Chapter 29: A Shattered-Screen Phone
Compared to the guests, the staff uniforms were a bit simpler. But even so, looking at himself in the mirror, Zhuang Ningyu still felt this gorgeous outfit could be used for a stage play. Yi Ke changed clothes more quickly. After getting himself ready, he came over to help adjust Zhuang Ningyu’s bow tie. Only then did the two of them leave together.
Yi Ke asked, “Besides the four of us outsiders, who do you think the other two insiders are?”
“From the current situation, besides Tong Yishuai and You Hong who are most deeply connected to the bar, the remaining ones would be the bartender and A’Lin.” Zhuang Ningyu raised his hand, beckoning Tian Luxin from the end of the corridor. “Their affection for their ‘sister’ should be very deep, otherwise they wouldn’t have scrimped and saved, borrowing money everywhere to pay for her medical expenses. And if that girl’s death is related to Yin Bar, the two would have a motive to retaliate against Tong Yishuai. Plus, the bartender himself has mental health issues. Once triggered, it’s very likely his rationality will be controlled by negative emotions, and he’ll be trapped in an obsessive mindset.”
Moreover, for the position of bartender, if he wanted to poison the drinks, it would be extremely easy.
The three of them entered the elevator. Just as the doors were about to close, three or four more promoters squeezed in. They happened to be discussing the girl who had died in the hospital in low voices. A barely audible “it was all rotten” made Tian Luxin’s eyes widen… Rotten?
“Bro.” Zhuang Ningyu nudged the promoter next to him with his elbow. “Donn’s side, is he okay?”
“He’s fine. Didn’t you see them both come back to work?” the other person said. “They took seven days off before, but as soon as they heard the boss was giving out ten times the salary on the anniversary day, they came back. I heard that girl’s family still owes the hospital a large sum of money. They need to find a way to pay it back quickly.”
“What illness was it,” Zhuang Ningyu asked, “to be so expensive?”
The promoters all looked at him in unison. Their shiny black eyeballs had little white left, which was quite unnerving. One of them licked his lips and said evasively, “You’re new. Since you don’t know, don’t ask. It’ll save you trouble. It’s not a good thing.”
Not a good thing… Zhuang Ningyu suddenly gasped.
This act was a bit over the top. The promoters asked, puzzled, “What’s wrong with you?”
Zhuang Ningyu lowered his voice: “Seeing you all being so secretive, could it be that someone in our bar is dealing drugs?”
Tian Luxin also cooperated with an “Ah!”: “Really!”
The promoters were speechless. Someone rolled their eyes exaggeratedly, the hard eyeballs making a “creaking” sound in their sockets. It took a long time for them to roll back. He himself didn’t feel anything was wrong and continued, “Of course not. What are you thinking? That little girl committed suicide. It happened several times, but this time they couldn’t save her.”
Suicide? Zhuang Ningyu frowned. At this time, the elevator had reached the first floor. After the doors opened, they were met with a familiar wave of sound. The guests hadn’t arrived yet, so the bar was only filled with busy, chaotic employees. Donn was wiping down the bar, A’Lin was organizing the anniversary event rundown, and Tong Yishuai and You Hong had not yet appeared. There was also no sign of Wen Yue.
Zhuang Ningyu walked out of the elevator, still thinking about what the promoter had said. Losing the will to live due to the pain of an illness and choosing suicide was not uncommon. But combined with the phrase “it was all rotten,” what must a person go through for their flesh to “rot”? A car accident, amputation? Or… Zhuang Ningyu’s gaze swept across the entire bar, across those puppet-like, exquisite facial features that looked like masks—pale and stiff, as if viscous glue had been injected under the skin… A possibility suddenly flashed in his mind. Like fog being blown away by the wind, many things instantly became clear!
Zhuang Ningyu turned and asked Tian Luxin, “Have you ever had plastic surgery?”
“Huh?” Tian Luxin quickly shook her head. “I haven’t.”
Yi Ke’s brow twitched slightly. Before Zhuang Ningyu could even remind him, he had already called his colleague in the Yangcheng investigation team: “The large sum of cash that Zhao Jiaxue withdrew back then may not have been for a physical object. Check if she had any plastic surgery history before the incident.”
Zhao Huifen had once said that ever since her daughter started going to Yin Bar, she had become more and more cheerful and beautiful. What if the “beauty” here wasn’t from a change in personality and external decoration, but because she was actually taken for plastic surgery? Not major surgery, just basic injections and light treatments, which could totally make her “prettier” without her parents noticing.
Tian Luxin belatedly realized: “So the bartender’s sister had a failed plastic surgery that led to disfigurement and infection, causing her to break down and commit suicide? Then what does her failed surgery have to do with the bar?”
“You Hong,” Zhuang Ningyu said. “Star Beauty’s medical touts were looking for target customers in the bar. When you swept You Hong’s business card out from under Tong Yishuai’s cabinet before, I found it a bit strange. Usually, only business partners meeting for the first time exchange business cards, but it was clearly unnecessary for the two of them.” Now it seemed there was probably more than one business card in the office, but a whole box, for Tong Yishuai to help Star Beauty attract important clients. As for why Tian Luxin didn’t see more business cards when she was cleaning, it should be because of the argument between Tong Yishuai and A’Jie. The business card box on the shelf was knocked to the ground, and the rest were cleaned up by the aunty, leaving only this one that had floated under the cabinet.
Tian Luxin was enlightened: “I see.”
The sister came to the bar to visit her brother but accidentally fell into the consumer trap of a plastic surgery clinic. After all, in a high-consumption place where looks are everything, people, especially young boys and girls whose minds are not yet fully mature, are easily bewitched by the glamorous surface and make wrong, spur-of-the-moment decisions.
“We always thought You Hong was unilaterally investing in Yin Bar. Now it seems Yin Bar was also feeding back to You Hong,” Yi Ke said. “This bar, in terms of both the number and quality of its customers, is a sweet deal for any plastic surgery clinic. You Tu is not a hands-off boss. He joined Star Beauty right after graduating from university. It’s impossible for him to be unaware of this.”
“So that’s why he acted so agitated the other day, trying everything to make us believe that the connection between Tong Yishuai and You Hong was only the simplest form of romantic love, and even if there was a monetary relationship, it was only Tong Yishuai who benefited, while You Hong and Star Beauty were innocent,” Zhuang Ningyu said. “Have the investigation team re-interview him immediately.”
Yi Ke nodded: “Okay.”
Zhuang Ningyu made another call to another colleague in the investigation team. As soon as it connected, the other side said, “Captain Zhuang, we were just about to contact you. We’ve found that in Huayin Hospital during that period, there were a total of—”
“Were there any suicides due to failed plastic surgery?” Zhuang Ningyu interrupted.
“Ah… yes, there was. One moment.” The sound of typing “clacked” through the phone. “Jiang Mei, female, was a neighbor of the bartender at Yin Bar. She was only eighteen when she passed away. She was underage when she underwent plastic surgery. The initial failed surgery led to severe facial infection. After treatment at Huayin Hospital, her condition improved, and she was transferred. But not long after the transfer, the young girl attempted suicide several times. The last time, she was rushed back to the Huayin ICU. She stayed for a month, but unfortunately, they still couldn’t save her.”
“Send me her information.”
“Yes, Captain Zhuang, right away.”
The information was uploaded synchronously. The girl in the photo had a ponytail and a delicate smile. Her home address was in the same compound as the bartender’s; they had grown up together. At sixteen, Jiang Mei went to the bar for the first time. Everyone treated her like the bartender’s little sister and took good care of her. At that time, Yin Bar must have been a carefree paradise for this underage girl—dazzling everywhere, with the kind of debauchery that only existed in novels, with older brothers and sisters who doted on her, free juice and snacks. Occasionally when she left, a beautiful older sister would even drive her home in a luxury car. Everything she saw was beautiful.
And this superficial “beauty” made her unwilling to even wait for her eighteenth birthday. She directly borrowed a friend’s ID card and walked into Star Beauty.
18:50.
The liquor promoters gathered for their daily group meeting. Although A’Lin’s body was already half-puppet-like, his exhaustion was still palpable, and his voice was hoarse and weak, clearly from staying up all night for the past few days. After the meeting, Zhuang Ningyu found an opportunity to approach him. “Bro, are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” A’Lin held a thermos filled with stimulating bitter coffee. He gave a bitter smile. “Don’t worry about me. Go get busy.”
“I have to.” Zhuang Ningyu, without taking no for an answer, put an arm around him, led him to the corner on the east side, pressed him against the wall, and with his other hand, smoothly pulled out a thick stack of rule coins from his pants pocket and stuffed them into his arms. “I heard you and Brother Donn are in urgent need of money. My family’s matter is resolved, and I don’t need this stuff now. You take it and use it first.”
A’Lin was taken aback. “How can I accept this?”
“What’s there not to accept? Take it.” Zhuang Ningyu patted his arm. “Don’t be polite with me.”
“Then thank you. I’ll pay you back when I’m more financially stable in the future.” A’Lin didn’t refuse anymore.
Zhuang Ningyu smiled and watched his back blend into the crowd before turning to look at the closed security door beside him.
This was the “Gate No. 3” from the rules, the Gate of Life, located right next to the freight elevator, designed to be very discreet to match the bar’s overall style. Just now, Zhuang Ningyu’s group of three had already tried, but none of them could open it. And A’Lin had leaned against it for a long time without being able to budge it an inch.
On the other end, Yi Ke said, “A’Lin is not the ‘key.’ Let’s try the bartender next. I’ll leave it to you?”
Tian Luxin retorted, “Why don’t you go yourself?”
Yi Ke replied, “To give you some practical experience. Quick, I still have to find Wen Yue.”
Tian Luxin hesitated for a moment, then steeled herself and accepted the mission. She propped her hands on the bar: “Donn!”
The bartender, who was organizing the bottom drawer, stood up. “What’s wrong? So jumpy.”
Tian Luxin asked, “Are you free right now?”
The bartender looked at her ‘ready to die’ expression and shook his head. “No, I’m quite busy tonight.”
“You have to give me three minutes even if you’re busy. Please, I have something very important to confirm.” Tian Luxin reached across the bar, grabbed his wrist, her eyes pleading. “Can you come out first?”
The bartender wanted to refuse, but Tian Luxin was too strong. With one pull, she yanked the 1.85-meter-tall hunk out from behind the bar, attracting a round of teasing onlookers.
With a “bang,” Tian Luxin ignored the whistles from the surroundings, pressed the bartender’s shoulders with both hands, and “kabedon-ed” him against Gate No. 3!
The door panel didn’t move an inch.
Tian Luxin: “…”
The bartender: “…”
Not giving up, Tian Luxin pressed him harder against the door. “Open!”
The bartender commented, “Open what? You don’t look like you’re confessing your love. You look like you want to fight me.”
“Who said I was confessing!” Tian Luxin let go of him as if burned. “What nonsense are you talking about? I just wanted to show some concern for you. How come you’re back at work so soon?”
“Ten times the salary. If I don’t come back to work, am I supposed to drink the northwest wind at home?” The bartender’s answer was similar to what the promoters had said. He then pointed to the other side with his chin. “Look, even A’Jie was tempted by the high salary and agreed to come back for one night. I don’t know how much the boss promised to pay him. To be able to get him back after arguing like that.”
Tian Luxin observed his expression. Seeing that it seemed relatively normal, she tentatively asked another question, “So, your sister’s matter, is it all pretty much handled?”
“Pretty much.” The bartender walked towards the bar, not asking her where she had heard about it. Gossip, after all, was something no one could stop.
Tian Luxin followed him and continued to ask, “Then have you thought about seeking compensation?”
The bartender went behind the bar and poured himself a glass of water. “Compensation?”
“I don’t mean anything by it, it’s just… your legal rights. You should protect them.”
The bartender twitched the corner of his mouth, as if trying to force a smile, but failed. In the end, he just tilted his head back and drank more than half a glass of ice water. “The plastic surgery clinic compensated us immediately. The amount was quite substantial. We can’t pursue them for more responsibility. But after paying off the loan, that money was far from enough to cover Xiao Mei’s subsequent restorative expenses. Plus the infection and… anyway, we still had to figure out the bulk of it ourselves. What would you like to drink?”
“I’m not drinking anything, I’m on duty. But I have nothing to do right now, so I can chat with you for a while.” Tian Luxin sat on a high stool. “What’s this about paying off a loan?”
The bartender put down his glass. “The plastic surgery cost wasn’t low. Xiao Mei took out an online loan herself. When I heard you say you didn’t want to be an internet celebrity that day, I was thinking, if only Xiao Mei could be as clear-headed as you. She was already pretty, but she still felt it wasn’t enough. She wanted to gain followers, wanted to live-stream. In the end, when she left, she couldn’t even keep a complete face.”
“Was she your biological sister?”
“No, the granddaughter of a neighbor. We were close like real siblings.”
Their conversation was transmitted synchronously to Zhuang Ningyu’s and Yi Ke’s headsets through the device on Tian Luxin’s chest.
“Was the surgery done at Star Beauty?” Tian Luxin asked again.
The bartender nodded, “Mm,” and then reminded her, “In the future, if any medical touts approach you in the bar, don’t be impulsive. Plastic surgery is a matter of personal opinion. In the grand scheme of things, it’s definitely a good thing, but in a place of debauchery like this, few people can think straight.”
Yi Ke pressed his earpiece. “Why do I feel that his emotions are stable, his mind is normal, and his logic is reasonable? He doesn’t seem like someone who would retaliate against society.”
Zhuang Ningyu said, “Xiao Tian just tested him too. He’s definitely not the ‘key.’ How’s it on your end?”
“I didn’t find Wen Yue,” Yi Ke said. “Didn’t find You Hong either. Tong Yishuai, on the other hand, is alone in his office. I just used an excuse to knock and go in, and found him admiring a few masks in a daze.”
“And then?”
“And then he tried to harass me.”
Tong Yishuai stared at Yi Ke’s face with considerable admiration for a long time, then went crazy and recited a hymn: “The more you avoid me, O beauty, the more I cannot avoid my love for you.”
Yi Ke was unmoved. “Thank you, Boss. I already have a wife. Will You Zong be coming tonight?”
Even through the mask, one could imagine the change in Tong Yishuai’s expression, because his movements clearly paused. When he spoke again, his voice was tinged with a cold indifference. “Why do you ask about her?”
“Because You Zong is in charge of preparing the VIP night event, so I thought she would be coming to this party too,” Yi Ke answered fluently. “I noticed there didn’t seem to be a reserved seat in the venue, so I came to ask in advance to avoid neglecting a guest.”
“She won’t be coming tonight.” Perhaps it was because of Yi Ke’s face, Tong Yishuai didn’t get angry, just said impatiently, “I don’t want to hear her name. Get out.”
Yi Ke said, “And then he kicked me out.”
“Doesn’t want to hear You Hong’s name,” Zhuang Ningyu asked. “What kind of ‘doesn’t want to hear’?”
Yi Ke understood what Zhuang Ningyu meant. He explained, “From his tone, it didn’t sound like a lover’s quarrel. It was more like a genuine disgust from the bottom of his heart.”
This disgust was actually understandable. After all, swapping medicine was not something an ordinary person would do. Pei Yuan and the investigation team had not yet been able to figure out what the letters on those white pills represented. Just then, Zhuang Ningyu accepted another dialogue request—to save time, the investigation team had just taken an investigation letter and went straight to a restaurant, pulling You Tu out of a business dinner.
This action naturally infuriated the young Mr. You. “What is the meaning of this? Can you be responsible for the business losses you’ve caused me?”
The investigator was unmoved. “Xiao Yi said he can cover for you. You Zong, please cooperate with our work.”
You Tu was silenced. After a moment of silence, he asked, “What is it now?”
“Five years ago, a girl named Jiang Mei committed suicide after a failed plastic surgery at your medical institution,” the investigator asked. “Does You Zong still have an impression of her?”
You Tu nodded. “I do. That little girl borrowed a friend’s ID card at the time and lied about being over eighteen. The doctor only found out she was a minor after the incident. We immediately took countermeasures and took the responsibility we should have. The family also accepted a settlement and signed a confidentiality agreement. If you don’t believe me, you can go and ask.”
“There should be quite a few of your medical touts in Yin Bar, right?”
“How can you call them medical touts? They are just ordinary salespeople. My mom invested several million in that bar. It’s normal to put a few people in there to hand out flyers and attract clients, right? It’s not illegal.”
Indeed, handing out flyers was not illegal. But this plastic surgery hospital used Yin Bar’s pathological environment where looks are everything, and under the stimulation of alcohol and money, used rhetoric to induce others to develop unnecessary appearance anxiety. After signing the contract, they would then cooperate with online loan agencies for unreasonable lending, making huge profits through a one-stop service. Morally, it was rotten to the core.
“My colleagues have just gone to Star Beauty and requested to retrieve all the plastic surgery medical records from the corresponding period. They didn’t find Jiang Mei, nor did they find the fake identity ‘Li Qing’ that Jiang Mei used,” the investigator said. “You Zong, did she delete it?”
You Tu’s face stiffened. His gaze unconsciously drifted to the phone on the table, which had been dark all along. Why hasn’t anyone notified me about this?
“According to the relevant provisions of the ‘Regulations on the Handling of Medical Accidents,’ altering, forging, concealing, or destroying medical records is illegal,” the investigator said. “For You Zong to go so far as to break the law to delete a medical record that had already been properly settled is really unjustifiable. Unless you deleted them in batches, and you were in a hurry when deleting, so you didn’t have time to screen them. Am I right?”
Beads of sweat appeared on You Tu’s forehead. “This…”
“This kind of thing is not hard to investigate. You Zong might as well confess voluntarily,” the investigator said. “It’ll save everyone’s time.”
A long silence fell in the private room.
Zhuang Ningyu urged, “Make him hurry up.”
The investigator adjusted his earpiece, raised his hand, and slammed it on the table with a “clang,” making the ashtray jump. “You Tu!”
His voice was high and sharp. You Tu was startled by the sudden noise and, gritting his teeth, admitted, “I deleted them!”
The investigator pressed on, “Why?”
You Tu had a look of someone who had given up all hope. “My mom and a few friends started a loan agency… ‘chop-head interest’ loans were popular back then, the kind where you borrow thirty thousand but only get twenty-five. I was worried that when the police came to investigate my mother’s death, they would also find out about the illegal lending, so I deleted all the medical records related to this loan agency.”
The police did indeed come to investigate later, but it had nothing to do with the loans. It was just a routine procedure because You Hong was a victim.
Zhuang Ningyu said, “Bluff him. Say that there is currently evidence in the rule zone that You Hong had a premeditated, long-term plan to poison Tong Yishuai. Ask him what’s going on.”
The investigator repeated his words.
You Tu: “…”
You Tu’s tone was desperate. “I knew it.”
The investigator pressed on, “You knew it?”
“She wasn’t normal at that time. She was all paranoid and delusional, like she was possessed,” You Tu said. “One moment she’d say Tong Yishuai was going to kill her, the next she’d say Tong Yishuai was cheating on her, and then she’d say she wanted to die together with him. At first, I was quite nervous listening to her, but later, seeing that she seemed mentally unstable, I figured it was probably because her twilight romance wasn’t going well and she was traumatized. So I didn’t take her words seriously. I was even quite glad that she had finally seen that pretty boy’s true colors.”
And then, it was the Yin Bar anniversary on September 12th. You Tu was at home that day. Seeing his mom all dressed up to go to the bar party again, he almost couldn’t breathe. You Tu continued, “Of course, I didn’t want my mom to go. I tried to stop her, but I couldn’t. Her mood was already very wrong at that time, but I thought it was just a simple romantic entanglement, thinking at most the two of them would get back together again, or she’d be scammed out of some more money by Tong Yishuai, so I didn’t try to persuade her further.”
“You said you thought it was just a simple romantic entanglement,” the investigator deliberately emphasized the word “thought.” “And the result? The reality didn’t match your ‘thought’?”
“Later, after the bar incident, when I was sorting through her belongings, I found two unnamed test reports, both showing HIV positive. AIDS.” You Tu wiped his face messily. “My mom lived a clean and respectable life. She was about to retire, but she was infected with this disease by him… I know my mom. Tong Yishuai ruined her career and her life, so she definitely wouldn’t let him off.”
“Where are the test reports?”
“Destroyed.”
“Since there were no names on them, how could you be sure they were your mother’s and Tong Yishuai’s test results?”
“Isn’t it obvious? If they weren’t theirs, why would my mom hide them? And I also found imported drugs for treating AIDS at home. Later, I asked Xiao Fang from the laboratory department, and they all confirmed my guess was correct.”
You Tu continued, “I couldn’t possibly keep those things. If the police found them, my mother’s reputation, and Star Beauty’s reputation, would have been completely ruined. So I destroyed those two test reports immediately.”
Yi Ke frowned as he listened, feeling that something wasn’t quite right. He wanted to go to the first floor to meet up with Zhuang Ningyu, but he stepped on something at the turn of the stairs. When he picked it up, it was a phone with a shattered screen.
A thought struck him. He used his own phone to dial Wen Yue’s number.
The next second, the shattered screen lit up.
