Silent Testimony - Chapter 88

As the year drew to a close, the wet market was packed shoulder-to-shoulder, and the crowd of customers buying fish was never-ending. Around 9:00 AM, Liu Yun and Tao Luhai closed their stall and headed home to pack for their holiday trip back to their hometown.

In the bedroom, Liu Yun stuffed neatly folded clothes into a suitcase. She turned to look at Tao Luhai, who was smoking in the living room, the wrinkles on her forehead deepening as she called him by his full name. “Tao Luhai, go take the laundry down from the balcony.”

“I’m busy; I’m talking to Tao Zhong,” Tao Luhai replied through a cloud of smoke, the red ember of his cigarette glowing at his fingertips.

Liu Yun walked over with a cold expression. “Can’t you chat later?”

“What’s your problem? Did you eat gunpowder this morning?” Tao Luhai crushed his cigarette into the ashtray and looked back down at his phone. “Besides, I just finished scrubbing the buckets for you. Why are you always barking orders at me?”

Liu Yun’s anger flared. “What do you mean ‘for me’? Don’t you spend the money we earn?”

“What, you want to pick a fight right before the New Year?” Tao Luhai’s face flushed a deep red as he slammed his phone onto the table. “I told you to tell that brat to come home, and it’s been two days with no word! You only care about her now because you’re worried about losing face back home. Where were you when she was lying in the hospital? Did you even call her for her 25th birthday?”

“And what about you?” Liu Yun spat out the resentment she had bottled up. “Yesterday was Tao Zhong’s birthday. How big was the red envelope you sent him?”

“What of it? I don’t want to die with no one to carry my coffin. Is it a crime to give my nephew some money?” Tao Luhai glared at her viciously. “And speaking of the hospital, didn’t I go? Weren’t you the one who told me to go home?”

Liu Yun shook her head with a weary, cold laugh. “In the five hours you spent at the hospital, you were either out buying lottery tickets or back at the hotel sleeping. You even complained when I called to ask you to bring her food.”

“As for money, in the twenty-five years Xiao Ling has been alive, you’ve spent more on Tao Zhong than on her. You always say a daughter will just marry off and isn’t worth the investment, but she is my own flesh and blood! You don’t care, but I do!”

These words were exactly what Tao Ling had messaged her recently—laying out every instance of Tao Luhai’s favoritism. Tao Ling had confessed that she once thought giving her life was a debt of gratitude she had to pay, leaving her trapped between patriarchal oppression and the duty of filial piety. But she had since awakened; she knew that not all fathers deserved respect.

At the very least, Tao Ling was completely finished with him.

Stung by the truth, Tao Luhai erupted in a fit of rage. He lunged up and hurled the glass ashtray at Liu Yun. “Talking back to me now? Your temper is getting out of hand. Is she the one instigating this?”

The ashtray struck Liu Yun’s shoulder, but her thick winter clothes protected her. However, as the glass shattered, everything else shattered with it. Acting on instinct honed by countless similar scenes, she bolted into the bedroom and locked the door.

The endless stream of curses and the pounding on the door hit her like a hailstorm. But, emboldened by her daughter’s advice, she finally learned to fight back.

“Tao Luhai! Ever since your back started hurting, I’m the one cooking and cleaning, and I’m the one hauling two hundred pounds of fish every day! And you? You rot on the sofa, go out for tea and cards after lunch, and spend your evenings at the lottery shop!”

Tao Luhai, fuming, was suddenly seized by an unbearable headache. He clutched his head and kicked the door. “Get out here!”

Liu Yun pressed her back against the door, her breathing ragged. She pulled out her phone to call Tao Ling, but the screen flashed a low-battery warning and shut down.

Time ticked by. She listened intently to the movements outside. The cursing grew faint, followed by the sudden, sharp ring of a phone.

“Hello? Who is this?” Tao Luhai’s voice sounded muffled. “What do you mean? Where is he?”

Liu Yun heard the sound of the phone hitting the floor, followed by a heavy thud.

“Tao Luhai?” Her heart leaped into her throat as she called his name.

There was no response.

She waited a moment, then slowly turned the lock. She opened the door and stared, frozen, at Tao Luhai lying flat on his back, foaming at the mouth.

Five minutes earlier, at the crime scene less than five hundred meters away, they had found Tao Yang’s head in the freezer of the kitchen. Qiu Wan didn’t know him, but observing Tao Ling’s reaction, she guessed the truth.

“Xiao Tao…”

“I’m fine.” Tao Ling felt as though a thick fog had descended over her. The movements of her colleagues became a blur.

“Do you want to step out and rest for a bit?”

“Yes.”

With reddened eyes, she turned and walked out of the apartment. It was true that Tao Yang, as the “favored son,” had rarely stood up for her. But they were blood; they had spent twenty-two years together. While they weren’t exceptionally close, they had been a normal pair of siblings. Witnessing his body after two years of him being “missing” felt like a heavy blow to her chest, a suffocating weight.

Qiu Wan found her in the stairwell of the third floor. “Xiao Tao, should we notify your aunt?”

“Yes.” Tao Ling pulled out her phone to call Liu Yun, but it went straight to voicemail.

“What’s your father’s number? I’ll call.” Qiu Wan recorded Tao Luhai’s number and dialed it to deliver the news of Tao Yang’s death.

“I’ll have a colleague take Tao Yang’s remains back to the bureau,” Qiu Wan said softly. “I’ll request another forensic doctor to handle the autopsy so you can rest for two days. Xiao Tao… I looked at the body just now. There were thirty-eight stab wounds. The fatal blow was to the chest. The MO might be identical to Du Guozhou’s.”

Tao Ling snapped her head up, staring at her.

“There are no signs of forced entry on the door or windows. The killer used a key.”

Tao Ling shook her head, muttering, “No, it can’t be.”

They knew that the real estate agency held one key, and the remaining five were with the Li family.

If this is a frame-up, Tao Ling thought, the killer is the same person who murdered Du Guozhou. By exposing a body related to Tao Ling using the same method used on Du Guozhou, the killer was doubling down on the pressure.

As she tried to analyze the situation, Qiu Wan handed her the phone with a grim expression. “It’s your mother.”

“Xiao Ling! Your father collapsed! I called 120, but he isn’t responding at all!”

Misfortune never comes alone. Tao Ling told her mother not to move him, hung up, and bolted down the stairs.

When Tao Ling burst through the door of her home, the first thing she saw was Tao Luhai lying in the living room, his face already turning blue. She knelt beside him, checking his carotid pulse and chest for movement.

No heartbeat. No breathing.

“How long has it been?” she asked her mother, her mind reeling.

“Ten minutes or so.”

Tao Ling immediately began chest compressions. Ten minutes later, the paramedics arrived, but it was too late.

“I’m sorry. He’s gone,” the doctor said, packing his tools.

“What was the cause?” Liu Yun’s voice trembled.

“Preliminary check suggests a cerebrovascular accident—a stroke. Did he have a history of high blood pressure?”

“Yes,” Liu Yun nodded. “But he often forgot to take his medicine.”

“Was he emotionally agitated before he collapsed?”

Tao Ling walked out onto the balcony, staring blankly at the setting sun. The light was a dusty, greyish red that stained the sky. As she stood there, the voices behind her began to fade into a hollow silence.