Liu Jun continued sleeping throughout the journey, lying comfortably in the back seat of the business car. Now that things had reached this point, he had set aside his worries. Before this, his biggest headache had been figuring out where to place Jiali after bringing her back. There were already creditors who didn’t care about their lives, so no one could predict what actions other creditors might take when they saw Jiali – no prediction would be excessive. People who didn’t care about their lives wouldn’t be too concerned about legal constraints either. So, placing Jiali anywhere would be dangerous – not only would Jiali herself be in danger, but the people and places sheltering her would also suffer, without a doubt. As for what to do in the future, with the driver present, he couldn’t say much, so he might as well sleep. Seeing this, Cui Bingbing felt unwilling but also reclined her chair and slept peacefully. Without Jiali present, she didn’t need to help the driver watch the road conditions anymore, so why not sleep? Thus, snoring sounds rose and fell throughout the car cabin, making the driver who sat alone extremely depressed.

It wasn’t until they returned home that Cui Bingbing said to Liu Jun: “We can only hope that Jiali will make good use of her newly established identity in Australia while she’s inside. She seems to have been studying law these past few days.”

“Make good use of what? Just one charge of assisting in asset transfer could nail down her crime. Who knows what might happen inside? We still need to pull some strings for her.”

“Don’t try to use my father. My parents particularly hate that kind of high-interest lending – Qian Hongming is a bloodsucking vampire in their eyes. I’m going to hold Dandan, are you coming?”

“You go ahead. I need to organize the contracts I discussed with clients early this morning – there are several small contracts now. I don’t dare sign big contracts anymore; not only do clients not dare sign them, but I don’t dare ask for them either. People do get old. I used to be able to do calculations for two days and nights straight, then come out of the lab and still go swimming. Now I can’t handle even one sleepless night.”

Cui Bingbing was casual about her appearance, but Liu Jun’s appearance was her pursuit of happiness. She reached out to pat Liu Jun’s still-flat belly, looking him over with satisfaction. “Old my ass.” Then she left with peace of mind.

Liu Jun also guessed that his father-in-law definitely wouldn’t want to help. If he weren’t Qian Hongming’s friend of many years, and someone came to tell him that there was such a creditor who had just jumped off a building because Hongming had fled, he would never be able to forgive someone like Hongming either. But… they still had to help Jiali somehow. He quickly processed the contracts, immediately printed them out, went to the company to stamp the contract seal, and then mailed them to clients for their stamps. By the time he finished handling these tasks, Cui Bingbing had been home for a long time, beckoning him to look at the computer.

Indeed, a human life made all the difference – this matter was being discussed heatedly online. Cui Bingbing had already found four forums discussing this matter extensively, all with windows open for Liu Jun to see. Liu Jun read through them carefully. Some were speculation, but others could reveal actual situations. However, one original post made Liu Jun, who was semi-informed about the situation, turn pale with shock. This person’s writing was too sharp – just one title summarized Qian Hongming’s fleeing incident in a sensational, elevated manner, with the flavor of “won’t rest until the words shock the world.” Anyone seeing such an explosive title would surely click in to see what it was about. The content inside was also very inflammatory, selectively releasing information about how many people Qian Hongming had harmed. To outsiders, it seemed incredible but not necessarily heinously evil. But Liu Jun carefully read the heated replies below and frowned as he said to Cui Bingbing: “Hongming is going to be destroyed by this post. I don’t know which of his enemies compiled this.”

“If I were a creditor, I’d also compile one and put it online. You fight for yourself however you can – you can’t just sit there waiting for pie to fall from the sky.”

“Yes, so this article presents a biased view without mentioning that the reason was that so many people owed Hongming money, making Hongming seem like the fraud of the century. I don’t know if Hongming can see all these reactions from over there.”

“If the news comes out tomorrow that Qian Hongming’s wife traveled thousands of miles back to the country to surrender herself, and they publish a photo of her with disheveled hair, do you think Qian Hongming would jump out to confess and take Jiali’s place? The best opportunity to test whether Qian Hongming’s feelings are real or fake has arrived.”

“Anyway… once you said Jiali would be taken away right after being released, I’ve stopped having ideas. I can’t bear to choose Hongming – there’s still Xiao Suihua caught between them. I forgot to ask, when Xiao Suihua left with her maternal grandparents, did she cry?”

“Of course, Xiao Suihua cried – she’s already developed awareness. But Jiali didn’t cry this time and was very calm, as if ready to die. I’m going to cook. The auntie arranged the washed vegetables quite neatly this time. Sigh, you bring Dandan to the kitchen too – at least we’re a family together.”

“Right now, I most hope that wherever Hongming is staying doesn’t have internet access and can’t see newspapers.” Liu Jun now shared the same feelings as Cui Bingbing – what a happy thing it was for a family to be together. He tidied up and followed into the kitchen, with Dandan following along as soon as she saw.

But newspapers found Liu Jun anyway. A prominent reporter from a national financial media outlet who had seen such horrifying news online found Shen Huadong, saying the story had been approved and they were packing to board a plane, hoping Shen Huadong would cooperate with the investigation. Companies like Shen Huadong’s listed corporation often needed to deal with the media, so naturally, they had ongoing relationships. He thought Liu Jun was very familiar with Qian Hongming and suggested Liu Jun meet with the reporter to provide some objective and fair information, preventing online rumors from becoming too outlandish. What Shen Huadong referred to as outlandish online rumors was exactly the explosive headline Liu Jun had just seen. But after thinking it over, Liu Jun refused. He didn’t know how much material others had already gathered, and if material leaked from his mouth, he would never forgive himself. He’d better keep quiet. He had always believed that Qian Hongming definitely wasn’t dead and was still alive.

The national financial media reporter was very quick and decisive, coming over to collect materials, and Qian Hongming’s news soon appeared in print. Liu Jun took a look – the headline was also quite sensational, but the content had both positive and negative aspects, vague on details, clearly showing that few people were truly informed. Fortunately, he hadn’t accepted the interview. Soon, local newspapers also began carrying extensive reports on this matter, rather than just describing the reason for someone jumping off a building in passing. Very quickly, in just two or three days, it seemed like the world had completely changed.

Liu Jun knew his father only read the evening paper, so he found time to bring over two boxes of peaches, conveniently tucking newspapers with content about Qian Hongming inside the peach boxes. As soon as Qian Hongying saw the number of reports, her face turned pale, sighing and saying she might as well turn herself in. Liu Jun found the article about Jiali returning to the country to surrender and placed it in front of Qian Hongying. After reading it, Qian Hongying fell silent instead, only shaking her head repeatedly. After a long while, she said, “Good thing Hongming didn’t jump out. This woman kills without using a knife.”

Liu Jun couldn’t stay long, so he left the peaches and departed. But on the road, he received a call from the police, asking him to bring all keys and property certificates for Qian Hongming’s homes to a designated location for questioning. Liu Jun silently recalled Qian Hongying’s words in his heart and could only obediently bring everything to the police station. He was interrogated until he was dizzy and disoriented – all his interactions with Qian Hongming were almost entirely within the police’s grasp. He was rolling his eyes while answering, knowing all this had been revealed by Jiali, including the private savings he had deposited for Jiali.

He had no choice but to explain his friendship with Hongming starting from elementary school. He could also find many witnesses to prove how pure and passionate his friendship with Hongming was, which was why there was this bundle of property certificate transfers. Moreover, he had strict transaction procedures and payment proof. But these were just his one-sided claims. Before the police could produce counter-evidence, they were quite reasonable in keeping copies of the property certificates before returning them to Liu Jun. But it wasn’t over yet – Liu Jun still had to accompany them to search the houses corresponding to these property certificates. However, Liu Jun had been extremely busy these past few days, and with this disruption, company matters had to be set aside first, with problems only solvable by phone each day.

Of course, the time deposit passbook he had saved for Jiali was handed over to the police without question.

The last stop of the search was at the house where Qian Hongming had lived before disappearing. Opening the door, although no one had lived there for so many days, it was clean and tidy due to good sealing. Relevant personnel entered this large house for an extensive search, while Liu Jun was ordered to sit on a prominent sofa in the living room to cooperate with explanations. Watching computer mainframes and laptops being categorized and labeled as evidence one by one, Liu Jun could only point out who owned this and who owned that – there was nothing else he could say. He suggested they should ask Jiali to cooperate with explanations, as he was just an occasional visiting friend. Although he was now nominally the owner of this house, he wasn’t familiar with it. It would be better to let him return to work – the work on his desk must have piled up like a mountain. The police were quite polite to him, only smiling and refusing his suggestions.

Liu Jun sat dejectedly on the sofa, tossing his phone up and down, looking at the people in the house, looking at the scenery outside the window, utterly bored. Another call came in. He held the phone up to his eyes – it was an unfamiliar landline number from another city, with a string of 8s at the end, probably a decent hotel’s switchboard. But when he answered, a voice said, “Liu Jun, you’ve worked hard,” and his eyes immediately widened – who else could this be but Qian Hongming? He quickly said cryptically, “How are you? I’m currently at the scene cooperating with the investigation. Please keep it brief.”

“I’ve implicated you. I can’t contact my sister now. Please help me send a signal – put it on the old Osmanthus tree under the window of my family’s old house, you know the one. Tell my sister to come out and surrender. I’ve made arrangements. Now this case has developed to the point where it can’t be covered up. I’ve seen the newspapers – everyone from top to bottom is paying attention. She shouldn’t be mistreated if she goes in. It can’t be avoided, so better to settle it quickly.”

Liu Jun suddenly had a flash of inspiration: “That post on the XX website wasn’t posted by you, was it? You deliberately stirred things up, made it too big to cover up?”

“Right, I originally didn’t want to do this. I logged into Jiali’s private blog and saw her arrangements for returning to the country. I could only resort to this desperate measure – I had to protect her from being mistreated. I’m asking you for one favor: please apologize to my sister later. I’ve harmed her.”

“My phone might be monitored…”

“Of course it is. If they don’t monitor you, who would they monitor?”

“So are you also planning to surrender? If so, I’ll immediately hand the phone to the people here. If it’s being monitored, it’s also easy to locate.”

Liu Jun tensed his entire body, while Qian Hongming said leisurely, “I’ve considered all this. I don’t plan to surrender. My sentence probably won’t be light. For someone like me, without the strength to truss a chicken to spend twenty years in prison, and it’s foreseeable I couldn’t be released on medical parole…”

But Liu Jun saw the people who were searching suddenly surround him. He didn’t hesitate to look at the police officer and say to Qian Hongming, “You’re exposed, run quickly.”

Liu Jun’s phone was taken by the police officer. He could only watch helplessly as the officer tried to persuade Qian Hongming to surrender, but he had a strong feeling that Qian Hongming had deliberately exposed his whereabouts. If he didn’t want to surrender and go to prison, yet deliberately exposed his whereabouts, what did that mean? “Oh no, Qian Hongming wants to commit suicide.”

The police officer said a few words, then handed the phone back to Liu Jun: “He wants to talk to you. Persuade him not to commit suicide – it’s not a capital offense.”

“Hongming, it’s better to live poorly than die well. Please don’t commit suicide…” As expected, this was exactly the situation. Liu Jun gripped the phone tightly, afraid it would be snatched away again.

“Living poorly is meaningless. In the foreseeable years ahead, I’d be wearing prison clothes and living without dignity. Why bother? Since I’ve lost the game, I must take responsibility. Who told me to overestimate myself and do things beyond my capabilities? I’ve already lived many years of life I shouldn’t have lived – it’s been worth it. You know I’m now drinking fine red wine, staying in a nice suite. I just finished bathing and can act clean. Liu Jun, goodbye. I’m entrusting Xiao Suihua to you. Xiao Suihua’s education is very important, and you can give her a sunny living environment. You must tell her that her father is innocent, just incompetent. Don’t leave shadows in Xiao Suihua’s heart. How you make up the story is up to you. When Jiali gets out, let her remarry. Don’t think of me anymore – I’m not worth it. I’ll settle things quickly here. With the main culprit dead, they’re all minor players who were deceived and confused by me. This case should have results soon, and my sister and Jiali can get out quickly. Sigh, I’ve dragged them all down.”

“Hongming, don’t…” Liu Jun heard sounds from the other end that seemed like movement and opening windows or doors. “Hongming, you’re not incompetent. You haven’t lived enough yet. You can’t die. If you die, who will I compete with? I’ve spent my whole life chasing after you…”

“Haha, Liu Jun, it’s the other way around. I’ve always envied you. I wanted to be a cheerful, happy person like you…”

“You’ve had too much to drink. Hongming, go back inside, sit down, drink some cold water, let’s talk rationally. No, I’ve always been chasing after you. Your grades were so excellent, I was exhausted chasing you. I remember in middle school a female classmate said Compared to you, I was an embroidered pillow stuffed with rotten straw, that my grades could never catch up to yours in this lifetime. I refused to accept it, but my personality was stubborn, so I could only…” Liu Jun heard violent knocking sounds from the other end. He quickly covered the microphone and said to the nearby police officer: “I’m persuading him to surrender. Please tell the people outside the door to stop – he can’t escape anyway. Rushing in will only force him to jump faster.” Then he continued: “You don’t know that every weekend when I went home, I didn’t do anything else but lock myself at home and desperately study. You didn’t know, did you? You thought I only knew how to play basketball every day, right? Actually, no, I was doing this for the female classmates to see – okay, I admit it. You were so excellent that you made me keep chasing until today. Someone like you wouldn’t mind even going to prison. You’ve seen ‘The Shawshank Redemption,’ right… Hongming, what are you doing? Come back inside, don’t…” Liu Jun heard even louder commotion from the other side.

But amid the commotion, Qian Hongming still said calmly: “Liu Jun, there’s one more thing I’m asking of you – please thank Teacher Fu for me. You haven’t experienced what it’s like to live without dignity. I have, and I don’t want to live that kind of life again – it’s worse than death. Teacher Fu is also someone who has lost her dignity. Please help her – financial support is enough. Goodbye. Tell Xiao Suihua that Daddy loves her very much.”

“Don’t hang up… Hongming…”

“I won’t hang up. I’m listening to you talk.”

“Hongming, we all love you very much. You have many people who love you…”

But a muffled thud traveled through waves of radio signals from somewhere far away to Liu Jun’s ears, followed by complete silence.

Liu Jun froze like a fossil, one hand still maintaining the posture of holding the phone, with only tears streaming from his eyes.

After who knows how long, he heard a distant voice saying, “The suspect jumped off the building with his phone…”