Chapter 59: The Older Boyfriend

After staking out for yet another night, the two returned to the precinct early the next morning, planning to finish the brief meeting, handle the tasks at hand, and then get some much-needed rest.

Just as the meeting adjourned, Zhao Dabao brought in a man in his sixties, of medium height and unremarkable appearance.

"Huo Yan, I have some other matters to attend to. The two of you can chat with him!" Zhao Dabao handed the visitor over to Ning Shuyi and Huo Yan. "This is Shen Zongde, who used to have a romantic relationship with Deng Qingrong.

After finally managing to get in touch with him yesterday and hearing that it was related to the case involving Deng Qingrong, he voluntarily offered to come over and talk with us."

The man beside Zhao Dabao seemed afraid that his sincerity might not be evident enough, and he nodded eagerly along. "That's right! When I heard something happened to Deng Qingrong, I felt it was necessary to have a chat with you!

Otherwise, I was afraid you might be blinded by superficial appearances and misled during your investigation—that simply won't do! That Deng Qingrong is no good at all; she is a massive swindler!

You must never think of her as a good person!"

"Let's sit down and talk about it slowly then!" Ning Shuyi motioned for Huo Yan to seat Shen Zongde, while she went aside to pour a cup of water and then returned with two cups of coffee.

She handed the water to Shen Zongde, while she and Huo Yan each took a cup of coffee and gulped down half of it in one go.

Having pulled an all-nighter, it would be a lie to say they weren't sleepy or exhausted. At this point, Shen Zongde's information wasn't particularly crucial to their investigation anymore, but since his enthusiasm for cooperation was so high, it wouldn't do to dampen his spirits.

"Sigh, you youngsters certainly have it rough! Having to run around and exhaust yourselves over the affairs of such an old swindler!

She isn't even worth the hard work you're putting in! Truly!" Shen Zongde looked as though he was bursting with words and wanted nothing more than to vent. Without even waiting for Ning Shuyi and Huo Yan to prompt him, he proactively steered the conversation back to Deng Qingrong.

"What was your relationship with Deng Qingrong?" Ning Shuyi cooperatively threw out a question to allow this "victim of Deng Qingrong" of her uncle's generation to truly open up.

"If I had a choice, I would choose to have nothing to do with her! What bad luck!" Shen Shuyi grimaced with absolute disgust as he began. "We originally met at the seniors' matchmaking corner in the park. She told me that she was infertile, had no children, and that her husband had already passed away.

She also claimed she was exceptionally good at doing housework, cooked delicious meals, and had some savings of her own, so taking care of her own retirement and final arrangements would be completely unproblematic.

At the time, I thought to myself that since she was a woman in her sixties, things couldn't have been easy for her.

My late wife passed away early, and raising a son and a daughter alone had been exhausting and busy enough, leaving me with no heart to look for someone new. Later, when the children grew up and started their own families, they were quite busy with work and didn't have much time to come home often. I was left all alone, feeling quite lonely and bored.

Had it not been for that, I wouldn't have considered the idea of us just living together as companions.

Little did I know, this old woman had more tricks up her sleeve than ordinary people!

When she first arrived at my house, she was endlessly attentive, good to me, hardworking, and neat. Whenever she talked about my two children, she put on an attitude of wanting to get along well with them and build a good relationship.

Yet, before long, her true colors showed!"

As he spoke, Shen Zongde seemed to feel that his words sounded a bit off, and he hurriedly corrected himself, "I didn't mean that I was looking for a partner to come home and do housework to wait on me!

During the greater part of a year that Deng Qingrong lived with me, heaven and earth are my witness—you can go and ask anyone around my neighborhood! Did I treat her well or not? Let alone the fact that after we settled down and she moved into my place, I bought her clothes, a four-piece bedding set, and all sorts of miscellaneous things, spending quite a sum of money.

Just look at those few months—of our daily household chores, which one wasn't shared between the two of us?!

I am not the patriarchal type who wants someone to wait on me! We both have hands and feet, and I'm not lacking in life skills; why would I need someone to wait on me?

I just yearned for that kind of simple life where I till the fields and you weave, I chop the firewood and you spin the cotton!"

"Please don't get excited; we believe you." Ning Shuyi was torn between a laugh and a cry, and she hurriedly nodded to prevent Shen Zongde from focusing solely on proving his innocence.

Shen Zongde cupped his hands in gratitude toward her. "Child! For those words, this uncle thanks you! These past few years, I've really been too wronged. I couldn't talk about this with anyone else; if I told my children, they would blame me, and others would misunderstand me, but I was truly aggrieved!

Not long after Deng Qingrong came to our home, she dropped her disguise! She was extraordinarily lazy and idle!

And that wasn't even the worst of it. She racked her brains to squeeze money out of my hands, scheming against me heart and soul!

The things she brought to my house were kept in a large suitcase inside a room, and the door had to be kept locked with her holding the key. I couldn't understand why she lived in my house yet guarded against me as if I were a thief.

Although even back then I felt she was nothing like what she had originally professed to be when we got together, a grown man shouldn't be overly petty, bickering endlessly over a hundred yuan or a bit of housework.

However, after about half a year—during this process, my children weren't particularly supportive of our relationship either, but they were sensible, didn't force the issue, and didn't want to make things difficult for me, so they didn't say anything.

As a result, Deng Qingrong probably saw that our whole family was the easy-going type, and she pushed her luck further and further. She actually proposed that I sell my house, register our marriage with her first, and then buy a new house together!"

This detail did surprise Ning Shuyi and Huo Yan somewhat. The information they had gathered recently indeed showed that Deng Qingrong was a rather greedy, highly controlling person who squabbled over money.

Otherwise, she wouldn't have proactively chosen to accept a fifty-thousand-yuan compensation when her husband Chang Rong was injured back then, and then immediately demanded to take Chang Rong out of the hospital and abandon treatment the moment the money arrived, so as not to deplete that sum of compensation.

Yet, having been with Shen Zongde for such a short time, she had already begun scheming again. This degree of greed was truly astonishing.

"Because of this matter, I felt something was wrong with her. When my children heard about it, they were extremely displeased. They didn't oppose me finding a partner, but they felt that a woman who started plotting to divide property before anything was even settled was not someone to live a life with!

After I rejected Deng Qingrong's requests to register our marriage and buy a house several times, she got angry. She was no longer the amicable, kind-natured person she had been at first, and she would pick fights with me every day.

Later, I lost my patience and said that if things were going to be like this, we might as well call it quits! Since our personalities were so incompatible, there was no way we could continue living as companions.

When she saw that I wanted to break up, she softened up, apologizing to me and weeping, saying she only acted that way because she lacked a sense of security and had listened to bad advice from other old women, and that she wouldn't do it again.

Being soft-hearted, I forgave her."

At this point, Shen Zongde appeared extremely indignant. He slapped his palm down and threw up both hands. "As a result, just a few days later, one of my relatives was celebrating a milestone birthday, and I went out of town for just three or four days. When I came back, Deng Qingrong was no longer in the house!

Not only was she gone, but many of the valuable items in my home had vanished along with her!"