Chapter 2 Entrance Exam 02
"Name."
"Jiang Yuelu."
"Family ties."
"My adoptive parents are Yan Yu and Zhu Nian. I have two younger brothers and a younger sister."
"Your biological parents?"
“Never.”
In a roadside cafe, the coffee on the table was steaming in the winter. A well-dressed black-haired young man sat opposite and answered the man's questions.
The young man answered these questions, which he had been asked countless times. From time to time, he raised his coffee cup to take a sip and looked off into the distance absentmindedly.
There was a car parked at the corner not far away, and the man who got out of the car a few minutes ago was now sitting in front of him, holding a notebook and writing down his answers.
"Mr. Jiang, can you tell me about your movements on December 12 last year?"
"Of course. It was a weekend, Xiaofei and Lulu came back from school, and Ayin also rushed back from another place. We had a rare lunch together."
"After dinner, I went to pick up the Christmas tree we ordered, as Christmas is coming soon. After I came back, Lulu said she wanted to eat dumplings, so we gathered together to make some. After eating, I didn't feel well, so I went upstairs to take a nap. When I woke up, I was already outside."
"Outside?"
"Outside the house, I was standing barefoot in the garden."
"Is the fire out?"
"No, it's still burning."
"You went to a store that sold Christmas trees that day. Can anyone prove that?"
"The clerk can."
"You're at home the rest of the time?"
"right."
“Can anyone prove it?”
"No."
Jiang Yuelu put down the coffee cup and said calmly, "The person who can prove it for me is gone."
Ten minutes later, plainclothes officer Xiao Liu got into the car. The car was warm. He stretched out his stiff fingers and glanced at the two people playing poker in the back seat. They were both older than him. In theory, he should call them seniors.
"How did you finish so quickly? Are you slacking off?"
"I've written it all down..."
The bearded man snatched his notebook and scanned the Q&A records at a glance. "I really don't know why the higher-ups always ask us to keep an eye on him. It's been a year, and he still gives the same answers a thousand times. I can recite them with my eyes closed!"
"The higher-ups naturally have their own plans." Fox Eyes said slowly, "Do you think you're asking him these questions because he's the most suspicious? Who would go after a CEO with a promising future just for the sake of a dead person?"
"The reason they are holding on to it is no longer because of the people who were burned to ashes."
"How can I understand those twists and turns?"
The bearded man threw the notebook to Xiao Liu.
They had no other tasks today, so they drove slowly towards the bureau. Not long after, the bearded man started snoring in the back. Xiao Liu was staring at the records in a daze, and was suddenly startled by the sound next to him.
"Do you think it was him?"
"ah?"
Fox Eyes tapped his chin to record, "Do you think he started the fire?"
Xiao Liu shook his head subconsciously, "Isn't this possible?"
"How is it impossible?"
"We have been together day and night for more than ten years. Although we are not relatives, it is too cruel to do it without any hesitation..."
"You have a good impression of him?"
"He's a very nice person. Even though he's the CEO, he doesn't put on airs."
Fox Eyes laughed, "You don't think she's pretty, do you?"
"How could I..."
"When we first met him, we had the same thought. Besides, he hadn't been the boss for very long at that time, and he still lacked temperament. Now he feels a little... how should I put it, distant."
"When you see him more often in the future, you will know that he is not normal. Here," Fox Eyes pointed to his head, "there is something wrong here. He is actually a madman."
-
Secretary's office.
After finishing the work at hand, Zhao Silan looked towards the president's office opposite.
An hour ago, Xiao Jiang went out. He had been undergoing the monthly police questioning for almost a year.
The Ministry of Law said that he could have refused to accept any interviews. A year had passed since the tragic accident, and there was no evidence that he was the arsonist. Zhao Silan and other people in the company did not know why he insisted on doing so.
The fire happened during her job-hunting season, and she only caught a glimpse of the coverage on TV as she passed by. Her own trivialities soon drowned out her sympathy for others.
Even when she saw the name "Fortune Mansion", she felt a subtle feeling in her heart - since he can afford to live in such an expensive area, he should not need any sympathy from poor people like us.
Unexpectedly, three months later during the spring recruitment, someone picked her out from the resume pool. Although she didn't have much hope for big companies, Zhao Silan still took out the spirit of fighting to the death and joined more than ten interview groups of the Yan Group in one go. In addition to sharing interview tips, everyone in the group also chatted about some gossip. It was here that Zhao Silan saw Mr. Xiao Jiang's name.
"Mr. Xiao Jiang is an adopted son. After he was adopted, Mr. Yan started to have children one after another."
"I went to many hospitals and took many medicines, but nothing worked. When Mr. Jiang came, we had a son and a daughter. This child is so lucky. Even if I'm Mr. Yan, I treat him like a treasure."
"After a long time, you will know whether it is better to have a biological son or an adopted son..."
"We dare not say that."
The group leader quickly banned these ignorant students from speaking.
Those conversations planted a seed of doubt in Zhao Silan's heart, but after a year at the job, Zhao Silan gradually became unable to agree as vaguely as she had at first.
"You must be careful when working around him, Xiaolan. Regardless of whether he committed arson or murder, people involved in such things are troublesome in themselves."
She ate in silence.
Her friend didn't notice her abnormal mood and continued, "He just lost his family on the 12th, and he can hold a PR meeting on the 18th. You've seen it, there's only one week left. How can he smile? Anyway, if something tragic like this happened to my family, I would definitely not remain indifferent."
She pushed the bowl forward.
"How do you know he's indifferent?"
"…Are you angry?"
"So what do you want?"
"ah?"
"You, the police, and everyone else, what do you want to do with him?" Zhao Silan said, "If he hadn't come out earlier, there wouldn't be the Yan family today."
"That's not what I meant...Xiaolan!"
By the time she rushed out of the hotel, she had calmed down and wandered on the street outside. She realized belatedly that her outburst tonight was inappropriate. As she passed the corner dejectedly, Zhao Silan suddenly heard a familiar voice.
"If you talk about your boss in private, you will be fired from the company."
She looked up in astonishment and met the eyes of the man who was smoking in the alley.
"... Jiang, President Jiang!"
"Don't call me that outside."
"Sorry... ahem!"
He crushed the cigarette against the wall and looked over with his deer-like eyes: "You spoke for me, I should be thanking you, why are you apologizing to me?"
That being said... but it's really embarrassing to be heard talking about your boss. Thinking of this, Zhao Silan looked back at the simple little restaurant, a little bit unbelievable: "... So you were eating in there just now?"
"Well, what's wrong?"
"Nothing. I think you should go to the top floor of Swan Lake Hotel to enjoy the black card package instead of..." coming to such a simple home-style restaurant.
Mr. Jiang turned around and looked at the restaurant she called simple. He was illuminated by the warm yellow light. Zhao Silan couldn't help but think to herself that Mr. Jiang was about the same age as her.
“I often eat at this kind of restaurant.”
"Before? I mean... you..."
"Not when I was in the orphanage." Mr. Jiang didn't seem to think that the past mattered. "After I moved to Fortune Mansion, I often came here to eat with my brothers and sisters."
Brothers and sisters...are they the children who died?
Dead in front of him?
On this quiet winter night with few pedestrians on the road, Zhao Silan listened to words that she would never hear under normal circumstances.
Mr. Jiang looked a little softer in the moonlight. He no longer looked as distant as he did last night when he was standing under the crystal chandelier at the dinner party in a suit.
At this moment, he is not the president of the group, nor is he a suspect. He is not that unattainable, nor is he as bad as people think. He is just an ordinary man in his early twenties.
She mustered up her courage and said, "I want to ask you something."
"When I first joined the company, I received a lot of threatening emails. After reading one of your emails, you showed a very... very scary expression. After some things happened later, I slowly became sure... I want to ask."
"Are you afraid of flying insects, birds...anything that flies?"
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