[“How could it not be important when it concerns a person’s innocence?”]

Something was wrong.

Wang Ran’s body language when facing Yuan Jianxin was off.

When talking to Yuan Jianxin, his gaze always focused on the other man’s eye and nose area, a visual zone representing friendliness. When standing and talking, his toes were always pointed towards the other person, indicating that he considered Yuan Jianxin to be the leader of the group. However, in Yuan Jianxin’s description, Wang Ran was always very assertive, seemingly constantly vying for actual control of Haoting, and Yuan Jianxin also consistently expressed his dissatisfaction with Wang Ran.

How could this contradiction be explained?

Doubt was a thorn, and once it was stuck in his heart, he could no longer pretend nothing was wrong. He eventually became suspicious and began trying to understand everything that was happening domestically.

However, this was very difficult: at that time, all his financial resources came from Yuan Jianxin. All the actions of a modern person could be reconstructed through consumption records. Even his first attempt to contact other shareholders of Haoting was noticed by Yuan Jianxin. He specifically called him, using the excuse of asking if he needed anything for his life, to warn him not to have too much contact with people in the country, claiming that Haoting was in turmoil. Contacting shareholders at this time might get him into trouble. After all, most of the shareholders attributed their loss of profits to Su Ruini’s improper actions back then, and they might vent their anger on him, demanding that he, on behalf of his mother, compensate the board of directors.

This reason was certainly valid, but it was not enough to dispel his doubts. He was, after all, still someone who tended to judge guilt by results—after Haoting was delisted, Runyuan achieved breakthrough development almost immediately. Could such a strong negative correlation be a coincidence?

He didn’t believe it, so he began his difficult and lonely investigation.

At first, he never suspected that there was another hidden story behind the major case seven years ago. After all, his mother herself had repeatedly confessed, so he naturally wouldn’t doubt this point. However, the several changes within Haoting were all reminding him of the past shady dealings. And once his perspective on the past changed, the results he saw would also be very different.

For example, he found out that the engineering company that forcibly demolished Fengyuan back then was not an outsourced company that Haoting usually cooperated with. The prosecutor later determined that this company had underworld connections, and the legal representative had long since absconded, as if everything had been expected.

He suspected that Yuan Jianxin was involved in the case back then, but he had no evidence. All the financial statements and fund details were not something he could access. If he wanted to investigate the truth of that year, the only option was to find a way to enter Runyuan.

Yuan Jianxin was a very smart person, and if Runyuan was really unclean on this issue, wouldn’t he be wary of him?

He had to find a way to make Yuan Jianxin lower his guard, such as pretending to have no interest in business management and entering Runyuan.

Yuan Jiahui had mentioned to him several times that she hoped he could return to China after graduation to work at Runyuan, and Yuan Jianxin was present on a few of those occasions. He declined every time, saying that he liked the medical profession and still wanted to be a doctor and live a stable life in the future. To make it realistic, he even found a job at a hospital and got an offer before graduation.

Years of pretense finally worked, and eventually he still got the opportunity to enter Runyuan. But he knew that Yuan Jianxin had not really let his guard down. A person who had committed a crime would have to live in tension for the rest of his life, this was inevitable.

Presiding over the IPO work gave him the best opportunity. He used the pressure from SWD and Junsheng to request a lot of past data files from Runyuan—he even borrowed someone’s help in this—of course, these things couldn’t directly point to the dispute seven years ago, but there were still some clues. He had already decided: if he could find conclusive evidence to overturn Su Ruini’s case this time, that would be the best. If not, he wouldn’t let Runyuan go public so easily. He was already certain that Yuan Jianxin had a problem, and he would definitely make him pay for what he did back then.

However, some things still exceeded his expectations: he originally thought that only Su Ruini’s involvement in the forced demolition case was related to Yuan Jianxin. However, today’s encounter with Zhou Leqi was too similar to Hou Feng’s seven years ago, which made him suspect that there were also some unspeakable secrets hidden behind his father’s accident...

Why did Su Ruini confess back then? If Hou Feng’s death became corroborating evidence of some kind of threat, then...

He suddenly dared not continue thinking.

The man in front of her had ice-cold hands. His narration was sometimes incoherent, and he would occasionally pause at some key points. Zhou Leqi knew it was because he was in too much pain, pain that interrupted his thoughts and emotions, which were being shattered by those overly dark memories. He had to constantly calm himself down to speak of those past events.

It was countless times deeper than her wounds seven years ago.

She wasn’t very good at comforting people, at least not as good as he was back then, probably because she wasn’t an optimistic and cheerful person by nature. Therefore, all she could give him was a quiet hug and a silent promise not to flee alone in the thorns.

“It will be alright...”

She told him through her tear-blurred vision.

“...You are home now.”

The sunlight slanted, and dusk was also arriving in Beijing on the other side.

Yan Lin hurriedly returned home from the law firm after work, preparing to pack his luggage and then head to the train station. He had previously promised Zhou Leqi that he would return to City A to look through the files, but unfortunately, he had kept putting it off until now. Tomorrow was Monday.

His house was also rented, but it was closer than Zhou Leqi’s, in the West Fifth Ring Road. It wasn’t very big, a two-bedroom, one-living room apartment, where he lived with his father.

While he was packing his suitcase in his room, he heard the sound of a cane outside the door. Turning his head, he indeed saw his father, Yan Hai, standing at his bedroom door. His leg prosthesis was removed, and the leg of his trousers hung empty.

Yan Lin frowned and called out “Dad.”

Seven years had brought many changes to Yan Hai. He was thinner, appearing somewhat gaunt, and his shoulders were always slightly hunched, making him look particularly weak. Especially his demeanor had changed. Before the accident, he was always very tough and flamboyant, but now his eyes always held a hint of evasion. The amputation had probably left a very deep shadow on him after all, and he was no longer very good at meeting other people’s gazes directly.

“You, you’re going out?” he asked Yan Lin cautiously, “Have you eaten? Are you hungry?”

He looked a little timid.

Yan Lin suspected that he had secretly drunk alcohol today, otherwise his expression wouldn’t be so strange. However, he didn’t have time to pursue these minor details today, so he only replied hastily, “Going out of town for some business, I’ll be back in a couple of days. I won’t eat here, I’ll take care of it on the way.”

Concise, cold, and rigid.

“Oh, oh,” Yan Hai nodded in agreement, looking like he would leave everything to his son’s arrangements, “Then you’re busy, you’re busy, Dad won’t bother you.”

The relationship between father and son was always very delicate, and economic conditions were sometimes a crucial determining factor. Yan Hai now probably regarded his son, who earned money to support the family, as his everything, while Yan Lin obviously had no interest in taking charge and didn’t like his father talking to him so cautiously, as if he usually abused him.

Yan Lin sighed inwardly and adjusted his way of speaking, asking his father in a gentler tone, “I’m going back to City A. Dad, is there anything you want to eat? I’ll bring it back for you.”

He paused, then gave an example, “Like soy sauce duck bones, salted egg yolk glutinous rice dumplings, things like that.”

Yan Hai’s eyes lit up as soon as he heard this, and a smile appeared on his gaunt face, probably also recalling some flavors of his hometown. He became happy and said, “If it’s not too much trouble, you can bring some, just a little bit—oh, but maybe it’s better not to, it’ll be troublesome for you to carry on the road...”

“It’s no trouble at all,” Yan Lin smiled, “Then I’ll just buy some myself.”

Yan Hai’s gaunt hand rubbed against the seam of his trousers, a somewhat awkward smile on his face, and he nodded in place.

Yan Lin then continued to pack his suitcase, and after a while, he heard Yan Hai ask again, “What are you going back for? Isn’t it enough for your company to just take on jobs in Beijing, do you still have to run to other places?”

Yan Lin’s hand, which was folding a shirt, paused, silent.

Yan Hai, standing behind him, also noticed this unusual behavior of his son. He thought his excessive questioning had caused his son’s dissatisfaction, and he immediately became a little flustered, quickly saying, “I won’t ask anymore, I won’t ask anymore, it’s your work, I shouldn’t have asked so much...”

As he spoke, he immediately supported himself with his cane and walked haltingly towards the living room, as if afraid that his son would get angry, in which case he would have to face the awkward situation of having no one to support him.

“Dad.”

But Yan Lin stopped him. He was a little nervous, stopped walking, and turned back to ask, “Wh...what is it, son?”

Yan Lin didn’t reply immediately, as if he was thinking about something, his expression somewhat serious. After a while, he finally answered, “I’m going back to re-investigate the Fengyuan forced demolition case of Haoting seven years ago. Regarding this matter, Dad, is there anything you want to tell me?”

“Seven years ago.”

“Haoting.”

“Fengyuan.”

“Forced demolition.”

Even though Yan Lin’s tone was as calm and indifferent as usual, each of these words was still like a heavy bomb, with unimaginable destructive power. Yan Hai lost his balance and almost fell to the ground, cane and all.

“That case?” Yan Hai’s lips were trembling, as if recalling some painful experience and also feeling fear in his heart, “Wasn’t that case over a long time ago? Why investigate it again? Who wants to investigate it again? Did someone find a problem?”

A series of panicked questions.

“Dad...” Yan Lin couldn’t help but let out a heavy sigh, “You received money you shouldn’t have... didn’t you?”

Yan Hai froze, his mouth open as if he couldn’t make a sound.

“I remember for a while the family suddenly became quite well-off,” Yan Lin stated clearly, a hint of reminiscence in his eyes, “One day you were drunk and gave me a thousand yuan, saying someone paid you to refuse to relocate—am I wrong?”

Yan Hai had already begun to tremble, his gaunt body looking particularly fragile.

“Do you know who gave you the money? Do you still have their contact information?” Yan Lin continued to ask, “If you know anything, Dad, you must tell me.”

Yan Hai didn’t speak, silently shrinking into the corner, needing the support of the wall to keep himself from falling.

“Is... is this important?” Cold sweat began to trickle down Yan Hai’s forehead, his eyes darting around uncertainly, “...Isn’t this all something from many years ago?”

Yan Lin didn’t speak, lowering his head to continue folding the shirts into the suitcase, zipping it up, and standing up straight again himself.

“It is very important.”

He replied in a steady voice.

“How could it not be important when it concerns a person’s innocence?”