Chapter 94
When Chen Zhiyi got home that evening, he had just hung up the phone when he saw Lin Ting return. He immediately hugged her, rubbed the back of her head, and said, "It's okay, the innocent will clear themselves."
Lin Ting only whimpered, "Mmm."
"Song Xiaolei told me that the other party can no longer be contacted. I have already sent people to look for them, and I believe there will be results soon."
"I hope so." Lin Ting said weakly. In fact, when that thought came to her in the afternoon, she felt that things would never end well, and this was just the beginning.
She didn't want to tell Chen Zhiyi what she was thinking, since there was no evidence. Although he and Qin Fei had terminated their contract, their kindness remained, and she didn't want to put him in a difficult position.
She decided to go find Qin Fei herself.
Chen Zhiyi supported her shoulders and helped her sit on the sofa. He touched her small hands and found them to be icy cold. He realized that when she was in a bad mood, the temperature of her palms would drop along with her depressed mood. He warmed her hands in his palms.
Lin Ting lowered her eyes and didn't speak. Chen Zhiyi didn't disturb her either, and just sat quietly beside her.
Chen Zhiyi remembered something, "By the way, do you have a clearer picture of the fabric pattern? It's too blurry in the live stream, I want to see it more clearly."
"Yes." Lin Ting was puzzled, but still pulled out the photos on her phone.
Chen Zhiyi took it and examined it carefully. "I feel like I've seen this pattern somewhere before?"
Lin Ting took back her phone, opened the shopping website, and entered the brand name. "I saw it on a shopping platform, right? It's an exclusive fabric from an e-commerce brand that has applied for intellectual property rights."
Chen Zhiyi shook his head firmly, "I definitely didn't see it on a shopping website, but I can't remember it right now, and it wasn't recently, it must have been several years ago, so I can't remember."
Lin Ting sensed something unusual. "Are you sure it was several years ago? This e-commerce brand was only established the year before last."
“I’m sure.” Suddenly, Chen Zhiyi’s eyes lit up. “I remember now, it was on a fashion forum.”
"forum"
"It's that stitching forum. Five years ago, I heard from Sister Jing and the others that you liked to post your design works on a forum, but I didn't know your account at the time. I wanted to log in and see if I could find your account. I remember that this pattern was very popular at the time because of its rich colors and imagination. The post was pushed to the top, so I clicked to see it."
"They also said that your works are often bought by people, and you can earn enough to make a living from them."
Lin Ting couldn't help but recall the glorious past, "but it was often stolen. After all, back then, these forums and websites did a very poor job of protecting the copyrights of creators, and many good works were directly copied."
Chen Zhiyi then asked, "If the work is bought, will the platform mark it?"
"Yes, they will be marked as sold."
"You can also see the buyer?"
"Yes, it can be found in the backend, because both the publisher and the viewer must register with their real names."
"Can you confirm that all the works published above are original?"
"Yes, firstly, the threshold for becoming a publisher on this platform is very high. You have to submit your original works for review first, and only those that pass the review can be registered. Many people fail at this point. The backend scores the submitted works, taking into account factors such as design concept, color matching, and style characteristics. If the score is less than 80 points, it will be rejected. When registering, you also have to sign an originality commitment letter. If you are found to be involved in plagiarism, you will be banned from the platform for life. The platform is regulated by the Clothing Association. If you are labeled as plagiarizing, you can basically forget about working in the clothing industry. However, this platform has a loophole: the copyright protection is too poor. Also, in order to make more money, the review of viewers is relatively lax. As long as the identity is verified, it is enough. This leads to many works being copied by viewers. If you are copying to learn something, it is understandable. However, as unscrupulous merchants take screenshots, those with a conscience will modify them slightly, while the ignorant will directly steal them and claim them as their own. So later, many designers left. The platform declared bankruptcy and shut down its services the year after I graduated."
Chen Zhiyi pondered for a moment, "Is it possible that this e-commerce brand is also an unscrupulous merchant?"
Lin Ting was startled by the revelation, but shook her head. "But the platform is shutting down now. Even if it weren't, would we still be able to find that picture after all this time?"
Chen Zhiyi smiled, "As long as a record is left, we can definitely find them. I'll come find them." He immediately dialed a number.
Lin asked, "Who did you call?"
"A tech tycoon, the chairman of XunTeng Technology, whom I had previously interacted with when I endorsed 'King of Kings Collection'. He has been deeply involved in the internet technology field for a long time, so he should be able to find the founder of the Flying Needle Line platform, access the database, and thus find the images. Let's wait and see."
Xunteng Technology, currently a leading game company, has produced "King's Collection," which is said to be the most downloaded domestic game.
With just a few words over the phone, the other party agreed to help.
Things took a turn for the better, and Lin Ting's tense expression, which had been tense all afternoon, finally showed a hint of a smile. "Thank you!"
Chen Zhiyi pinched the tip of her nose. "Between husband and wife, there's no need for thanks."
Lin Ting blushed slightly, still getting used to the term. They weren't legally married, but they were de facto married, just missing a piece of paper.
To his surprise, Chen Zhiyi's phone rang again soon. It was a number without a name, but he knew who was calling. He didn't move and waited for the ringing to stop on its own.
"Aren't you going to answer?" Lin Ting couldn't help but remind her.
"I won't answer unfamiliar numbers." Chen Zhiyi had just finished speaking when his phone stopped ringing.
A few seconds later, it rang again, from the same number.
Lin listened to the advice, "Why don't you answer it? Maybe it's work-related."
Chen Zhiyi picked up his phone and pointed to the balcony, "Then I'll go out and answer it."
Lin Ting was taken aback. He rarely avoided answering the phone when talking to her, even for work-related matters. His behavior just now was also off. He used to answer all calls. She found it strange, but she realized what was going on and smiled, "Okay."
Chen Zhiyi quickly went to the balcony and answered the phone.
The other party said urgently, "Finally, you're willing to lend me your phone. I've sent so many messages and made so many calls. Putting everything else aside, when are you going to transfer the remaining two million to me?"
"Didn't I already transfer two million to you? Isn't that all you need?"
"That's only part of it. I also misappropriated public funds, and I need to make up for that as soon as possible."
Chen Zhiyi then realized Qin Qiang's true colors: greedy, shameless, and insatiable.
Qin Qiang didn't care about anything else. He returned all the bribe money, but the embezzlement of public funds was also going to be investigated. He had done it on his own without any connections, so if things went wrong, no one would protect him. "I don't care. You have to transfer the money to me by tomorrow, or I'll go to Lin Ting's company and confront her. I saw the news today. She's got a lot of trouble right now, and I don't mind adding a father who has broken the law to the mix."
"Also, I know where your father works. At this point, I don't care about saving face anymore. If you don't transfer the money to me by tomorrow morning, I'll just barge in. I know you and your father don't get along, but you can't bear to let him lose face over such a small matter, can you?"
Chen Zhiyi was so angry that his teeth itched, and he managed to utter two words with difficulty: "Shameless."
Qin Qiang sneered. "I am shameless, but luckily I have a well-behaved and lovely daughter."
"Shut up!" Chen Zhiyi could no longer bear it. He had never been threatened like this before, but he could not fight back because Lin Ting was his biggest weakness and he did not want her to suffer any more harm.
But Qin Qiang was like a bottomless pit, his desires insatiable. His thirst for money and power had overwhelmed his humanity.
How pathetic and hateful!
If it weren't for Lin Ting's sake, he would have sent him to where he belonged long ago.
Lin Ting sat on the sofa, watching Chen Zhiyi's back. Although she couldn't see his face, she could clearly feel his anger; it was definitely not a friendly call. She had a strong feeling that this call was related to her.
When Chen Zhiyi turned around and came in, his expression was normal, and the hostile aura that had surrounded him had disappeared.
Lin Ting was still worried, "Who called just now?"
"I received a scam call saying I owed the bank hundreds of millions of yuan."
It sounded like utter nonsense, which only made Lin Ting more uneasy. "Tell the truth, does it have anything to do with me?"
Chen Zhiyi smiled and said, "It really is a scam call. I hate receiving these kinds of online scam calls the most. If they call me, I'll give them a good talking to. I don't know how much hard-earned money they've swindled."
"I made a call this afternoon to help look for the person, but there won't be a reply so soon, don't worry."
Lin Ting frowned, not believing what he said. Just as she was about to speak, Chen Zhiyi covered her mouth with his index finger. "Alright, you're tired today. Wash up and rest. Maybe we'll have good news when we wake up tomorrow."
It was late at night, and both of them were deep in thought, pretending to be asleep.
Chen Zhiyi's phone kept lighting up, clearly someone was sending him messages non-stop, something that had never happened before.
Lin Ting became even more suspicious, and was certain that the person who sent the message was the same unfamiliar number from before. "Are you hiding something from me?"
In the darkness, Chen Zhiyi's voice was hoarse, "No, don't overthink it."
"Why is the phone constantly lighting up?"
"Did it disturb you? I'll turn it off."
Don't give irrelevant answers.
Chen Zhiyi picked up his phone and showed it to her, "It's Weibo private messages. My fans often send me messages."
Lin Ting looked and saw that it was indeed true. "Then why couldn't I hear any noise before?"
Chen Zhiyi touched her face. "Silly girl, in the past I would either turn off my phone or put it on airplane mode, so of course I wouldn't feel it. Now that I'm working independently, I can't do whatever I want. If it's a work-related message, I'll definitely reply if I can, so I keep my phone on and on silent."
His words were reasonable and well-founded, so Lin Ting lowered her guard. "You know, I hate it when people lie to me, especially to people I care about."
"I know I will be loyal to you for the rest of my life."
The next morning, instead of good news, he received bad news: Chen Lan called to say that Chen Zhiyi's grandfather had suffered a stroke and was hospitalized the night before, and asked him to come home.
Although Chen Zhiyi is not close to his parents, he still respects and loves both sets of parents. In the years since he entered the entertainment industry, he almost never goes back to visit them unless he hears that they are unwell.
But now that Lin Ting has had an accident, he is worried about leaving her alone, but he is also concerned about his grandfather's condition. He wanted to ask Chen Lan if it was serious, but she only said that she would talk to him when he came back.
When people hear this, they can usually guess that the illness is not simple.
Lin Ting urged him to go back quickly, but Chen Zhiyi hesitated. "You should go back first. Staying here is just waiting for news. You might as well go back. If they have any news, just let me know in time. After you leave, I'll go to the company again to review things carefully and see if I can find any loopholes. I'll also ask the supply management department if there's any new information."
Chen Zhiyi pondered for a few seconds, "Okay, then I'll go and come back quickly. If there's no major problem with Grandpa, I'll take the night flight back tonight."
"good."
Chen Zhiyi discovered that the earliest flight to his hometown was an hour later. After buying his ticket, he packed some of his belongings and set off.
As they reached the door, Chen Zhiyi gave Lin Ting a deep kiss on the forehead. "Wait for me to come back."
"Um."
Little did they know that this hasty farewell would cause them to lose touch again.
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