Chapter 87

(Trigger Warning:
The following content includes mentions of sexual assault, harassment, and suicide. These themes may be disturbing or distressing to readers. Please ensure you’re in a safe and supportive environment before proceeding. If you feel overwhelmed, consider seeking support or exiting the content. Your mental and emotional wellbeing comes first.)

Now that Ji Chenbiao’s career was on the right track, he no longer had to constantly hide and run like before, nor did he have to be so cautious even when trying to clear his sister’s name.

There were even people who, because of this matter, had to distance themselves from him—afraid of being mistaken for his accomplices and targeted for revenge.

Sitting comfortably in the back seat of the car, Ji Chenbiao’s lips curved slightly at the thought. All those years of hard work hadn’t been in vain. He finally had the means to uncover the truth.

Dadan, hearing what his father said, tilted his head curiously and looked up at him, asking softly:

“Can I come with you?”

“Of course you can.”

Ji Chenbiao nodded gently. Considering the timing, it would be around Dadan’s elementary school break, so taking him along wouldn’t interfere with anything.

With how complicated Dadan’s background was, it was easy to foresee the challenges he would face as he grew up.

While he was still young, it wouldn’t hurt for him to follow his father and gain more worldly experience. That way, he wouldn’t be so helpless when confronted with difficult situations later on.

“Yay~”

When Dadan asked, he’d already mentally prepared to be left behind for a long time—he didn’t expect his dad would actually agree to take him along.

Even though he tried to hold back, Dadan couldn’t hide his joy. His chubby little face almost burst into a full-blown smile.

Before leaving, Ji Chenbiao specifically told Mr. Zhou about the trip. Mr. Zhou gave him two contact numbers and said that if anything came up in Haicheng, he could look for these two for help.

Years ago, while on a business trip to Haicheng, He had saved them during an accident. Now the two had made a name for themselves.

They might not be able to help with anything major, but if it was just to get acquainted with the area, they could definitely lend a hand.

Since Ji Chenbiao’s goal was to uncover the truth, what he needed most was someone who knew the local landscape well.

As for everything else, he could handle it himself and didn’t need others interfering.

If they could help with the actual investigation, then the favor he’d owe Mr. Zhou would be too great—and that would go against his original intent.

Before departing, Ji Chenbiao personally helped Dadan pack his luggage. He heard it was warmer in Haicheng than here, so he didn’t bring any heavy clothing.

“Daddy, I don’t need to wear a little dress this time?”

In the past, whenever they left the mountain city, his father would always insist he wear a little dress.

Dadan had gone from struggling desperately at the beginning to gradually getting used to it.

He even occasionally admired himself in the mirror—truly his father’s son, looking so pretty even in a dress!

“No need. We’re going to Haicheng, not Myanmar.”

“Oh.”

Ji Chenbiao said he now had the power to fight back, but in truth, he wasn’t someone who got arrogant just because he’d gained some strength. Caution had long become second nature to him.

Coincidentally, he did have a business deal to discuss in Haicheng. Normally it wouldn’t be worth handling personally, but it served as a good excuse.

Under the pretense of a business meeting, he could start investigating the truth behind his sister’s case.

On the road to Haicheng, Dadan was overjoyed. He remembered Uncle System once told him that, in the original storyline, his dad missed many chances to investigate the truth because he had to stay behind to care for Dadan’s illness.

By the time his father finally had a chance to act, the people responsible had already died of old age—after living lives full of wealth and comfort.

Even if Ji Chenbiao had dug up their graves, it wouldn’t have satisfied his fury.

But now, he was no longer that burdensome child holding his father back! He was clearly a little treasure who could help his dad in his career!

Seeing Dadan so excited, Ji Chenbiao reached out and gently pressed his shoulder, hoping he wouldn’t disturb the other passengers.

Haicheng was busier and more prosperous than the mountain city. The streets were packed with sleek cars that were clearly more luxurious than those back home.

When Ji Chenbiao saw those cars, he found himself wondering—if the opportunity came up, maybe he’d buy one. They looked so comfortable inside.

“Daddy, it’s so beautiful here.”

“Do you like it?”

Ji Chenbiao asked casually. Dadan’s little face immediately fell, and he gently shook his head.

The city was beautiful, yes—but just thinking about how his aunt lost her life here made it impossible for him to like this place.

“Then where do you like?”

“Mountain City.”

Ji Chenbiao looked into Dadan’s shining eyes. A child’s thoughts were easy to read; there was no need to overanalyze—it was clear what he was thinking.

Just like that little mountain village that shaped his own childhood held a special meaning to him, Mountain City meant the same to Dadan.

“I like it too.”

In that city, Ji Chenbiao had gone through his greatest transformation.

From an illiterate man who couldn’t even read a single character, to the respected Boss Ji who now commanded admiration wherever he went.

Most importantly, it was there that he’d watched little Dadan, who once couldn’t even walk straight, grow up step by step.

The environment itself held no emotion, but the experiences tied to it gave rise to irreplaceable feelings.

When Dadan saw that his father liked what he liked, he immediately, smugly, assumed it was all thanks to him. The more he thought about it, the happier he got.

Ji Chenbiao’s assistant had already arranged their hotel in advance. Money wasn’t an issue for him, so naturally, he booked the best room.

Once they arrived and went inside, the environment was indeed excellent, with a wide view of Haicheng’s bustling Bund district.

Originally, Ji Chenbiao planned to rest a bit before contacting the two people Mr. Zhou had told him about.

But unexpectedly, that very evening after they arrived in Haicheng, the two Mr. Li’s came to visit in person. They had started a security company together, thanks to the advantages of the times, and had a fairly large operation in Haicheng.

If nothing else, they were well-informed and knew a lot of people.

Upon learning that Ji Chenbiao wanted to investigate something that happened six or seven years ago, the two exchanged a look and admitted honestly:

“If the incident happened six or seven years ago, it’s going to be hard to get to the bottom of it now.”

Back then, there wasn’t as much surveillance as there is now. The people involved had all gone through rough times—those who knew the truth might already be dead.

If it was about finding a specific person, that would be like finding a needle in a haystack.

“I’m aware of all that. But I still want to look into it. This is our first meeting, and I’ve brought a small token of appreciation. Please don’t mind if it’s a bit modest.”

Ji Chenbiao raised his hand, expecting the ever-reliable Dadan to hand him the gift—only to find that, today, he didn’t have it ready.

Turning his head, he saw Dadan on the rug beside the sofa, head buried in a large bag, butt sticking up in the air, frantically digging through it.

When Ji Chenbiao saw this scene, he felt a little embarrassed. He gave a light cough, and the two Mr. Lis also found it amusing—the previously tense atmosphere was now completely dispersed.

Dadan finally found the two boxes. Holding both in one hand, he handed them to his dad, while his other hand still clutched the little toy car he’d been obsessed with lately.

“Really sorry about that. Kids can be mischievous.”

Ji Chenbiao just felt utterly humiliated by this stinky kid who had stuffed his backpack full of toys, leaving him unable to produce the gifts when needed!

But Dadan didn’t seem to realize he’d done anything wrong at all. He even wanted to slide his toy car over his dad’s knee.

Out of courtesy, the two Mr. Lis didn’t open the gifts on the spot.

Besides, they were well aware that with this Boss Ji in front of them owning so many stores, the so-called gifts were probably jade carvings of undoubtedly high quality.

When giving gifts, you have to give things with low cost-effectiveness to really hit the mark emotionally.

Previously, the two men had been a bit concerned about whether the matter could be thoroughly investigated. But now, seeing this gift, they decided that—even for the sake of it—they would help him look into it properly.

“Boss Ji, don’t worry about this. If there’s anything we can help with, you just let us know. We’ll do whatever we can.”

“Alright, then I’ll trouble you to help me look into the case of Ji Xiaomei, a sophomore in the journalism department at Haicheng University, who allegedly committed suicide.”

Ji Chenbiao refused to believe that his sister would commit suicide—no matter what had happened. She wasn’t the kind of person who couldn’t handle hardship.

She had always been close to him since they were little. She had said more than once that no matter how big the problem, she’d discuss it with her brother first.

“It’s no trouble. It’s what we ought to do.”

Mr. Zhou had already briefed them beforehand, and now with such a thoughtful gift from Ji Chenbiao, it was clear they should help from every angle.

Haicheng, the city his sister had often mentioned in letters to him, he had finally arrived. Ji Chenbiao spent a long time unable to sleep.

Every time he closed his eyes, his mind was filled with thoughts of his sister.

Dadan couldn’t sleep either, probably because he wasn’t used to the bed. He sat there playing with his toys. The little car was his favorite lately—he wouldn’t let go of it no matter where he went.

Even for this trip to Haicheng, he had sneaked it into his backpack despite Ji Chenbiao trying to stop him.

“Daddy, are you thinking about Auntie?”

Wearing a fuzzy one-piece pajama, Dadan asked softly. Ji Chenbiao gave a gentle “mm.” It was his first time feeling a kind of nerves upon returning to a place close to his heart.

“Daddy, we’ll find the truth.”

“We will.”

Ji Chenbiao straightened his clothes and urged Dadan to go to sleep.

He had always been confident they would uncover the truth—if not now, then eventually. He would find a way.

What had once seemed like a faint hope was now just within reach.

But his conviction could no longer remain as firm as it once had been. Doubts had started to creep in.

Even if they found out the truth—so what? So many years had passed. He wasn’t sure he could bring the person who killed his sister to justice.

With all sorts of messy thoughts in his head, it was very late by the time he finally fell asleep.

The next morning, it was past nine when Ji Chenbiao woke up. Dadan was still under the blanket, playing with his toy car. With how obsessed he was, Ji Chenbiao suspected he even played with it in his dreams.

“Dadan, why didn’t you wake Daddy when you got up?”

“Daddy was sleeping.”

Caught in the middle of his car play, Dadan was slightly displeased at being interrupted.

Still, since it was his dad, he wrinkled his little brows and reluctantly offered an explanation.

“I was concentrating!”

“Aren’t you hungry?”

“I am. I ate some cookies.”

Dadan even looked a bit proud as he said that. But Ji Chenbiao instantly snapped out of his sleepy daze, eyes wide as he questioned:

“You ate them in bed?”

“Mm…”

This time Dadan’s voice wavered with uncertainty. Even he wasn’t sure if he should nod, so he carefully watched his dad’s expression.

“No eating in bed. No acting pitiful either!”

“Oh…”

Ji Chenbiao originally intended to scold him seriously. But on second thought, he realized the real problem was that he hadn’t gotten up early enough to take Dadan for breakfast.

It wasn’t all Dadan’s fault. The child got hungry, found food himself, and didn’t run off—he stayed by his dad’s side. In that light, he was actually pretty obedient.

“Forget it. Since it’s your first time, I’ll let it slide. Daddy will take you out for something yummy.”

“Yay~”

Clutching his little car, Dadan got out of bed, put on his shoes, and followed closely behind his dad.

He had only nibbled on a couple of cookies under the blanket—just enough to take the edge off his hunger, not enough to fill him up.

That afternoon, one of the Mr. Lis came by with a bulging briefcase. He laid out the documents he had found one by one on the coffee table.

“The incident where Ji Xiaomei jumped to her death caused quite a stir back then.”

At that time, even in Haicheng, university students were rare, and Haicheng University was the most prestigious one around.

So a university student committing suicide by jumping off a building caused an uproar at the time. Later, for unknown reasons, the news was suppressed.

Using that as a lead, Mr. Li found out who had worked to silence the matter.

Besides the university itself, another powerful force had been involved—a major jade family in Haicheng, headed by someone surnamed Lu.

The man rumored to have had a scandal with Xiaomei back then was the Lu family’s heir.

Since the patriarch of the Lu family remained in power—healthy and long-lived—the heir’s position had always been unstable.

Both leads pointed to the Lu family. Xiaomei had even mentioned in her diary how the Lu family heir’s harassment was deeply troubling to her.

Back when Ji Chenbiao was told his sister had committed suicide, the final story he heard was that she had been pursuing the Lu heir and, after failing, used suicide as a threat—smearing all the blame onto her.

But her diary clearly stated that Lu Zou had been the one relentlessly pestering her.

Some of the photos in the file had yellowed with age and were a little blurry, but Xiaomei’s youthful beauty still shone through.

“In addition, I discovered something else. Just a week before your sister’s death, rumors began to circulate that the Lu family heir was about to get engaged to someone from the Gu family.”

Mr. Li spoke as he took a newspaper from his briefcase. The date was from that time period, and the headline in the most prominent spot read: Celebrating the Engagement Between the Lu and Gu Families.

“There’s no concrete evidence proving a connection between these two events. But under these circumstances, it’s hard to believe there isn’t one.”

“Thank you for your trouble.”

“This is no trouble at all, Boss Ji. I do want to mention something else though—Miss Gu has a very strong sense of jealousy. Even the nannies and maids in her house are specifically chosen to be older and not attractive.”

“And… Miss Gu’s older brother is quite the delinquent. He often mingles with shady people from society.”

There were some things Mr. Li didn’t want to say too directly. After all, to be able to drive a student to end everything through desperate suicide under such circumstances—this was no trivial matter.

Back then, society was still quite conservative, and a woman’s purity was taken very seriously. Gu’s brother was extremely protective of his sister, and with the Gu family’s wealth and power, even if they did something terrible, they could cover it up.

This kind of thing had happened more than once in Haicheng. As soon as Mr. Li found a few traces, he could basically deduce the truth.

“All I brought back, back then… was my sister’s ashes. I didn’t even get to see her body.”

“There are still some details that require time to investigate slowly. I’ll take my leave now. If there’s any new progress, I’ll let you know.”

Mr. Li didn’t plan to stay here long. Some things had to be digested by the person involved. If he stayed, it would only make things awkward.

Ji Chenbiao wasn’t a fool. Even if Mr. Li hadn’t directly stated his suspicions earlier, his meaning was clear enough.

Dadan noticed his father was in a bad mood. He held his beloved little toy car in one hand, and with the other, hugged his father’s arm.

“Dad, can we call the police?”

“Call the police?”

Ji Chenbiao repeated the words softly, then gave a bitter smile and shook his head.

For one, too much time had passed. For another, they lacked solid evidence.

Even if their suspicions were close to the truth, they were still just suspicions.

“Why not?”

“Because we need evidence to make them pay. But it’s alright. If the law can’t punish them, I will.”

Ji Chenbiao had seen many things while working with Mr. Zhou, and one of the clearest lessons he learned was that in many cases, money really could buy impunity.

“Dad, you can’t break the law.”

Dadan looked at his father nervously. His anxious little face made Ji Chenbiao chuckle, sweeping away his earlier bad mood.

“Hm? Why? Are you afraid I’ll get arrested and no one will take care of you?”

If that were the only concern, Ji Chenbiao felt he should reassure his son—it wasn’t a big deal. Even if he got arrested, he’d make sure Dadan was well taken care of.

After all, that was his son, and now that he had money, he could easily hire someone.

“No, Dad, if you break the law, I won’t be allowed to take the civil service exam. You have to stay calm.”

Dadan clung tightly to his father’s arm. He still wanted to become a super cool police officer in the future.

“Dad, don’t hold me back.”

“Alright, alright.”

Only then did Ji Chenbiao recall his son’s grand dream. For a moment, he even wondered—could it be that Dadan wanted to become a police officer just to arrest his own dad?

Thinking about it… didn’t seem completely impossible.

“Dad, swear it!”

Becoming a police officer was serious business to Dadan—he was especially insistent.

“Okay, okay, I swear. I promise not to do anything illegal, alright?”

“Mm, don’t worry, Dad. Even if the police now won’t do anything, when I grow up and become a cop, I will.”

Dadan patted his own chest and gave his dad a guarantee. Ji Chenbiao didn’t burst his son’s fantasy. Instead, he solemnly placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder.

“Alright, then I’ll leave this case to Officer Dadan.”

“Leave it to me!”

His dad actually entrusted him with something—Dadan was thrilled. He was practically skipping with excitement, eager to take on the mission.

If he were alone, Ji Chenbiao would absolutely do whatever it took to uncover the truth and avenge his sister.

But he wasn’t alone anymore. Whatever he did, he had to consider that there was a little Dadan at home. He couldn’t act recklessly, and now he even had to protect Dadan’s dream of becoming a police officer.

Realizing how much he still had to do, Ji Chenbiao rubbed his tired temples. He felt a little frustrated—but also strangely soft-hearted.

This inexplicable sense of joy and connection made him genuinely happy.

Once he uncovered the truth—if it really did involve the Lu family—there were plenty of ways to retaliate without breaking the law.

As long as he offered enough benefit, the culprit’s own relatives would be willing to make him pay the price.

If both sides were willing… what did it have to do with him?

Of course, none of this could be told to Dadan. After all, he was still a little guy dreaming of becoming a police officer. Ji Chenbiao had no desire to become his son’s first “heroic arrest.”

“Dad~ Look at my police car!”

“Yup, your police car. It needs to drive on the road, so next time don’t put it on my leg.”

“What if it comes to arrest you?”

Whatever Ji Chenbiao was about to say was immediately choked back by that line. He stared wide-eyed, stunned that the little guy would suddenly say something like that.

“Why would you arrest me?”

“Oh, right. If you don’t break the law, I won’t arrest you.”

“I promise I’ll be a law-abiding citizen, Officer Dadan.”

Dadan reached up to straighten his nonexistent tie, patted his dad on the shoulder, and put on a very mature and serious expression as he said:

“Good job. Keep it up.”

“Okay.”

…

The main reason Ji Chenbiao came to Haicheng was to uncover the truth behind that incident. He hadn’t contacted Xiaomei’s ex-boyfriend—but the man came to him.

When he knocked on the door, Ji Chenbiao opened it and was momentarily stunned by the unfamiliar man standing outside.

“Hello, may I ask who you’re looking for?”

“You’re Mr. Ji Chenbiao, right?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Allow me to introduce myself. We were in contact for several years.”

He didn’t go into details—he was married now, so it wasn’t convenient—but just from that sentence, Ji Chenbiao understood who he was.

Over the years, this man had quietly helped him uncover bits of the truth. It was how he managed to make it this far.

“You came to see me—do you need my help with something?”

“No. I heard you were still investigating what happened back then. There are a few things I want to tell you.”

Given how long ago it all happened, finding any witnesses was difficult. But this man was one of the few.

“Just the morning before, I had made plans with Xiaomei to study together at the library. But by the afternoon the next day, she jumped off the building and killed herself. The school wouldn’t let us get close to the scene. I stood far away, but even so… I felt like there were some abnormal marks on her body.”

“Why didn’t you ever tell me this before?”

What this man had voluntarily confessed lined up exactly with what Ji Chenbiao had previously suspected.

But what made Ji Chenbiao doubt a little was that, despite all the letters they had exchanged over the years, this man had never mentioned any of this.

“Xiaomei told me you couldn’t read, and that every time you got a letter, someone would read it to you. Back then, I wasn’t too sure about what I saw—the scene was cleaned up very quickly.”

“You know what kind of person Xiaomei was. She looked like someone open-minded, brought up with modern education, but deep down she was still quite conservative, having grown up in such a remote, underdeveloped place.”

“Everyone said she deliberately seduced someone from the Lu family and committed suicide after being rejected. Her name was already dragged through the mud. I didn’t want her reputation to get even worse because of this.”

This man now worked under Mr. Li. He had overheard them talking about someone surnamed Ji coming from the mountain city, and so he took out the letters he had exchanged with Ji Chenbiao as proof and found his way here.

It wasn’t something he could write in a letter. It had to be said face to face.

Even though he knew it was inappropriate to come see the older brother of an ex-girlfriend now that he was married, the matter involved too much. He didn’t dare let more people know.

Only by talking to Ji Chenbiao in person could he finally let it go.

“Xiaomei wasn’t that kind of person. She told me herself that she didn’t like Mr. Lu at all.”

“I know. Thank you for telling me this. You’ve worked hard all these years helping me look into everything. This is a gift I prepared for you.”

This time, Dadan didn’t mess up. He pulled out another box from his bag.

Inside was a jade pendant personally picked by Ji Chenbiao. One of the reasons he had come to Haicheng was also to meet Xiaomei’s former boyfriend.

The jade was good quality, with excellent clarity. It wasn’t large—just about the size of Dadan’s palm—but that made it more easily resellable.

If he didn’t need money, he could keep it at home. If he did, he could sell it for cash.

“Alright. After I go back this time, just act like I was never here.”

“Mm.”

Ji Chenbiao understood that the man didn’t want further entanglement now that he was married. After walking him to the door, he said thank you.

“No need to thank me.”

Inside the room, Dadan was still digging in the bag with his little hands. All the jade his father gave away like this, he had basically dug out himself from piles of discarded material.

Now that he had his own shop, he also had some leftover scraps to throw out, and his favorite thing was treasure hunting in those discarded materials.

Every time he set aside a scrap, Ji Chenbiao would personally cut it—and nearly every piece had jade inside.

“Dad, you still have five more boxes!”

Dadan showed five fingers to his dad, and Ji Chenbiao gave a soft hum in response.

He was in pain. It felt like a giant hand had seized his heart, squeezing so tight he could barely breathe.

Before this, Ji Chenbiao had never imagined that one day he’d find out the truth like this.

That his sister had been forced in such a vile, despicable way, and it was despair that led her to suicide.

And even after that, they hadn’t stopped slandering her. Even in death, she still bore the stigma of seducing someone else’s fiancé.

If it hadn’t been for him… perhaps that stain would have followed her name forever.

It took Ji Chenbiao a long time to get his thoughts in order. Mr. Li then found more eyewitnesses from back then.

Haicheng University’s only recorded suicide case—many of the eyewitnesses still remembered it vividly. Even though so much time had passed, they couldn’t forget the key details.

Like… the extremely abnormal marks on Xiaomei’s body.

That matter had been covered up perfectly back then. Mr. Li had to go to great lengths just to dig up a few witnesses.

Through them, they traced it back to the Gu family’s eldest son—the older brother of the Lu family heir’s fiancée—who used to hang around with a bunch of thugs.

In the eyes of most people in Haicheng now, that older brother had turned over a new leaf and was about to become a respectable heir, preparing to take over the family business.

The hooligans he had hung out with back in school had naturally all been left behind.

To this heir, that past was a stain he never wanted to talk about.

Those former “friends” didn’t have a family to back them like the Gu family did. Now they were either dirt poor or had sunk to the bottom of society, doing hard labor to barely survive.

Given the circumstances, it wasn’t hard for Mr. Li to find them. He tracked down three of them and brought them to Ji Chenbiao.

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Skip the following text if you not comfortable reading sensitive content

Here is the brief summary:

Ji Chenbiao confronts three men about their involvement in a tragic incident involving his late sister, Ji Xiaomei, after clear signs of guilt. Mr. Li uses evidence about their personal struggles and family tragedies to pressure them to talk. One man ultimately breaks down and reveals the truth: they were ordered by the Gu family’s eldest son to assault Xiaomei as a twisted act of vengeance for his fiancée feeling insulted by a rival’s interest in her. Shockingly, nine people were involved in the crime, which led to Xiaomei’s untimely death and Ji Chenbiao’s heartbreak over the senselessness of the act.

————————————
These three looked like they belonged to a different generation entirely compared to Ji Chenbiao. The moment they saw his face—which bore some resemblance to Xiaomei’s—they panicked.

They backed away immediately, trying to leave, but the door was already blocked by the security guards Mr. Li had brought.

“What do you want from us?”

Their blustering questions and overly guilty reactions basically confirmed for Ji Chenbiao that they were indeed involved in what happened back then.

“I’m very curious about what really happened that day.”

One of the men, having struggled at the bottom for years, could clearly sense that the man in front of him was not someone to mess with.

Someone like this—it was best to avoid provoking him at all costs.

Back when Young Master Gu told them to do it, he had even said clearly: that Ji Xiaomei was just a girl from a backward little town, with only an illiterate brother at home.

Even if they did something like that, there’d be no consequences.

“I don’t know… I really don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Ji Chenbiao didn’t say anything. But Mr. Li, who had already investigated them inside and out, smiled and stepped in first:

“Over all these years, none of you have been doing too well, right? I heard your wife gave birth to a premature baby who needs expensive hospital care?”

“And you—your father’s in the hospital too, right? If you can’t afford the medical bills, how long do you think he’ll last? He fell from a construction site back in the day for your sake, and now his old injuries are acting up again. Are you really planning to just abandon him?”

If things really were what they suspected, none of the people in front of them were any good.

If possible, Ji Chenbiao still wanted to send the real culprit to jail. Not for revenge—but simply because his child planned to take the civil service exam in the future.

He silently approved of Mr. Li’s approach. Mr. Li glanced at the last man—this one was the only one among them who no longer had any family left.

“What do you want to say?”

The man lifted his head, revealing deep-set eyes and sharp features, his brows furrowed with a fierce edge—one look was enough to tell he wasn’t someone easy to deal with.

“Trying to threaten me with family? Hate to disappoint you, but I don’t have a single family member left.”

His tone was flat as he spoke of it, as if it meant nothing to him. But Mr. Li, who’d seen plenty of human nature, knew better—if someone truly didn’t care, they wouldn’t look like this.

Ji Chenbiao picked up the file on the table, which detailed the man’s background. He had a childhood sweetheart—an older sister figure—who took the money she got from Young Master Gu and turned around to marry this man. After they were married, they had a lovely daughter.

Ji Chenbiao knew well: for people like this, the first thing they did after getting rich was always the one thing their heart longed for the most. That sister clearly held a very special place in this man’s heart.

“Yes, you don’t have any family now. But have you ever wondered—why did your healthy daughter die?”

If it hadn’t been for the overwhelming grief of losing their daughter, his wife might not have died either. He could’ve had a perfect family—rather than wasting away in a daze like this.

“Ever heard the saying, ‘What you sow in sin returns to those around you’?”

The man, who just moments ago seemed like a thorny brute, immediately turned ashen at Ji Chenbiao’s words. After a long pause, he looked up with reddened eyes and trembling lips.

“Alright. I’ll talk.”

It wasn’t for anyone else—he just wanted to offer a blessing for his daughter who’d died so soon after birth.

If she really died because of the sins he committed… then he hoped she and her mother could live a good life in the next one—far away from him.

The one who had ordered the three of them to assault Ji Xiaomei was indeed the Gu family’s eldest young master.

Because the heir of the Lu family was openly and flamboyantly pursuing Xiaomei, Gu family’s young lady—his fiancée—felt deeply insulted, as if in his eyes, she wasn’t even worth a rural girl.

Worse still, when chatting privately with her girlfriends, they teased her about whether her engagement was on the verge of being broken off. That shame and humiliation pushed Miss Gu over the edge.

When she complained to her brother, he chose this method to avenge her.

Ji Chenbiao never imagined that such a ridiculous reason was what caused his sister to lose her life. He took a deep breath, forcing himself to stay calm, and asked softly:

“Just the three of you?”

His fingers were ice-cold. Dadan carefully cupped his father’s hand in his own to warm it up.

The man shook his head gently at the question.

“No.”

At that moment, Ji Chenbiao exhaled sharply. He couldn’t even tell whether the feeling in his chest was relief or heartbreak.

What happened to her was already horrible beyond words, but if there had only been one person involved, it wouldn’t have made much difference.

His sister had always appeared proud on the outside, but deep down she was sensitive and insecure. With a personality like that, going through something so traumatic… it was no surprise she would act impulsively and take her life.

“It was in an alley where people walked by all the time—risking being seen at any moment.”

“There were nine of us in total.”