(superior)
That night, Fu Xuanliao returned home after a long absence, but still couldn't get a good night's sleep.
With his head overflowing with information, and after all these days of turmoil, Fu Xuanliao finally found a moment of peace. He closed his eyes and couldn't help but begin to organize the intelligence he had at hand.
Although Shi Huaiyi spoke vaguely, it did not prevent the truth from coming to light.
He said that Shi Mu only learned about his background five years ago, which is reasonable, because for the first twenty years, Shi Mu had lived as the legitimate young master of the Shi family and had never shown any doubt about his origins. As for the lady named Yang Youlan, she rarely appeared because of Shi Huaiyi's warning, so no one, including Fu Xuanliao himself who had some doubts, thought about it that way.
This indirectly proves that Shi Mu did indeed steal Shi Meng's painting. Shi Mu has never lacked love from his parents and relatives since childhood, and he usually shows a lively and cheerful side to the outside world. However, he is overly competitive. No matter what aspect he is surpassed or hindered by others, it will make him resentful. He will regard those who surpass him as enemies and then try every means to take back the first place.
I remember once, Shi Mu participated in a youth football league in the city. During the semi-finals, he cut the ball past a player, but the opposing team's key player saw through his move and stole the ball. After that, Shi Mu kept an eye on this player, chasing and blocking him all over the field, until the key player was provoked into making a pulling foul. In a moment of irrationality, he was led by Shi Mu's feint and tackled from behind, and was eventually sent off.
At the time, Fu Xuanliao thought he was just too eager to win. Now, thinking back, what kind of psychological transformation would occur when such a person, who grew up smoothly and was very proud, learned that he was not the pampered young master of the Shi family when he was seriously ill, but the "bastard" born to a prostitute's mistress, the second young master of the Shi family whom he despised the most and had never acknowledged?
Even Shi Huaiyi could guess that Shi Mu was probably mentally unbalanced, feeling that he didn't have many days left to live, while Shi Meng could hold a large number of shares, sit firmly in the position of the young master of the Shi family and live a glorious life, taking away everything that he originally had.
So he wanted to take away Shi Meng's most precious possession, even if it went against his conscience and morals. Since he was about to die anyway, everyone would only feel sorry for him; no one would hold him accountable or criticize him.
In contrast, Shi Meng never received any understanding or forgiveness; he had to fight for everything himself, and no one was willing to listen to his explanations.
Thinking back to five years ago, Shi Mu, in league with the unsuspecting Li Bihan, outwardly accused Shi Meng of stealing his hard work with feigned grief, but in reality, he easily pinned the blame for stealing the painting on Shi Meng...
What was once the most painful memory has now become the most chilling scene. Fu Xuanliao took a deep breath, but it was difficult to suppress the hurricane raging within him.
Five years ago, in the summer, Fu Xuanliao rushed back from abroad after receiving news that Shi Mu was critically ill. He never imagined that he would be used in this way.
It turned out that Shi Mu had planned this all along. First, he used the theft of the painting to make Shi Meng hate him, and then he used the phrase "Don't forget me" to keep him trapped in place.
It turns out that Shi Mu is the seemingly pure but actually cunning and scheming woman.
It's even highly likely that Shi Mu knows Shi Meng likes him.
The reason is ridiculously simple: it's not because Shi Mu likes Fu Xuanliao that much, but because of his competitive spirit—what belongs to him, Shi Mu, no one else can have.
When the face of someone you once liked is completely changed overnight, no one can be so carefree as to sleep soundly.
So the next morning, Fu Xuanliao still had dark circles under his eyes. When he passed through the living room, he startled Jiang Rong, who was preparing breakfast in the kitchen.
However, just after he finished washing up, Jiang Rong came to greet him again.
She held her phone, as if she had just received a call, and looked anxious: "Your Aunt Li ran away from the hospital to find that guy surnamed Yang. What are we going to do?"
After figuring out that "the one surnamed Yang" referred to Yang Youlan, the woman Shi Huaiyi was having an affair with, Fu Xuanliao asked what exactly happened.
“I’m not entirely sure either. Your Uncle Shi told me to call your Aunt Li when I have time and try to persuade her not to act impulsively,” Jiang Rong said. “But I can’t get through to her. What if something really happens…”
Fu Xuanliao made a quick decision: "Uncle Shi should have Ms. Yang's address. Have him send it over."
On the way to Yang Youlan's house with Jiang Rong, Fu Xuanliao heard that Shi Huaiyi had said he was too busy with work to go there first, and he sneered: "He knows how to avoid it."
The root of all this is that Shi Huaiyi was philandering and had a lot of romantic entanglements outside. Now this guy is just washing his hands of the matter and leaving others to bear the consequences and clean up the mess. He is utterly shameless.
Jiang Rong was still worried: "Your Aunt Li had a bad temper when she was young, will they fight?"
“Not necessarily,” Fu Xuanliao said. “I guess she made this trip to find the truth.”
Just as Fu Xuanliao had predicted, when he arrived at the residence in the east of the city, the door of the house corresponding to the address was half open, and he could hear the noise coming from inside as soon as he got off the elevator.
Li Bihan was clearly dressed up today. Foundation and blush covered her pale face, her hair was tied up, making her look energetic and neat, and the high heels she wore made her look even more powerful. Compared with Yang Youlan, who was disheveled after just getting up, she showed the demeanor of a proper wife.
However, Li Bihan was not trying to outdo anyone this time. After all, when she was most angry back then, she never thought of fighting with this woman. Firstly, it would be more important to hold Shi Huaiyi accountable, and secondly, she came from a scholarly family. Getting entangled with such a low-class woman would make her a laughing stock.
But she had no choice but to make this trip today, to seek justice for her child who had suffered so much over the years, and to give herself some clarity.
Li Bihan, who was standing at the door, saw Jiang Rong and her son and told them not to come in yet.
"It's alright, I know what I'm doing." Li Bihan's smile was faint. "If the situation gets out of control, then you can call the police."
Yang Youlan, who was inside the house, was not as calm as Li Bihan. When she saw that Li Bihan had brought "helpers," she immediately shouted, "I knew you had no good intentions! I also called for people, you just wait!"
Five minutes later, the other one arrived.
As the middle-aged man walked over after getting off the elevator, Fu Xuanliao stared at him for a while, then called out uncertainly, "Teacher Sun?"
Sun Yanfeng rushed over in a hurry, nodded to Fu Xuanliao, squeezed through the door, pulled Yang Youlan down to sit, and whispered reassuringly, "Please don't act impulsively..."
The two mothers had already argued several times, but hadn't gotten any valuable information out of it. Li Bihan asked her how she was doing living there, and Yang Youlan replied sarcastically, "It's not as big as your house, but it's comfortable." When asked if she missed her child, she nonchalantly replied, "Why should I miss him when he's alive and well?"
"Do you know why I was able to find this place?" Li Bihan remained calm. "Because I own half of this property, and I signed an agreement with him to handle the transfer on my behalf. In other words, I agreed to let him use this house to get rid of you. All these years, I've known you've been living here."
Yang Youlan's eyes widened: "So what? This house is mine now, and even if you come here, I won't give it back to you!"
"I'm not here to get the house back. I don't even care about such a dilapidated place." Li Bihan's face darkened, and she said seriously, "I'm here to ask you, why did you switch the two children twenty-five years ago?"
When the important point was made, Yang Youlan's arrogance immediately subsided.
"What do you mean, swapping children?" she feigned ignorance. "What nonsense are you spouting?"
Li Bihan was suppressing her anger, which could be seen from her clenched fists hanging at her sides. She remained outwardly calm and collected: "Shi Huaiyi told me that you switched the babies right after they were born..."
"He said that? He told you that?" Yang Youlan was furious again. "That damn man, he clearly said he would keep it a secret..."
Before he could finish speaking, Sun Yanfeng tugged at his arm, bringing him to an abrupt halt.
Her eyes darted around erratically. Yang Youlan took a few deep breaths, regaining some composure: "No way, how could I have such an ability? You two must have watched too many TV dramas and are just making up stories."
Li Bihan naturally guessed that she would deny it: "Then why didn't you come to see Mengmeng even once during all these days of illness?"
“Shi Huai also won’t let me see him,” Yang Youlan said matter-of-factly. “Back then, when I sent him back to the Shi family, I promised not to see the child again.”
Li Bihan smiled and said, "But you didn't do it either."
As she spoke, she turned around, picked up a photo album lying open from the drawer behind her, and held it up, questioning Yang Youlan: "Otherwise, tell me what this is?"
This is an ordinary photo album, except that the photos on it are all taken secretly from different angles, and the main person in all of them is Shi Mu.
Yang Youlan lived her life in a daze, but she cared deeply about her children. The photos are arranged in chronological order, starting from Shi Mu's kindergarten days, and each photo is labeled with the date it was taken.
Perhaps she had taken it out to look at it last night and forgotten to put it back, because Li Bihan saw the photo album as soon as she entered the room today and immediately recognized who was in the photos from two meters away.
She had raised this child for twenty years; there was no way she wouldn't recognize him.
It was precisely because Shi Mu had been pampered and cherished by her for twenty years that she found it even more difficult to accept the fact that all her efforts over the past twenty years had been wasted on the wrong person.
Li Bihan couldn't help but ask Yang Youlan, "Where's Mengmeng? Where are Mengmeng's photos?"
Over those twenty years, she also took many photos of Shi Mu, far more than Yang Youlan's book. But what about her Mengmeng? Because she didn't like Mengmeng, she didn't even dare to show her face at home, and she never even considered taking photos of "the child born to a mistress."
This photo album, like the picture book in the room, was Yang Youlan's prized possession. When her treasure was taken away, she instinctively reached out to grab it, but Li Bihan, being taller and wearing high heels, easily reached it, making it out of reach even when Yang Youlan jumped.
Yang Youlan's eyes turned red with anger, and no matter how much Sun Yanfeng tried to pull and persuade her from behind, she could no longer maintain her composure.
"Give it back to me! Give me back the photo album!" she said angrily, pulling at Li Bihan. "My Mumu, my Mumu deserves lots of photos, deserves to be cherished and raised. What is the child you gave birth to?"
"I was already involved with Shi Huaiyi back then, and I even had a child with him. That bastard married you for his own advancement and kept me on the side. I'm determined not to let you give birth to your son first!"
"Although it still made you two hours early, the feeling of premature birth must be unpleasant, right? It must have been heartbreaking to see your son being taken away, right?" Originally just venting her anger, Yang Youlan became more and more gratified as she spoke, and her whole body became excited. "Hahaha, karma, it's all karma! She raised my child for twenty years, but she treated her own child coldly. I've been looking forward to seeing this joke all these years, hahahaha!"
She laughed maniacally, completely oblivious to the other people present.
Fu Xuanliao and Jiang Rong entered the room upon hearing the noise, only to see Li Bihan loosen her grip and drop the photo album on the ground.
However, he seemed relatively normal, at least he wasn't provoked to the point of emotional breakdown.
My heart was pounding violently, and my whole body was trembling slightly from the inside out.
"Does this mean she's admitting to switching the babies?" Her lips trembled as she gasped for breath, clutching her chest. She muttered to herself, "That's good, that's good..."
(Down)
The situation became unmanageable, so Jiang Rong called the police.
When the police car pulled up downstairs, both Li Bihan and Yang Youlan had bruises on their faces. If Fu Xuanliao and Sun Yanfeng hadn't been holding them back, it might have really turned into a fatal accident.
Even after admitting it, Yang Youlan still considered herself the winner and swaggered, saying, "You stupid woman, you deserve to not even recognize your own child!"
Li Bihan finally calmed down, but due to her good manners, she couldn't say anything sarcastic. So she seized every opportunity to press her for answers: "Where are Mengmeng's photos? There must be a few, right? Where are they? Take them out now!"
Yang Youlan laughed again: "No, I've raised him for eight years, I see him every day, what's there to photograph?"
"How cruel you are," Li Bihan choked out. "What did he do wrong? He's innocent! You've raised him all these years, don't you have any feelings for him at all?"
"Feelings?" Yang Youlan laughed until tears streamed down her face. "Every time I looked at him sleeping, I wanted to strangle him! I kept him alive and sent him back to the Shi family, all for this day!"
"So you instructed Shi Mu to steal his painting? You'll definitely get your comeuppance for treating him like that!"
"What do you mean by stealing paintings? Didn't he steal my Mumu's paintings?" Yang Youlan shouted. "The whole world knows that it was your son Shi Meng who stole my son Shi Mu's paintings, just like you stole my position as the wife of the Shi family. This is retribution, this is what you call retribution!"
Fu Xuanliao was first surprised that Li Bihan knew about this, and then he was enraged by Yang Youlan's words.
He said, "That painting was done by Shi Meng, so it belongs to him. There are ways to clear his name."
Yang Youlan was stunned for a moment before turning her gaze to Fu Xuanliao.
"It's you." She wiped away the tears from the corner of her eyes. "Didn't you love our Mu Mu and hate Shi Meng to death?"
Fu Xuanliao frankly stated, "I only hate the person who actually stole the painting."
Perhaps not wanting Shi Mu's reputation to be tarnished, Yang Youlan quickly took the blame upon herself: "I told him to steal the painting, I told him to steal it!"
"My Mumu is so pitiful, what's wrong with him asking for a little more? Don't you all say you like him and dote on him? Why are you making a fuss over such a small thing?"
“This is no small matter,” Fu Xuanliao said. “The moment he had such a crooked thought, he was no longer the Shi Mu I knew, and he no longer deserved forgiveness.”
Yang Youlan spent most of her life fighting for her pride, and the words "unworthy" hit her sore spot.
"You think he's not good enough? My Mu Mu is born lucky, he should be the eldest son of the Shi family!" She raised her chin at Li Bihan, her eyebrows dancing with excitement, "If you want to blame someone, blame your son for being unlucky. He came out of your womb, my Mu Mu should have grown up bathed in sunshine, while your son should have been born in the gutter!"
One can only imagine how miserable Shi Meng must have been during those eight years, with no one to care for or love him. Thinking back to how Shi Meng used to cower under the table as a child, Fu Xuanliao felt both heartache and anger, and gritted his teeth in frustration.
He grabbed Li Bihan, who was about to step forward, and glared at the vicious woman in front of him: "He's very lucky. Meeting you was the only misfortune in his life. But he has already overcome this hurdle, and his life after that will be smooth sailing."
"You can't take anything that belongs to him away."
The arrival of the police brought the noise to a temporary halt.
The main task is dispute mediation. Regarding incidents from more than 20 years ago, the police simply make a record and prepare to transfer them to the relevant departments for follow-up processing.
Fu Xuanliao had a gut feeling that Teacher Sun was involved in this matter, but the chaotic scene didn't allow him to ask too many questions. He figured it wouldn't be too late to investigate thoroughly when the case was filed and prosecuted later.
As they left, Yang Youlan was still frantically muttering behind them, "Why wasn't it him who died?" Sun Yanfeng, who had been silent all along, followed and slipped a small white paper bag into Li Bihan's hand.
Li Bihan took a taxi from the hospital and got into Fu Xuanliao's car as soon as she got back.
Jiang Rong and she were close friends and both mothers. Seeing her in such a state, she felt deeply saddened and took disinfectant wipes and tissues from the back seat to carefully clean the wounds on her face, comforting her that everything would pass.
Li Bihan didn't know how much she had heard. She hadn't said a word since getting on the bus, but her tears never stopped, especially when she took out a few one-inch photos from the small white paper bag. The main character in the photos was a boy who looked no more than five or six years old.
The standard ID photo was obviously taken because it was necessary, and it hasn't been properly preserved over the years; the edges of the photo are soft and yellowed.
While waiting at a red light, Jiang Rong handed a photo to the person in front. Fu Xuanliao carefully held the photo and looked at it again and again in the light.
The little boy in the photo has big, beautiful eyes, a small nose, and tightly pursed lips, staring blankly at the camera. Unsuspecting passersby would likely compliment his good looks or remark, "Why doesn't this child smile?"
There's nothing to be happy about, so how can he laugh?
He just wanted a little sunshine, a few bits of warmth from others. Being so young then, he probably couldn't understand why everyone around him disliked him and treated him badly.
Li Bihan, sitting in the back seat, stroked the photo and cried bitterly: "It's all my fault. I made you suffer so much, made you bullied and wronged."
Fu Xuanliao also wanted to ask himself, how could he not trust him, how could he bear to treat him badly?
Bitterness spread from the bottom of my heart to my throat, like swallowing a capsule with its sugar coating removed; every bit of bitterness that spread out relentlessly crushed my fragile sensory nerves.
The more I learn, the more heartache I feel for Shi Meng, and the more my pain doubles and then doubles again.
Fu Xuanliao took a deep breath, suppressing the tears that were about to spill.
He turned around and held up the photo in his hand: "Aunt Li, can I have this one? I promise I'll keep it safe and won't lose it."
I will treat him well and never let him suffer again.
Fu Xuanliao never makes oaths lightly; once he does, he always keeps them.
But the people in the photo didn't give him a chance to make amends.
The car took the group directly to the hospital. Jiang Xue remained at the ward door, saying that she didn't want to see anyone.
"Please pass on a message for me, Miss Jiang," Li Bihan said, her energy depleted from the earlier ordeal. She was barely able to stand, even with Jiang Rong supporting her, but she still insisted on delivering the message. "Tell Mengmeng that I will seek justice for him, no matter which side he is on."
This implied that she would not protect Shi Sihui. The group changed course and went to the police station. In front of the police, Li Bihan indeed did not make any demands, but only asked them to enforce the law impartially and restore the truth.
Fu Xuanliao was still worried, so after seeing his elders off, he went to find Officer Chen, who was in charge of the case.
He ran into someone upstairs, and from the other person's expression, Fu Xuanliao guessed that things hadn't gone well.
Sure enough, Officer Chen pointed to one of the interrogation rooms and said, "They probably conspired together to make that woman surnamed Zhou take the blame. She refused to say a word and left everything to her lawyer."
Fu Xuanliao glanced at the closed door and asked, "Can I talk to her?"
Officer Chen reported to his superiors, and about fifteen minutes later, Fu Xuanliao entered the interrogation room and caught the astonishment in Shi Sihui's eyes.
However, it only lasted a second. After Fu Xuanliao sat down in the seat opposite her, she lowered her gaze again and stubbornly resisted with a cold expression.
Fu Xuanliao didn't rush to speak. He played with the glass on the table in front of him for a while, tapping his fingers on the glass, making a jarring sound that sounded abrupt and jarring in the quiet environment.
Shi Sihui had been there all night, and was exhausted from the interrogation. Before long, she became impatient and couldn't take it anymore, so she asked, "What are you doing here?"
Fu Xuanliao then put down his cup: "Let me see if you regret it."
Shi Sihui was taken aback at first, then smiled and said, "I didn't do anything wrong. My subordinates acted on their own, what does that have to do with me..."
"What I want to ask is," Fu Xuanliao didn't give her a chance to continue, "that you've hurt your own brother and your mother who trusted you. Do you regret it?"
This is an inquiry. Shi Sihui instinctively retorted, "I didn't know he was my younger brother before, and even if he were, so what? I'm the one who's been working hard at the company, why should he..."
Halfway through her sentence, she realized she had let something slip and understood that this was tantamount to an admission. Shi Sihui stopped talking, biting her lip and glaring resentfully at the person sitting opposite her.
Having confirmed the motive, Fu Xuanliao was far from happy. It turned out it really was because of that 10% stake, just as he had said earlier, "Possessing a treasure is a crime."
Even if Shi Meng does nothing, there are still many people who are envious and jealous, hiding in the shadows waiting for an opportunity to stab him in the back.
“Even if you have no feelings for him, you shouldn’t go to such lengths.” Fu Xuanliao met Shi Sihui’s gaze and continued, “If anything happens to him, neither of you will have a good ending.”
He directly labeled Shi Sihui as a criminal, scaring her with the possible consequences. Under these circumstances, she either didn't answer, or if she opened her mouth, it would be difficult for her not to reveal her true intentions.
Sure enough, Shi Sihui lost her composure: "Didn't nothing happen? What could possibly happen if I was hit a few times?" Her rationality was disrupted by her emotions, and she said in a desperate manner, "Did that bitch Shi Meng tell you? Did he tell you not to let me go? Humph, he used to be timid and didn't dare to utter a word, but now that he's become the eldest young master of the Shi family, he's starting to eliminate dissidents."
Fu Xuanliao noticed that her address to Shi Meng had changed from "bastard" to "bitch," indicating that she had accepted the fact that Shi Meng was related to her by blood. Yet, she could still utter such cold words, showing that she was a complete egoist. In her eyes, there was no difference between the former Shi Mu and the current Shi Meng.
Not wanting to delve into her humanity within the limited time available, Fu Xuanliao didn't directly answer the questions, but instead recounted the entire incident.
"There's no need to guess. At the shareholders' meeting that day, you didn't know Shi Meng would come to the group building. You thought he was there to cause trouble, so you panicked. You originally wanted to get rid of him, but your subordinates messed things up and injured someone. You then took the opportunity to vent your years of dissatisfaction."
"On the surface, you seem to have everything, but in reality, you are not valued in the Shi family. You have the ability but no real power. You have long been unhappy with those younger brothers who have everything without contributing anything."
"That's how it happened and what caused it."
There wasn't a single question mark, yet it was as certain as if he had seen it with his own eyes, and every word hit Shi Sihui's sore spot.
She wanted to continue arguing, to deny it, saying it didn't matter if she had let it slip earlier, since there were plenty of people to cover for her. But looking at the calm and collected man in front of her, she couldn't help but feel a little dazed.
By the time I came to my senses, the thought of arguing had long since vanished. It was as if I was recalling my first flutter of excitement in my youth, also because this person was upright, honest, and open-minded, unlike others who had been mingling in this noisy and glamorous world of fame and fortune since childhood.
He guessed correctly, except he missed one point in the cause.
Lowering her eyes again to conceal the surging resentment within, Shi Sihui smiled helplessly: "I regret it."
I regret letting you in, I regret being jealous, and I regret treating you differently time and time again.
After confirming everything, Fu Xuanliao got up to leave. Officer Chen had been eavesdropping on the entire conversation and should already know how to interrogate him next.
As they reached the door, Fu Xuanliao heard Shi Sihui say leisurely behind him, "So you've already forgotten about Shi Mu... But he wasn't a good person to begin with."
Fu Xuanliao turned around: "You knew he stole the painting?"
"I don't know, but I can guess." Shi Sihui shrugged as her dejection seemed to last only a few seconds. "He's just like his mother, with one insidious trick after another. Like mother, like son."
Based on the information gathered over the past few days and the reconstruction of the past, Fu Xuanliao roughly knows that Shi Mu is not as innocent as he once thought. At least in the matter of stealing the painting, Shi Mu was scheming and not innocent at all.
But Shi Sihui didn't know any more details. She just vented her anger: "Shi Meng is a slut too. She actually took the path that others had paved and picked up the scraps."
When asked about the reason for her bargain, Shi Sihui changed the subject and joked, "I heard he tied you up at sea and you almost didn't make it back?"
Seeing that he couldn't get any more useful information out of him, Fu Xuanliao didn't answer and pressed down on the doorknob with one hand.
Shi Sihui took this as tacit agreement and scoffed, "Even after all this, you're still protecting him..."
One foot that had been extended remained rooted to the spot, and sarcastic words drifted clearly into the ears on the not-so-cool evening breeze.
"So, after all this time, you're truly in love with Shi Meng. What do you call... love that grows over time?"
"What a pity, you were involved in the share grab too. He heard everything clearly on the phone that day. How about we take a gamble and see if he forgives you?"
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