After a silence that seemed to last an eternity, Zhang Wan finally spoke. "What do you want to know from me?"
Before Xu Tingyu could answer, she emphasized again, "I won't testify against Qi Ye. That's out of the question."
She wasn't a fool. By now, even if she truly hated Qi Ye, she couldn't stand against him.
She didn't know if Xu Tingyu could help her, but she was certain that Qi Ye could easily kill her.
She was trapped in a dead end.
Xu Tingyu understood this only too well.
"I just need to know how you guys targeted Xu Jia back then. Why did you do this to us?"
"Don't worry. All I've ever wanted is the truth. I won't ask you to testify."
As the person in charge, Zhang Wan surely knew all the details.
In fact, she might even know more than Qi Ye.
Zhang Wan fell silent again for a moment. Finally, she asked for a pack of cigarettes. After lighting up two in a row, she slowly began to tell the whole story.
The truth was far darker and more despicable than Xu Tingyu had ever imagined.
It wasn't just Xu Jia's life that was involved.
Qi Ye had undergone a double - kidney transplant back then.
It was Xu Jia's kidneys that were taken, not his heart as Xu Tingyu had thought.
Back then, Xu Jia had always been in poor health, so he had to go for two physical check - ups a year at the hospital under the Qi Group.
Qi Ye had suffered from kidney disease since childhood. By the time he was in his early twenties, he had already started dialysis.
The old master was traditional, and kidney disease was often associated with fertility.
So the Qi family had always kept this a closely - guarded secret. They only said that Qi Ye was in poor health, never specifying the exact problem.
No matter what, Qi Ye was the grandson of the Qi family. The old master surely couldn't just watch him die.
After Qi Ye started dialysis, the old master had already begun preparing for a kidney transplant for him.
The first step was to find a suitable donor.
So the hospital under the Qi Group had been secretly screening patients and conducting private tissue - matching tests.
Among all the people, Xu Jia was the most suitable.
He was young and a perfect match.
After getting this result, the old master hesitated. After all, Xu Jia was Xu Tingyu's younger brother and the apple of the Xu family's eye.
Moreover, his physical condition was quite poor. The Xus would surely never agree to let him donate a kidney.
So the hospital was still looking for other matching donors.
But who would have thought that the old master found out about Xu Jianmin's illegitimate son.
It turned out that Xu Jianmin had always been dissatisfied with Xu Jia's poor health, so he had an affair outside and had a healthy son.
But even so, the Xu family would never allow their own son to donate a kidney to the Qi family.
Later, the old master found out that Xu Jianmin had started making radical investments. For the sake of his illegitimate son, he didn't care about anything.
The old master had never liked illegitimate children. They were often the biggest unstable factor that could bring down a family - owned enterprise.
So he started to push the Xu Group further towards ruin.
During this period, they never found a more suitable kidney donor than Xu Jia.
But Qi Ye's health was getting worse day by day.
After the Xu family finally got into trouble, the old master thought the opportunity had come. He told Qi Ye about the matching kidney donor.
But Qi Ye refused at that time.
He really liked Xu Tingyu and had done many things to make her feel isolated and helpless.
But his ultimate goal was always to make her come to him.
But taking Xu Jia's kidneys—if this ever came to light, it would surely be an insurmountable chasm between them.
However, his refusal didn't change anything. The old master had already made up his mind.
So the old master bypassed Qi Ye and went straight to Zhang Wan. The two hit it off and started to plan.
First, Xu Jia's latest physical examination report mentioned that there was a shadow in his brain. Whether it was benign or malignant required further examination.
In the old master's eyes, this was further evidence that Xu Jia was no longer necessary.
After all, in his mind, the Xu family was bankrupt, and a sickly Xu Jia would only be a burden to others.
Zhang Wan went to find Xu Jia as planned and used Xu Tingyu's situation to provoke him. She had intended to make him get sick early and be hospitalized for the kidney removal.
But by accident, she accidentally pushed Xu Jia.
And, coincidentally, when he fainted, he hit the tumor in his brain.
In other words, even if his organs hadn't been removed, he wouldn't have been able to live a normal life.
The best outcome would have been for him to become a vegetable.
This accident advanced the transplant, and the single - kidney transplant became a double - kidney transplant.
However, the operation was illegal from a legal perspective because the family was unaware, and Xu Jia was still alive at the time.
But the old master forcefully arranged everything.
Even the experts invited by Qi Shifeng at that time were the old master's people.
On the day of the operation, Qi Shifeng couldn't come because the old master had arranged it.
At this time, the more chaotic the Xu family was, the better. Otherwise, if this incident was discovered, it would be a big problem for the Qi family and the Qi Group.
After that, everything went smoothly.
Qi Ye didn't know the source of the kidneys until after the operation. He was extremely angry at that time.
But the deed was done, and he was indeed the beneficiary.
So he could only try his best to cover up the matter.
The words Xu Tingyu heard in the nurse's duty room were actually deliberately arranged by him.
He knew that Xu Jia had been cremated too quickly, and Xu Tingyu would surely become suspicious sooner or later.
So he deliberately spread this rumor and made sure that Xu Tingyu "happened" to hear it.
This rumor gave Xu Tingyu the motivation to live and find the truth for her younger brother.
Unfortunately, she was looking in the wrong direction.
She thought it was all Qi Shifeng's doing.
At that time, Xie Shu did go abroad and did have a heart transplant operation, but the operation was done later.
The heart had nothing to do with Xu Jia.
All the information Xu Tingyu had traced was a mix of truth and falsehood because Qi Ye had been keeping an eye on this matter.
He was always one step ahead of her.
In fact, the Qi family had already planned to shift all the blame onto Xie Shu.
After Xie Shu's accidental death, the old master's secretary talked to Xie Yu, who had gone to handle the funeral.
The general idea was that as long as she kept silent about Xie Shu's cause of death, the Qi Group would help her make a comeback and become her backer in the entertainment industry again.
By then, Xie Yu's reputation was in tatters, and Xie Shu was already dead.
Of course, she chose to cooperate with the old master.
At that time, they thought that once Xu Tingyu traced Xie Shu's death, the matter would be completely over.
Who would have thought that after she returned to China, Xie Yu's mental state collapsed, and she actually wanted to tell Xu Tingyu everything.
A whistle - blower surely didn't deserve to live in this world.
So Xie Yu's brakes failed.