Rotten Mango - #291: Pregnant Wife Pushed Off 110ft Cliff While Visiting National Park With Loving Husband

Episode Date: August 30, 2023

A young Chinese couple were vacationing at a National Park in Thailand. It was the husband’s gift to his pregnant wife with one last trip before their family grew! But during their sunrise hike the ...husband claimed his wife wandered off and fell off a 110 foot cliff. He screamed in Thai at the first responders - “You must help my wife! Please save my precious wife, she’s my everything!” He leaned down and caressed his wife’s face. She was alive but unable to speak or move. He held her hand and whispered in Mandarin so the Thai authorities couldn’t understand him - “Nobody speaks Mandarin here. There’s no evidence that I did anything. If you want to live - behave.” Full Source Notes: rottenmangopodcast.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 So June of 2019 is when this case takes place. A Chinese couple in their early 30s, they take this little vacation in a national park in Thailand. This is kind of pertinent to the story, but the couple, they're Chinese citizens, but they live in Thailand full-time. But even within Thailand, they're like, let's take a mini vacation to a different part of Thailand to go visit this national park. We're going to be staying at a hotel, it's's gonna be nice like a weekend to get away of sorts So they live in Thailand they speak Thai to a degree. This is very pertinent to the story The husband and wife do out there expecting a baby on the way the wife is actually three months pregnant This is kind of like a cute little
Starting point is 00:00:41 Let's just take our mind off of all the stress that we have going on and just enjoy nature. Now please go back to me if I'm wrong, but I feel like with Chinese couples in particular, there is this level of extreme protectiveness over the mother. Like over pregnant woman, it's just kind of embedded in the culture, at least from what I've seen, what I've perceived. Usually everything down to what the mom drinks or eats has to be deemed not even just healthy, but more than healthy. They're told to not even leave the house or even shower a month, a full month after giving birth because it's bad for their immune systems. I don't know how many people still follow these traditions, but I get the feeling that there is a level of like oh no like the husband is very
Starting point is 00:01:27 K-during to the wife babying the wife So just imagine how frantic this husband is when his pregnant wife Falls off a hundred-foot cliff while they're vacationing at this national park 110 feet that's equivalent to an 11 story building. Ambulance is rushed to the scene. The husband is freaking out. I mean, he's screaming to get past these first responders who are trying to save his wife's life, you know? He's running, trying to grab her hand.
Starting point is 00:01:55 He's crying out to them and Ty, like shaking the first responders. You have to do something. You have to do something. My wife wandered out alone and she fell. Oh my God, please, you have to save my wife. She's pregnant. Now, like, okay, let us do our job.
Starting point is 00:02:08 He's like so distraught. There's no way to even calm him down. He's running his hands through his hair. He just keeps screaming and broken tie, please, you have to help my wife. He's got tears streaming down his face. And at one point, he's just frantically holding onto his wife's hand and he leans and close to her face. He's like running his hands across her cheeks. She's still alive. She's still alive. She's conscious. She can't talk. She can't move, but she's conscious.
Starting point is 00:02:35 She's like in a state of shock. And he's running his hands across her face across her cheeks. And he whispers in Mandarin. So no one else can understand him, but this is like their language that they share together. And he whispers, no one else understands Mandarin here. There are no cameras on the cliff. If you don't wanna die, you better behave. The wife is laying on the stretcher, unable to speak, unable to move, and she's looking at her husband, his face looks like
Starting point is 00:03:05 the face of pure evil. It's filled with burning hatred and anger. And almost immediately, it's like he snaps out of it. His eyes soften back up and he looks back up at the first responders and begs them again in broken tie to save his precious wife. And he screams about how he will die without his wife. As always, full show notes are available at rottenminglepodcast.com. This is another case that centers around a Chinese couple.
Starting point is 00:03:34 They're Chinese citizens. Most of the sources that we found were in Mandarin. So we did have the support of our wonderful Chinese researchers on this case. But as always, let us know if anything was lost in translation or miscommunicated, but with that being said, let's get into it. The wife, Ning, and I&G, as her name, had 17 bone fractures throughout her entire body. Yeah, even her eyes were at risk since the skin around her eyes had lifted. I've never heard of that before, but they were really scared that they weren't going to be able to save her vision.
Starting point is 00:04:04 Thankfully, they were able to. Every part of this woman's body was like a fragile broken piece of glass that doctors are struggling to piece back together. They even showed her her own X-rays while she was laying motionless on the hospital bed and she looked like she looked like if someone had taken a porcelain vase and threw it at the wall like chucked it at the wall and it scattered and shattered into like a bajillion different small pieces and now they have to like glue it back together. Every part of her body was basically fractured and shattered.
Starting point is 00:04:35 She was lucky to be alive. That's what the doctors kept telling her. Because she's in such a fragile state, because she's expecting a child, she's hooked up to several different machines that are providing life-saving care. She's in and out of consciousness. For the first few days, she couldn't even speak. I don't know if it was the shock. I don't know if it was all the tubes running in out of her body. She could not speak. She did not have the ability to talk. She's in and out of consciousness. And it's like a fever dream.
Starting point is 00:05:02 It's like a nightmare, really. Every time she woke up, she would panic and it's like a fever dream. It's like a nightmare really. Every time she woke up she would panic. She's like thinking, oh my god, where am I? Then she would look around, see all these scary tubes and wires connected to her body. And then she would remember all the memories would start flooding in. She was at the hospital. She had fallen off a cliff. And just as she calmed herself down, she would glance around the hospital room and right there in the corner is her husband. You and her heart rate would send the machine's beeping. He was still there. He was still watching her.
Starting point is 00:05:35 He was almost glaring at her from the corner of the room. Sometimes he would walk up to her while she's laying, strapped up in this hospital bed, run his fingers through her hair. And his face just showed like, utter hatred for her. I don't know if I've ever been looked at like with that type of face, but I can't only imagine it so unsettling. Like genuinely, someone hates you so much for whatever reason. She didn't even understand who this man was. This didn't feel like her husband or at least not the husband that she had known for years. It's like he was possessed by evil, possessed by like a killer or something. Since Ning was unable to move her talk,
Starting point is 00:06:16 she spent most of her days just reliving, reliving the incident over and over in her mind as she's staring up at this hospital ceiling. It all took place June of 2019. You had asked her wife Ning to go to a national park in Thailand. And she was a little hesitant because when you hear national park, you're thinking, that sounds like a strenuous activity. Like I am three months pregnant.
Starting point is 00:06:38 I don't know if I should be hiking up and down a mountain right now, right? You told her, of course I considered that. Like it's not that intense. I made sure to look up reviews. There's a trail and everything is going to be perfect. I've planned it to a tee. Like, don't you want to get out and get some fresh oxygen for the baby too? Not only are you not going to be exhausted, but this is going to be a much needed vacation from all of the work stress, all of the stress of prepping for this baby, and it's going to be fun. It's's like gonna be a reset for our family.
Starting point is 00:07:06 But when they get to the national park, everything is just going the wrong way. Literally everything is going wrong for the couple. So usually this park is filled to the brim with visitors and tourists. And when they arrived the first day, it was jam packed, which kind of adds to a sense of like easiness, you know, it's a sense of ease. Imagine being out in the wooded cliffs alone. I feel like I would prefer if it's packed with tourists. Even though they're strangers, it's just like, oh, okay, at least I know a lot of people come here. But every minute, it felt like someone is physically dragging the sun down, the gloom
Starting point is 00:07:39 started taking over. There was this gray blurry tint to everything. And before the couple knew it, all the other visitors visitors all the other tourists had gone home And Nate is looking around she's starting to feel bit nervous What if there's some sort of animal or predator out in the woods like by the cliff side and she turns to our husband Hey, I know you plan this all out But do you think we should start heading back soon like what if it rains or something? It's getting really cloudy You insisted everything was gonna be fine. He's like, no, it's gonna be better than fine.
Starting point is 00:08:08 Actually, it'll be even more romantic since it's just the two of us enjoying the view alone. He practically skipped higher up to the mountain, to the cliff side, and Nang is wondering, what has gotten into my husband? This is the guy that for years, he has been petrified of heights, but now he's going over willingly to the cliff's edge not even like looking down just soaking in the views the surroundings. She's so confused.
Starting point is 00:08:34 And she's so relieved when he finally suggests, you know what, I think we should head back to the hotel now. But before the weekend was over, just a day later, he's like, hey, you want to go to the national park again? She's like, again, we went, we saw everything there was to see. He's like, no, no, I was looking online and actually, they said that it's the best when we go during sunrise. There's even like this secret local spot to get the best views of the sunrise, amongst the mountains. It's just incredible.
Starting point is 00:09:02 Like, when else are we going to have the time to see this type of thing? When else are we gonna come all the way over here? When we have a baby, it's gonna be so rough. We're not gonna be able to travel anywhere for at least a few years, right? At first she's a little hesitant, but she'd already been there. She already kind of knew the vibe. Maybe it wouldn't be too bad, and the views were pretty, even though it was gloomy, so maybe it would be more incredible during dawn
Starting point is 00:09:26 So the next day at 3.30 a.m The couple check out of their hotel and make their ways to the top of the mountain Nying noticed that our husband was in a rather pensive mood I mean, maybe it's like the fact that they're hiking up a cliffside before the sun rises Maybe that's adding to it or maybe it's being alone with nature. But he turns to his wife and is like asking all these pens of questions. Like in this lifetime, babe, do you have any regrets?
Starting point is 00:09:56 It's so random, but she's thinking, okay, I mean, it makes sense. It's the type of conversation maybe couples have when they're hiking. So she genuinely thinks about it for a moment. She is a beyond successful career. Her husband is working really hard recently to make their home feel ready for their baby. It's cliche, but yeah, there's things that she maybe regrets a little bit, but she would never redo anything. So she smiles and she says, no, I don't think so. No regrets.
Starting point is 00:10:27 And he just smiles at her and he takes the lead. He climbs higher and higher up the mountain and once they get really high, I'm talking like a hundred feet off the ground up in the mountain, like the cliff side mountain. You start pointing towards the cliff edge, saying that he read online that this is the specific spot that locals, it's like a secret spot for locals for sunrise as It's the best view.
Starting point is 00:10:46 He evens that there's paintings left behind from ancient civilizations from thousands of years ago, kind of tracks, because a lot of this national park has these guided pathways and these beautifully preserved relics from the past. And then he's saying, this is one that isn't preserved. It's just been left in the open because nobody really knows about it Except for a few locals and they posted about it online
Starting point is 00:11:09 Like where is it? I'm so confused literally on the cliff's edge Like outside of the cliff Like this is the mountain right there's a mountain. Yes, they're on the mountain a hundred feet in the air Yeah, and he's like right at the cliff on the ground near the very edge. There's these paintings. Oh, okay. Yeah. Okay. And they're like getting... They're getting degraded through the weather. So who knows how long this will last. So he's saying go stand by the cliff, poke your head out, and you're gonna see this beautiful art. Yeah. Okay. And Ming is like, okay, let me go. And you is going first, right?
Starting point is 00:11:43 So Ming walks towards the area. And she wasn't expecting to go all the way up to the cliff edge since they had walked off the designated trail already, but there are about three feet away from the cliff edge. When she looks around and she's like, wait, I don't see any of the drawings that you're talking about, and it doesn't really look like people come here. There's no even footmarks or some sort of eroded pathway, there's nothing. It's, I think we should go back to the trail. She's like, I feel like this is a little dangerous. You ignores her and completely, just ignores her completely and keeps walking
Starting point is 00:12:17 towards the cliff's edge and she's shocked once again because this is her husband who is known to have agrophobia. And trust me, as someone who is beyond terrified of heights, you will never catch me doing this even if the view is spectacular. You will never catch me just like gallovanting towards the cliff-sedge. Especially if there's no railing, like you will never see that in a million years. And Nying is so worried about her own husband, she keeps begging him like, hey babe, like, let's walk back to the trail, let's go, let's go. But he just keeps going. She has no choice but to chase after
Starting point is 00:12:48 him. And abruptly, he just stops near the cliff. He's looking up at the sky, taking in the views. She's like, what is come over this guy? Like what is going on? Is he defensive? What is he thinking about? And she looks up and she has to admit the view is incredible. The sun is casting this up and she has to admit the view is incredible. The sun is casting this orange hue on everything and the air felt crisp, even for a hot June day in Thailand, because they were so high up, it just felt so fresh. She was kind of running, but now she's slowing down and just slowly walking up behind him while admiring the sunrise.
Starting point is 00:13:23 And when she gets close, her husband turns around, hugs her tightly, kisses her on the cheek. And she's like smiling, you know. This moment right here is a moment that she would remember for the rest of her life. The two of them hugging in the glow of the sunrise on the mountainside cliff in Thailand. Like, yeah, their marriage had its ups and downs, but this is what love is about. This is a core memory for them. And her husband nestled his face into her hair and then brushed his lips on her ear.
Starting point is 00:13:56 And he said, go die. And pushed his three-month pregnant wife off a 110-foot-talk cliff with all his strength. He said go die. He said go die. He kissed her on the cheek and said go die. This was the scene that Ning would play over and over in her mind while laying in that hospital bed, unable to speak, unable to leave. She just laid there staring at her husband who sat in the corner of the room, staring at her with just pure evil disgust on his face.
Starting point is 00:14:29 And then she would hear the door open to the room, because she's in the ICU. She's got her own room, a nurse would come in, and it's like a switch had been flipped. His face would immediately soften, and he would go from being this evil guard of hell in the corner of her room to this loving husband Who would ask about his wife's condition and if their baby was okay? And if there is absolutely anything that he can do for his wife, please just let him know Ning would try to communicate to the nurses with just her eyes like I'm I'm terrified my husband is the one that pushed me off the cliff like something is wrong
Starting point is 00:15:04 You have to help me you need him to Like, please get him out of here. He's gonna try and kill me again. But each time the nurses would smile at her and tell her, you're so lucky to have a husband like this. You're so lucky he's with you by your side. And don't worry. We're gonna get you out of here. You're gonna recover nice and well and you get to go home with your husband and everything will be okay. recover nice and well and you get to go home with your husband and everything will be okay. The nurses had no idea that you would try to unplug Ning's life assistant devices while in the hospital.
Starting point is 00:15:33 He straight up tried to unplug her to silence her once and for all. What's so crazy about this case is that Ning really didn't see any of this coming. It's not like her husband ever beat her. It's not like her husband ever threatened to kill her or did any of these crazy, crazy things. I mean, they kind of had the perfect relationship before, before he pushed off a cliff. Okay, maybe it wasn't like exactly perfect. There was a little bit of weirdness or a little bit of ups and downs. I mean, especially now that she had a lot of time to think about their relationship while she's in this hospital bed.
Starting point is 00:16:08 One of the main things was she never even wanted to date you in the first place. Literally, Ning did not have time to spend with friends, let alone a relationship, a boyfriend. She had basically not known a single day of rest in peace since the day that she had been born. I'm not even sure if ambitious is the right word to describe her. She was more unstoppable than anything like she had the ambition, she had the drive, and from the moment that she graduated university with a major in business development, I mean, this woman hits the ground running. She tried working at an insurance company, a travel agency.
Starting point is 00:16:43 She went from an assistant in the travel agency to an operations managers in record time. Even got relocated to Thailand for the travel agency. She wasn't even just sent to Thailand, like, hey, go work at our Thailand brand, right? No, she was tasked with opening up the agency's market in Thailand. Basically building it from scratch in a foreign country where she doesn't speak the language. Like I feel like I'd be terrified to see this woman's Google calendar. Like I bet there is not a single bit of white space for her to relax. Just appointments meetings back to back. She would eventually quit the travel agency to start her own business. She would try a
Starting point is 00:17:21 bunch of different things and you know there would be failures. She tried a dried fruit business. She would try a bunch of different things and you know there would be failures. She tried a dried fruit business. She lost about $30,000 from that. Then she tried a trading business which kind of took off. Then it evolved into a Chinese restaurant and a home stay location for Chinese citizens to come stay in Thailand. And in the off chance, in the rare chance that she had some free time, she was just like head deep in a Thai language learning book. So she's putting her roots down in Thailand. She's starting her businesses here and she's thinking, yeah, I better learn the freaking language. It's that that every single night early on in her career. So like most of her 20s, she only got three to four hours of sleep. She was focused, dedicated to making a name for herself. Every single day of her 20s was spent working her ass off and it paid off.
Starting point is 00:18:09 By the time that she hit her milestone, her 30th birthday, she was successful. She had a net worth of over $3 million. She was killing it. She was a huge influence in the Chinese community in Thailand. A lot of Chinese citizens who would do business in Thailand or visit Thailand, they would rub shoulders with Ning. She was kind of the no-whalbee all to Thailand. And you would think, you would think that her parents are like,
Starting point is 00:18:33 you know what, I'm so proud of you. I could never ask for a better daughter, but they were also like, okay, great, why do you not have a boyfriend? Oh, I don't know, mom, maybe it's the fact that I spent like 120 hours a week on my business for the past decade. And Ning would ignore her parents, but I mean, yeah, sometimes she could feel it. She feels a little lonely. Sometimes her house feels a little empty and like, maybe it is time to date. So prior to moving to Thailand, basically in college, she had two boyfriends.
Starting point is 00:19:05 That's it. She hadn't dated in like the past decade over a decade. And ever since then, she's just focused on work, nothing else. The term boyfriend, like the idea of calling someone, oh, that's my boyfriend. It sounded so foreign to her. She's like, that is weird. She didn't even realize when someone was flirting with her. So during these networking events, men would try and come and make small talk with Ning. Maybe slowly drop some cute little jokes here and there, and Ning would just be straight face. She's not even entertaining it.
Starting point is 00:19:34 She thinks something is wrong with these people. This is a work of it. Why are we talking about the weather? Sometimes they would ask her out for a cup of coffee and she would show up with like a brief case full of business proposals and they're like, oh, I was just, I just wanted to get to know you. And she's like, yeah, well, you can get to know my business.
Starting point is 00:19:52 Yeah, she was really, really intense. Like, she was so focused on work. She literally forgot how to date. And then May of 2017, at one of these networking events in Thailand, which like I said, there's a strong Chinese community there, so a lot of Chinese people there, Nying is introduced to a man named Yu. He's also a Chinese citizen,
Starting point is 00:20:10 but like I said, a lot of her business circle are Chinese expats, so nothing too crazy. But the minute that he opens his mouth, she's like, wait a freaking minute. You're from Nanjing, right? So in China, every town in city basically has their own dialect of sorts. So in Shanghai, people speak Mandarin,
Starting point is 00:20:29 well most people speak Mandarin or Shanghai news. But just because you speak Mandarin doesn't mean you speak Shanghai news. So a lot of Chinese people, at least from my personal observation with my husband being Chinese, I feel like there is a closer bond as X-Pats. Like in the US, when he meets someone that's Chinese, he's like, oh, you're Chinese cool.
Starting point is 00:20:47 He meets someone who speaks Shanghai-N-E's, he's like, oh my gosh. You are my best friend. We were separated at birth. I'm like, what's going on? So she's imagined finding out while abroad that someone is from the same hometown as you and speaks the same exact dialect as you. It's this nice, comfortable feeling. You feel closer to them without knowing anything about them.
Starting point is 00:21:12 You're like, I feel like I've known you my whole life, even though you just met them. Any opens up his mouth, any speaking the dialect that's native to Nanjing, I mean, what are the odds? She's so happy. She's like, this is so frickin wild. It's a piece of home. It was a brief spark.
Starting point is 00:21:29 And when he continues to try and carry on the conversation, she's like, okay, I'm over it. This has nothing to do with work, so bye. And he's like, what just happened? She was so excited that I spoke the same dialect and then all of a sudden she's back to being cold, back to being all about business. She's so confused. She's checked out. She's not getting the hint that he's into her. He even tried adding her as a friend on WeChat and she comes home and she sees it on her phone and she's like,
Starting point is 00:21:55 what could he possibly want to talk to me about? We're not even in the same industry. Reject. I mean, adding someone as a WeChat friend is like adding someone as a Facebook friend or like accepting a follow-on Instagram. It's not like you're giving them your social security number. It's a pretty standard thing. So she just rejects him and it only makes him more curious. He's like, I have never met a woman like this. This is insane.
Starting point is 00:22:21 Like she's so blunt, she's so laser focused on work. And you know that one idea that's like going around on TikTok, the more passionate someone is about something the more attractive and charismatic they are, that was what was happening. You cannot stop thinking about her. Now, I don't know how someone react would react to what he does next, but I guess it really depends
Starting point is 00:22:41 person to person. Make your own personal judgment. You literally does not give up. He keeps trying to ask for her contact until she finally caves in. In the minute, I mean, the second that he gets that notification that mean finally accepted her Montenegro chat, he's all in. He's actively pursuing her.
Starting point is 00:22:59 It's like his new life mission is to pursue this woman. He would beg her to go out to eat with him. He would fight to pay the bill. He would beg her to go out to eat with him, he would fight to pay the bill, he would take her to tie lessons together so that they could both learn Thai. Sometimes when she was missing home, he would drive miles out to these random markets to buy supplies to cook her an nostalgic home cooked meal that reminded her of Nanjing. You know at first glance, he's not a bad guy. He's responsible, he's very caring. He's financially independent.
Starting point is 00:23:26 He said to have almost this calming aura about him. Like, it just seems very calm. Like, when you're with him, you feel very well taken care of. Like, if you guys are outside, something goes wrong, he's a type of person to take charge and figure out a solution. But in terms of personality, they were complete opposites. Oh my god, beyond that. Like you was this hopeless romantic. Really? Yeah, there were like a few key moments early in their relationship that set the tone for their marriage and Nene is like, what have I gotten myself into?
Starting point is 00:23:57 This is crazy. Maybe it's hindsight, maybe it's love bombing, it's hard to say. But now looking back, it's a little, it's hard to say. But now looking back, it's a little creepy. So Ning remembered very early on in their relationship. This is at a phase where she didn't even feel like this is a serious relationship. They've been dating for like a month. She wakes up one morning to one of the longest messages she had ever received from a single human being.
Starting point is 00:24:26 It was a message from you. And at the time, it felt like him professing his love, some sort of confessional, but now in hindsight, she's like, it's a deranged letter. I mean, just imagine waking up one morning to a long message from the guy that you're casually dating, and this is what it reads. One month, you said. One month. Inside note, this is shortened for clarity, but it's a very long message. It starts. Every man imagines their ideal partner. Let me tell you about mine. I prefer a Southern woman's petite figure. I hope my future partner is beautiful and has a good body figure.
Starting point is 00:25:05 She would have long hair, a gentle personality, good morals, and be independent, bright, and cheerful. Because I don't have the best cultural background, I hope my other half has a better education than me so that she can guide our future child. She would also be sensible, well-mannered, and have a career. Meeting you is like love at first sight, and I want to grow old with you. Fate has brought us together. Many people would get together because of their age and from family pressure, and under these circumstances, they get forced to be married, but none of them are happy. What I look for in a marriage is pure love.
Starting point is 00:25:41 And after I met you, I didn't just like you. I didn't want to just date you and have a relationship with you. I want to take care of you for the rest of my life. I want to share your pain and your sorrows. If possible, allow me to face all of your hardships. If I start a relationship with you, there will be a happy ending. We can have our own family, have our own kids.
Starting point is 00:26:04 We can teach them to be good people. If we have our own family, have our own kids, we can teach them to be good people. If we have a boy, he can learn martial arts, work out and become a caring man like me. If we have a girl, we will treat her like a princess and when she grows up, she can find a man that loves her as much as I love you. Oh yeah, so it's like every girl's life purpose, okay? Now that you have me, everything is different. You are no longer alone, you will never be lonely again. All the darkness and pain will go away because of me. After we've become a family,
Starting point is 00:26:35 all of this will go away, and that's, this life will be filled with happiness. Our careers will continue to prosper and we will work hard together and generate wealth for our family. We will have a better life, let our parents retire with better conditions and provide our children with better learning environments and a better place to grow up and let them just see the world. And when we grow old, it doesn't matter where we are.
Starting point is 00:26:59 China, Bangkok, Europe, no matter the place, you and I will be inseparable. Yeah. So you must believe our meeting was just a coincidence, but I believe it's fate. I hope you can accept my love, hold my hand, and start a new chapter in life. Okay, you know that feeling when one person is way more into a relationship than the other, and you read this message from a guy that you're like kind of lukewarm about
Starting point is 00:27:27 you're just like, whoa, that's a lot. Like that is a lot to wake up to. Like imagine, because you know you check your phone before you brush your teeth, your eyes are barely open and you're trying to read this long message, you're like, it's not that serious. It's really just not that serious. I feel like I would need to brush my teeth, wash my face down a cup of coffee, sit on the couch and reread this three more times to really even grasp what the hell he's even trying to say right now. Like why is he even sending this message in the middle
Starting point is 00:27:55 of the night when I'm dead asleep? It's so random. It's so out of nowhere. We're not even that serious yet. But Ning does not have that type of time. So she quickly skims through the message, she gets ready for work, swings open her front door and she screams like, oh my God, you scared me. At her front door is you. I've been here the whole night since I sent that message. And whoa, you what? When I was writing that message, I was thinking about you and it made me miss you and I couldn't fall back asleep. So I came here, but then I realized that you're probably asleep
Starting point is 00:28:29 and I didn't want to wake you up because then it would ruin your sleep. So I've just been standing here, waiting for you to wake up. For hours, he just stood in front of her front door and Nino was kind of confused on how to feel about it. Like on one hand, it's very jarring and maybe even a little bit creepy. But on the other hand, it's...
Starting point is 00:28:49 I guess it's kind of romantic. And you have to remember, she hasn't really dated much in her life. She's thinking, maybe this is how all hopeless romantic are. Like maybe they genuinely see themselves in some sort of like movie. And I think the deciding factor for him being to feel like it was more romantic than creepy was, you know, context. You had always been this hopeless romantic,
Starting point is 00:29:11 like since the moment that they met, he's even said so himself, like, I have this very idealistic vision of love. I mean, she could feel it from the moment that they started talking, the way that he talked about marriage, the way that he talked about all of this, it's like he's in his own little romance novel and he's Prince Charming. And for her, it was kind of in doing, in a sense, like she's thinking, you know, if I was
Starting point is 00:29:32 with someone that was like me, we would never even work out because we would never talk to each other. We would both be so much into our own work in our own world. We would not even be able to maintain this relationship, but since he's the total opposite, he's the glue that keeps them talking. Otherwise otherwise she would never reach out to him, right? So he's like, well, since I'm here, do you want to go to the beach? They go to the beach and he rents two small horses. I have a picture of this and they ride as the sun comes up. It was like a prince charming moment, and at one point as the sun is coming up,
Starting point is 00:30:05 just like across the horizon, he gets down from his horse and he stands next to her. And you hear the waves crashing behind him. And he looks into an ings eyes and said, I can be your Prince charming. Okay, but he didn't propose, right? No. Okay, thank God. Yeah, so within two months of dating, yeah, this is, he's about to propose so. Two months? Yeah, so within two months of dating, this is all unfolding within two months. Like she had just met the man two and a half months ago. They started dating officially, like two weeks into meeting and it's been two months of having this, what she perceived, a pretty casual relationship. The two of them
Starting point is 00:30:45 are enjoying this nice little Saturday evening dinner. Just being in each other's company when you all of a sudden is like, we should get married. She's like, what? You're joking, right? Like, that's crazy. No. I know I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Like, what is the point in waiting now? We're both in our 30s. I mean, we're both of age. What are we waiting for? And they is kind of laughing because she's thinking, he's joking, he's crazy. This is crazy. But he keeps insisting.
Starting point is 00:31:14 And she tries to reason with him. Well, no, like you haven't even met my parents. My parents would be so upset if I got married to someone and they didn't even approve of him. I can't just get married out of nowhere. And he tries to convince her that they can just get married first and tell the parents later. They're both independent, they're both successful,
Starting point is 00:31:30 they're both of age, like they're not even like 18, they're in their 30s. This shouldn't be something that parents need to be involved in. I mean, which I can partly agree with, but it's the fact that that's what she wants to do, you should respect it. Even if you feel like the tradition is not your vibe, still respect it. You just kept saying how he's certain about this love. He's certain about the way that he feels about her. He's
Starting point is 00:31:53 never felt this way about anyone else before. And honestly, Ning is like, what is going on? Like, this is so unbelievable. I don't even know if he's being serious right now. And she just keeps telling him, you're crazy, like you're crazy. This is crazy. I can't do this. No. OK. How about this?
Starting point is 00:32:12 We go to the courthouse tomorrow. It's Sunday. Courthouses are almost always closed on Sundays. When's the last time you ever saw a courthouse open on a Sunday, right? Right. We go. And if they're open, that means we're destined to be married tomorrow. If they're closed, fine. We'll come back home, eat a meal, take it slow.
Starting point is 00:32:30 Um, what kind of a stupid idea is that? Like, he must research this beforehand. Yeah, and Ning is looking at him. Like, he's crazy. But it's so stupid. She doesn't take it seriously. Okay. Because she felt basically got tricked. Yes, because I mean, I would imagine I'd be like, that's so stupid. Yeah, okay, fine, let's go to the courthouse tomorrow. It's not going to be open and then we'll probably go get lunch and then I'll go to work
Starting point is 00:32:57 after. Like that's what she's thinking. No courthouse is open on Sundays. So the next morning, she still thinks that he's just trying to be cute and she's just playing along, entertaining him. She gets ready for the day. She doesn't even get ready for the courthouse specifically. She gets ready for her day, goes to the courthouse,
Starting point is 00:33:14 and they're freaking open. I mean, most likely he paid someone to keep it open or something, right? Hmm. Yeah, and at this point, she was so surprised, she started believing it was fate. She talked herself into fate. She talked herself into it. She's like, you know what? This is so absurd and so crazy. Maybe it's a sign.
Starting point is 00:33:31 Because again, when was the last time a courthouse is open on a Sunday, like this is marbles, nuts. So, okay, fine, let's get married. We're gonna probably get married anyway. She's thinking, you know, let's do it. Okay, some context to remember is that Ning is in her 30s. The way that she's approaching this relationship is not, let me just date around. Yeah, so how I see is like, if she's Chinese at that point, she's probably getting pressured every single day
Starting point is 00:34:03 by the parents. When are you getting married? Where's my grandkids? And then she probably have the social pressure of, oh, I need to have a kid now, I need to get married now. She feels like her time's running out. That might have pushed her to just, okay, maybe this guy is it.
Starting point is 00:34:17 Yeah, and I think the logic was, I mean, we're already talking about getting married eventually anyway. I'm not getting any younger. He's not either. We'll just get married now. And it was just kind of a cute moment too. It was romantic.
Starting point is 00:34:30 Like, think about it. You're like making a bet. Hey, if the courthouse is open, like, what are the odds? And then you go there and it's open. There might be some adrenaline running, like, oh my god, this is crazy. And that feels like it should be. It's meant to be. Like, they already had the plans for the rest of their lives together.
Starting point is 00:34:48 So that day, no ring, no wedding, no honeymoon, no parents knowing, they get married. And in the moment, it felt romantic. It just felt like two people with no stress of having this big luxurious wedding. It was just love, right? They signed that marriage certificate and everything flipped upside down in immediate 180. You went from being a romantic, hopeless romantic to an evil husband straight out of one of those K-dramas. Okay, well, I don't want to say evil. Well, like a deadbeat husband, like the epitome of a useless husband. So I don't know if I can say evil, he's not hitting her, he's not cheating on her at least that
Starting point is 00:35:29 we know of, but he's just so gross. Like it just made her so confused the day after they signed their marriage papers. So normally when they would spend the night at each other's places, they would both jump up in the morning, ready to get washed up, both attack all their to-do lists. Like they were both on the same page of ambition and having that really intense work ethic. But the day after, alarms go off, you stays in bed. He rolls over, grabs his phone,
Starting point is 00:35:57 and starts playing phone games, like mobile phone games. And she's like, okay, that's weird. He's never done that before. I've actually never even seen him play a phone game in my life. I didn't even know that he was into phone games. But she finishes getting ready. He's still playing phone games. She makes breakfast. He comes out to eat, goes right back to pet, playing mobile games. She's like, what is going on? Okay, maybe he has an off day today. She goes out to work, comes home, he's still in bed playing mobile games.
Starting point is 00:36:31 Huh. Mobile games, I sound like a boomer playing games, okay? And she's like, what is going on? Like, what the hell came over this guy? She's so confused. She's not trying to raise a boy though. So every single day she would get up and do her things. And it was like every day she'd come home still like, oh, I'm sure today is the day that he goes back to being normal, but no, still playing games in bed. So what's going on? So he married her for her money for It seems like it. To do nothing, just lay in bed. Yeah, he wouldn't even leave the house. All he used to talk about was his budding company.
Starting point is 00:37:12 How he wanted to be the CEO, how he had all these visions of these different endeavors, his future dreams, all of that. And now, now all he does is play phone games. And was just like, the man that I used to know, or I thought I knew, just dissipated into thin air. Now he's like a full blown deadbeat husband. He was living under her roof, relying on her financially.
Starting point is 00:37:36 He was a leech. He was just sucking her dry of energy, love, compassion, and money. Not only did he take advantage of her financially, but his loving attitude towards her, gone out the window. So remember how Ning opens a Chinese restaurant. So she's just the owner. She doesn't really go in unless they need someone, unless someone cancels calls out of their shift, or it's like peak hours and they're understaffed. Now, he used to come over and help her out when
Starting point is 00:38:00 it got really busy, or if the employees called out, he would go, he would put on an apron, he would just do everything and she would look at him like, wow, he really is something, right? But now she would get called in during peak hours. She'd be like, let's go. Come on, get up. Like you need to do something with your life. He would drag his feet to the restaurant, plop down on one of the customer chairs. No. Eat food for free and play on his phone. Wow. And she's getting so frustrated because, you know what?
Starting point is 00:38:32 Like, there's only so much you can nag someone before you're like, I don't even have the energy to nag anymore. Like, I genuinely don't. He would watch her clean tables, take in orders. He did nothing to help, not a single thing. Employees said that the worst thing was, one time Ning was carrying a ton of stuff from the stock room.
Starting point is 00:38:50 She's walking down the stairs, accidentally slips, and falls, tumbles all the way from the top of the staircase to the bottom of the staircase. Obviously, this type of thing doesn't happen quietly. It's like a series of really loud thuds and bangs back to back. She's probably screaming employees are probably like, Oh my god, what happened, right? They look over at the husband thinking,
Starting point is 00:39:10 Okay, like your wife just tumbled down the stairs. He looks up from his phone, verifies that his wife is not bleeding out dead on the bottom of the stairs and goes back to his phone. Doesn't even pretend to care, not even a meaningless, are you good? Not even that. Not even that. I mean, that would be a problem, but not even that. Like no reaction. Employees rush to an inside and they stare at each other like, what the fork is this guy's problem? Like, what kind of husband acts like that?
Starting point is 00:39:44 Her fall was so bad, it warranted an ambulance right to the hospital. what the fork is this guy's problem? Like what kind of husband acts like that? Her fall was so bad, it warranted an ambulance right to the hospital. No way. Yeah, he did not care. So Nying is trying to reason with herself. Maybe it's just a phase, maybe she even read online,
Starting point is 00:39:59 like guys go through a phase after getting married because it's this feeling of commitment that becomes overwhelming Honestly, she was making excuses for him because I'm sure to a degree She also felt trapped like she legally got married in Chinese societies like anywhere in the world There is a stigma against divorces especially of her age And she's thinking maybe maybe it's even my own success Maybe dating is one thing
Starting point is 00:40:24 You know, maybe when he was dating her Maybe it's even my own success. Maybe dating is one thing. You know, maybe when he was dating her, he wanted her to be successful and he wanted to date an ambitious woman, but then she's reading online of all these other women saying that once you get married, it's different. Once men marry women that are more successful than them, it's no longer an advantage, it's no longer a pro,
Starting point is 00:40:42 it becomes like this con. So she's thinking, okay, maybe maybe he's dealing with all these emotions. Deep down, she's trying to, she's trying to reason with herself and hope that the you that she used to know would make a reappearance. And randomly, he would be nice. Randomly, he would do chores, he would take out the trash, give her a foot massage, and she would think, okay, thank God, like,
Starting point is 00:41:04 he's back. He's coming back, the man think, okay, thank God, like he's back. He's coming back, the man that I fell in love with, he's coming back. But then he would look up from her feet and ask with a big old grin on his face. Can I have a few thousand dollars? At first it's a few thousand, then it's like ten thousand, then a twenty thousand dollars. Finally, Ning puts her foot down and she's like, what the hell do you need all this money for?
Starting point is 00:41:24 Like you don't pay rent. You're not even working on your company anymore So it's not like you need money or funds to expand your business or something's going on with your company You literally spent every single day laying in bed playing games. Why on earth would you need a thousand dollars let alone 20 thousand dollars? Eventually he confessed that he has a hundred140,000 US dollars in gambling debt. This is the man that used to talk to her with such authority as if he was this aspirational hustling entrepreneur CEO to be and now he's confessing to the fact that he does nothing with his time and he's in debt from gambling. But can you imagine just the whiplash, she would get from something like that.
Starting point is 00:42:06 But what can she do? They didn't sign a prenump and he said that he had these aggressive, violent loan sharks that are breathing down his neck every single day. He told her that he never wanted her to get involved in this. This was his problem to take care of by himself, but he was scared for his life. Oh yeah?
Starting point is 00:42:22 Yeah. Laying on the bed, taking care of it. Oh yeah. So, Ning? Yeah. Laying on the bed, taking care of it. Oh, yeah. So, Ning briefly scolded him, you know? Like, well, I don't even know if it's scolding, but kind of what you would expect. Like, you shouldn't be gambling in the first place.
Starting point is 00:42:36 Like, you shouldn't be taking out loans to gamble. Like, that's so dangerous. You not know that can ruin your life. Like, I mean, that's an easy way to kill your own future. And if you're dealing with crazy loan trucks, you could end up killing yourself. Instead of talking his tail and being like, I know, I know.
Starting point is 00:42:52 I know, I'm gonna take accountability. I messed up on Never Do It Again. He straight up starts whining like a child. And he's like, no, I always said no, but my friends would visit and they would make me gamble. They'd be like, let's hit the casinos. And you're like, what? You are 30 years old, dude.
Starting point is 00:43:11 Yeah, she was so shocked. He pinkies were that he would never do it again. And Ning said, you know, I'm not going to pay off all your debt because then you'll never learn. I will pay off half your debt. That is more than enough, that is generous, and it's more than enough to get the loan sharks off your back to give you enough time to make up the other half.
Starting point is 00:43:32 And she was thinking, like she is someone who is very empathetic and likes to think the best of people, not even the best of people, but tries to reason with herself. Like she tries to reason with human psychology. She's thinking, maybe he was so depressed because he was getting all these calls from these loan sharks. He felt like he was in such a deep hole
Starting point is 00:43:51 that he couldn't climb out of. Maybe that's why every single day he would lay in bed playing games because he just didn't even know how to tackle this problem, right? But now there's a clear solution, not even that. Ning was like, I'm gonna give you one of my businesses to run and I will pay you more than the market competitor
Starting point is 00:44:09 price for this type of job, for you to pay the rest back. You don't even have bills. So your whole salary just goes to paying back your loan. You're gonna be out of this in no time. And Ning said at first, he was super passionate about his job, like super enthusiastic about not only doing his best but transforming the business into something bigger, scaling and expanding it IPO vibes, you know. Do you know what business? I think it was one of her trading companies
Starting point is 00:44:34 like where they would wholesale trade stuff. Oh yeah. And then he was like it's going to be like an IPO company just you wait it's going to be public. I'm going to make it like the next Amazon. And then after a week he was over it. He's literally gonna be public. I'm gonna make it like the next Amazon. And then after a week, he was over it. He's literally like a child. I don't know, okay, I'm sure every single one of us has met one of these people. They're so in love with the idea of being a boss
Starting point is 00:44:55 or like a CEO, but they have such a phobia for work. Like they just, they'll sit there and talk about how they're gonna scale this to be the next. Like Fortune 500 company. And then you never see them actually work a day in their life. They're just like at Starbucks in business meetings, but those business meetings are just like telling random people about their business that they're going to start.
Starting point is 00:45:17 That was him. That was him. And then one day, you said that he had a meeting with the client for work. She's like, okay, well, maybe he's going to enter his phase of being determined and motivated again. And then that's going to die off in a week, whatever. He leaves early in the morning and Nying is getting ready to hang out, head out. She's brushing her teeth when she gets phone call. Hello.
Starting point is 00:45:39 It's her accountant asking her why she just transferred $700,000 from her account. Transfer of 700 700 USD? USD. Wow. And she's like, what? I didn't transfer out $700,000. Why would I do that? Hold on, I'm about to run out the door and go to the bank and see what's going on. She spit out the toothpaste, ran to her bag to run out the door, but one glance inside,
Starting point is 00:46:03 her wallet is gone. He wouldn't, right? Like that's crazy. He wouldn't do that. She runs to the file folder in the corner of the room. Their marriage certificate is gone, as well as other personal identification documents of hers were gone. So he used this at the bank to be like, look, this is my wife, this is our joint account. And like basically trick the bank into allowing this transfer.
Starting point is 00:46:30 She stood there not even knowing how to feel. Like this man that she married her husband stole $700,000 from her. She didn't know how to feel if she should feel angry, sad, manipulated, gross, betrayed. She grabbed her phone from her pocket and she keeps trying to call this guy. No answer. So she's like, you know what? I have no choice. She goes to the police station and reports him. At this point, Ning's life was at her lowest.
Starting point is 00:46:57 Her husband just stole $700,000 from her. I mean, she still had a lot of money left. I think her assets totaled to be around $3 million at this point. But I'm not sure how much of her assets were in cash. But even then, I think it's just the principle of her husband stealing money from her. And the emotional trauma of all of that. I mean, he knew, he was the only person in the world that knew how hard she had worked her entire life, like how much she had sacrificed to be this career woman.
Starting point is 00:47:23 She didn't even date, She didn't have friends. And even though he knew all of this, he betrayed her. And just before this incident, there was a really bad fight that they had, where Ning was, she found out that she was pregnant. And her life was completely fine before meeting you, sure she would have moments where she felt a little bit lonely. She saw everyone else around her getting married,
Starting point is 00:47:46 having families. She hated calling her parents because they would inevitably ask, when are you gonna find someone? When are you gonna give his grandchildren? But other than that, her life felt so stable. Like she was very content. She knew exactly what her future was.
Starting point is 00:48:00 She knew what she was doing. And then after meeting this man, it's like, her life was a toilet bowl. It's just spinning down the drain. They get married, everything starts falling apart in the matter of a year or two. It's like a car accident that she can't stop watching and she's got front road tickets. She's about to get hit by a car. And now she's pregnant with a husband who can't even do the bare minimum.
Starting point is 00:48:22 Not only could he not just exist and be invisible, but he's constantly making her life worse. Like, her life is not even neutral because of him. Her life is harder because of him. And she's so upset, she's stressed about bringing a baby into this type of home she's overwhelmed with all of her responsibilities. And when she told him the news of her pregnancy, he was drunk and he angrily said, why don't I kid right now? If you want to abort it, abort it, if you want the baby, you can raise it on your own. Wow. He said abort it. It. The man that she thought she was marrying was gone. She had sat alone in her home like waiting for the police to catch her husband
Starting point is 00:49:06 for stealing her money, and she would reread that message that he had sent her before they got married. And the words just stung. He wrote, we can have a family, work hard, and have kids. We can teach them to be good people. If we have a boy, he can learn martial arts, work out, and become a caring man like me. If we have a girl, we'll treat her like a princess.
Starting point is 00:49:27 And when she grows up, she can find a man that loves her as much as I love you. It just felt like everything he had ever said to her was a complete and out of her lie. So after a full week, the police find you, and he confesses to sealing $700,000 from his own wife. He stated that he lost it all in the matter of a week due to gambling. He lost almost a million dollars. Okay, it's not almost but $700,000. The police station called Ning and they're like, hey, we got your husband. You want to come down here.
Starting point is 00:50:02 She walks in through the doors and he runs to her. He slumps down onto his knees and he's sobbing in front of everyone. And there was not coming down his face and he said that he just wanted to confess to everything just be clean. He wanted to bear his soul to her. He admitted to stealing her money. He admitted to losing $700,000 to gambling. But also he revealed that he was jailed for 12 years in the past for robbery and theft. He served 8 years in prison and had only been out for the past 3 years before he met Ning. He lied about his whole life. And what can you do because she can't even pursue anything because that's her husband?
Starting point is 00:50:39 Yeah. Right? But also, the father of her soon to be child. Yeah. Right? But also the father of her soon to be child. Yeah. Wow. He said he lied about his whole life because he wanted her. He wanted to feel like he was good enough for her. He said, you know, I really do love you and I knew that you wouldn't want to date someone
Starting point is 00:51:02 like me. Most of his twenties that he lied and said that he was trying to build businesses, he was in prison. He wanted to, which nothing is wrong with that, well, depending on the crime, maybe, right? But still, the fact that he lied. It's just dishonest, yeah. Yeah, it's just so manipulative, like just be honest about it.
Starting point is 00:51:22 And I'm sure there will be someone out there that is okay with it and loves you for you But why would you lie about it? He said now he wants to lay it all on the table so he can be the man that he truly thinks he can be and the man that she deserved him to be He begged her for one more chance even though he knew that he didn't deserve it He said that he's like even though I know I don't deserve. Like you don't have to. But like can you find it in the goodness of your heart to just give me like one last chance. Wow. Like this guy is so good with his words. He's a master manipulator. I will give him that. Ning said that she would think about it. She didn't even say yes right away. She was like, just, I don't even know what to say to you right now.
Starting point is 00:52:08 I'm just gonna go home. He goes home and that next morning he's a new man. He wakes up bright and early, draws the curtains, starts cleaning the house, tops at bottom. He cooks healthy, pregnancy meals for Ning, rubs her feet, rubs her back giggling in her ear about how nice it's gonna be when they have a kid, how his plans for the nursery. He would leave little post-it notes around the house, little love letters for Ning when she comes home from work. The minute that she walked in, she would smell fresh cooked home, cooked meals, just crawling
Starting point is 00:52:38 up her nostrils. It would smell so delicious. And it just felt like her hopeless romantic husband was back. And one night while rubbing her back, you told her, you know, my cousin works in the insurance industry. Oh my gosh. They said that we need to get life insurance since we have a little one on the way. He said it's really standard, everyone does it.
Starting point is 00:53:01 You know, it's time to start thinking about our child's future too, you know. And then kind of smile. It was kind of heartwarming when you think about it. You was going around asking family members for tips on what to do now. Now that he was about to be a dad and his cousin happened to be in the insurance industry and was like, you know, here's a big tip. He was taking it very seriously. He had even thought of something that had slipped Ning's mind. It was something that she didn't even think about. She's like, oh, yeah, that makes sense.
Starting point is 00:53:31 Of course we need life insurance. We're going to be parents. It is the responsible thing to do. Well, it was all a lie. Her whole, the marriage was a lie. The hopeless romantic was a lie. Even the insurance thing was a lie. I mean, trust me, he got the life insurance, but it's not because his cousin works in the industry. Ning realized it when she woke up at the bottom of the cliff. At first, she didn't even know where she was. She was out for like 40 minutes. She was unconscious for 40 minutes. Her eyes adjusted to the bright light and she could see these clouds and leaves in a sky and she's like, where am I? And it was honestly kind of beautiful for a second. And then it was painful. Slowly everything started coming back to her. She felt the cold rocks
Starting point is 00:54:19 just jabbing into her body. Her whole body felt like it had been hit by an 18-wheeler that reversed and then ran over her again. She tried to scream, but she couldn't even talk. Nothing would come out. And even if she could scream, would someone even hear her? Nobody was at the cliff when they were up there. Is it like a miracle that she lived? Yeah. So she actually hit a bunch of massive tree branches.
Starting point is 00:54:44 So she thumped on multiple tree branches on the way down and that kind of saved her from the impact. Had she fallen directly onto the rocks, she would have died. So it's not like she fell fully 11 stories. It's like she fell hit tree, then hit another tree, then hit another tree, and then hit the ground. I mean, her body was still obliterated and like shattered, but yeah, it was a miracle that there were so many true branches in that particular spot.
Starting point is 00:55:09 Yeah, because otherwise, don't you think he would have gotten away with this? And he would have gotten millions of dollars because she was the beneficiary. He also was entitled to all of her earnings and all of her wealth. And the life insurance, I don't know exactly how much it was, but he would have walked away a rich man, a killer and a rich man. Yeah. Yeah. And she just, she laid there. She couldn't scream.
Starting point is 00:55:33 All she could think about were how her husband had told her the hateful words, go die. Like imagine waking up knowing that your husband that you trusted through you off a cliff after saying go die. I feel like the words go dire worse than just throwing someone off a cliff. It's so like, it's like you don't even feel guilty. You don't even have a moment of sadness. It's not even a moment of... It's pure evil. And it's, you don't even see her as a human. And I think that's the only time that he actually expresses how he truly feels about her.
Starting point is 00:56:12 Yeah. Right? This is like, you know someone's about to die. So you don't care. You can finally say how he really feels. You know what I mean? And this is what he chose to say. Go die feels. Mm. Yeah. You know what I mean? And this is what he chose to say. Go die.
Starting point is 00:56:27 Go die. Yeah. Yeah. Like that's a level of hatred that I don't understand. Even pushing someone off a cliff is a level of hatred. I don't understand, but this is an added layer of evil. Yeah. So side note, you did wait around the cliff for about 30 minutes to make sure
Starting point is 00:56:41 that she was dead and not screaming for help. Thankfully, Ning was passed out and did not scream. So she would regain consciousness after he already left. I don't know what he would have done if she had screamed while he was there. Wow. And even more fortunately, that day there weren't a lot of tourists, but one of the tourists that were there at the National Park got lost. They went off the trail and were like trying to get back on the trail,
Starting point is 00:57:07 ended up at this area at the bottom of the cliff and found Ning. Wow. Ning felt a hot tears dripping down her face. She was unable to move. She just felt someone holding her hand. And this person was screaming at her, you're safe. You're safe. It's okay. You're safe. I'm going to it's okay, you're safe,
Starting point is 00:57:25 I'm gonna get help. The ambulances were called, and this is crazy, because you was driving out of the park area, but as he's exiting, he sees the ambulances coming into the park area. Now, let's be real, he knows exactly what the ambulance is for, and who it's for. So what does he do?
Starting point is 00:57:41 He parks his car, waits for the ambulances to leave, and he starts following the ambulance to the hospital. And the minute that Ning is taken out of the stretcher, he's screaming in time, I wife, my wife, what happened? Where did you go? Why did you? Why did you wander off alone? You have to save my precious wife. Any whispers in Mandarin, like no one speaks Mandarin, there were no cameras. If you don't want to die, behave yourself. He told the hospital staff that his wife was pregnant and feeling dizzy. She had wandered off from the trail
Starting point is 00:58:09 to get some fresh air and accidentally fell off the cliff. He tried looking for her for about 30 minutes, but because she had wandered away from him, he didn't know exactly where she had even fallen or where she had gone. He thought maybe she had walked down the mountain. He didn't even know that she fell off the cliff. So after about 30 minutes, he got in the car
Starting point is 00:58:26 to go look for some help to get the police, but he saw the ambulances. So he followed the ambulances just in the hopes that it wasn't his wife. Well, he is really good at making up stories. Later, when Ning was able to gain consciousness and could speak again, authorities asked her what happened. And she glanced at her husband and said,
Starting point is 00:58:46 I was dizzy, I must have fallen off the cliff. No way. So at this point, where Ning stands is, she doesn't really know Thai that well. She doesn't know Thai authorities that well. I think that things would have played out differently if she had been in China. Right, so she's not exactly sure how to play these cards
Starting point is 00:59:05 because she doesn't have proof that he pushed her. She doesn't know if these officers are even gonna believe her. And most of the hospital stuff, they felt bad for her, right? Everyone was like, oh my God, but thankfully you have your husband with you, right? Thankfully you survived.
Starting point is 00:59:18 But there was one nurse who called the cops, and she was like, by chance, this chance this is crazy okay I speak Mandarin. What? Yeah this one nurse is like I speak Mandarin is my second language and the husband like they were in their room in the ICU and when she was finally able to talk again when the wife was able to talk again I heard her screaming not screaming but like kind of crying why did you do this to me in Mandarin? The nurse just heard and saying nothing.
Starting point is 00:59:48 No, the minute she heard she called the cops. Oh. Because this is after a few days that she finally was able to. Yeah, but the nurse never like butt in like came. What do you mean? So she heard this and she's like, oh my God. I gotta call the cops. The husband did it.
Starting point is 01:00:00 Yeah. Wow. So she calls the police, right? And the police do probably the worst thing possible that may not trust them. They immediately confront you. And it's like, hey, why did, why was your wife saying, why did you do this to me?
Starting point is 01:00:14 And you was like, what? Oh, that, she was yelling at me because I wasn't taking well enough care of her when she was pregnant. And I made her go to the national park. And then she was upset because I wasn't holding her hand the whole time and like I wasn't making sure that she wasn't getting dizzy. So yeah, she was screaming like, why did you do this to me because I wasn't taking care
Starting point is 01:00:33 of her. Like it was my carelessness. They would ask Ning and because they're literally asking her in front of her husband, she's like, yeah, that's why I said that. And this helped you relax a lot. He was no longer staring her down every second of every day in the hospital. And in fact, he felt good enough to go to breakfast every morning.
Starting point is 01:00:56 Yeah, he would leave, go eat breakfast each morning, and on one of those mornings, Nying waited for that nurse, and she grabbed her hand. She felt this adrenaline pumping in her body and she said, please, she didn't want to say too much. She just said, please, my husband makes me nervous. It's making me depressed. Do I have to have him in the room all day? And the nurse looked at her and said, okay, yeah, let me talk to the doctors. The doctors did what they should do,
Starting point is 01:01:26 not what the police did, instead of being like, hey husband, you're making your wife uncomfortable, you can't be here every day, they just inform you. Hey, so we just changed our hospital rules right now and guests now have to abide by visiting hours. I know, I know it sucks, but we were just having too many guests stay over and it's become a safety hazard. So
Starting point is 01:01:47 There will now just be visiting outers and you can only visit during those specified hours and Slowly without use constant presence Ning starts opening up slowly to the nurses and she doesn't tell them right away She wanted a guarantee that she would have some level of protection when she's released. Because the worst case would be the police investigate her claims, find no evidence, and they basically tell you like your wife is talking. And they're like, sorry, you got to move on with your life. And we got new cases. She would be out of the hospital without any protection from her husband who clearly tried to kill her. So she was really worried about that. Thankfully, the police promised, they were like, we promise we'll protect you. Just tell us what happened. She opened up and they followed
Starting point is 01:02:29 through. They arrested you. Brought in for attempted homicide charges and in March of 2020 his trial began. This is 10 months after the incident. You was pretty emotionless during the entire trial. He pled not guilty. He was very calm almost indifferent. Meanwhile the state presented the motive trial he pled not guilty. He was very calm, almost indifferent. Meanwhile, the state presented the motive. You is in debt, he's unemployed, recently pulled out life insurance for his wife with himself listed as the beneficiary,
Starting point is 01:02:55 and with all of his wife's assets, he stood to gain more than $3 million. So yeah, it makes sense that he killed his wife. Very quickly, he was pronounced guilty and sentenced to life in prison. This is the first time he gets emotional during the trial and he gets up and like a little boy, like a little kid, he starts whining. Why does everyone believe in me and not me?
Starting point is 01:03:17 I'm innocent. I'm not lying. He would appeal resulting in a second trial in Thailand and if you're wondering where he gets it all from, the apple does not fall far from the tree. His mom is giving typical, my son could never, my son is perfect, he's basically Jesus reincarnated and absolute angel, the drugs and gone in his room, he's just keeping it for a friend. The girl that he's holding hostage in the basement, she's a whore anyway, like that's the vibe
Starting point is 01:03:43 that his mom gives, that's the exact energy throughout the entire trial. Her son could do no wrong. She comes to court and tries to argue that the state's motive, that her son wanted money from Ning was a complete, an utter lie. It was bullshit, she said. Why? Because he had a successful business that made even more money
Starting point is 01:04:01 than Ning's little business. His business was bringing in tens of millions of dollars a year. As evidence, she pulled out a company business card and identified herself as a shareholder of the company. With very minimal surface level investigations, it was revealed the company does not exist, and the business cards were made using Photoshop. What?
Starting point is 01:04:21 Yeah. But she thought that people would just take a look at her business card and take her word for it that the business was making tens of millions of dollars a year. And she was like, you don't know because it's in China. And Thailand was like, well, we do know. All we had to do was some quick search and some quick little chats with Chinese diplomats. Your business doesn't even exist. Side note, she, the mom, did later reach out to Ning and said, I'm sorry, I think I was too greedy.
Starting point is 01:04:50 I wanted too much and I put too much pressure on my son, which caused him to do this. Again, what? Even just like how is that sufficient for an apology after your son tried to murder his pregnant wife? Like, oh, I just put so much much pressure he was so stressed he did this. Ning is a way better person than I could ever be. She did not lash out at the mom.
Starting point is 01:05:15 Instead, she wisely and coolly just texted, yeah well everything has caused an effect. Oh shit, okay. And that was that. Finally, March 24th, 2021, you was convicted of attempted homicide and sentenced to life in prison. He was also ordered to pay neighing $180,000 in compensation,
Starting point is 01:05:36 but let's be real, how was he gonna pay that back? Meanwhile, neighing had lost almost everything. She couldn't work for a long time, since she had multiple steel plates placed in her body. Her legs can't even bend properly. She had more than 200 stitches. She can't even use the toilet properly. She has to put to this day. Put her body up against the wall or handle of the side of the restroom and slowly support her body to squat down because her legs don't work. Every morning after waking up she needs to do three to four hours of rehabilitation exercise or she could lose her ability to walk.
Starting point is 01:06:08 She could lose all of her progress and it's not just painful but it's repetitive, it's boring, it takes so much of her time and the worst part is she can't be independent anymore and again this is a woman who values independence so much. The most that she could even do to take care of herself was brush her teeth And even that took her so much strength. She couldn't use the restroom alone, she couldn't shower alone. Her little sister had to quit her job and be her 24-7 care taker. And it just broke her heart to see her sister give up her everything to take care of her. During her recovery, she had the most awful news. From the morphine and all the medication she had to take after the attempted murder, her
Starting point is 01:06:51 child was no longer viable to survive outside of the womb. And adds to that with Ning's current state, even her attempting to give birth would likely result in her own death. So the doctors were like, this baby is not going to survive outside of the womb anyway, and it will most likely kill you to give birth. So she lost her child. She lost her husband.
Starting point is 01:07:17 She lost her child, her independence, her career, and her trust in, I don't know, humanity all at once. She still had to undergo eight different surgeries and for about a year she said it was just non-stop mental breakdowns. And then in 2022, like early 2022, she picked herself up from rock bottom and said, why am I doing this?
Starting point is 01:07:39 I am a successful woman and I can be successful again. So she started social media, got back on our feet. As of 2023, she doesn't cry anymore about what happened. She said that she had time to reflect. And side note, netizens really broke down like every part of this case and they really used it as a way to showcase how people can be so manipulative in relationships. And these aren't even, I guess, in relationships. And these aren't even, I guess, at the time, netizens were under the belief that the biggest red flag is someone hitting you. Like, you always think, okay, if someone kills their partner, there must be some evidence of violence up until that point, right? But this was a huge wake-up call. There might never be violence until one day they kill you. They also noted something in the
Starting point is 01:08:23 letter that I think is very, very true. A lot of netizens said that one thing that stood out was in his initial letter to her before they got married. He keeps talking about how the whole letter is so narcissistic. It's all about what he wants. What his wife can do for him,
Starting point is 01:08:40 and then what he brings to the table is like, I'm going to fix your life. But her life doesn't need to be fixed. Her life is better than your life, right? But one thing a lot of female netizens pointed out was, if you ever meet a guy that says that they want you to have a gentle personality and yet be career driven, that basically means they want you to make money
Starting point is 01:09:00 work hard but still be submissive. And a lot of female netizens were like, this is the biggest red flag these days. When people say they want a woman who has a career but still has a gentle personality, because women are saying, do you know how hard it is to maintain a gentle personality? If you're out there working,
Starting point is 01:09:19 like that literally you cannot have both at the same time. It's impossible. So they're like, that's the biggest red flag people need to look out for now. So guys, look out for that. And the whole letter is just, it's a mess. Do you guys think the letter was a mess? Like did you get it from the, get go
Starting point is 01:09:36 or do you feel like a time site? Let me know. Yeah, it's weird. Yeah, it's weird. It was a weird letter. It doesn't feel romantic. Yeah, it doesn't feel sincere. It doesn't feel normal. Yeah. What are you saying? It doesn't feel romantic. Yeah, it doesn't feel sincere. It doesn't feel normal.
Starting point is 01:09:45 Yeah. What are you saying? It's just really weird. But also, like, long hair, good figure. Like, it's like, whoa, if I read that in a letter, I'd be like, this is very creepy. Yeah. Anyway, Ning had to basically start from scratch again. She lost her business.
Starting point is 01:10:01 She, from not being able to work all the time, a lot of money was poured into not only fighting the legal battles and her recovery, you know rehab, physical rehab, all of her medical bills traveling from Thailand back to her home country like everything, it was a lot of cost. But name remains positive. It's so interesting. So she was interviewed and she was asked, looking back on the past three years, when was the darkest moment of your life? Like, how did you even survive this?
Starting point is 01:10:31 She said, from the moment that he pushed me down the cliff, till the moment that I could stand up on my own, every moment between that was dark. The event destroyed my life. I mean, my little family was gone. My lover betrayed me. My child was gone. My health was gone.
Starting point is 01:10:44 My career was destroyed. All my plans were gone. My lover betrayed me. My child was gone. My health was gone. My career was destroyed. All my plans were gone. My life was in ruins. I was a successful person before this. I lived a decent life. And for someone like that, to go from being independent to
Starting point is 01:10:57 urinating and defecating in bed every day, it is a level of torture and humiliation that you won't understand unless you experience it yourself. My parents are older, so they were helping me recovery, but I was thinking, you know, when my parents get even older, I'm supposed to help them. But are they going to be old, barely alive and helping me, or will all of us just lie in bed together
Starting point is 01:11:25 and look at each other as we die. And I thought, how can I prevent this? And my only option that I could think of was I gotta get better. She said, I've seen the best of people, I've seen the worst of people, and it's made me feel some relief at least, because now I've seen it all,
Starting point is 01:11:43 and I have courage to face my new life. She also said that she's very happy that our story can inspire netizens to get out of bad relationships and she also said 17 bone fractures over 200 stitches, multiple surgeries, what doesn't kill me does make me stronger. And she said, my flash marriage with him was extremely risky and it's my fault that I didn't do my homework and investigate. I hope everyone can learn, get to know people more. Take them to your parents.
Starting point is 01:12:10 You can also investigate through formal means to see if they've been involved in criminal or civil cases or if they have debt. These are things I didn't do and I hope everyone knows this and they start doing this. Protect yourself. What's crazy is that when she was asked if she still believes in love and marriage, she said, marriage is beautiful. Love is beautiful. And I don't think that he can represent marriage or love
Starting point is 01:12:33 because he's not worthy of either. And she is now active on doing, she, I mean, I'll just say like her ability to take this in strides and really come out stronger on the other side is not only impressive, but it's like unbelievably inspiring So what are your thoughts on this case? I thought it was It was very strange in the sense that I
Starting point is 01:12:58 Mean statistically it's the husband or it's always the wife right But just the way it went down It was enough red flags to know that he's a toxic person but was it enough red flags to know that he was a killer? It's terrifying. What are your thoughts? Please stay safe and I will see you guys on Sunday for the mini-sode. Bye.

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.