Desperate people, accept the seed of my soul!

Zhang Jinshan agreed repeatedly and hung up the phone.

Ming Shao put his phone back on the table and picked up his wine glass again.

The whiskey wasn't so cold anymore; the condensation on the glass was sliding down the glass.

He looked out the window at the completely dark sky, where the city lights spread out beneath his feet like a dense net of light.

He suddenly remembered Yuan Qiao's pale face from crying the last time he saw her.

She said she couldn't stand it, and that she felt sorry for the Song Dynasty.

When Ming asked her, "Why didn't you feel like you couldn't handle receiving 30,000 yuan?"

When you lived in my rented apartment, why didn't you feel like you couldn't stand it?

When you recounted the Song Dynasty's itinerary to Zhang Jinshan in detail, didn't you feel like you couldn't stand it?

She couldn't answer a single word.

Her guilt was genuine.

But she never stopped cooperating with them from beginning to end.

This is the most ridiculous aspect of human nature.

Ming Shao drank the last drop of wine in his glass in one gulp.

Now, all he needs to do is wait for news from the interrogation room that Song Chao has signed and put his fingerprint on the document.

The only variable in this plan is the hardness of Song Dynasty bones, but he has already found the most precise point of attack.

It was to let him see with his own eyes that everything he was protecting never belonged to him in the first place.

At that time, his bone will break on its own.

------

In the interrogation room.

Song Chao leaned back in his iron chair, feeling drowsy.

All the wounds on my body hurt, my lumbar spine felt like it was about to break, and every breath I took pulled at my ribs.

His consciousness fluctuated between being clear and confused.

When he was sober, he repeatedly told himself that he couldn't admit it, that he couldn't leave a stain on Niu Niu's reputation.

When his mind was foggy, he would think of the osmanthus tree at home, the way Niu Niu ran into his arms and called him "Daddy," and the image of Yuan Qiao wearing that maroon scarf, standing by the roadside to see him off to the car.

He survived by watching these images.

After an unknown amount of time, the door to the interrogation room was pushed open.

Liu Lei walked in, holding a tablet in his hand.

He wore a confident smile, as if he was certain that the Song Dynasty would concede this time.

Song Chao raised her swollen eyelids but ignored him.

Liu Lei pulled up a chair and sat down opposite him.

"Song Dynasty, I'll show you something good."

He placed the tablet in front of Song Chao and opened a recording.

There was a crackling sound from the current, followed by Yuan Qiao's voice, which came clearly from the speaker.

"Mr. Zhang, Song Chao is back. He stayed at home for three days and fixed everything that could be fixed."

"He's so naive, he didn't suspect anything, and even said he'd buy Niu Niu a scooter and enclose the balcony next time he came back."

"He gave me all of his 30,000 yuan prize money, without keeping a single penny for himself, saying he wanted to save it for Niu Niu's art classes."

"Mr. Zhang, when can the house you promised me be transferred to my name? Niu Niu will be starting elementary school next year, so we need to register her household registration in advance."

Song Chao's mind exploded with a bang.

It was Yuan Qiao's voice.

He had been with Yuan Qiao for three years and listened to her talk every day; he couldn't possibly have misheard.

His eyes widened, swollen shut as he stared intently at the tablet, as if trying to bore a hole through the screen.

"You're talking nonsense!"

He lunged forward, the chains snapped shut with a clang, and the wound on his wrist reopened, blood trickling down his wrist.

"Yuan Qiao wouldn't say such a thing! You faked it! Your voices were deliberately synthesized!"

Liu Lei chuckled, didn't argue with him, and simply clicked on the next video.

The video quality is a bit blurry, like it was filmed secretly.

The scene shows a private room in a coffee shop. Yuan Qiao is sitting across the table, wearing a beige sweater that he has never seen before, and her hair is permed into waves.

There was a brown paper envelope in front of her. Zhang Jinshan, who was sitting opposite her, pushed the envelope in front of her.

"Here's 30,000 yuan, take it."

"Once Song Chao signs the confession and goes inside, the downtown apartment that Young Master Ming promised you will be transferred to your name, and Niu Niu's household registration will also be in the city, so she can attend a top-tier primary school in the future."

Yuan Qiao reached out and took the envelope, stuffing it into her bag with a slightly awkward smile on her face.

"Thank you, Mr. Zhang. Thank you, Young Master Ming."

"I know what to do, and I won't let you down."

"I will persuade Song Chao. He listens to me the most. If I ask him to confess, he will definitely do so."

Zhang Jinshan smiled.

"You don't need to persuade him. Just tell him that as long as he confesses, you and Niu Niu can live a good life. He will definitely agree."

"After all, he loves you and Niu Niu so much, right?"

Yuan Qiao nodded, a look of guilt on her face.

"I know I've let him down; he was really good to me."

"But I have no choice; I have to think about Niu Niu's future."

"He's a migrant worker; he'll never be able to afford a house in the city, nor can he provide Niu Niu with a good education."

"If Niu Niu follows him, she will only be able to attend a run-down school in the suburbs for the rest of her life, and she won't even be able to afford decent clothes."

The video ends abruptly here.

Song Chao froze in his chair, his blood seemingly frozen, the chill running from his head to his toes.

He opened his mouth, as if to say something, but no sound came out.

It felt like there was a large block of ice stuck in his throat, so cold that even breathing hurt.

it is true.

In the video, Yuan Qiao was wearing a beige sweater that he had never seen before, and his hair was permed in a way that he had never seen before.

The guilt on her face was genuine, and the tone of her voice when she said those words was also genuine.

She said herself that she needed to think about Niu Niu's future.

She said herself that if she followed him, Niu Niu would only be able to attend a dilapidated school in the suburbs for the rest of her life.

She told him herself that she would persuade him to confess, and that he listened to her the most.

Song Chao's body began to tremble violently, not from pain, but from cold.

A bone-chilling cold emanated from his very marrow, making his teeth chatter.

He remembered when he got home, Yuan Qiao took the wool scarf, her eyes red, and said he was wasting money.

He remembered the night before he left, Yuan Qiao packed his luggage, stuffed five thousand yuan into his bag, and told him not to mistreat himself while he was away.

He remembered that at the bus station, Yuan Qiao stood by the roadside holding Niu Niu, waving goodbye to him. The wind made her hair messy, and she was wearing the maroon scarf he had just bought for her.

It turns out all that gentleness was fake.

It turns out all that concern was fake.

It turns out that the home he had risked his life to protect for three years was a trap set for him from the very beginning.

Like a fool, he carried cement and tied steel bars on the construction site for three years, giving every penny he earned to Yuan Qiao and saving every penny to buy gifts for Niu Niu.

He thought he was the happiest man in the world, with a gentle wife and a lovely daughter.

It turns out he was just a scapegoat.

He's just a tool for someone else to support their wife and children.

They were scapegoats that Zhang Jinshan and Ming Shao could easily push out.