The Hand of Confession – Chapter 230

Volume 7: Days of Stargazing at the Inn

Wang Qiufu

A Life of Suffering

The next morning, Golden Retriever knocked on the door of Lou Jingmo’s home, bringing with him information about the current instance.

“I found the book 《Safety Exit》, contacted the publisher through the book number, and obtained Wang Qiufu¹’s letters. She herself passed away five years ago.”

The book 《Safety Exit》 was not famous; you couldn’t even find information about it on Baidu Baike². It was published by a small, private press in Taidao³, and Wang Qiufu had paid for its publication out of her own pocket.

The story in the book was much simpler than the one in the game: it had no specific protagonist, or rather, everyone could be considered a protagonist. A group of strangers were staying in the same inn when a snowstorm sealed off the mountain. Unable to leave, they could only wait in the inn for the snow to stop. In a typical blizzard mountain lodge model⁴, the inn guests died one by one. The survivors fell into a panic, wanting to find the killer, yet they were killed off one after another until only one person was left, becoming the sole personality in that body.

For a detective novel, this plot wasn’t particularly novel, but all of it was the true life experience of Wang Qiufu.

“And this person, Wang Qiufu…” Golden Retriever pushed a file folder in front of the two. “Her life was truly tragic. I don’t even know how to describe how tragic it was.”

Shen Maomao opened the folder and took out the information Golden Retriever had compiled.

Wang Qiufu was abandoned by her parents as a child and grew up in an orphanage. After completing her nine years of compulsory education, she worked part-time jobs to put herself through high school. She had hoped to change her destiny through her studies, but who would have thought that the day before her college entrance exams, she would be drugged and abducted by several beasts who sexually assaulted her.

After the men left, she immediately dragged her wound-covered body to the police station to report the crime. With both witness testimony and physical evidence present, the obscene photos and videos the men had taken to threaten her became direct proof. The three were thrown into prison, and despite their families pulling strings everywhere, they couldn’t get them released.

The incident caused a huge stir at the time. In that era, which was not as open-minded, a woman’s “purity⁵” was valued above all else. If a woman was violated, it was also because she herself was “shameless” and had “seduced men.” To protect their reputations, most women who encountered such a thing would choose to swallow their anger and remain silent rather than expose the matter.

The beasts received their punishment, but she, because of the pointing fingers of those around her, gave up on her college entrance exam and left for a distant place. She drifted from one part-time job to another; she had been a waitress, cleaned toilets, studied hairdressing, worked as a tour guide… After several years, she finally settled down, becoming a front desk clerk at a inn.

Her life began to look up, and she started to emerge from the shadow of her past, even getting a boyfriend who worked as a waiter at the inn. They dated for half a year before the man, for the sake of money, found a rich woman to keep him. She caught them in the act on the street. The three of them got into a scuffle on the road, and she was pushed onto the pavement by the scumbag boyfriend and hit by a speeding car, breaking her leg. The matter was later smoothed over by the rich woman with money, but she was left a cripple.

Many other things happened in between, until five years later, when she, no longer young, married a man eight years her senior. She lived a good life for a while after the marriage, and a year later, she and her husband had a son named Xiaobao.

When Xiaobao was four, he was abducted by a human trafficker at his front door. Her husband blamed her entirely for losing the child. He drowned his sorrows in alcohol every day; when he was drunk, he would beat her, and when he sobered up, he would cry and apologize. She also blamed herself for not watching the child carefully, so not only did she not call the police, but she also silently endured all the beatings and scoldings.

Later, Xiaobao was fortunately rescued by the police, but the husband’s habits had already formed. On the first day the child returned, he drank a few cups of wine out of happiness. When the alcohol went to his head, he once again raised his palm against his defenseless wife as he had always done, and even included the recently returned Xiaobao, beating them both black and blue.

Golden Retriever added, “Decades have passed, so many details are unclear. The material so far comes from the author’s autobiography at the end of the book 《Safety Exit》. I had someone check the major events in the city where Wang Qiufu lived at the time, and the child trafficking case did indeed happen.”

“It’s worth mentioning—” he placed a printed picture on the coffee table, “the inn where Wang Qiufu worked was called Shunli⁶ Inn. During her employment, a girl jumped from the top of the inn. There were suspected signs of sexual assault on the body, but the case was quickly ruled a suicide and was soon forgotten.”

“There’s another incident related to her. She reported by name a Traditional Chinese Medicine pharmacy for causing the death of her child with low-priced counterfeit medicine, but that too was dropped for certain reasons.”

“Looking at it this way…” Shen Maomao sighed, “the reason she had such a fantasy was because in her heart, she wished these people would suffer a terrible death, right?”

Life is really a f#cked up thing. It always brings more suffering to the unfortunate, always trying to crush people bit by bit with pain.

The people they saw in the instance were, to some extent, all related to Wang Qiufu’s real-life experiences.

The beasts who assaulted her, the boyfriend who betrayed her, her own inaction that day, the human trafficker who abducted her child, her abusive husband, the TCM doctor who sold fake medicine…

One couldn’t imagine how strong a woman had to be to persevere through such a series of blows. Later, she served her husband with a summons and took him to court, receiving a large sum for emotional damages. She left that city and started a few small businesses. Decades passed, and her business grew bigger and bigger. The small food stall became a large restaurant, and the large restaurant became a chain, but she never started another relationship.

The booming business attracted the jealous eyes of her rivals. Due to various overt and covert schemes, her business began to decline. So, she decisively sold all her shares, cashed out all her fixed assets, and took the money to Taidao. She found a quiet sanatorium and began to write.

Six years ago, 《Safety Exit》 was published. The following year, Wang Qiufu committed suicide in the sanatorium. Before she died, she donated all her money to an orphanage.

After they finished reading the thick stack of materials, the atmosphere in the living room grew heavy.

Lou Jingmo raised a hand to stroke Shen Maomao’s head and said, “Her life wasn’t all suffering. There was the orphanage auntie who adopted her, the kind person who helped her leave her birth city, the lawyer who handled her lawsuit for free…”

The book Wang Qiufu wrote was called 《Safety Exit》. She designed the cover herself. It didn’t have much on it; the background was a desperate black, but the four large characters for “Safety Exit” glowed with an eerie green light, pointing the way for those moving forward in the dark…

“Alright.” Lou Jingmo patted her butt and stood up. “If we get the chance, we should buy a few more copies of her book, support her final work…”

Shen Maomao nodded.

Lou Jingmo looked at Golden Retriever. “Since things are clear now, you should go home and wait.”

Golden Retriever: “?? You just toss me aside after using me? I was going to bring Xixi over to play with you guys!”

“Scram,” Lou Jingmo said bluntly. “Don’t come looking for us until the next instance. You’re in the way.”

Golden Retriever: “?? Can’t I have some status around here? I contributed money!!”

Lou Jingmo glanced at him. “Do I look like I need your money?”

Tears streamed down Golden Retriever’s face. “I’m leaving, bye, no need to see me out.”

And so, less than an hour after he arrived, without even getting a bite of hot food, Golden Retriever was kicked out by Lou Jingmo.

After all, they had just confirmed their relationship. How could Lou Jingmo tolerate such a high-wattage lightbulb—who also had some indescribable feelings for Shen Maomao—shining and radiating heat here?

Only after Golden Retriever left did she leisurely comfort the sentimental Shen Maomao, before taking the initiative to go to the kitchen to cook.

She never had much empathy for the suffering of others. Her heart was so small, it was pretty much full with just one Shen Maomao in it.

Besides Wang Qiufu, there were people in this world who suffered more and had it harder. Perhaps only a flower raised in a greenhouse like Shen Maomao would grieve for someone who had nothing to do with her.

She used to think it was better to pity herself than to pity others, but now, she wanted there to be less of a difference between herself and her…

…

If Shen Maomao knew her evaluation in Lou Jingmo’s heart was so high, she’d probably wake up from her dreams laughing.

After all, she wasn’t Wang Qiufu herself, so she could never truly and completely feel what she felt.

She quickly processed her excess emotions, hugged a throw pillow, and snuggled on the sofa, sneaking glances toward the kitchen.

So this is the big difference after getting into a relationship. If this were before, would I ever enjoy this kind of service from Lou Jingmo? That would be a total dream!

Lou Jingmo seemed to be cooking noodles. Steam, along with the sound of boiling water, quickly filled the kitchen. She hadn’t closed the kitchen door, so the steam, accompanied by the fresh fragrance of tomatoes, drifted to Shen Maomao’s nose.

Shen Maomao slipped on her slippers and walked “pat-pat, pat-pat” to the kitchen, where her eyes immediately fell on Lou Jingmo, who had a little bunny apron tied around her waist.

Her heart skipped a beat, so thrilled she almost had a myocardial infarction⁷.

Who wouldn’t want to wake up in the morning to the sight of a busty yujie⁸ wearing a cute apron and cooking for them?

She rushed into the kitchen like a little bunny and, to Lou Jingmo’s surprise, hugged her waist from behind. “Wow, Lou-jie, you’re so wifely! I must have accumulated good fortune for eight lifetimes⁹ to be able to marry you…”

Lou Jingmo: “?? Are you still dreaming?”

Shen Maomao: “…Oh.” Then she silently let go.

How does someone like Lou Jingmo, who is clearly a lesbian but acts straighter than a straight girl, even have a girlfriend??

Lou Jingmo chuckled, used her chopsticks to pick up a strand of noodles, blew on it, and brought it to her mouth. “Taste it?”

Shen Maomao slurped up the noodle and gave a very fair assessment: “Noodles are one of those things, I feel like as long as you’re not a total disaster in the kitchen, you should be able to make them taste good…”

Lou Jingmo’s smile gradually faded. “Can’t even shut your mouth while eating?”

Then the two looked at each other and, at the same time, burst out laughing. It felt a little inexplicable, yet it seemed they could taste a faint sweetness…

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