Chapter 77 Investigation
Hou Xin's plan was really good. He had done all kinds of bad things in his first half of life. He wanted to find an innocent woman to take over.
It's just that it's easy for good people to fall, but it's hard for bad people to turn over a new leaf. Before the plan was completed, Hou Xin planned to live a good life after going abroad. But when he really went abroad, he might not be able to resist the temptation. Maybe he would forget these plans in a few months.
But even if he squandered it, the money he earned from kidnapping Zhou Mingtang would be enough for Hou Xin to spend for several years. If he didn't forget his original plan, he would have no worries about food and clothing for the rest of his life.
In the original novel, Zhou Jiahao and his wife paid the money, and Zhou Mingtang was killed by Hou Xin on the pretext that they called the police, so he successfully got the money, and in two installments.
Speaking of which, Hou Xin is indeed a shrewd and evil man.
Zhou Jiatao asked Hou Xin to do something, and in addition to allowing him to ask Zhou Jiahao for a ransom, he also promised to give him another 10 million as long as Zhou Mingtang could not come back.
The 10 million was paid in two installments, 2 million before the action, and the remaining 8 million after the action was completed.
When Hou Xin looked for his accomplices, he did not mention the deal with Zhou Jiatao at all, but only said that by kidnapping Zhou Mingtang, he could at least ask Zhou Jiahao for a ransom of 30 million, and then they could split the money equally.
In addition, Hou Xin took all the credit for Zhou Jiatao's bribery of school staff on himself, so those brothers he brought in were sold out by him, and they still thought he was particularly righteous.
However, in the original life, none of the school staff Zhou Jiatao bribed were used, because Zhou Mingtang got rid of his bodyguards before the day of action.
At that time, Hou Xin was already stalking at the school gate, and seeing this situation, he naturally didn't want to miss it. Such a coincidence also made Zhou Jiatao completely hidden behind the scenes.
As for whether Hou Xin went abroad as planned after the incident, because he did not officially appear in the original book, the system could not give a definite answer.
But Wen Yue felt that he was most likely to run away.
This answer can be analyzed from two aspects. First, in the original life, Zhou Jiahao and his wife failed to catch the murderer of their son in the end, proving that Hou Xin was not arrested. It
is definitely safer for Hou Xin to go abroad than to stay in Hong Kong, and the probability of being caught is also smaller.
Second, in the next year of the original timeline, Xu Meifeng's return to Hong Kong began to become more frequent. When Wen Jiayi was promoted to the third year of college, she stopped traveling back and forth between Hong Kong and the UK.
Before meeting Hou Xin, Wen Yue thought that Xu Meifeng's frequent return to Hong Kong next year was to expose Wen Jiadong's loss of fertility, and after Wen Jiadong lost his heir qualifications, she would whisper more in front of Wen Rongsheng so that he would value Wen Jiaxin more.
She stopped going back to England after more than a year because Wen Jiaxin had already established herself in the Lirong Group and it was more prosperous for her to stay in Hong Kong.
Now that I think about it, Xu Meifeng's frequent return to Hong Kong after the year may also be partly due to the news that Hou Xin went abroad. The same is true for settling in Hong Kong two years later, partly because she was sure that Hou Xin would never come back.
Why was Xu Meifeng sure that Hou Xin would never come back to Hong Kong?
Thinking of Hou Xin's original plan, Wen Yue thought that he might have married abroad, and perhaps the woman was pregnant with a child.
Although Hou Xin had no bottom line and was very rogue, it was inevitable that a man would have more concerns when he had children. He had money and a family outside, so he naturally did not dare to take the risk of returning to Hong Kong.
As long as Hou Xin did not come back, Xu Meifeng did not have to worry about anything.
After listening to Wen Yue's analysis, the system said thoughtfully: [From what you said, Hou Xin's feelings for Xu Meifeng don't seem to be that deep? Then why did you ask him in the detention center if he knew Xu Meifeng, and he insisted that he didn't know her?]
It remembered that Wen Yue said at the time that Hou Xin denied knowing Xu Meifeng because he liked her and didn't want to get involved with her.
To this, Wen Yue said: [I just said it casually, why did you believe it? I don't know whether Hou Xin loves Xu Meifeng or not, but his love must be cheap, otherwise he wouldn't threaten Xu Meifeng one after another and take money from her.]
As for him not wanting to get involved with Xu Meifeng...
Wen Yue snorted coldly and said: [Rather than saying that he doesn't want to get involved with Xu Meifeng, it's better to say that he wants to protect himself. Although Zhou
Jiahao and his wife hated Hou Xin, Zhou Mingtang returned safely after all. As long as Hou Xin was sentenced, they estimated that they would not do anything to him.
But Wen Rongsheng was different. His son's life and death were unknown, and the probability of death was even much greater than that of life.
More than 20 years had passed, and no matter how deep the hatred was, it should have faded. But who made Wen Rongsheng's other two sons, one was confirmed to be not his biological son, and the other lost his fertility.
The bloodline of the Wen family was difficult to continue. When Wen Rongsheng thought of his eldest son again, he naturally hated the person who killed him.
Hou Xin might not be clear about these twists and turns, but he could definitely see the gap between himself and the richest man, and knew that if his participation in the kidnapping of Wen Kai was exposed, he would most likely die.
Although Hong Kong abolished the death penalty last year, no, according to the solar calendar, it should be the year before last, but as a member of the lower class, he knows too well how easy it is for rich people to frame someone.
Once the truth is exposed, it might be easier to die like this, but what awaits him is a fate worse than death.
In order not to let the past be exposed, he and Xu Meifeng must keep their relationship a secret, otherwise, if one gets involved, they will be in trouble.
But because he knew all this, Hou Xin became more and more afraid after returning to the cell. He felt that the past might not be kept secret.
Wen Yue did not let the system keep an eye on Hou Xin, but she could probably guess that he would become more and more uneasy after he returned. After taking revenge on Xu Meifeng, she would directly hand over the evidence, which would definitely break his defense and make him confess.
So after answering the system's questions, Wen Yue began to think about what evidence she could provide to Wen Rongsheng.
The most convenient evidence would definitely be photos. Hou Xin and Xu Meifeng were classmates in elementary school. They took graduation photos together when they graduated. After they reunited and fell in love, the two also took a lot of photos together.
Xu Meifeng hooked up with Wen Rongsheng, and after she broke up with Hou Xin and reunited, although the two did not take photos, Xu Meifeng was already a celebrity at that time, so it was reasonable for paparazzi to secretly take photos of them.
Recording is not so convenient, after all, the level of technology at that time was much worse than it is now.
But so many photos are enough for Wen Rongsheng to suspect Xu Meifeng.
After becoming suspicious, Wen Rongsheng may make three choices: first, cooperate with the police to find out the truth and bring Hou Xin and Xu Meifeng to justice; second, call Xu Meifeng back to listen to her explanation; third, find Wen Yue and ask for her opinion.
If Wen Rongsheng chooses the third option, Wen Yue can use the excuse of receiving a mysterious package to take out the recording and let him listen to it alone, and then destroy it after he finishes listening. As long as the recording is not spread, this matter will not cause a stir.
If Wen Rongsheng chooses the first two options, Wen Yue can get in before Wen Rongsheng takes action, using the excuse of receiving a package, and the subsequent process remains unchanged.
Having made up her mind, Wen Yue kept it a secret when Wen Rongsheng called, and let him go meet Hou Xin himself.
Wen Rongsheng was very dissatisfied, thinking that something had been agreed upon, but why did Wen Yue change her mind after meeting someone.
Wen Yue was not afraid at all, and said directly: "It's not that I don't want to tell you what I asked, but there are some things that I can't say. If I tell you, you don't believe it, and you might think I'm trying to sow discord."
Some people are just so mean that if you directly lay the truth in front of them, they will think you have ulterior motives.
Although Wen Yue had evidence in her hands, she didn't want to waste time arguing with Wen Rongsheng. She just let him slowly discover the true face of the man he had trusted for decades.
After saying that, Wen Yue hung up the phone without waiting for Wen Rongsheng to answer.
Looking at the suddenly interrupted call, Wen Rongsheng couldn't help but hold his breath, and the wrinkles between his eyebrows were deep enough to kill flies.
At the same time, he couldn't help but think about Wen Yue's words.
Last night, Wen Rongsheng asked Wen Yue to call her as soon as the visit was over, as if he believed that as long as she saw Hou Xin, she would immediately know the truth of that year.
Well, although this is indeed the case, Wen Rongsheng didn't know that Wen Yue had a cheat.
Therefore, Wen Rongsheng did not have high expectations for the results of this visit. He just thought that Wen Yue was very perceptive and might be able to judge from the details whether Hou Xin was involved in what happened that year.
But thinking back to what Wen Yue had just said, Wen Rongsheng felt that she seemed to have really asked about important information, so he was confused. Why did Wen Yue think that he might not believe her and even think that she was trying to sow discord?
Unfortunately, Wen Yue had a strong personality and was very tight-lipped. It was useless to ask about things she didn't want to say.
No, I couldn't get more information from Wen Yue, but what they talked about during the visit might not be known only to the parties involved.
Wen Rongsheng thought about it and quickly called Superintendent Lu.
Superintendent Lu was a little hesitant. After all, the content of the conversation between Wen Yue and Hou Xin was important information and could not be leaked casually.
But Superintendent Lu changed his mind and thought that if Hou Xin was really involved in the kidnapping of Wen Kai, Wen Rongsheng would also belong to the victim's family. Moreover, Xu Meifeng, who was mentioned by Wen Yue during the conversation, was closely related to him, so strictly speaking, Wen Rongsheng was not an outsider, and telling him these things might become a new breakthrough.
After consideration, Superintendent Lu repeated the general situation to Wen Rongsheng.
After listening, Wen Rongsheng was speechless for a long time.
He finally understood why Wen Yue was worried that he thought she was trying to sow discord.
Is Xu Meifeng related to the kidnapping of Wen Kai? How is it possible!
Although Wen Kai got into trouble, it was because he received a call from Xu Meifeng and learned that she was about to give birth. He rushed over in a hurry and didn't care about Wen Kai. He only arranged two bodyguards to pick him up.
But Wen Kai was always picked up by someone. He went to pick him up that day because he decided to take Peng Lifen and the two children out for dinner. His company is close to Wen Kai's school, so it was convenient.
Xu Meifeng gave birth to Wen Jiaxin naturally. The due date was a few days later, but she had an attack early that day, so she called him temporarily to ask him to go over.
So it was pure coincidence that these two things happened together. Not to mention Wen Rongsheng, even Peng Lifen did not suspect that Xu Meifeng was behind it after losing her son.
Moreover, although Xu Meifeng had her own calculations over the years and cared more about money than Chen Baoqin, and had been doing business outside under his name, she never crossed the line and was not greedy in business, so in addition to investing more in real estate, she only had a small trading company under her name.
Apart from this, Xu Meifeng has always been selfless in other aspects.
Because Chen Baoqin has a son, she has always regarded herself as the mistress of the Wen family and has long coveted the assets under his name. Zhou Baoyi cares about his favor, likes to be jealous, and often asks in a roundabout way, wanting to know how much property he will leave to Wen Jialiang in the future.
Only Xu Meifeng did not seek favors or fight for property. After giving birth to Wen Jiayi, she devoted herself to her two daughters. Five years ago, she went to England to accompany her daughter to study.
But Xu Meifeng did not completely ignore Wen Rongsheng. Among many women, she always understood him the most and guessed his thoughts accurately.
Because of this, the women around Wen Rongsheng came and went, but Xu Meifeng always had a place in his heart.
Could Xu Meifeng, who did not fight for anything, be the mastermind behind the murder of his son?
Wen Rongsheng did not dare and was unwilling to believe it. If this guess was first proposed by the second wife, he would definitely say that they had bad intentions.
But the person who proposed this guess was Wen Yue, and it was Superintendent Lu who told him this guess.
After a long silence, Wen Rongsheng asked, "Sir Lu, do you also think Ah Yue's guess is true?"
"This..." Inspector Lu thought to himself, I don't even know Xu Meifeng, and I don't know the specific situation in your family, how can I know whether your daughter's guess is true or not.
He felt that Wen Rongsheng's question was inexplicable, but it was difficult to say what was in his heart. He hesitated for a moment and said, "I'm not sure about your family's affairs, but we have almost investigated the kidnapping of the Zhou family's child. It was instigated by the Zhou family for the inheritance rights."
Zhou Jiahao has no lover, and those who are fighting for the inheritance rights are naturally his uncles and brothers or even his brothers.
This is the case between relatives, not to mention that Xu Meifeng and Wen Kai have no blood relationship.
Although Chen Baoqin had already given birth to a son and Xu Meifeng was pregnant with a daughter, doing these things might be to help others, and the motive was not strong.
But what if?
Wen Rongsheng let out a long sigh: "I understand."
After hanging up the phone with Superintendent Lu, Wen Rongsheng sat in his office chair and thought for a while, then picked up the phone and called his assistant, asking him to come to the office.
After they arrived at the office, Wen Rongsheng said directly: "Find a private detective to help me investigate three people. The first one is Hou Xin, who is the leader of the bandits who kidnapped the Zhou family's child. The second one is Chen Baoqin, and her past experience must be investigated. The focus is on whether she knows this person named Hou Xin. The third person is Xu Meifeng, and the things to be investigated are the same as the previous ones, and the focus is on her relationship with Hou Xin."
After giving the instructions, Wen Rongsheng thought for a while and said, He added, "Find the doctor and nurse who delivered Xu Meifeng when she gave birth to Wen Jiaxin, and ask them why Xu Meifeng's delivery date was suddenly advanced."
He paused for a moment and added again, "These things must be done in secret, and no one is allowed to know! Otherwise, you can just pack up and leave, understand?"
The assistant's face was frightened, "Understood! Mr. Wen, don't worry, I will be careful and won't leak anything."
His expression was serious, but his heart was filled with shock.
He became the special assistant of the richest man not only because of his high education, but also because of his strong personal ability, and most importantly, because of his intelligence. He could know what to do after listening to many of Wen Rongsheng
's instructions. Like now, even if he didn't know the cause, just by listening to Wen Rongsheng's instructions, he thought that the things his boss asked him to investigate were probably related to the kidnapping of Wen Kai.
His boss asked him to find someone to investigate the second and third wives. Was he suspicious of them?
The Wen family was about to change!
...
Wen Rongsheng asked his assistant to investigate Xu Meifeng and the other three, and then he received a letter.
The letter was sent by Mr. Tong, directly to the company.
When Wen Rongsheng first heard the secretary say that there was such a letter at the front desk, he felt puzzled, but he also felt that the three words "Mr. Tong" sounded familiar.
Thinking carefully, the mysterious person who passed the information to the police in the Zhou Mingtang kidnapping incident was suspected to be Mr. Tong, right?
So he quickly asked the secretary to bring the letter up.
The letter sent to Wen Rongsheng was very thin, and it was impossible for it to contain dangerous items, so he opened it directly and took out an old photo from it.
It was a graduation photo, and the banner held by the students in the front row had information such as the school class and which class of students they were from.
At first, Wen Rongsheng didn't understand why "Mr. Tong" would send him such a photo, but after hesitating to look at the radishes in the photo, he saw a young girl with features that vaguely resembled Xu Meifeng, and he vaguely thought of something. He
quickly called his assistant, handed him the photo, and asked him to arrange for detectives to focus on checking Xu Meifeng's elementary school classmates to see if there was a person named Hou Xin among them.
In order to conceal the reason why Wen Rongsheng was checking people, his assistants found three detectives to check the three people he had asked, but after a day, all three found nothing.
It was not that their level was not good enough, but that the time was too short and the matter that Wen Rongsheng asked them to check was too far away.
For example, the restaurant where Xu Meifeng and Wen Rongsheng worked closed down ten years ago. Even if it hadn't closed down, it would have been hard to find people. The boss passed away last year, and the employees had changed several times. Xu Meifeng's former colleagues had already scattered all over the place.
The hospital didn't close down, but the doctor who delivered Xu Meifeng went abroad a few years ago, and the nurses either returned to their families or went to other hospitals, making it difficult to find them.
So the detective didn't have time to go to the elementary school where Xu Meifeng was studying to inquire about the situation. When he got the photo, he was confused, but he was also a smart person and reacted quickly.
Since Wen Rongsheng specifically asked his assistant to give him Xu Meifeng's elementary school graduation photo, it must contain very important information. Maybe Xu Meifeng and Hou Xin were elementary school classmates?
Although the detective thought it was not such a coincidence, he still decided to check it out.
You don't know until you check it out. It
's amazing. Xu Meifeng and Hou Xin were not only elementary school classmates, but they also met again after graduating from junior high school. They dated for several years and broke up and got back together all the time.
The person who told the detective this information was a primary school classmate of Xu Meifeng and Hou Xin. This person had been working outside after graduating from junior high school and only returned to his hometown in his thirties.
It happened that his hometown was undergoing large-scale development in those years, and a suburban park was built. Many people went hiking on weekends. He was a bit smart and opened a homestay at home, and the business was pretty good.
After the detective inquired about him, he stayed in his homestay on the pretext of going to play nearby. During the period, he deliberately talked about Wen Rongsheng and guided the other party to say that he and Xu Meifeng were elementary school classmates.
The owner of the B&B was obviously quite vain. Even though he was not familiar with Xu Meifeng when they were in school, he would repeatedly emphasize that they were classmates when he mentioned her, and he looked very proud.
But how Xu Meifeng became successful was well known to everyone in Hong Kong who knew her.
Although it is said that people in Hong Kong laugh at poverty but not at prostitution, her past was always not very glorious. At first, the owner of the B&B did not want to say much, but when they were chatting happily, he lost his scruples and told everything he knew.
The next morning, Wen Rongsheng received the detective's investigation report.
The report confirmed that Xu Meifeng and Hou Xin were elementary school classmates and had been dating for several years. In addition, someone who had a good relationship with Hou Xin said that one year when Hou Xin returned to his hometown and had dinner with them, he got drunk and complained about Xu Meifeng cheating on him.
But in the end, this was just one-sided talk from Hou Xin, and the truth needs further investigation.
After reading the report, Wen Rong was so angry that he smashed a cup.
He was not angry that Xu Meifeng did not break up with Hou Xin when she was with him. From the fact that he brought women home one after another, it can be seen that he has a low sense of morality, and he is very hypocritical when it comes to cheating and being cheated.
He did not mind at all. After all, when Xu Meifeng met him, although she admitted that she had a relationship experience, she said that the two had broken up long ago.
Who knew that she looked innocent at the time, but she was riding a donkey to look for a horse, full of lies!
Thinking of Wen Yue's guess, the fact that Xu Meifeng and Hou Xin knew each other has been confirmed, so the probability that they conspired to kill Wen Kai is true has greatly increased.
If Xu Meifeng was really the mastermind behind the incident, wouldn't he have been a joke all these years, fooled by a venomous woman?
The more Wen Rongsheng thought about it, the angrier he became, and he immediately asked his assistant to contact the detective to continue the investigation!
Almost as soon as Wen Rongsheng gave the instructions, he received the second letter from Mr. Tong.
This time the envelope was a bit thick, and in addition to the photo of Xu Meifeng and Hou Xin, there was also a pregnancy test report. The name of the pregnant woman on the report was the same as Xu Meifeng, and the result showed that she was two months pregnant.
After reading the letter, Wen Rongsheng smashed a cup again.
If he had seen this pregnancy test report before receiving the investigation report, Wen Rongsheng might have suspected that someone was targeting Xu Meifeng, and then doubted the authenticity of the report.
But knowing that Xu Meifeng and Hou Xin had been dating for several years and broke up with each other after hooking up with him, Wen Rongsheng knew that the report was true without asking anyone to investigate.
He did not give the pregnancy test report to the detective for investigation. First, he felt it was unnecessary, and second, he could not afford to lose face.
With this letter as a basis, Wen Rongsheng calmed down when he received the detective's investigation report and learned that Xu Meifeng had been playing two-timing for three months after she met him.
He now only wanted to know whether his son was killed by Xu Meifeng and Hou Xin!
While the detective continued to work, Wen Rongsheng received another photo sent by Mr. Tong.
In this photo, Xu Meifeng and Hou Xin were pulling each other.
Although there was no date on the photo, just by looking at Xu Meifeng's big belly, Wen Rongsheng knew that the photo must have been taken when she was pregnant with Wen Jiaxin or Wen Jiayi.
Combined with Xu Meifeng's hairstyle in the photo, Wen Rongsheng thought it was the former.
Wen Jiaxin was born in 1972.
Wen Kai also died in 1972.
Wen Rongsheng slowly closed his eyes, he felt that there was no need to investigate further.
Wen Yue's guess was correct, Xu Meifeng did know Hou Xin, not only did they know each other, they also dated and had children, and they were still in contact when Wen Kai got into trouble.
Although there is currently no evidence to prove that Hou Xin was involved in the kidnapping case 22 years ago, there is no evidence to prove that Xu Meifeng was born with Wen Jiaxin intentionally.
But with so many coincidences in front of him, Wen Rongsheng had to admit that Xu Meifeng was most likely the mastermind behind the kidnapping of Wen Kai!
It was him who personally lured a poisonous snake home!
It was him who killed his most beloved son!
It was a pity that for so many years, he had always thought that Xu Meifeng had no desires, did not fight or compete, and he was fooled around like a joke!
Wen Rongsheng punched the desk, his eyes red, and shouted: "Xu-Mei-Feng!"