"Listen to this first."

After listening to the recording, Wen Lijing was quite shocked. "This was... recorded by Miss Qiao?"

“Wanwan is a bit young and doesn’t trust people. As soon as she heard that Shiyi was there, she rushed over immediately. But she’s not stupid. On her way there, she messaged me saying that Wenru invited her to dinner. When she arrived, she also secretly sent me the location. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to get there so quickly.” Zhan Jingting put away his phone. “After she arrived, it wasn’t convenient for her to secretly take a video with her phone, so she secretly recorded an audio recording. That way, she would have some evidence in case things got complicated. I didn’t expect that this would actually cause trouble.”

“Miss Qiao is very smart.” Wen Lijing frowned. “Judging from the conversation in the recording, after she fainted, my father was murdered by someone else, and this person was someone my father knew.”

“Exactly,” Zhan Jingting said. “The police used high technology to conduct a detailed analysis of this audio, extracting the footsteps of the third party, that is, the murderer, as well as the sound of a knife being stabbed into your father. If you want to hear it, you can go to the police station to request it later.”

Wen Lijing's fingertips trembled!

Zhan Jingting continued, "Judging from the footsteps, the police believe the murderer is a woman, but she stabbed you with great force, killing you instantly. She must have hated your father intensely. You can start from this point and see what enemies your father has."

"I understand. I will start my investigation from this angle. Jingting, thank you."

"Need not."

Zhan Jingting's phone suddenly rang, and Wen Lijing stood up to say goodbye. "Then I'll be going now. If you have any clues, please let me know as soon as possible."

"I will."

Wen Lijing walked out of the study and went downstairs with unsteady steps.

Suddenly, his footing gave way, and he plummeted forward!

Just as he was about to fall down the stairs, a force grabbed his arm and pulled him back!

After Qiao Wanwan pulled the person back with all her might, she couldn't stand up at all, and the two of them fell to the ground!

"Hiss..." She sat up, rubbed her arm, and asked, "Are you alright?"

"It's nothing," Wen Lijing said, pulling himself back to reality. "Thank you."

"You don't look well. Have you not been resting well these past few days?" Qiao Wanwan asked with some concern. "If you had really fallen just now, something could have easily happened."

"I really haven't rested much." Wen Lijing covered his face with his hands, hiding the fatigue on his face.

"But you were putting on a brave face before," Qiao Wanwan asked curiously. "Did Jingting say something to you just now?"

“He played the recording for me, and I heard my father’s last words before he died,” Wen Lijing said painfully. “I wasn’t very close to my father. I was the eldest son, and he was very strict with me, so I moved out and lived on my own after I started working. Over the years, every time I saw him, we talked about work the most. In my memory, there was never a scene of fatherly love and filial piety. Even during the Spring Festival, after we finished our New Year’s Eve dinner, we would go about our own business.”

"My third uncle said that my father went to see him and not only talked about Wen Xue, but also mentioned me. He said I was his pride..."

"That's a good thing. It means your dad cares about you," Qiao Wanwan comforted her.

“No, I always thought that over the years, the Wen family couldn’t compare to the Zhan family. I’m the same age as Jing Ting, but I can’t compete with him. My father is disappointed in me, so I talk to him less and less, and I’m even indifferent to him.” Wen Lijing became more and more pained. “I never knew that I was his pride… You know what? His exact words to my third uncle were that Lijing was not the most outstanding among his peers, after all, there was Jing Ting as a reference point, but I never compared him to Jing Ting.”

“I wanted him to go into politics, ostensibly to make things easier for the Wen family, but actually to keep him away from the business world. Li-jing is ambitious, and I was worried that if he went into business, he would be at odds with Jing-ting and it would hurt him. I only hope that my children will live a peaceful and healthy life.”

Qiao Wanwan's nose tingled with emotion. "He is a good father. I believe that you will never let him down, whether in the past, present, or future. You will always be his pride."

"Why am I only finding out now..." Wen Lijing buried his face in his knees. "I regret it so much. Why didn't I ever have a heart-to-heart talk with my father? I never thought he would die, or that he would die like this. He must have had many regrets when he died..."

Qiao Wanwan couldn't help but gently pat his back, "In this world, the only thing we can't control is accidents. I believe your father in heaven wouldn't want you to think like this. I also believe that the regrets of this life can be continued in the next life."

Zhan Jingting came out of the study and saw the scene at the bottom of the stairs. His brows furrowed slightly. "What's wrong?"

Qiao Wanwan got up from the ground. "It's okay."

Wen Lijing suppressed his grief and stood up. "I was in a bad mood just now and almost fell down the stairs. Luckily, Miss Qiao saved me."

Zhan Jingting frowned even more. "There's an elevator over there. Also, this is dangerous. What if Wanwan falls down with you?"

"Yes, it was an accident. I have a lot of things to do outside, so I'll be going now."

Qiao Wanwan watched Wen Lijing leave before walking up to Zhan Jingting. Seeing his grim expression, she asked, "What's wrong? Who made you angry?"

Zhan Jingting looked up at her and asked, "Tell me, what if you had fallen down the stairs with him just now?"

Qiao Wanwan: "......"

“When I came out of room eleven, I saw him looking distraught, so I came over to ask him what was wrong. I didn’t expect him to almost fall down the stairs. I instinctively pulled him up. It’s okay, I couldn’t just watch him fall. It’s easy to get hurt if you fall from here.”

"That's precisely why I don't want you to do it, because it's so easy for things to go wrong," Zhan Jingting said unhappily. "What if you fall and get seriously injured? Who will be responsible?"

"Jingting, are you accusing me of meddling again?" Qiao Wanwan pouted. "But it's just my subconscious reaction, I can't control it."

Zhan Jingting sighed helplessly, "Forget it, I won't say anymore. In short, you're not allowed to do this kind of thing again."

Qiao Wanwan didn't argue with him and got back to the main topic, "We have limited clues right now, so it shouldn't be easy to find the murderer, right?"

"At this point, we can only make a preliminary judgment that it is a woman, and that she knows Li Jing's father. Li Jing will investigate."

Qiao Wanwan recalled, "That's a high-end villa area, not an area that ordinary people can't go in, right?"

"Jiangdong is already investigating in this direction. No one lives in that villa usually; only a maid goes there to clean it regularly, so there are no security cameras installed. We can only search the outer areas."

"The fact that the murderer dared to act so directly means that he not only investigated thoroughly beforehand and knew there were no surveillance cameras in the villa, but he may have even been hiding inside the villa beforehand!"

"Then here's the question," Zhan Jingting said. "According to Wen Ru, Li Jing's father made the decision to invite you to dinner the night before before going to bed. Then Wen Ru started making arrangements and decided to have the meal at this villa. How could the murderer have made so many preparations without anyone noticing in just one night?"