False evidence

Chapter 284 Mirage
Hou Lei's expression gradually changed from surprise and doubt to fear, then his pupils rapidly dilated, and he collapsed to the ground like a dead dog.

A fish bone used for killing fish was stuck in his back!

I pushed away the woman who was drowsy and trying to get closer, and looked at the expressionless man.

"Are you and Zhu Wanlin twins?"

"Yes, my name is Zhu Wanqi, and I'm the boss."

I asked, "How did Zhu Wanlin die?"

Zhu Wanqi said, "I was drunk and on drugs, and Hou Lei pushed me into the sea. According to the plan, I was supposed to do it, but when the time came... even though Zhu Wanlin is a bastard, I still couldn't bring myself to do it. In the end, Hou Lei had to do it himself."

Gao He asked, "Was everything planned in advance by you and Hou Lei?"

Zhu Wanqi nodded: "Yes, a year ago, my father passed away, and that's when I found out I had a younger brother. It turns out that the parents I always thought were my uncle and aunt were my parents."

My biological mother gave birth to my brother and me while our biological father was on a fishing boat in international waters. My mother died on the delivery bed.

My uncle and aunt had no children of their own… Ha! They actually kept it a secret from my father and ‘adopted’ me. My own father didn’t even know he had two sons!
Feeling guilty, my uncle and aunt soon moved with me to a small country overseas. My father… my uncle only told me the truth before he died.”

Hearing a noise outside, he turned around and saw Liu Hong tying up a group of thugs with a rope.

Gao He asked Zhu Wanqi, "Did you look for Zhu Wanlin a year ago?"

"Yes, you all heard it."

Zhu Wanqi nodded: "I've been a seaman since I was sixteen, and I'm already tired of the life at sea. I'm not well-educated, and I'm poor. If I wanted to go ashore..."

I found out that Wan Lin was now a wealthy seafood merchant, so I wanted to ask him for help. I never expected that my younger brother would make me crawl on the ground to eat his leftovers and even make me bark like a dog.

I know he was drunk, but I also know his true character. Even if he were sober, he wouldn't acknowledge me as his older brother, much less help me.

He must have forgotten me after he sobered up, but Hou Lei, who was with him at the time, found me. He investigated my background and found out that I had killed someone.

He didn't threaten me at the time; he just told me his plan.

I really want to live a normal life. I want to stay in China for a long time and go find the woman I've been thinking about for twenty years.

Therefore, I agreed to cooperate with Hou Lei. I don't have Chinese citizenship and cannot stay for an extended period. Each time we docked, Hou Lei would arrange for me to secretly approach Zhu Wanlin.

I imitated his actions, his speech, and all his habits. Later, Hou Lei even created an opportunity—while Zhu Wanlin was not at home—to have me approach Fang Yun in his place.

And so, gradually, I began to believe that I was Zhu Wanlin!
Finally, one day, Hou Lei gave me a registration form and asked me to apply for a job as a seaman on a cruise ship. At that moment, I knew that he was about to carry out his final plan.

He will take Zhu Wanlin onto that cruise ship, and without anyone noticing, make the real Zhu Wanlin disappear at sea, and I will take his place.”

Gao asked, "What is the ultimate goal of the plan?"

Zhu Wanqi took a breath: "After my divorce from Fang Yun, I transferred more than two-thirds of the assets, the company, and the business channels to Hou Lei, who is also in the marine industry. He used his connections and money to help me change my nationality. In addition, he will also give me a sum of money."

I couldn't help but ask, "Have you really seen a mirage?"

Zhu Wanqi chuckled dryly twice: "As you all know now, I can't possibly live with Fang Yun under the guise of Zhu Wanlin. Divorcing her is inevitable, and as for the illusory figure in the mirage of Shanghai, that idea was mine."

The truth is, I've been adrift at sea for twenty-five years and have seen mirages several times. But I can never forget the woman on that ancient building twenty years ago.

I really plan to take the money Hou Lei gave me after I return to China and go to Fujian—I found out more than ten years ago that the ancient building is in Fujian.

I want to find that woman. Perhaps she is already married and has children, but I have been thinking about her for twenty years, and it's no longer just an infatuation with her appearance.

She has become my dream. If I could truly see the image of her in my dreams, even if it was just silently watching over her, I would be willing. I said, "She's married and has a child."

Zhu Wanqi's eyes lit up: "You know who that woman is? How is that possible? The painting I gave you doesn't look like her at all!"

"You still underestimate the police's technical capabilities."

I scratched the tip of my nose. "Besides, when you saw the mirage, that woman was already four months pregnant."

Zhu Wanqi stared at me intently, then suddenly his eyes widened: "You know so much, you wouldn't happen to be her...?"

I shook my head: "I call her Mom now, but I'm not her biological son. She's my mother-in-law."

"She gave birth to a daughter..."

Zhu Wanqi was lost in thought for a moment, then looked at me intently and said, "Can I see her?"

"Fuck off!"

Zhu Wanqi's request seemed utterly absurd to me, and I naturally could not agree to it.

Local police arrived after being notified. Except for Hou Lei, who was put into an ambulance, the rest of the people were put into police cars.

As dusk approached, the drizzle turned into light snow.

At the dock, I asked Liu Hong, "How did you end up on the boat?"

Liu Hong chuckled dryly, "Actually, I came here specifically to find you, and I just happened to see you getting into your car. From your and Captain Gao's lip movements, I figured you were going to take care of some important business, so I followed you all the way here. My car is parked outside the dock."

I asked, "Did you need something?"

Liu Hong said, "I still have time, let's talk about it when I get back."

That night, because Gao and the local police were going to conduct an interrogation, I stayed in the area.

On the way back the next day, Gao told me that the police had contacted the relevant departments in Zhu Wanqi's original country and confirmed that he had indeed killed someone.

Zhu Wanqi himself confessed to all the crimes he committed. Because he killed Hou Lei, he must be sentenced according to Chinese criminal law.

Gao He sighed, "He longed to return to China, and this can be considered his wish coming true. Sigh, I don't know what you think, but after the formal interrogation, I feel that he wasn't a bad person at heart."

His adoptive parents were just fishermen, and as a Chinese person, even in a small South Asian country, he still faced discrimination from the locals. He accidentally killed someone because some locals treated him inhumanely.

I asked, "When did you become so trusting?"

Gao He shook his head: "I know what you're trying to say. The truth is, the local police can't definitively determine why Zhu Wanqi killed people abroad. But to say he was inhuman, I absolutely disagree."

I don't deny that after twenty-five years as a sailor, the fierce and ruthless nature of a "sea wolf" had been ingrained in him. He could assess the situation and decisively kill Hou Lei...

However, when he learned that Zhu Wanlin had left a blood sample and sensed something was wrong, he tried to flee, but he didn't take anything from Zhu Wanlin or Fang Yun. This included the hundreds of thousands of yuan in cash in the safe—he had already gotten the password from Fang Yun.

And then there's that ancient building in Fujian. What are the odds of a foreign sailor, by chance, learning the location of a mirage, would do that? He really put his heart and soul into finding it.

In my opinion, he may not have really fallen in love with Xiaofan's mother; he was just facing discrimination abroad and longed to return to China.

And Xiao Fan's mother in the mirage represents his deepest, most unattainable dream life—his own mirage.

(End of this chapter)