Mei Feng hadn’t worked at “lake” for long before Liu Xun told him that the aquaculture facility down the mountain was hiring. The work was harder, but the pay was better and would suit him more. He’d already realized that a rough fellow like him was out of place at “lake.” Even if Liu Xun hadn’t recommended the fish-farm job, he would have left. After thanking her sincerely, he took the job and stayed for two years.
Junan Lake’s fish were famous throughout the province for their tender, plump flesh. Watching the fish open their mouths and wait to be fed, an idea slowly took shape: why not make these ravenous creatures accomplices in his revenge?
He looked up at the mist-shrouded villas in the hills. Weimo Mountain Resort had become one of Junan City’s most popular holiday destinations, drawing old and young alike. If the mutual-aid group’s members came, he was confident he could turn them into fish food.
But how could he get them to come?
Weimo Mountain Resort was expensive. People like Zhou Xia probably wouldn’t be willing to spend that much and would prefer the cheaper farmstays nearby. He had to find a way to draw them to the resort itself!
He knew that since Mei Rui died, the mutual-aid group had scattered and hadn’t met for a long time. He needed someone to bring them back together, and Zhou Xia was the perfect choice.
Zhou Xia had been the group’s organizer in the old days, the most enthusiastic about everything, including tormenting Mei Rui to death. She was also fond of getting something for nothing. She wouldn’t pay to stay at Weimo Mountain Resort, but if a windfall dropped into her lap, she’d grab it without suspicion.
After two years living by Junan Lake, Mei Feng knew that businesses inside the resort sometimes ran promotional campaigns. If he could arrange one of those opportunities, he could lure Zhou Xia in.
But how could he arrange it? He thought of Liu Xun. The young woman was kind, and as the owner of “lake,” she seemed to be on good terms with many guesthouse operators. He didn’t want to drag her into it, but he had no other choice. She was the only person he could use.
He arranged to meet her beside Junan Lake and lied that he had some old friends he’d fallen out with years ago. Now that he was older, he valued friendship more than ever. He wanted an excuse to reconcile, but couldn’t bring himself to take the first step openly.
“President Liu, could you do me a favor and arrange a New Year holiday stay? Pretend it’s a prize and give it to them?” He looked as nervous and earnest as any poor man asking for help. “Of course, I’ll pay for it. I… I just want to see them and catch up.”
Liu Xun was reluctant, but he pleaded until she agreed to try. He thanked her over and over and begged her to make it happen.
A week later, Liu Xun returned with good news. She was friendly with Xiao Dong at Shanshui House, and the receptionist had secured a suite that could hold at least five people.
Mei Feng wept with joy and called Liu Xun his benefactor. When she asked what he would do next, he explained he needed to find someone to deliver the lodging voucher to Zhou Xia from Huyun Tea Factory as a fake prize.
Liu Xun considered it, then decided to see the good deed through. “I’ll do it. I wouldn’t feel comfortable entrusting it to someone else.”
And so Zhou Xia won her prize. The mutual-aid group marched to Shanshui House, planning to spend a lively New Year together.
“Boss Liu is innocent.” Instead of explaining how he’d killed three people, Mei Feng stopped to stress that Liu Xun hadn’t known. “I never told her my real plan. Officer Chen, you’ve arrested the wrong person. Please let her go.”
“There’s no hurry,” Chen Zheng said. “We’ll investigate exactly how involved Liu Xun was. For now…”
Mei Feng became agitated. “What more do you need to investigate? I’ve confessed! I deceived Boss Liu and took advantage of her kindness!”
“Then why did you kill Zhu Xiaodi?” Chen Zheng abruptly cut him off. “He had nothing to do with the mutual-aid group and barely any connection to Mei Rui.”
Mei Feng’s mouth hung half open. Uncertainty flickered in his eyes. “I…”
Chen Zheng tapped the table lightly. “So stop worrying about Liu Xun for the moment and tell us exactly how you committed the crimes. That’ll be better for both of you.”
Mei Feng stared at Chen Zheng for a long while, as though finally realizing this wasn’t an officer he could fool with vague answers. At last he said, “Because he saw what happened. I couldn’t let him leave.”
On the sixteenth, Zhou Xia and the others checked into Shanshui House. Disguised as a cleaner at the scenic area, Mei Feng quietly observed them. His hat and mask concealed his face, so no one recognized him. Zhou Xia was as noisy as ever, trying to make everyone revolve around her. But on the eighteenth, the group began splitting up. Gong Xiaoyang and Lu Feng, who were especially close, went down to the lakeside to watch people fishing.
Mei Feng knew his chance had come. He’d long since identified every surveillance camera by the lake. On the afternoon of the eighteenth, while Gong Xiaoyang waited for Lu Feng, Mei Feng deliberately appeared before him. Gong Xiaoyang jumped and turned to leave, but Mei Feng called after him. “Are you still looking for your child?”
Gong Xiaoyang stopped and stared at him in astonishment.
Mei Feng smiled bitterly. “You weren’t wrong back then. To save my daughter, I really did betray all of you.”
Gong Xiaoyang’s eyes widened. “Wh-what do you mean?”
“It’s a long story.” Mei Feng looked at him coldly. “I concealed information about the other children, and I paid the price.”
Gong Xiaoyang seized his collar. “What are you trying to say? Do you know where Xiao Yu is? Is he…?”
“You want to know whether he’s still alive?” Mei Feng asked. “He was alive back then. Now, I can’t say.”
Gong Xiaoyang raised his fist but couldn’t bring himself to strike. His eyes visibly softened, filled with a father’s desperation. “Boss Mei, Old Mei, I was wrong about Mei Rui. I’m sorry. Take revenge on me any way you want, but please, please tell me where Xiao Yu is!”
He was on the verge of kneeling. Hearing Mei Rui’s name from Gong Xiaoyang’s mouth, Mei Feng felt nothing but revulsion.
“Come with me. I hid the information in my dormitory,” Mei Feng said. “Don’t tell the others yet. I’m afraid it’ll cause trouble if too many people know. You know what traffickers are capable of.”
He led Gong Xiaoyang around the surveillance cameras and into the fish farms. At that hour, no one else was present in the area under his responsibility. Only the fish thrashing in the lake witnessed the entire murder.
Desperate for news of his son, Gong Xiaoyang readily believed him. Mei Feng told him to wait beside the lake while he went back inside to fetch the information. But what he brought back was a hammer and a small electric saw.
A heavy blow landed on the back of Gong Xiaoyang’s head, knocking him unconscious at once. Mei Feng rolled him over and struck his face more than ten times. The smell of blood spread through the damp mist before the heavy odor of fish overwhelmed it.
He swiftly placed Gong Xiaoyang’s body inside a prepared fish-feed container, then used the dead man’s phone to message Lu Feng: Old Lu, I’ve met Mei Feng. He has news about the children. Stay where we were just now. I’ll have him come get you, and we can talk it over together!
Lu Feng had always followed Gong Xiaoyang closely. It was Gong Xiaoyang who’d drawn him into the mutual-aid group and urged him to humiliate Mei Rui. When he heard that Gong Xiaoyang was with Mei Feng, he was shocked and promptly called Gong Xiaoyang’s phone, but Mei Feng didn’t answer. While Lu Feng agonized over what to do, Mei Feng arrived, out of breath, saying Gong Xiaoyang was waiting at the fish farms.
Lu Feng feared Mei Feng a little, but he always did what Gong Xiaoyang told him. If Gong Xiaoyang had gone, what was there for him to fear?
Night had fallen, and outside the scenic area there were few lights. Walking beside the reeking lake, Lu Feng became increasingly uneasy and asked where Gong Xiaoyang was. Mei Feng pointed to Gong Xiaoyang’s body and said darkly, “Isn’t he right there?”
The ground was slick. Lu Feng tried to run, lost his footing, and fell onto the corpse. Too terrified to scream, he scrambled desperately on hands and knees. Mei Feng watched him coldly, planted a foot on him, and demanded, “Now you know what fear feels like? What about when you and Gong Xiaoyang drove my daughter to her death? You’re more vicious than human traffickers. You deserve to die even more!”
“Aah! Aah!” Lu Feng’s cries were swallowed by the roar of the lake. Mei Feng wasted no more time. He raised the hammer and brought it down.
Immediately after killing Lu Feng, he sensed someone watching him. His heart sank. Why would anyone be there? No living person but him should have been in that section! Determined to finish what he’d started, he charged into the darkness with the hammer.
The intruder was a young man, quicker on his feet than Mei Feng, but unfamiliar with the fish farms. As he ran, he lost his way in the surrounding woods. Mei Feng hid among the trees until his eyes adjusted to the dark, crept up behind the young man, and struck him with the hammer. The young man fell at once.
There were now three bodies to dispose of instead of two. Fortunately, Mei Feng had plenty of time. He hauled the young man back on a cart. As the electric saw roared, fish gathered at the shore. Mei Feng tossed pieces of the bodies into the lake, and the gaping fish quickly erased the physical traces of his enemies.
The water along the shore turned faintly pink, but that didn’t matter. By dawn the blood would be diluted. The fish farms fed the fish raw food anyway, so the presence of blood was nothing unusual.
Watching fireworks rise and listening to lively firecrackers, Mei Feng thought without expression, Zhou Xia is next.
But fate didn’t cooperate. By morning, something had happened at Weimo Mountain Resort. A nationally famous celebrity had been murdered, and the police were investigating every visitor there.
Mei Feng knew his plan could no longer continue. He had to keep himself safe so there would be another chance. The fish farms were a blind spot during the police’s early investigation, and he used that time to flee Junan Lake. Even if they eventually traced the case to the fish farms, it didn’t matter. He wasn’t afraid to die. He was only afraid of dying before avenging his daughter.
“But you came back,” Chen Zheng said. “Why?”
“I…” Mei Feng hesitated. His loose mouth drooped, and years of pain collected in a helpless smile. “I’m tired. Suddenly, I wanted to be reunited with them. To be honest, I hated Gong Xiaoyang and Lu Feng most. Wang Wanjian didn’t do much. As for Zhou Xia and Zeng Hong… forget it. They’re women. I won’t hold it against them.”
Mei Feng rambled on, explaining that after fleeing he was constantly restless, with nowhere to settle. Every day passed in a haze of fear and confusion. Thinking that a life should pay for a life, and that three lives had now paid for those of his daughter and granddaughter, he no longer wanted to persist.
Chen Zheng remained silent for a long time. Mei Feng was plainly not telling the whole truth. He was trying to keep Liu Xun out of the case.
“You’ve explained how Gong Xiaoyang and Lu Feng died. But I think you’re still hiding something about Zhu Xiaodi. Why did he come to your fish farms? According to your account, you’d prepared thoroughly. How could you possibly let an outsider sneak inside?” Chen Zheng asked.
Mei Feng shook his head. “I don’t know. Perhaps it was fate.”
“Fate made you kill Zhu Xiaodi? Because he’d met Mei Rui in the past? Because he also helped drive Zhu Yi, your family’s benefactor, to her death?”
Mei Feng’s unfocused eyes snapped into clarity, filled with astonishment.
“You were going to kill anyway, so why not kill the people who harmed Zhu Yi too? Is that what you were thinking?” Chen Zheng asked. “Zhu Xiaodi didn’t happen upon your murders. You summoned him there in the first place. And then there’s Dong Jing. If Huo Yewei hadn’t suddenly been murdered, you would have killed both groups staying at Shanshui House.”
Mei Feng swallowed, his entire body rigid. “I… that’s not…”
“Or did someone use you to get rid of Zhu Xiaodi and Dong Jing?” Chen Zheng asked. “That perfume Mei Rui brought back from Yuanshu Township. Let me guess. Liu Xun gave it to Zhu Yi, and Zhu Yi passed it on to Mei Rui. Is that right?”
“No!” Mei Feng denied it immediately. “How could that be? Boss Liu doesn’t know Zhu Yi.”
“Are you sure she doesn’t?” Chen Zheng asked. “One more question. Did you ever deal with Zhu Yi personally?”
Mei Feng looked at him uneasily. “I… I never met her.”
“But you knew about her,” Chen Zheng said. “Through Mei Rui, or through the person who sent you that message?”
Mei Feng sighed, tears glimmering in his eyes. “Xiao Rui mentioned her often. She was the one who persuaded Xiao Rui to leave and changed the way she thought.”
Back then, Mei Rui had been Zhu Yi’s first target in Yuanshu Township. After Zhu Yi settled in, she searched for ways to approach her.
At first, Mei Rui was hostile toward Zhu Yi. It was obvious Zhu Yi was the kind of model student teachers adored, the exact opposite of Mei Rui during her own school days. Just seeing Zhu Yi reminded her of her parents’ endless lectures: Look at your class monitor. Look at the study representative. Can’t you work harder and be like them?
She hated people like Zhu Yi and thought contemptuously that good grades were useless if they ended up married into a place like this. Later, however, she discovered Zhu Yi was not like her at all. Zhu Yi hadn’t married into Yuanshu Township; she was trying to help other women who’d been married into it escape.
Mei Rui began to panic. She hadn’t married Li Jiangbao willingly. After she’d run away from home, she’d endured terrible hardships before being sold into a village so poor that the houses leaked in the wind. At the time, she had wanted to die.
But as the days passed, life seemed less terrible than she’d imagined. She grew accustomed to it. Habit was a terrifying thing. Once people became accustomed to something, they didn’t want change, even positive change.
One day, she took her daughter for a walk, and the little girl begged to visit the village shop for sweets. Her in-laws strictly controlled her money, and she had nothing on her. Zhu Yi approached and bought a bottle of orange soda for each of them. The girl was delighted, but Mei Rui regarded Zhu Yi with suspicion.
Her daughter insisted on playing with Zhu Yi, so Mei Rui had no choice but to follow. Gradually, they arrived at a slope near the edge of Yuanshu Township. The little girl tired herself out and lay down in the grass to rest. Zhu Yi sat too, pulled a small bottle from her bag, and sprayed Mei Rui’s neck when she wasn’t looking.
Mei Rui jumped. “What are you doing?”
Zhu Yi smiled. “Does it smell nice?”
Only then did Mei Rui realize it was perfume. The scent was delicate and lovely. Before running away from home, she’d loved secretly borrowing her mother’s perfume. After coming to Yuanshu Township, she’d almost forgotten perfume existed.
Here, women were treated as appendages to their families. They were supposed to work and serve their relatives. When winter cracked their skin, a cheap ointment was all they needed. No one wore perfume. Some people born and raised there didn’t even know what perfume was.
Smelling perfume again after so many years brought tears to Mei Rui’s eyes. Scent was a strange thing, a vessel that carried memories back to her life before she’d run away. What might that life have been like if she hadn’t left in anger?
“It’s yours.” Zhu Yi pressed the perfume into her hand. Mei Rui hesitated and tried to refuse, but Zhu Yi clasped her hands behind her back. “You grew up in a city. You don’t need me to tell you that in an ordinary life, a woman can easily have perfume of her own. If she’s wealthy, she buys an expensive one. If she’s not, she buys something cheaper. It isn’t some incredible luxury. Anyone who wants it can have it.”
Mei Rui gripped the bottle tightly without speaking.
“You’ve been trapped here, but you’re not the one who did anything wrong.” Zhu Yi looked into her eyes and spoke earnestly. “As long as you want to leave, you can return to a normal life whenever you’re ready. Your parents are looking for you. They’re waiting for you to come home.”
Mei Rui’s heart suddenly raced. She took her daughter’s hand and ran. Zhu Yi watched from a distance without following.
From that day forward, Mei Rui knew she’d changed. She still lived like an animal, just like the other village wives, but she felt split in two: one half remained in Yuanshu Township; the other rode the illusion conjured by the perfume back to the city where she’d grown up.
Zhu Yi’s voice kept echoing in her ears: You don’t belong here.
Zhu Yi continued finding chances to meet her. Mei Rui no longer rejected her as she once had, and her resentment gradually shifted toward Li Jiangbao. Even when she finally left Yuanshu Township, she still didn’t think he was a bad person. But Zhu Yi had shown her that she didn’t belong there, and once the thought took root, it was impossible to shake.
Tears streamed down Mei Feng’s aging face. Mei Rui had told him all this soon after returning. That was how he’d learned of Zhu Yi, although he hadn’t seen her when he went to collect his daughter. Whenever Mei Rui spoke of her, her eyes shone. Zhu Yi had described what city life was like now and encouraged her to keep living.
“We failed to look after her,” Mei Feng said hoarsely. “Zhu Yi went to such lengths to save her, but we couldn’t protect her.”
“Do you know what happened to Zhu Yi?” Chen Zheng asked.
Mei Feng hesitated briefly and avoided his eyes. “She… she died.”
“How did you learn that? Who told you?”
Mei Feng shook his head. “I investigated it myself.”
Chen Zheng was silent for a moment. Mei Feng was lying. Perhaps to conceal the lie, Mei Feng insisted, “I really found out on my own. She’s been dead for a long time.”
“Did you really kill Zhu Xiaodi? What about Dong Jing? They’d been Zhu Yi’s colleagues, and they’d pushed her toward disaster, so you killed them?”
Mei Feng took several labored breaths, his gaze full of suffering and resolve. “I did it. I killed them!”
The interrogation was suspended. Chen Zheng had barely returned to his office when Ming Han called. “Director Li just livestreamed the interrogation to me.”
Chen Zheng raised an eyebrow. “Perfect timing. Tell me what you think.”
“Mei Feng and Liu Xun are accomplices. He may have killed Zhu Xiaodi, but he didn’t kill Dong Jing,” Ming Han said. “And I doubt Liu Xun killed Dong Jing either. There’s an information gap between Mei Feng and Liu Xun. Mei Feng thinks Liu Xun killed Dong Jing, so he’s gritting his teeth and taking responsibility. If we ask him for the details of Dong Jing’s murder right now, he probably won’t be able to answer.”
Chen Zheng leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, listening to Ming Han’s analysis. An interrogation involved only talking, but it was exhausting. Hearing Ming Han’s voice now felt like a massage for his exhausted mind.
Ming Han spoke for a while without receiving a response. He frowned slightly. “Bro?”
Chen Zheng opened his eyes at last, a trace of laziness in his voice. “Hm? Where were we?”
Ming Han sighed. “Bro, are you using me as a lullaby?”
Chen Zheng smiled, straightened in his chair, and said, “Mei Feng and Liu Xun are closer than either admits. Liu Xun learned about what happened to Zhu Yi through some channel and wanted revenge. But her hatred is far less intense than Mei Feng’s. Mei Feng is the driving force behind the revenge. She helps from the sidelines, and perhaps her condition was that he should ‘take care of’ the interns while he was at it.”
“Zhu Xiaodi didn’t show up at the fish farms by coincidence. Liu Xun lured him there,” Ming Han said. “Then what about Dong Jing?”
“Liu Xun doesn’t have the ability to kill someone by herself.” Si Wei and the others appeared in Chen Zheng’s mind. “Suppose Dong Jing did organize the gathering with the goal of killing the others to avenge Zhu Yi. The others guessed his intentions and simply turned on him first.”
“They committed the murder together?” Ming Han asked.
Chen Zheng thought for a while, finding the theory tangled. “But if Liu Xun and Dong Jing wanted the same thing, why did Liu Xun work with Mei Feng?”
“Are you going to interrogate Liu Xun next?” Ming Han asked.
Chen Zheng nodded. “You want to watch the livestream again?”
Ming Han checked the time. “No time. I’m going to see Huo Xiling.”
Chen Zheng remembered how Ming Han had been dealing with the Huo family recently. Huo Xiling was extremely difficult to handle, like an expert angler continually dangling bait before the police.
When Liu Xun was brought into the interrogation room again, she was visibly emotional. Before Chen Zheng could speak, she asked, “What did Mei Feng say?”
“Not calling him Uncle Li anymore?”
“I…” Liu Xun leaned forward, her expression torn.
“He’s admitted killing four tourists,” Chen Zheng said.
Liu Xun’s eyes widened. “Four?”
“You disagree? Do you know it wasn’t four?” Chen Zheng deliberately changed the subject. “But Ms. Liu, I’m not here chiefly to talk about Mei Feng. We found out you knew Zhu Yi, the murdered student from Han Province University of Political Science and Law. In fact, she deserves half the credit for your ability to run a business at Weimo Mountain Resort.”
The color slowly drained from Liu Xun’s face.
“When you couldn’t contend with your parents and the developer, you knew nothing about the law. But you were clever enough to seek free outside help. Students from Han Province University of Political Science and Law often offered legal assistance, and that’s how you met Zhu Yi. She helped you negotiate a partnership with the resort. Without her, there wouldn’t have been the later success of ‘lake.’ To you, Zhu Yi was your benefactor. Later you gave her the first product ‘lake’ ever launched. She treasured that gift, a symbol of friendship between women, and brought it to remote, impoverished Yuanshu Township to give to the next woman she hoped to help. That woman was Mei Rui, Mei Feng’s daughter.”