I Deduce the Female Lead Likes Me [Transmigration into a book] - Chapter 32: Identity

Based on the information provided by Wu Wenyu, Song Muxue sent a lawyer’s letter to the defendant. She stated that if there were any objections, the defendant should communicate with the plaintiff in the presence of a lawyer from their firm.

What Song Muxue didn’t expect was that the afternoon of the day after the lawyer’s letter was delivered, the defendant came to the firm, stating that she wanted to speak with Lawyer Song, but hoped to avoid Ms. Wu Wenyu, the plaintiff.

This request surprised Song Muxue. However, since the person had already shown up, it was unlikely to notify Wu Wenyu urgently, so she could only listen to what she had to say first.

The defendant’s request was very strange. She said: “I know what Ms. Wu is suspecting, but I really didn’t abduct her daughter. I hope she can drop the lawsuit. Also, if she needs a fund to search for her daughter, I can donate 100,000 yuan—anonymously. I wonder if Lawyer Song can convey these thoughts to Ms. Wu?”

Before the defendant appeared, Song Muxue had doubted Wu Wenyu’s source of information. Convicting someone based solely on a blurry photo was clearly not rigorous. She thought it was highly probable that the wrong person was being accused, which was why she sent the lawyer’s letter, hoping both parties could sit down and talk, resolve the misunderstanding, and settle. But now, the defendant appeared so impatiently, and her opening stance was like this, instantly raising Song Muxue’s suspicion.

“I’m not a lawyer yet, just an assistant,” Song Muxue explained, then asked: “Why don’t you talk to Ms. Wu personally? If there’s a misunderstanding, wouldn’t it be better to resolve it face-to-face?”

The defendant looked troubled and said: “I’m not good at dealing with people. If you can’t convey it on my behalf, then so be it. Let her sue; I didn’t do it anyway.”

The defendant’s attitude, in summary, was this: seeking a settlement without meeting Wu Wenyu, but having no objection if Wu Wenyu insisted on suing, appearing to have a clear conscience.

Song Muxue chatted with the defendant for one or two hours. After confirming the defendant’s feedback, she escorted the defendant down the elevator and to the lobby.

As soon as she reached the lobby, the front desk lady quietly said to Song Muxue: “Your friend is here, waiting for you to get off work. You two have such a good relationship.”

Only then did Song Muxue remember that she had no work today and had arranged to go shopping together. She turned her head and saw Kou Shuang jogging over, her face beaming with a cheerful smile.

Song Muxue said to the defendant: “Well then, Ms. Zhang, that will be all for today. If there’s anything else, we’ll contact you later.”

“Thank you, it was a pleasure speaking with you,” the defendant nodded, then leaned forward to look towards the lobby, saying: “Your friend is here. Miss Song, you should get off work soon. You’ve worked hard today.”

Song Muxue smiled as she bid the defendant farewell. Immediately after, she saw the defendant, who had been smiling a second ago, now looked somewhat panicked and evasive, hastily saying: “I have something else to do, I’ll leave now. Goodbye, Lawyer Song!”

She was so rushed she didn’t even seem to take a breath.

Song Muxue suspiciously glanced at Kou Shuang. Was Kou Shuang making the defendant so scared? But why?

The next second, she heard Kou Shuang’s surprised voice: “Homeless… Auntie?!”

The defendant hurriedly turned and continued to leave. Song Muxue knew something was wrong, so she quickly spoke: “You two know each other? This is my friend Kou Shuang, and this is my, uh, client, Ms. Zhang Zhiruo.”

Kou Shuang grabbed the defendant’s wrist and said: “Zhang Zhiruo?! You’re Xiaodie’s auntie?!”

••••

Kou Shuang never dreamed of such a thing.

“Tell me, what exactly is going on?”

Song Muxue, Kou Shuang, and Zhang Zhiruo sat in the coffee shop downstairs from the company. It was after work hours, so there were few people and it was very quiet, perfect for a serious conversation, or an interrogation.

Zhang Zhiruo leaned back on the sofa, having taken off her coat, wearing only a wool sweater. Her figure was no different from what Kou Shuang had seen on the beach.

Zhang Zhiruo took a sip of coffee, paused for a moment, then said: “Where do you want me to start?”

Where to start? This person in front of her had two identities. Perhaps she recognized herself, but didn’t voluntarily confess. What confused her even more was the other’s identity as a homeless woman. Not going to work, just wandering the streets and alleys with children all day?

What was the purpose?

“Let’s start with Ms. Wu Wenyu’s daughter, Wu Hongye,” Song Muxue said calmly.

Kou Shuang was startled, only then remembering that the other person was the one Wu Wenyu, the sanitation worker, was accusing, the culprit who allegedly “abducted her daughter.” Connecting this to the many children who followed her, could Wu Wenyu’s daughter, Wu Hongye, also be among them?

Zhang Zhiruo glanced at Song Muxue, then looked at Kou Shuang, and said: “I once told you a story about a stray cat. I wonder if you still remember it.”

Kou Shuang nodded; of course she remembered. That story had been deeply etched in her mind at the time. Coupled with the retelling from Xiaodie’s perspective, she was almost certain that the cat referred to a girl named “Xiaohong.”

Wu Hongye absolutely couldn’t be Xiaodie, because Song Muxue had seen Xiaodie. If it were Xiaodie, Song Muxue would definitely have recognized her.

Considering the pronunciation of the names, the possibility that Xiaohong was Wu Hongye was quite high.

Kou Shuang and Song Muxue’s information wasn’t completely shared. Song Muxue knew the names “Wu Hongye” and “Zhang Zhiruo,” but hadn’t seen the homeless woman’s appearance up close. Kou Shuang knew the homeless woman’s appearance and had seen “Zhang Zhiruo” wearing a mask, but couldn’t connect the two.

Xiaohong, Wu Hongye, these should be the same person. So Wu Wenyu’s daughter… has actually… disappeared?

“The kitten is Wu Wenyu’s daughter,” Zhang Zhiruo said: “I only confirmed it after seeing the lawyer’s letter and the photo on it.”

“Before I started working at Jana Advertising, I had another job at a foreign company. There was a lot of office gossip, which you should already know. My home was very far from work back then, and my commute took two hours. Every time on the subway, I would see a little girl begging for money. She was very cute but dressed shabbily. Her eyes were like a little kitten’s, very wary of every stranger, yet soft.”

“There was always a middle-aged man following not far from her. After a while, I became certain that this was the kind of criminal group that made children beg. The kitten must have been an abducted child.”

“I felt pity and started giving her money and food every day. I knew the money would all be confiscated, but I also heard that these groups assign tasks to children, and if they can’t complete them, they get beaten and scolded. I hoped she could complete her tasks, avoid being beaten and scolded, and have enough to eat.”

Kou Shuang couldn’t help but ask: “Why were you so good to her? If you liked her so much, why didn’t you call the police?”

Zhang Zhiruo gave Kou Shuang a meaningful glance and said: “Not everyone trusts the police like you. Who knows if criminals and police are in cahoots, or if they’ll turn on me? Pity is pity, but I couldn’t let it disrupt my life.”

Zhang Zhiruo’s words were plausible. One of the characteristics of contemporary urbanites is indifference and self-interest. Even if they like someone, their genuine feelings and actions are limited. Disrupting one’s life for a little girl they don’t know well is indeed not very cost-effective—life cannot be quantified, but many people calculate it this way.

But Kou Shuang felt strange because Zhang Zhiruo was sitting right in front of her. She had changed jobs, started living homeless, and became a children’s leader… By all accounts, this sacrifice was far greater than simply calling the police at the time.

“Then one day, I fell asleep and rode past my stop. I happened to see that man leading the kitten away. The kitten followed him, dejected. On a whim, I followed them to their lair. I saw many children, all of them begging.” Zhang Zhiruo looked at Kou Shuang, her eyes a little hazy, a little vulnerable: “Some things, if you don’t see them, you can pretend they don’t exist. But once you see them with your own eyes, you can’t pretend anymore. They treated the kitten very badly, beating and scolding her, giving her leftovers, she was never full. From this, I learned about their base, and the kitten’s plight. I knew how much she suffered, and I felt even more sorry for her, wanting to rescue her.”

“Later, I often went to their lair to see how they treated the children. I quietly struck up a conversation with the kitten. I often left food in a nearly abandoned trash can, and she would go there to get it regularly. When I met her on the street, I would also give her some change so she could complete the tasks assigned by the criminal group. I told her I would rescue her, and she was very happy, even introducing me to Xiaodie. I gave her a whistle and told her to blow it if she was in danger, and I would come to save her. She was very happy then, looking at me like a hero.”

“—But I’m not a hero; I’m not even human.”

“The more I observed, the more I discovered their evil. They were very cruel to the children, as if they had no children and no humanity… Can you imagine? I actually started to get scared… Every time the kitten asked me when I would rescue her, I became more and more afraid… The time for action was always pushed back… But the kitten never doubted me at all. She was too young to know that adults would go back on their word, and too young to know how shameful adults are when they’re timid!”

At this point, Zhang Zhiruo’s expression became painful, guilt and heartache intertwined. She was both regretful and felt disgraced. “I was weak and untrustworthy, unable to fulfill what I promised the kitten… I let her mother down and dared not face Ms. Wu. Tell me, how could I be such a despicable woman?”

So that’s why she rushed to the firm, showing that attitude earlier? Song Muxue narrowed her eyes, internally judging the truth of these words.

At this point in the narration, Zhang Zhiruo stopped. She was immersed in her own incompetence and weakness, thus becoming even more angry—angry at the criminal group, but more so, angry at herself.

Kou Shuang looked at Zhang Zhiruo, suddenly understanding why her life had undergone such a drastic change.

Wang Xiaobo said that all human suffering is essentially anger at one’s own incompetence. Zhang Zhiruo had done many things wrong. After Wu Hongye disappeared, her inherent flaws and mistakes tortured her, making her wish she were dead.

She would constantly remember the promises she made to “the kitten” Wu Hongye, remember her own broken promises and weakness, she would feel regret and pain, and she would transform.

So, this is how she became like this?

Kou Shuang looked at Zhang Zhiruo. After her emotions had stabilized a little, she asked: “Do you know why Xiaohong disappeared?”

That was the key to all the turning points, and perhaps the only possibility of finding Wu Hongye.

Zhang Zhiruo took a big gulp of coffee. The bitter taste spread on her tongue. She bit her tongue hard before continuing with difficulty: “After I gave the whistle to the kitten, she only tried it once on the first day, because she was afraid of being discovered by those people. I never knew what that sound was. When it rang piercingly in my ears, I actually couldn’t recognize it. The sound was too chaotic; I simply didn’t know which direction it came from… By the time I finally found the place, the whistling had long stopped.”

“I saw the whistle dropped in the dirty black muddy water, but I didn’t see the kitten. There was a homeless man near the whistle, already scared out of his wits and incoherent. I asked him what he saw. He said a car, said someone took away adults and children, and said he ran away himself… When I asked again, he had already run off.”

“I then went to the begging syndicate’s lair to find Xiaodie. Xiaodie told me that the three men went out with the kitten and never came back after the whistle. I wanted to figure out what happened, so I changed to a more relaxed job, pretending to be homeless, moving through the city. If they took the kitten and those three men, they would also take me and the other children. I taught them to collect information and also to run if they encountered danger. I always wanted to find that homeless man and ask him carefully. I almost caught him last time, but there was someone else chasing him, so I had to take the children and run first. Yes, I even met you that day; I don’t know if you remember.”

Zhang Zhiruo’s eyes were a little red. She was now very passive and tired and said: “That’s how it is. Do you have any other questions?”

“Wait,” Kou Shuang said: “That homeless man you mentioned, was he a man with a bushy beard and a bad smell? A bit cross-eyed, and very slow to react?”

“You know him?” Zhang Zhiruo’s eyes widened, and her spirit returned.

Kou Shuang suddenly felt a little tired.