A conversation in the car

"Holy shit!"

Tang Baiqing stood in the doorway, stunned for several seconds before finally coming to his senses. He immediately ran over to the girl, cradled her head, and shouted, "Xiao Ying, are you okay? Xiao Ying!"

The moment he cradled her head, his hands were covered in blood. Her convulsions grew more pronounced, and froth mixed with saliva and blood spurted from her mouth and nose.

Tang Baiqing went deathly pale with fear. He struggled to lift her, then turned and shouted at Big Bear, "What are you standing there for? Help me!"

By the doorway, Big Bear was already dumbstruck. He stared at Tang Baiqing, slack-jawed. "Wh-what happened?!"

"Stop fucking asking and hurry up!" Tang Baiqing roared.

Seeing how badly she was hurt, Big Bear asked no more questions. He immediately dropped the bag of food, pulled his woolen work gloves from his pocket, and put them on before rushing over to lift her legs.

"Quick, get her to the car!" Tang Baiqing urged.

Together, they carried the girl and pushed against the door to rush outside. But just then, a distinct gasping sound suddenly came from the mouth and nose of the still-convulsing girl. Her body went rigid, and her wide-open eyes stopped moving.

Tang Baiqing and Big Bear had been carrying her the whole time. Both felt that final, unmistakable stiffening of her body.

Bang!

Big Bear's back had already pushed the door open a crack.

"Don't... don't move!" Tang Baiqing suddenly shouted.

"She... she's stopped breathing." Big Bear said it as a statement, not a question.

Tang Baiqing swallowed. "Put... put her down first."

Big Bear neither argued nor said anything else. He helped Tang Baiqing lower her to the floor, then immediately walked over to a corner of the room and stood there without moving.

Tang Baiqing crouched on the floor and swept a terrified gaze around the room. Only then did he see that the thing he had picked up to hit her was a small, specialized hammer used for hammering speedboat securing bolts.

"Motherfucker!" Tang Baiqing gritted his teeth and abruptly stood up. Looking at Big Bear, he said, "Help me carry her outside and dump her in the sea."

Big Bear didn't move. "I... I... can't dump her."

"Fuck!" Eyes bloodshot, Tang Baiqing strode toward Big Bear. "I'm telling you to come help me!!"

Big Bear still didn't move. He crouched against the wall out of habit.

Furious, Tang Baiqing kicked Big Bear twice, picked up the hammer, and looked at the girl on the floor.

Torn and thinking hard, Tang Baiqing stood beside her for a full half minute before throwing the hammer aside in defeat. He turned, walked farther into the room, and took out his phone.

"Hello?" The call connected after a few seconds.

"Dad... Dad... something happened."

"What happened? What's wrong?" the middle-aged man on the phone asked.

"I... I accidentally killed someone..." Tang Baiqing replied, head lowered and voice trembling.

The middle-aged man was silent for a full three or four seconds before asking evenly, "Where are you?"

"I'm on the third floor of a place next to work. It's just me and... a worker who does smuggling." Tang Baiqing glanced at Big Bear out of the corner of his eye. "I... I really didn't mean to."

"Tell me the location."

"It's in Haiyan Pit..." Tang Baiqing gave him the exact location.

"Wait there!" The middle-aged man hung up immediately.

By the wall, Big Bear looked at Tang Baiqing in the dim yellow light. "Should... should we call the police?"

Tang Baiqing glanced at him. "If we call the police, don't you fucking run your mouth either."

Big Bear nodded obediently and said nothing more.

In little more than half an hour, Tang Baiqing sat in the room and smoked well over a dozen cigarettes.

Creak!

At last, the door to the third floor was pulled open. A man in a suit stood outside in the shadows and beckoned to Tang Baiqing. "Baiqing, come out."

Hearing him, Tang Baiqing immediately got up and hurried out of the room.

After Tang Baiqing left, Big Bear looked fearfully at the body on the floor and unconsciously moved over to the window, near the light switch.

Outside, the rain was still pouring. Tang Baiqing ducked low and hurried into his father's car.

Inside the car, besides Tang Baiqing's father, there was an elderly police officer who had come over in his pajamas.

Outside, the driver stood waiting in the rain.

"Dad, I... I really didn't mean to. She scratched me, so I hit her once. Just once!" Tang Baiqing desperately tried to explain.

Smack!

Tang Baiqing's father slapped his son across the face, a flicker of conflicting emotions passing through his eyes. "You even managed to get someone killed while fucking around with women. You fucking idiot!"

Tang Baiqing's cheek swelled red, but he didn't dare make a sound.

"Uncle Yang, can this be handled?" Tang Baiqing's father turned to the man in pajamas.

The man thought for a moment, then looked up at Tang Baiqing. "Did anyone see her when she came to find you?"

"Yes. We were playing cards." Tang Baiqing nodded.

"Was anyone else in the room?" the man asked.

"Yes, a worker who does... does smuggling. He lives here." Tang Baiqing held nothing back.

"You only hit her once?" the man demanded, his gaze piercing.

Tang Baiqing immediately nodded. "I really only hit her once, Uncle Yang!"

"Do many people know about your relationship?"

"Quite a few. We met at a party, and a few people in our circle of friends know we're together."

The man rubbed his palms and turned to Tang Baiqing's father. "Keeping the authorities out of it could just make things look worse. Someone saw this woman arrive, and someone might have known she was coming to see Baiqing before she left."

Tang Baiqing's father remained silent.

"If it gets uncovered, we'll be on the back foot instead." The man put it delicately. "Handling it privately and having someone uncover it later is very different from accidentally causing a death in a fight. Do you understand what I mean, Tang?"

Tang Baiqing's father gritted his teeth, leaned close to the man's ear, and said, "My son has a future. Going through the authorities will ruin him."

"My suggestion carries the least risk." The man thought for a moment before continuing, "With me at the Police Bureau, it won't get too serious."

Tang Baiqing's father clenched his fists and stared darkly at his son. After a long moment of thought, he nodded. "All right. Let's do it your way."

"Can you get that worker sorted out?" the man asked Tang Baiqing.

"I know his boss. I can talk him around." Tang Baiqing nodded. "He probably won't run his mouth. Besides, I didn't really do anything."

"He can't mention that we came here," the man reminded him with a frown.

"I understand. I understand!" Tang Baiqing nodded.

"Tang, why don't you head back first, and I'll take the call again?" the man asked.

"All right." Tang Baiqing's father nodded.

Around eleven that night, police sirens rang across the beach, and six or seven police vehicles stopped outside the entrance to the third floor.

Tang Baiqing and Big Bear, the two men involved, were then escorted into cars by police officers, while the woman's body was taken away in a police van.

Sitting in the police car, Tang Baiqing's mind was blank. His heart was in turmoil, as though he already had a premonition of his fate.

His future destroyed. Prison ahead!

A little after four in the morning.

Yu Mingyuan called Su Tianyu's phone. "Get up and head to the third floor right away. Something happened there. Rearrange the boats and everything, and move them out before the Police Bureau opens at eight thirty this morning. Hurry!"

Su Tianyu abruptly sat up. "What happened?"

"Tang Baiqing shot up, got too high, and beat someone to death there."

"...Did that motherfucker have nothing better to do?" Su Tianyu cursed, speechless, then got up and climbed out of bed.