Lin Dongxue and Chen Shi met in the bureau. Lin Dongxue asked him, "Do you know why Zhang Hao suddenly took desperate measures?"

"His son betrayed him?"

"Did he say that?"

"Not in detail."

"Two years ago, his son saw him washing bloody clothes late at night. When asked, Zhang Hao slapped him and told him to get lost back to sleep. The son welled up in anger and drew the picture. He also found a knife in Zhang Hao’s drawer and secretly hid it later on. Zhang Hao found that the knife was gone and he was beaten again. The child lied that the knife was lost. In fact, this knife has been hidden by the child the entire time. It was just handed to us with Zhang Hao's fingerprint and his father's DNA."

"This is key evidence!"

"In fact, there was a misunderstanding within. The child told Zhang Hao today that he gave the item to the police. He was talking about the drawing and Zhang Hao thought it was the knife. He thought that the matter had already been exposed."

Chen Shi said sentimentally, "Adults always feel that children don’t understand anything. In fact, everything is clear in the children's hearts, but their expressions are never taken seriously."

The material evidence had been obtained and now only the confession was needed.

The two went to the interrogation room and Chen Shi bought Zhang Hao a bento and bottle of mineral water. He waited for Zhang Hao to finish eating before the interrogation began.

Zhang Hao no longer resisted after the experience. He was very frank. "My father, Zhang Fade, was killed by me, but I have no regrets about this matter. That is what he deserves."

Chen Shi nodded. "I understand your mood."

Zhang Hao looked up and recalled, "What kind of family is my family? The words 'domestic violence,' can't summarize it all. The violence my father imposed on me is not because of anything I did. I was mainly beaten simply because he was in a bad mood. As long as he was in a bad mood, my words and deeds would be a reason for getting beaten. The most ridiculous time was because I didn’t say 'goodbye' when I went out. He dragged me back into the house for a severe beating. He didn’t need a reason to beat me. My mother and I were his punching bags, but he kept venting every day. Instead of reducing his anger, it just got worse!" He thumped his chest. "The anger that doesn’t burn out will remain in my heart forever. It has become a nightmare after I became an adult, and it has become my bad personality and my deep fear for others!"

Zhang Hao closed his eyes as if immersed in those painful memories. "I have been beaten continuously ever since I could remember. As a child, I couldn't resist at all. I always remember him drinking at the dinner table and suddenly getting angry because of a trivial thing. He took off his belt and prepared to give me a ‘lecture.’ I would hide under the bed and tremble. ‘I'm wrong, I'm wrong.’ He would stab me with a clothing line and use leather shoes to kick my head. My mom wanted to stop him and would get slapped in the face and pushed aside. Behind closed doors, he was the emperor of this family. Everything in this family was his. I was his for kicking and hitting and we could only watch his actions and act accordingly. Every day was lived in caution and fear. We couldn’t even cry too loudly in case it affected his mood while watching [1] TV every day. Otherwise, it would mean another beating.”

"After the beating, he felt like he had fulfilled his father's duty, and he would rub my head and say affectionately, ‘Son, what do you want to eat tonight? Dad beats you for your own good you know?’ I just followed along and responded, but my eyes were full of fear. Perhaps in his eyes, this was being obedient. At that time, I felt that I didn’t have the dignity of being a human being, and I wasn’t on par with a dog! What he planted in my heart made me become extremely irritable. I only get along with people in two ways. I smile at that person or beat that person! Whoever offends me, I will endure it. Then, one day, I’d find a chance to beat him up! Such a bad personality accompanied me even when I grew up to adulthood. I know that I’m a person who everyone despises. I hated myself and I hated others. What I hated more was the demon who unknowingly caused all this!”

"After graduating, I tried to escape from this house. I wanted to never come back again. However, my work outside didn’t go smoothly. After a few years, I didn’t even have any savings. As a result, I had to accept reality shamefully. When I got back to this house, I saw the ugliness there again. At that time, Grandpa’s health was getting worse by the day and the family quarreled every day about the inheritance. Grandpa wanted to leave all his inheritance to second uncle, who wasn’t ambitious at all. His main inheritance was this shop. My father already ran the business, so my grandfather meant for my father to sign an agreement to give the money for this house to second uncle in installments. My father and grandfather quarreled as long as they saw each other. On New Years, the whole family reunited in the house. Second uncle, who had finished drinking, had left first. My father started to talk about the inheritance again. The more they quarreled, the fiercer it got. I never participated in this kind of quarrel. Watching these two abominable people argue was like two predatory dogs who were fighting for food, I felt pleasure within.”

"I was watching the New Year’s Program upstairs at that time. My grandfather shut up with a sudden bang, and I ran downstairs to have a look. My father had knocked him down with an alcohol bottle. I asked if he needed to be taken to the hospital. My father checked the breathing and said that Grandpa was already dead, so why would they take him to the hospital? He told me to hurry and think of something. After that, I understood what he meant by ‘think of something’. He began to dismember my grandpa. Blood was spewed everywhere. He asked me to find a few bags of baking soda to take care of the blood. I just stood by and watched at the time. He was old then and couldn’t touch me anymore, so he could only scold me as he did it himself. I ate next to him. I watched him cut up my grandpa piece by piece. He scolded, ‘Old fart, you’re bringing me trouble even after you’re dead.’ Then, he threw the meat into the meat grinder. The internal organs were packed into bags, and they were thrown out at night.”

"The house was full of my grandfather's odor. My father bought a lot of disinfectant to clean it up carefully. Then, he scorched the bones and put them in an urn[2]. He warned me not to talk nonsense outside. I was already used to perfunctorily complying in front of him even if my intentions weren’t so. Although that’s what I said, I thought to myself that sooner or later I would make him go to jail. Later, my father actually sold the meat as meatballs and the police never had any leads on my grandpa’s disappearance case. I wanted to report it to the police multiple times, but later, I found a more interesting thing to play with. This material for blackmail made the old animal start to fear me. As long as I mentioned the date or some details, he would immediately act obedient.”

"So, I told him to move downstairs to live. On a cold night, he slept on the kitchen bench and shivered. He had to go outside to urinate in the public toilet at night, causing him to have tracheitis, but he didn't dare to complain. The bliss I felt was immeasurable! This old bastard was paying off his debts, and I didn’t have any sympathy for him. The word 'father' was a sickening word in my dictionary! Later, I asked him to give me the property... After many years, the old bastard seemed like he wasn’t able to bear it any longer. During a quarrel, he repeatedly emphasized to me that he was my father and how I wasn’t being filial. He said there was no son like me in the world. I responded coldly that he set a very good example for me. He was going to hit me in anger, but I tripped him, pressed his head to the ground, and said that this is where he killed grandpa and that such a filial son like him should kowtow for him. This demon that had ruined my life was so fragile. I pressed his head down over and over again, ignoring his pleas and crying. I was ecstatic! I did this until he no longer resisted."

Zhang Hao curled his lips as if talking about the death of a dog. "I found he was killed by me."

Then, he smiled.

1. The author said “listening to TV” here. It may be correct if the dad was multitasking and listening to the TV like a radio or something.

2. I don’t know how this is possible unless it was massive since they put the bones in the wall piece by piece.