Good and Evil, Chapter 120: The Lover Hidden in the Attic for Ten Years

The door was kicked open. Xu Lang and his team saw a man standing in the attic. He was dressed in loungewear and slippers. He was about five-foot-ten, slender, and his skin was extremely fair—a pale, sickly shade.

Seeing Xu Lang and the uniformed police officers standing behind him, the man showed no panic. His expression was calm. He locked eyes with Xu Lang for a moment, then voluntarily held out his hands without saying a word, his intention clear.

The two officers did not stand on ceremony; they promptly handcuffed him and led him out of the attic.

After the man was taken away, Xu Lang stood in the small attic. Though cramped, it was fully equipped: a mattress, many books scattered on the floor, a small desk, a chair, and a desk lamp. On the desk sat an open notebook with a fountain pen lying next to it, cap off. The page was filled with neatly written text.

Xu Lang picked it up and saw it was an unfinished article. A quick glance revealed the prose was identical in style to the pieces Yan Wanyi had been submitting to magazines.

After the man was brought to the police station, Xu Lang and Ning Yanran immediately began the interrogation. The man was remarkably straightforward, confessing to everything in the interrogation room.

His name was Li Qiwen, twenty-eight years old, an orphan who had grown up in an orphanage with no relatives to his name.

"I am Wanyi's lover. We have been together for ten years."

Li Qiwen’s first sentence shocked them all.

Li Qiwen only had a junior high school education. After graduating, he went to work at Han Xingchang's factory. He was only fifteen at the time, and since the laws regarding the protection of minors were not yet fully enforced, many factories employed young people. Li was a bright child and worked very hard.

In the past, the factory’s main equipment consisted of sewing machines, and Li became the sole repairman. Despite his youth, he was highly skilled.

Li Qiwen and Yan Wanyi met about eleven years ago, back when Han Xingchang’s factory was already quite large, though not as massive as it is now.

Once, after Han landed a major order, everyone worked overtime for over a month. When the goods were shipped on time, Han was delighted and hosted a celebratory dinner for the staff. As the hardworking repairman who had kept the machines running, Li was naturally invited.

Han Xingchang brought his wife, Yan Wanyi, who had been married to him for less than two years, to the dinner.

Li Qiwen was very handsome—a "little fresh meat," as the saying goes—and he was shy, prone to blushing whenever he spoke to women. Yan Wanyi took an immediate liking to the timid boy.

After that first meeting, Yan Wanyi began visiting the factory under the pretext of seeing her husband. Each time, she would seek out Li to tease him. The other workers thought nothing of it, as Li was known to be an honest and shy boy whom everyone liked.

As their interactions grew, Yan Wanyi realized she liked him more and more. However, she couldn't visit often; she risked gossip, and Han Xingchang disliked her being in the factory environment.

Yan Wanyi, a clever woman, devised a plan. One day, she told Han that the sewing machine at home was broken and asked him to send someone to fix it. Han immediately thought of Li Qiwen.

Li didn't think much of it. He was just an employee doing his job. He took his tools to Han’s house.

Han had never hired a maid, so Yan Wanyi was always home alone. When Li arrived, it was Yan who opened the door. By Li's own admission, he nearly had a nosebleed when he saw her. It was one o’clock in the afternoon, during the lunch break, and she opened the door wearing a sheer, lacy nightgown with her hair disheveled.

Li was only seventeen or eighteen, at the peak of his teenage curiosity. Faced with a woman in a transparent gown, he could not resist. That day, in Han Xingchang’s home, Li repaired not just the sewing machine, but also satisfied Yan Wanyi’s lonely, empty heart.

Yan Wanyi was Li’s first woman, and to this day, his only one.

After the first time, they began meeting whenever Han was out. Eventually, Yan decided that such secrecy was unsustainable and convinced Li to quit his job and move into the house. Despite his fears of being caught, Li relented.

Yan sneaked him into the house one night. The old villa had an attic on the third floor that was always locked; Han never went there, so it remained empty. Yan arranged for Li to live there. At first, it was just a blanket and a quilt, but as time passed, she grew fond of him and added a mattress, a desk, and other necessities.

During the day, while Han was busy at the factory or out socializing, Li would come down to help with chores and cook. At night, he retreated to the attic to read and write. Han, who was often drunk when he finally returned home, never suspected that another man was living under his roof.

Li had always dreamed of being a writer. Living in that ten-square-meter attic provided him with a sanctuary. Yan Wanyi, fully supportive, bought him books and submitted his writings to various publications.

For seven years, this strange family dynamic persisted. As Han’s business grew, he spent even less time at home.

In the seventh year, Han decided to buy a new house. He had been hearing strange noises in the old villa, which made him feel uneasy—he feared the place was haunted. Because Li’s attic was directly above the master bedroom, every word and sound in the bedroom reached him clearly.

Yan Wanyi comforted Han, suggesting he was under too much stress, and even took him to see a doctor. When the doctor confirmed he was suffering from work-related stress, Han felt vindicated in his decision to move. When shopping for a new home, Yan insisted on one thing: it had to have an attic. Han, doting on his younger wife, agreed.

Even in the new villa in the Fengming district, the noises returned. Han, convinced he was losing his mind, visited a psychiatrist who confirmed his anxiety. In reality, Yan Wanyi had already moved Li into the new attic while Han was away.

Suspicion finally took root when Han noticed his cigars and food disappearing. He confronted Yan, but she put on such a convincing display of tears and outrage that he doubted his own sanity.

Earlier this year, Han hired a private detective agency—the one run by Xu Lang and Du Zhiqiao—to investigate his wife. Yan Wanyi, sensing the danger, cut ties with her other lovers during the investigation. The detective found nothing, and the case was dropped.

Believing he was truly suffering from mental decline, Han bought a third house, the Xishan villa. On the night of his death, he invited business partners over to show off the new home. No one expected him to die that night.

Listening to this, Xu Lang and Ning Yanran felt as if they were in a movie—it was too surreal.

Xu Lang could not comprehend how a man could willingly imprison himself in a ten-square-meter attic for a decade, never seeing the sun, never speaking to another soul, and never experiencing the world outside. Was this love? It must be, but it was a devotion that defied human understanding.

The most urgent task now was to determine who killed Han Xingchang: was it Li Qiwen, or was it Yan Wanyi? And what role did each of them play in the final act of this decade-long obsession?