My Weak Lover Became A Weird Boss - Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Was the person sent to investigate him Pei Qingshan?

After leaving Nanxin Town Middle School in Binchuan City, Pei Qingshan followed the address into a small alleyway.

The dilapidated alley seemed to have been deserted for a long time, showing little trace of daily life. Damp moss climbed the corners of the walls, and the dark, greenish brickwork was pitted with weathered scratches.

Large and small spiderwebs clung to the rusted iron gate. Pei Qingshan stood before it for a long while before pushing it open.

This place hadn’t been disturbed in far too long; a single step from Pei Qingshan kicked up a cloud of dust.

A cramped, dark room, broken beer bottles, cockroaches, moldy bedsheets…

The corners were filled with cobwebs, and several grayish-white fragments lay scattered in the crevices—what were these? They looked like scales from a crawling snake?

Pei Qingshan could hardly imagine how Professor Wen, with his obsession for cleanliness, had survived here as a child.

The bedroom was significantly cleaner than the living room, mainly because it was so desolate, containing only a desk and a bed.

The dusty desk was covered with a transparent plastic mat. Squeezed into the gap between the wood and the plastic was a dim, faded photograph.

Pei Qingshan pulled the photo out.

It was a picture of two people, a boy and a girl.

Neither looked much different from how they did now; Wen Se was timidly clutching the edge of the teenage boy’s shirt, refusing to look up.

That slightly youthful face held a touch of coldness mixed with two parts of impatient weariness.

Pei Qingshan could tell at a glance: it was definitely Wen Zhu.

He flipped the photo over. Written in a childish hand with a marker were the words: “Eleven years old, Brother and me.”

It seemed Wen Se had written it.

“Hey, how’d someone get into this house?” An aged voice drifted in from outside the bedroom window. “Is that boy Wen Zhu back?”

“You know Wen Zhu?”

Pei Qingshan immediately hurried outside.

The old man struggled to pry open his wrinkled eyes, then realized, “Ah, it’s not Wen Zhu.”

“It should be the anniversary of his father’s death right about now,” the old man sighed, then murmured after a pause, “It’s better he doesn’t come back. Better he doesn’t…”

Right about now?

Pei Qingshan instinctively checked his phone screen: November 26th.

He remembered Wen Zhu’s father had passed away a few weeks before their wedding, which would have been around… May?

“Wasn’t his father’s death anniversary May 17th?” Pei Qingshan’s heart skipped a beat as the words escaped him.

The old man, somewhat surprised, used his thumb and forefinger to pull back his sagging eyelids again. He peered intently at Pei Qingshan and huffed, “At least he found a good resting place.”

“I told the girl, Se Se, before,” the old man’s memory was as sharp as ever. “The date you mentioned was when Wen Jianye’s remains were discovered. Back then, I was the one who performed the autopsy on my bad neighbor. When they found the bones, he’d already been dead for over half a year. So, if you calculate the time of death, it would be right around these few days.”

“But that girl found it too much trouble, so they just kept the anniversary on the day he was found.”

Pei Qingshan didn’t hear much of the rest. His mind, like a movie being rewound, sped back seven years.

“Liao Xin, check the date of the inter-university social at Linjing University seven years ago.”

“The social seven years ago? Wasn’t that the anniversary of when you met your wife? You don’t even remember that?” Liao Xin joked over the phone while flipping through files.

“I want to confirm it again,” Pei Qingshan’s voice was heavy.

“April 1st. Not a bad date…”

Pei Qingshan hung up. He suddenly heard his own heart thundering, as if it were about to burst through his ribs.

If Wen Jianye died around November of the previous year, then who was the drunkard who appeared at the gates of Linjing University during the social on April 1st?

Why did Wen Zhu find someone to impersonate his father just to put on a show of alcoholism at the university gates?

A ringing sound exploded in his ears.

The name “Wen Zhu” snapped his consciousness back from where it had drifted.

The aged voice continued with a heavy sense of narrative:

“Those two children had a hard life, stuck with such a scoundrel for a father. Wen Zhu wasn’t even taller than that wooden table back then, and Wen Jianye would beat him until his head was bleeding and throw him out into the snow in the dead of winter. Oh, it broke my heart just watching!”

“Did no one step in?” Pei Qingshan found his voice raspy when he finally spoke.

The old forensic doctor sneered. “Wen Jianye was a notorious drunk, gambler, and wife-beater. Who dared to interfere? A perfectly good female university student married him—sigh!”

“Wen Zhu was such a good kid… I remember when they were little, the relationship between the siblings didn’t seem great. Until one year… they were both in high school then. The brother was a grade ahead. His senior year classes ended late. He came home in the middle of the night and saw his sister was missing.”

“Missing?” Pei Qingshan repeated mechanically.

“Yes! That god-forsaken bastard—beating his wife to death wasn’t enough. He looked at his own high-school-aged girl and accused her of seeing men. He got drunk in the middle of the night, tricked her into going to the neighboring village, and just abandoned her there!” The old doctor still gritted his teeth at the memory. “Tell me, how cruel can a heart be? Is that something a human does?”

“And then?” Pei Qingshan asked urgently.

“Then the brother came home from school and realized something was wrong. He ran out to find her wearing only thin clothes. It wasn’t until dawn that the two children returned. That boy had rushed out without even changing his shoes; he’d walked back carrying his sister in flip-flops. His feet were worn raw, covered in bloody blisters!”

In his mind’s eye, Pei Qingshan could almost see Wen Zhu from that night.

Under a leaden-gray sky, two thin children leaned on each other. High-school-aged Wen Zhu had grown tall quickly, but his nutrition had never caught up. His slender frame was lost inside his thin clothes.

He had walked so far and asked so many people. His lips were cracked and bleeding, his face pale and sickly. If the area around his eyes and his nose were a bit red, it was only from the freezing dampness of the night.

Every step he took was difficult and numb with pain, yet he kept a stoic face, talking nonchalantly to the shivering sister on his back.

Perhaps when he finally got home, he was met with a kick from a grown, drunken man—how could such a frail frame withstand that kick?

But Wen Zhu did withstand it, and he lived well until the age of thirty.

Every breath Pei Qingshan took felt entangled by fine vines, tugging at every corner of his internal organs. A sour, stagnant feeling, like moldy wood, thickened in his throat. Countless images of Wen Zhu’s face flashed through his mind in a dense blur.

The eyes as cold as a blade, the corners of the mouth curled in mockery, the brow that would lift almost imperceptibly when he was happy, and the mask-like smile he wore when he was weary…

That was the Wen Zhu who had so vividly entered his life.

In their seven years of marriage, they had spent more time apart than together; being separated for six months at a time seemed to have become their marital routine. Yet Pei Qingshan suddenly felt that every passing second now was a torment, like needles piercing his bones.

“Pei Qingshan?”

Was he hallucinating sounds now?

He looked up sharply.

Pei Qingshan stared intensely at the familiar face that had suddenly appeared. Every minute movement of those clear, elegant features was etched into his pupils.

The man was actually standing right there, frowning as he slowly walked toward him.

Wen Zhu looked at the tall man before him and suddenly hesitated, stopping two meters away.

Wen Se said the person investigating him was Pei Qingshan?

Why was Pei Qingshan investigating him?

So, what had he found out here?

Wen Zhu’s expression instinctively took on a hint of wariness. He tentatively considered striking first: “Why are you…”

Before he could finish, he was suddenly pulled into a crushing embrace by a fast-approaching Pei Qingshan.

The strength was so immense it felt as if Pei Qingshan wanted to melt Wen Zhu into his very blood and soul—bone against bone, flesh against flesh.

“…here.” Wen Zhu stumbled back two steps, struggling to finish his sentence.

It had been a long time since such a cold wind had blown through Nanxin Town. A few lonely leaves clung to the branches, swaying precariously.

“So, you were suddenly sent to do a background check on me?” Wen Zhu glanced at the door Pei Qingshan had pushed open. The smell of damp, moldy wood wafted from behind the dark doorway. He moved further away in disgust. “What a coincidence.”

“Yes,” Pei Qingshan’s expression was natural. “Has your department not received notice yet? A government-affiliated research project is looking for researchers, and your name is on the list.”

“Is that so? I only ran into Commander Tang San yesterday,” Wen Zhu said flatly. “He didn’t mention this to me.”

Of course not—because there was no list and no background check.

“It might still be in the confidential stage,” Pei Qingshan lied effortlessly.

“So Commander Tang is your superior?”

“Not entirely. He was temporarily transferred from above. We aren’t very close.”

If you counted three levels up from Tang San, he still wouldn’t be qualified to be Pei Qingshan’s superior.

Wen Zhu pondered for a moment. “I see. Last time I saw you two chatting for so long in the room, I thought you knew each other from before.”

“He seems to respect you a lot?”

To be precise, it was nervousness.

“Hmm?” Pei Qingshan snapped out of it and said casually, “He’s a good person. He treats everyone with respect.”

“…”

“Why didn’t you bring me back here for a visit when we got married? The scenery here is quite nice, and the people are kind. An old retired forensic doctor just came by to ask about you.” Pei Qingshan was unusually talkative today. He followed behind Wen Zhu naturally as they re-entered the house they had just left.

Wen Zhu, seemingly oblivious, surveyed the room. It had been a long time since he had returned to this little alley in Binchuan. He suddenly realized that these past ten-plus years were but a fleeting moment.

Yet the emotions of that moment had gathered, thick as the undisturbed dust around them, clinging heavily to his exposed skin, only to be blown into the air by a sudden storm.

He felt a sudden, profound exhaustion.

“What did you find?” Wen Zhu lowered his eyes. When he raised them again, he didn’t hide the weariness within. A slight smirk touched his lips. “Did you find out that I spent all that effort putting on a show for you?”

Once, he thought that was the best decision he had ever made since coming here.

To spark a man’s primal protective instinct, allowing him to easily find a peaceful marriage partner—a stable anchor.

Now, it seemed he had been wrong every step of the way.

Pei Qingshan paused and was silent for a moment. “Why?”

“I saw you had a nice watch and wanted to marry a rich man. Satisfied?” Wen Zhu scoffed. “What, didn’t you enjoy that performance? Didn’t it give you a strong sense of being a savior?”

“Fine.” Pei Qingshan nodded. He didn’t comment on the latter half, but simply asked, “The brand.”

“What?”

“What brand? What model?” Pei Qingshan’s gaze on Wen Zhu was burning yet calm, like volcanic lava that had cooled into dark brown basalt. He said with certainty, “You don’t know a thing about luxury brands!”

“Pei Qingshan, I never knew you enjoyed self-deception this much.” Wen Zhu let out a cold laugh.