☆, Chapter 123: Essence

Lu Congxu didn't expect him to say such a thing. He said, "Mianmian doesn't treat you the way you think. She just doesn't like some of your ways of doing things, but she doesn't judge you for it. She's not the type to criticize others."

"Really?" Wen Run sighed. "She thinks I'm childish, useless, playful, and a hopeless piece of shit."

"It's true that he is childish, but he doesn't have the following qualities. Playing doesn't mean you have no future." Lu Congxu succinctly refuted his argument.

Wen Run's eyes widened slightly, and then she sighed, "Forget it, let's not talk about that anymore. If it's hard to understand each other, we won't understand each other in the end. Let's get back to Xia Ning."

"To investigate, I intentionally approached Xia Ning after my sister's funeral. During this time, I discovered many anomalies. For example, she and Wen Xueyao were particularly close."

"In order to know more, I pretended to pursue her affectionately for a while, and finally she agreed to my pursuit. Do you know why?" Wen Run asked with a raised eyebrow.

"What?" Lu Congxu asked. Combining what happened a while ago, he already had some guesses in his mind.

"Give up the inheritance." Wen Run said word by word, "She said she wasn't worthy of me and felt it was too high a mark for her. She kept hinting at me giving up the inheritance. I wanted to see what the people behind her were up to, so I pretended to compromise. As a result, on the night I gave up the inheritance, Xia Ning agreed to be with me."

Lu Congxu was quite surprised.

In fact, during the time he was investigating after Wen Mianyu's car accident, he had been suspicious of and keeping an eye on Xia Ning.

But whether it is Xia Ning or Wen Xueyao, they are both very cautious and live their normal lives every day, so it is difficult to find any flaws.

It can be said that as long as there is no financial transaction between them, it is difficult to define the trap relationship.

If you don't infiltrate the inside, it is really difficult to find out anything about this kind of thing. The fact that Wen Mianyu has hired a private detective for such a long time but still hasn't found out anything is a clear example.

Wen Run can be said to be very smart. He took advantage of his own strengths and was very willing to set a trap, giving up his inheritance to win Xia Ning's trust.

How could Xia Ning not be moved when she saw a gifted man willing to give up his immense wealth for her?

Not to mention that Wen Run has a face as beautiful as Wen Mianyu, he is handsome and elegant, and has more temperament than many male stars. This kind of melancholy, rebellious and prodigal temperament is very attractive to young girls.

But Lu Congxu did not expect Wen Run to give up so much for the investigation.

In his impression, Wen Run and Wen Mianyu did not have a good relationship, and he did not seem like the kind of person who would do this for Wen Mianyu.

"You must be wondering, since my relationship with my sister is so bad, why should I still be so obsessed with her death, right?" Wen Run easily saw through Lu Congxu's thoughts.

Lu Congxu didn't shy away from it. "Indeed, I used to think your relationship was ordinary and your personalities didn't match. But now it seems that Mianmian and I both misunderstood."

"There's no misunderstanding. I've always hated her serious demeanor. I disliked her acting like an elder sister when she lectured me," Wen Run said. "I still hate her now, but no matter what, she's a member of the Wen family, we share the same blood. I can't let anyone harm her. That's cowardly!"

Lu Congxu didn't expose his duplicity and asked, "What did you find out?"

"I found out that it was Xia Ning who put the brakes on my sister and teamed up with Wen Xueyao to kill her." Wen Run talked about this with gritted teeth and full of hatred. "Wen Xueyao had been in cahoots with Ye Qianan for a long time, coveting my sister's property, and bribed Xia Ning."

Even though Lu Congxu was mentally prepared, he was still shocked when he heard the truth.

Veins popped faintly on his forehead. "Is this matter related to Ye Qianan?"

"I don't know about this, but from what Xia Ning said, Wen Xueyao didn't dare tell Ye Qianan the truth. She was afraid that Ye Qianan would blame her for being cruel after knowing it and would not want to be with her." Wen Run said.

Lu Congxu's expression did not ease at all after hearing this. Regardless of whether Ye Qianan knew about it or not, his relationship with Wen Xueyao was the fuse of the incident and he was inseparable from it.

Whenever he thought about how he almost lost Wen Mianyu forever, Lu Congxu couldn't remain calm.

"It's better if fewer people know about this kind of thing. Wen Xueyao is so cautious, she wouldn't spread it around. Ye Qianan probably doesn't know about it." Wen Run spread his hands, his face full of sarcasm. "But what if he doesn't know? Just based on the fact that he slept with Wen Xueyao, that scumbag is not worthy of my sister. He's also half a murderer."

"So the extra money that Xia Ning got out of nowhere a few days ago was a reward from Wen Xueyao?" Instead of scolding the scumbag, Lu Congxu was more concerned about the progress of the case.

"Yes." Wen Run nodded, tapping the cigarette butt with his fingertips and flicking off the ash. "Wen Xueyao knew a little bit that you were investigating her. She has been playing it safe since the car accident and hasn't done anything rash, let alone transferring money to Xia Ning."

"But the remuneration was something they had already agreed on. She had been holding off on paying, and Xia Ning was getting a little impatient. She was afraid she'd break her promise, so she kept pushing her."

"Wen Xueyao was afraid that Xia Ning would get anxious and tell others about the matter, so after things settled down for a while, she gave the money to Xia Ning."

"But fearing that the bank transfer would be traceable, Wen Xueyao didn't use a card. Instead, she asked Xia Ning out directly and gave her cash."

"So you haven't been keeping an eye on Xia Ning's account. Wen Xueyao is not a fool, how could she let you get hold of anything?" Wen Run sneered, not mocking Lu Congxu, but expressing his disdain for Wen Xueyao's scheming.

Lu Congxu pondered for a moment, went over the various relationships involved, and then asked, "Since Xia Ning has money and you're by her side, why is she so eager to immigrate?"

"She must be feeling guilty." Wen Run said resentfully, "After all, she killed someone. It's impossible for her to not feel any burden at all. Once, she accidentally fell asleep while watching a movie and was awakened by a nightmare. I think my sister never let her go in her dreams."

Lu Congxu thought that Xia Ning was like this only because she had done too many bad things, and she would dream about them at night because she was thinking about them during the day.

"Xia Ning is anxious to go abroad and start a new life. I've collected some evidence recently, but it's far from enough. I wanted to find more, but if Xia Ning leaves like this, it will be too late." Wen Run changed the subject, bringing the topic back to the beginning, "So I want to ask you for help."

"How can I help?" Lu Congxu listened and thought at the same time. He already had some countermeasures in his mind, but he wanted to hear Wen Run's ideas more.

"I have a recording that I made after getting Xia Ning drunk. She admitted to colluding with Wen Xueyao to kill her sister. But because this recording came later, it may not be able to serve as strong evidence. However, combined with Xia Ning's ill-gotten gains, if you find a good lawyer, you may be able to overturn the verdict." Wen Run told Lu Congxu his thoughts.

Lu Congxu hadn't expected him to get the actual evidence. This was undoubtedly a pleasant surprise. "Do you have a recording? Can I listen to it?"

"Add me on WeChat and I'll send you a message." Wen Run was quite happy to take the phone from the hood of the car.

Lu Congxu also took out his cell phone, found his number, and sent a request.

After adding the friend, Wen Run sent a recording. Lu Congxu put on his headphones and listened to it.

"Sister Xueyao has such a good relationship with my sister, how could she harm my sister?" It was a gentle and clear voice.

"What's this about a good relationship? It's all fake..." Xia Ning's voice was a little unclear, and it was obvious that she was slightly drunk. "Wen Xueyao has been jealous of Movie Queen Wen for a long time. She has always hated that Movie Queen Wen is better than her, more outstanding than her. With Movie Queen Wen around, how can she ever get ahead? Forget about the fans, even the media doesn't bother to pay attention to her."

"She loves Ye Qianan so much that she's willing to lower herself to seduce him for a one-night stand. But she also knows that as long as Queen Wen is around, Ye Qianan will never fall in love with her in his next life!"

"Haha, Wen Xueyao is also stupid. She actually killed someone for a man."

"She asked me to tamper with Queen Wen's car. If Queen Wen dies, she will inherit a lot of money and a man. Is there anything more cost-effective than this?"

"Now Wen Xueyao has everything she wanted. If she doesn't give me what I deserve, I'll be angry but I don't know what I'll do. She will definitely not be willing to lose what she worked so hard to get!"

"Just wait, I'll ask her to give me money tomorrow..."

The recording stopped here. There should be nothing relevant to the drama afterwards, so Wen Run did not continue recording.

The recording is less than five minutes long, but its content is explosive.

Everything Lu Congxu wanted and had not found for a long time was in there.

He held the phone in his hand for a long time, unable to calm down, feeling mixed emotions.

"What about you? Do you have any better ideas?" Wen Run asked when he saw that he didn't say anything.

Lu Congxu calmed himself down, thought carefully for a moment, and said, "Your recording is very clear, but it's not conclusive evidence. From the sound of her voice, it's clear that Xia Ning was drunk. If she seizes on this point and claims she was just talking drunk, the credibility of this recording will be low, and it's likely that it won't be used as evidence to overturn the case."

Wen Run was anxious and sat up. "That's why I asked for your help. Isn't your Lu family's background very powerful? As long as you are willing to use your connections, my sister's case can be overturned. Do you want to see my sister die in such an unclear way?"

Lu Congxu knew that he was doing this for Wen Mianyu's own good, so he was very patient with him. "I can't do that, but sometimes investigating a case isn't just about connections, and the same goes for public opinion. I have a better way."

"What method?" Wen Run asked.

"We can do this..." Lu Congxu lowered his voice and spoke to him in detail.

Wen Run's eyes lit up after hearing this, and he couldn't help but slap the steering wheel hard, "Brilliant! You can actually think of such a method. I thought you were a gentleman, but it turns out you have so many tricks!"

His words seemed like a mockery, but in fact they were compliments that he didn't know how to give. Wenrun was always like this, spoiled since childhood, rebellious and speechless.

Lu Congxu looked at him and felt that it was only now that he truly understood Wen Run.

He is actually not what he appears to be. He is probably a person who doesn't know how to express himself and has too strong self-esteem.

Judging from the fact that he was willing to pay so much to overturn Wen Mianyu's case, Wen Run actually cares about his sister Wen Mianyu very much.

…

There were many people on the set, so Lu Congxu didn't rush to tell Wen Mianyu about this. He waited until he got off work in the evening and drove back to City A overnight.

Wen Mianyu's filming went smoothly today and she finished work early. When Lu Congxu arrived, she had already eaten dinner and washed up.

Lu Congxu had sent a message in advance to inform her, so she was not surprised, but she was worried about Lu Congxu's behavior of running back and forth.

"Don't come over tomorrow. It's not like we won't have the chance to be in love in the future. Why are we rushing for time? Your health is more important. You won't sleep well like this." Wen Mianyu had cooked some soup in the clay pot early, and served it to Lu Congxu as soon as he arrived.

Lu Congxu was still in his costume, his suit and tie were very neat. He raised his hand to loosen his tie and sat down at the table. "I met Wen Run today..."

In the next twenty minutes, Lu Congxu told Wen Mianyu everything that happened during the day in detail.

After hearing this, Wen Mianyu maintained a shocked expression for half a minute.

"Wen Run, he..." After her rebirth, this was the second person who made Wen Mianyu want to cry, and also the second thing that moved her unexpectedly.

"I misunderstood him before." Not knowing what to say, Wen Mianyu only said this in the end.

Lu Congxu reached out his hand, touched her head across the long table, and gently said, "It's okay. It's not too late to know now."

"I...I really am..." Wen Mianyu choked up a little, rarely so moved, "My rebirth was really not in vain, I picked up a lot of things I missed before."

She raised her head and looked at Lu Congxu seriously and affectionately. This look was enough to contain a thousand words. "I will pick you up again, and I will also be warm and gentle."

Lu Congxu smiled, gently and calmly.

"Huh..." Wen Mianyu took a deep breath and exhaled slowly to calm his mind.

After she adjusted her mood, she asked again, "What advice did you give Wen Run?"

"It's like this..." Lu Congxu spoke gently and repeated his thoughts to Wen Mianyu.

It’s actually very simple, and it was Wenrun who reminded him of the feasibility of this method.

Wen Run said that Xia Ning felt guilty after doing something wrong, so she was anxious to ask Wen Xueyao for money, wanting to move to another place and start a new life.

So, was Xia Ning's guilt really solely focused on Wen Mianyu? Perhaps it was more than that? She had done such a huge favor for Wen Xueyao, doing something that couldn't be seen by others. This was a secret between the two of them.

If one of the two people keeps silent, the secret becomes known only to that one person, and people will start to feel uneasy about others.

Even if Xia Ning is not worried that Wen Xueyao will leak the matter, isn't she worried that Wen Xueyao will kill to silence her?

I'm afraid it is precisely because of such concerns that people are in a hurry to get money to immigrate.

Only when she went abroad and left Wen Xueyao's sphere of influence could Xia Ning feel truly at ease.

Lu Congxu thought that if he couldn't let Xia Ning get what she wanted, he could find someone to pretend to be Wen Xueyao's side and make trouble for Xia Ning.

He acted as if he was going to kill Xia Ning and threatened her that if she fled abroad, she would disappear even more secretly.

As a result, Xia Ning didn't dare to go abroad at all. You know, if she encountered a killer abroad, she would be really helpless.

What would Xia Ning do when she received death threats from Wen Xueyao's side every day? I'm afraid she would do anything if pushed to the limit.

At that time, any flaw revealed will be strong evidence of the drama.