Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I pulled the box back against my chest and drove my knee hard into the person’s abdomen.

The man let out a muffled groan as his elbow slammed against the cabinet door with a sharp clang. I took the opportunity to scramble toward the exit, but someone in the darkness was faster than me. A high heel stepped precisely onto the attacker’s foot, followed by Xie Lingshu’s amused voice.

“Stealing an ex-girlfriend’s ring? Are the men of the Gu Family really this pathetic?”

When the emergency lights flickered on, the attacker had already bolted through the fire exit on the other side, leaving behind only a torn cuff at the end of the hallway.

Xie Lingshu bent down to pick it up and handed it to me. “Dark gray suit, Italian handmade fabric. Tonight, the only ones wearing this brand are Wen Xingzhou and Qi Jiashu.”

After saying this, she glanced at Qi Jiashu without the slightest attempt to hide her suspicion.

Qi Jiashu’s expression remained unchanged. “It could also be a deliberate frame-up.”

“Of course,” Xie Lingshu said, brushing her hair back. “But I have a quirk-I especially love to suspect the one who looks the most innocent first.”

I tucked the ring into my pocket and finally looked her in the eye. “Why did you follow me just now?”

“Because I don’t believe Gu Yanzhou died in an accident either,” she leaned against the wall, her tone airy. “Also, I’m not his fiancée.”

I froze.

Xie Lingshu smiled. “To be precise, I’m a fake fiancée he hired.”

She looked at me, enunciating every word. “Specifically to make you angry.”

The fire I had just suppressed nearly flared up again.

“Are you crazy, or was he?”

“Both,” she admitted frankly. “But later, the stakes were raised. My family has a partnership with the Gu Corporation, and everyone in our circles knows I’m difficult to deal with. By using a rumored romance with me, Gu Yanzhou was able to draw out quite a few people who were keeping tabs on him.”

I looked at her coldly. “Including who?”

Xie Lingshu didn’t answer directly. Instead, she pulled a slender USB drive from her bag and handed it to me.

“Last month, Gu Yanzhou asked me to go to his study to find an old audit draft. When I went in, Wen Xingzhou was already there, rummaging through the safe. My hand wasn’t burned by coffee; he lit a lighter to force me to hand over what I’d found, and the curtains caught fire in the process.”

“Why didn’t you call the police?”

“I did, but what could I say?” She shrugged. “That I, the fake fiancée, snuck into his study in the middle of the night and caught his cousin committing arson?”

Her words were biting, but the logic was sound.

Qi Jiashu took the USB and plugged it into a tablet. It contained only one surveillance clip. Dated two days before Gu Yanzhou’s accident, the footage was shaky, but it captured Wen Xingzhou’s profile and Xie Lingshu’s hand being singed by flames as she scrambled to hide.

In the video, Wen Xingzhou said, “Where is the blue folder from the safe?”

A blue folder.

I remembered that Envelope No. 1 was also dark blue.

When we returned to the suite, Wen Xingzhou was in a hushed, heated argument with Madam Gu. He stopped immediately when he saw me enter, though his expression was already quite sour.

“Finished checking the storage room?” He leaned against the table, asking as if it were just a casual inquiry. “Did you find the truth you were looking for?”

“Almost,” I said, staring him down. “But you probably won’t be getting any sleep tonight.”

A second video popped up automatically at that moment.

In this one, Gu Yanzhou had changed into a dark sweater and looked noticeably thinner. Beside him was a chestnut cake from the shop I used to love most, its packaging still unopened.

“If Envelope No. 1 has been opened, it means Nanzhi likely hasn’t cursed me out of existence yet, and it also means someone is starting to get desperate.”

He leaned back in his chair as if he were just chatting.

“First, let me correct two things. One, Xie Lingshu and I were never engaged; I hired her to put on a show. Two, I didn’t break up with Jiang Nanzhi five years ago because I was bored. It was because Jiang Linchuan handed me evidence that could put a lot of people in prison, and at the time, I didn’t have the power to protect both him and Nanzhi.”

My eyes began to sting.

But the Gu Yanzhou on the screen didn’t give me any room to breathe.

“An hour before Jiang Linchuan died, he called me. He said he had a set of files regarding the ‘Chenghai Phase I Clinical Project’ involving the tampering of adverse reaction data, the forging of subject signatures, and a life that was taken and staged as a traffic accident. Those files never reached me because he died on his way here.”

Madam Gu looked up sharply. “Yanzhou, what on earth are you talking about?”

In the video, Gu Yanzhou didn’t even look her way.
“Nanzhi, your brother was very clever. He knew something might happen to him, so he left a backup plan. That ring isn’t just an ordinary ring; there’s a compartment inside the band. The password is the date you first blacklisted me.”

For a moment, I wanted to curse.

Xie Lingshu couldn’t help herself and let out a laugh first. “He’s still such a prick, even in death.”

He really was. But only Gu Yanzhou could design a combination of sweet nothings and criminal evidence in such an infuriating way.

I took off the ring and twisted the inner band the way he had described. With a faint click, a memory card as thin as a fish scale popped out from the center of the ring.

Every eye in the room was instantly pinned on it.

Wen Xingzhou tried to step forward but was blocked by the security guards. Madam Gu’s face turned pale, while Meng Mingche instinctively reached for his phone, as if finally realizing that tonight wasn’t just a simple dispute over an inheritance.

Qi Jiashu inserted the memory card into a card reader.

There were three folders inside.

The first contained the complete raw data for the Chenghai Phase I Project. Among hundreds of test subjects, fourteen had their severe adverse reactions altered to “mood swings” or “mild dizziness”; behind one of the ID numbers, a death certificate was attached.

The second folder held several stamped supplemental agreements from within the Gu Corporation. The signature lines bore the names of Wen Xingzhou, Meng Mingche, and even Madam Gu.

The third was an audio file.

When I clicked it, the room became so quiet that only the sound of breathing remained.

“If you’re hearing this, it means it’s no longer convenient for me to speak.”

It was my brother’s voice.

Five years had passed, but I recognized it instantly.

“Yanzhou, this business with the Gu Family isn’t that simple. The truly terrifying ones aren’t the people on the board of directors; it’s the lawyer who’s been cleaning up after all of you. He knows better than anyone how to wash away the filth. If something happens to the car, check the liability waiver printed in his office first…”

The audio was abruptly cut off by the sharp screech of braking tires.

My fingers trembled, and I could barely hold the mouse.

The entire room felt like it had been put on pause.

Wen Xingzhou was the first to react, snapping his head toward Qi Jiashu. “Lawyer? What does that mean?”

Madam Gu was also stunned. “Jiashu?”

Qi Jiashu’s brow furrowed slightly, as if he too had been stung by the audio, but he quickly regained his composure.

“An audio recording of unknown origin can’t directly prove anything.” He looked at me. “Jiang Nanzhi, when your brother had his accident, I was out of town for a court hearing. There’s a complete record of my itinerary. If Gu Yanzhou really suspected me, he wouldn’t have left me as the executor of his will.”

When he said this, even I hesitated for a moment.

He was right. If Gu Yanzhou suspected Qi Jiashu, why would he put this entire situation tonight into his hands?

I looked up at the screen.

As if Gu Yanzhou had anticipated our reaction, a third line of text popped up:

“Don’t be so quick to trust the person who seems most likely to help you. Go to the 36th Floor Showroom and look at the piano by the window that’s been broken for a long time.”

My heart sank.

The 36th Floor Showroom was where Gu Yanzhou had proposed to me five years ago.

It was also where he had personally pushed me away later on.

As the elevator descended, Xie Lingshu stood side-by-side with me and suddenly asked, “Do you still hate him?”

I watched the floor numbers flickering by for a long time before saying, “Yes.”

“Then why are you crying?”

Only then did I realize that, at some point, my face had become covered in tears.

The 36th Floor Showroom had been sealed off all this time. When the door opened, a cloud of dust billowed out, but the layout of the room hadn’t changed much. The piano was leaning against the floor-to-ceiling window. Sure enough, one key was stuck on a half-note, hanging there like the words he hadn’t had time to say five years ago.

I pressed down on the malfunctioning key, and a recording pen slid out from inside.

There was only one new recording on it, in Gu Yanzhou’s voice.

“Nanzhi, if you’ve made it this far, it means someone has panicked enough to stop pretending. Watch Qi Jiashu’s left hand.”

Before I could react, a dull thud suddenly came from behind me.

Qi Jiashu collapsed by the door, a long gash sliced across his left arm, blood quickly staining his shirt cuff red. Wen Xingzhou was panting heavily, clutching a jagged half of a broken wine bottle, his eyes bloodshot.

“I told you already, don’t push me too far.” He glared at Qi Jiashu, his voice vicious. “You were the one who made me sign that liability waiver. You think you can fucking wash your hands of this alone now?”

The situation had descended into total chaos.