Animal Detective-Chapter 71: Cheating

Hearing Zhang Qin’s explanation, Zhao Tianxing just kept taking notes, his lips pursed, showing little reaction.

But Chen Chao, who was next to him, inexplicably felt a chill run down his spine.

He was married and had a child.

They had been married for many years, long past the initial, honey-sweet phase of deep affection.

All that remained was the tedious drudgery of life.

His son was eleven and a real handful.

His wife was a college graduate—strong-willed, with high expectations for their son.

Things had been fine before, but his wife’s temper had grown worse in recent years. She was always complaining that he was too busy with work and didn’t have enough time for her or their child.

She had her own job, had to worry about their son, and had to manage the household chores. She never used to complain, but now she did.

His job meant they rarely saw each other, and when they did, they always seemed to talk past one another.

Sometimes, Chen Chao got annoyed, too.

He knew his wife was also frustrated. They both held back, never saying the words they were both thinking.

But to think, as Zhang Qin described, that the person sleeping beside you could be harboring such a desire to torment you... Chen Chao felt as if he were in a nightmare, a cold dread washing over him.

And it wasn’t just him.

In the observation room, Sun Zhao and the others all had their brows furrowed. They were silent, lost in their own thoughts.

Shen Xin was less affected. ’Zhang Qin’s mind is just stuck on one track,’ he thought.

’Why bother? Why does she have to torment herself like this?’

’A quick, clean divorce would have solved it all.’

In the interrogation room, Zhang Qin looked up at the ceiling, her expression unreadable.

Chen Chao snapped out of it, his thoughts on the interrogation now in disarray. He collected himself and said, "Right, about the incident back then when you were blinded... can you tell us about that first?"

Zhang Qin lowered her head and simply stared at Chen Chao, her gaze as calm and deep as an abyss.

After a moment, she shifted into a more comfortable position, crossed her legs, and tilted her head, seemingly lost in memory. After a while, she said, "You know, in the beginning, we were really in love."

"Back then, I hadn’t tested into college, so I started working at the factory young. I guess I was decent-looking, so a lot of guys pursued me."

"But I was young back then, always reading those teen romance novels, so I wasn’t interested in the rough, brawny guys at the factory. I liked the refined, clean-cut, scholarly type."

"I don’t remember the exact details, but the first time I saw him was in the cafeteria. A coworker pointed out that some guy was always staring at me."

"I looked up, and he was like... a startled deer."

A faint smile even played on Zhang Qin’s lips.

"After that, we got together, got married, and I got pregnant. He was so considerate, always there for me. He’d buy me anything I was craving. We’d dream about our future together, and we even picked out names for our child."

"A boy would be named Li Zheng’an, and a girl, Li Qin. He said he wanted our daughter to learn music, saying I had ’the art bug’."

Zhang Qin couldn’t help but let out a laugh.

Chen Chao remained silent, able to feel the happiness in Zhang Qin’s words.

But just then, Zhang Qin’s tone abruptly changed.

There was no hatred or disappointment in her voice, just a flat, dispassionate tone, though a shadow of sadness crossed her eyes. "I lost the baby. And I couldn’t get pregnant again. I was devastated back then. I kept wondering what terrible thing I must have done in a past life for Heaven to punish me like that."

"The baby was already so big when I miscarried... almost six months. It was already kicking me with its little feet."

"I really felt like my child had died."

"Then Li Shanjie changed. He blamed me, said I was careless. And I accepted it. I also felt that I’d been careless, that I had killed my own child."

"So sometimes, I even wished he would hit me. When he did, I felt a kind of relief."

"But he took it too far, and I couldn’t stand it anymore. Yes, I was at fault, but was he completely blameless? And was it really all my fault that things got to that point?"

Zhang Qin’s gaze sharpened.

Chen Chao raised a hand, intending to interrupt Zhang Qin and tell her she didn’t need to be so detailed.

But he lowered it again before he could speak.

He sensed that Zhang Qin needed to confess, that these words had likely been buried in her heart for far too long.

"I couldn’t overpower him, anyway. So whenever he hit me, I’d just glare at him."

"He was still a coward back then; he didn’t have the guts to kill me. So when I saw that look on his face—furious, wanting to strangle me but holding himself back in agony—I felt a thrill of satisfaction."

Seeing how far she was straying from the topic, Chen Chao cut in, "What about the affair with Chen Zhongyuan? What happened there?"

"Also, if you believed that staying married to him was his punishment, then why did you suddenly blind yourself and send Li Shanjie to prison?"

According to Zhang Qin’s logic, she should have just continued her war of attrition with Li Shanjie.

But she had already endured it for six years, only to suddenly change her mind, fabricate a crime scene, and get him locked up.

It didn’t make sense.

"Because I was stupid."

Zhang Qin stared at Chen Chao, a defiant stubbornness in her eyes.

"Chen Zhongyuan started at the factory in ’07. I had just lost my baby then, so I didn’t pay him any attention."

"But later, he must have heard about Li Shanjie always hitting me, so he started finding excuses to talk to me."

Here, Zhang Qin glanced at Chen Chao and said with a sneer, "Sometimes you men get it in your heads that we women need you to come and save us."

Chen Chao silently rolled his eyes. ’I certainly don’t,’ he thought.

Zhang Qin continued, "At the time, I really had no intention of having an affair. I had already given up on love."

"Then, rumors started spreading around the factory that Chen Zhongyuan and I were having an affair. Li Shanjie was furious. He started hitting me for any little reason and even began to follow me around like a madman."

"I was thrilled. If he was miserable, I was happy. So, I started actively approaching Chen Zhongyuan."

"At first, I was just doing it to piss off Li Shanjie."

"But as I actually got to know him, I realized... I think I was starting to fall for him."

"He was also slender and clean-cut, very tidy. He always smelled of soap. And even though he was a science major, he loved literature."

"I discovered that he understood me!"

"We would talk about literature, about Haruki Murakami, and go see romance movies surrounded by teenagers."

"With him, I felt like I was falling in love all over again."

She paused, then suddenly asked, "Officer, have you ever cheated?"

The question made Chen Chao’s face go pale. He instinctively glanced toward the observation room mirror.

"Of course not."

Chen Chao shook his head firmly.

Zhang Qin was amused by his over-the-top reaction. "I don’t mean physically," she said. "I mean emotionally. Have you ever had an emotional affair?"

Even Zhao Tianxing turned to look at Chen Chao.

Chen Chao shot him a harsh glare. ’What are you looking at, kid?’

"No, absolutely not," Chen Chao said, shaking his head firmly. He then added, "So, you’re saying you two weren’t physically intimate at the time?"

"As if!"

Zhang Qin snorted. "I told you, I was going to make a cuckold out of Li Shanjie."

"We did it in all sorts of places. Even in the bed I shared with Li Shanjie. At first, it was purely for revenge, but after a while, I discovered I actually enjoyed it."

"So, that’s when I wavered. I didn’t want to waste my life on Li Shanjie anymore."

"But he wasn’t going to let me have an easy out."

"So, I had no choice. I thought about it long and hard. The only way out was to seriously injure myself and have him sent to prison for it."

Zhang Qin’s tone became dispassionate again as she calmly described how she had faked the crime scene to frame Li Shanjie.