Chapter 52#

The first thing Jin Yan discovered when he came out of the courtroom was that Jiang Qin was missing.

He called Jiang Qin several times but no one answered, then quickly called Li Xiaomeng. Tashi answered, saying: “Li Meng is playing chess with the little sheep. He said he knows you’ll be back and we’ll have dinner together at home tonight.”

In his panic, Jin Yan didn’t notice where Li Meng went to play chess and immediately asked: “Did Jiang Qin call just now?”

“He did. He told Li Meng to play well and not be naughty. Li Meng asked what’s for dinner tonight, and President Jiang said we’ll see.”

“Did he say where he was going?”

“No, but from his voice, it sounded like he was going on a long trip.”

Jin Yan’s heart sank instantly.

Tashi asked coldly: “Is there anything else to instruct?”

“…No, nothing.”

Tashi immediately hung up the phone.

Jin Yan was a bit frantic. The driver was bending down to open the door for him, but he walked to the side without even looking and dialed the company again. Who knew his phone would ring before he even pressed the call button? It was Guan Feng’s number.

“I don’t have time to talk to you now, surnamed Guan. Jiang Qin…”

“That confidante of yours named Xu Xiaoxuan,” Guan Feng’s tone was calm and unruffled, “Jiang Qin handed her over to me before going to court, and then she told me some things. Is there a secretary in your company named Zhao Xue? She has been embezzling funds from Star Entertainment to buy drugs, using heroin to control Xu Xiaoxuan, and at the same time selling your information to Fang Yuan.”

“…What did you say?”

“Come over and talk in person,” Guan Feng said, “There are some things you’d better know.”

Guan Feng’s style of doing things was very different from Jiang Qin’s. Jiang Qin had an extremely high IQ and a terrifyingly rigorous logical thinking. As long as Xu Xiaoxuan said a name, he could string together the cause and effect, and then with a little investigation, he could figure out the whole thing.

Guan Feng, on the other hand, was too lazy to play riddles with Xu Xiaoxuan—those who dared to play riddles with the great young master Guan were all floating in the Ring River. He had Hellen bring this woman to the Guan family, and in less than twenty minutes, he completely pried her mouth open, making her spill all the secrets like beans from a bamboo tube.

When Jin Yan went over, Xu Xiaoxuan was in the early stages of drug withdrawal. Her whole person was hard to look at, a world of difference from the jade-like girl image on the screen—people would believe it if you said she was a vegetable-selling auntie.

She cowered on the sofa, while Guan Feng sat at the desk, wearing a black shirt and black trousers, his long legs casually and slightly parted, his face looking as if he had just heard something interesting. As soon as he saw Jin Yan, he immediately waved: “Come over, President Jin. We were just talking about how she got the drug from your secretary and then slept with you. It’s so funny, my entertainment for the rest of my life depends on it.”

Jin Yan: “…”

Jin Yan’s face immediately turned green.

Xu Xiaoxuan was really afraid of Jin Yan now. As soon as she saw him, she couldn’t even speak properly. She tremblingly recounted the process of drugging him, and repeatedly emphasized: “—That drug really doesn’t harm the body, really! It’s just for fun! Even if you gave me the guts, I wouldn’t dare…”

Jin Yan said angrily: “Shut up! Are you trying to say I already had the intention to cheat, so just taking a fun drug worked? You might as well say you gave me a strong aphrodisiac!”

He paced around the office like a trapped beast for two laps, then suddenly had a look of utter despair: “You… you didn’t say that to Jiang Qin too, did you?”

“…” Xu Xiaoxuan nodded timidly.

Jin Yan instantly fell headfirst.

“What did you tell me about what happened later?” Guan Feng asked with interest, “Did that Zhao Xue also give you Jiang Qin’s phone number?”

Xu Xiaoxuan trembled and said: “Yes… yes. She said that President Jin and Mr. Jiang’s relationship was not good, and if Mr. Jiang knew about this, they would definitely fight. And President Jin likes children. If I got pregnant and Mr. Jiang agreed to a divorce, I would definitely be able to…”

“Poor Wei Hong has been taking the blame for so long. Li Meng always thought you stole Jiang Qin’s number from his phone.” Guan Feng shook his head and asked: “Was Zhao Xue still supplying you with drugs at that time?”

“Yes, I didn’t dare to buy drugs… and she kept threatening me, saying she would expose my drug use… My career was already on the rise. If such news broke out, I would never be able to make a comeback in this industry for the rest of my life…”

Xu Xiaoxuan choked up and said: “Zhao Xue is very cunning and terrifying. I’m really no match for her. I did whatever she told me to do… Later at the company’s annual meeting, President Jin originally forbade me from attending, but she secretly let the reception staff let me in, and even wrote a provocative line for me to say to Mr. Jiang…”

Jin Yan suddenly realized why he always felt Xu Xiaoxuan was loitering in front of him during that time. It turned out to be Zhao Xue’s doing.

In fact, both Zhao Xue and Xu Xiaoxuan had underestimated a man’s ambition for his career. In Jin Yan’s eyes, those female stars in the company were just walking ♀ symbols, with no other connection besides business. Even if Xu Xiaoxuan walked in front of him ten times a day in a three-point bikini, she would just be a fabric-saving ♀ symbol.

Jin Yan had been too lazy to care about those jealousies and undercurrents since the first day he started the company, and his nerves in this area were also quite dull. The only time he was sensitive was a few years ago when Jiang Qin came to the finance department to get something and was seen by a male artist. After that, the artist tried every means to get his phone number, wanting to send a love text message. This matter was ruthlessly nipped in the bud by Jin Yan before the love text message could even be sent out. Jiang Qin didn’t even know a shadow of it.

After that, Jin Yan strictly guarded against those handsome and stylish male artists in the company, but was much more relaxed with women—women, no matter how awesome, couldn’t pin Jiang Qin down and rape him, right?

“Why was she so dedicated to pushing you towards Jin Yan?” Guan Feng asked with interest, “Was it just to make you probe for secrets?”

“I, I don’t know. She once said that Mr. Jiang was too smart and a formidable character. If he didn’t leave, no one would be able to deal with President Jin…” Xu Xiaoxuan thought for a moment and mumbled: “She also said that if Mr. Jiang no longer interfered in Star Entertainment’s affairs, the company would definitely have big problems financially…”

“So she was the one who told Fang Yuan about your internal accounting office?”

Xu Xiaoxuan was so scared she almost shrank, and only admitted tremblingly after a long while: “—I told her first…”

Only her suppressed sobs could be heard in the office, otherwise it was completely silent.

Jin Yan’s mind was buzzing, and it took him a long while to forcibly calm down.

“Jiang Qin has been investigating that Zhao Xue these past few days. The strange thing is that all her resumes are real. Born in another city, interned at a newspaper after graduating from university, simple social circle, limited financial resources. It can be said that before she entered Star Entertainment, she had no connection with the Jin family at all. Her hatred for you simply appeared out of thin air, inexplicably.”

Guan Feng handed over a file bag on the table and asked: “Have you ever been suspicious of this secretary?”

Jin Yan’s sharp brows furrowed, he just shook his head and pressed the file bag under his two fingers.

After a long silence, he suddenly said in a low voice: “I can only think of one possibility…”

Just as Guan Feng was about to say something, the office door was knocked twice. Hellen stuck her head in with the phone, her exquisitely made-up face looking very nervous: “President Guan, Director Liang from the Municipal Public Security Bureau called, saying that two hours ago, the acting president of Star Entertainment went to surrender for a murder case!”

Jin Yan stood up abruptly: “—Jiang Qin?!”

Hellen’s lips turned slightly pale, and she nodded extremely quickly.

“…” Jin Yan understood everything in an instant.

This man who had walked on the edge of a knife for so many years without fear, at this moment only felt his blood run cold, as if the nightmare he had feared for many years had suddenly and unexpectedly come true.

“Zhao Chengqiang…”

Jin Yan’s voice was unusually hoarse and difficult to distinguish. Guan Feng was a little confused, but only saw him turn his head bit by bit, his face with an unprecedentedly solemn expression:

“The matter of Zhao Chengqiang has been exposed—go investigate Zhao Xue immediately, she is Zhao Chengqiang’s person!”

The sensational case of Zhao Chengqiang’s disappearance from more than ten years ago had been exposed.

The police went to Jin Yan’s house that afternoon and found the tightly wrapped jade paperweight from the safe, and carefully sent it back to the municipal bureau’s forensic science department.

As a result, the forensic process was very smooth. Zhao Chengqiang’s bloodstains and Jiang Qin’s fingerprints were indeed found. When the forensic expert handed the report to the criminal investigation team, he repeatedly said that a murder weapon that was still as good as new after more than ten years was simply a miracle: the murderer must have immediately wrapped the murder weapon in newspaper after committing the crime, and never touched it again to avoid creating new fingerprints; for so many years, the murder weapon had been kept away from light and water, and the materials available for identification were well preserved. The fingerprints from back then were still clearly discernible…

“Could it be that he had long anticipated this day?” the forensic expert asked in confusion, “Because of a guilty conscience, he kept the murder weapon for our future identification?”

The team leader pondered for a long time and shook his head: “It’s hard to say.”

“What’s so hard to say? Could there be other motives?”

“I’m not referring to this,” the team leader said, “I mean it’s hard to say whether he is the murderer.”

The expert was stunned for a moment.

“The reason this jade paperweight is called the murder weapon is also what that Jiang Qin said himself. Think about it, if he had casually grabbed this paperweight back then, dipped it in Zhao Chengqiang’s blood, then wrapped it in newspaper and kept it for more than ten years, and then came back to us when the body was gone without a trace, and told us this thing was the murder weapon, we couldn’t identify that it wasn’t. Who killed Zhao Chengqiang, what happened that night, it’s all up to him to say now. Whatever he says, it is.”

The expert hesitated: “But… who would joke about a murder case? Although the statute of limitations for negligent homicide has passed, there is still a certain chance of being prosecuted again by the procuratorate. Besides, he himself said he disposed of the body, the seriousness of this…”

“We interrogated him again yesterday,” the team leader said in a deep voice, “This Jiang Qin, his description of the background of this incident was very clear, his statement of the motive for the murder was very logical, his thinking was clear and agile, and no fault could be found. However, when we asked him about the process of the murder, his answers were vague and contradictory several times.”

“Could it be the effect of the evasive memory mechanism…”

“This person’s psychological quality is very good. I think if he really killed him, he would definitely remember the process very clearly.”

The team leader paused and said lightly: “My opinion is different from most people in the bureau. I don’t think he killed the person, but he must have done the aftermath work. The reason why the description of the murder process is unclear is because he was not at the scene when the case occurred, and he couldn’t imagine what it was like to kill someone; but he wanted to protect someone, so he could only rely on making things up.”

The expert had a dumbfounded expression on his face.

Just then, a young criminal policeman hurried over, shouting before he even entered the door: “Did you know, chief, our director is here! He brought someone surnamed Jin who wants to visit Jiang Qin!”

The team leader’s face changed.

“It’s good to have someone in a high position. A criminal suspect can be visited just by saying so.” The young criminal policeman pouted and pointed outside, saying: “The person is already at the detention center now, the director personally sent him in!”

The team leader grabbed a coat, pushed him away directly, and rushed out.

“Hey? Hey? —Chief, where are you going?”

“To the detention center,” the team leader said without looking back, “to have a chat with that person surnamed Jin.”