Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The world is changing every day. Nobody can expect or demand anyone to be the same as before.
Ma Suying’s story made Xiang Wan broke out in cold sweat.
Like many other young women, she had treated marriage as the fruit of love where a couple settles down, takes roots, sprouts, blossoms and bears fruits. Hence, many women abandon their own dreams and focused on their husband and family. In the end, they not only lost love to marriage, they also lost themselves…
“The existence of marriage has always been the opposite from a woman’s vision of love.”
Her sincere conclusion attracted Bai Muchuan’s indignant glance.
Young Master Bai’s gaze looked rather severe, not sure what he was thinking about. Xiang Wan was bathed in such a gaze that made her face flushed red and was somewhat uncomfortable.
“You’re so right about it!” Ma Suying concurred with her and heaved a regretful sigh. “But how will a young girl know about all these? At that time, Zhou Dequan was good-looking and was someone who’s willing to take hardships. He was very hardworking and motivated. If you don’t take into account how he looked now, very few young men nowadays could hold a candle to the young Zhou Dequan. All along, I firmly believed that my choice is correct… In the end, I used close to 30 years to realize I’ve made a wrong choice.”
Before Tang Yuanchu came back, Ma Suying talked a lot with Xiang Wan, but most of the content had nothing to do with Zhou Dequan’s crimes.
It seemed that it was easier to confide in strangers as she talked about matters that had been stuck in her heart for a long time.
When Tang Yuanchu came back with porridge, he was glad to find that the atmosphere in the ward was good.
He placed the porridge on the overbed table before speaking rather hesitantly, “I’ve asked the doctor and the advice is to eat porridge for the moment to let your stomach get used to food…”
“Alright, thank you for getting me food.” Ma Suying struggled to sit up higher.
Xiang Wan got up to help her.
Earlier on when Xiang Wan chatted with her, as Ma Suying was able to talk coherently and calmly, she had thought that Ma Suying should be in a good condition. Now that she helped Ma Suying to sit up on her hospital bed, she realized that this woman was really weak. She could feel Ma Suying’s body was soft with no energy as though she was holding a bundle of cotton candy. It was not easy to help her sit up straight on the bed.
“Do you need me to feed you?” Xiang Wan took the bowl of porridge and spoon and asked with a smile.
Ma Suying’s hand was trembling slightly as she took the spoon. “No need, I can eat by myself.”
Xiang Wan did not insist on that. She let her have the spoon and adjusted the overbed table for Ma Suying.
She took quite a long time to finish her porridge.
Nobody said anything throughout the process. Ma Suying herself did not look up at them, either. Maybe she was thinking about what to tell the police.
“I’m done!” She put the finished bowl aside and smiled somewhat reluctantly. “I’ve made all of you wait for so long. Please start the questioning.”
Bai Muchuan’s eyebrows furrowed slightly before he gave a glance at Tang Yuanchu. “Get ready!”
After issuing the command, Bai Muchuan specially asked Ma Suying another question.
“As this case is rather special and complicated, we hope to video record the entire questioning process. Do you agree to this arrangement?”
Ma Suying was stunned for a moment. After some time, she nodded her head. “Okay.”
Bai Muchuan: “Alright! Tang Yuanchu, prepare to record.”
Many people, when they were questioned by the police, were not willing to be recorded, whether voice or video record. However, such evidence, when presented in court, would be the most convincing.
As Tang Yuanchu needed to do the video recording, Xiang Wan took his original place to take the statement.
She filled in the time of interrogation, the name of the interrogator, as well as the person being interrogated before giving it to Ma Suying to verify the information.
Ma Suying nodded her head, confirming the personal particulars on the written statement.
As the questioning began, Bai Muchuan asked Ma Suying to face the camera to confirm her willingness to record the video before proceeding with the questions.
“We are detectives from the Criminal Investigation Unit of Hongjiang District, Jin City. Now we are questioning you in accordance with the law on a case, please answer truthfully. You have the right to refuse to answer questions unrelated to the case, but you are held legally responsible for all that you’ve said. Do you understand?”
Ma Suying: “Yes.”
Bai Muchuan: “May I know the relationship between you and Zhou Dequan?”
Ma Suying: “Husband and wife.”
Bai Muchuan: “How many years have you been married to him?”
Ma Suying paused for thought. “… Twenty-nine years.”
When asking about the basic information, Ma Suying answered every question and was very cooperative.
Bai Muchuan started to get to the sensitive questions. “Earlier, you’ve said that your relationship with your husband gradually became dull over these years and seldom communicated with each other. So do you know or not know what Zhou Dequan has been up to?”
Ma Suying: “I do know some of the things he did.”
Bai Muchuan: “Can you give some simple examples of what he did?”
Ma Suying: “Well… I practically know most of the things related to his business. He does not try to keep me in the dark for business-related matters… But if it were matters relating to him fooling around with women, I never knew about things like that till last night. This was mainly because he knew that this was a forbidden zone and my bottom line as well.”
Bai Muchuan nodded his head and exchanged glances with Xiang Wan.
“Do you know a female university student by the name of Mao Guigui?” he asked directly.
Ma Suying shook her head. “When I heard of this name, it was after my brother’s death!”
At that time, the police had also approached Jia An’s family and told them regarding the video of Mao Guigui found in his mobile phone in an attempt to understand the situation.
At that time, they had explicitly expressed that they did not know who Mao Guigui was.
Bai Muchuan: “That night, all of us witnessed that Zhou Dequan feared you so much that he even tried to silence you by strangling your neck. He clearly has a motive to kill… Think about it carefully, what are the illegal activities that you know he’s doing?”
Ma Suying’s gaze seemed to dim at that instant, and she suddenly let out a low laugh.
“That’s… too many to count.”
Just like what she had said just now, she and Zhou Dequan had been married when he was young and poor. At the beginning of his career, Ma Suying was the most helpful person to Zhou Dequan. Even though Zhou Dequan himself had business sense and was willing to work hard, he lacked knowledge and was, therefore, not confident enough. It was precisely because he had an undergraduate wife who could help him plan and grow his business that life got better and better…
Therefore, Ma Suying was very clear about his career development.
For three and a half hours, whatever Bai Muchuan asked, she would give an account of what happened. She told them all of Zhou Dequan’s crimes that she knew of. She recited the history of how they built their great empire of wealth which sounded rather ruthless and bloody.
Bribery, tax evasion, these were the basic crimes. What was scary was that Zhou Dequan held possession of firearms illegally. He had a group of men working for him, and over the many years of housing demolition and business experience, he came up with countless ways and means to deal with “problems” that blocked his path. Coercion, threats, bribery and even murder… They had done all of that. They were totally acting like a crime syndicate.
All of these crimes, although Ma Suying did not participate in them directly, she had an indirect responsibility to that as well.
Whenever Zhou Dequan tried to win over some important people and officials, he would ask Ma Suying for help—ask the wives of these important people and officials for a mahjong session, skincare session, shopping or a trip to the hair salon…
These were the reasons why Zhou Dequan was henpecked.
That was also why she had refused to give an account of the crimes initially.
It is always easy to pinpoint the mistakes of others, but difficult to face up to one’s own mistakes.
“I’m not entirely innocent that things came to this state.”
That was Ma Suying’s conclusion to the questioning by the police.
Bai Muchuan looked serious as he swept a glance at the written statement held by Xiang Wan. “Our questioning will end here for now. If we need more information, we’ll come back again. During this period, just rest and take good care of yourself. We will also send people to settle any formalities with you at the hospital.”
“Hm.” Ma Suying suddenly looked up. “So, did I make a great contribution?
Bai Muchuan was startled by her sudden question. “Yes.”
Ma Suying was as though frozen and her gaze distracted. “How many years will I get?”
Bai Muchuan did not answer as he was not able to answer it.
It was suddenly quiet inside the ward.
Husband and wife are birds of the same forest, but when trouble comes, they fly away separately—that described Ma Suying’s predicament.
When the emotions, pain, and agitation of having to face a sudden, emergency situation went away, she was still a rational person.
“The court will determine the number of years of imprisonment. Our responsibility is only to investigate,” Tang Yuanchu replied to Ma Suying honestly as he packed up the equipment. “Don’t worry, I’m sure the court will give you a fair judgment.”
Fair judgment…
Ma Suying looked back on her life, unsure what kind of fair judgment she could get…
She glanced at Tang Yuanchu’s vibrant and youthful looks with a smile.
“Hopefully, when I come out from detention, I can still find a hot young stud and spend the rest of my life with him.”
Eh? The moment online celebrity Detective Tang heard this remark, he felt bashful.
“Definitely.”
Ma Suying smiled and looked at Tang Yuanchu as though she was looking at her own son.
“I have to thank all of you for willing to hear me out…”
“We should do that! It’s our job anyway.”
“Sigh!” Ma Suying acted as if she did not hear what he said. Her gaze seemed far away, but she was smiling. “I have not talked so much to anyone for such a long time. Of course, no one wanted to listen to me, either… Even my own husband and children, they are not willing to hear a woman during her menopause nagging away… They can’t even be compared to the police!”
“…”
That was some cold humor.
Everyone remained quiet for a while, and then they bid goodbye and were ready to leave.
Ma Suying suddenly asked, “Captain Bai, may I meet Zhou Dequan?”
Bai Muchuan furrowed his brows. “Not at the moment.”
“I see!” Ma Suying retracted her gaze and slowly lied down on the hospital bed. “Let me know if you have any news.”
“Will do.”
After leaving the ward, the weather outside was warm.
It was two o’clock in the afternoon, and Xiang Wan realized that they had not taken their lunch.
“Hungry?” Bai Muchuan took notice of Xiang Wan’s furrowed brows. “Find a place to eat first,” he told Tang Yuanchu after getting on the car. “After that, we’ll go to the detention center to interrogate Zhou Dequan!”