In the detention center, Gu Yanting, dressed in prison garb, sat on the cold iron bed. Outside the window were high walls and electric fences; his once-ambitious plans to survey the entire city had vanished like a mirage. When his lawyer told him that the electronic contract and Zhao Jianzhe's testimony were enough to convict him of multiple crimes, he simply stared at the ceiling, his eyes vacant. Ah Yu, whom he had always considered an ant; Zhong Hua, whom he thought he could manipulate at will; Lin Wanqing, whom he tried to bind with familial ties—they had ultimately joined forces to push him into the abyss.
In the afternoon, Zhong Hua received a call from Chen Feng, whose tone was much more relaxed than in the early hours of the morning: "Reporter Zhong, we have good news. We found an encrypted file in Zhao Jianzhe's Swiss email account. It's an email your father sent to Zhao Jianzhe back then. The attachments include a re-inspection report of the steel from the Xinggang plot, as well as a recording of a phone call between him and Gu Yanting, which records Gu Yanting threatening him to change the test results."
On the other end of the phone, Zhong Hua covered her mouth, tears silently streaming down her face. Six years had passed, and her father's injustice had finally been redressed.
Ah Yu and Lin Wanqing arrived at the Municipal Public Security Bureau. In Chen Feng's office, they saw the belated re-examination report. On the report, their father's signature was clearly visible, and next to it was a note: "In case of any unforeseen circumstances, this shall serve as proof."
“Your father foresaw the danger long ago,” Chen Feng sighed and handed the report to A Yu. “He sent a backup to Zhao Jianzhe, but unfortunately Zhao Jianzhe was under Gu Yanting’s control at the time and only dared to send it out before he was arrested.”
Stepping out of the police station, the sun shone brightly. Ah Yu looked at the report in her hand, then at Zhong Hua and Lin Wanqing beside her, her heart filled with mixed emotions. Those seemingly insurmountable barriers, those tangled love and hate, all seemed so insignificant in the face of the truth.
"What are your plans next?" Lin Wanqing asked softly, her gaze fixed on the distant sea horizon.
Ah Yu took a deep breath, as if to expel all the gloom of the past: "I want to go see my dad first, and then... start over."
Zhong Hua nodded and took out his father's diary from his bag: "I want to organize these so that more people know that there are some bottom lines that can never be crossed."
A sea breeze carried the salty, damp scent of the ocean. Three people walked side-by-side on the beach, the city's hustle and bustle fading behind them, the boundless sea illuminated by the sun ahead. The emergence of crucial evidence was not only a turning point in the case, but also a turning point in their lives. The darkness that had shrouded their past would finally dissipate in the sunlight, and a new life was slowly unfolding in the glimmer of dawn.
(End of Episode 174)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
