Chapter 179

Chapter 179

Fortunately, Meng Ran had kept the same phone number. Nan Mu was able to reach her using the number he had stumbled upon at Wisdom Biotechnology the day before, and they arranged a time to meet.

Just as Nan Mu was leaving, he ran into Xu Yang delivering the computer.

“President Nan.” Holding the computer, Xu Yang looked in surprise at Nan Mu’s hurried appearance. “Your computer…”

“Leave it in the living room. I have something to take care of.”

Nan Mu glanced at the computer, but his thoughts were on his appointment with Meng Ran. After issuing the hasty instruction, he got into his car and left.

“Oh…”

Xu Yang watched him depart, then turned around in confusion.

He knew the passcode to Nan Mu’s home, so he opened the door, placed the computer on the living room table, and left.

===

Meng Ran and Xu Lei had both been senior researchers at Wisdom Biotech Company.

Xu Lei specialized in biology, while Meng Ran worked in materials science, the same field as Wen Miao and Wen Xin.

Before coming, Nan Mu had expected a difficult confrontation. Instead, he met her with surprising ease.

“Ah Qiao said someone wanted to see me. I was wondering who it could be. So it’s you.”

Meng Ran lay in a hospital bed, her face pale. She was only in her fifties, yet her hair had already turned completely white.

“You recognize me?”

Nan Mu was surprised. He had assumed he would need to introduce himself first.

Then again, the media had covered him often enough in recent years. Perhaps Meng Ran recognized him from television.

“Of course. Everyone in City A has heard of Nan Huan Group.”

As expected, Meng Ran mentioned Nan Huan Group first, making it clear that she recognized Nan Mu.

But that was not the identity Nan Mu most wanted her to know today.

He was about to explain when Meng Ran added, “Though you look almost the same as you did at the university.”

Nan Mu paused. “The university?”

“Yes.” Meng Ran smiled faintly. “We met several times in Old Hu’s office. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten.”

Old Hu was Professor Hu, the graduate adviser to Nan Mu and Wen Tangtang.

Meng Ran, Professor Hu, and Xu Lei had been university classmates and remained close after they began working. Professor Hu had introduced Nan Mu and Wen Tangtang to them before, but they had met only a handful of times. Nan Mu had assumed Meng Ran had forgotten him long ago.

“I remember. You have an excellent memory, Teacher Meng.”

Meng Ran smiled as though recalling something. Unexpectedly, she was the first to mention Wen Miao. “You were Wen Miao’s friend, weren’t you?”

“You still remember her?”

Nan Mu was surprised. He had asked Wen Miao about Meng Ran before, and she said she had only attended a few of Meng Ran’s public lectures. The two clearly had not been close.

Yet Meng Ran had remembered for ten years a student who had attended only one of her lectures. Nan Mu could not believe there was no other connection between them.

Meng Ran turned toward the parasol tree outside the hospital window and stared at it for a long time. “After all… what happened to her back then was major news.”

Her reaction was strange.

Before coming, Nan Mu had wondered whether she knew about Wen Miao’s murder. But her response now…

Her expression was as calm as an undisturbed lake. Such composure could not have been feigned. If Meng Ran had participated in the plot to kill Wen Miao, she should not have reacted with such indifference.

After a moment’s thought, Nan Mu asked, “Do you know who the killer was?”

The sudden question clearly caught Meng Ran off guard. She looked back from the window and laughed in surprise. “How would I know?”

After thinking, she added, “I heard it was… an unsolved case?”

Nan Mu stared at her with cool detachment. A long moment passed before he said coldly, “I know.”

Meng Ran looked startled, as though she had never expected that answer. She frowned, wondering if she had misheard. “You know what? You know who the killer is?”

Had the cold case been solved while she was not following the news?
Meng Ran’s confusion did not appear feigned, but Nan Mu did not dare believe her easily. He asked, “Do you know why Wen Tangtang killed your husband?”

The abrupt change of subject was strange. More disturbing to Meng Ran, however, was Nan Mu’s attitude. He spoke as if her husband had been killed because of something he himself had done wrong.

Meng Ran clasped her hands tightly, her knuckles whitening with the force. The slight pain helped her suppress her displeasure. “Did you come here today solely to ask that question, President Nan?”

Her voice was icy and carried an unmistakable warning. “Then I’m afraid I have nothing to tell you.”

As though he had not noticed her anger, Nan Mu calmly recounted what he had heard only that morning.

“I learned today that even as Xu Lei lay dying, Wen Tangtang cut into his brain one slice at a time-the exact same method used by the person who killed Wen Miao…”

His tone was detached, as though the matter had nothing to do with him. Yet the information in his words seemed to freeze the air.

As the victim’s family, how could Meng Ran not know how her husband had died?

But even now, she remained unable to accept that the man she loved had been murdered and taken from her.

So as Nan Mu unhurriedly described the horror of Xu Lei’s death, she was instantly dragged back to that day-the police call summoning her to identify his body.

“Enough! Stop talking!”

Meng Ran trembled from head to toe. Fury entered her gaze, and her pale face flushed red with anger.

She shouted at Nan Mu, “I don’t want to hear this. Why exactly did you come here today?”

Meng Ran looked pitiful. She was already in poor health, and now anger shook her entire body. Her chest heaved violently as though she had suffered an intolerable provocation.

“You still don’t understand?”

Nan Mu remembered Wen Miao’s horrific death, and the sliver of sympathy he had felt for Meng Ran instantly froze. Each word struck her crumbling heart like a hammer. “Xu Lei was the person who murdered Wen Miao!”

Meng Ran froze, then stared at Nan Mu as though he had told the most absurd joke in the world. Unable to control herself, she shouted, “Do you even know what you’re saying? How could Xu Lei kill anyone? He didn’t even know Wen Miao. How could he have killed her?”

“Who said he didn’t know Wen Miao?” Nan Mu sneered. “Wen Miao was the daughter you and Xu Lei abandoned. He killed her for you-to save you!”

“Nonsense! Utterly absurd!” Meng Ran looked incredulous. “I don’t know where you heard such a rumor. Everyone knows Wen Tangtang killed Xu Lei. Even if you want to save her, you shouldn’t slander my husband!”

What other reason could Nan Mu have for making such an outrageous claim?

“I’m not slandering him. Xu Lei killing Wen Miao is also an undeniable fact.”

“Your word doesn’t make it a fact! You need evidence. Without evidence, this is defamation!”

Nan Mu laughed coldly. “You want evidence? I have it.”

He took out his phone, opened the recording Wen Miao had obtained with her life, and held the screen out to Meng Ran. “This is the evidence. Surely you can recognize your husband Xu Lei’s voice.”

Seeing Nan Mu’s certainty, Meng Ran was suddenly filled with doubt and alarm.

On one hand, she could not believe that the husband who had shared her bed for over thirty years was a murderer. On the other, she could not imagine the head of a major corporate group coming to her bedside merely to repeat groundless gossip.

For a long time, she did not dare take the phone.

“What are you afraid of? That it might be true?”

“I know Xu Lei. He wasn’t the kind of man you described.” Gritting her teeth, Meng Ran snatched the phone. “You must be mistaken.”

Nan Mu offered no explanation. He only smiled mockingly. “Listen, and you’ll know whether it’s true.”