CDJMM – Volume 1 – Chapter 1 Before Zhuang Zhou’s Butterfly Dream

Volume One: With My Blood I Offer to Xuanyuan

“Hey, did you hear? Wang Qiang from senior year, along with his girlfriend Liu Fang, got arrested by the police!”

Early in the morning, as soon as Le Jing arrived at school, his lively deskmate in front turned around with this “explosive” piece of news.

Le Jing pulled his gaze back from the textbook, pushed up his glasses, and gave an appropriately surprised expression. “Ah, really?”

“Of course it’s true, the whole school is talking about it.” His front-desk deskmate was a cheerful, sociable guy who, thanks to his wide circle, was always able to dig up plenty of half-true, half-false gossip. Lowering his voice mysteriously, he whispered to Le Jing, “They say it was for armed robbery.”

Le Jing cooperated by gasping sharply, looking even more alarmed as he muttered under his breath, “I didn’t think Wang Qiang would do something so vile…”

“What’s so surprising? Wang Qiang and his girl were thick as thieves—neither of them are any good. Tons of our classmates have been bullied by them. Isn’t Li Jingwen from our class on leave right now with depression, all thanks to Wang Qiang’s girlfriend’s bullying? If it wasn’t for his rich dad covering it up, that guy would’ve been locked away long ago… Oh right, didn’t he extort you once too?”

Le Jing pressed his lips together uneasily, then forced a smile. “He… he said he’d pay me back.”

“Pfft, you’re the only one dumb enough to believe that.” His deskmate curled his lip, eyes flashing with contempt. He muttered impatiently, “Your dad’s a professor at the Police University, trained god knows how many officers. What are you so afraid of, a petty thug like Wang Qiang? If I were you, I would’ve reported him ages ago, let the cops lock him up and be done with it!”

“…I just think, we’re all classmates. No need to ruin the harmony.” Le Jing replied timidly, putting on the perfect act of a coward.

“Coward.” His deskmate muttered under his breath.

Le Jing didn’t defend himself. He simply lowered his gaze in silence—but at the corners of his lips, a faint, nearly imperceptible smile appeared.

Calling the police right away would’ve been too easy on Wang Qiang, wouldn’t it? How could school bullying ever compare with the crime of armed robbery? The first might get a slap on the wrist, maybe some criticism and education. But the second? That’s a solid sentence—minimum ten years behind bars.

That was why he had gone to such lengths to whet Wang Qiang’s appetite…

Le Jing flipped a page of his book, and let out a silent laugh.

Le Jing’s high school was one of the city’s top schools. Though his family lived locally, he had chosen to board at the dorms, only returning home on weekends.

Tonight was Friday. By the time evening self-study ended, it was already half past nine. The sky was pitch black.

As he left the school gates, he unexpectedly spotted Li Jingwen.

Ever since she had taken leave from school, this was the first time she had shown up on her own. Her head was bowed, her frail shoulders trembling amidst the flow of students streaming out.

It was hard to imagine that this timid, fragile girl had once been the “smiling sunshine” of the class.

Le Jing kept walking straight ahead, eyes forward. But the girl suddenly tugged at his sleeve.

“Something wrong?” He tilted his head slightly, smiling at her.

Li Jingwen kept her head down, her voice soft as a mosquito’s buzz. “Was it you?”

“What?” Le Jing cocked his head, smiling nonchalantly. “What did I do?”

Li Jingwen bit her lip, then summoned the courage to lift her head. Her eyes shone with startling brightness, and her voice trembled. “Was it you who put Wang Qiang in prison?”

Le Jing turned fully toward her in surprise. “What are you talking about? Why would you think that? Wasn’t Wang Qiang arrested for armed robbery? What does that have to do with me?”

Li Jingwen stammered, “B-but… you… back then, didn’t you promise me that Wang Qiang would be punished…”

Back then, because of the relentless bullying, she had been completely broken—shut in, terrified to go outside, plagued by suicidal thoughts. When Le Jing visited her home, she had been shocked and afraid, hiding in her room, trembling too hard to open the door.

From the other side, his muffled voice came through, distorted but still clear enough for her to hear that sentence—

“I promise, the ones who bullied you will be punished.”

At the time, Li Jingwen hadn’t thought much of it. But today, when her parents joyfully told her that Wang Qiang and Liu Fang had been arrested for armed robbery, Le Jing’s words had flashed across her mind like lightning.

Though she wasn’t close with Le Jing, she knew his father was a professor at the Police University, with plenty of influence in the police force. Could it be…?

The more she thought about it, the stranger it seemed that Le Jing would come visit her that day. After all, they weren’t friends…

So, after three months, she finally mustered the courage to step outside and wait for him at the school gates.

“I was only trying to comfort you back then. And besides, evil deeds never go unpunished. Wang Qiang and Liu Fang brought this fate upon themselves.” Le Jing chuckled softly “You don’t seriously think I did anything, do you? They were arrested because they broke the law. What, do you think I forced them to commit a crime?”

Hearing that, Li Jingwen realized just how ridiculous her earlier suspicion had been.

Her face flushed as she let go of his sleeve. She bowed timidly, stammering, “S-sorry, I was being stupid… I misunderstood… Please don’t be angry, don’t be angry…”

Le Jing sighed and patted the girl’s shoulder. “You don’t need to apologize. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

He turned away, avoiding the sight of her cautious, fearful expression, and waved his hand dismissively. “Come back to school soon. Your classmates all miss you.”

“If you don’t study hard now, how will you ever become a teacher in the future?”

He couldn’t help but recall that class meeting—when the girl, still innocent and lively, spoke about her dream with sparkling eyes: “I want to go teach in the mountains, so more golden phoenixes can fly out from there!”

A girl with lofty ideals and a bright future had her wings broken by such scum of society, forced to struggle in an endless nightmare.

That was why… he couldn’t forgive.

That was why… they must be punished.

A few moments later, a faint voice came from behind him. “…I’ll work hard to get better. I won’t let you all wait too long.”

Le Jing lazily waved his hand to show he heard her. Then he yawned toward the bright moon hanging in the sky, thinking carelessly about how he should pass the time next.

When Le Jing got home, the lights in the living room were still on. Mr. Le Zhengye—his father, a renowned professor of criminal psychology at a public security university—sat upright on the sofa, exhaling smoke. The ashtray on the coffee table already held more than a dozen cigarette butts.

“You’re back.” He looked up at Le Jing, his expression heavy and unreadable. “Sit down. We need to talk.”

Le Jing sat down on the small sofa farthest from his father. The perfect trace of unease and apprehension appeared on his face. He sat up straight, lowered his head, his long bangs covering his eyes. In a barely audible murmur, he gave a timid “Mm.”

“Wang Qiang was the ringleader of the robbery group, and he even held you at knifepoint on a public bus. The circumstances are extremely vile. This time, he’ll get at least ten years.”

Le Jing’s shoulders flinched. He quickly glanced at his father before lowering his head again. “I-I understand.”

“Since you’re still underage, the police are willing to keep your personal information confidential on my account. The newspapers and other media will also avoid reporting on you, so you don’t need to worry about possible retaliation later.”

“…I understand.” He looked up and gave Le Zhengye a well-behaved smile. In his amber eyes was a weakness and eagerness to please—despicable, yet oddly reassuring. “Thank you, Dad, for worrying about me.”

Le Zhengye gave a cold snort, his sharp gaze cutting straight into Le Jing’s. “You didn’t have a hand in this, did you?” Though phrased as a question, it came out as a statement.

Le Jing blinked in bewilderment. “What are you saying? I don’t understand.”

His father’s eyes were like knives as they locked onto his. “Wang Qiang robbing you on that bus—it all sounds far too coincidental, doesn’t it?”

It was a ridiculous question. By all rights, Le Jing was the victim who had been robbed and injured, yet his father was interrogating him like a suspect.

Le Jing clicked his tongue inwardly. As expected, his father wouldn’t be so easily deceived. Was this what it meant to be a professor of criminal psychology? That uncanny instinct for sniffing out potential dangers.

A mist of tears welled in Le Jing’s eyes. He looked at his father with wounded disbelief, then lowered his head again, his shoulders trembling. His voice broke as he choked out: “Dad, how can you say that?! Are you blaming me for being robbed by Wang Qiang? Why do you always doubt me like this?”

He didn’t look up, but he could still feel the cold, assessing gaze on him. He had never underestimated his father, which was why he had made sure this matter was airtight. Even if the FBI came to investigate, the only thing they’d uncover was that Wang Qiang had indeed committed armed robbery.

Because that was the truth. Wang Qiang had unquestionably committed the crime.

As for what role Le Jing played? At most, he had fanned the flames.

At school, he had always kept to himself, never crossing paths with Wang Qiang. So, to make himself a target for Wang Qiang’s extortion, he had gone to considerable effort.

He knew that ever since the incident with Li Jingwen, Wang Qiang was under strict control at home, his allowance severely cut. But to satisfy his girlfriend Liu Fang’s material desires, Wang Qiang had started extorting money from wealthy classmates.

So Le Jing deliberately carried thousands of yuan in New Year’s money on him, making sure Wang Qiang would notice.

And just as expected, he became Wang Qiang’s target.

This was exactly what Le Jing wanted. Instead of reporting it, he subtly encouraged it, letting the situation escalate.

Petty extortion among teenagers at school might not even qualify as “robbery” in the eyes of the police.

And most importantly—Wang Qiang was still underage, which meant he’d likely receive only a light sentence.

So, Le Jing could only wait patiently. With every time he succeeded, Wang Qiang’s courage and appetite grew bolder under his indulgence.

As the saying goes: “Whom the heavens wish to destroy, they first make mad.” When Le Jing discovered the switchblade on Wang Qiang’s waist, and when Wang Qiang passed his eighteenth birthday, he knew it was almost time to draw in the net.

And so, to Wang Qiang’s astonishment, the weakling who had always yielded to his extortion suddenly chose to resist—stubbornly refusing to hand over “tribute.” It was easy to imagine just how furious Wang Qiang must have been, humiliated in front of his girlfriend.

After Wang Qiang failed to squeeze a single coin from Le Jing for three consecutive days, Le Jing knew his rage had reached its peak. So that Saturday, he went to the internet café Wang Qiang frequented. After confirming that Wang Qiang carried his switchblade, he deliberately let himself be seen, and then, pretending to panic as he fled from Wang Qiang’s pursuit, ran onto a bus.

If at that moment Wang Qiang and his girlfriend Liu Fang hadn’t followed him onto the bus, then Le Jing’s plan wouldn’t have worked out. And Wang Qiang and Liu Fang wouldn’t have been convicted of robbery, sentenced to at least ten years in prison.

The instant Wang Qiang and Liu Fang stepped onto the bus, Le Jing already saw the ending.  He felt no sense of accomplishment—on the contrary, he was so bored he almost wanted to yawn.

Too easy.

Wang Qiang and Liu Fang—these two pieces of scum—stupid, shallow, violent, greedy, short-sighted, reckless. Their behavior patterns were too easy to see through, making them all the more uninteresting.

Article 263 of the Criminal Law stipulates: “Whoever robs public or private property through violence, coercion, or other means shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years, and shall also be fined.”

But a short three-year sentence was far from enough to satisfy Le Jing.

That was why he deliberately chose the location of the robbery to be a bus.

Because the latter half of Article 263 reads: “If any of the following circumstances apply, the sentence shall be fixed-term imprisonment of not less than ten years, life imprisonment, or the death penalty, and may also include fines or confiscation of property:

(1) Robbery in a residence;

(2) Robbery on public transportation;

…

(8) Robbery of military supplies or disaster relief materials.”

A bus is a textbook example of public transportation.

And as expected, on the bus, the adult senior high school student Wang Qiang and his girlfriend Liu Fang committed armed robbery against the 16-year-old minor Le Jing, even leaving a slash on his arm.

A group committing armed robbery on a bus, the victim a minor—serious circumstances, vile impact, witnesses and physical evidence all present.

The first time Wang Qiang had extorted him, Le Jing had asked: “Do you know this is against the law?”

Wang Qiang sneered, laughing “I just took a few hundred yuan from you. What, you think the cops are really gonna arrest me?”

No, Wang Qiang—that is breaking the law.

Because whether robbery is established doesn’t depend on the amount stolen, but on whether the suspect infringed upon the victim’s personal rights and property rights in the act. As long as the suspect injured someone and took money (even if Le Jing only had a light scratch, even if he only lost a single yuan), then the crime of robbery is established.

The only question left is—how many years will the criminal be sentenced to?

From beginning to end, Le Jing hadn’t done anything shady. What he used was an open and above-board strategy, not some deliberate scheming against Wang Qiang.

It was nothing more than character determines fate.

Le Jing considered himself the perfect victim. His past was spotless, without any bad record. Even Le Zhengye, his father, wouldn’t be able to find anything suspicious.

So when facing Le Zhengye’s doubts, he remained perfectly composed, meeting his father’s suspicious gaze with the calm of someone utterly without guilt.

Le Zhengye stayed silent. Le Jing could almost hear the sound of his father’s brain spinning at full speed. Finally, rubbing his temples wearily, he gave a bitter smile: “…I understand. Go back to your room.”

Le Jing sneered inwardly, but outwardly, he stormed off angrily with his schoolbag, slamming the bedroom door behind him.

From behind, his father’s flat voice came: “Your mother was admitted to the mental hospital today.”

Wha…t?

This time, Le Jing was genuinely stunned. He spun around in shock: “What did you just say?”

Le Zhengye’s face betrayed no emotion as he smoothly explained: “The hospital has confirmed that your mother has antisocial personality disorder. She was born lacking normal emotions, with an abnormal obsession with blood, and is a potential criminal. Therefore, she must be hospitalized for treatment.”

Le Jing stood dumbfounded, still trying to process the enormity of this news. But Le Zhengye continued: “Tomorrow, I’ll take you to the hospital for a psychological test.”

Le Jing’s heart gave a sharp jolt.

At last, he understood the reason behind his father’s unusual suspicion today.

Antisocial personality disorder has a certain chance of being hereditary. In biology, there’s even the theory of the “born criminal.” Scientists who support it believe some people are born with criminal genes, destined as criminals, incapable of reform.

Le Jing knew exactly what kind of test his father wanted him to take. It was the kind of test he had already taken when he was twelve.

Too late, Dad.

By now, I can pass those tests flawlessly. I’ll never be stupid enough, like Mom, to let you catch any slip.

Even as he laughed wildly in his heart, Le Jing cried out in disbelief: “You’re lying! Mom hasn’t done anything! You have no right to lock her up!”

“Silence!”

Le Zhengye finally tore off his mask of calm, his face twisted in fury like a beast: “I should never have married her! To think she tainted the Le family’s bloodline with her sinful genes! If you dare speak for her again, I’ll lock you up in the mental hospital too!”

And so, it was only natural that Le Jing slammed his bedroom door in fury, pacing circles in his room. For a few seconds, he considered smashing something to express his rage—but then thought better of it. Such “violent” behavior might only reinforce his father’s suspicion and control. With regret, he gave up the idea.

Ah, honestly.

Since his mother had already tried to kill her own son, why hadn’t she killed Le Zhengye instead? If she had killed him back then, or at least divorced him, she wouldn’t be locked in a mental hospital now.

Love… truly incomprehensible.

If he had known earlier that his mother’s “abnormality” had already been exposed, he wouldn’t have set Wang Qiang up himself. He would’ve used a subtler way, letting other victims call the police.

Although he was confident he could pass tomorrow’s test, because of his mother, Le Zhengye would inevitably tighten his guard on him. His life would only become less and less free.

Forget it.

After all, he was a law-abiding citizen. At most, he had only used the law occasionally to achieve his goals. That wasn’t against the law. And Le Zhengye had no right to lock him up.

Le Jing yawned, burrowed into his blanket, and drifted into a long, marvelous, almost unbelievable dream.