Plunder
Chapter 129 - 129 129 Rest in Peace

Chapter 129: Chapter 129: Rest in Peace Chapter 129: Chapter 129: Rest in Peace The driver of the bridal pickup car, barely having escaped with his life, was living in such torment that death seemed preferable.

He had cheated death at Ghost Gate Pass, but he couldn’t escape Ding Hao’s brutal beating.

These past few days, the police had come to question him daily.

After the car accident was deemed an accident, he finally had some peace while lying in the hospital.

But in the middle of the night, he was taken back to Chu Garden by Cheng Lu.

Zhou Jin’an interrogated him personally.

“Why did the brakes fail?”

He pressed the driver, insisting on getting a clear explanation.

The driver was terrified, kneeling on the ground, desperately pleading for mercy.

“I’ve already said all I could; I really don’t know why the brakes failed. The car was provided by the young master Ding. I was just in charge of driving. I checked it before we left, the car was fine. I really didn’t expect such a thing to happen on the road.”

Everyone said it was an accident, yet Zhou Jin’an didn’t believe it.

He kicked the driver to the ground and grabbed the man by the throat.

“Tell the truth!”

The driver urinated out of fear, crying out in whimpers, “I… I am telling the truth. Even if you kill me, I’d say the same. I’m just a driver; I almost lost my own life too.”

“Are you certain the person in the car was her the whole time?”

Zhou Jin’an pressed further.

The driver nodded vigorously, “I swear, Miss Qiao never left the car from beginning to end.”

But Zhou Jin’an spotted a loophole, “Then what were you doing stopping for a minute at the East Main Street intersection?”

Zhou Jin’an had carefully reviewed the video; there was no traffic light at the location on East Main Street, nor was it rush hour. There was no need for the bridal car to stop there that long.

One minute is sixty seconds, and a lot can happen in sixty seconds.

His gaze was piercing, firmly fixed on the man.

“Miss Qiao received a phone call, she started arguing with someone, and asked me to stop,” said the driver.

Before the driver could finish his sentence, Zhou Jin’an was already cutting off his airway.

“You’re lying.”

Qiao En was emotionally stable; she never argued with anyone.

That night, Zhou Jin’an used countless methods to coerce a confession, but the man kept to his story until he passed out.

“Director Zhou, let it go, please stop this. Secretary Qiao is gone; you should grieve.”

Cheng Lu tried to persuade him, but got shouted at by Zhou Jin’an.

“I said, she’s not dead.”

On the night before Qiao En was cremated, Zhou Jin’an went to the funeral home.

She lay silently in the crystal coffin, appearing as though she was asleep, very peaceful.

Zhou Jin’an stood there, coldly scrutinizing the person lying in the crystal coffin, without a trace of sadness on his face.

Cheng Lu’s heart hardened, yet his eyes reddened.

“Secretary Qiao, Director Zhou and I have come to see you. Farewell.”

Cheng Lu said with a quivering nose.

Zhou Jin’an gave him a cold glance, “That’s not Qiao En.”

He was certain of it.

Cheng Lu thought that Zhou Jin’an was overwhelmed with grief and momentarily unable to accept Qiao En’s death.

So, when Zhou Jin’an said those words, he didn’t think much of it.

However, what Zhou Jin’an did next left him quite speechless.

The next morning, Qiao En’s ashes were placed in the Ding Family’s mausoleum.

Cheng Lu bought a large bouquet of yellow chrysanthemums, thinking that Zhou Jin’an would surely go to the mausoleum to see Qiao En off on her final journey.

But when he reminded Zhou Jin’an with the yellow chrysanthemums in hand, he was coldly rejected.

“I’m not going; that isn’t her.”

He said he wouldn’t go, and true to his word, he didn’t.

Cheng Lu thought that Zhou Jin’an was afraid of being struck by grief at the sight of her possessions, so he went to the mausoleum in Zhou Jin’an’s place.

As it turned out, he arrived too early and ran into Ding Hao at the mausoleum.

“Why didn’t Zhou Jin’an come himself?”

Dressed in black, Ding Hao had his hands in his pockets, his expression defiant.

“Director Zhou had matters to attend to and couldn’t come,” Cheng Lu explained.

Ding Hao’s eyes darkened, “What matter is more important than En’en being laid to rest?”

He harbored a bad intention and had Cheng Lu detained in the mausoleum.

“Zhou Jin’an, I give you half an hour to get to the mausoleum, or else, I’m breaking one of Cheng Lu’s legs.”

Ding Hao dialed Zhou Jin’an directly.

“Suit yourself.”

Zhou Jin’an coldly hung up on him.

Ding Hao was annoyed; he had deliberately left late today because he wanted to see Zhou Jin’an in a state of utter grief.

“Don’t you love her? Do you really love her that much? Why don’t you come and send her off on her final journey?”

“Zhou Jin’an, you hypocritical big liar, you never loved Qiao En at all. You just used her as a stand-in, a toy. You’re the most shameful kind of person!”

“Go ahead and pretend. I’m telling you, Qiao En was a person of the Ding Family in life, and she’ll be a ghost of the Ding Family in death. You’d better not set foot in the cemetery for as long as you live!”

…

Ding Hao sent Zhou Jin’an a string of messages in a row.

He didn’t reply to a single one.

Later, Ding Hao discovered that Zhou Jin’an had blacklisted him.

He had won this battle, yet it didn’t feel like a victory at all.

Since that day, Zhou Jin’an had moved to Chengnan Apartment.

When Qiao En was alive, he had only stayed there twice.

Once was the night when Qiao En suggested they break up.

Once was the night he offered her money to keep her.

The furnishings in the room were still as they had been when Qiao En was there.

He took the sheet off the sofa and made the bed again.

With the room brightly lit, he knelt on the ground and wiped the wooden floor thoroughly with a cloth.

When he was hungry, he went to the kitchen and cooked noodles for himself.

When he was tired, he lay down in the bed Qiao En had slept in.

Those days, he ate well and slept soundly.

But each morning when the alarm went off, he instinctively glanced to his left.

Every time they slept, Qiao En would lie to his left.

But now, that spot was empty.

He couldn’t believe she was dead.

He firmly believed that she was just playing a joke on everyone and that one day, she would come back.

A day went by.

A week went by.

Except for work hours, Zhou Jin’an holed up in this small apartment.

He wanted to wait there for Qiao En to return.

Cheng Lu saw that Zhou Jin’an was becoming increasingly silent, and he felt much pity but was powerless to help.

So, he bought a lot of liquor and sent it over to Zhou Jin’an.

One evening, Zhou Jin’an suddenly dreamt that Qiao En had come back.

When he woke up, there was a fierce storm raging outside.

He stood at the window, staring for a long time at the street lamps swaying in the wind and rain.

At that moment, he suddenly missed Qiao En very much.

Longing overwhelmed him, and he drank a lot of alcohol, eventually becoming tipsy.

The rain grew heavier, hammering against the windowpanes with a rattling noise.

Afterward, the door began to sound as well.

He staggered to his feet, barefoot, and went to open the door.

“Qiao En,”

he mumbled, joyfully opening the door.

Standing at the door was a woman, drenched through, but she wasn’t Qiao En.

“You’re not Qiao En.”

Zhou Jin’an was about to close the door again.

An Kexin cried.

She had never seen Zhou Jin’an like this before, with his hair in a mess, a stubble of beard, an exhausted posture, and a face showing signs of hardship.

“Jin’an, how did you let yourself get like this?”

She was heartbroken, and she rushed over to hug Zhou Jin’an tightly.

The man’s figure froze for a moment, his nerves numbed by alcohol, his reactions were somewhat slow.

“Let go.”

He pushed An Kexin away, but she refused to let go, hugging him even tighter.

“Jin’an, she’s dead. Stop thinking about her, will you? If you can’t forget her, I can be her.”