The Hidden Secret Inside the Family Home | True Crime in China

Added: 2026-05-25

[00:00:04]A luxury watch ticking on a cold wrist by Suzo Creek hides a story of ultimate betrayal. When a wealthy executive meets a grim demise, investigators uncover a labyrinth of shattered vows, phantom shadows, and a [music] shocking false confession designed to bury a devastating family secret. Please like and subscribe to join us on this case.

[00:00:27]This video contains chilling secrets.

[00:00:30]Viewer discretion is advised.

[00:00:42]On the early morning of August 7th, 2010, the sprawling metropolis of Shanghai was just beginning to wake. In Baoson district, a relatively quiet suburban area located on the northern edge of the city. The air was still cool and damp. This district was undergoing a massive environmental restoration project centered around Sujo Creek, a vital waterway that had long suffered from industrial neglect. The city had been planting thousands of trees and laying down pedestrian pathways to revitalize the riverbanks, turning it into a scenic escape for local residents. [music] However, because the area was essentially an active construction zone in a suburban outpost, the city had not yet installed a comprehensive network of security cameras. This seemingly minor infrastructural delay [music] would soon create a massive blind spot for law enforcement, setting the stage for a nearly unsolvable murder mystery. Wuang, a local resident of Baoan district, was a creature of habit. Seeking a bit of exercise before the heat of the day set in, he set out for his usual morning walk along the newly landscaped banks of Sujo Creek. The scenic route was usually peaceful, [music] populated only by the occasional jogger or elderly citizen practicing [music] morning exercises.

[00:02:05]After an hour of brisk walking, Wuang turned to head back toward his neighborhood. It was then that he noticed a strange silhouette resting against the trunk of a newly planted tree near the water's edge. At first glance, Wuang assumed it was simply an unhoused person or a heavily intoxicated man who had passed out after a long night. Concerned that the man might be caught off guard as the pedestrian traffic increased, Wuang decided to approach and wake him. But as he stepped off the concrete path and onto the damp earth, the reality of the scene snapped into sharp, horrifying focus, the man was not sleeping. His eyes were wide open, staring blankly into the canopy of the trees above. He lay entirely motionless, his body rigid and unresponsive. Protruding from the center of his chest was the black handle of a kitchen knife, surrounded by a dark, heavy stain of congealed blood that had soaked through his white dress shirt.

[00:03:09]Frozen by shock, Wuang stood paralyzed for several agonizing seconds before his survival instincts [music] kicked in.

[00:03:17]With trembling hands, he pulled out his mobile phone and dialed emergency services, praying that the man might somehow still be clinging to life. But by the time the emergency medical technicians and local police units arrived at the scene, those faint hopes were permanently extinguished. The paramedics conducted a brief examination and officially pronounced the victim dead at the scene. Investigators cordined off the muddy riverbank and began their preliminary assessment. The victim was a middle-aged male appearing to be somewhere between 30 and 40 years old. Despite the brutal nature of his death, he was dressed impeccably. He wore a sharp black suit jacket, a white button-down shirt, a dark blue tie, and polished leather shoes. A rectangular leather briefcase rested near his feet and a heavy, expensive looking watch remained securely fastened to his left wrist. It was the typical uniform of a successful corporate professional who had simply been making his way home after a long day at the office. When detectives opened [music] the leather briefcase, they immediately located his identification cards and confirmed his identity. The deceased was Liu Fun Ji, a 34year-old financial director at a prominent firm in downtown Shanghai, who resided right there in Baoan district.

[00:04:42]Inside the briefcase, they also found his leather wallet entirely untouched alongside his mobile phone. Initially, the patrol officers on the scene hypothesized that this might have been a robbery gone wrong. Perhaps a mugging that escalated into lethal violence, but experienced homicide detectives quickly discarded that theory. A desperate mugger would not have left behind a luxury watch, a smartphone, and a wallet full of cash. The untouched valuables painted a much darker picture. This was not a crime of opportunity. This was a targeted execution. As the forensic team carefully documented the body, they noted several unusual details that spoke volumes about the victim's final moments. First, there was a blunt force trauma wound on Liyu Funji's right temple. The laceration was not particularly large and had not bled profusely, but the impact would have been severe enough to cause severe disorientation, dizziness, and a temporary loss of motor function.

[00:05:47][music] Just a few feet away from the body, technicians recovered a heavy fist-sized rock bearing a prominent [music] smear of dried blood, perfectly matching the dimensions of the head wound. The most chilling detail, [music] however, was the victim's posture. His eyes remained fixed in a terrifying wideeyed stare, an expression often associated with a sudden, violent realization of impending death. Furthermore, Liuongji's right hand was tightly clenched around the black handle of the knife, buried in his own chest. This phenomenon, known in forensic pathology as a cadaavveric spasm, indicates [music] that the victim died in a state of extreme physical and emotional distress, desperately trying to pull the blade from his heart in his final agonizing seconds of life, the autopsy report [music] provided a grim road map of the violence. The medical examiner concluded that Liu Fungi had sustained a total of seven deep stab wounds. Four of these thrusts were directed at his chest while the remaining three were concentrated in his lower abdomen. The fatal blow was one of the chest wounds which had forcefully severed the aorta leading to massive internal hemorrhaging and rapid exanguination. The width of the entry wounds measured between 1.2 and 1.6 in.

[00:07:11]By carefully examining the clean, uniform edges of the incisions, forensic experts determined that the murder weapon was exactly what it appeared to be, a standard smoothged kitchen knife with a black plastic handle devoid of any serration or significant curvature.

[00:07:29]In the realm of criminal psychology, the distribution of these wounds tells a distinct story. A calculated cold-blooded killer or an experienced street thug knows that a deep thrust to the chest is the most efficient way to neutralize a target. The fact that the attacker continued to plunge the blade into Lu Fong Ji's abdomen after the fatal chest wound had already been delivered suggested a profound level of personal rage or perhaps the presence of multiple attackers swarming a defenseless target in a [music] frenzy of violence. This phenomenon, commonly referred to as overkill, almost always points to a perpetrator who has a deep-seated emotional connection or a bitter vendetta against the victim.

[00:08:15]Based on the stage of rigor mortise and the coagulation of the blood, the coroner estimated the time of death to be around 9:00 the [music] previous night, August 6th. Reconstructing the scene, detectives theorized that Lu Funga, heavily intoxicated and highly vulnerable, [music] was ambushed. The attacker first utilized the rock to strike his temple, instantly compromising his ability to fight back as Lee Fong Ji stumbled, dazed and helpless. The killer produced the kitchen knife and unleashed a barrage of targeted strikes before melting away into the dark, unmonitored pathways of the Sujo Creek Parkway. While scouring the surrounding neighborhoods for witnesses, investigators caught a minor break. They interviewed a 25-year-old local man named Wei Lynn, an avid cyclist who regularly rode his bike along the river paths during the early mornings and late evenings. We Lynn reported that on the night of the murder, he had been involved in a minor traffic collision with a passenger car just a few blocks from where the body was discovered. Although the area was dark and he had failed to memorize the license plate number, the encounter proved that a vehicle had been speeding away from the vicinity of the crime scene. This introduced the strong possibility that the suspect had not fled on foot, but had driven away.

[00:09:38]Expanding the geographic radius of the investigation. Following standard protocol, the lead detectives access Liu Fun's phone records to identify the last person he had contacted. The final logged call was to his wife, Xiao Ying.

[00:09:54]Investigators immediately requested her presence at the station for an interview. Zho Ying was born on April 10th, 1980 in the bustling heart of Shanghai. She was raised in a relatively affluent, highly educated family with a long, proud lineage of academic professionals. The vast majority of her relatives, including her parents, were esteemed teachers and university professors. [music] From a very young age, she was subjected to immense academic pressure, expected to excel in her studies, gain admission to a prestigious pedagogical university, and carry on the family's intellectual legacy. However, beneath the veneer of this respectable upbringing lay a profound emotional void. Her parents were relentlessly focused on their own academic careers, prioritizing their lectures and research over their daughter's emotional well-being. They frequently left her alone at home, passing off her daily care to various distant relatives and hired help. This deep-seated childhood neglect left a lasting psychological scar. For Xiaoying, her ultimate goal in life was not necessarily to achieve academic greatness, but to build the warm, loving, and attentive family environment she had been denied as a child. She desperately wanted a home where she could pour all her affection into her own children. In pursuit of this dream, she married a man named Wu Shin Long, and soon gave birth to a daughter, Wu Xiaoin. For a fleeting moment, she believed she had successfully constructed her perfect little family.

[00:11:35]But the reality of domestic life soon set in. Both she and Wu Shin Long became entirely consumed by their demanding careers. The romantic affection withered, communication broke down, and their household grew cold and silent.

[00:11:51]Recognizing that the marriage had failed, they filed for divorce in 2007.

[00:11:56]Following the separation, Xiao Ying retained primary custody of her daughter. Two years later, in 2009, she crossed paths with Lu Fong Jia and quickly entered into her second marriage, hoping to finally secure a stable father figure for her young child. Sitting in the cold, fluorescent lit interview room, Shiao Ying recounted the events of the previous evening.

[00:12:20]According to her statement, Leo Funj was a creature of habit regarding his work schedule, typically returning to their Baoshan district home promptly at 6:00 in the evening. However, the night before he had broken from his routine.

[00:12:35]He called her at exactly 7:00, his voice already slurred, informing her that he was out drinking with a close colleague named Lee Shing and would be coming home late. Xiao Ying explained that Lieing was a familiar name, a trusted coworker who had known her husband for [music] many years. An hour and a half later, at 8:30, her phone rang again. This time, Liu Funj's tone was drastically different. He sounded erratic, aggressive, and highly impatient. He barked orders at her, demanding that she get in her car and come pick him up immediately. Dutifully, Xiao Ying grabbed her keys and drove out into the night. But there was a critical problem.

[00:13:19]In his drunken state, Leong J had completely failed to specify which bar he was at or what street he was on.

[00:13:27]Xiaoying testified that she drove aimlessly through the district, scanning the sidewalks and calling his phone repeatedly, but he never answered. She assumed he had simply passed out in a booth somewhere from the alcohol. Unable to reach him and unable to get through to his colleague Lee Shing, she eventually gave up the search and returned home at 10:00 at night. She told detectives that she didn't report him missing because it was not entirely uncommon for him to go on all night drinking binges and stumbled home the next morning. The detectives immediately pivoted their focus to the colleague Lieing. They acquired his contact information from Xiaoying and brought him in for questioning. Unlike the grieving widow, Lee Shing was visibly nervous. During his interrogation, he made a shocking admission. He was the one who had wielded the bloody rock found next to the body. Leeing explained that he and Lu Fungi had gone to a local tavern to unwind after their shift.

[00:14:29]Initially, the atmosphere was relaxed, but as the empty bottles piled up, Liuong Ji grew increasingly belligerent, his voice booming across the small bar as he began to loudly complain about his domestic life, fearing that his friend was about to start a brawl with the other patrons. Lieing managed to coax him out of the establishment and into the passenger seat of his car. His plan was to drive Lu Fong J home, but realizing the man was far too aggressive to be around his wife and stepdaughter, Lieing opted to [music] drive down to the quiet banks of Sujo Creek, hoping the cool river breeze would sober him up. Lieing knew from years of experience that Liu Fung was a mean drunk, a man who completely lost the ability to regulate his emotions when intoxicated.

[00:15:19]Frequently resorting to verbally abusing his family. Standing by the dark river, Lee Shing attempted to play the peacemaker, gently advising his friend to stop yelling and to try communicating calmly with Xiao Ying. This unsolicited marital advice triggered an explosive reaction. Without warning, Liu Fangg Xi lashed out, delivering a brutal punch to Liing's face as Lieing stumbled backward, stunned by the sudden violence. Liu Fongji scooped up a heavy rock from the landscaping and slammed it into Lieing's head. A desperate, chaotic struggle ensued in the mud. Driven by a surge of adrenaline and anger, Lee Shing managed to pry the rock from his friend's grip. Retaliating, he swung the stone hard, striking Liuj directly on the temple. Lieing watched as Leuongj staggered backward, clutching his bleeding head, entirely disoriented, but still hurling vicious insults into the night air. According to Lieing, that was the moment he decided he had had enough.

[00:16:27]He walked back to his vehicle, started the engine, and drove away, leaving a dazed and bleeding Leong Xi alone on the dark riverbank. He swore to the detectives that he had absolutely no knowledge of the kitchen knife or the brutal stabbing that followed. To corroborate his story, forensic examiners inspected Lee Shing's face and scalp, documenting [music] fresh bruising and defensive lacerations that perfectly matched his account of the brutal [music] fist fight. The physical evidence supported his claim, but it left the police with a massive, terrifying gap in the timeline. If Leeing drove away while Liu Fun J was still alive, who was the phantom killer waiting in the shadows with a blade?

[00:17:16]To understand the brutal violence that erupted on the muddy banks of Sujo Creek, investigators first needed [music] to understand the dark undercurrents of the victim's own home.

[00:17:27]During his extensive interrogation, Lieing provided detectives with a disturbing window into the rapidly deteriorating marriage of Lee Fong J and Zho Ying. According to Lieing, the couple's relationship was a ticking time bomb. Before her marriage to Leu Fungi, Xiao Ying had been married to a man named Wu Shinlong, with whom she shared a daughter, Wu Xiaoin. The little girl was 6 years old and had just started elementary school. After her divorce from Wu Shin Long in 2007, Xiao Ying won primary custody. 2 years later in 2009, she met Liu Fong Ji and they married with unusual haste, moving into his spacious Bao Shan district home. During the first few months of their marriage, Liu Fong J seemed entirely indifferent to his new family dynamic. He rarely mentioned his wife, showed zero interest in acting as a stepfather, and never once participated in picking up young Wu Xiao Shin from school. Leeing admitted that he had found the arrangement strange, even suspecting that his friend was keeping a second secret family somewhere else in the city. However, by the early months of 2010, the cold indifference in the household mutated into active hostility. Luongji began complaining bitterly over drinks. He expressed deep resentment toward Xiaoying, claiming she was a boring, neglectful wife who cared only for her daughter and her demanding career as a university lecturer. The two practically lived as ghosts in their own home.

[00:19:09]Crossing paths only to argue, the tension reached a boiling point just one month prior to the murder.

[00:19:16]>> [music] >> Returning home from work, Luong Jay caught Xiao Ying standing outside their house, engaged in a hushed conversation with her ex-husband, Wu Shinlong. Even worse, Wuin Long was strapping their daughter into his vehicle to take her away when a furious Lu Fung demanded an explanation. Xiao Ying coldly informed him that her work schedule had become too overwhelming. she no longer had the time to manage the daily [music] school commutes, so she had arranged for the girl to live with her biological father.

[00:19:48]She added that she would be visiting Wuin Long's house regularly to see her child. This blatant disregard for his authority sent Luong Ji into a jealous, paranoid rage. From that day forward, his alcohol consumption skyrocketed and his verbal abuse escalated into terrifying physical violence. Lieing testified that the night of the murder was far from the first time he and Luong J had come to blows. On several previous occasions, Lieing had attempted to intervene and beg his friend to stop beating his wife, only to be met with flying fists. The revelation of this severe ongoing domestic abuse radically shifted the focus of the investigation.

[00:20:32]The grieving widow suddenly possessed a very clear, very powerful motive for murder. However, recognizing a motive and proving a murder are two very different things. Looking at the sheer brutality of the crime scene, detectives struggle to imagine the academic, soft-spoken Xiaoying overpowering her husband and plunging a kitchen knife into his chest seven times. Furthermore, her alibi presented a massive hurdle.

[00:21:01]She claimed to have been driving around aimlessly from 8:30 until 10:00 at night searching for her drunken husband. To verify her timeline, technicians pulled the cellular data records for her smartphone. What they found immediately sent shock waves through the precinct [music] just minutes before Xiaoying made her frantic recorded phone call to Leeing. She had dialed another number.

[00:21:26]The call lasted for over one full [music] minute. The number belonged to none other than her ex-husband, Wu Shinlong. Realizing that the ex-husband and the abused wife [music] might be conspiring, the lead detectives made a strategic decision, they summoned both Xiao Ying and Wu Shin Long to the police station on the exact same day, placing them [music] in separate soundproof interrogation rooms to prevent them from aligning their stories. [music] The strategy was designed to catch them in a lie to find the jagged edges where their fabricated timelines failed to match.

[00:22:02]Xiaoying was interviewed first. Under intense, repetitive questioning, she maintained a perfectly calm demeanor.

[00:22:10]She explained that she had indeed called her ex-husband that night. Because Wuin Long lived much closer to the riverbank and the local taverns. She had begged him to help her search the dark streets for Luong J. Despite the detectives trying every psychological tactic in the book to rattle her. She did not waver.

[00:22:30]Her answers were concise. Her timeline remained rigid, and she adamantly denied any involvement in the stabbing. When detectives stepped into the adjacent room to interrogate Woo Long, they expected to find the weak link. Instead, they found a brick wall. Woo Shinl Long was a highly intelligent, deeply respected defense attorney known throughout the city for taking on pro bono cases to defend the underprivileged. He possessed a sterling reputation that made him incredibly difficult to intimidate. His recount of the phone call matched Xiao Ying<unk>s statement flawlessly. There was no hesitation, no nervous ticks, and no inconsistencies. When detectives pressed him about the accusation that he was having an illicit affair with his ex-wife, Wuanl Long offered a sad knowing smile. He firmly clarified that his only interaction with Xiaoying revolved around the welfare and safety of their daughter. He was fully aware of the horrific domestic abuse Xiaoying was suffering at the hands of Lu Fong J.

[00:23:35]With the cool analytical precision of a seasoned lawyer, Wu Shenl Long pointed out that a man as violently impulsive and selfish as Lu Fun J was practically guaranteed to make dangerous enemies in the streets. He suggested the detectives [music] were wasting their time looking at a battered wife when the victim had likely picked a fight with the wrong stranger in a dark alley. After hours of grueling interrogations, the police had nothing. [music] Without a confession, physical evidence, or a witness, they were forced to release both Xiao Ying [music] and Wuin Long. The investigation had slammed into a brick wall. Desperate for a new lead, detectives returned to the beginning of the victim's final night, the Riverside Tavern. While the new parkway along Sujo Creek was a dead zone for municipal surveillance, the tavern itself was a different story.

[00:24:30]Recognizing that alcohol and high tempers often lead to property damage, the cautious tavern owner had installed a private closedcircuit television system over the main seating area.

[00:24:41]Detectives spent hours reviewing the grainy black and white footage from the night of August 6th. Finally, they spotted a critical anomaly. The tape showed Liu Fun J and Lieing arguing before abruptly leaving their table and walking out the front door. Just seconds later, a solitary man sitting in the corner hastily slammed his drink onto the table, stood up, and followed them out into the night. The tavern owner immediately recognized the man on the screen. His name was Leang Dong, a neighborhood local who frequented the establishment on weekends. Running Leang Dong's name through the municipal police database, investigators unearthed a chilling connection that completely validated Wu Shin Long's theory about the victim's dangerous outside enemies.

[00:25:33]2 months prior, in June of 2010, a formal criminal complaint had been filed against Liu Funji. The plaintiff was a high school student named Leang Ja. She was Leang Dong's teenage daughter.

[00:25:47]According to the police reports from June, Leang Xiaoua was walking home from an evening study session. Around 6:00 in the evening, she stopped at a local dessert shop with friends. 2 hours later, as the sun set and the streets grew dark, she began the solitary walk to her house. She soon realized she was being followed by a staggering, intoxicated man. Terrified, she pulled out her phone and frantically called her father, telling him her exact location.

[00:26:18]Leang Dong sprinted out of his house and raced toward her route. He arrived not a second too soon. The drunken man had already cornered the screaming teenager in a dark alley and was actively attempting to sexually assault her.

[00:26:33]Leang Dong tackled the man to the concrete, subduing him until patrol officers arrived. The predator was Lu Fong Ji. The Leang family pressed severe criminal charges, demanding prison time for the attempted sexual assault.

[00:26:48]However, [music] the justice system failed them. Luongji hired an expensive legal team who exploited a massive loophole. They produced a psychiatric evaluation claiming their client suffered from a temporary alcohol-induced psychological break, completely absolving him of criminal intent. Liu Fungi walked out of the courtroom a free man, leaving the Leang family devastated. The father, Leang Dong, was consumed by a righteous, burning fury. He was heard swearing to his friends that if the law would not punish the pervert who attacked his little girl, he would deliver the justice himself. Armed with this explosive motive, a tactical unit was dispatched to bring Leang Dong in for questioning. When he arrived at the precinct, Leang Dong did not exhibit the nervous energy of a guilty man. He sat calmly, casually asking why he had been summoned. When detectives confronted him with the tavern surveillance footage and the history of the sexual assault case, Leang Dong did not bother to lie. He openly admitted that he hated Lu Fong J with every fiber of his being. He confessed that when he saw the man drinking at the tavern on the night of August 6th, he recognized an opportunity. He watched closely, waiting for the predator to become hopelessly intoxicated. When Liu Fong Ji and his friend left the bar, Liang Dong followed them in his own vehicle, maintaining a safe distance. [music] His plan was simple and violent. He was going to wait until the friend left, then step out of the shadows and beat Lu Fungi within an inch of his life to avenge his daughter's trauma. Leang Dong testified that he parked his car a considerable distance down the riverbank and watched the two men engage in their [music] brutal fist fight. He saw Leeing strike Leongj with the rock, get back into his car, and drive away. The stage was set. The target was bleeding, disoriented, and completely alone. But as Leang Dong sat in the darkness of his vehicle, pumping himself up for the confrontation, exhaustion overtook his adrenaline. He closed his eyes and drifted to sleep. He claimed he was only asleep for a short time. When he startled awake and peered through the windshield toward the riverbank, the situation had changed entirely. Liu Fun J was no longer alone. He was engaged in a vicious screaming struggle with someone else. [music] But because of the distance and the thick darkness of the parkway, Leang Dong could not see their faces clearly. However, Leang Dong was absolutely certain of one crucial detail. The person fighting the victim was not a man. It was a woman.

[00:29:40]Detectives leaned forward, their hearts pounding in their chests. They demanded that Liang Dong describe everything he could about the shadowy figure. He stated that the woman was noticeably shorter than the victim. Lyuong Ji stood at roughly 5' 7 in tall. Leang Dong estimated that the woman was about half a head shorter. Placing her height at around 5' 3 in. As they violently pushed each other in the mud, Leang Dong noticed her silhouette against the ambient city light. She had very long hair, but it was not flowing down her back. It was twisted and pinned up tightly into a distinct, elegant bun at the back of her head. Deciding he wanted absolutely nothing to do with the chaotic domestic dispute, Leang Dong put his car in gear and drove home, completely unaware that he had just witnessed a murder. The [music] interrogation room fell dead silent as the detectives processed the physical description. a woman standing 5' [music] 3 in tall who consistently wore her long hair pinned up in a tight elegant bun.

[00:30:47]It was a perfect, undeniably accurate description of the grieving widow Xiao Ying. The pieces of the puzzle were finally clicking into place, forming a terrifying portrait of [music] vengeance. But the police were still missing the final crucial element. They had a witness who saw a shadow, but they did not have a single drop of physical evidence connecting the battered wife to the bloody kitchen knife left buried in her husband's chest.

[00:31:19]The investigative team knew they were standing on a precipice. They had a compelling witness in Liang Dong, whose description of the shadowy figure by the river perfectly matched the physical profile of the victim's wife, Xiao Ying.

[00:31:33]They had a mountain of circumstantial evidence pointing to a bitterly unhappy marriage plagued by severe domestic violence. But circumstantial evidence and a witness who saw a silhouette in the dark were rarely enough to secure a murder conviction in a court of law.

[00:31:50]They needed a confession or they needed the murder weapon linked definitively to her hand. The lead detectives convened and drafted a high-pressure interrogation strategy. Their plan was to bring Xiao Ying back into the sterile confines of the precinct, isolate her, and systematically break down her psychological defenses until she admitted to driving the kitchen knife into her husband's chest. However, before the police could even dispatch an officer to deliver the summons, the entire trajectory of the investigation was violently derailed. On the morning of August 14th, 2010, exactly 1 week after the discovery of the body, the sliding glass doors of the Bowshon District Police precinct slid [music] open. The man who walked up to the front desk was not a suspect the police were actively hunting. It was Wooan Long, the highly respected defense attorney and Xiao Ying<unk>s former husband. His expression was completely unreadable, his posture rigid and formal. He calmly informed the duty officer that he needed to [music] speak with the lead homicide detectives immediately. When he was escorted into the interview room, he did not ask for a glass of water. He did not ask for legal representation. He simply looked the detectives in the eye and confessed to the premeditated murder of Liu Funji. The detectives were stunned.

[00:33:15]They immediately activated the recording equipment and asked Wu Shin Long to detail the events of August 6th.

[00:33:23]According to his official statement, [music] the night began with a frantic, desperate phone call from his ex-wife.

[00:33:29]Xiao Ying had told him that [music] Lu Fungi was wandering the streets in a highly intoxicated, aggressive state, and she was terrified of what he might do. Sensing her profound distress, Wuin Long claimed he immediately grabbed his car keys and drove toward the newly landscaped parkway along Sujo Creek, hoping to intercept the drunken man before Xiao Ying could find him. Wu Shin Long stated that he was the first to locate Lufang J. The financial director was stumbling along the muddy riverbank, his head bleeding from a recent altercation. When Lu Fungi recognized his wife's former husband, his drunken aggression boiled over. He began hurling vile, deeply personal insults, cursing Wu Shinlong and mocking his career. Woo Long claimed he tried to walk away, realizing the man was too intoxicated to reason with, but then the verbal abuse took a darker turn. Liu Fong Ji began shouting horrific obscinities about Wu Xiao Shin, the six-year-old daughter that Wuin Long and Xiao Ying shared, hearing his young daughter's name dragged through the mud by a violent drunk snapped something deep within the attorney's psyche. Wu Shin Long told the police that he lost all rational control. He marched back to his vehicle, retrieved a sharp kitchen knife he supposedly kept hidden under [music] the seat for personal protection, and returned to the riverbank, blinded by a protective rage. He lunged at Leangier, driving the blade into the man's chest and stomach [music] repeatedly until he collapsed dead in the mud. He then claimed he drove away, leaving the body to be found [music] the next morning. To a jury, it would sound like a tragic but understandable crime of passion. A father driven to madness by a monster threatening his child. But to the seasoned homicide detective sitting across from him, the story was riddled with massive, glaring inconsistencies.

[00:35:32]First, there was the murder weapon.

[00:35:34]Wooen Long was a brilliant, experienced defense attorney who understood the law intimately. The idea that a legal expert would choose to carry a standard culinary kitchen knife in his vehicle for self-defense was utterly absurd. He would know that carrying such an item could easily be construed as premeditation in the eyes of the law, whereas a standard utility tool or a heavy flashlight would serve the same protective purpose without the legal jeopardy. Second, and far more problematic, was the physical evidence provided by the sole eyewitness. Leang Dong had explicitly stated that the person struggling with the victim was a woman and he was absolutely certain that the asalent was significantly shorter than the victim. Lu fun stood at 5'7 in tall. [music] The killer according to the witness was half a head shorter placing them right around 5' 3 in the exact height of Xiao Ying. Wu Shinlong, however, was a tall, imposing man who stood at nearly 5' 11 in. In a physical confrontation, he would have towered over the victim. The silhouette Leang Dong saw in the darkness could not possibly have been the man sitting in the interrogation room. The detectives laid these discrepancies out on the table, practically begging Wu Shinlong to drop the heroic act. They told him they knew he was covering for his ex-wife. But Wu Shin Long was an unmovable fortress. He utilized his extensive legal knowledge to counter every argument the police presented. He insisted that the witness must have been mistaken in the [music] dark, confused by the shadows and the uneven terrain of the riverbank. He formally waved his right to legal counsel, refused to mount any sort of defense, and demanded to be formally charged with the homicide.

[00:37:29]Despite their deep reservations, the [music] police and the prosecutor's office had their hands tied. They had a suspect who possessed a clear documented [music] motive, who had placed himself at the scene of the crime, and who was voluntarily offering a full [music] legally binding confession. Without concrete physical evidence proving Xiaoying held the knife, the justice system had to process the man who was demanding to be punished. On September 12th, 2010, Wu Shin Long stood before a judge in a Shanghai criminal court.

[00:38:03][music] Maintaining his stoic demeanor, he accepted full responsibility for the brutal slaying. The judge, noting the extreme violence of the overkill, but acknowledging the emotional distress involved, handed down a severe sentence.

[00:38:18]Woo Long was condemned to serve 20 years in a maximum security prison. For the general public, the case was closed.

[00:38:26]Justice had been served. But in the quiet, terrifying solitude of her home, Xiao Ying was entirely consumed by an agonizing, suffocating guilt. The man she had once loved, the father of her beloved child, a brilliant attorney who dedicated his life to helping the poor, had just sacrificed his entire future, his freedom, and his reputation to shield her from the consequences of her own violent actions. The psychological weight of his sacrifice was heavier than any prison sentence. She could not sleep. [music] She could not eat. Every time she looked at her daughter, she was reminded of the incredible price that had been paid for their safety. A few days after the heavy iron doors of the penitentiary closed behind Wu Shinlong, [music] Zho Ying reached her absolute breaking point, she could no longer live with the lie. [music] Gathering her last ounce of courage, she walked into the very same police precinct [music] her ex-husband had visited. Carrying a digital audio recorder and a thick manila folder filled with official hospital documents. She approached [music] the desk and announced that the city had just imprisoned an innocent man. She was the true butcher of Sujo Creek. To prove her explosive claim, Xiao Ying placed the digital recorder on the table and pressed play. The detectives listened in stunned [music] silence to a phone conversation recorded just after the initial round of police interrogations weeks earlier. On the tape, Xiao Ying<unk>s voice was trembling, soaked in panic, as she explicitly admitted to stabbing [music] Liu Fun. In response, Wu Shinlong's voice was calm and commanding, instructing her to remain absolutely silent, promising that he would confess to the crime to ensure she remained free to raise their daughter. The recording was undeniable proof of a coordinated cover up. But it was the contents of the Manila folder that truly horrified the investigative team and completely rewrote the narrative of the entire case.

[00:40:33]>> [music] >> Inside were certified medical evaluations from a pediatric specialist.

[00:40:38]The documents proved beyond any shadow of a doubt that 6-year-old Wu Xiao Shin had been subjected to severe repeated sexual abuse. And the monster responsible for shattering the child's innocence was none other than the murdered man, Leu Fong J. Tears streaming down her face, Xiao Ying finally revealed the darkest, most agonizing secrets of her [music] short, doomed marriage. When she first married Luong J in 2009, the household was quiet and relatively peaceful. They were not passionately in love, but they coexisted without conflict. Xiao Ying was completely consumed by her demanding career as a university lecturer, working long hours and frequently bringing grading and research home. Because of her grueling schedule, she often left her young daughter alone in the house with her new husband, trusting him implicitly to act as a responsible guardian. It was a fatal miscalculation that would haunt her for the rest of her life. By the early months of 2010, Xiao Ying began to notice disturbing, unexplainable changes in her daughter's behavior. Wu Xiaoen, who had once been a bright, energetic, and talkative little girl, suddenly became deeply withdrawn.

[00:41:58]She stopped playing with her toys. She refused to [music] speak. More alarmingly, she began to exhibit signs of profound, paralyzing terror whenever Liu Fun entered the room. If he walked past her, the child would visibly tremble, shrinking into the corners of the house and weeping [music] uncontrollably. Driven to the edge of panic by her daughter's deteriorating mental state. Xiao Ying gently questioned the little girl through terrified sobs, the child managed to convey enough information to send her mother's world crashing down into an abyss of horror. Xiao Ying immediately rushed her daughter to a pediatric specialist. The subsequent medical examination confirmed her absolute worst nightmares. The physical evidence of sexual assault was irrefutable. The psychological devastation Xiao Ying experienced in that doctor's office was absolute. The man she had brought into her home, the man she had trusted to provide a stable family environment, was a sadistic predator who had prayed upon her most precious, vulnerable loved one.

[00:43:04]Her immediate instinct was to call the police and see Lee J rot in a prison cell. But she was paralyzed by a deep culturally ingrained fear. If a highly publicized trial took place, her young daughter's face and name would be dragged through the tabloids. The stigma of the abuse would follow the little girl for the rest of her life, permanently branding her as a victim in a society that could be deeply unforgiving. [music] Desperate to protect her child's future, Xiao Ying made a fateful decision, she secretly contacted her ex-husband, Wu Shin Long, and relayed the horrific truth. [music] The attorney was violently enraged and wanted to kill Lee Fungi with his bare hands. But Xiao Ying [music] pleaded with him to focus on the child first.

[00:43:53]They agreed that the only immediate solution was to remove Wuho Shin from the house entirely. Xiao Ying handed her daughter over to her ex-husband, ensuring the child was finally safe behind locked doors, far away from the predator. When Lu Fun J discovered that the little girl had been moved out of the house and sent to live with her biological father, he realized his dark secret was no longer secure. His reaction was swift, terrifying, and monstrously violent. He dropped all pretenses of being a civilized man, believing that his wife had betrayed him and was sleeping with her [music] ex-husband. He initiated a campaign of brutal, systematic domestic torture. He no longer just yelled at her. He used a heavy leather belt to whip her mercilessly. He struck her face with closed fists, splitting her lips and leaving her spitting blood onto the floorboards. every single day became a nightmare of survival for Zho Ying. Her entire body was covered in overlapping maps of deep purple bruises, open lacerations, and swelling contusions.

[00:45:02]She lived in a state of constant agonizing pain. To hide the horrific evidence of his crimes from her colleagues at the university, she began wearing heavy long-sleeved clothing and thick makeup. suffering in complete silence. She was trapped in a domestic hell, meticulously documenting her own physical destruction, waiting for the day she could finally ensure the monster could never hurt her daughter again.

[00:45:29]That day would arrive on the dark, humid evening of August 6th.

[00:45:39]The dark, humid evening of August 6th, 2010 began just like any other night of terror for Xiaoying. She was nursing her bruises in the silent house, [music] waiting for the inevitable return of her abusive husband. But the timeline of tragedy accelerated when her phone rang.

[00:45:58]It was Leong Ji. His voice was thick with alcohol, slurring heavily as he barked demands through the receiver. He informed her that he was wandering around the riverbank, heavily intoxicated, [music] and commanded her to get into her vehicle and retrieve him immediately, exhausted, battered, and fearing another physical assault. Xiao Ying initially refused. She calmly stated that she needed to rest for her university lectures the following morning [music] and suggested he find his own way home.

[00:46:30]This entirely reasonable refusal sent Lu Fong Ji into a drunken, uncontrollable frenzy. He began screaming into the phone, his words dripping with venom and irrational jealousy. In his impaired state, [music] his filter completely dissolved and he made a catastrophic fatal error. To inflict maximum psychological damage upon his wife, he began to taunt her. He deliberately brought up her daughter, Wu Xiaoin. With sadistic glee, he explicitly detailed how he had cornered the little girl, how he had touched her, and how easily he had shattered her innocence right under her mother's roof. He laughed at Xiao Ying<unk>s inability to protect her own child. In that precise moment, something fundamental shattered within Zho Ying<unk>s psyche. The terrified, submissive victim vanished, entirely replaced by the primal, terrifying wrath of a protective mother. The unbearable weight of the physical beating she had endured, combined with the unimaginable horror of her child's sexual assault, coalesed into a singular, blinding focus. She did not scream. She did not cry. A terrifying absolute calm washed over her. She walked quietly into the kitchen. She bypassed the smaller utility knives and selected a large heavy kitchen knife with a solid black handle, a blade designed for severing joints and heavy meat. Demonstrating a chilling level of premeditation and presence of mind, she retrieved a pair of gloves and pulled them tightly over her hands to ensure she would leave no fingerprints on the weapon. She slipped the knife into her coat pocket, grabbed her car keys, and walked out into the suffocating Shanghai night. She drove with reckless speed toward the newly landscaped parkway [music] along Sujo Creek, guided by the vague location had shouted over the phone. When she finally arrived, she abandoned her vehicle in the shadows, and moved silently through the damp grass and mud. She found him near the water's edge. He was in a pathetic state. The heavy blow from Lee Shing's rock had left him severely disoriented. Blood was steadily dripping down the side of his face from the deep laceration on his temple. He was staggering, completely unbalanced, and heavily compromised by the massive amount of alcohol in his bloodstream.

[00:48:58]Xiao Ying stood in the darkness, analyzing her target. She knew that under normal circumstances he was a physically imposing man who could easily overpower her. But right now he was weak, dizzy, and defenseless. Her analytical mind calculated that if she struck now, she would absolutely succeed. She stepped out of the shadows and confronted him. Even in his battered state, Liu Fungi was unrepentant. He continued to hurl vile insults at her.

[00:49:29]With cold precision, she activated the digital audio recorder in her pocket, ensuring that his vile confessions and abusive language would be immortalized as evidence. She interrogated him about the things he had done to her daughter, forcing him to repeat his sickening admissions while the recorder captured every word. The argument escalated into a violent screaming match in the dark.

[00:49:54]Liu Fung J, oblivious to the lethal danger standing before him, lunged forward to strike her, just as he had done so many times in their home. But this time, Xiao Ying did not cower as he closed the distance. She drew the kitchen knife from her coat. With all the accumulated rage of a tormented mother, she drove the heavy blade directly into the center of his chest.

[00:50:19]The first strike was catastrophic. The blade cleanly severed his aorta.

[00:50:24]Luongji's eyes widened in absolute shock and terror as the fatal realization washed over him. His hands [music] desperately clutched at the black handle protruding from his chest, an action that would permanently lock his muscles into a cadaabveric spasm. He crumpled heavily to the muddy earth, effectively dead before he even hit the ground. But for Zho Ying, one strike was not nearly enough to erase the trauma he had inflicted upon her family. Standing over his convulsing body, she lost all control. She pulled the blade [music] free and plunged it down again and again and again. She drove the knife into his chest and abdomen a total of seven times, mutilating the man who had destroyed her life. The overkill was a visceral physical manifestation of her psychological agony. When the manic energy finally left her body, she stepped back, her chest heaving in the cool night air despite the horrific violence of the preceding moments, her practical, calculating mind quickly regained control. She looked down at the massive pool of blood spreading across the mud and deliberately took several steps back to ensure she did not leave a single bloody footprint at the crime scene. She did not attempt to retrieve the weapon, knowing her gloves had protected her identity. Standing alone in the dark with her husband's mutilated corpse, she pulled out her mobile phone and dialed the only person in the world she could trust, her ex-husband, Woo and Long. When Woo and Long arrived at the desolate parkway a short time later, he was greeted by a scene of absolute carnage, the brilliant defense attorney immediately grasped the severity of the situation. He looked at his terrified, trembling ex-wife. And then at the bloody corpse of the monster who had assaulted their little girl, he pulled Xiao Ying into a tight embrace, calming her down and assuring her that they would survive this nightmare. They quickly fled the riverbank in their separate vehicles. In the early hours of the morning, safely hidden away, [music] they began to formulate their strategy.

[00:52:36]Wu Shinlong, utilizing his deep understanding of criminal investigations, instructed Xiao Ying to thoroughly wash her vehicle and destroy the clothing she had worn during the attack. They meticulously rehearsed their alibis, ensuring their timelines would perfectly align when the police inevitably called them in for questioning. But deep down, Wuin Long knew the truth. He knew that the detectives would eventually find a crack in their story. He knew that an abused wife with a murdered husband would always be the prime suspect. It was during these desperate, whispered conversations that Wu Shinlong made his ultimate sacrifice. He looked at Xiaoying and told her that their daughter, Wu Xiaoin, had already suffered unimaginable trauma. The little girl desperately needed her mother to heal. If Xiao Ying went to a maximum security prison, the child would be left a permanent orphan in a cruel world. He insisted with unwavering determination that he would take the fall. He would confess to the murder, absorb the devastating legal consequences, and spend the rest of his life in a concrete cell so that Xiao Ying could raise their daughter in peace. After hours of tearful debate, a completely broken Zho Ying agreed to his plan. But as the weeks dragged on, the psychological burden of his sacrifice proved too heavy for her soul to bear. Watching an innocent, noble man accept a 20-year prison sentence for a murder she committed eroded her sanity. Her decision to walk into the precinct and hand over the digital audio recorder and the medical files was the final act of a woman who could no longer live a lie.

[00:54:23]When the entire horrifying truth was finally laid bare to the public, the societal reaction was explosive. The citizens of Shanghai were deeply disturbed by the gruesome details of the stabbing, but their revulsion quickly turned to overwhelming sympathy when the medical records regarding the six-year-old child were leaked to the press. The murdered man, Liu Fanggi, had a documented history of sexual deviance and had proven himself to be an unrepentant, [music] violent predator.

[00:54:54]Public opinion swiftly rallied behind the battered mother. Petitions flooded the courthouse with thousands of citizens demanding a full pardon, arguing that the brutal stabbing was not a cold-blooded murder, but a completely justified execution of a monster who had slipped through the cracks of a broken legal system. On September 30th, 2015, Xiao Ying stood before a panel of judges to face her final judgment. The prosecution pushed for the maximum penalty for intentional homicide, noting the clear premeditation involved in bringing the knife and wearing gloves.

[00:55:32]However, the defense attorneys delivered a masterful, deeply emotional argument, painting a vivid picture of a mother driven to absolute madness by a sadistic abuser. The judges were forced to weigh the horrific violence of the act against the profound psychological trauma the defendant had endured. After careful deliberation, the court reached a verdict. They acknowledged that Xiao Ying had taken a human life with clear intent, an act the justice system could not simply ignore. But they also recognize the extreme, mitigating circumstances of the domestic torture and the child abuse. To balance the scales of justice and public outcry, the judge sentenced Xiao Ying to 15 years in a state penitentiary. It was a firm punishment, but a far cry from the life sentence or capital punishment typically handed down for premeditated murder. In the final analysis, the tragedy of Sujo Creek is a deeply unsettling exploration of human endurance and the dark corners of maternal instinct. Xiao Ying entered her second marriage hoping for nothing more than a quiet, stable environment.

[00:56:43]She did not demand wealth or passionate romance. She only wanted peace, [music] but she found herself trapped in a cage with a predator whose depravity pushed her past the boundaries of human morality.

[00:56:56]The blood on her hands was entirely her own doing, a permanent stain on her soul. Yet, one cannot help but wonder how many others would have picked up that same blade to protect their child.

[00:57:09]She chose the path of the vigilante rather than trusting a legal [music] system that had already failed the Leang family. One can only hope that during her 15 years behind bars, she finds a way to forgive herself, heal from the unspeakable trauma, and eventually [music] return to society to reunite with the daughter she sacrificed everything to save. What are your thoughts [music] on this tragic case?

[00:57:34]Did Xiao Ying deserve her 15-year sentence, or was she completely justified in taking the law into her own hands to protect her daughter? Let us know your opinions in the comments section below. If you found this deep dive into criminal psychology fascinating, please hit that like button, subscribe to the channel, and turn on notifications so you never miss our upcoming true crime investigations.