Chapter 348: The Dog Son

Wei Shufen’s sudden outburst startled us all. No one expected her to react so wildly—just because a dog ran down the stairs.

The man was already on his feet. In one swift movement he scooped the dog into his arms, then quickly brought it over to the bed and handed it to Wei Shufen.

Wei Shufen finally calmed down once she had the dog in her arms. She sat up, cuddling the dog and rocking it back and forth. In a gentle voice she murmured, “Baby, baby, you can’t go running around all the time. What if a car hits you, hmm?”

We watched her in a daze. The kind, caring look on her face made it seem like she was holding her own child instead of a dog. She tucked the dog in as if she were a mother telling her child a bedtime story.

The dog whimpered twice, sounding as if it realized there was no escape. So it lay down and went quiet.

The man glanced at us. He explained, “She thinks that dog is her child. It’s been this way for a long time now. There’s no fixing it. Every day, unless she’s eating or in the bathroom, she’s just holding her dog son.”

Watching all this, I couldn’t help feeling powerless. Once, she was a happy country woman, full of hope, getting ready to have a baby. But then it all changed. Ten months of pregnancy, and after all that, everything fell apart in a single moment—because of a child. An eight-year-old child.

Seeing that Wei Shufen had finally calmed down, the rest of us gradually relaxed too. The man pulled a blanket over his wife, doing it so carefully you’d think he was handling a precision instrument. His eyes brimming with sorrow, though he tried hard to hide it from strangers like us.

He tucked the blanket around his wife’s shoulders, then turned to us to explain, “Doctor said her health’s weak, she can’t get chilled.”

That kind of quiet endurance shows in every little thing he does. No matter how he tries to hide it, the love he carries is obvious. For this farmer, his whole world lay right in front of him. But now it’s all come crashing down, and he’s left alone to shoulder the burden.

I sighed and asked gently, “So you really don’t know what happened that day? Why would that kid do something like that?”

The man lit another cigarette, his face drawn and full of worry. After a long silence, he finally said, “My wife wasn’t like this when she first came home. She was clear-headed, mostly. But after she heard they were only giving a few thousand in compensation… that’s when she broke.”

“Alright,” I nodded. “Since you know, can you tell us what led up to it?”

He began, “After my wife got back from the hospital, she rested at home for a few days. I asked her what really happened that day.”

The man’s account finally gave us a clear picture of what truly happened. I looked at Wei Shufen, lying on the bed with such a happy look on her face, and I couldn’t help but feel a bitter irony. She should’ve been holding her own baby, but all she had now was her dog, her dog son.

The incident happened a little over two months ago, when Wei Shufen went to the hospital for her prenatal checkup. It was supposed to be her last one—her due date was near, and soon, she’d have her first child. She was about twenty-five or twenty-six at the time, and her husband thirty. In the countryside, that’s already considered late to start a family.

Her husband loved her deeply, and she felt lucky. Her parents never approved of the marriage because he didn’t have a good job and couldn’t provide a comfortable life. But what mattered most was his ambition and the way he tried his best for her. That was enough.

With these thoughts in mind, Wei Shufen boarded Bus No. 10. After her checkup, she planned to head home—her husband was probably working out in the fields by then. She got on the crowded bus right at rush hour and couldn’t find a seat. She worried she might have to stand.

Then a man about thirty years old, also standing, spoke up: “Hey, there’s a seat right there. Kid, give your seat to the pregnant lady.”

The child in question was Li Jun. The first time the man spoke, Li Jun just turned his face toward the window and showed no intention of giving up his seat.

The man grew annoyed. He said, “What school do you go to? Haven’t your teachers taught you to give your seat to pregnant women? Get up, or I’ll give you a beating.”

Only then did Li Jun grudgingly stand up.

Wei Shufen was the type of country woman who avoided trouble whenever she could. She wanted to refuse the seat, but worried the man would scold her, so she quietly sat down. The ride was peaceful after that. Li Jun stood silently beside her and didn’t say a word.

A few stops later, the man got off. As soon as that burly man left, Li Jun started grumbling and cursing under his breath next to Wei Shufen. She ignored him, baffled by how rude city kids had become.

All her life, Wei Shufen believed in avoiding trouble. She didn’t want any arguments here and just thought about how she needed to transfer to another bus soon to get home. Her husband was probably waiting for her. So she kept quiet the whole time. When they got to the Cable Factory stop, she got off to transfer to Route 31.

A lot of people were getting off. Everyone lined up and got out one after another, and Wei Shufen followed along at the end. Being nine months pregnant, she walked very slowly, so the others got off ahead of her. That was when Li Jun started yelling at her from behind.

She was anxious to get off the bus, not knowing the next moments would change her life forever. She’d barely walked a couple of steps when she suddenly felt a heavy kick land squarely on her back. Instinctively, she tried to grab hold of something, but there was nothing she could grasp. The last thing she remembered was seeing Li Jun running away.

The man recounted everything in a calm tone, acting as if he was telling someone else’s story. But there was no hiding the grief and anger in the tightness of his expression. Maybe he had cursed himself a thousand times already for not being there with his wife that day.

On the bed, Wei Shufen had drifted off, clutching her dog and lying absolutely still. No one knew if, in her dreams, she was reliving that brutal moment.

“That’s all we wanted to ask,” I said politely. “Thanks for your help.”

The man didn’t answer, just grunted.

When we stepped out of the apartment, night had fully fallen.

Gu Chen sighed, “If I were in his shoes, I’d want to tear Li Jun to pieces. But the kid’s dead now. If you were a father and your child died so young, do you think it’s possible he did it?”

We’d stepped out of the courtyard and closed the gate behind us. I replied, “Uncle Chen, can you ask the village chief if the husband has been acting odd lately? Key thing—find out if he bought a car.”

“Alright,” Uncle Chen nodded.

As Uncle Chen went to ask, I turned to Gu Chen. “Honestly, I don’t think this guy is the killer. He doesn’t even have a car, so he couldn’t have taken two kids away. Plus, if he did it, where would he have hidden Hu Ningning? Hiding someone in the village would be way too risky, and the killer clearly is very careful.”

The latest novels are on 69shu, first release!

“He and the killer are just completely different types,” I added. “I really doubt it’s him.”

Gu Chen let out a long sigh. “Still, when I think about Li Jun, that brat, it feels like the killer must’ve hated him a lot. Why else would Li Jun have had so many injuries? Who besides the killer could have that kind of grudge against a kid?”

I shook my head. “We can’t be sure yet. The main thing is, we still don’t know where Hu Ningning is. It’s clear someone had it out for Li Jun, but Hu Ningning didn’t have any grudge with him. Also, look at this place—the courtyard isn’t even secure. It’s way too easy for outsiders to get in. And don’t forget, the killer washed the bodies, dressed them, and dumped them afterward. That would be even harder if the bodies were kept here.”

Gu Chen frowned, resting his chin on his hand. “So who do you think the killer is? Why do all this?”

I shook my head. “We still don’t know. Besides, Li Jun’s parents don’t even know he’s dead yet. We’ll go to their house tomorrow. But honestly, I don’t think we’ll find any new leads just from Li Jun. I just wonder what his parents will feel when they see the autopsy report.”

Gu Chen said, “Kids like Li Jun… as harsh as this sounds, his death almost feels like justice.”

I looked at Gu Chen and said, “He’s dead, so we may never know for sure if he just meant to kick her out of anger or if he really wanted to harm her unborn baby. Still, from the way it went down, he probably kicked her really hard.”

Gu Chen replied, “No need to make excuses for him. He’s eight, he knows right from wrong. I can’t buy the idea he didn’t realize what would happen. He did it on purpose.”

While we talked, Uncle Chen came back.

He walked over and said, “I asked—he doesn’t own a car. If he did, wouldn’t he have driven to the hospital instead of taking the bus?”

“Let’s go,” I said. “The killer wasn’t him.”

Uncle Chen said, “In that case, you two should stay in town for the night.”

“Alright…”