Chapter 41: Rebirth

After the investigation, the police discovered a photograph album in He Lu’s residence, full of images associated to He Wei. The entrance pages contained footage of the 2 brothers collectively, whereas the later pages had been all particular person images of He Wei. These images had been taken at numerous areas and occasions, clearly indicating that they had been taken with out his information.

Cheng Zesheng tossed the images onto the desk: “Did you rent a non-public detective to comply with He Wei?”

He Lu admitted to it, however he defined that it occurred a number of years in the past. After the fallout between the 2 brothers, He Wei moved out to dwell on his personal, and He Lu couldn’t preserve monitor of his brother’s whereabouts. Pissed off and anxious, He Lu secretly employed a non-public detective to observe his brother’s each transfer.

Later, he realized that He Wei’s life remained as mundane as earlier than, and he wasn’t making any questionable buddies apart from Lian Jingyuan. So He Lu discontinued this invasive conduct.

“…He’s your brother, not your possession. You don’t actually take care of him in the actual sense; it’s simply possessiveness,” Cheng Zesheng mentioned, pointing on the images together with his index finger. “What you probably did damage not solely your brother but additionally your mother and father. Have you considered that?”

When he talked about his mother and father, He Lu all of the sudden regarded up: “…Are you going to inform them?”

“It’s not about what I would like; it’s a requirement in accordance with the regulation. Members of the family have to be knowledgeable. You’re a main suspect in He Wei’s case. Till we totally examine, you may’t depart,” Cheng Zesheng requested Ke Dongrui, “Have his relations arrived?”

“They need to be arriving quickly.”

He Lu widened his eyes, his feelings fluctuating drastically, struggling to face up: “Why do it’s important to inform them?! My dad has a coronary heart situation, and my mother has hypertension; do you need to kill them?!”

Ke Dongrui retorted angrily, “Once you had been doing all this stuff, did you ever think about your mother and father’ emotions?”

“You don’t must intrude!” He Lu exclaimed in frustration, clenching his fists. “And, I didn’t kill He Wei! Why are you detaining me?! Let me go, I need a lawyer!”

Cheng Zesheng raised his chin in response, superb, get him a lawyer. He didn’t imagine He Lu was the perpetrator, however what he did to He Wei was disturbing. Maintaining him in custody for a couple of extra days can be a lesson.

5 minutes later, Xiang Yang reported that He Lu’s mom, Ye Lanlan, had arrived.

He Lu’s face turned pale straight away, and his palms that had been cuffed collectively trembled barely. He bit his decrease lip and whispered, “I don’t need her to see me. Aren’t household visits prohibited throughout legal detention? I don’t need to see her.”

“Official visits are certainly not allowed, however only a transient assembly isn’t so strict,” Cheng Zesheng instructed. “Xiang Yang, take him again.”

Within the slim hall, He Lu noticed a determine in a cheongsam standing there from a distance. He hesitated to maneuver ahead, turned to return, however was stopped: “He Lu!”

He Lu’s shoulders tensed, and the hurried footsteps of excessive heels echoed behind him. His arm was grabbed, and Ye Lanlan questioned, “Is what the police mentioned true? Did you actually take your brother away earlier than he had the accident?”

“…Yeah.” He Lu’s lips twitched barely. “Mother, don’t ask; it’s all true.”

“Slap!” A powerful slap landed on He Lu’s proper cheek. Ye Lanlan trembled throughout, mustering all her energy to scold, “Beast! How may you… How may you deal with A-Wei like this? He was your brother! You had been blood brothers!”

He Lu gently touched his swollen and fiery cheek, and after some time, he whispered, “If it weren’t for him being my brother, I wouldn’t have needed to endure this for thus lengthy.”

This sentence was like including gasoline to the hearth, fully shattering Ye Lanlan’s spirit. She collapsed onto a chair and cried bitterly.

“…Mother, deal with your self and Dad.”

Ye Lanlan watched He Lu’s retreating determine with teary eyes. The elder son had died, and the second son had been detained by the police. Why did their unusual little household need to undergo such a catastrophe?

———

Within the subsequent interrogation of Cheng Zhenqing, it wasn’t He Wei conducting the questioning however Wu Xiaolei and Yun Xiaoxiao. Cheng Zhenqing nonetheless had that air of being in management, with 5 out of ten of his statements infuriating sufficient to make folks soar with anger. He even raised an eyebrow and watched with an air of nonchalance, as if he was having fun with a present.

“The proprietor of Fusheng Jinlong Backyard’ is Cheng Zesheng. Why had been you ceaselessly coming into and leaving?” Wu Xiaolei requested.

“As a result of that’s the home my youthful brother purchased for me. Is there an issue with me coming and going?”

“Because it’s your own home, why didn’t you might have the password and key to the basement and as an alternative need to name a locksmith?”

Cheng Zhenqing rapidly defined, “You may’t put it that method. It’s not that I didn’t have them; it’s simply that the password was lately modified, and I forgot it. The keys are all with Zesheng. His home has been sealed by you guys, so if I need to return in, I’ve to get somebody to unlock it.”

“When was the final time you met?” Wu Xiaolei requested.

“On the eleventh. He requested me to consider how one can embellish the home, together with what to do with the basement. Once I left, I absentmindedly handed him the keys and forgot to take them again.”

Chong Zhen pointed at Cheng Zhenqing: “This man’s mendacity! The previous man subsequent door mentioned he solely noticed him coming in a while. Cheng Zesheng wasn’t with him in any respect!”

“He solely mentioned he met with Cheng Zesheng, not the place they went.” He Wei picked up the microphone. “Xiaolei, ask him about his renovation plans. He mentioned he thought of them for a couple of days; let him chat with us about it.”

After Wu Xiaolei’s questioning, Cheng Zhenqing first hesitated, then began speaking continuous like a machine gun: “I deliberate for a easy model, white partitions, grey flooring, black and white furnishings. I needed to place a bookshelf behind the couch, separating the eating room from the lounge and making the kitchen semi-open. I used to be considering of placing a small, slim desk exterior, utilizing it as a bar…”

Listening to him, He Wei’s thoughts went to the outline Cheng Zesheng wrote about his brother’s residence. After shopping for the home, Cheng Zhenqing had lived exterior, with white partitions, grey flooring, a front room bookshelf, and a semi-open kitchen—all of this matched what Cheng Zesheng described.

Cheng Zhenqing’s tone was composed and expert, under no circumstances like a obscure plan in his thoughts however somewhat like reciting a whole adorning blueprint. And this well-furnished home was the one he lived in earlier than, his dwelling in one other world.

“Officer, do you could hear extra particulars? I may even present the model of the lavatory provides and the mannequin numbers of the family home equipment.”

“…” Wu Xiaolei was embarrassed, glancing on the one-way mirror. Cheng Zhenqing laughed, “Officer He, if you wish to ask me one thing, it’s greatest to come back in individual. The younger officer right here is inexperienced; I’m afraid if we preserve asking, he received’t be capable of deal with it.”

As anticipated, He Wei let Wu Xiaolei and Yun Xiaoxiao come out once more and let everybody go eat whereas he performed the interrogation. Chong Zhen ready to go in and take notes however was stopped by He Wei: “You go eat too. Didn’t we are saying the curry rooster from the place throughout the road was scrumptious final time? Carry me some.”

“You’re going to interrogate him alone?” Chong Zhen tugged at his sleeve and whispered, “Are you planning on utilizing unconventional strategies? Even so, you may’t do it on the bureau. Take him to the police station this afternoon; they’ve extra instruments there, and it’s extra discreet.”

“…” He Wei furrowed his brows, “What unconventional strategies? Your phrases simply revealed your intentions. You’re not reduce out to be a cop; you’re only a thug.”

“Then are you actually planning to interrogate him alone? That’s not in accordance with rules both.”

He Wei smiled and mentioned, “Don’t be so inflexible. Though all of us comply with the principles, particular circumstances require particular therapy.” He regarded round on the colleagues he noticed daily, asking, “Or ought to I say, do I must report back to Chief Zheng proper after I am going in?”

The three of them shook their heads in unison, together with Wu Xiaolei. His admiration for He Wei was just like the unending circulation of a mighty river. Generally he even felt the urge to switch to the Legal Investigation Division, how may he ever betray Captain He?

The interrogation room had been cleared. Identical to final time, He Wei turned off all recording units. When Cheng Zhenqing noticed him enter, he smiled, “Officer He, what would you want to speak about in the present day?”

He Wei closed the door and mentioned calmly, “Nothing a lot, simply chatting about your previous.”

He took a chair and sat throughout from Cheng Zhenqing, getting straight to the purpose: “Why did you solely acknowledge Cheng Zesheng as your brother three years in the past?”

“We solely met three years in the past, I didn’t know I had a youthful brother earlier than that…”

“Cheng Zhenqing, there are issues you recognize, and issues I do know. There’s no must beat across the bush.” He Wei locked eyes with him. “As a result of three years in the past—wasn’t that while you got here from there? January seventeenth, proper? Your demise anniversary.”

Cheng Zhenqing’s smile regularly pale as he recalled the unforgettable reminiscence. He had been tied to an electrical chair, his palms coated in blood, each joint in his physique screaming in ache. A scar-faced man from the drug cartel held his hair, forcing him to carry his head, and requested in a mixture of Burmese and Mandarin the place his accomplices had been hiding.

His imaginative and prescient blurred with blood, his physique alternated between cold and hot, and he skilled waves of hallucinations. Cheng Zhenqing knew he didn’t have a lot time left. Swallowing exhausting, he cursed in Burmese, which angered the scar-faced man. He raised a Burmese knife and stabbed it into Cheng Zhenqing’s chest. The knife struck his coronary heart completely. Cheng Zhenqing’s forehead twitched barely, however the corners of his lips trembled right into a distorted smile.

Lastly, he was free.

Was it actually so?

Cheng Zhenqing opened his eyes once more, this time in a unclean alley in Toronto. The chilly wind was biting, however he was solely sporting a skinny shirt and mendacity face down within the snow. The air he breathed felt like a knife piercing his lungs, and his palms, ft, and joints had been numb from the chilly. Cheng Zhenqing all of the sudden coughed, coughing up a mouthful of blood.

However he nonetheless managed to rise up, coated in bruises and cuts, presumably overwhelmed after which deserted on this alley. The freezing climate, unfamiliar avenue scenes, and vibrant crimson maple leaf flag had been all removed from the blood-soaked drug den. Cheng Zhenqing hugged himself and walked as much as a storefront window. He noticed his reflection within the glass. Regardless of the bruised and swollen face, the eyes and brows had been acquainted.

All of this made Cheng Zhenqing really feel curious. At first, he thought it was all a dream, however later he realized the dream was really actuality. He was in Toronto, Canada, and named Millor, which sounded much like “Mirror” at first. He lived within the slums as a avenue thug. At present, like daily, he was caught stealing one thing, overwhelmed, and left deserted on the road like a discarded doll.

Cheng Zhenqing regularly realized he had unknowingly arrived in a parallel world. Maybe he was additionally close to demise right here, so in the meanwhile he perished within the different world, God gave him an opportunity to be reborn and begin a brand new life.

Canada was too unfamiliar for him; he didn’t know French, and his English wasn’t nice both. He managed to discover a job washing dishes. Nonetheless, not lengthy after, he found the elegantly dressed Cheng Zesheng, and he was overjoyed. He couldn’t wait to acknowledge him.

Though the Cheng Zesheng of this world was far completely different in character from his earlier brother, for Cheng Zhenqing, they had been nonetheless the identical individual, blood-related brothers. The love for him was the identical.

Life after rebirth was removed from drug sellers and gunfights—a life he had as soon as yearned for however couldn’t attain. Cheng Zhenqing thought he may proceed like this ceaselessly, till April 14th, when Cheng Zesheng died, beginning one other nightmare.

“Cheng Zhenqing, I’ve encountered lots of weird issues lately, so I’m not stunned by your scenario both.” He Wei whispered, “What puzzles me are the motives behind a few of your peculiar actions. On that day, you can have escaped. Why did you allow us to catch you once more?”

Cheng Zhenqing lowered his head, clenched his fists, and slowly tightened them.

“Some issues can’t be simply modified. They’re like a whole script, and reckless alterations will solely result in a worse ending.” Cheng Zhenqing regarded up, giving He Wei a helpless smile. “I can’t unravel this example, however I solely have that one brother. Please don’t contain him; I’m begging you.”