Chapter 10: Distorted Worship
After being questioned by the police a second time, Su Ye’s mental state took a sharp turn for the worse. She was distracted at work, absent-minded at home, and soon rumors started to circulate at the magazine office that the ghost of Wang Meiqi was haunting her.
“What’s wrong with you lately? You look awful!”
In a high-end Western restaurant, Ding Wei sat across from Su Ye. Candles and fresh flowers adorned the table, and Su Ye forced herself to perk up and smile.
“It’s nothing. By the way, darling, you mentioned before that you’d take me to visit your mother. When are we going?”
She gazed at Ding Wei with affectionate eyes, telling herself that with her lifelong happiness so close at hand, it was best to cast aside all those other chaotic thoughts.
Ding Wei glanced at her but didn’t respond immediately, instead changing the subject to something else.
Forget it, just take things slowly. There’s no point in rushing.
Su Ye sighed inwardly.
...
After the second visit to Ding Wei, Su Tianmu’s suspicions about him grew, yet he struggled to find a breakthrough.
Meanwhile, their long-absent freelance assistant was growing anxious too, as ghostly rumors had started to spread through their own company.
That day, the plump editor had hurried into the restroom, stomach in distress, paying little attention to whether anyone was nearby, and rushed into a stall. In the midst of his business, he suddenly noticed a woman’s hand reaching out from beneath the partition, accompanied by faint, miserable moans.
Terrified, he abandoned his half-finished “project,” yanked up his pants, and fled the men’s room, crying out for help.
It was said that the plump editor didn’t show up for work for days afterward, rumored to be ill or otherwise indisposed.
“That doesn’t make sense!”
Xia Wuyou, cradling a water glass, analyzed the situation with Fina.
“Look, if it was ‘Wang Meiqi’ from upstairs who lost her way and came down for a visit, she’d haunt the women’s restroom to scare the ladies, right? Wasn’t she supposed to settle scores with Su Ye?”
Fina, rarely engaging her brain in such matters, had to admit this sounded reasonable.
“There’s another possibility—the killer is actually a man!”
Holmes-like inspiration struck Wuyou.
“Mmm, yes, you’re right. Maybe it really isn’t Su Ye after all. I always thought she looked too delicate to be capable of something so cruel...”
---
Late autumn had arrived, and the fallen leaves on the street below grew thicker. At the same time, “Wang Meiqi” herself crouched by the window, eavesdropping on their analysis.
“Captain Su, this Ding Wei’s family is complicated, to say the least,” reported Officer Xiao Wang after investigating Ding Wei’s background.
It turned out Ding Wei’s father had once been a soldier, but after a conflict that led to him accidentally killing a man, he received a heavy sentence and hadn’t been released since.
Su Tianmu mentally reviewed Ding Wei’s demeanor when speaking about his father, recalling details of their conversation for clues to his character.
“Xiao Wang, detain Ding Wei for interrogation immediately!”
“But Captain Su… Fine, understood!”
Xiao Wang had absolute faith in his captain’s judgment.
The arrest went smoothly—Ding Wei clearly hadn’t expected it and was caught unprepared.
In the interrogation room, Ding Wei appeared completely baffled, unable to fathom why he was suddenly a suspect or why such drastic measures were being taken against him.
“Captain Su, you must be mistaken. Why arrest me? What crime have I committed?”
Su Tianmu remained silent, slowly picking up a photograph from the table. It showed an elderly inmate, his gaze lifeless as he faced the camera.
He held up the photo for Ding Wei, then asked in a low voice, “This is your father, isn’t it?”
At the sight of the photo, Ding Wei trembled slightly, his face clouding over.
“Yes, that’s my father.”
His voice was tinged with complicated emotion—sorrow, regret, but curiously absent was any sense of shame.
This reaction was odd—he didn’t seem embarrassed by his father’s crime, nor did he feel disgraced for being the son of a murderer.
Yes, that was the feeling.
Su Tianmu’s first suspicion of him had arisen precisely because of that unconscious reverence for his father. Learning that Ding Wei’s father was a killer only deepened his conviction that Ding Wei was the perpetrator.
---
“You killed Wang Meiqi! Su Ye once told you how Wang Meiqi bullied her, and you decided to take revenge on her behalf, didn’t you?”
At Su Tianmu’s words, Ding Wei seemed to regain his composure. He let out a cold laugh.
“Are you joking? What proof do you have that I killed her?”
He looked supremely confident.
“How do you explain hiding the fact that Wang Meiqi stole your interview? Originally, Su Ye was supposed to be the reporter assigned to you, but Wang Meiqi took her place. Why didn’t you mention that?”
Su Tianmu fired off his questions in rapid succession, barely giving Ding Wei time to react before launching another assault.
“Your father is a murderer—he’s unworthy of his uniform! And you, you’re just a murderer’s son, criminal blood running in your veins!”
Suddenly, Su Tianmu stood up, raising his voice, confronting Ding Wei with fierce emotion.
“You’re wrong! My father is a hero! He bravely resisted those who tormented him—that man deserved to die! His only mistake was getting caught. But I’m not like him—I succeeded where he failed. I murdered her perfectly, left you no clues at all...”
Ding Wei sprang to his feet, veins bulging, shouting uncontrollably.
...
The interrogation room fell silent. Even Ding Wei was startled by his own outburst, his face going pale as he sank back into his chair.
Su Tianmu was already calm again, as if his earlier outburst had been nothing but a passing breeze.
Under relentless psychological pressure, Ding Wei finally broke. He confessed in detail to the murder of Wang Meiqi.
It turned out that Su Ye was originally meant to interview Ding Wei, and had already put in considerable preparation. But when Wang Meiqi realized what a desirable match Ding Wei was, she snatched the assignment from Su Ye—unaware that Su Ye and Ding Wei were already in love.
Ding Wei, warped by years of distorted admiration for his father, had developed a dangerously antisocial personality. Learning of Su Ye’s plight, he meticulously planned what he thought was a flawless “Valentine’s Day murder.”
At last, the case was solved. Even Su Ye herself had never suspected Ding Wei was the killer. Though she had harbored doubts, she couldn’t bear to confront the possibility of losing a happiness so rare.