Chapter 15 Tragedy

At this moment, at the Ludao residential complex, Zhang Ling was kicking the door of Hu Sixiang’s home, crying and shouting, making a loud banging noise.

After Gong Dalong’s affair was exposed, the company began demanding the embezzled money back from Gong Dalong’s wife, Zhang Ling. The widow and her daughter were already worried about medical expenses and future living costs. Now, being forced to repay the money was practically sentencing them to death.

With nowhere else to turn, Zhang Ling had no choice but to drag her daughter along to find Hu Sixiang and his wife, the people who had害死 (hai si, caused the death of) her husband. She wanted them to take responsibility; otherwise, she would take them down with her. No one would have a good life.

Hu Sixiang listened to the cursing and shouting outside his door, but he didn't dare to go out.

Outside, Gong Dalong’s eleven-year-old daughter watched her mother frantically banging on someone else's door. She could only cry silently, occasionally pulling at her mother, trying to stop her.

The furious Zhang Ling pushed her away. “They're the ones who害死 (hai si, caused the death of) your dad! Why are you stopping me? I’m doing this to get your medical expenses! Get out of my way!”

The little girl had no choice but to wipe away her tears and shrink to one side. Despite being a middle school student, she was about the same height as a fourth or fifth grader, thin and frail, with a timid expression.

Neighbors came out to watch the commotion, but the Hu Sixiang family was the only one who didn’t dare to come out. Everyone was gossiping about the mother and daughter, and the girl heard everything.

“I heard that Gong Dalong embezzled so much money to pay for his daughter's medical treatment. Now that he’s gone, I don’t know where they’ll find the money.”

“That’s right, the Hu Sixiang family is really unlucky. They’re stuck with this for the rest of their lives.”

“The little girl is quite pitiful, sick herself, and her own father is dead. I don't know how her mother will raise her alone in the future.”

“That woman is so aggressive, what are you worried about her for?”

Inside the house, Hao Jiening was furious. She was also a victim, so why should she have to swallow her anger? She was going out right now to settle things with that mother and daughter.

Just as she was about to open the door, Hu Sixiang grabbed her. “Don’t go. Let her shout if she wants to. It’s not like we’ll lose a piece of flesh.”

“You coward! They’re already at our door, and you still don’t dare to go out. Everyone in this building will think we’re easy to bully! Her husband was a rapist. No one would listen to her even if she shouted until she was hoarse. You may be afraid of her, but I’m not.”

Hu Sixiang stopped her. “I’m telling you, just calm down. You’ve fought with that woman before. What if something else happens if you go out there?”

“What could happen? Is she going to kill me at my own doorstep?”

“Mom, don’t go out. The people outside are scary,” Nao Nao also pleaded.

Hao Jiening pushed her son away and was about to go out when she heard the police arrive.

Apparently, a neighbor upstairs had called the police because of the disturbance. The police came to understand the situation and then told Zhang Ling and her daughter to leave.

Zhang Ling was unwilling, and her daughter cried as she pulled her. “Mom, let’s go home.”

“It’s all because of you!” Zhang Ling said resentfully, shaking off her daughter’s hand in frustration. Under the police’s urging, she had no choice but to leave.

Her daughter could only run after her, trying to catch up. Zhang Ling was filled with anger, and she walked faster and faster, completely ignoring her daughter behind her.

Zhang Ling returned to the suffocating home like a walking corpse. She didn't even know when her daughter came back, let alone think about whether her daughter had eaten dinner. At this moment, she only felt that the heavens were too unfair to her. First, they made her give birth to such a child, then they took away her husband. Now, she was left alone. She had no earning ability, was raising such a child, and was burdened with so many debts. How was she going to live in the future?

Zhang Ling lay on the bed and sobbed. After a while, she felt something on her arm. She raised her tearful eyes and saw her daughter had placed a handkerchief on her arm. There was a bowl of noodles on the table; she didn't know when her daughter had cooked it for her.

She looked at the bowl of white noodles with only a few drops of soy sauce and was overcome with sadness again. With one sweep of her hand, she knocked the noodles to the ground.

Hiding by the door, her daughter wiped away the tears on her face and silently returned to her room.

The next morning, after sleeping for a night, Zhang Ling’s emotions had finally stabilized. She had lost control yesterday because she had received a lawyer’s letter from the property management company, so she impulsively took her daughter to find the Hu Sixiang family.

Now that she thought about it, her actions last night were indeed unwise. Thinking about how her daughter had been frightened by her last night, she threw back the blanket and hurried towards her daughter’s room.

She wanted to apologize to her daughter, to tell her that she was too emotional last night, and that she would control herself in the future.

Her daughter’s door was still closed. Zhang Ling saw that it was still early, so she turned around and went to the kitchen to make breakfast first. After setting it on the table, she went to call her daughter to get up and eat.

“Nannan…” Zhang Ling said as she pushed open the door. She only glanced at the bed before collapsing to the ground in fright.

The little girl on the bed was already pale and lifeless. Four or five deep cuts had been made on her wrist, and blood flowed from the wounds onto the floor.

Thinking about how carefully she had protected her from childhood, always afraid that she would bump or bruise herself, afraid that she would get hurt and bleed, her precious daughter had actually cut her wrist so violently. The already somewhat dry, scarlet blood stung Zhang Ling's eyes. After a few seconds, she let out a heartbreaking scream, "Nannan!"

The police arrived quickly. Zhang Ling was emotionally崩溃 (bēng kuì, collapsed) and unable to communicate. The police found a suicide note written by the child herself in her room. The main idea was that she had implicated her parents, that her birth was a mistake, that if it weren't for her, her father wouldn't have done anything wrong, and her mother wouldn't have worked so hard. She didn’t want to implicate her mother anymore, so she would go find her father first, and asked her mother not to be sad. The final signature was: Forever loving you, Nannan.

Zhang Ling closed her eyes and fainted.

The police took all the evidence from the child’s room. On her computer, they saw that the child had been browsing posts about Gong Dalong’s philandering and embezzlement during this period. There were many comments under these posts with distorted values. Besides the comments saying that Gong Dalong was dragged down by his child, there were also骂 (mà, curses) at Jia Wenjun, who had revealed the truth, saying that if it weren't for her, Gong Dalong's orphans and widow wouldn’t have been in such a dire situation.

The police officer in charge of the case felt his blood rush to his head. Even adults couldn't stand these words, let alone a child.

These online keyboard warriors were also the driving force behind the little girl's suicide. All those who made improper comments would not escape legal sanctions.

Since being fired, Lili had been venting her daily grievances online, anonymously posting all kinds of things. She was either trying to whitewash herself under Gong Dalong’s post or posting comments with distorted values, trying to stir up trouble.

It was precisely her remarks that directed the anger of netizens towards Gong Dalong’s family, who should not have had to endure such pressure. The unwarranted accusations and谩骂 (màn mà, verbal abuse) completely shattered the already fragile psychological defenses of Gong Dalong’s daughter.

It wasn’t until the police found her and put handcuffs on her that Lili realized that her words had caused a child to lose her precious life. And she herself, because of those irresponsible comments, had violated the law.

Lili was filled with remorse, and thinking about what she had done before, she regretted it deeply. She originally thought that only Jia Wenjun, the murderer, would go to jail, but she was now the same as Jia Wenjun. She was afraid that she would spend the rest of her life in prison.