Chapter 1044: Gao Feng’s Account

Gao Feng spread his hands and continued, "But how is that possible? I have a wife at home, kids, and my parents are all there. How could I leave all my family behind and elope with her?"

"Besides, all the temporary couples at the factory are based on mutual consent, aren’t they? No one ever said you have to abandon your family afterward and get married. Isn’t that how the people around us have gotten by?"

This is the motive for murder.

It seems somewhat absurd, but the truth is that any absurd thing that happens, can exist in real life.

"Keep talking. Tell me about the whole process of murder. How did Zhao Xiaowan leave Dongjiang? Did you go get her, or did she go by herself?"

Wang Zhaokai continued questioning.

"I went to pick her up."

Sure enough, Zhao Xiaowan didn’t leave Dongjiang by herself; Gao Feng went to get her.

"How did you pick her up? What mode of transportation did you use, and why did you go to get her?"

Logically speaking, if Gao Feng didn’t have the idea of eloping with Zhao Xiaowan, then why would he go to Dongjiang to get her?

On the other hand, if Zhao Xiaowan hadn’t left Dongjiang, or if Gao Feng hadn’t helped her leave Tokyo, she might not have been able to leave at all.

If she hadn’t left, then the subsequent events might never have occurred.

"She left the mooncake factory to go home for the New Year. We agreed to come back to work at the mooncake factory the next year."

Gao Feng started recounting the events of the year.

"But after the next Spring Festival, she didn’t come. She called and said her family wouldn’t let her go out to work."

Gao Feng glanced at Wang Zhaokai at this point, "Officer, could I have a cigarette?"

Of course, that wasn’t a problem. Wang Zhaokai signaled the recorder next to him to pull out a cigarette, light it for Gao Feng, and put it in his mouth.

Gao Feng took a greedy puff, closed his eyes as if reminiscing, as if savoring.

"When she was with me at the mooncake factory, many people knew us. Some were her fellow townsmen from Dongjiang, so rumors might have spread back there. Consequently, her husband no longer allowed her to work."

Gao Feng smiled at this point.

"I knew those people from Dongjiang, met them all back then, none of them were decent, they each had a fling here, but didn’t live separately."

According to Gao Feng, the work at the mooncake factory was quite tiring and frustrating, and they were both very young at the time. A group of young men and women working in a closed factory inevitably led to some unusual things.

Besides, most of these young people came from rural areas, hadn’t seen much in their life; even the number of young people they had seen of the opposite sex in their lifetime wasn’t as numerous as those in a single workshop at the factory.

Hence, such situations were quite normal.

Gao Feng continued, "Back then, I thought that since her family wouldn’t let her out, the relationship was over. After all, working at the mooncake factory was just a way to earn one’s own money."

"The calls gradually decreased, but then at the beginning of June, she suddenly started calling me every day, said she couldn’t stay at home anymore, had to get out."

Gao Feng extinguished the cigarette butt and continued, "Later, I found out in June she had a fight with her husband, who beat her up, and then she said she wouldn’t stay home under any circumstances."

Things were simpler afterward.

According to Gao Feng, the two kept in touch for over half a month, Zhao Xiaowan was eager to leave Dongjiang, but her husband wouldn’t give her money, and kept a close watch on her.

So, Zhao Xiaowan tried many ways but never found any hope of leaving alone.

The two finally discussed it and decided that Gao Feng would rent a car in Haizhou City and pick up Zhao Xiaowan in Dongjiang Province.

"Her husband kept her ID card, so she couldn’t buy train tickets or take a flight, and she didn’t have enough money herself, only had two hundred yuan of personal money."

This was why Zhao Xiaowan couldn’t buy public transportation tickets to leave Zhongjiang Province.

"She asked me to pay for a rented car to pick her up, and she was also afraid her husband might trace her by finding out about train or bus tickets."

"I thought it was just a matter of 1000 yuan or so, we had a fling, she was asking for my help, so I couldn’t refuse. So, on the morning of June 25th, I rented a car and headed to Zhongjiang Province. We agreed she would pretend to go out to buy groceries and leave home on the morning of June 25th."

They met up smoothly, and then Zhao Xiaowan followed Gao Feng in his rented private car from Dongjiang Province to Haizhou City.

"Back then, I thought Zhao Xiaowan left Dongjiang to work at the mooncake factory, didn’t think much about it. After picking her up, we could go back to being temporary partners like before."

Gao Feng asked for another cigarette. Halfway through, he didn’t say anything, took a few puffs, the room filled with smoke, his facial expressions seemed unclear.

"But, after Zhao Xiaowan came, she didn’t want to go to the mooncake factory to work, she just wanted to force me to divorce, make me elope with her."

According to Gao Feng’s account, after Zhao Xiaowan arrived in Haizhou City, she lived with him in a rented room.

During this time, Zhao Xiaowan clearly told Gao Feng that she didn’t come to Haizhou City for the mooncake factory job; she had asked Gao Feng to bring her so they could elope together.

"I already had a child by then!"

Gao Feng’s emotions suddenly became agitated.

"I had a wife at home, and a one-and-a-half-year-old son, my father and parents were at my hometown. How could I abandon everything to elope with her?"

So back then, they didn’t quite agree, and for this matter, they had a big argument in the rented room.

As a result, the landlord, Wang Ya, remembered them vividly.

After all these years, she still remembered clearly.

"She threatened me back then, said if I didn’t leave with her, she’d go to my house and tell my wife everything about us, let everyone know about our dirty secrets, let everyone in my village know what I did outside, making me unable to lift my head."

By now, Gao Feng’s emotions had slowly calmed down, and his tone while recounting the events was somewhat flat.

"I was very scared at the time, scared she’d expose our affair to my family. If that happened, my family would be in chaos."

"So you killed her?"

Wang Zhaokai asked.

Gao Feng shook his head.

"I didn’t think of killing her back then, just wanted to take her back to Zhongjiang Province, her husband could keep an eye on her, and we’d never meet again, maybe that’d end the matter."

Gao Feng suddenly looked somewhat annoyed.

"Actually, if I hadn’t been tempted by her beauty back then, hadn’t taken her to Haizhou City... maybe none of the following things would have happened..."