Chapter 94 Who is the Harmful Person?
"Let's stop here."
Yuan Zhiyi listened quietly to Lin Guantang's words without making any comments. He just flicked the ash out of the car window and ended the topic directly.
The vehicle was not moving fast, and in such a cold and deserted night, the speed could even be called slow, but the cigarette ash was blown away by the wind in a blink of an eye and could no longer be seen.
It seems that in the torrent of time and the huge plan, no matter how precious life is, it is as small as dust and disappears in a blink of an eye.
Yuan Zhiyi said:
"It's meaningless for you to continue exploring the secrets of the Yuan family. I've already promised you that I will clear Huo Shizhen's reputation and pay you the promised reward. I'll send someone to show you the plan in a few days. If you've already returned to the imperial capital, I'll pass it on to you. Just remember to accept it."
Lin Guantang stared at her, not moved by her promise:
"But you're not going to identify the real murderer."
"Didn't I tell you that this is my Yuan family's business. How it's arranged has nothing to do with you, even if it's—"
Yuan Zhiyi curled the corners of his lips and said:
"Even if you and Huo Shizhen become a legal couple, why bother with it when he doesn't care about it himself?"
Legal partnership or something like that...that's still a distant possibility.
Lin Guantang doesn't like to worry about things that are too far in the future and are not yet certain, but he really wants to get to the bottom of the mystery that is right in front of him.
"Whether Huo Shizhen doesn't care is his business, and what I care about is my business. If you don't intend to hand over the real murderer of Yuan Zhiren, then even if you clarify to the public that Huo Shizhen had nothing to do with Yuan Zhiren's murder, how many people will believe it?"
Who knows, it might even make the matter more obvious, and people might mistakenly think that they were "forced" to help him clarify the matter because of coercion and bribery by Huo Shizhen. But even if they revealed the culprit... considering Huo Shizhen's character is like a ruin, I'm afraid few people would believe it.
Lin Guantang sighed secretly, and he didn't know how many times he had felt sad about the rumors about Huo Shizhen.
Yuan Zhizhi was determined to find the truth, so he sighed and said helplessly:
"You can't ask me to surrender in public. That would be too humiliating, Xiaolin. After all, I'm the eldest daughter of the Yuan family. If I were to fall after the fall of a young master, the Yuan family would be in chaos and would fall from grace. If you really want to clarify, I can sign a promise to you first. Wait a year - or six months. When my two children grow up and can support the Yuan family, it won't be too late for me to retire."
"Huo Shizhen himself doesn't care, Xiaolin, just be a good person and give the Yuan family some time. My eldest brother is not dead yet. Huo Shizhen doesn't have to bear the infamy of being a murderer. There's no need to push him so hard."
"You weren't the one who hurt him."
Lin Guantang put away his scattered thoughts and looked at her doubtfully:
"Why do you want to retreat?"
Yuan Zhiyi paused, looked back, and stared into his blue eyes. After staring for a while, he calmly withdrew his gaze and exhaled another puff of smoke.
The swirling mist obscures the view, which is so clear that it is almost dazzling.
The swirling smoke obscured my vision, and even the words I spoke out were vague and hazy:
"Haven't you already confirmed that it was me who instructed Zhou Chunyu to approach Yuan Zhiren, causing him to lose his chance to inherit the family headship? And yet you're saying it wasn't me who harmed him? Isn't that a contradiction?"
“Those are two different things.”
Lin Guantang corrected her statement - similarly, because she was still covering up for the real murderer until now, and became more certain of her guess.
So when he spoke the name of the real murderer, his tone became more firm.
"It was you who ordered Zhou Chunyu, but it was your younger sister, Yuan Zhili, who harmed Yuan Zhiren at the banquet."
The silence seemed to last a little longer, but it was only a minute or two. It could be said that he was enjoying the taste of tobacco.
Yuan Zhiyi extinguished the cigarette, and the cold wind blew back and forth. The lingering smoke dissipated with the wind in a moment, leaving only the biting cold air.
She spoke, her tone calmer than ever before:
"You can't stand Huo Shizhen being slandered for no reason, so you should understand that I don't like people slandering my sister either."
"I thought you suddenly called out to Huo Shizhen at the banquet because you already knew who was responsible, so you were desperate and wanted to shift the blame onto Huo Shizhen."
Lin Guantang looked straight at her and said slowly:
"You know Huo Shizhen. He doesn't care about your Yuan family's affairs, nor does he care about his reputation in the outside world. He won't make any unnecessary clarifications. At most, you will be ridiculed by him, and then you don't have to discuss this matter anymore. Let others tacitly assume that this matter was Huo Shizhen's doing. A sarcastic ridicule in exchange for an innocent reputation after harming others. It's a very cost-effective deal, or in other words—"
"Miss Yuan, you really are a young lady who thinks too much about your brothers and sisters. Maybe it's because you think too much about them that you're used to being misunderstood and slandered, so you don't think it's something worth worrying about."
For a moment, Yuan Zhiyi couldn't tell whether Lin Guantang was mocking her or praising her.
However, saying that she is used to being misunderstood is a rather fresh and rare comment.
Over the years, many people have said that the former eldest daughter was decisive and too sharp in her actions. This is the first time someone has said that she has become accustomed to being misunderstood.
She would not allow others to slander her reputation without fighting back. If there was anything that could be related to the current topic, it was only one thing - she was witnessed by Yuan Zhili in the process of trading with Zhou Chunyu.
Because of this, she was always suspected of having ulterior motives, but she didn't expect that Yuan Zhili would tell Lin Guantang about this matter - judging from Lin Guantang's tone and the fact that he was able to find Zhou Chunyu, there was no need to confirm it again.
But being able to connect things to this extent, Lin Guantang thought of much more than she expected.
Yuan Zhiyi said:
"There's no need to speculate about my thoughts. It has nothing to do with you. You said Yuan Zhili was the murderer of Yuan Zhiren. You must provide evidence. You can't convict her based on just one sentence I said at the time."
"I thought it was obvious."
Lin Guantang said:
"I've also looked up information and know that the Yuan family originated from medicine, especially in the field of pheromone research, where they are among the best in the entire empire. Yuan Zhiren's glands were damaged due to poisoning, which is almost a direct provocation to your entire Yuan family. Yet, you seem to have no intention of investigating the culprit. This can only mean that it is one of your own Yuan family, and someone very close. It is possible that it is one of your children."
"Looking back at your behavior at the time, it's easy to infer that you'd already guessed it was her who had attacked you, so you were looking for a scapegoat to take the initiative. That's your specialty, isn't it, Miss Yuan?"
"More importantly, isn't she also eager to test the authenticity of your pheromones? I suspect she harmed Yuan Zhiren, damaging his glands, and then forced you, a fellow descendant, to contribute your pheromones for verification. That should be a sufficient reason."
Yuan Zhiyi chuckled, without commenting, and simply asked:
"It's all just your speculation, but there's no evidence."
"Hara Tomohito's diagnosis report."
Lin Guantang also smiled, looked at Yuan Zhiyi and frowned slightly, then continued:
"Although the report states that the source of the poison has not yet been determined, the combination of all the listed ingredients indicates that it is closely related to a research project."
"The Yuan family abandoned their 'Pheromone Transformation' project a long time ago. One of the most important drugs in the project was designed to kill the original pheromones. Miss Yuan, you should know what that is better than I do. Would you like to check this line—"
"This project has been abandoned for years, and the research on this drug has been banned. I don't think anyone other than the Yuan family would be able to obtain it so easily. There should be records of it. Why not check the records of those drugs obtained over the years? Maybe there will be a surprise."
Yuan Zhiyi's expression finally turned completely serious. He frowned and looked at Lin Guantang, and even his tone became sharp:
"How did you find this out? Was it a clue given to you by Huo Shizhen?"
Lin Guantang shook his head - of course he found this clue from the system. How to say it, after the system upgrade, it is really different from before.
But there should be no need to tell Yuan Zhiyi that he can use the military academy system and search the military academy's database.
So he just said:
"It seems I was right. You already knew the source of Yuan Zhiren's poison, but you haven't figured out a way to cover it up. That's why you continue to delay, pretending you haven't found the source yet."
Now that things have come to this, there seems to be no need to continue to defend myself.
Yuan Zhiyi laughed with an ambiguous tone and said:
"You're not afraid of being silenced by me if you tell me."
"It's unnecessary. Like you said, Yuan Zhiren is not dead, and no one's life is involved. Killing me is not unnecessary, and -"
Lin Guantang blinked and said slowly:
"I thought you came to me specifically because you had something to tell me, not just to listen to my long speech. If you have something to tell me, you must have me to listen and do it. So, my life should be safe for now."
Yuan Zhiyi sighed deeply and said:
"If you were my brother, I would be very happy."
Having said that, Yuan Zhiyi paused, shook his head, and chuckled self-deprecatingly:
"No, forget it. With your qualifications, if you were born into the Yuan family, and it's not certain that you would inherit the position of head of the family, you would be very miserable."
Lin Guantang rolled his eyes, thinking:
"Is this the reason why you want to replace Young Master Yuan and become the heir of the Yuan family?"
In Yuan Zhiyi's confused gaze, Lin Guantang said:
"Actually, I have a question that I haven't figured out yet."
This is really curious.
Yuan Zhiyi smiled and said:
"You've already found so many clues. What else can't you figure out?"
Of course there is—
Even that was the original question.
Lin Guantang said puzzledly:
"Isn't the position of Patriarch Yuan good enough? Why are you using such a roundabout way to prevent him from taking the throne? I originally thought that maybe this was the so-called struggle among the wealthy families. You don't want to hurt him, but you can't give up the position of Patriarch, so you do this, but there may be another reason."
"While inheriting the honor of being the head of the Yuan family, you will also inherit something else that will cause you pain."
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