Book One, Chapter 12: I’ll Have You Buried with Her

Fu Heng waited for a long time, but all he heard on the other end of the phone was a busy signal.

He glanced out the window; the night outside was deep and dark.

So late at night, if Xuanxuan wasn’t home, where could she have gone?

He called the Jiangcheng team. The duty officer who answered was Zhang Jiancheng, one of his former subordinates.

“Commander Fu, is that you?”

Fu Heng’s voice was calm and steady, revealing no emotion. “I’ve been trying to call home, but it’s been busy all along. I’m a bit worried.”

Zhang Jiancheng made a soft sound of realization.

Fu Heng didn’t detect anything unusual in his tone. “Help me find out what’s going on. Whether something happened or not, have them call me back.”

Zhang Jiancheng hesitated for a moment before slowly speaking, “Commander Fu, didn’t you receive the call?”

Fu Heng’s voice turned colder. “What call?”

Zhang Jiancheng said, “It was the police. A few criminals sneaked into your compound last night, pried open your door lock, and took your wife away.”

“This incident caused quite a stir; everyone knows about it. I heard the police even went to look for her parents, but her parents didn’t care at all.”

“They should have called you as well. I heard the case has already been closed.”

There was a long silence on the other end of the line. Even through the phone, Zhang Jiancheng felt a chilling pressure.

He braced himself and leaned closer to the receiver, only to hear the click of the line disconnecting.

The call was hung up.

Fu Heng pressed his lips tightly together, his entire being seeming as though he had lost his soul. His son, Fu Yuan, called out to him, but he didn’t hear a thing.

Fu Yuan had eaten something bad after coming home and had diarrhea for several days, leaving him weak and listless.

He looked up at his father.

His father’s face was grave, as if shrouded in thick dark clouds, looking frightening.

The boy turned away in fear and whispered, “Grandma.”

Jiang Yan heard her little grandson’s voice and hurriedly wrapped him in a blanket.

She couldn’t help but curse Shen Wen in her heart.

It was true what they said—one doesn’t feel the pain as deeply for a child who isn’t their own.

In the bitter cold, Shen Wen had taken the child out to play without dressing him warmly enough.

After playing, his nose was running, his fingers were red and cold, and he kept having diarrhea.

In just a few days, he lost three pounds. It was pitiful.

Jiang Yan would never dare hand Fu Yuan back to Shen Wen again. Even when she scolded her a little, Shen Wen’s eyes would well up with tears.

Just looking at her was irritating.

She held Fu Yuan close and softly coaxed him, “Yuan Yuan, are you hungry? Grandma will bring you some porridge.”

Just as she turned away, the man turned his head slightly, his voice eerily calm: “Mom, did the police come to call?”

Jiang Yan trembled at his cold question.

There had been too many things these past few days, a jumble of noises running through her mind. She had been busy listening to Jiang Yue and Song Qingqing’s nagging during the day and had momentarily forgotten about this matter.

She slowly turned around. “A few days ago... I think there was such a call.”

“That, that... Bai... was she found?”

She tightened her hold on the child, flustered as she defended herself, “Weren’t you already preparing the divorce papers?”

“Mom, every day you bring back a whole mess of nonsense that makes my head spin. I just forgot in the moment…”

She tried to explain more but was cut off by her son’s cold voice: “Who said I’m preparing the divorce papers?”

Jiang Yan took a step back. Her son’s demeanor was terrifying—his fists clenched tightly, and his eyes were bloodshot with dense red veins.

“It was Song Feiqing,” she said, her voice lowering further. “He wasn’t entirely wrong. Whose family doesn’t come back with a wife or a friend’s wife? If she’s not back, it means she’s unwanted.”

Fu Heng looked at his mother’s pale face and fought back the rising fury. Gritting his teeth, he spoke each word deliberately: “Since you find it such a nuisance, I won’t come back to this family anymore.”

Shen Wen, listening from a distance, guessed the situation by the expression on his face.

She had been quite happy before, thinking Xue Junping was reliable and that her hundred yuan wasn’t wasted.

But upon hearing that the man wouldn’t return home, her heart sank halfway.

If the man didn’t come home and didn’t protect her, how could she stay in this family?

How would she ever get a chance to poison that detestable mother-in-law and see her gone sooner?

She rushed forward, grabbing the man’s hand, her voice weak and pleading, “Fu Heng, where are you going?”

“Have you forgotten your promise? You said you’d take care of me and never abandon me.”

She pitifully half-kneeling, playing the victim, “Mother is old now; how can you bear to make her sad?”

After speaking, she pressed her chest and cried out in pain.

The man closed his eyes, his rage nearly extinguishing his reason.

Though Shen Wen’s test results were not yet out, the doctor had already explained everything to him.

Shen Wen’s body was normal, nothing wrong.

At most, she was just eating too little and had mild hypoglycemia.

Chest tightness, shortness of breath, dizziness, and weakness were all normal symptoms.

She just needed to eat well, no medicine required.

He suddenly felt like a fool who had been spun around and tossed aside.

Originally, he had planned to wait for the results and slam them down in front of Shen Wen, forcing her to leave.

Now, he wished he could choke her to death.

If it weren’t for this woman’s antics, he wouldn’t have heartlessly left Xuanxuan alone in Jiangcheng, and Xuanxuan wouldn’t have been taken by bad people.

She was so delicate, so prone to tears, awkward in speech, and foolish to an unbearable degree.

Falling into the hands of villains, one could only imagine the suffering she would endure.

He grabbed Shen Wen’s jaw with force, voice fierce: “If a single hair on Xuanxuan’s head is harmed, I’ll make you pay with your life!”

Shen Wen was terrified by his sudden action; tears streamed from her eyes. When the man released her, she collapsed.

Seeing that he ignored her, she clung to his leg, crying bitterly, “Fu Heng, you can’t treat me like this. You promised to take care of me, to care for me forever!”

Fu Heng let out a bitter laugh, gripping her wrist tightly.

Shen Wen cried out in pain repeatedly.

His voice was icy cold: “Comrade Shen, please remember your place. You’re only Zhang Jiancheng’s wife.”

“If you know what’s good for you, take your ticket and leave! Don’t make me slap that test report in your face!”

With a strong shove, he threw Shen Wen flat on her back.

He took a step toward the exit, then suddenly stopped and turned back. “Why is it that when I’m home, Xuanxuan is fine, but the moment I leave, something happens to her?”

“Shen Wen, you’d better pray this matter has nothing to do with you. Otherwise, I have a thousand ways to make you regret it!”

Ignoring the woman’s wailing on the floor, he called the driver and got into the car.

On the way, he contacted the police, unleashing a torrent of scolding at the Jiangcheng police chief.

The chief, also a bit irritable, replied unhappily, “Who can you blame? We’ve done our duty, searched where we should, and made the necessary calls.”

“Who knew this young lady was so unwanted? No one paid attention or cared.”

“Her family neither searched nor cooperated. What else could we do?”

“Resources are limited, and with so few people and so many cases, we have to focus on the more important ones.”

Fu Heng, knowing he was in the wrong, felt embarrassed by their words but finally spoke calmly, asking them to pay more attention and keep looking.

The car headed toward the Song family’s residence.

The sky was dark, making it hard to see the man’s expression.

When Song Feiqing saw Fu Heng arrive, he thought it was good news.