CHAPTER 607: CHAPTER 607: THE SUICIDE WAS FAKED

Liu He seemed afraid that Lin Zhiyi wouldn’t believe her and anxiously explained.

"Zhiyi, you have to believe me! I really didn’t do it on purpose! I don’t know why the watch was ten minutes slow; when I arrived, Xiaoyun was already gone."

She kept repeating this sentence, her face covered in sorrowful tears.

Lin Zhiyi also panicked and instinctively looked towards Gong Chen.

Gong Chen grabbed Liu He’s hand and pinched the tiger’s mouth a few times.

Liu He winced from the pain, and her cheeks wrinkled, finally waking up a bit.

Lin Zhiyi poured her a cup of warm water: "Mom, drink some water first, and speak slowly if there’s something to say. We’re not here to condemn you; it’s just that there have been a lot of things happening recently, and we want to clarify the truth."

After drinking the water, Liu He calmed down a lot.

She took a deep breath and said, "Wei Xiaoyun’s suicide was actually a plan we both came up with."

Lin Zhiyi was taken aback: "Why would you do that?"

Liu He had said before that Wei Xiaoyun was very capable, proactive, and even encouraged her to continue her studies.

Such a person didn’t seem like someone who would commit suicide under pressure.

Gong Chen thought of something and said lightly, "To escape debt."

Liu He glanced at him, with a look that indeed nothing could be hidden from him.

"Xiaoyun was the most popular among our clients, so she earned the most money and lived comfortably."

"It was also at that time that she met a businessman on a business trip to Jing City."

"At first, she firmly refused him, but he was persistent and not only extended his business trip but also visited Xiaoyun every day. He was handsome and gentlemanly."

"As time went by, there was more gossip, so Xiaoyun could only agree to have a meal with him, but before she went, she said she was just going to clarify things with that man."

"Who knew that after the meal, Xiaoyun said she finally found a man who understood her."

"But before long, the man had a debt crisis."

"Xiaoyun gave him all her savings, and the man was decent enough to write an IOU."

"After the crisis was over, he gave Xiaoyun double the money, and Xiaoyun convinced herself that he truly loved and respected her. Before long, they talked about marriage, and even the down payment on the new house was paid."

"I also thought she found a good man. But just a few days before the wedding, the man’s company had trouble again."

"Xiaoyun gave him all her assets to help him through and even borrowed a lot of money for him."

"But that man left with the IOU and never returned. When we went to the police, we found out he even had a fake ID, and the IOU was worthless."

"However, the money Xiaoyun borrowed for him was real, and she..."

Liu He trailed off, her voice suddenly cutting off.

She gripped Lin Zhiyi’s hand tighter.

Lin Zhiyi thought she was unwell and anxiously approached her, concerned: "Mom, what’s wrong?"

"Nothing." Liu He pursed her lips and continued, "Later, Xiaoyun and I scraped together what we owed to repay her debt."

"We thought life could return to peace, but out of nowhere, a bunch of people showed up daily at her door demanding repayment, sometimes even blocking her outside malls, severely affecting Xiaoyun’s work. Later we learned that man used Xiaoyun’s identity to take out high-interest loans."

Hearing this, Lin Zhiyi and Gong Chen exchanged a helpless glance.

They immediately understood that Wei Xiaoyun had encountered a professional scammer.

Lin Zhiyi followed up: "Mom, what happened then?"

Liu He recalled the past and took a deep sigh.

"The interest piled up on those loans, and we couldn’t repay it, so Xiaoyun came up with a way to escape, a fake death."

"As long as those loan sharks thought she was dead, they wouldn’t seek her out for money. She had no relatives, no one to confront."

"We agreed on the time to report to the police, so when they arrived, confirming her suicide, the creditors wouldn’t have any recourse. But when I took the police there, I realized my watch was ten minutes slow, and Xiaoyun was nowhere to be seen. Someone said they saw her pacing by the riverbank for a long time and then suddenly jumping into the river."

At this point, Liu He sobbed more bitterly.

"I killed Xiaoyun, if only I had paid more attention to the time, I wouldn’t have missed it!"

"She must have thought, seeing I didn’t show up, that I wasn’t going to help her anymore and felt utterly despondent, so she actually committed suicide."

Lin Zhiyi immediately interrupted: "Mom, don’t cry yet. Did you say your watch was ten minutes slow?"

Liu He nodded, got up, and took a very old watch out of the drawer.

"A few days ago, when Xiaoyun was mentioned, I took the watch out to look at it. The more I thought about it, the sadder I became."

Lin Zhiyi looked at it, and the craftsmanship was evident at a glance.

Gong Chen reached out to take the watch, examining it up and down.

"This is a well-made watch, probably quite popular back then."

Liu He nodded: "Yes, it’s petite and exquisite. Back then, it was particularly popular among working women, and fashionable women almost all had one. I saved up a long time to buy it."

"For a watch targeted at working women to be so reliable, with such a large discrepancy, it couldn’t have been popular to the extent that everyone had one." Gong Chen refuted.

"This... is true. This watch never had an error before Xiaoyun’s incident." Liu He replied truthfully.

Gong Chen watched the watch thoughtfully.

Lin Zhiyi leaned in and asked, "Is there a problem with the watch?"

"No, this is a classic brand from Jing City; if adjusted by an expert, I think it could work again." Gong Chen hefted the watch.

"Then what are you thinking?"

"I’m thinking, since everyone had one, did Wei Xiaoyun have one too?" Gong Chen wondered.

Upon hearing this, Liu He immediately nodded.

"She had one too. We bought it together during Women’s Day, getting a discount for buying two."

What Liu He said reminded Lin Zhiyi of the police station list Chen Jin had mentioned.

It recorded the belongings Wei Xiaoyun left at the scene before her death.

ID card, suicide note, shoes, a silver ring, and a pair of silver earrings.

But there was no mention of a watch.

Earrings, such delicate items, were taken off, so why wasn’t the watch removed?

Lin Zhiyi hurriedly asked: "Mom, when you identified the body, were you sure she wasn’t wearing the watch?"

Liu He hesitated for a moment and closed her eyes.

Wei Xiaoyun’s death was something she could never come to terms with, so she remembered every detail clearly.

"No watch, it was summer, and her body was already bloated. Her dress was gone too; could it have been stretched and fallen off into the river?"

That possibility exists too.

It’s said that when people drown, following the current, many are found naked.

Almost everything on them falls off.

Especially considering how lightly people dress in summer.

Lin Zhiyi remained silent.

The trail had gone cold.

Gong Chen sat on one side, his dark eyes slightly heavy.

"Since the body was bloated, what makes you believe it was definitely Wei Xiaoyun?"

Liu He didn’t hesitate: "We bathed together, and she showed me the birthmark on her body. There couldn’t be another body with the exact same birthmark floating in the river, right?"

"She showed you?" Lin Zhiyi questioned.

"Yes, she specifically pointed it out to me."

"..."

Lin Zhiyi didn’t say anything.

That’s true.

Liu He, at her age, was so easily deceived.

Let alone someone eighteen or nineteen.

Who shows their birthmark to someone else while bathing?

Lin Zhiyi glanced at Gong Chen, who nodded slightly, clearly understanding that Wei Xiaoyun did it on purpose.

But why would Wei Xiaoyun do that?