ALL NOVEL
Chapter 206
Elder brother accompanied father sitting in the ambulance to rest, Song Jingwu went to identify the corpse with a grieving heart. But just as the police said, the corpse had been burned beyond recognition. He just saw a section of charred torso, accompanied by a bad smell. He didn't dare look closely and ran to the side to vomit.
While vomiting and crying, grieving and remorseful, he regretted why he had opposed this nephew before. It was as if he had returned to the day when he first learned of Third Brother's death. Song Jingwu knelt on the ground and cried loudly, completely unaware of the anomaly with Father and Eldest Brother in the ambulance.
There was no one else in the ambulance. The families were emotionally agitated, so in this situation, the police and medical staff would not come to disturb them, giving them enough time to calm down.
Old Master Song, covering his heart, stared at his eldest son beside him with bulging eyes, cursing over and over: "Ungrateful child! Ungrateful child! You really think I don't dare?!"
Song Xinwen stretched out his hand to pat his back, looking like a filial son. His voice was low and steady, as if he was really having a heart-to-heart conversation with his father: "Dad, Second Brother has always been useless. Now except for me, no one can continue to run the Song family business. This is your lifelong effort. Are you willing to see it overthrown?" Mom is also getting old. She can’t withstand such repeated blows, right? Ah Xing is gone, but there is still me, and Jiaqi, and Little Yue. But if you insist on going the wrong way, not only will you not get back those who have passed away, but you will also lose everything you have now."
Just like when you covered up the truth for me in the past, so today, you will do the same, right?
After all, the deceased are gone, we can only cherish the present.
Old Master Song's grief and anger were reflected in the fearless expression of this eldest son.
He gritted his teeth and cursed, "You will come to no good end!"
Song Xinwen smiled: "That's a matter for the future. You probably won't live to see that day."
Old Master Song closed his eyes, and his heavy breathing gradually calmed down. After a while, he slowly opened his eyes, and the bloodshot eyes shot out an even sharper gaze than usual, and said word for word, "I will not make the same mistake again. Unless you kill me too! It's better for me to go underground with Zhìyuǎn to atone for my sins!"
The fearless expression on Song Xinwen's face changed, and his eyes also sank: "Dad, have you thought it through? Even if you take out the evidence from back then now, it may not be useful. Apart from the autopsy report, there is no direct evidence left. You’re old now. It's not the time when your word alone counted. I have lawyers and connections. Relying solely on an autopsy report, no one can convict me. The principle of presumed innocence, don’t you understand?"
Old Master Song stared at him closely.
Song Xinwen sighed, "You've helped me for so many years already. Why can't you keep helping?" I am your first son after all. When Second and Third Brother were not yet born, do you still remember how much you doted on me?"
Old Master Song still stared at him without saying a word, but the skin on his aged face twitched.
Song Xinwen said softly, "I am your eldest son, the one who accompanied you the longest, the one you cultivated the most. Do you still remember? On my fifth birthday, you carried me to the company to play, and pointed at the building in front saying that all of this would be mine in the future."
He looked at his father, his tone puzzled, "But later, why did you want to give everything that was originally intended for me to others?"
Old Master Song couldn't help but say, "Your Third Brother was far smarter than you! He was a born leader!"
Song Xinwen sneered, "But since ancient times, the eldest son inherits the family business, isn't that so?"
Tears of grief, remorse and pain surged in Old Master Song's bloodshot eyes again: "Just for the sake of this family business, just for the sake of these profits, you killed your own younger brother, and then your own nephew. Is the family business really that important? Even if the Song family business was not handed over to you, neither your Third Brother nor your nephew would shortchange you! You have never lacked anything, you never lacked anything since you were young!"
Song Xinwen put away his smile and said coldly, "No matter if I lack anything or not, what belongs to me is mine, no one can snatch it."
Old Master Song was extremely angry. He slapped out again. Song Xinwen did not dodge. He took the slap fair and square. After two slaps, his whole face was swollen and red, but he looked calmly at his father and said softly, "Have you vented your anger? If not, feel free to continue hitting."
Old Master Song was so angry that his whole body was shaking: "I will not let you off! Even at the cost of myself, I will send you in to atone to your Third Brother's family!"
Song Xinwen looked at him indifferently. After a long while, he smiled, "Alright, as you wish. Now we should go collect Ah Xing's corpse."
The old master cried again in grief and indignation.
Not far away, the louder crying of Song Jingwu, who was already extremely sad, made him even sadder. He cried even louder. Suddenly, a smiling voice came from behind: "Cut! It’s a wrap, everyone performed very well, thanks for the hard work. I'll give everyone a big red envelope tonight!"
Song Jingwu turned around in puzzlement and saw his niece Song Shuling standing behind him. In her hand she held a clapperboard used for filming. She was talking to the people around her.
The police officers who had looked serious just a moment ago were now all smiling. They said in chorus, "Thank you, boss!"
Song Jingwu's mind jammed, completely unable to comprehend what was happening. He stared blankly as his niece approached, and then was dumbly helped up by her.
Song Shuling looked at her second uncle whose eyes were swollen like peaches, and sighed, "Second Uncle, from now on I will treat you like my own father and be filial to you."
Song Jingwu moved his chapped lips and finally spoke hoarsely, "Little Ling...what is going on? Why are you here? What are you doing?"
Song Shuling smiled and glanced coldly towards the ambulance: "We're filming a movie. A movie about catching the murderer."
Song Jingwu vaguely realized something, but his mind which had always been slow couldn't quite grasp it, until he saw the living "Song JinXing" get out of a police car nearby. He was shocked, exclaiming in disbelief, "Ah Xing! You're not dead!"
His shout was so loud that it disturbed the father and son still confronting each other in the ambulance.
Song Xinwen unbelievingly turned his head back. When he saw the figure illuminated under the car lights, the fearless expression on his face finally cracked. Old Master Song's eyes widened as he looked at his surviving grandson in excitement and agitation, calling out in a trembling voice, "Ah Xing?!"
Song Xinwen's eyes, now bloodshot, slowly scanned the surroundings. All these doctors, police officers, firefighters, and everyone on the scene, at this moment revealed their true identities.
Actors.
They were all actors, gathered here just to film a movie.
A movie staged specially for him to watch.
How could he forget that Song Shuling from the Song family ran an entertainment company? Applying for filming locations and permits to shoot a fire scene, making props pretending to be corpses, was easier than anything. He thought it was a death trap set for him, but he didn't know he had walked into their trap.
He lost.
But how was that possible? Where exactly did things go wrong?
His eyes stared fixedly at the approaching people. Zhong Ruanxing walked onto the ambulance and took off a miniature camera from the rear view mirror of the front passenger seat right in front of him.
She turned to look at the old master, who seemed to have escaped death. In a soft voice she asked, "Grandpa, do you stand by what you just said? Are you really willing to hand over the evidence of Eldest Uncle killing my father?"
Old Master Song grasped her wrist tightly, feeling her warm temperature, and cried out as if he had survived a calamity, "Willing! Grandpa is willing!"
Zhong Ruanxing nodded, "Then I'll call the police. Coincidentally, I also have evidence of Eldest Uncle contacting the murderer."
Song Xinwen seemed to be provoked to anger. He leapt up, but was clearly no match for the strength and reflexes of the young. In a flash he was knocked down by a punch from Zhong Ruanxing. She twisted his arms behind his back and sneered, "Eldest Uncle, are you wondering where exactly things went wrong?"
Song Xinwen twisted his head to look at her sinisterly.
Zhong Ruanxing smiled, "From the first step, you were wrong." She lifted her chin, gesturing for him to look ahead, "This is the screenwriter for our movie. Does Eldest Uncle recognize him?"
Song Xinwen stiffly turned his head and saw his partner Cheng Yaowen standing innocently in front of him.
Cheng Yaowen shrugged and said apologetically, "Mr. Song, I'm really sorry, but compared to killing Song JinXing and then working with a disintegrated Song family, I think it's more promising to cooperate with the Song family now at its peak."
Song Xinwen let out the most miserable howl in history.