Perfect Crime Chapter 4

The police brought Hou in. But before his interrogation began, Kou called with breaking news: Lihua had confessed.

At first, she was evasive, repeating that Zhao had abandoned them.

Kou revealed the police already had evidence, and that Minhui was also under arrest.

Her composure cracked. Under pressure, she began to cry, then admitted the truth: she, Minhui, and Hou Wenguo had killed Zhao Quancheng and buried his body in the same forested mountain area the police had searched earlier.

It made sense for Minhui to be involved, given the affair. But Hou’s participation was baffling. He had claimed to be Zhao’s friend. Why betray him?

With Hou in custody, it was time to find out

The final truth was shocking beyond belief. It wasn’t just a crime; it was a betrayal that shattered every sense of morality.

Years ago, Zhao Quancheng had married into his wife’s family on the recommendation of a matchmaker. It was a blind marriage; he had never met Liu Lihua before their wedding. Neither knew the other’s temperament or character, and such marriages were a gamble of fate.

Zhao was honest, hardworking, and kindhearted, but he was poor. It was precisely because of his poverty that he agreed to become a live-in son-in-law. Lihua had known this before the marriage, yet she began resenting him once the hard life sank in.

Her complaints piled up year after year until Zhao, weary of her constant temper and sharp tongue, began fighting back. Their relationship grew steadily worse.

Eventually, Zhao decided to go to the city to earn money and give his family a better life. Once he left, the household was entirely on Lihua’s shoulders children to raise, old parents to care for, fields to tend. It was thankless and exhausting work.

Their neighbor, Hou Wenguo, a man more than a decade her senior, noticed her struggle and offered help during the busy farming seasons. Over time, he began helping with other chores as well.

Zhao was often away and seldom home. Slowly, what began as neighborly kindness turned into something else. Lihua, lonely and neglected, found herself drawn to the man who offered her attention and sympathy.

As for Hou, his own marriage was falling apart. When Lihua leaned on him, he accepted her advances without much hesitation. Before long, they became lovers, concealing their affair under the cover of neighborly familiarity.

Since they were of different generations and lived next door to each other, no one thought much of it. Even Zhao, trusting fool that he was, was grateful for Hou’s help. Every time Zhao came home for the holidays, he’d invite Hou for drinks. The two would share laughter deep into the night, while the woman in Zhao’s bed had long since belonged to another man.

Their secret liaison lasted several years without incident until a wedding changed everything.

Ye Minhui, a chef well-known throughout the nearby villages for catering weddings and funerals, happened to be working at the same celebration Lihua attended.

They hadn’t known each other before, but a mutual friend introduced them that day. Minhui’s wife had long been ill, and years of caregiving had drained his patience and spirit. When he saw Lihua, radiant under the bright red lanterns, something inside him stirred.

After that day, he couldn’t forget her. He asked around through mutual acquaintances, learned she was often alone, and began visiting her under the pretext of helping with farm work or delivering gifts from town.

Being younger and far more energetic than Hou, Minhui quickly won Lihua’s favor. Soon, her heart shifted again, this time toward him.

Hou noticed. For months, her smiles faded, their meetings stopped, and he was left consumed with jealousy but powerless to act.

Rumors began spreading through the village about Lihua’s new visitor. Some whispered maliciously, perhaps encouraged by Hou himself, that she was entertaining a man from another town. Eventually, gossip reached Zhao while he was still working away from home.

Already humiliated by his status as a live-in husband, Zhao flew into a rage upon hearing of his wife’s infidelity. He went home that very night.

That was the scene Hou had described earlier, the drunken night when Zhao dragged Lihua from Ye Minhui’s house and beat her senseless.

Lihua, lying on her bed with bruised cheeks and eyes full of hate, swore vengeance. “You dare hit me,” she whispered through swollen lips, “then I’ll make sure you never raise your hand again.”

She began planning his murder before she could even walk again.

But Zhao was strong, tall, and broad-shouldered, and Lihua, even with all her fury, could not overpower him. She needed help.

Her first choice was not Minhui, surprisingly, but Hou.