Chapter 307: Sins and Punishment

2022-05-20

I laid the letter flat on the desk and spoke quietly, “It looks like this is a suicide note written by Deng Xuemei…”

As I said this, both Zhao Mingkun and I stared at the letter:

“In my life, there’s someone I hate most, and someone I love most. Both are women—one is my mother, the other is my classmate. My mother abandoned us when our family needed her most, but my classmate fully supported me in my darkest days.”

I kept reading. The next long section is mostly Deng Xuemei talking about her life.

Deng Xuemei came from what was once a harmonious family. Her father worked at a major company, and life was good. Her mother was a housewife, looking after things at home. They lived the traditional way, the man making money, the woman handling the house—until the balance was shattered one day.

Deng Xuemei would never forget that night. After school, her father, as always, picked her up. Even though she was almost grown up, her dad insisted on escorting her to and from school every day. She felt embarrassed, worried her classmates would tease her, but deep down she loved it.

Torn between those feelings, she didn’t say a word, just like every other day.

On what seemed the most ordinary day, her life stood at a crossroads and everything changed. That night, her father suddenly woke up in a panic from a dream.

He was rushed to the hospital that night. The doctor’s diagnosis shocked everyone: he had a rare disease, something you might see in one in a hundred million people—a genetic defect with no real cure.

That day, she hid in a corner of the hospital, crying with fear.

That night, she used up all her tears. After that, she never cried again.

From then on, her father began a long struggle with illness, seeking medical help everywhere. No matter where they went—top hospitals, famous herbalists—nothing could cure him. Expensive imported drugs, traditional medicine, all were useless.

Over the years, Deng Xuemei advanced from elementary to middle school, watching her family shrink from a nice home to less and less.

Eventually, the three of them squeezed into a single tiny room.

Deng Xuemei never forgot that night when she saw her mother hurrying out the door. She asked where she was going, and her mother told her she had to buy medicine for her father. Deng Xuemei thought, ‘She must have gone far away to find the medicine, otherwise why hasn’t she come back all these years?’

They lost their home. Her father’s illness needed constant, costly treatment. In Dongxing City, where even renting a basement cost hundreds or even a thousand yuan, Lao Deng relied on sporadic royalties to get by—sometimes there was money, sometimes not.

Life was tough, but Deng Xuemei rose to meet every challenge.

Some people, the heavier life’s burdens get, the stronger they become. Deng Xuemei was always a top student. When it came time for high school, a local school wanted her so badly they waived her tuition—and even promised to cover all her costs if she made it into Dongxing University.

And Deng Xuemei really didn’t let anyone down—she got into Dongxing University.

Reading this, I frowned, realizing why Song Ying thought Deng Xuemei’s family was well off. It seemed she didn’t have to pay tuition for university—not even living expenses. But why, in that case, did Deng Xuemei have to ask Lü Zhiqiu for money?

I kept reading.

When Deng Xuemei started university, tuition and room and board were covered, but her father’s illness kept getting worse. He could hardly earn anything anymore, and expensive medicines weighed heavily on her heart. She applied for aid and scholarships, but it wasn’t enough.

Every penny she earned went to her father’s care. But how could a student possibly cover five or six thousand yuan a month in medical bills? No matter how hard she worked, she often couldn’t make ends meet.

Seeing this, I felt torn inside. What Deng Xuemei wrote completely clashed with what Song Ying had said. In this letter, Deng Xuemei was driven to consider selling herself to pay for her father’s treatment. But Song Ying claimed Deng Xuemei was rich and had a pricey new phone.

So either Deng Xuemei or Song Ying lied. But there was no real reason for Song Ying to slander her. Would someone really lie in their own suicide note?

Just then, Lü Zhiqiu appeared.

They both belonged to a campus club, as if fate meant for them to meet. As time went by, they discovered their backgrounds weren’t so different. Even though Lü Zhiqiu’s parents were still alive, they showed little care for her, favoring a son over her at every turn.

But there was a key difference. Deng Xuemei hated her mother for refusing to care for Lao Deng and vanishing without a trace—she hated her enough to want to kill her. But Lü Zhiqiu was different. She was always kind to everyone, no matter how they treated her. Even when people loved or hated her, praised or insulted her, she never changed.

It was like she was an angel who had descended to earth, always gentle and never angry with anyone. It seemed every bit of goodness in the world was gathered in Lü Zhiqiu.

Two people with similar backgrounds, but totally different personalities, became close friends.

When Lü Zhiqiu learned about her situation, she offered to give Deng Xuemei a thousand yuan each month—and Deng Xuemei, desperate for help, accepted. During their whole time in university, Lü Zhiqiu never once broke that promise.

The only time Lü Zhiqiu couldn’t manage was when she herself was struggling, unable to help. After that, Deng Xuemei saw her as family.

But no one could have guessed that near graduation, Lü Zhiqiu was murdered at a construction site. They never found the killer. Seven years passed in the blink of an eye.

When Deng Xuemei learned of Lü Zhiqiu’s brutal death, she was devastated. But life had to go on. Her father still suffered in his hospital bed. Deng Xuemei graduated and had already been interning at a pharmaceutical company, so she joined them full-time after graduation.

By then, Lao Deng’s illness had reached its worst, with monthly costs soaring over ten thousand yuan. Deng Xuemei’s salary alone wasn’t nearly enough. After repeated hints from her boss, she realized she might as well sell herself to her superior.

With money coming in, she could at least keep her father alive. But that meant she couldn’t be by his side. If she stayed at his hospital bed, who would earn the money? Without it, her father couldn’t even survive the week.

Under those conditions, Deng Xuemei kept going.

But the disease was hopeless. Genetic mutations are among the toughest problems to solve. Lao Deng fought for years, but eventually died painfully in his hospital bed. At last, Deng Xuemei was freed.

Yet she could never forget about Lü Zhiqiu. For the next several years, she investigated the murder from seven years ago. She looked into everyone who’d worked at that construction site—over twenty people—but time worked against her. How could she track the truth down after so long?

But Deng Xuemei never gave up. She kept searching.

Then, a year ago, disaster struck again.

Deng Xuemei, like her father, discovered she carried the same genetic defect. It meant she couldn’t escape death either. The doctor said her condition was even more severe, with only a few years left to live.

She knew those years would end with her bedridden and helpless. She couldn’t bear it, and she still had one thing left unfinished: finding the person who killed Lü Zhiqiu. But time wasn’t on her side.

During her search, she discovered that all the suspects disliked Lü Zhiqiu; each had some grudge or hatred. She couldn’t pinpoint the killer, but a grim idea dawned: if she couldn’t find out who did it, maybe she could just kill them all.

So Deng Xuemei set her plan in motion. Years of investigation had given her everyone’s addresses. After leaving her job, she started killing, beginning in other provinces and working her way back to Dongxing City.

At last, Deng Xuemei got her revenge.

“Since you’re all so fake and pretentious, come with me to hell,” Deng Xuemei wrote. “Selfishness is a sin humans are born with. I just delivered the punishment I thought was deserved. If you’re reading this, I must already be dead. Even though I never discovered the killer, at least I avenged her.”