inside, and a strong sense of anger and justice welled up in my heart.
Without hesitation, he rushed into the house and saw a man's back as he beat his most respected teacher with a wine bottle.
In his youthful rage, Zhao Jiacheng didn't think twice. In a moment of impulsiveness, he grabbed a pair of scissors from the table and stabbed the man in the back...
After Zhao Jiacheng calmed down, he stared blankly at the scissors that were still dripping blood in his hand, and then at the dead man on the ground whose back was riddled with holes.
Zhang Xiuru looked at Zhao Jiacheng, then at her father lying dead on the ground, and her mother unconscious. Her eyes were calm, unlike those of a child her age.
"Xiaoru...I..." Zhao Jiacheng was still just a high school student, a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy. He was scared too, and tears welled up in his eyes.
“Brother Jiacheng, don’t cry. Thank you for saving my mother,” Zhang Xiuru handed Zhao Jiacheng a set of his father’s clothes. “Change your clothes quickly, then go home and pretend you were never here. I will dispose of the blood-stained clothes and the scissors…”
"Xiaoru, what... what happened here..." Zhao Jiacheng cried, still in a daze.
Despite her young age, Zhang Xiuru calmly squatted down and pointed at the dead man lying on the ground: "You wouldn't believe it, would you? This is my father..."
"What? Teacher Zhang? He...why would he kill..."
"Shh!" Zhang Xiuru made a shushing gesture: "Don't ask so many questions. He's been a beast for a long time. I've wanted to kill him for a long time, but I didn't have the ability. Otherwise, Mom might not have died..."
As she spoke, she looked sadly at her mother on the ground, whose head had been smashed by a bottle and who was barely breathing. She knew there was no way to save her...
When the police arrived at the scene, they found two bodies. After a brief examination, they determined that it was a home invasion murder case in which the couple had been killed.
The family's daughter must have heard the noise that night and escaped by climbing out of the window, thus avoiding the disaster.
Two days later, the town was flooded with reward notices, and the city was asked to provide clues and eyewitnesses for the case.
Zhao Jiacheng was terrified; he feared he would face imprisonment.
That very night, Zhang Xiuru climbed out of the window and ran up the hill to hide the blood-stained clothes and scissors before returning home to report the crime.
Standing amidst the chaos, Zhang Xiuru felt a mix of emotions.
She knew the truth, but she understood that no one would believe a child. Her previous experience calling the police for help had taught her that adults wouldn't take her voice seriously.
Moreover, she felt a deep sense of gratitude towards Zhao Jiacheng. This young man appeared when she was at her most desperate, and although he couldn't completely save her mother, he did free her from that demonic father.
She didn't want Zhao Jiacheng to get involved in the murder case because of saving them; it might ruin him.
So she chose to keep quiet and buried this secret deep in her heart.
From then on, Zhang Xiuru became an orphan. Her relatives showed little sympathy for her plight; instead, they seized her family's property and all of her parents' inheritance.
If she hadn't fled the city early on, her uncle would have dragged her into marriage without her knowledge, taking all the dowry. She witnessed firsthand the greedy faces of her relatives...
Zhao Jiacheng also did not take the college entrance examination that year. This outstanding and talented boy, who was expected to be the top scorer in the city, suddenly disappeared, much to everyone's dismay.
At the time, there were rumors that a serial killer had come to the city, with a series of murders and disappearances, causing widespread panic throughout the city.
Zhang Xiuru knew that Zhao Jiacheng had run away, so she also packed her bags and left, searching for Zhao Jiacheng everywhere.
Later, she found Zhao Jiacheng in a small town. This older brother had already put on a police uniform and become a policeman.
When they found Zhao Jiacheng, he had just gotten married. However, his efforts to help Zhang Xiuru manage her life led to a misunderstanding with his wife, resulting in their divorce.
Zhao Jiacheng felt helpless. He only felt guilty that Zhang Xiuru had become an orphan because of him, and that her relatives had taken away her family property and kicked her out, leaving her with no one to rely on.
But he couldn't bring himself to tell his wife that he had killed someone; how could he dare?
So later, he remarried with Shen Lingxiang and her daughter Shen Tong. Zhao Jiacheng also said that he had a daughter, but they didn't live together and he needed to give her living expenses every month.
Since they were both in their second marriages, they naturally understood each other well, and things went very smoothly.
Until Zhang Xiuru was diagnosed with a brain tumor and needed a lot of money for treatment, and then Zhang Dian's case happened...