Chapter Thirty-One: Butler Ma’s Conspiracy

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The rattle in Le Dong’s hand gave a soft click, and the wall silently slid open to the right.

A pungent smell of preservative chemicals rushed into his face, mingled with the sickly-sweet scent of perfume. It was so choking that Le Dong nearly coughed aloud.

Suppressing his discomfort, he raised his phone to illuminate the hidden space. The secret room was less than five square meters wide. A crude workbench stood against the wall, piled high with bottles, jars, and all sorts of tools.

Most eye-catching was the transparent glass jar at the center of the workbench. Floating inside was a deathly pale human face, made all the more horrifying by the cold light from his phone.

“What the…” Le Dong’s Adam’s apple bobbed. He leaned closer for a better look, nearly dropping his phone on the floor.

That face unmistakably belonged to Su Juanjuan!

“So it really was him!”

Covering his nose, Le Dong muttered under his breath. His wariness of Butler Ma deepened as he slowly surveyed the area around the workbench.

Aside from the glass jar, there were several eyebrow pencils and bottles of perfume on a nearby tray, along with a few flesh-colored rubber masks. Several wigs lay scattered beside them.

Le Dong examined the dazzling array of tools. Only after a moment did realization dawn on him.

It was not difficult to see that the flesh-colored masks bore an uncanny resemblance to Mrs. Hu. No wonder Mrs. Hu’s face had moved so stiffly at breakfast that day, her breasts had looked unnatural, and Butler Ma had later carried the same scent of perfume.

So his suspicions had been right. The old bastard had been impersonating her all along!

“Damn that perverted old freak…”

Suppressing his nausea, Le Dong turned toward the other side. The object hanging on the wall made him catch his breath.

It was a deep-red burial robe. On the small table beneath it lay another set of makeup supplies, along with several gray-streaked wigs.

“So it really was all his doing!”

Gritting his teeth, Le Dong took out his phone and recorded everything.

When he turned toward the corner, several old photographs on the wall caught his attention.

There were three in total, all group portraits, though the crude material had left the people in them yellowed and faded with age.

Le Dong narrowed his eyes and studied them carefully. Only then could he make out that the first photograph showed Butler Ma and Mrs. Hu in their youth. They were holding a chubby baby in their arms, and the family appeared happy and harmonious.

The second photograph had a more desolate air. Its background appeared to be a construction site. Butler Ma looked exhausted, dressed in a plain work jacket, holding a rattle in his right hand and dragging along a shabby child with a runny nose in his left.

The background of the third photograph was completely white. A young woman sat in the center, while Butler Ma stood hunched behind her, his body bent low as though begging her for something.

“Who is this woman?”

Confusion lingered in Le Dong’s voice, but he had no time to dwell on it. He recorded the photographs with his phone and continued looking around.

When he lowered his head, a black metal box at the base of the wall caught his eye, filling him with excitement.

It was a signal jammer. Its red light was still blinking rhythmically.

“Thank God!”

After enduring the lack of signal for so long, Le Dong was overflowing with resentment. He yanked out the power cord and smashed the device against the floor.

Sure enough, less than twenty seconds later, his phone began to vibrate in his pocket. Notifications for unread messages and missed calls rang out one after another.

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He hurriedly unlocked the screen, and more than a hundred unread messages flooded in.

His wife, his parents, his in-laws, his coworkers at the factory…

At the very top was a missed call from his wife half an hour earlier. Le Dong’s eyes grew hot, and he was just about to send her a reassuring message when something at the edge of the workbench caught his peripheral vision.

An old-fashioned mobile phone.

It had been hidden so well that Le Dong had nearly overlooked it. As he had expected, he picked it up and found that it had no password. When he swiped open the screen, he saw more than a dozen missed calls from someone saved as “Son.”

He opened the text messages. The earliest one had been sent by Butler Ma several months earlier:

“Do as your father says, and everything belonging to the Hu family will be yours one day.”

Several replies had come in over the following days. As Le Dong read them, his fingers began to tremble.

“Dad, I’m scared… What if the police find out I lied?” — Son

“You’re afraid to even be a witness? What good are you? Think about the way people used to look at us! Think about their insults and ridicule! What do you have to be afraid of?” — Butler Ma

“I’ve already dealt with that bastard Hu Dawei. I won’t allow anyone to compete with you for your mother’s love. Soon, the three of us will be reunited.” — Butler Ma

“Come tomorrow night on time. Play your role as a witness properly. Think about the hard days we used to live through. Do you really want to go back to them?” — Butler Ma

Le Dong’s temples throbbed violently as he continued scrolling.

“Zhao Shouyi is dead. I suspect the vengeful spirits of Hu Dawei and his wife were responsible. I never expected those two scapegoats to find one of Master Fan’s disciples to help them… Most likely that disciple used some method to make the spirits turn on Zhao Shouyi.” — Butler Ma

When he reached this point, Le Dong suddenly understood. No wonder Butler Ma had targeted Ma Wenwen at every turn. He had blamed Zhao Shouyi’s death on him.

But Butler Ma had clearly guessed wrong. The true killer of Zhao Shouyi was probably…

The terrifying figure in the mourning hall on the second floor, the one who had asked him about gold, flashed through Le Dong’s mind. Every hair on the back of his neck rose.

He continued scrolling. The latest messages made him suck in a sharp breath.

“Your mother is dead. I killed her. She said with her own mouth that her only son was Hu Dawei… But don’t be sad. You still have your father.” — Butler Ma

“Hu Xiansheng trusts that Ma Wenwen completely now. Tonight, I’ll take the opportunity to have him perform his ritual on the first floor. You must arrive before ten. Once the people I’ve arranged make their move, record everything and call the police immediately. Don’t let us down again!” — Butler Ma

The final message had been sent by “Son” just over ten minutes earlier:

“Dad, you can’t blame me this time. Traffic is jammed on Yingbin Road. I’ll need a little longer.”

Le Dong clutched the phone so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

Everything finally made sense.

Butler Ma had planned for his “son” to disguise himself as a deliveryman. After Hou Kui killed Boss Hu, the son would “happen” to discover the crime scene and serve as a witness, diverting suspicion away from Butler Ma.

That old bastard had gone to such elaborate lengths simply to kill Boss Hu.

His motive was probably money—and nothing but money.

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But how could he be so certain that he would inherit the property after Boss Hu’s death? And what were Cai Kun, Xiao Zhang, and Le Dong himself doing here? Could Butler Ma be planning to pin Boss Hu’s death on them?

“That filthy animal…”

Grinding his teeth, Le Dong cursed and quickly photographed all the evidence with his own phone.

His most urgent task now was to stop that “son” from arriving. As long as the fat deliveryman failed to show up, Butler Ma would not dare make a move.

Then Le Dong himself could avoid this undeserved disaster. Once he found the source of everything, whoever wanted to kill could kill whoever they pleased.

Seeing that his phone had full reception, Le Dong immediately called his wife.

The instant the call connected, his wife’s tearful voice came through. “Le Dong! Where have you been? I went to your workplace to look for you, but all your coworkers said they hadn’t seen you… I was about to call the police!”

Le Dong glanced at the time. It was already 9:40.

Lowering his voice, he said, “Honey, listen to me. I’ve been away on a business trip with my boss these past few days. I’m safe. But I need you to do me a favor…”

“What boss? What are you really doing?” Terror filled his wife’s voice. “Little Bao is getting better now. He keeps asking for his dad every day…”

Le Dong felt a heavy pressure in his chest, but this was no time to explain. His mind raced, and he came up with a perfect plan.

“Trust me, just this once. My boss’s son took drugs and stole a van. They’ve tracked him down, and he’s stuck in traffic on Yingbin Road. My boss is furious and told me to find someone to stop him…”

“Drugs?” His wife drew in a sharp breath. “Le Dong, tell me the truth. What kind of work are you really doing?”

“Please,” Le Dong said, his voice trembling. “No matter what, even if you have to call the police, stop the van I described and the people inside it. I’ll explain everything when I get home. Believe me, all right?”

There was silence on the other end for several seconds. At last, his wife whispered, “…You have to come home safely.”

After hanging up, Le Dong let out a long breath of relief.

Yingbin Road was not far from the hospital. Given his wife’s personality, she would certainly call the police. With the authorities’ strict stance on drugs, the fat deliveryman probably would not be able to get through for quite some time.

But Le Dong had already wasted too much time. Now he had to find that so-called “source.”

He looked around. Although the secret room had exposed Butler Ma’s scheme, there was nothing strange or supernatural inside.

Could it be that the source was not here?

Le Dong frowned in thought. If not here, then where could it be?

Just as he was looking around, a commotion suddenly erupted downstairs. The indistinct sound of Ma Wenwen chanting sutras abruptly stopped.

Le Dong’s heart tightened. He hurriedly returned the phone to its original place and slipped out of the secret room.

The instant he reset the rattle, a dull bang came from outside the window.

Someone had burst out through the front door of the villa!

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