Fish him out!
"That's easy."
Yu Lei polished her nails, her leopard print replaced with pearlescent cat-eye nails, concealing her ambition and adding to her mystery. Everyone's eyes turned to her, and she continued, "I can organize an interview with outstanding graduates from Xiangze Experimental Middle School. I'm not afraid of not being able to dig up some information about Zhang Jiangchi's past."
"You're going to interview him in person?" Jiang Liu said worriedly, "He could find out where Yu Ran works, know my relationship with him, and mess with my business. He might not be unaware of your situation."
"I have a desperate plan. Let Mom interview him. Since that bitch is hiding it from both sides, he might not be able to find out Mom's identity."
Yu Ran spoke slowly, with many pauses between his words, allowing people to interrupt at any time, but he unexpectedly finished it in one breath, and he became more convinced that this was a good idea.
The president and founder of Qiongju Magazine personally showed up, which was enough to make Zhang Jiangchi feel valued.
Jiang Liu nodded: "Well, only if we figure out everything can we find his flaws and weaknesses. Then we won't be afraid of the enemy in the dark while I am in the light."
So, the three of them went home together. Speaking of which, during those days of separate investigations, Yu Lei, whether indirectly or directly, revealed what happened to Yu Qionglin.
After hearing the story, she remained extremely calm, never losing her composure. At a solemn banquet, if the appetizers were not fresh or appropriate, they would simply be removed. The grand banquet, with its delicious food and fine wine, was filled with cheers, hoping that this elegant and powerful lady would stop by.
At this moment, the three of them discussed their plans one after another. Yu Lei was considerate and hugged Qian Qian, saying, "Mom, we are all here."
"Yes, I know. Two sons and a daughter are enough for me. However, if I had another son or daughter, I would be happy too."
Yu Qionglin lowered her head and sideways glanced at her daughter, clamping her hand tightly and not letting her pull it away.
"Mom, I'm straight!" Yu Lei's face flushed, and she quickly closed her princess cut and used the back of her hand to cool it down.
"Oh...that's fine." Yu Qionglin didn't know whether she was satisfied or dissatisfied with the answer. She turned around and held Jiang Liu's hand, saying some irrelevant words.
Yu Lei's eyebrows were so tight that she wished she could twist them into willow branches so she could whip her brother.
"It's all your fault for being gay. You made me a suspect."
"If you're not, then you're not. You get nervous when someone mentions it."
Jiang Liu listened with a smile, feeling that countless white sails were surging in the long river of life, and each one could carry him to see the beautiful world.
It happened to be summer vacation, and after a lot of searching, they finally managed to contact the principal. They worked together to contact four outstanding graduates, including Zhang Jiangchi. The principal said solemnly:
"President Yu, many teachers have complaints about Zhang Jiangchi. Why don't we contact another student, Jiang Liu, as in gilded."
Yu Qionglin smiled and said gently, "Well, Jiang Liu is indeed better. Next time I have the chance, I hope to have a one-on-one interview with him."
A total of four people were contacted, and the other three were just a cover. They were arranged to be interviewed by their subordinates. Everything was ready, and they agreed to meet Zhang Jiangchi at the teahouse that Yu Lei had booked.
Yu Qionglin straightened her clothes in front of the floor-to-ceiling window. She had a broad face, delicate features, and a particularly straight nose, like a mountain range, and the majestic and vast life was born beside the mountain.
She had black eyebrows. In her early years, she was vain and had a tattoo of an unknown color. The color faded to black. Washing her eyebrows didn't work, so she just let it be. She kind of liked the two sparse shadows across her eyes, which were fuller than willow buds.
Through the reflection, she saw who it was and turned around and said:
"Hello, Zhang Jiangchi, I'm Lin Chan." Yu Qionglin extended her hand. Lin Chan was her early column pen name. She felt a sense of emotion the moment she spoke it again under this name.
Zhang Jiangchi gave her a light handshake, unfazed, and sat down, crossing his legs and dangling on his toes. He couldn't resist lighting a cigarette, and as he covered his face to light it, he suddenly remembered something and asked with a smile, "You don't mind, do you?" Before Yu Qionglin could answer, there was a "click," and a flame proudly burned his face.
Yu Qionglin brewed tea and pushed it in front of him. She heard that the smoker had a strong taste for tea, so the Phoenix Dancong tea she chose was indeed very suitable for his taste.
After the pleasantries, we got down to business. "Mr. Zhang, let's go over the manuscript first."
Zhang Jiangchi flipped through two pages casually, absentmindedly, nodded, and indicated that he could start directly.
"Okay, first question, please introduce yourself."
"Well, my name is Zhang Jiangchi. My mother gave me this name because she hoped I would be like a giant beast galloping across the rivers and seas. Well, I'm a graduate of Xiangze Experimental Middle School..."
Yu Qionglin asked at the right moment: "What is your current job?"
"Mobile application development engineer." He used a fancy word.
Behind the sofa cushions, on the other end of the phone, the three people looked at each other!
It seems that the terrible software "Talk Salary Pie" is Zhang Jiangchi's masterpiece!
"I heard that you got full marks in math, physics, and chemistry in high school. So, are you one of those people who set life goals early on?"
"Well, I've set my life goal since I was old enough to understand, and that's no exaggeration." He pursed his lips and licked them while talking, as if he was constantly checking with his tongue whether the disdainful smile was still there.
"Oh? What was the trigger?"
"Well, we are talking about studying now, right? My life goals may have nothing to do with studying."
“In fact, early experiences often influence the decisions we make at critical junctures in life.”
Zhang Jiangchi nodded, acknowledging this. He had been suppressing his feelings for so long that he couldn't wait to open up. "My dad wasn't good to us, mother and son. He was a con man, surrounded by beautiful women, and had many illegitimate children. Of course, he had money, but he just wouldn't give it to us... He and my mom didn't even get a marriage certificate, so I..."
He paused, feeling embarrassed to bring up a certain word, and after a moment's thought, he calmed down and said, "I'm an illegal immigrant."
His eyes radiated a residual heat that burned Yu Qionglin. Yu Qionglin pretended to be politely surprised and continued to ask, "So, after knowing that person's secret, you had the ambition to stand out?"
"I don't know too many secrets, but revenge, well, revenge, I want revenge on that person." He seemed to realize that this was too much of an obsession and quickly said, "My better self is also a form of revenge, a slap in the face. So I've been studying hard. But what's the point of studying well? There's an external force I can't resist, dragging me down, preventing me from moving forward."
"When did you get your household registration, which really turned your life around?"
"In the second half of my second year of junior high, my mom attended a parent-teacher conference for me. The teacher specifically asked her to stay and stressed that if we didn't get a household registration, we wouldn't be able to go to school. She called the man, and he roared in a helpless and heartbroken tone, 'No school to go to, no school to go to! What can I do?' The school leader happened to hear us. After understanding our situation, he started looking for solutions. Although I didn't have a household registration, I had a temporary student status. After going through layers of screening and testing, they confirmed that I was eligible for admission to high school, which gave me some relief."
"Haven't you ever contacted the neighborhood committee, the police station, the TV station, or other agencies or platforms to help you register your household registration?"
"Yes, my mother did, but later we found out that it was that dead man who was interfering and blocking everything, so that his secrets would not be exposed and he could continue to control and exploit us."
At this point, Yu Qionglin reflected that their previous inferences had been flawed. They'd assumed Zhang Qian's evil intentions were exposed between the time Zhang Jiangchi took his high school entrance exam and the time he took leave of absence. Now, from what Zhang Jiangchi had said, it seemed likely that everything he knew was his own research—so, Zhang Qian had truly taken the secret to his grave. As for the household registration issue, it must have been the leadership's help that had helped them overcome the difficulties. Clearly, since they couldn't move the big rock in the toilet, they'd just bypassed him. Even so, it took three years to finally get a household registration.
"I became the head of the household, but I insisted on having the surname 'Zhang' so that that person can never get rid of me!" At this point, Zhang Jiangchi almost blurted out the matter of changing his age. He pinched the cigarette butt in his right hand and burned it hard on the palm of his left hand before he came to his senses.
However, having said that, others could come to the conclusion with just a little reasoning. He laughed at himself and said that he had really not made any progress.
"So, your life has had its ups and downs." Seeing Zhang Jiangchi nod in agreement, Yu Qionglin continued, "After entering high school, your grades were brilliant. Would that be considered continuous progress?"
"Hmm..." Zhang Jiangchi shook his head. "It got better, but then it fell again. That's because I discovered that the bastard's illegitimate children were living a life thousands of times more comfortable than mine! They had household registration, and they studied and lived smoothly! That bastard gave them all her money! So I really hold a grudge. Why did my mother and I have to endure more than a decade of hardship? And they didn't have to!"
The person opposite was too easily manipulated by his emotions. Yu Qionglin took a sip of tea and sorted out his thoughts in between his endless chatter. A person's demeanor in dealing with others often determines his upper limit.
The other side was still protesting, "Money," "Money," "Money." Yu Qionglin's derived thoughts focused on money. Following the clues, she concluded that Zhang Qian couldn't have any money. The only possibility was that he was shamelessly blackmailing his younger sister Zhang Tian's savings. In this case, it seemed that most of the money he gave her went into Zhang Qian's pocket.
Zhang Qian, on the other hand, never gave a cent back to her so-called family. She spat on the tea dregs.
Jiang Liu was on the other end of the phone, tightly holding Yu Ran's hand. It seemed that the ups and downs in his high school grades were probably due to him knowing the existence of Yu Lei and Yu Ran, which affected his mentality. Was it from that time that the hatred shifted?
At the end of the interview, Yu Qionglin put on an act and asked a few questions about school studies. Zhang Jiangchi answered them easily, but he was a little unwilling, thinking that the questions were boring and not as satisfying as cursing and swearing.
"By the way, Mr. Lin Chan, I lost my composure today. Some of my answers may need you to revise and beautify them before publishing."
"Of course. When the first draft is finished, I will send it to you for your review as soon as possible. If there are any inappropriate parts, please revise them!"
After pouring tea and seeing the guests off, she pressed her brows and asked the three people in the next room to come out.
The three of them looked very solemn, and Yu Qionglin said straight to the point:
"I think Zhang Jiangchi's biological mother is my good friend..."
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