Chapter 71. He was wronged. ...
"Shen Yuan," Xie Tang leaned on his shoulder, her voice muffled, "Do you still remember this person?"
"The Shen family?" Chu Song frowned and pondered for a moment, then shook his head. "I don't remember them. The name sounds familiar, but I can't recall it."
“The woman who appeared in the lounge that night was her.” Xie Tang looked up at him. “She’s Qin Wu’s cousin. She was also at the dinner party when the two families met. She’s the one who accidentally spilled wine on your shirt when she was toasting you.”
Chu Song's face gradually revealed displeasure at being offended and deep suspicion: "What exactly does she want?"
“Perhaps you met her even earlier,” Xie Tang suggested, “but you’ve forgotten. She has a morbid obsession with you.”
She still felt a chill run down her spine when she recalled Shen Yuan's distorted expression.
Chu Song frowned even more, as if he had caught a glimpse of a blurry shadow.
He took out his phone and dialed Shen Jialang's number directly.
The call was answered almost instantly, and Shen Jialang's nonchalant voice came through: "Out so soon? How's the food inside?"
"Shen Yuan." Chu Song ignored his teasing and cut straight to the point.
"Hmm?" Shen Jialang didn't seem surprised. "My adoptive parents' daughter."
"Thanks to her, I was allowed to stay inside for a few days." Chu Song's voice was as cold as ice.
"You can only blame your bad luck." Shen Jialang's tone sounded insincere. "After seeing you at the golf course, her eyes never left you, like she'd lost her soul. I guess she's probably fallen for you."
"Why did you take her to the golf course?" Chu Song pressed.
“There’s no way around it,” Shen Jia said seriously but helplessly. “My adoptive parents have been kind to me. They asked me to take my sister to see the world. How could I refuse?”
"Shen Jialang!" Chu Song said coldly, "You owe me another favor!"
"Understood, understood, I remember it, including the previous ones!" Shen Jialang readily agreed, then changed the subject with a gossipy interest, "But I'm quite curious, someone like Shen Yuan... um... the type you wouldn't even notice in a crowd, in a place like a golf course, I thought you wouldn't even spare a glance for her."
"Why did you glance at her just once that day? Because of that one glance, she became completely uncontrollable."
Chu Song's gaze involuntarily fell on Xie Tang in his arms, and the coldness in his eyes melted a little, turning into an indescribable complex emotion: "I thought... I had met an old friend."
"An old friend?" Shen Jialang's voice was filled with incredulous surprise, then he chuckled, "Which old friend? My sister-in-law? Ha! Sorry, sorry, I'm sorry, I've been looking at her for over twenty years and I really can't see any resemblance between her and my sister-in-law. You're just blind, everyone looks like her, aren't you?"
Shen Jialang teased without any restraint on the other end of the phone.
Chu Song didn't say anything more and hung up the phone directly.
“I went to see her,” Xie Tang’s voice trembled as she recalled Shen Yuan’s appearance, “She was really too crazy… that kind of obsession, that ruthless determination… I…”
She couldn't find a more fitting word to describe that chilling feeling.
Chu Song noticed her fright, tightened his arms, and hugged her more closely, resting his chin on the top of her head, conveying silent comfort.
After a brief silence, Xie Tang seemed to have made up her mind and said with difficulty, "Brother Song, let's... get a divorce."
Chu Song's face instantly darkened, and he tightened his grip on her chin, forcing her to look up at him. "A-Tang, take back what you said!"
His eyes were sharp, but his words were unusually low and calm: "We finally got back together. Don't say things like that again."
“Shen Yuan said... as long as we get a divorce, she will not hand over the evidence of your ‘violation’ to the police.”
Xie Tang felt a heartache so intense she could hardly breathe, and overwhelming guilt almost drowned her. "I'm sorry... it's all because of me... if I hadn't taken Zuo Meng's case and offended Xiang Shaoyun, you wouldn't have been dragged into this revenge, and your reputation would have been ruined."
Chu Song looked deeply into her tear-filled eyes, which were filled with pain and self-blame.
He didn't say anything more, but sealed her apology with a long, deep, and comforting kiss.
Then, he lowered his head, rested his forehead against the crook of her neck, and took a deep breath of her reassuring, faint fragrance.
“Impossible, A-Tang,” his voice muffled against her neck, “Don’t even think about such a stupid idea. The feud between Xiang Shaoyun and me started long before you took on Zuo Meng’s case. Do you think he’s just doing this to get revenge on you?”
Chu Song's gaze suddenly turned cold and distant, as if piercing through time and space to see that tragic accident: "My sister... that car accident abroad back then was not as simple as an accident at all."
"Xiang Shaoyun was also abroad at the time. He was driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs. He went against traffic and ran a red light, crashing into my sister's car. The car overturned and crashed into the guardrail. The surveillance footage shows that he even reversed and crashed into it again..."
"Two people died on the spot, and her lover couldn't be saved on the way to the hospital... In the end, only my sister was left, seriously injured and in a coma..."
He paused, seemingly suppressing surging emotions, "Xiang Shaoyun was also injured and taken to the hospital. To protect him, the Xiang family didn't hesitate to find a scapegoat! In the end, the Xiang family only had to pay some money and easily got away with it..."
Chu Song's voice trembled slightly: "After my sister woke up, she learned the truth. She couldn't bear the pain of losing her lover, and she couldn't bear the fact that the murderer who destroyed her family was still at large. She was living in too much pain... so she chose to commit suicide."
Xie Tang felt a heavy weight in her heart, as if a huge rock was pressing down on it.
She hugged Chu Song tightly, as if trying to pull him back to reality from that cold nightmare.
She closed her eyes, and the image of the "high society" that she had once only observed but was now deeply involved in uncontrollably surfaced in her mind—how much madness, greed, and unscrupulousness were hidden beneath the glamorous exterior?
It was so different from the world she knew, so... suffocating.
When Xie Tang opened her eyes again and looked at Chu Song, she found him staring at her, the heaviness in his eyes still lingering.
But seeing her pale face and the weariness between her brows, his eyes filled with heartache. "You haven't been sleeping well these past few days, have you?"
In reality, when has he ever had a good night's sleep?
Seeing her struggling to stay awake at this moment is even more heartbreaking.
"Hmm..." Xie Tang responded softly. The immense mental pressure finally eased at this moment, and an overwhelming sense of exhaustion instantly overwhelmed her.
Her heavy eyelids could no longer stay open, her head tilted to the side, resting on Chu Song's shoulder, and she fell into a deep sleep without any warning.
Chu Song looked at her sleeping face, raised his hand to gently brush away a stray hair from her forehead, and then placed a very precious kiss on her smooth forehead.
He gently lifted her up and placed her on the bed, then covered her with the blanket.
He didn't leave, but instead lay down on his side and pulled her into his arms.
Feeling the steady breathing of the person in my arms and smelling the fragrance of her hair, my tense nerves, which had been strained for many days, finally began to relax.
The overwhelming fatigue quickly dragged him into a deep sleep.
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The next day, back at the law firm, Xie Tang sat in front of the computer, repeatedly playing the so-called "evidence" video provided by Shen Yuan.
This was the hundredth and one hundred and first time she had watched it. Her eyes were as sharp as a hawk's, not missing a single frame, trying to find a flaw in this carefully designed trap.
Pan Yu was badly hurt by Zuo Meng's case and was completely listless. He took a few days off to go out and clear his head.
When Xie Tang saw him return to work early from his leave, she was somewhat surprised: "Why did you come back early? Shouldn't you have rested for a few more days?"
"Sigh, I can't even have fun outside," Pan Yu said, slumped wearily at his workstation, scratching his head in frustration. "I feel empty inside, and I have no energy for anything. Oh well, I'd better come back to work. Maybe I'll feel better when I'm busy."
He looked up at Xie Tang, "What are you looking at? Why are you so focused?"
"Let's look at the evidence..." Xie Tang rubbed his throbbing temples and pointed at the screen. "Something about this video feels off, but I can't quite put my finger on it. You're experienced, can you take a look?"
Pan Yu listlessly got up, strolled to Xie Tang's workstation, glanced at the screen, and his expression immediately turned strange: "Oh, it's this part... I've already seen it. Why are you studying it now? Shen Yuan's case hasn't been officially filed yet, has it?"
Xie Tang took a deep breath, turned her head, and looked into Pan Yu's eyes. "The man in the video is my husband, Chu Song."
"Wh...what?" Pan Yu's eyes widened instantly, his mouth slightly open, his face showing the expression of someone struck by lightning, and he froze completely.
The sheer volume of information nearly overwhelmed him, and he stammered, "You...you just said...who is he? Your...your husband? Chu...Chu Song?"
"That Chu Song from Huasong Group? You...when did you...marry into a wealthy family...and even..."
He was so shocked that he was incoherent, his gaze shifting back and forth between Xie Tang's face and the "aggressor" on the screen, his worldview severely shaken.
“Calm down, Attorney Pan.” Xie Tang interrupted him helplessly, extending her left hand, the wedding ring on her ring finger gleaming subtly under the light. “There’s nothing to hide. Right now, the key is this evidence.”
She pointed to the screen again, "Take a closer look. Didn't you notice anything the first time you watched it? For example... are there any signs that the video has been edited?"
Pan Yu was still reeling from the shock. He took several deep breaths to barely suppress the turmoil in his heart and forced himself to focus on the video itself.
He leaned closer to the screen, staring intently at it, his gaze gradually becoming professional and sharp.
Fast forward, pause, slow motion... After a few minutes, the surprise on his face was slowly replaced by a knowing "I knew it" attitude.
“I felt something was off when I first saw it!” Pan Yu pointed at the screen, his tone becoming more certain. “Look here, and here, isn’t the transition between the movements a bit stiff? The subtle tremors in the lighting and the edges of the background also don’t seem very natural… Although the splicing technique is quite skillful, you can still find some clues if you look closely.”
He paused, his gaze lingering on the silhouette of the man in the video, then glanced subconsciously at Xie Tang. The words caught in his throat as he hesitated, "However..."
He hesitated for a moment, then asked the question that had been bothering him, with a hint of inquiry, "Attorney Xie... I mean, what if... what if this video is real... what would you do with your husband? Get a divorce?"
This question was presumptuous, but his professional instincts and concern for his friend compelled him to confirm Xie Tang's attitude.
"He was wronged," Xie Tang replied firmly, her eyes unwavering.
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