The maturity and coldness between the boy’s brows, so out of place on a sixteen-year-old, made Su Xiaomeng subconsciously look at him a few more times.

Even though the boy said just those two sentences and went back to his room, leaving only his thin, lanky back.

The one standing by the door was Wu Yao’s wife, Lu Ping.

"Hel...hello."

Lu Ping had already felt suspicious when she heard the voice coming from the intercom at the door; now that they were face to face...

This woman looked only around twenty, even if the neat little suit she wore made her seem a bit more mature than her peers.

Her husband had died fifteen years ago. To say she was her husband’s old friend, then...

Seeing the doubt written all over Mrs. Wu’s face, Su Xiaomeng knew where her misgivings lay and hurriedly said,

"I know Mrs. Wu must find it strange. If I’m an old friend of Mr. Wu Yao, I do look a little too young."

Lu Ping nodded.

Su Xiaomeng took a deep breath.

"May I come in and sit for a bit?"

"...You may, but could this young lady first tell me, just who exactly are you..."

"Your husband and my late husband, Yin Shixiu, were friends. My husband was much older than me."

"Yin...Shixiu..."

Lu Ping’s expression changed. "You mean that former president of the Yin Group?"

"Yes."

"Then you’re...Su Xiaomeng?!"

"Yes."

"Su Xiaomeng?! My..."

Lu Ping was clearly a little unsettled. For the moment she really couldn’t make any reasonable connection—how could the president of the Yin Group, Su Xiaomeng, appear in her home?

And what had she come here for?

Lu Ping hadn’t thought in a bad direction.

She was a very gentle, easygoing woman, the typical virtuous wife and good mother.

But correspondingly, a bit cowardly.

"Ms. Su...please, come in."

Lu Ping didn’t doubt the truth of Xiao Meng’s words at all. Before Xiao Meng said her name, she’d vaguely felt this woman looked familiar; once she heard the name, Lu Ping remembered.

After putting on shoe covers, Su Xiaomeng followed Lu Ping inside.

She glanced at the simple, plain furnishings in the living room, the vase on the dining table holding a few flowers.

The style of the whole home was just like the impression Lu Ping as a person gave.

Quietly elegant, domestic, at peace with the world.

Su Xiaomeng’s heart sank all at once, a bad premonition rising unbidden.

Lu Ping warmly made her a cup of black tea.

The porcelain coffee table in front of the sofa had clearly been used for many years; there were heat marks from pots on it, and the corners were slightly chipped.

Noticing where Su Xiaomeng’s gaze had paused, Lu Ping hurriedly said,

"Everything at home is old. We’ve never changed it."

"Are these pieces...still the ones you used when Mr. Wu Yao was alive?"

That question struck right at Lu Ping’s sore spot. She nodded.

"Mm."

"..."

"Does anyone else come by your home usually? Has it just been the two of you, mother and son, all these years?"

"Mm. Wu Yu’s high school isn’t far from home, he’s a day student. After Ah Yao passed away, we stopped having guests over. Those friends from before have all grown distant. Wu Yu...this child, I often tell him he can bring classmates home as guests, but he’s unwilling. So basically it’s just the two of us, mother and son, at home."

"Have your husband’s former colleagues and friends...come to see you over the years?"

Lu Ping gave a bitter little smile.

"Madam, it seems you really don’t know the whole story."

"..."

"If Wu Yao had died like other officers who sacrificed themselves in the line of duty and been posthumously named a martyr, that would be one thing. But he died branded as a traitor cop."

When she said this, the gentle, delicate features of her face finally twisted, going stiff.

Her pair of not-so-delicate hands were tangled together, picking at her nails.

You could tell that even though she could still talk about it as if it were someone else’s story, the torment in her heart was something others could hardly imagine.

A traitor cop...

Su Xiaomeng knew this. Later, Shan Mingxu had looked into Wu Yao in detail; he’d checked the files on the anti-drug operation fifteen years ago as well.

"After Wu Yao died, people from the bureau came and told me what had happened. Because Ah Yao had indeed done many good deeds for the people and earned merits while he was alive, they wouldn’t make his crimes public."

"They said it was for Wu Yu’s sake...afraid the child would face too much criticism as he grew up." 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Lu Ping murmured, then gave a small laugh.

"But how can there be such a thing as an officer killed in the line of duty who isn’t posthumously commended as a martyr? What’s more, Wu Yao was a narcotics detective. Just that alone is enough for people to find fault."

Su Xiaomeng looked at Lu Ping.

"And you? Do you think your husband betrayed the police?"

Lu Ping’s eyes reddened in an instant. The matter had been sealed away for many years; no one wanted to bring it up anymore. Now it had suddenly been mentioned, and she was a bit at a loss.

"He’s your husband. You ought to be the one who knows him best. After all these years, surely you have some conviction in your heart, don’t you?"

Lu Ping lowered her head and covered her face. After a long time, she finally said,

"I don’t know..."

"..."

Su Xiaomeng’s brows knitted slightly. For a moment, her feelings were all mixed.

"I don’t know... He’s a cop. Becoming an outstanding detective and combating drug traffickers was his job, his ideal."

"One day, he said he was going on a trip, on a long assignment. At the time, Xiao Yu had just turned one month old, and he was leaving... I didn’t know the reason behind it. But he was a cop. When I decided to marry this man, I’d already accepted his profession."

Lu Ping stared at the slightly damaged porcelain coffee table...

"Who would have thought that a year later, what Xiao Yu and I waited for wasn’t his return home, but his corpse—and a truth that nearly crushed me..."

Just listening to it made Su Xiaomeng’s heart feel unbearably heavy.

A traitor cop—what a heavy label...

Wu Rong had actually stuck such a crime on the head of the younger brother who’d taken his place and gone into danger for him.

"I’m actually just a woman who doesn’t understand anything. Usually all I know is how to make good food, do housework, look after the child..."

"Madam, tell me, how am I supposed to know whether what they said is true or false?"

For a moment, Su Xiaomeng couldn’t find any words.

At least to her, if someone slandered her husband, even if there were ironclad evidence laid out before her, she would still want to overturn the case.

Because she knew what kind of man her husband was.

Let alone here, where there was no so-called ironclad evidence at all—just the statements of those public officials at the provincial public security department.

But Xiao Meng couldn’t blame Lu Ping. Everyone thinks differently, that’s all.

"Then...if I told you that your husband was innocent, that someone deliberately framed him, got him killed, and then pinned such a crime on him...what would you do?"

"..."

After she finished, when Su Xiaomeng met Lu Ping’s misty eyes, the woman just stared at her blankly...

It was as if Lu Ping hadn’t understood what Su Xiaomeng meant, and also as if she had, but didn’t know how to respond.

Before she came, Wu Yao had already told her that his wife did not have the same tenacious temperament as Su Xiaomeng...

The kind that can stand firm when right and wrong are at stake.

Maybe coming to see Lu Ping wouldn’t help much at all; it might even bring some trouble.

But Xiao Meng had come anyway.

To overturn Wu Yao’s case was the greatest blow she could deal Wu Rong.

And the best candidates to overturn Wu Yao’s case were his wife and child.

But if Lu Ping didn’t have the courage to file an appeal with the procuratorate, no one could force her.

Lu Ping met Su Xiaomeng’s gaze for quite a while, then, her expression bleak, looked away.

"Madam, your coming today...what is it you’ve come for, exactly..."

"Your husband is innocent. He was an outstanding detective. He deserves commendation, deserves people’s respect—not what he has now, gone from this world and no one even willing to mention him."

"..."

Lu Ping’s hands were clenched tightly together. She swallowed unconsciously.

Seeing this reaction, Su Xiaomeng more or less understood.

"You actually believe your husband was innocent too, don’t you? You just don’t say it, because you feel that saying it is useless, that your words carry no weight, that no one will believe you and you won’t be able to refute them."

"Madam, I don’t know what agenda you have in coming here, but my son will be taking the college entrance exam next year. All I want is for him to study hard, to make something of himself, and not have his life affected because of his father."