Chapter 70: Companionship–suddenly.

Liwu wondered what kind of debt existed between the brothers that one was willing to give up a woman he loved to the other one. While it was a wonderful brotherly tale of love, had anyone asked the woman who she wanted?

Then again, the woman was indecisive so she was one of the problems in the equation!

It was only fitting that if she could not choose between the two men and the brothers wanted to salvage their relationship, one had to step aside.

“And what about the others?” She asked.

“What others?” he asked.

“The women you have given roses to.” She stopped moving her toes. “Do you love any of them.”

“Hell no.” He replied strongly.

It was almost as if he wanted to put a barrier between himself and those women. Truly, he did, because they were Weifeng’s ex’s not his. “Look, I will explain that someday. It is a long story.”

Liwu started to turn, but he asked a question that made her stay still.

“And what about you? Did you ever give anyone a rose? How many contenders for your hand have you had in your life?”

She twisted her lips, saying none would make her sound a loser. Technically, the offers for marriage came, it was just they were recanted almost as quickly as they did. “None of them worked out so they don’t matter. What about you? How many contenders for your hand in marriage have you had?”

A bubble of laughter escaped Weijun. “You make me sound like blushing damsel.”

Liwu shook her head. “You know that’s not what I mean. I am talking about marriage alliances. Surely, you have had many. For one you are a good looking man and two, you have money. Those two things are a great motivators in our circles.”

“I guess I did not receive any that motivated me.” He smiled, “Until your mother reached out.”

Liwu sat up abruptly and looked at him. In the dim light which was mostly provided by the moonlight, she could make out his features vaguely. “My mom reached out!”

He nodded. “And it was just in time. The system wars were draining us. I don’t know how long we would have held on.”

Liwu laid back down. She thought about the things that had happened from the day the news of the marriage alliance broke. Her mother had been dropping her name everywhere, praising her in the media. Even when suggestions on who the bride to be were being made, her mother had mentioned her.

Now that she looked back on everything that happened, her marriage had been carefully orchestrated by her mother!

Naturally, she knew her mother would never harm her. Still, they would need to have a conversation about it.

“Do you know what I love the most about this time of the day?” Weijun asked.

Liwu looked out of the window which was covered by a light white curtain. Many people loved the darkness which was prominent outside and all for different reasons. As a detective, when she thought of night, she thought of crime. “What?”

“The silence.”

She heard the sound of Xifeng singing and strings of a violin being played. It was not very silent tonight. Many voices were accompanying Xifeng. It sounded like she gathered more than enough people to form a choir. Even Madam Xu and Yuening were out there!

“No clicking of keyboards, no shredding of papers, no stamping….” Weijun listed off with a smile.

“Aah,” Liwu laughed. “No paperwork, no criminals throwing up in lock up, no ’I am not guilty,’ shouts. No requests for a lawyer. No crime scene photos. No Xuanji and his clown laugh.”

Weijun nudged her with his foot and turned his head, regarding her with fascinating amusement. “So you do understand.”

“Why do you think I insisted that the precinct be at the beach? I needed to work in an environment that gives me some peace.” She admitted. “The sea gulls are loud, but tolerable. The problem is that Linlin has started feeding and naming them!”

Weijun stared at her, listening as she mentioned the names her partner had given some of the regular sea gulls. The air between them softened. Within the bedroom walls, they seemed to have found a companionable ability.

For the first time, they were not measuring each other. They were not on edge. He liked it more than her cold, angry side.

*****

Good news came in the morning, Pei Wu had been arrested by Reaper and Majesty! They had found him hiding in a warehouse near the airport, waiting for an opportunity to smuggle himself out of the city.

As soon as Liwu sat down, he sung like a bird.

“It was her fault.” he muttered, “She said that we would be together forever as family and then she went and announced her wedding! Why did she do that?”

“Because she was in love.” Liwu replied.

Pei Wu, whose eyes were sunken and smelled of dead fish and cigarettes laughed. “Love! Who gave her the right to fall in love? And even if she did, why did she cut me off?”

“Because you were stealing money from the charities you were involved with.” She told him.

Pei Wu slammed his hands on the table. “I did not even take that much, I only took a little. Why couldn’t she understand? She was an heiress, with access to more money that I will ever make in my life. All I took was seventy thousand yuan. It was peanuts to her but she told me to return it all or she would report me to the police.” He laughed. “What a righteous bitch!”

Liwu remained silent, allowing Pei Wu to give himself away.

“I told her to meet me at the beach and promised to give her the money in cash. But I didn’t have it. I explained to her that I was willing to go away and never appear before her again. All she had to was give me one hundred thousand to start over.” He clenched his fists. “She had just received three hundred million for her stupid charity that is supposed to help combat teenage pregnancies and support young mothers.

What was one hundred thousand in comparison to that money? It wasn’t as if anyone would ask her for accounting!” He laughed softly. “She asked me if I was high. Then she said she was sorry for me.” He leaned forward, looking at Liwu and straight into the camera. “She was a whore that had been used by every man that crossed her path in the past, and she felt sorry for me just because she had money!”

Liwu flexed her hand, wishing she could slap Pei Wu.

He leaned back in the chair and said without remorse, “She was supposed to save me. She was the one that gave me hope and then she abandoned me. So, I picked up a rock and hit her on the head. Then I pushed her into the water and left.” Pei Wu smiled. “Now that she is dead, she cannot have the money either.”

Liwu leaned forward, her voice calm but firm. “I have read your file. Your life was rotten before she gave you a chance. That’s more than most people in your situation get. But you couldn’t appreciate it, could you?”

Pei Wu’s silence was answer enough.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep