Chapter 82
Chapter 82: Fury on All Sides, Bureau 723
Xu Pei Qing hadn’t expected Ye Wan Lan to hear the news broadcast. She froze, then turned sharply toward Lin Huai Jin. “Huai Jin, something happened. I couldn’t stop her. She’s on her way here.”
“What?” Lin Huai Jin finally looked panicked. “She’s still in school. This can’t involve her.”
He’d told Ye Wan Lan and Lin Wen Li to go back to the old manor and stay far away, because even if he truly got pinned with this grave charge, the kids would at least have Lin Wei Lan’s protection. That way, he could be at ease.
“Ma’am, please cooperate with our investigation,” a police officer said, guiding Xu Pei Qing to another table. “Has your husband behaved unusually recently? Has he argued with anyone?”
Xu Pei Qing steadied herself. Her voice turned cool. “Our family keeps to ourselves. But there are a few people who’ve come right up to our faces.”
The police officer’s expression sharpened. “Who?”
“Qin Family. Zhou Family. Sheng Family. Xu Family. Fang Family.”
She spoke the names of River City’s Five Great Magnate Families without the slightest tremor.
Then she added evenly, “The Zhou Family tried to force my niece to become a mistress. The Qin Family once broke my niece’s hand. It’s not impossible they’d hold a grudge.”
The officers exchanged looks. A chill ran through them. This case was clearly not simple.
“We’ll continue investigating,” the officer said carefully. “But unfortunately, Lin Huai Jin remains the primary suspect. We must take him to the interrogation room.”
Xu Pei Qing’s heart tightened. “I’ll go with you. I’ll wait outside.”
—
In the Aston Martin, Yan Ting Feng sat in the passenger seat. “Don’t panic. Stay calm first.”
“I know.” Ye Wan Lan’s voice stayed steady. “Panic makes the brain seize up. In that state, you can’t think.”
She wasn’t going to let herself fall into that state.
Rong Yu, shoved into the back seat, still looked dazed. “What’s going on? What did I do?”
He hadn’t done anything wrong. How had he lost his right to drive?
But before he could ask a second question, the car lurched violently. He slammed forward, his head smacking into the seat in front of him.
An airbag popped, cushioning the impact and saving his neck.
Rong Yu scrambled to fasten his seat belt. “Ye classmate, you can’t drive like this, you—”
His words jammed in his throat as his head snapped to the side and hit the window again.
Bang.
The road ahead narrowed so much that no normal car should’ve been able to squeeze through.
But for Ye Wan Lan, it wasn’t even an obstacle.
A gap like a blade’s edge. A drift so low it felt like the chassis scraped air itself. A hard leap, a brutal landing—and then she was already past it.
Rong Yu felt like he was strapped into an out-of-control plane, spinning through a tornado. His stomach rose and dropped. His body bounced as the car surged and dove.
He hugged himself tight. His heart hammered at 180 beats per minute, adrenaline detonating through his blood.
This was what she called staying calm?
What kind of insane driving was this?
Since when had Ye Wan Lan been a speed demon?
On the street, passersby gaped—then whipped out their phones, filming in disbelief.
[Holy shit, I’m reporting this! In downtown River City, someone’s doing real-life Fast & Furious!]
[I saw it! I saw it! I recorded it! This is terrifying—how the hell is that driver doing that?]
[I swear I went cross-eyed. What kind of driving is this? Are the people inside even okay?]
[Fuck—wait. Look closer. That isn’t an ordinary car. If I’m not mistaken, that’s an Aston Martin, and that plate number…]
A forty-minute drive was forcibly shortened to ten.
“Thanks.” Ye Wan Lan got out. “This car probably can’t be used anymore. I’ll replace it with a new one.”
Rong Yu clung to a tree and vomited like his soul was leaving his body. He waved weakly, too exhausted to argue about a car. Let his fragile heart recover first.
—
The North Suburbs District Police Station was packed.
Outside, a crowd pressed together—families of the victims.
“We need an explanation!” someone shouted. “Old Liu was the backbone of our family. If something happens to him, our home collapses!”
“He deserves the death penalty! The worst kind!”
Ye Wan Lan listened to the shouts, her expression still calm. She didn’t enter through the front. Instead, she went around to the back with Yan Ting Feng.
Xu Pei Qing sat outside in a daze, staring into nothing.
“Aunt.” Ye Wan Lan hurried over and draped her school jacket over Xu Pei Qing’s shoulders. “Where’s Uncle?”
“Still inside being interrogated,” Xu Pei Qing said, wiping at her tears. “It wasn’t him. Even if it wasn’t a setup, it was an accident… I just don’t know if the leaked chemical elements have…”
She couldn’t finish the thought.
“I know,” Ye Wan Lan said quietly. “Uncle will be fine. He has the sachet I gave him. It can ward off poison and drive away evil.”
Xu Pei Qing froze, then instinctively touched her pocket.
Did the sachet Ye Wan Lan had given her work the same way?
Yan Ting Feng pressed a finger to his earpiece, voice steady. “Investigate Yuan Dao Chemical Plant. Four hours. If you can’t find anything, you’re done.”
A Bureau 723 administrator who’d been about to clock out for dinner: “…Understood. We’re on it!”
This really was going to kill them.
“Sir, something happened.” Bing He rushed over, face tight with urgency. “An anonymous account leaked Miss Ye’s personal information and her brother’s school details online. We contacted technicians and had it deleted immediately.”
He swallowed. “But another wave of unethical reporters has already surrounded No. 1 High School in River City. It’s dismissal time, there are a lot of students, and I’m worried…”
Xu Pei Qing’s expression snapped sharp. She stood up abruptly.
At this point, Ye Wan Lan could be completely certain: this was targeted at their family.
No—more accurately, it was targeted at her.
Lock Lin Huai Jin up, then ruin Lin Wen Li’s education.
The Qin Family.
Only the Qin Family—the one that had paid her fifty million and still ended up losing even more—would bite down on her like a rabid dog and refuse to let go.
But Madam Qin, who had clawed her way through the business world, wouldn’t use something this reckless. She would build it slowly, layer by layer.
That left only one person.
The impulsive, furious, brainless Qin Xian.
Fortunately, Ye Wan Lan never acted without preparation.
“Aunt, sit. I’ll stay with you.” Ye Wan Lan steadied the trembling Xu Pei Qing. “Someone is already picking up Wen Li. Don’t worry.”
Bing He blinked. “Really? You don’t need us to—those reporters are aggressive. They—”
“Relax.” Ye Wan Lan’s tone was almost casual. “My people are fiercer.”
—
At No. 1 High School in River City, reporters held up photos, scanning the crowd.
“Lin Wen Li. Is that the student? Easy to recognize.”
“Hurry. The son of a murderer—we can’t let him poison the other students.”
Lin Wen Li still didn’t know what had happened at Yuan Dao Chemical Plant. When he saw a swarm of reporters rushing toward him, he frowned.
“Lin Wen Li, right?” a reporter said, shoving a microphone forward. “What do you think about your father—”
Before the question could finish, the microphone was slapped out of his hand.
“What are you crowding for?” Jiang Zheng Xue’s eyes were cold enough to cut. “Get lost. This is a school. A place to study, not a place for you to hunt gossip like hyenas.”
“Who are you?” a reporter snapped. “This is none of your business. We’re just reporting facts.”
“Facts?” Jiang Zheng Xue clapped slowly, mock-awed. “The police haven’t even classified the case yet, and you’ve already finished the trial? Wow. Want the police to hire you as assistants?”
Her lackeys—her so-called “little sisters”—closed in around the reporters in a tight ring. The reporters couldn’t push through to interrogate Lin Wen Li; they could only hop in place, furious.
Jiang Zheng Xue’s hair was too striking to miss, and the students of No. 1 High School had already noticed her.
“Isn’t that the school bully from No. 7 High School in River City? Jiang Zheng Xue?”
“Why is she at No. 1 High School all of a sudden?”
“Lin… Lin the Study God actually knows Jiang Zheng Xue? This world has gone insane.”
Lin Wen Li, forcibly dragged out of the crowd: “…”
He started wondering what kind of creature he’d just met. The contrast was unbelievable.
“Come on, why are you still standing here?” Jiang Zheng Xue grabbed his arm. “Sister Lan told me to take you back to your grandmother’s house.”
Lin Wen Li pressed his lips together. “Not now. I have to find my father.”
He knew this was serious and beyond him, but in a situation like this, he couldn’t calm down.
“Wait!” Jiang Zheng Xue froze for half a beat, then sprinted after him and yanked him toward her motorcycle with brute force.
She shoved a helmet at him. “Hang on tight. Your big sister is taking you flying.”
The motorcycle roared.
Lin Wen Li, caught completely off guard, quickly wrapped an arm around Jiang Zheng Xue’s waist before he could fall.
He glanced down at his own hand, hesitating as if to pull back—only for her to pin it in place.
“I’m speeding up,” Jiang Zheng Xue warned. “If you fall off, that’s on you.”
Lin Wen Li: “…”
Not just a walking contradiction.
A violent one, too.
No wonder she was someone his cousin knew.
—
By the time Lin Wen Li reached the police station, Lin Huai Jin had already been interrogated for an hour.
All the evidence still pointed to him as the biggest suspect.
And because the incident had hit the news, the internet was boiling over. Countless eyes were fixed on River City—fixed on Lin Huai Jin.
“Mom.” Lin Wen Li gripped Xu Pei Qing’s hand. “Don’t get worked up. I believe Dad will clear his name.”
Xu Pei Qing drew a shaky breath. “River City elites? They’re River City bullies.”
Ye Wan Lan was on the phone, her voice calm but heavy with pressure. “It’s me. Yes, I have a lead. Help me trace this route.”
She didn’t look up. “I need evidence before tonight. I need Uncle out. He didn’t do this.”
Her words were overheard by other family members of the victims.
“Even if you find the real culprit, so what?” an old woman wailed. “Even if it was an accident, so what? Our Old Li is lying in the hospital right now! Who knows how many days he has left!”
Ye Wan Lan turned.
“You only care about clearing your uncle’s name,” the old woman sobbed, grabbing Ye Wan Lan’s clothes with desperate strength. “What about us? Are we supposed to just watch our family die?”
She shook Ye Wan Lan hard. “How selfish can you be? You can save your uncle, but can you save our Old Li?”