Good and Evil Chapter 90: Human Trafficking, Prostitution, Fraud, Epilogue

More terrifying than ignorant crimes are professional crimes!

Cai Hongzhe and Cai Manli, the father and daughter, or rather Song Yongde and Song Pinghui, the father and daughter—they are not the people that Xu Lang and his team saw in their investigation, who were residents of S City; they were actually from L City.

Song Yongde is forty-two years old this year, while Song Pinghui is only twenty-three.

Song Yongde holds an urban household registration in L City and is an only child. At that time, when families typically had three or four children, and some even more than ten, having just one child was extremely rare. Being the sole son, Song Yongde was spoiled by his parents, treated with utmost care and indulgence. There is an old saying: "A filial son is born under the rod," which, although not entirely accurate in modern eyes, holds some truth.

A person's character stems from their parents; a child's future growth is inseparable from parental education. Without proper guidance, a child's worldview, values, and personality inevitably become skewed, making it easy to stray from the right path. Throughout history, countless examples prove this. As the saying goes, "You can tell a person’s character by age three." From birth to three years old, a child does not attend school and spends all their time with parents and relatives; the foundation of a child’s learning before school comes solely from their parents.

Being an only child under his parents’ indulgence, Song Yongde developed a rebellious and wayward personality—lazy, gluttonous, idle, and unwilling to endure hardship. In his early years, he was actually quite intelligent. When he first started school, he picked up things quickly; many teachers only needed to explain once, and he could immediately memorize and recite the material. This earned him praise from teachers and parents and admiration from classmates.

Everyone experiences a rebellious phase during adolescence, typically around seventeen or eighteen for boys. But Song Yongde’s rebellion came earlier; as soon as he entered middle school, he was very defiant. Though he excelled academically and was praised by teachers, classmates, and parents, he also developed many bad habits—fighting and bullying younger classmates were everyday occurrences.

During middle school, living standards were low; most people earned only a few dozen yuan a month at best, with poorer families making just a handful of yuan. Song Yongde, with urban registration and decent family means, was different. As an only child, unlike other kids who had siblings sharing their parents’ love, Song Yongde never lacked pocket money. While other children wore patched and mended clothes to school, Song Yongde wore brand-new, clean clothes every day. When others ate only pickled vegetables and coarse bread, he enjoyed white rice with meat. When other kids had to be thrifty with every penny, Song Yongde had one or two yuan as pocket money each month.

At that time, childlike envy and competition were not common; children were still relatively innocent. But during adolescence, growth spurts made hunger and cravings normal. Song Yongde had none of these troubles. Seeing classmates struggle with hunger and cold, instead of helping, he took the opportunity to start his own business. While no one could force him to help others, he not only withheld help but often boasted and mocked his peers, which was excessive.

Song Yongde was clever and quick-witted. Seeing his peers lacking food and clothing, he devised a common scheme: selling his hand-me-down or disliked clothes to classmates and vending snacks and meals his parents prepared for him at low prices—an old garment for one or two yuan, a meal with meat for a few dimes. Other children, hungry and craving, had no choice but to buy from him. Thus, during middle school, Song Yongde began trading among classmates. Later, he even extended this to teachers, using money earned from classmates to buy supplies like ink and paper for teachers, then reselling these at marked-up prices. Teachers were busy and had little time to shop, so despite slightly higher costs, they bought from Song Yongde for convenience.

After entering high school, armed with his middle school experience, Song Yongde’s misdeeds worsened. He not only traded between classmates but also began an early romance—a bold move at the time. High school students were typically sixteen or seventeen, in the throes of adolescence and natural curiosity about the opposite sex. Coming from a well-off family, well-dressed, clever, and smooth-talking, Song Yongde easily deceived naive young girls. If his romances had been mere hand-holding or occasional embraces, it might have been forgivable. But no one expected that on the eve of the college entrance exam, Song Yongde abducted a girl under seventeen and eloped with her—sparking a huge scandal. The school and their families searched anxiously but found no trace, and with poor transportation and a developing society, the couple—both around seventeen or eighteen and capable of survival—gradually faded from pursuit.

After eloping, Song Yongde and the girl lived in Z City. There, he used his money and cunning to make some profit by cutting corners and schemes, and they lived together. It is often said that money corrupts men; though simplistic, it held true for Song Yongde. With money, he did not invest or start a business. Instead, he squandered it, living a debauched life without ambition, seeking only pleasure. Meanwhile, the girl became pregnant and gave birth to a daughter.

The birth of the child did not make Song Yongde feel responsible; instead, he considered it a burden. During the pregnancy, he urged the girl to abort, but she refused and even threatened suicide. Reluctantly, Song Yongde agreed to keep the child. This child was Song Pinghui. Her birth meant more mouths to feed and added financial strain. By then, Song Yongde had nearly squandered his fortune and had no money to support the girl or child.

With no funds, Song Yongde did not seek legitimate work. Instead, he cruelly forced the recently delivered girl into prostitution to earn meager money to support the child and himself. He continued to enjoy life off the money she earned through selling her body.

As time passed, Song Pinghui grew older while the girl aged prematurely from the harsh life. When Pinghui was only eight, the girl succumbed to severe illness caused by years of prostitution. The once intact family of three was reduced to Song Yongde and his young daughter.

Without the girl’s income, they lost their money again. What to do now? The heartless Song Yongde devised another plan: he made Pinghui pose as a beggar, sent her out to beg on the streets. Young, hungry, and helpless, Pinghui complied and began her life of begging, while Song Yongde continued to enjoy the money she collected.

At first, kind-hearted citizens in Z City would give the scruffy, starving little girl some money or food. After all, there were still many good people in society. But over time, seeing her every day, generosity waned. Charity once or twice was acceptable, but not every day.

After drifting in Z City for two years, father and daughter left and begged in other cities. Finally, at age fifteen, they returned to L City. Song Yongde did not go home because his parents had died years before, their affairs handled by neighbors. Instead, he took Pinghui to a small county under L City.

Having wandered for over a decade and mingled with all sorts of people, Song Yongde was skilled at disguising himself. In the small county, he began his scam.

First, he pretended to be a wealthy investor from a big city, with Pinghui as his secretary. At a time when the entire country was pursuing development, Song Yongde’s guise and eloquence quickly earned him a foothold. This was when he launched his first scam: inventing a fictitious company of which he claimed to be general manager. The company existed, but abroad, with no plans to develop in L City.

He approached local officials to discuss cooperation. Impressed by his urban manner and conversation, the officials trusted him and did not question his identity. With their trust, Song Yongde rolled out his scam: investment required capital, but the company would not provide it; instead, local citizens would invest. They would earn profits and shares.

Song Yongde painted an alluring picture. Initially, some doubted, but after a while, those who invested not only recovered their principal but also earned interest. Encouraged by these returns, more people invested, and early investors increased their stakes. Soon, Song Yongde had gathered over five million yuan—a vast sum in an era when people earned mere hundreds or a little over a thousand yuan monthly.

All this was a facade. Early investors’ returns came from a classic Ponzi scheme—paying old investors with new investors’ money. For example, if A invested 1,000 yuan, after a month he would receive 1,200 yuan—principal plus 200 yuan interest, far exceeding bank rates. This extra interest came from money paid by new investors.

Seeing others profit, people blindly followed suit, chasing fast returns over hard work. Deceived by this illusion, everyone eagerly invested.

When Song Yongde amassed five million yuan, he had no intention of paying promised interest. Unable to pay, he fled with Pinghui, disappearing from the county with the funds. Only after their disappearance did people realize they had been swindled and reported it to the police.

L City police promptly arrived and investigated. They confirmed the two were fraudsters and contacted the foreign company, which denied any plans to develop in L City. With multiple confirmations, Song Yongde and Song Pinghui were identified as con artists. However, they had used aliases, making tracing difficult. Eventually, by Song Yongde’s appearance, his true identity was discovered, but Pinghui’s remained unknown.

Since Song Yongde had eloped with a girl in high school and wandered for over a decade, fully unraveling this huge fraud case was challenging. After relentless efforts, L City detectives finally uncovered their real identities. But the duo had since moved to S City, assuming new names—Cai Hongzhe and Cai Manli—making it impossible for L City police to find them.

If not for an unrelated case of an unidentified male corpse in S City, whose photos were published by the media and seen by L City police, uncovering the massive fraud from five years earlier would have been nearly impossible.

Fortunately, justice prevails. L City police noticed the report, identified Cai Hongzhe and Cai Manli as the long-sought Song Yongde and Song Pinghui through photographs.

After hearing the detectives’ account, Xu Lang and his team were stunned. They re-interrogated Cai Hongzhe and Cai Manli. Initially, Cai Hongzhe vehemently denied being Song Yongde, but when L City detectives appeared in the interrogation room, he finally confessed, acknowledging that he was Song Yongde and that Cai Manli was Song Pinghui.

Upon Song Yongde’s admission of the massive investment fraud in L City’s county, neither S City nor L City police rejoiced. This case had twisted and turned repeatedly, casting a shadow over all involved in the investigation. After uncovering the fraud, they did not immediately hand the pair over for prosecution; instead, they conducted exhaustive investigations, fearing other crimes might be linked to the two.

After nearly six months of investigation, S City police led the prosecution with assistance from L City police, formally charging Song Yongde and Song Pinghui.

During the court trial, many media reporters attended and reported extensively.

In the end, Song Yongde was sentenced as follows: ten years for human trafficking, three years for rape, twenty-five years for massive property fraud, three years for organizing prostitution, eighteen years for possessing unexplained wealth, death penalty for murder, and three years for forgery of documents. Given the clear facts, severe impact, and grave circumstances, the sentences were combined, and he was sentenced to immediate execution, lifelong deprivation of political rights, and confiscation of all personal property.

Song Pinghui was sentenced to eighteen years for massive property fraud—reduced from twenty-five years because she was a minor under eighteen at the time of the L City fraud—three years for forgery, and three years for harboring Song Yongde and obstructing the investigation by concealing the truth about the murder. Considering clear facts, severe impact, and grave circumstances, her sentences were combined, resulting in life imprisonment and confiscation of all personal property.

Remember the final resting place of ultimate evil.