Chapter 58: After All That, You Were Doubting My Identity

Ning Weidong looked at Chu Zhongxin strangely; the other man's attitude was quite unusual.

Chu Zhongxin did not make him play guessing games, smiling as he said, "Is your brother Ning Weiguo, and is your sister-in-law Wang Yuzhen?"

Ning Weidong's heart stirred, and he nodded.

Chu Zhongxin said, "Wang Yuzhen is my cousin; my mother is her aunt."

Only then did Ning Weidong suddenly realize; this explained everything.

With this connection, Chu Zhongxin's behavior was no longer strange.

However, Ning Weidong also kept his guard up; Wang Yuzhen had not mentioned this connection beforehand.

Ning Weidong hurriedly called him brother to his face, but he still had some reservations in his heart, planning to ask when he got home that night.

Having clarified the relationship, Ning Weidong and Chu Zhongxin got along more easily, and the two rode their bicycles to the residential area near the factory.

This place was built in the fifties, during the period of aid from the Soviet Union.

Liu Xinwen was a Technician, had attended university, and held Cadre Status, so his housing was of a high standard.

Upon entering, there was a hallway with a unit on each side; after entering the unit, there was a utility room on the left, a kitchen on the right, a large room further in, and an inner suite beyond that.

In this design, the large room was originally intended as a living room, with the small inner suite serving as a bedroom.

But later on, because of large families, most residents built heated brick beds directly in the large room.

Liu Xinwen's home did not have one; entering the large room revealed a living room with a sofa and a television, clean and tidy, appearing quite impressive for this era.

When Ning Weidong and Chu Zhongxin arrived, one could not tell that someone had just died in the house.

In previous years, due to certain circumstances, there was an emphasis on keeping weddings and funerals simple; although times had changed, few people held grand ceremonies, and it would be a few more years before that trend picked up again.

Entering the room, they saw Liu Hong'e.

The former factory beauty, a young woman just turned thirty, had red, swollen eyes; she was accompanied by a woman who looked seventy percent like her, said to be her older sister.

After the introductions, the group sat down.

Whether it was because of Chu Zhongxin's uniform, the two women seemed somewhat uneasy.

In this era, the status of Public Security still held great deterrent power; even though Liu Hong'e was somewhat worldly, she did not want to deal with people from the Ministry.

Ning Weidong sat to the side, responsible for taking notes, and did not interject in anything else.

Chu Zhongxin did not ask anything unusual either, just some routine questions, and finally offered his condolences before taking his leave.

Once outside, while using his key to unlock his bicycle, Chu Zhongxin suddenly asked, "Weidong, what do you think about this death of Liu Xinwen?"

Ning Weidong was taken aback, not expecting Chu Zhongxin to ask him suddenly, and said with a smile, "Brother, how would I know about that?"

Chu Zhongxin pushed his bicycle forward and cursed, "Slippery fellow."

Ning Weidong was baffled; supposedly, since seeing Chu Zhongxin this morning, he had not acted slippery at all.

Chu Zhongxin said, "A few nights ago, did you see Liu Xinwen?"

Ning Weidong was stunned; he had not expected Chu Zhongxin to actually know this.

Ever since he learned Liu Xinwen had died, Ning Weidong had realized that the situation a few days ago, where Liu Xinwen had gone to find Xu Jinshan in a rage, was very valuable.

The reason he hadn't spoken up was simply because he felt the time wasn't right.

He had originally planned to find Li Peihang this afternoon to bring up this situation and see how the other man would react.

Who would have thought Chu Zhongxin would point it out first? Ning Weidong's thoughts raced; only four people knew about this situation—Liu Xinwen was dead, and besides himself, only Xu Jinshan and Wang Yong knew.

And this situation was clearly very unfavorable for Xu Jinshan...

Could it be Wang Yong? Ning Weidong gave a dry laugh, looking somewhat embarrassed, and scratched his head, saying, "Brother, you know everything now~ It's not that I was hiding things from you; I was planning to go home tonight and ask my sister-in-law."

In truth, with Ning Weidong's level of cultivation, he would never feel embarrassed or guilty over such a small matter.

Being purely thick-skinned and black-hearted rarely leads to success, and even if it does, it is fleeting and cannot last.

But if one's skin is too thin, it is also a shackle that binds people; before Ning Weidong transmigrated, there was a new term called "mental internal friction"—if one's skin was thin, it was easy to suffer from internal friction.

Hearing such a blunt explanation, Chu Zhongxin couldn't help but smile, "So after all this time, you were doubting my identity."

Ning Weidong gave a chuckle, which counted as an admission.

Chu Zhongxin was not angry; instead, he nodded in appreciation, "Not bad. Without proof or evidence, just based on my word, of course you couldn't be certain."

Ning Weidong remained silent; he did not believe it just because the other man was open.

In any case, this matter had to wait until he saw Wang Yuzhen.

Chu Zhongxin did not say more, mounted his bicycle, and said, "Let's go, to Wang Hong's house."

Wang Hong's home was also in the residential area, but the housing conditions were clearly a grade lower than Liu Xinwen's.

Two flat-roofed rooms, totaling about forty square meters, housing six or seven people—Wang Hong and his wife, plus his mother and three children.

Ning Weidong and Chu Zhongxin knocked and entered, and could clearly feel that this family was shrouded in gloom.

From what could be seen so far, this accident theoretically had little to do with Wang Hong; after all, he had discovered the anomaly in advance and reported it upwards twice.

The fact that it ultimately resulted in an accident was because something went wrong when Liu Xinwen was handling it.

But... Liu Xinwen was dead!

Wang Hong appeared quite anxious; he had been standing right next to him when the accident occurred.

He had seen with his own eyes Liu Xinwen being dragged into the machine, and had even been sprayed in the face with blood on the spot.

His wife, however, managed to maintain some decorum, inviting Ning Weidong and Chu Zhongxin to sit, and even went to wash cups and pour two glasses of hot water.

"Comrades, we have no tea at home, please forgive us." She placed the two cups in front of Ning Weidong and Chu Zhongxin; the cups had the words 'Advanced Producer' written in red ink, along with a large 'Award' character.

Chu Zhongxin said 'Thank you' and looked at Wang Hong, saying in a deep voice, "Comrade Wang Hong, please recall the situation at that time carefully; do not overlook the details."

Ning Weidong, having done this once, was now familiar with the process and took out his notebook to start recording.

Wang Hong sighed, his furrowed brows tight enough to crush a fly: "It started the day before yesterday; I noticed the machine's movement wasn't right. I've worked in the Second Workshop for over ten years; I know what the machine's movements are like better than anyone..."

Wang Hong rambled on; at first he could express himself smoothly, but as he spoke, he began to jump from one topic to another.

Chu Zhongxin, however, was exceptionally patient, not only listening carefully but also offering reminders from time to time.

Until he spoke of yesterday afternoon, when he discovered the machine's operating status was wrong again, and Wang Hong went to find Liu Xinwen...

Speaking up to this point, Wang Hong appeared extremely dejected: "It's all my fault! If I hadn't insisted on dragging Technician Liu over at that time, if we had been two minutes later, if... perhaps this wouldn't have happened, and Technician Liu wouldn't have died, I..."

Wang Hong sat on the chair, his elbows propped on his knees, painfully covering his face tightly with both hands.

Wang Hong's wife, standing to the side, became anxious: "Old Wang, what nonsense are you spouting? What do you mean it's all your fault? Who do you think you are, taking everything upon yourself?" As she spoke, she looked toward Chu Zhongxin and Ning Weidong: "The two leaders are here, we must be realistic about everything. Liu Xinwen was a Technician, a university graduate, with great ability. My Old Wang is just a rough man; apart from tinkering with that machine as his master taught him, he doesn't know anything else. You two tell me, when he discovered the machine had a problem, if he didn't go find the Technician, who should he have found? What was he supposed to do?"

(End of chapter)