Records of the Halls of Ten Thousand Affairs: Chapter 78: The Hopeless Romantic (Part 8)

Fortunately, their luck wasn’t too bad. The repair technician told them the data could be recovered, but even with rush service, it would take 12 to 48 hours.

There was nothing else to do for now, so Chen Jiu had no choice but to take Chen Wu back to Wan Shi Zhai first.

The next day, when Zheng Kai woke up, his eyelids were twitching uncontrollably, and he had a terrible premonition in his heart. He didn’t know where this feeling came from, until he pushed the woman in his arms aside, picked up the phone by his pillow, opened the chat app, and saw that line of shocking red text: “Your account has been logged in on another device.”

In an instant, cold sweat broke out all over him. He sat bolt upright and, with trembling hands, sent a message to the woman pinned at the top of his contacts.

: Did you go to my place yesterday?
: No, honey. What’s wrong?

He had only ever given his house key to this one person he trusted. Had his home been broken into? Had his computer been stolen and was the thief already selling it at a secondhand shop?

All kinds of possibilities flooded his mind. Fear overwhelmed his heart. Zheng Kai couldn’t sit still any longer. He got out of bed and immediately started booking a flight home.

The woman in bed whined unhappily and asked, “Where are you going?”

“Home.” Zheng Kai squeezed the word out through gritted teeth.

No matter which possibility it was, none of them were good news for him. He had to get back and check right away. After all, if his computer had been tampered with, there was no way that phone could have survived alone.

The woman tried to keep him, reluctant to let him go: “Why are you going home now? Is there someone else there waiting for you?”

“I’m going to visit Xu Wei’s grave. I dreamed about her last night.” Zheng Kai put on his clothes, checked his stubble in the mirror, and lied through his teeth without batting an eye.

Ever since Xu Wei died, this had practically become his habit. He had almost convinced himself, as if he really were some one-of-a-kind hopeless romantic, the ultimate romantic.

The woman’s tone carried a hint of jealousy mixed with a trace of envy: “You really are good to her.”

She had no idea at all that no matter how well a living person treated a dead one, the dead would never come back to life.

Zheng Kai turned to look at her, his face already wearing a different expression. “Sorry, babe. After all, I failed to do what a boyfriend should do. I should do my best to make it up to her and her family.”

The woman bit her lip, won over by his words. “I understand. Go on, be careful on the road.”

Zheng Kai nodded, went over, and kissed her goodbye passionately.

That night, Zheng Kai had already taken the fastest route back home.

When he entered the house, he first checked the smart lock and the doormat. Everything looked normal, but if it had been a skilled thief, they could have done that too. It didn’t prove anything.

Zheng Kai frowned, dragged his suitcase inside, and turned on all the lights in the house.

All the furnishings were arranged in their original order. Nothing seemed out of place. He set down his suitcase and went up to the second floor.

The second floor had been thoroughly rummaged through by Chen Jiu. Even though she had casually put some decorations back in place, she had still left behind some telltale signs, like that photo frame.

Now Zheng Kai was a bit puzzled. Why would someone flip through this photo frame? Just on a whim? Or did they not come for money at all, but to dig up something they wanted?

Thinking this, he decided not to waste effort checking other places and went straight to the bedroom.

Zheng Kai opened his laptop and fell into thought at the password screen.

Whoever came was either someone who knew his habits very well, or a hacker. Otherwise, how could they have cracked his password without any effort and even logged into his chat app so brazenly?

Creepy. Way too creepy.

He had worked himself up to the point of getting the chills. Then he cursed under his breath, looked around to make sure nothing strange was staring at him in the room, and only then continued nervously sifting through the folders, apps, and browser on his computer.

This person had clearly come with some purpose, looking for something on his computer. The answer was practically on the tip of his tongue: Xu Wei’s mother?

But in her condition, how did she get out? Or rather, how did she think of a way to ask others for help?

Zheng Kai really couldn’t stay in this silent environment any longer. He turned and went up to the third floor, his footsteps thudding loudly on the wooden stairs.

If that phone that had already been wiped clean was gone too, then that meant…

He walked into the study, turned on the light, dug out the small box hidden beneath stacks of books, opened it, and sure enough, it was completely empty.

In a fit of rage, Zheng Kai swept the books and the box onto the floor. Damn it, someone had actually searched his house! What the hell were the security cameras and guards even for?!

At Wan Shi Zhai, Chen Jiu sneezed hard, and then she received a phone call.

“Ma’am, the data recovery is complete. Most of the files have been restored, but a few were too badly damaged.”

“Okay, I’m coming over now.” Chen Jiu got up to leave.

Su Xiaoyu moved even faster than her, already handing her the cloth bag one step ahead.

“Not bad.” Chen Jiu was surprised. Then she looked around the room at the cats, dogs, and people, and turned to Su Xiaoyu: “You have potential.”

Chen Wu, chopsticks in her mouth, trotted over eagerly: “Shimei, do you want me to come with you?”

“No need.” Chen Jiu glanced at the rice grain stuck to the corner of her mouth and shook her head. “You just eat your fill.”

At the repair shop, the technician opened a list of recovered files on the screen: system logs, WeChat chat history, photo album, call logs, and audio recordings.

The technician clicked on one of the folders and said, “A few audio files were overwritten multiple times. Only this one segment is still clear enough to hear.”

Chen Jiu gestured for him to play it directly. Outside on the street, cars were coming and going, and car horns were blaring, so he had to turn the volume up as loud as possible.

Amid the static, a faint, ethereal female voice came through: “Making me stand on the balcony again… How could I stop being scared after standing there for a long time? I’m so scared. I want to die, but I’m also afraid of pain, afraid of heights. I don’t want to die like this.”

“I’m afraid Mom will worry. Can we hide this from her? She’s already had it hard enough. Don’t let her go through this.”

“Are you going to keep watching me like this? If you keep doing this, I feel like I’m not even a person anymore. People can’t live like this, can they? No, right? No, right, honey.”

“I’m so tired. I’m sleepy every day. I really want to sleep. I think I still love you, honey.”

“We’re no longer suited to live together? Oh, okay, I understand.”

“I know what I should do.”

The shop fell dead silent for a moment. Everyone felt a sudden chill run down their spines, their hair standing on end.

“Ma’am, this is…” The technician’s face looked a bit awful. “What kind of recording is this?”

“Oh, nothing. School drama rehearsal.” Chen Jiu brushed it off casually.

Whether she exposed herself or not, it didn’t matter anymore. Either way, she could threaten Zheng Kai now.

After getting the successfully recovered data, Chen Jiu rushed back to Wan Shi Zhai without stopping. All the way there, she was torn over whether to let Xu Wei’s mother hear this newly found evidence.

Had she heard it before she was caught, or hadn’t she? If she hadn’t, wouldn’t playing it for her now be like rubbing salt in her wound?

When Chen Wu saw Chen Jiu return, her first thought was that she had failed.

“What’s wrong, Shimei? Why do you look so awful?” Chen Wu went up to hug her and asked softly, “Did it fail? How about we don’t tell Auntie for now and just use another method?”

Chen Jiu pulled her into a separate small room, pulled up the recording, and played it for Chen Wu.

The more Chen Wu listened, the paler her face became. Finally, she silently hit pause, let out a long breath, and said, “She was talking to that bastard, right?”

“More or less.” Chen Jiu said.

Chen Wu lowered her head and said again, “It feels like her consciousness was very foggy when she said these things. What on earth did Zheng Kai do to her?”

“Psychological manipulation, mental intervention, or…” Chen Jiu said, “Drugs, plus hypnosis.”

Chen Wu couldn’t believe it: “But why would he manipulate an innocent girl into dying? That was his girlfriend! Could a normal person do something like this? Why! Why on earth?”

Chen Jiu patted her back again and again, briefly calming her shijie’s emotions, before saying, “Even you are this upset after hearing it. Let’s not let Auntie hear this recording for now.”

Chen Wu made a sound of agreement, wiped her tears hard, and sniffed: “Xu Wei must have been clear-headed at times during this process, but the moment she became clear, she would think about how her boyfriend was treating her like this, and it would hurt even more. Maybe she even looked forward to being hypnotized, even though her mind was muddled, at least she felt better.”

“Yeah.” Chen Jiu put her arm around her shoulder and said, “She consciously saved these recordings, which means she was trying to preserve evidence for herself while she was still clear-headed.”

Chen Wu lifted her eyes to look at her and sniffed again: “Does that mean deep down, she actually didn’t want to die? Even though she had depression, she still wanted to live well for her mom, right?”

Chen Jiu nodded.

Late at night, Zheng Kai, furious and frustrated, smashed quite a few things at home. Then he received a mysterious phone call.

“Hello!” He stood with his hands on his hips, his voice carrying a fire he couldn’t suppress. “If you don’t talk, I’m hanging up!”

He cursed repeatedly, his patience completely gone, venting all his rage on this unknown caller.

The female voice on the other end suddenly let out a cold laugh: “Zheng Kai, right? If you don’t want to be ruined on the internet, come to the old house right now. You have twenty minutes. Don’t be late.”

Without giving Zheng Kai any room to refuse or even think, she hung up with a click.

Zheng Kai was stunned for a moment. Then, like a madman, he grabbed whatever weapons he could find at home, stomped down the stairs, and rushed out the door.

Who the hell was this punk trying to scare him with ghost tricks!