Have all the recordings of the guests at that birthday party been collected?
Yan Yincheng's expression turned solemn. He shed his previous relaxed and comfortable demeanor and became tense.
"Wei Shu, download the stuff and play it for me."
The happy days of the past two days had almost made him forget that there were many disgusting maggots wriggling in the dark corners. One day she would return to Fengcheng, and he hoped to give her and their two children a clean world. Just as she wanted to pull Fang Ruiyang and his mother out of the abyss and give them a free and clean Haicheng.
From the earphones came unfamiliar voices, trying to recount in detail what had happened at the birthday party four years ago.
"That night, after I received the invitation, I rushed to the bar. I heard that the bar was reserved by Yan Zhen for Yuan Xi. The venue was decorated dreamily and beautifully. We were all extremely envious. Yuan Xi looked like a beloved princess that night..."
"Anything strange? Well, if there was anything strange, it was that Yan Zhen didn't show up all night. Yuan Xi waited for him for a long time and called him but got no answer. She finally waited no longer and invited us all to cut the cake."
"Unable to reach Yan Zhen, Yuan Xi was unhappy. But after we all finished the cake, Yan Zhen called Yuan Xi back. I don't know what he said, but he managed to cheer Yuan Xi up again."
"Ji Xinyue didn't do anything special that night. She ate cake and drank drinks with us. Oh, since Yuan Xi was allergic to alcohol, the bar only provided us with juice and cola that night."
Hearing this, Yan Yincheng was stunned. His first reaction was that this was impossible. He clearly remembered drinking with her, and she had drunk quite a bit. That night, she showed no symptoms of alcohol allergy at all.
Moreover... if she hadn't drunk alcohol four years ago, how did she end up in his room, have a relationship with him, and have no memory of that night, even mistaking him for someone else?
He composed himself and continued listening.
"I remember after Yan Zhen called Yuan Xi back, Yuan Xi got up and told us she was leaving."
"Let me think... I remember now. It was not until Yuan Xi was about to leave the bar that Ji Xinyue gave her the birthday gift. What was the gift? It seemed to be... chocolate! Ji Xinyue said it was chocolate her cousin bought for her from abroad. It was very expensive and delicious. She was reluctant to eat it herself, so she gave it to Yuan Xi. Out of respect, Yuan Xi tasted one on the spot and said it was really good."
Yan Yincheng's heart sank. Chocolate? Something to eat? Could the problem lie with this chocolate? As if hearing his inner doubts, the next second someone in the recording said:
"How could there be anything wrong with the chocolate? Yuan Xi left the bar without any signs of trouble."
Of course, the effects couldn't show up immediately. After all, food takes time to digest, especially chocolate, which only gradually melts as the temperature rises.
If there was really something wrong with the chocolate, the distance from the bar to the hotel would be just enough for the drug to take effect...
So, what happened four years ago must be related to Ji Xinyue!
"Actually, I was quite surprised that Ji Xinyue showed up at Yuan Xi's birthday party that night, because their relationship was just so - so. They had been rivals since childhood. Competing for what? There were so many things. They competed for the title of campus belle, the position of the head of the art department of the student union, the leading role in the school play, the principal dancer in the dance team, the image ambassador for the school sports meet... Of course, Yuan Xi usually won in the end. She was prettier than Ji Xinyue, had a boyfriend like Yan Zhen, and was kind - hearted. Most people supported her. By the way, at that time, I heard that Yuan Xi and Ji Xinyue were competing for the position of the main dancer in a large - scale evening party. We all thought Yuan Xi would surely win, but unexpectedly, those photos were taken, and Ji Xinyue got the chance in the end. I felt so sorry about it for a long time."
"Why didn't we support Ji Xinyue? It was because she was two - faced. She always said one thing to your face and did another behind your back. She'd smile at you and seem very nice, but then she'd go and tattle on you to the teacher. I really disliked her."
"I'll tell you a little secret. When Ji Xinyue was in junior high school, out of jealousy of Yuan Xi, she forced a girl who looked a lot like Yuan Xi to jump off a building and commit suicide. But very few people know about this because the Ji family spent a fortune to cover it up after it happened. So you mustn't tell anyone, or I'll be retaliated against by the Ji family."
The recording ended here, but Yan Yincheng could already piece together what had happened that night based on these conversations.
It was pretty much as he had guessed. That night, she had been set up, and Ji Xinyue was definitely involved. In fact, Ji Xinyue had played a major role. The chocolate, the reporters, and the manipulation of public opinion - every step was calculated so precisely.
The reason Ji Xinyue wanted to ruin her was for the position of the main dancer in that large - scale evening party. She was jealous of Yuan Xi, jealous that Yuan Xi was better than her in everything, and jealous that Yuan Xi had gotten many opportunities she had always dreamed of.
This woman deserved to die!
The beast in his heart broke out of its cage again, roaring and venting angrily, making the hostility between his eyebrows grow stronger.
What surprised Yan Yincheng the most was that she had left only after receiving Yan Zhen's call that night.
There was no doubt that Ji Xinyue was one of the masterminds.
But what about Yan Zhen? What role did he play in this?
The time when Yan Zhen secretly came to Haicheng, when he learned that it was him who had been with her that night, the anger and shock on his face didn't seem fake.
Since it was Yan Zhen's call that had set everything in motion, what was he so shocked about?
And then there was Yuan Ya'er. In that dream, Yuan Ya'er had strongly promoted the engagement between Yuan Xi and Guan Baocheng. She was definitely not innocent either.
Yan Yincheng tapped his blind stick thoughtfully with his finger.
There were too many questions and too many people involved. It was probably impossible to solve everything at once. Since the only one they had caught for now was Ji Xinyue, then... get rid of this threat first!
Two hours later, a man with messy and dirty hair, cuts all over his face, broken glasses, and mud - splattered clothes, looking extremely disheveled, was dragged in by two bodyguards and brought before Yan Yincheng.
"Third Master, we found this man in a small town in Hangzhou. He had opened a small grocery store there to make a living." Bodyguard A Feng said, "We checked his account. The money he used to open the grocery store was exactly the amount Miss Ji paid him four years ago."
The man who had once been a reporter for a major newspaper in Fengcheng couldn't have failed to recognize the handsome and imposing man sitting on the sofa. This was the second - largest shareholder under Chairman Yan, the Third Master Yan who controlled all the product formulas of the Yan Group and had earned countless fortunes for it.
Before Yan Yincheng could say anything, the man knelt down in front of him very voluntarily and pleaded humbly:
"Third Master Yan, whatever you want to know, I'll tell you everything! Please, for the sake of my honesty, spare my life. I have a wife and children now. I can't leave them!"
Yan Yincheng sneered, "You have a wife and children, so you expect others to spare you? But why didn't you spare Yuan Xi back then when she was young and innocent? You ruined someone's life, but now you expect others to forgive you. There's no such good thing in this world."
That's right. Even he hadn't fully earned Zixi's forgiveness. Did this man think he could get away just by saying a few words?
It wasn't that easy.