Chapter 36: Misjudgment

“So, would you prefer a question-and-answer format, or would you rather have us just listen? You pick—we’re fine either way,” Congo said with a relaxed smile, completely deferring the choice to Zhang Dong, showing no rush at all. “Take your time to think about which form suits you better; we have plenty of time.”

“I’ll choose… uh… I think I’ll go with the question-and-answer format! I’m not very eloquent; I can’t really speak off the cuff. It’s better if you ask, and I’ll answer whatever you want. That way, everyone’s happy,” Zhang Dong replied without hesitation.

“Alright, then let’s start with why you chose to be with Lin Zhen,” Congo nodded, throwing out the first question.

“Why am I with Lin Zhen? What else could it be but because I like her? I like her, she likes me, so we’re together! It’s that simple. What else could there be?” Zhang Dong seemed unable to grasp the nature of Congo’s question. “You don’t think I’m after something from her, do you? Well, if you have to put it that way, fine—I like her because she’s good-looking!”

“Not just good-looking, but rich too, right?” Congo chuckled, adding on his behalf.

“That’s something I don’t like hearing! Lin Zhen does have money, but don’t I have some too?” Zhang Dong stiffened, clearly insulted, the big boss unhappy. “Am I the kind of guy who lives off a woman?”

“Do you…?” Congo glanced around at the house they were in, posing the question with a hint of provocation.

Zhang Dong’s normally tanned face flushed red—he was clearly offended by Congo’s implication. “Hey, if you’re going to talk like that, it’s no fun! I’m just going through a rough patch right now, not always broke! Did Lin Zhen tell you I spent her money? That’s temporary!

“I’ve had some family issues recently, so my parents stopped sending me money. Lin Zhen knows this! I’ve told her everything about my family situation. She said she doesn’t mind at all. When my parents start sending money again, if she thinks I spent less and she spent more, I’ll pay her back—double if necessary! I’m not that broke!”

“So it’s just that you’re short on cash lately, your parents stopped supporting you, and you can’t indulge your trivial whims? Lin Zhen’s like a pillow you were lucky enough to fall asleep on, huh?”

“If you want to interpret it that way, that’s on you. I don’t control what you think,” Zhang Dong’s expression hardened. “I admit I did mess with things I shouldn’t have, but that’s a separate mistake. It has nothing to do with why I’m with Lin Zhen, right?

“If that’s how you think, I have nothing to say. But if Lin Zhen doubts me like that too, then honestly, I’d be heartbroken! I’ve treated her so well; she can’t just forget everything so quickly! Isn’t that just heartbreaking?”

“Heartbreaking?” Yan Xue looked at Zhang Dong in surprise. “I thought when you called her with those threatening harassment calls, saying you’d kill her, you two were already done for, completely torn apart.”

“Who said that? If I had no feelings for Lin Zhen, why would I bother using software to make those calls and scare her? Wouldn’t it be easier to just call from my own phone? I did that because I didn’t want her to know it was me. If she knew, she might not be scared but would definitely be mad!”

“Then why use a burner number to scare your own girlfriend? If you really like her, why scare her at all?”

“Don’t you already know? Why ask me again?” Zhang Dong pouted. “It’s because Lin Zhen’s a big mouth. She blabbed about things she shouldn’t, and I got into trouble because of it.”

“Trouble for you? Isn’t it trouble for her?”

“What trouble could she have? No one even knows who she is! I’m a grown man—how could I not handle a little thing like that and just push my girlfriend out to take the fall? If I did, I’d be done for!” Zhang Dong spoke with a sense of loyalty. “I made those harassment calls to scare her—to make her realize that not everything should be spread around. If there was really something serious, those people wouldn’t be someone she could mess with!”

“Nothing serious? So the other side doesn’t even know Lin Zhen leaked the ‘Coffee Fruit’ business?”

“Exactly, they don’t know! It was me. When I was out having fun, I overheard someone asking around who ‘Square Head’ was and how to buy ‘Coffee Fruit.’ That person was clueless and kept asking everywhere. Luckily, Square Head and his buddies weren’t around that day, or it would have been a big problem. It has to be Lin Zhen blabbering outside; in the end, the blame falls on me!”

“How can you be so sure Lin Zhen was the one blabbing about it?”

“Because ‘Coffee Fruit’ was a name I made up on the spot to fool her! I was worried she wouldn’t play along, so I thought, since it’s something that makes you excited after taking it, why not call it ‘Coffee Fruit’? Besides me, no one else would be asking about ‘Coffee Fruit.’ The only possibility is that Lin Zhen told someone she knows about what happened that day, and that person foolishly went around asking openly!

“Then, not long after, I couldn’t find Square Head. I heard he was arrested. That scared me stiff. Think about it: Square Head couldn’t have done all this alone. He has bosses! I’m just a small fry; I can’t even mess with Square Head, let alone the people above him!

“The more I thought about it, the more scared I got. I came home and had a big fight with Lin Zhen. At first, I didn’t mean to scare her. She’s just too stubborn. We almost said outright who those people are and how much trouble we’d be in if we messed with them! But she wouldn’t listen, insisted she did nothing wrong. I was really afraid she’d cause trouble, so I came up with the idea of scaring her with those calls.

“If she had stopped talking about that stuff afterward, that would have been fine. That would have been turning the page, with no one else knowing. But I’m afraid she’ll keep blabbing outside, not knowing when to hold back. That would really cause trouble.

“Believe me or not, I never thought about pushing Lin Zhen out front. I already thought it through—if it turned out that we were the ones who leaked this, I’d take the blame alone. I wouldn’t say a word against her.”

“So you blamed Lin Zhen, fought with her, made those anonymous calls to scare her, made her afraid to get into trouble, and she ran off. Then what? What were you planning to do?” Congo asked.

“I didn’t have much of a plan. I just wanted her to keep her mouth shut. I know she’s mad at me. Lately, I’ve been scared someone might come looking for me, so I haven’t dared to contact her. I was planning to wait until things settled down and then find her, make up with her, and we’d be fine again.”

Zhang Dong rubbed his hands nervously. “I used to think those things I bought were no big deal. Everyone said it was harmless, said they weren’t addictive. I believed them because my buddies wouldn’t lie to me. We’re young; we should try some excitement before we get old!

“But now I know I was wrong, really. I haven’t touched any of that stuff for a long time, and I’ve realized I do have some dependence. I can’t say if it’s mental or physical, but it’s not good. I wasn’t using very often before, so it wasn’t too bad, but I am scared now.

“When Lin Zhen got mad at me, she was right: those friends of mine are bad company—worse than just drinking buddies. Drinking buddies at least just mooch money; those bad friends drag you into the mud and pull you into the swamp!”

“Didn’t expect you to be so insightful, and your speaking skills aren’t bad either!” Congo complimented him.

Zhang Dong smiled sheepishly. “I did go to college, after all. Although it wasn’t a very prestigious school, and I didn’t study very hard, I still got my diploma. Don’t think I’m some street thug.”

After saying that, he realized how he was dressed and looked a bit embarrassed. “This is a special situation, not my usual self. I’m hiding out, you know… Oh, right, since I’ve told you everything, can you protect Lin Zhen? And maybe protect me too?”

His words startled Congo and Yan Xue, though neither showed it on their faces, keeping their surprise well hidden from Zhang Dong.

“You keep in close contact with Lin Zhen, huh?” Yan Xue said calmly. “So you knew where she went to hide?”

“Of course. She found someone who looks a lot like her to stay at home, and she went out to hide. She messaged me, told me not to look for her. She said someone was harassing her by phone, so she had to lay low for a while. She told me not to walk into a trap.”

Zhang Dong seemed quite pleased with that. “When I heard that, I was relieved. If she wasn’t scared, I’d have been wasting my time! So at least my efforts weren’t in vain. But I didn’t expect she’d be dealing with you guys.”

“Do you know the person who’s standing in for her?” Congo asked, still calm.

“No, I didn’t even know such a person existed. I was curious and wanted to sneak over to their place to see how much they look alike. I saw that person posted an invitation on Lin Zhen’s main account for a masquerade ball. I was excited—at a masquerade, no one can tell who’s who. So I swaggered over and saw for myself—they really do look a lot alike!”

“Are there really people who look that similar? Similar enough to fool others?”

“Whether they can fool others depends on how well those people know Lin Zhen. If they’ve never really interacted with her, it’s not too hard to fool them, since they do look alike.

“But anyone close to Lin Zhen would probably spot the fake immediately. No matter how much they look alike, once they speak, it’s obvious. Their voices, tone, mannerisms—totally different. They’re clearly two different people.”

“So Lin Zhen’s main account is in the hands of the lookalike, and you communicate with her on…?”

“We use a separate, private account to contact each other.”

“So you two are still on good terms? She told you about her hiding out?”

“Ah, you’re overestimating me! She never really told me officially. I just knew she ran away. She’s still mad at me. She said the police were protecting her, but that was just to spite me, to scare me. So she told me that.

“I tried to contact her, but she mostly ignored me. These past two days, I’ve been thinking about how to make it up to her.”

“Well, staying hidden like this isn’t ideal. If someone really comes looking for trouble, like when we met just now, it would be hard for you to get away. So why don’t you come with us? We’ll do some routine checks, and you can voluntarily apply to a professional rehab facility. That way, you can avoid administrative penalties. If your dependency isn’t severe, quitting completely is easier, and it’ll be good for you. Think about it?”

Zhang Dong hesitated for a moment, clearly worried about going into rehab, but he didn’t dwell on it long and soon made up his mind. “Alright! I’m going all in! Let’s consider it making amends.”

Zhang Dong’s rented room had hardly any belongings, so packing didn’t take long. Soon, he came out carrying a sports bag. The three of them went downstairs and got into the car. Congo took him for a blood test, then handed him over to colleagues from the appropriate department who handle cases like this.

After entrusting Zhang Dong, Congo and Yan Xue remained silent for a long moment, a rare quiet between them.

Finally, Yan Xue spoke, frowning, clearly troubled. “Do you think… there’s a chance we’ve misjudged the direction of our investigation?”