Chapter 114: Excessive Defense? Zhang Qiang’s Death
Lin Huaizhi heard Huo Chen’s voice.
Panic and worry were mingled within it.
Lin Huaizhi didn’t stop. He abruptly drew the dagger that had been forgotten under the pillow and plunged it into Zhang Qiang’s stomach without hesitation.
“Ah—!!”
Because of the pain, the knife Zhang Qiang was stabbing downward veered off course, plunging instead into Lin Huaizhi’s shoulder.
The blade sank halfway in.
But Lin Huaizhi didn’t cry out in pain. Instead, he took the opportunity to stab Zhang Qiang again. It was as if the fear and anger in his heart had been triggered, or perhaps it was intentional, but he began to shout—
“I won’t let you talk about my mom! I won’t let you defile my Huo Chen! I’m not afraid of you! Zhang Qiang! I’m not afraid of you anymore!”
“Don’t you dare try to take anything else from me!”
The young man’s voice shook uncontrollably. Zhang Qiang clutched his bleeding stomach, looking at him with eyes full of terror and rage. “You… you actually dared to kill me… I won’t let you go, Zhang Yaozu… even if I die, I won’t let you go!! I’ll kill you!!”
Zhang Qiang felt excruciating pain.
After he finished speaking, he collapsed onto his knees. Blood flowed from his abdomen like a blooming flower, quickly pooling on the floor.
The young man looked as though he were terrified.
His face was pale, his lips were trembling, and his hands were shaking violently. Yet, no matter how much he shook, he didn’t drop the dagger. He held onto it, his eyes fixed on Zhang Qiang, as if Zhang Qiang might crawl up from the floor at any second to continue his assault.
A beautiful appearance always elicits more sympathy from others.
The livestream was banned as soon as blood appeared, but the netizens never left. They were flooding the comments, every word expressing worry for Lin Huaizhi’s safety.
Before Huo Chen could even run inside, the police quickly arrived at the scene and secured both Lin Huaizhi and Zhang Qiang.
The dagger was confiscated.
Lin Huaizhi was handcuffed and taken away, while Zhang Qiang received basic first aid to stop the bleeding. However, it was unclear where Lin Huaizhi had stabbed him; the blood simply wouldn’t stop.
He had to be sent to the hospital.
Because he was at the scene, Huo Chen was also taken away by the police.
However, it was now the evening rush hour. The roads were a congested mess, and the hospital was ten kilometers away. By the time the traffic was cleared and he reached the hospital, Zhang Qiang was already breathing his last due to excessive blood loss.
In the end, they couldn’t save him.
Lin Huaizhi’s situation shifted from legitimate self-defense to intentional homicide. In the police station, two officers sat before him, conducting an interrogation.
The content was predictably about their relationship, why the conflict started, exactly what happened, and why he had “killed” Zhang Qiang.
Lin Huaizhi’s face remained pale, his lips colorless. He looked like he was in shock. Seeing him like this, a female officer poured him a cup of hot water.
He drank the water with trembling hands before finally speaking in a hoarse voice, “Thank you, officer.”
He paused.
Then he continued, “Zhang Qiang is my biological father. He was previously sentenced to ten years for intentional homicide. He was released recently, found me, and tried to extort ten million yuan from me.”
The officer asked, “According to our understanding, he previously killed Lin Ying—your mother. You stabbed him with a kitchen knife because of that. He was a frequent gambler and a repeat domestic abuser. This time, you stabbed him in the abdomen, causing him to bleed to death. Was this intentional on your part?”
The young man looked up abruptly.
“He’s dead?”
This surprised expression didn’t dispel the officers’ suspicions.
“He lost blood too quickly and it couldn’t be stopped. He was pronounced dead at the hospital after failed resuscitation.”
“Wasn’t this the result you intended?”
Lin Huaizhi seemed a bit dazed.
“I indeed wanted him to die. Whether it was when I was a child or now. If it weren’t for him, my mom wouldn’t have suffered so much, and she wouldn’t have been smashed to death with a brick.”
“I really wanted him to die!”
“But I truly didn’t know those two stabs would take his life.”
The young man lowered his head, burying it in his hands. He looked incredibly pained and conflicted.
The two officers exchanged a glance and continued their questioning.
…
Lin Huaizhi was detained for four days.
Ultimately, on the fifth day, he was released without charges.
Because he was livestreaming the entire time, everything—from Zhang Qiang following him through the door to Zhang Qiang losing his temper and threatening him with a knife, then attempting to stab him—was witnessed by a multitude of netizens. They all testified for Lin Huaizhi.
And Zhang Qiang didn’t have to die.
Lin Huaizhi’s first defensive stab didn’t hit any vital organs. It was only after Zhang Qiang continued to harm Lin Huaizhi—stabbing the knife into his shoulder—that Lin Huaizhi, in a state of panic and fear, landed the second stab in the abdomen.
As for why there was a knife under Lin Huaizhi’s pillow: back when he was a child, Zhang Qiang often beat him. From the moment he was able to resist, he began hiding weapons under his pillow to prevent Zhang Qiang from suddenly attacking him in his sleep.
Many people could testify to this.
This included some of the police officers who handled Zhang Qiang’s intentional homicide case, as they had found a hammer hidden under Lin Huaizhi’s pillow during their evidence collection back then.
As for why Lin Huaizhi, who feared Zhang Qiang so much, didn’t bring the dagger with him when he moved: it was because he wanted to move on from the past and welcome a new life with Huo Chen.
Returning this time was specifically to retrieve the dagger.
Because Zhang Qiang had been released and started following him, he wanted the dagger back for self-defense.
When asked why it had to be the dagger under his pillow instead of just buying a new one, Lin Huaizhi’s answer was that he had slept with it for ten years. It wasn’t just a dagger; it was his psychological comfort.
Finally, the various wounds on Lin Huaizhi’s body—especially the one that almost pierced through his shoulder—as well as the livestream recordings, the netizens who watched it, and the “Uncle Police” who arrived almost simultaneously with Huo Chen, all proved that he was acting in legitimate self-defense.
Of course, there was a debate over whether it was legitimate self-defense or excessive defense. However, following various past cases of excessive defense, the concept of legitimate self-defense had been reshaped. Article 20 of the Criminal Law was being consistently applied alongside the progress of the rule of law.
Zhang Qiang had been harming Lin Huaizhi the entire time.
When Lin Huaizhi fought back, the unlawful infringement was still ongoing—the wound on Lin Huaizhi’s shoulder was proof. If he hadn’t fought back, that wound would have appeared on his chest. Zhang Qiang had also made verbal threats to kill him.
Based on all the evidence, all of Lin Huaizhi’s actions were deemed legitimate self-defense.
…
On the day Lin Huaizhi was released from the police station, many people were there to meet him.
There was Huo Chen.
There was Zhou Ning, Zheng Xiuang, and everyone who had participated in the romance variety show—Xu Qiao, Hu Xiaoxu, Su Rui, Dai Keqing, and even Aer had come.
And, of course, a large crowd of reporters and paparazzi.
Facing the flashes and questions, the slightly unkempt and bedraggled young man simply stared straight into the camera and said five simple words—
“I have a clear conscience.”
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