Change Your Life in 7 Days - Chapter 16

“Safety first,” I muttered to myself as I waited by the half-closed door, ready for any sign of movement.

Upstairs, Lin Lin continued to monitor the security feed. “He hasn’t shown up yet,” she reported, her voice quivering with tension.

“Don’t worry,” I replied, trying to keep the atmosphere less grim. “We just need to be patient and wait for our uninvited guest.”

To ease our nerves, I steered the conversation in a different direction.

“Isn’t it typical for rich girls like you to enjoy driving around? Why do you always take a cab?” I tried to keep the conversation going.

“I, uh… I have some lingering trauma from an incident when I was young. I’ve been too scared to drive ever since.”

I chuckled. “I hope you won’t fall asleep on us later. You might need to lend a hand when the time comes.”

“Don’t worry,” Lin Lin assured me.

Most of the lights in the villa were dimmed, and we continued our idle chatter to pass the time. I asked, “With a house like this, your electricity bill must be quite substantial, right?”

Lin Lin replied, “It’s manageable for now.”

We maintained our vigil, with me standing behind the curtains, watching the front entrance, until night fell.

Around 9:00, it was unusual for many people to be out and about in the city, but this was a quiet residential area. A dark figure moved at the entrance. I squinted and received a quiet reminder from Lin Lin through my earpiece: “He’s here for real.”

“Shh!”

I watched as Qin Hui fiddled at the entrance, cautiously opened the gate, and made his way towards the house. Originally, the house had a keypad lock, but I had left a card under the doormat, allowing easy access. As expected, a subtle sound of a door being gently pushed open echoed in the tranquil air.

Lin Lin’s voice was hushed. “He’s in the living room now, looking for something near the TV wall.”

I moved silently, taking measured steps to the second bedroom I had been waiting in. About two minutes later, I heard slow footsteps approaching.

In the stillness of that night, every step sounded incredibly cautious. It wasn’t until he reached the door of my room.

Click… Crack…

In the dim light, I could see the doorknob slowly turning. I gripped the “tool” in my hand tightly and took a deep breath. He pushed the door and walked straight to the bedside, wielding the “tool” with a fierce blow.

As soon as I saw the opportunity, I jumped out from behind and struck him hard with a stainless steel laundry pole I had in my hand. He hadn’t expected me to be there, and when he turned around to retaliate, we engaged in a fierce struggle.

In the midst of the scuffle, I noticed that he was carrying a potentially lethal weapon, which I managed to wrest away from him. Realizing that I was well-prepared, he kicked me away and dashed into the living room to find another weapon. I quickly pursued and managed to pin him to the ground.

“Qin Hui!”

I pulled out a nylon rope I had prepared and tried to bind his hands, but he was incredibly strong, struggling and thrashing around as if he had resigned himself to a desperate fate.

At that moment, Linlin rushed downstairs with something in her hands to assist me in holding him down. Eventually, we managed to tie him up using the rope and bedsheets.

Qin Hui, now captured, wore a fierce expression and yelled at us, “You two are the real freaks!”

Linlin and I exchanged glances, and I retorted, “You come breaking into our home in the middle of the night, and you’re calling us freaks?”

Linlin picked up her phone and said, “You’ve unlawfully entered our residence, and this is a serious crime. I’ll report you to the police right now!”

Qin Hui didn’t seem concerned, “You’ve harmed so many people, and you still dare to call the police?”

“Who have we harmed?”

“Quit pretending. It was you who did everything to Lao Qian and the others!”

This was a grave misunderstanding.

“Why do you think it’s us?” I asked.

Qin Hui stared at me with a menacing expression and said, “I’ve already investigated, and it’s clear you two conspired together to harm people.”

I squatted down and looked at his serious face, “I think you’ve misunderstood. We’ve also been suspicious that it might be you.”

He seemed taken aback, and suddenly, he fell silent.

Linlin asked, “What have you discovered? Tell us.”

But Qin Hui was uncooperative, “Take me to the police station and let me talk to them.”

I realized there was a misunderstanding, “Are you accusing us of being the culprits? Let me be clear, we are not.”

He didn’t say anything more. Linlin, being impatient, asked, “If you think it’s us, you must have a reason! What made you suspect us?”

“You’ve been together since the day before yesterday! I’ve noticed it a long time ago,” Qin Hui exclaimed.

I replied, “That’s because there was an incident in my neighborhood, and I didn’t dare to go back.”

Qin Hui argued, “The park where Liu Youyu had his incident is closer to your place!”

I said, “Brother, I still don’t know where he had his incident…”

Then, Qin Hui turned his attention to Linlin, saying, “You’re the only one who knows the truth about that car accident from a few years ago.”

Linlin, her expression shifting, responded, “Wait a minute!” Both of us were taken aback when he brought up the car accident. Linlin hesitated and asked, “What do you mean?… What car accident…”

Qin Hui saw through her pretense, saying, “Don’t play innocent! You’ve known all along that both Liu Youyu and I were eyewitnesses to that incident, haven’t you!”

Both Linlin and I took a sharp breath. It turned out that Qin Hui and Liu Youyu were connected to that incident.

I suddenly felt that her earlier guess was correct: Our group coming together wasn’t just a coincidence.

I looked at Qin Hui and asked, “So, you and Liu Youyu were eyewitnesses to the car accident from back then? You know the whole story?”

He affirmed, “Yes!” Qin Hui was clearly frustrated, “At first, I didn’t want to suspect you guys, but when I unraveled the details, you two became the prime suspects!”

To be honest, I had my doubts about Linlin as well. She was the one who gathered all of us back here, for some reason, and tried to erase everyone who knew about that incident from the world… It made sense. I looked at Linlin, and my expression might not have been very friendly.

She immediately became anxious, saying, “It can’t possibly be me! This matter was long resolved! Why would I go through all this trouble?”

“I know the reason.”

“What’s the reason?”

“She’s been preparing for the civil service exam for the last two years, and she can’t afford any blemishes on her record.”

She countered, “Nonsense! I’m just casually taking the exam, not thinking about it that much.”

I then asked Qin Hui, “When did you realize that this matter was related to the events of many years ago?”

He replied, “Before Liu Youyu’s incident, he contacted me privately, saying I looked familiar. We chatted for a while and then realized something was amiss.”

Curiosity about the events from years ago was still lingering in my mind.

I asked, “Did you provide accurate information about what you witnessed back then?”

Qin Hui hesitated and looked at Linlin, “No, we didn’t.”

I inquired, “Why not?”

Qin Hui looked back at Linlin and said, “Someone offered us money to keep it quiet.”

With this information, I could now piece it all together. Money was the driving force behind everything!

Linlin was turning red with anger. She said, “In that incident, while I bear some responsibility, it’s just a small part. It was Old Qian’s drunk driving and speeding that caused the tragedy.”

Qin Hui scoffed, “Saying this now, don’t you feel guilty? Clearly, your family was negligent, allowing a child to drive on such a dangerous road!”

Linlin retorted, “Don’t think that just because my family paid money, we were in the wrong!”

Qin Hui countered, “Wasn’t it wrong? You caused someone to lose their whole family.”

Arguing about this issue was no longer meaningful.

I asked, “What’s our next step?”

The room fell silent for about five or six minutes.

Then I said, “Now that everything is out in the open, it’s highly likely that the real maniac isn’t me, you, or Linlin. It’s probably Song Mingde!”

Linlin suddenly remembered something and said, “I recall now, he looks a lot like the surviving boy!”

She asked Qin Hui, “Do you remember a guy named Liao Wenjie, round face, chubby, wearing glasses? Doesn’t he look exactly like Song Mingde?”

Qin Hui seemed unsure, “He doesn’t look like him, Song Mingde doesn’t wear glasses.”

“Put on contact lenses, and the resemblance is uncanny!”

Linlin quickly ran upstairs to search for something. She retrieved an old box, opened it in front of us, and started rummaging through it. Finally, she pulled out a faded and torn photograph, more like a newspaper clipping. It depicted a boy in his early teens with regular short hair, single eyelids, small eyes, a common face, and thick glasses. His name, Liao Wenjie, was printed in the bottom right corner of the photo. Linlin pointed at the face in the picture and asked, “Doesn’t he look like Song Mingde?”

Honestly, he didn’t look similar at all!

“This is a single eyelid guy, while Song Mingde has double eyelids, and his eyes are much larger.”

“What if he had plastic surgery, and lost some weight? He’d look exactly like he does now.”

I suddenly felt that arguing about this with Linlin was futile.

I turned to Qin Hui and said, “This is all just a misunderstanding. I’m sorry for tying you up. We’re all innocent in this. What we do next is up to you.”

My idea was quite simple, “How about we let you go? We can all pretend like nothing happened tonight. We can team up to deal with Song Mingde… or if you prefer, you can leave this place and go straight to the police station. It’s your choice.”

He remained silent for a moment, then said, “Agreed!”