Chapter 40: Conversation in the Car
"Fuck!"
Tang Baiqing stood at the door, stunned for a few seconds before finally coming to his senses. He immediately ran to the young woman's side, cradling her head as he demanded: "Xiaoying, are you alright? Xiaoying!"
As he held her head, Tang Baiqing found his hands covered in blood, and the young woman's convulsions became more pronounced, with a mixture of saliva and blood foaming from her mouth and nose.
Tang Baiqing's face turned pale with fright. He struggled to lift the young woman and turned to shout at Daxiong: "What are you standing there for? Help!"
At the door, Daxiong had been stunned for a while, staring at Tang Baiqing with his mouth agape as he asked: "Wh-what happened?!"
"Don't fucking ask, hurry!" Tang Baiqing yelled.
Seeing how badly injured the person was, Daxiong didn't ask any more questions. He immediately dropped the food bags, took out the felt gloves used for work from his pocket, put them on, then rushed to the young woman's side and lifted her legs.
"Quick, get her to the car!" Tang Baiqing urged.
The two of them carried the young woman together, pushing open the door to rush out. But just then, the convulsing woman suddenly made a noticeable gasping sound from her mouth and nose, followed by her body stiffening, her staring eyes no longer moving.
Tang Baiqing and Daxiong had been carrying the young woman, and they both felt her body's final, obvious stiffening.
"Bang!"
Daxiong's back had already pushed the door open a crack.
"Don't... don't move!" Tang Baiqing suddenly shouted.
"She's... she's not breathing," Daxiong said in a definitive tone, not a question.
Tang Baiqing swallowed: "First, let's put her down."
Daxiong didn't argue or say anything more. He cooperated with Tang Baiqing to put the person on the ground, then immediately walked to a corner of the room and stood still, not moving.
Tang Baiqing crouched on the ground, his eyes scanning the surroundings in terror. Only then did he see that the object he had picked up to hit the person was a special small hammer used for knocking the fasteners on speedboats.
"Son of a bitch!" Tang Baiqing gritted his teeth and suddenly stood up, looking at Daxiong and saying: "Help me carry her out and throw her in the sea."
Daxiong didn't move: "I... I... can't throw her."
"Damn it!" Tang Baiqing walked towards Daxiong with bloodshot eyes: "I told you to come help me!!"
Daxiong still didn't move, habitually squatting down against the wall.
Tang Baiqing angrily kicked Daxiong twice, then picked up the hammer and looked at the young woman on the ground.
Struggling, thinking, Tang Baiqing stood beside the young woman for a full half minute before deflating and throwing the hammer away. He turned and walked to the side, taking out his phone.
"Hello?" After a few seconds, the call connected.
"Dad... Dad... I've gotten into some trouble."
"What's wrong? What happened?" the middle-aged man on the phone asked.
"I... I accidentally killed someone..." Tang Baiqing lowered his head, replying in a trembling voice.
The middle-aged man was silent for a full three to four seconds before asking in a steady voice: "Where are you?"
"I'm on a third floor near the unit, at the scene it's just me and... a worker who does smuggling," Tang Baiqing glanced at Daxiong from the corner of his eye. "I... I really didn't mean to."
"Tell me the location."
"At Haiyan Pit..." Tang Baiqing honestly reported the location.
"Wait there!" The middle-aged man hung up the phone directly.
By the wall, Daxiong looked at Tang Baiqing in the dim light: "Should... should we call the police?"
Tang Baiqing glanced at him: "If we call the police, you better not say anything unnecessary."
Daxiong nodded obediently, not saying anything more.
In just over half an hour, Tang Baiqing sat inside smoking over a dozen cigarettes.
"Creak!"
Finally, the door of the third floor was pulled open, and a man in a suit stood in the shadows outside, waving at Tang Baiqing: "Baiqing, come out."
Hearing this, Tang Baiqing immediately stood up and walked out of the room.
After Tang Baiqing left, Daxiong looked at the corpse on the ground with some fear, unconsciously walking to the window of the room, near the light switch.
Outside, the heavy rain was still falling. Tang Baiqing hunched over and got into his father's car.
Inside the car, besides Tang Baiqing's father, there was also a police officer who had come over wearing pajamas, quite old in age.
Outside the car, the driver stood in the rain waiting.
"Dad, I... I really didn't mean to. She scratched me, so I hit her once, just once!" Tang Baiqing tried hard to explain.
"Slap!"
Tang's father slapped his son across the face, a complex emotion flashing in his eyes: "Playing with women, and you manage to kill someone, you fucking pig brain!"
Tang Baiqing's cheek swelled, and he didn't dare to make a sound.
"Old Yang, can this matter be handled?" Tang's father turned to look at the man in pajamas and asked.
The man thought for a moment, then looked up at Tang Baiqing and asked: "When she came to find you, did anyone see her?"
"Yes, we were playing cards," Tang Baiqing nodded.
"Is there still someone in the room?" the man asked again.
"Yes, there's a worker who does... does smuggling, he lives there," Tang Baiqing told everything he knew.
"Just hit once?" the man asked sharply, his eyes piercing.
Tang Baiqing immediately nodded: "I really just hit once, Uncle Yang!"
"How many people know about your relationship?"
"Quite a few, we met at a gathering, and several people in our friend circle know we were together."
The man rubbed his palms, turning to look at Tang's father: "If we don't go through official channels, it might get worse as we try to cover it up. People saw this woman when she came, and she might have told someone she was coming to find Baiqing before she left."
Tang's father remained silent.
"If it gets dug up, it'll be more passive," the man said tactfully. "Dealing with it privately and having it dug up later is a different matter from manslaughter during a fight. Do you understand my meaning, Old Tang?"
Tang's father gritted his teeth and leaned close to the man's ear, saying: "My son has a future, going through official channels would ruin him."
"My suggestion is this, it's the lowest risk," the man thought for a moment and said: "The Police Bureau has my side, it won't be made too serious."
Tang's father clenched his fists, looking at his son with a gloomy gaze. After thinking for a long time, he nodded: "Alright, do as you say."
"Can you arrange that worker properly?" the man asked Tang Baiqing.
"I know his boss, I can talk to him," Tang Baiqing nodded. "He probably won't say anything unnecessary, and I didn't really do anything anyway."
"We came, he can't say that," the man frowned as he reminded.
"I understand, I understand!" Tang Baiqing nodded.
"Old Tang, then you go back first, and I'll make another police call?" the man asked.
"Alright," Tang's father nodded.
......
Around 11 PM, police sirens echoed across the beach, and six or seven police cars stopped in front of the third floor.
Then Tang Baiqing and Daxiong, the two involved parties, were taken to the cars by police officers, while the woman's corpse was placed in a police van and taken away.
Sitting in the police car, Tang Baiqing's mind went blank. His heart was in chaos, seemingly already sensing his fate.
Future ruined, prison awaiting!
......
Around 4 AM.
Yu Mingyuan's call came through to Su Tianyu's phone: "Get up quickly and go to the third floor, something happened there. Rearrange the boats and everything, move them away before 8:30 in the morning when the Police Bureau starts work, hurry!"
Su Tianyu sat up abruptly: "What happened?"
"Tang Baiqing was injecting drugs, got too high, and killed someone there."
"...What the fuck is wrong with him?" Su Tianyu cursed helplessly as he got out of bed.