Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Liu Caiyun was quite tired, but she dared not stay overnight at Cai Xiangbin’s place, so she hurriedly put on her clothes and returned to her room. However, when she returned to her bedroom, she saw a scene that would become her worst memory.
The lighthouse keeper had cut his neck with a kitchen knife! By the time Liu Caiyun saw him, his blood had already covered the floor. As the outsiders had mentioned, the lighthouse keeper did have a tendency toward abuse, but this time, the subject of his abuse was not Liu Caiyun, but himself!
He felt inferior because of his physical disability, and every time he was in an unstable state of mind, he would hurt himself. This time, when he saw Liu Caiyun betraying him for a sailor, he could not bear the huge psychological trauma, so he committed suicide!
Liu Caiyun knelt down in front of the lighthouse keeper’s body. She was so overwhelmed with grief that she almost wished to die herself. She was filled with regret and despair.
After several moments, she picked up the kitchen knife and was ready to follow her husband to the afterlife. However, in the end, she could not go through with it!
She hated herself, but she knew that she would hate herself even more if she chose to die this way! Amid her grief and indignation, she felt intense hatred the man who had seduced her, Cai Xiangbin. She believed that Cai Xiangbin was ultimately responsible for her husband’s death.
So, after thinking about this for a long time, she made a decision. She wiped the fingerprints and blood off of the kitchen knife, then quietly went to Cai Xiangbin’s room.
Then, while Cai Xiangbin was asleep, she used his fingers to put his fingerprints on the knife. She also put the blood of the lighthouse keeper on a few areas of Cai Xiangbin’s body.
The next day, when the Maritime Bureau came to investigate, they clearly came to the conclusion that he was the murderer. Thus, she had framed Cai Xiangbin!
The fingerprints on the kitchen knife, the blood stains on Cai Xiangbin’s body, and the bodily fluids in Liu Caiyun’s body all made Cai Xiangbin look guilty, rendering him unable to argue for himself. Hence, he was sentenced to death and put in prison!
But, Liu Caiyun’s life had not been easy after that. She suffered from a severe psychological disorder, and every time that she thought of her dead husband and Cai Xiangbin, she felt deeply disturbed and guilty. She lived in fear every day, and her mental state only got worse and worse.
After some time had passed, Cai Xiangbin’s aggressive brothers came to the island to argue with her. She did not expect that Cai Xiangbin’s brothers would do such inhumane things to her, as they had threatened her terribly.
They also said that, if she dared to tell on them, they would kill her! So, Liu Caiyun packed up her things in a hurry and left Yongjin Island in a boat, barely escaping with her life!
After that, she worked as a helper on an oceanic fleet. But, not long after she started working there, she found out that she was pregnant.
In fact, the child was born on board! The child, which was, of course, Captain Dou, was originally named Dou Haisheng. After having the child, Liu Caiyun could no longer work at sea, so she had to go to Doujiazhuang to seek help from a distant relative.
After some time, she married Dou Youlin, whose wife had just died. Liu Caiyun did not know about Dou Youlin’s situation, but as she was a single mother with a child, in order to give the child a place to live, she had chosen to compromise.
Unfortunately, she soon found out that Dou Youlin was lazy and was also a drunkard. He often abused Liu Caiyun and her son. Because of this, Liu Caiyun had to leave again. That’s how the following things happened…
According to Liu Caiyun, she had always been very clear in her mind regarding the lighthouse keeper’s suicide. She was adamant that she was the guilty one, not Cai Xiangbin. After all, while being driven by her own selfishness, she had caused her husband to kill himself and then had framed Cai Xiangbin, so that it would appear to have been a murder.
She had feared that once the news that her husband had killed himself because of her cheating spread, the world would scorn her. So, she had made that decision to alter the facts.
For many years, Liu Caiyun believed that Cai Xiangbin was her child’s father! She also knew that Cai Xiangbin had died of an illness within a few years of his imprisonment. Therefore, in order to seek some kind of relief, or as an atonement, she took great care of the child as she brought him up.
However, she did not realize that her mental illness would affect the child, making Captain Dou become inclined to violence, which finally caused him to commit his own murders!
The provincial investigators did not tell Liu Caiyun about Captain Dou and Cai Jinda’s relationship, as they feared that Liu Caiyun would collapse again when she learned the truth. Moreover, as Captain Dou’s mental state was also unstable, he was not told either.
In this way, the truth of the lighthouse murder case that happened 35 years ago finally came to light! However, the story made people sigh with regret. Unexpectedly, Cai Jinda’s three speculations in his script had been all wrong. The murderer who had killed the lighthouse keeper was neither Cai Xiangbin nor Liu Caiyun!
After hearing the story, Zeng Ke said, “If this happened today, it would be easy to find out whether the lighthouse keeper died by murder or not! In that case, Cai Xiangbin would have never been found guilty!”
“Yes, and after hearing all of the facts, I see that Liu Caiyun’s psychological problem can be easily explained!” Wu Xiumin said with a solemn look. “Her condition is called the target transfer under self-blame mentality.”
She then explained further, “That is to say, Liu Caiyun’s attempt to frame Cai Xiangbin was not only done out of her personal selfishness, but she subconsciously transferred her guilt. She believed that if Cai Xiangbin became the murderer, her own guilt would be alleviated!”
As Wu Xiumin spoke, the others were in complete silence, hanging on her every word. Although the hotpot was bubbling, nobody touched their chopsticks.
After learning the truth of the lighthouse case, everyone felt many complex emotions. After all, they all had many speculations about the truth before they had just discovered the worst version.
Liu Caiyun had framed Cai Xiangbin and killed so many people! What she had done was outrageous, but her tragic experience made people sympathize with her as well. This complex world sometimes made it quite difficult to distinguish between right and wrong.
Seeing that the atmosphere had grown quite gloomy, Zhao Yu, as the group leader, naturally felt that he needed to say a few words. So, he held up his glass and said, “Everybody, as the truth of the two cases has now come to light, whether it’s Cai Xiangbin, Guo Yihang, or Qian Jin, our task has been accomplished and we have caught the murderer! Well done!”
Zhao Yu then raised his glass high and said, “Let’s look at the bright side. The lighthouse on Yongjin Island has fallen down, which I believe is telling us to look ahead! In the future, there are still many things that await us. So… Cheers!”
With that, Zhao Yu stood up and raised his glass even higher in a toast. Instantly, the others lightened up and joined in the toast…
“Yes! Our boss is right!” Ran Tao stood up and shouted. “Haha, I’m so excited at the thought of tomorrow’s press conference! Thanks to our boss, I will finally be famous!”
“Yes! If we simply follow our group leader, then we will have nothing to worry about!” Zeng Ke said.
“Yes, the group leader is right!” Wu XIumin said.
“Cheers!” Four people touched their glasses together and shouted in unison.
Suddenly, from the next table, someone yelled, “Hey! Can’t you keep your voices down? This is a public place! You’re being rude!”
Hearing this, Zhao Yu reached out to pick up the plastic stool that was next to him. As Ran Tao knew Zhao Yu’s temper very well, he rushed forward to stop him from doing what he knew was coming next. “Don’t…”
However, Ran Tao was too late. As surrounded by all of the diners, Zhao Yu threw the plastic stool directly on that person’s table!
