Chapter 53: Unbearable

"But Zhang Guanghui’s fingerprints were wiped clean," Huo Yan pointed out, touching upon the most critical detail.

Ning Shuyi fell into deep thought.

"Now that you mention it, there is another detail that is quite intriguing," she said after a moment of silence. "Do you remember the pile of unused cement at the crime scene? There was quite a lot left over. If Chang Junchao had intended to kill two people and fill that bathtub with cement, he wouldn't have needed to buy that much, and he couldn't have possibly foreseen the arrival of a habitual burglar."

"I called my father over the last couple of days to ask him how much cement would be required to rebuild a bathtub of the dimensions found at the scene. The amount he estimated was far less than what was left at the scene, and it wouldn't have required that high-grade, heavy-duty type either. Furthermore, it makes no sense for someone intending to rebuild a pool to buy only cement and no bricks."

"So, I suspect the most logical explanation is that he had originally planned to kill Deng Qingrong and bury the body in cement; that would naturally require a larger quantity. He hadn't expected to be interrupted by a habitual burglar, forcing him to kill to cover his tracks. It just so happened that the burglar also had a scar on his back, which gave him the idea to stage a massacre. In this way, a bathtub intended for one person ended up holding two. Since the burglar was originally lean but had recently gained weight, his build became more similar to Chang Junchao’s, which is why there was cement left over after burying both bodies."

Huo Yan nodded, signaling his agreement with Ning Shuyi’s deduction.

However, Ning Shuyi still wore a puzzled expression. "But why would Chang Junchao want to kill Deng Qingrong? For so many years, he had been subservient, taking care of Deng Qingrong and Chang Rong, playing the role of a devoted son. Long-term neighbors from both of their previous addresses confirmed this; there was no sign of rebellion. He is a capable adult male. Given that he lived perfectly fine on his own after Deng Qingrong previously left home, he clearly had no practical or emotional dependency on her. If he felt suffocated by his mother’s extreme controlling nature, he could have chosen to move out or done what many teenagers do—run away from home."

"Either of those options would have been far less costly than murder, wouldn't they? What could have possibly driven him to make such an extreme choice?"

"It is the pain that comes when a glimmer of hope is suddenly ignited within the numbness of despair, only to be extinguished again just as quickly," Huo Yan said.

His tone sounded remarkably calm, but something seemed to be surging in his eyes. It was a complex emotion, one that Ning Shuyi noticed but could not decipher, so she chose not to probe further.

"Explain," she said, nodding at him.

"This morning at Zhang Guanghui’s house, based on her account of the argument with Deng Qingrong, we can see some issues in Chang Junchao’s behavior. It is clear that for years, he had been in immense pain, enduring Deng Qingrong’s various whims and her treatment of him as nothing more than a retirement pension tool. And Deng Qingrong herself didn’t seem particularly satisfied with her son, either. Otherwise, when she found out that Zhang Guanghui—the biological daughter she had abandoned thirty years ago—was also in W City, she wouldn't have gone out of her way to harass her, hoping to extract benefits from her as well. She even humiliated her son without mercy right in front of her own daughter."

Ning Shuyi was deeply struck by this detail. Although she hadn't experienced such an environment growing up, the thought of a parent belittling their child’s worth in front of others was suffocating and painful.

"Wang Hongzhen, the victim of domestic violence we helped earlier, mentioned that after Chang Rong fell critically ill and Deng Qingrong packed her bags and left, Chang Junchao handled his father’s funeral arrangements entirely on his own. He was remarkably composed throughout the process. From beginning to end, he showed no resentment toward his mother’s departure; one could even say everything was normal, as if he hadn't been affected in the slightest."

"I don't think this was merely a case of being subservient. He stood up for Zhang Guanghui and argued with his mother, which shows he wasn't someone who blindly bowed to Deng Qingrong’s values; he had his own sense of right and wrong. If that’s the case, and Deng Qingrong abandoned her son and her terminally ill husband for over half a year, the fact that Chang Junchao remained completely steady and never even inquired about her whereabouts suggests to me that, deep down, he wasn't against that situation at all—he might have even preferred it."

Ning Shuyi sighed. "When Deng Qingrong was home, he had to take care of two people. When she left, he only had to look after a bedridden father who couldn't be picky. Perhaps he really did find it much easier."

"And he never seemed to receive any care or warmth from his mother anyway, so no matter where she went, as long as she was out of the house, it might have been a kind of relief for him. After all, a mother who openly tells neighbors about her son’s physical defects... that really is a source of psychological torture."

"It’s just a pity that, after all that, Deng Qingrong came back." Huo Yan exhaled slowly, as if something had been weighing on his chest. "Just when Chang Junchao had begun to hope for a better life, Deng Qingrong returned. His life reverted to exactly how it was before, and that, most likely, was the turning point that led to his total collapse."

"He was able to endure it for twenty or thirty years, so why couldn't he handle it after she left and came back?" Ning Shuyi asked, puzzled.

"Have you ever been starving?" Huo Yan asked in return.

Ning Shuyi shrugged and shook her head. Huo Yan was clearly not surprised by this answer. He had been to her home, and he knew that neither her family's financial situation nor the love and care she received from her parents could possibly lead to a child being neglected or starved.

"Being hungry isn't actually that difficult to endure," Huo Yan said, his voice eerily calm and devoid of emotion. "If you are hungry from the start and maintain a state of constant deprivation, a person can endure it. As long as you don't starve to death, you won't break, even if you’re only half-fed every day. But if, at that moment, you are suddenly given enough to eat at every meal, and then, after a while, you are suddenly thrown back into that environment of starvation..."

"Do you think he would still be able to hold on the way he did before?"