During the police interrogation, the gardener Zhang Liangzhu found himself unable to refute the evidence one by one.
“You’re right. I killed her,” Zhang Liangzhu said, his face pale with despair.
He hadn’t expected that the body would only be discovered half a month later, and that his crime would still be exposed…
Zhang Zhengyang, usually all smiles, wore an unusually stern expression.
“Confess your motive and the entire process honestly. Don’t even think about lying—we have more evidence than you can imagine.”
Zhang Liangzhu, finally seeming to have someone to confide in, opened up directly.
“I deeply love the young master. I want him to be happy forever…”
The motive for the crime traced back to when Su Zhisheng returned to the Su family.
Su Mingjie, feeling deprived of his family’s affection, grew sullen and constantly targeted Su Zhisheng. Zhang Liangzhu and Wu Xiaotao, along with other servants, eagerly assisted him.
To drive Su Zhisheng away, Su Mingjie devised a plan to frame him for an allergic reaction. He first discussed it with the clever Wu Xiaotao among his trusted circle, asking her to secretly buy mangoes. Wu Xiaotao refused, citing her unwillingness to harm the young master’s health.
After that, Su Mingjie turned to the gardener, Zhang Liangzhu. Though Zhang Liangzhu didn’t approve of the harmful plan, he obeyed the order as usual.
Thus, Su Mingjie obtained a mango that wouldn’t appear on his own bills. To minimize the risk of the plan leaking, he didn’t involve a third person but personally juiced the mango and buried it.
Unexpectedly, he miscalculated the dosage, sending himself to the ICU and nearly costing him his life!
Wu Xiaotao was shocked to discover that Su Mingjie’s plan had been carried out. She immediately guessed that Zhang Liangzhu had bought the mango and scolded him for failing to stop the young master from harming himself.
Zhang Liangzhu, however, felt that Wu Xiaotao should have followed the young master’s orders. He argued that the mango should have been bought, but with a reminder to use only a small amount of juice.
The two argued until Su Mingjie intervened to calm the situation.
At least, when Su Mingjie initially gave his statement at the police station, he didn’t recall this argument at all. At the time, he genuinely believed Wu Xiaotao had no grudges with anyone except Su Zhisheng.
In late August, Wu Xiaotao’s family demanded another sum of money from her, citing medical treatment.
Financially strained, Wu Xiaotao turned her attention to Zhang Liangzhu.
“You wouldn’t want the young master’s family and fiancée to find out that you bought that deadly mango, would you?”
“The esteemed Young Master Mingjie has been corrupted because of you! Just kicking you out of the Su family won’t quench their anger!”
Wu Xiaotao harbored resentment toward the gardener—after all, a generous employer was hard to come by, and Su Mingjie had nearly died because of him.
“I’m not asking for much. Just transfer eight thousand yuan to me every month after you get paid. Sometimes, when the young master is in a good mood, he tips you more than that. You wouldn’t be unwilling to part with such a small amount, would you?”
Knowing the gardener’s income level, Wu Xiaotao believed she had set a demand that wouldn’t drive him to desperation, ensuring her safety.
Back then, Su Zhisheng had never harmed her, yet she had willingly fought for Su Mingjie for a reward.
Now, Zhang Liangzhu had never harmed her either, but as a coworker, she was still willing to extort him for money.
A person’s moral bottom line lowers step by step…
Zhang Zhengyang frowned, scrutinizing the gardener.
“Even excluding tips, as one of Su Mingjie’s trusted men, this eight thousand yuan is only half of your monthly income. You don’t have a mortgage or car loan—this shouldn’t have driven you to a dead end.”
Zhang Liangzhu had never been materialistic. Apart from buying Su Mingjie’s merchandise, he had few other expenses. That’s why when the police checked his bank records, they found multiple large transactions recently.
He had simply been saving most of his money without spending much.
Wu Xiaotao’s threats shouldn’t have pushed him to take such a risk.
“Heh. At first, Wu Xiaotao’s parents only demanded money on her paydays. Now, they call her an extra time every month. She can’t shake off her parents—it was only a matter of time before she bled me dry.”
“I had to kill her before the first payment of eight thousand yuan, meaning before September. Otherwise, once large sums of money started moving between us, I would definitely become the prime suspect!”
So, Zhang Liangzhu lured Wu Xiaotao to the mountains under the pretext that Young Master Mingjie wanted to teach Su Zhisheng a lesson there, and they needed to scout the location and plan it out.
To cover her tracks, Wu Xiaotao deliberately took a roundabout route, avoiding surveillance cameras. She was worried that if Su Zhisheng reported the incident to the police, they would find out that she had been lurking nearby.
Back when the investors first cleared the land to plant fruit trees, they had hired temporary workers. Zhang Liangzhu had worked on the mountain at that time and knew of a small wooden cabin there. After killing Wu Xiaotao with a single brick, he moved the body to the cabin for disposal.
“Killing someone is easy; getting rid of the body is hard. I thought feeding the body to fish would make it decompose faster. But I was afraid that anglers or wild swimmers in Yuntian City might discover the bones, so I ended up putting the body in bags and throwing it into the river.”
Half a month had passed. The original crime scene had long been covered by rain and overgrown with vegetation. But the net of heaven is wide, yet nothing escapes its mesh—the victim at the bottom of the river and the small cabin still left behind numerous clues, enough to bring the murderer, Zhang Liangzhu, to justice!
As Zhang Liangzhu recalled everything, he could only sigh with emotion.
“We were colleagues. I didn’t want to kill her. But if she could threaten me for money today, sooner or later she could threaten the young master for money too. I had no choice…”
“Killing is wrong under any circumstances! If she was blackmailing you, you could have called the police,” Zhang Zhengyang scoffed. “Oh, I forgot—you were involved in framing Su Zhisheng. The moment blackmail came up, your dirty deeds would’ve been exposed!”
The investigation into the case was now largely clear. The police only needed Zhang Liangzhu to identify the original crime scene and wrap up a few remaining tasks.
The gruesome dismemberment case that had loomed over the people of Yuntian City was finally coming to a close.
The case had been horrifying, plunging the gossip-loving public of Yuntian City into deep fear. But the motive behind the murder was a personal grudge—the killer bore no ill will toward the general public.
The teachers, students, and anxious residents of Yuntian City could at least breathe a sigh of relief upon hearing the news.
Xing Tianwei took out his phone. “Start drafting the case announcement now. Release it before the Mid-Autumn Festival, so the people can enjoy the holiday with peace of mind.”
The day before the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, many people had already begun their journeys home.
This year, the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day fell very close together, so the government combined them into one long holiday.
For Su Zhisheng, who planned to investigate the nanny baby-swap case after the festival, this was undoubtedly good news.
At noon on the day before the holiday, Su Zhisheng took advantage of having no afternoon classes to hurry to the hospital and pick up his adoptive mother.
The two first took a high-speed train to the county station near his adoptive mother’s hometown, then transferred to a minivan.
Su Zhisheng had hired the entire van for himself, sitting in the front passenger seat. The entire back seat was left for his adoptive mother, allowing her to lie down and rest, making the long journey back to her hometown more bearable.
The mountain roads were winding and treacherous. Outsider drivers had trouble finding the rural routes, so the driver was an uncle from the neighboring village, Qiandong Village.
His adoptive mother’s village was one of the smaller ones, with pitifully few basic amenities. On designated festival days, residents of these small villages would go to Qiandong Village to buy supplies.
Though he was from a neighboring village, the uncle immediately recognized Su Zhisheng.
It couldn’t be helped—there were few handsome men or beautiful women in the small villages, and admiring Su Zhisheng was a great source of entertainment for the nearby villagers during market days.
“Usually, you carpool home with others. This time, you’ve hired the whole van. I heard you’ve started your internship, Zhisheng. No wonder you have the money to help your adoptive mother.”
“You’re such a filial and accomplished child. If only my kids were half as sensible as you.”
Uncle Guan Weimin sighed, his emotions a tangled mess.
His adoptive mother smiled. “To have found a child as wonderful as Zhisheng is the blessing of my past life. Your children aren’t bad either—they help you run the business at the company.”
Guan Weimin, however, shook his head with a sigh.
“Running what business? They’re too busy fighting for power and profit at the company to have any filial piety. Unlike Xiao Song…”
At the mention of his deceased eldest son, Guan Weimin quickly changed the subject.
“By the way, the village has been buzzing with gossip about the rich family’s nanny baby-swap case. The total reward for clues has reached 130,000 yuan. Quite a few people in the village are racking their brains for leads—who knows who’ll come out on top.”
“You might not have heard about this reward out in the city. If you think of anything, I’ll take you straight to the police station so you can claim the money as soon as possible.”
His adoptive mother’s expression stiffened.
No one in the village knew that Su Zhisheng was actually the real young master who had been swapped. The police had kept a tight lid on the news. The villagers only thought the nanny had sold the real young master for money.
After all, when the police had come around asking questions, they not only inquired about leads on the missing nanny but also asked about human trafficking in the area.
It was only natural for everyone to suspect that the nanny was involved with human traffickers—maybe she’d been killed by an accomplice over a dispute in splitting the spoils and buried somewhere.
Because of this, both the nanny’s maiden family and her in-laws were treated with hostility by the villagers and had been having a rough time.
During those chaotic years, the children trafficked out of the village, the women and young adults who left for work and never returned… these were all lasting wounds in the villagers’ hearts!
Although many of the traffickers from back then had been caught, some had slipped through the net. The police had kept the case files safe, waiting for any new leads to continue the investigation, determined to get to the bottom of it all.
At that moment, his adoptive mother glanced at the rearview mirror to check Su Zhisheng’s expression.
Seeing that he wasn’t too grief-stricken, she finally relaxed a little.
“I usually work in G Province—the same province where the wealthy Su family is based. Naturally, I’ve heard plenty of gossip about them. If I had any leads, I’d claim the reward and buy a car with it. I wouldn’t need to take a taxi anymore.”
“That’s true. The last person who saw that missing nanny was from our village. Your village is her hometown, but at best, you’d only see her leaving the village—there’s no way you’d know where she went after that.”
The driver continued chatting as he drove.
After all, he had already made his fortune—driving fellow villagers around in his car was mainly for the sake of conversation.
“Come to think of it, that real young master of the wealthy family and his biological mother are pretty unlucky too.”
“That woman had worked in the Su household for several years. She even took care of the Su family’s eldest son. Over the years she worked there, she often brought home snacks and toys her employers had given her for her own child. Who would’ve thought she’d go and pull something as rotten as swapping someone else’s baby?”
“When we were kids, every child in the village envied her little one. Almost every household had been pestered by their own kids begging for candy. Only Zhisheng was sensible from a young age and never made a fuss about wanting such things…”
Su Zhisheng fell silent.
Before elementary school, he and his adoptive mother had lived in the village. While there were plenty of job opportunities in the city, she couldn’t work and take care of a child at the same time. It was only when he started school that she felt confident enough to bring him along to make a living in the city.
And just a few days after abandoning him, the nanny had mysteriously disappeared.
Though he had never witnessed the happy life of the nanny’s son as a child, just hearing from the older village kids about all the different kinds of candy—more than he could count on ten fingers—and the countless toy stuffed animals…
He had envied that.
He just never dared to say it, afraid of putting his adoptive mother in an awkward position.
Back then, he had just wanted to grow up quickly, earn money to ease his adoptive mother’s financial burden, and buy himself snacks and toys…
But this Mid-Autumn Festival, he had everything, didn’t he?
His family was healthy and discharged from the hospital, right by his side. He had a well-paid job at the police station—a good one. He could buy whatever he wanted. His suitcase was stuffed with benefits from work and Mid-Autumn gifts from classmates like Li Mengxi and Gao Lijian…
There was so much stuff, he couldn’t finish it all—it had become a sweet problem to have.
With that thought, Su Zhisheng’s lips curled upward unconsciously.
The car wound along the twisting mountain roads until Qiandong Village finally came into view.
Chongshan Province truly lived up to its name—many mountains, many winding roads, and naturally, many caves. “Qiandong” (Thousand Caves) was an exaggeration, but the village definitely had dozens of caves, big and small.
The small villages near Qiandong were also covered in mountains and forests, full of caves that beckoned children to explore. The driver uncle’s eldest son had suffocated to death deep inside a cave while exploring one.
Even though he later had more children, he never forgot his firstborn. Every Mid-Autumn Festival, he bought double the offerings—one portion to keep at home for the festival, and another to take into the mountains to pay respects.
Although they had brought his son’s body back for burial, the uncle said he worried the child’s spirit might still be there, so he came to pay respects during Qingming and Mid-Autumn Festival alike.
By the time Uncle Guan Weimin had made his fortune doing business outside, the nanny’s family had already fallen into ruin after her disappearance. The villagers’ envy and gossip about the village’s wealthy families had shifted to the uncle’s household instead.
Back then, the village was still short on supplies. After the uncle finished his offerings, he never took the food away. So the children would swarm in and grab something good to eat.
The uncle wouldn’t let the adults compete with the kids. Only after the children had eaten their fill and left would he pack up the dishes and go home.
Later, as everyone got richer, families no longer allowed their children to eat offerings from other households—they thought it was bad luck. The food left in the mountains as offerings was also replaced with paper plates, left there for the small animals.
Thinking of those fond memories, Su Zhisheng turned his gaze out the window.
The cave where the uncle held his annual sacrifice was just ahead.
Crouching at the entrance of the cave were two yellow-furred foxes.
“Wah wah wah, boss, the day after tomorrow is Mid-Autumn Festival. Do we really have to wait here this early?”
“The early fox gets the chicken!” The fox swished its large tail. “We’re getting here early to grab the best spot and chase off the competition.”
“The boss makes sense. But boss, this isn’t called waking up early—this is called working overtime on a holiday.”
“Shut up! I don’t want to talk to an illiterate fox!”
Su Zhisheng couldn’t help but laugh.
After listening to the uncle’s chatter, he felt that if his adoptive mother went around asking questions, she probably wouldn’t find any leads on the nanny.
Maybe if he asked the village animals himself, he might have some unexpected success…
Of course, he was definitely going to find those two foxes.
Look at those fluffy, glossy tails—smooth and shiny, practically begging to be touched! Even if they couldn’t provide any clues, just petting them would be worth the price of a chicken leg.
On the day before the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, the police department finally finished editing the case announcement.
Although Su Mingjie was neither the murderer nor a suspect, as an essential part of the motive, he naturally appeared in the case announcement.
Even though the police announcement didn’t explicitly write the name “Su Mingjie,” which gossip-loving member of the public didn’t know that the person who tried to drive away the real young master was the big star Su Mingjie?
Besides, referring to him as “Su So-and-So” was practically the same as naming him outright, wasn’t it? The only other young master currently living in the Su family’s mansion was Su Minghao—so the attempt to obscure the name was completely ineffective.
The moment the police announcement was released, public opinion exploded!