The small truck driver who caused the accident may have died, but both Xie Qian and Xie Yuping firmly believed that the driver’s family would eventually slip up sooner or later. They never expected news to come so quickly.
“What kind of abnormality?”
“Their spending has exceeded their usual level.”
This family had lost their main breadwinner, so their life should have fallen into hardship. Yet investigations revealed abnormal spending during this year’s Spring Festival.
How to put it? Xie Qian was a little surprised, yet not entirely surprised.
If the small truck driver had indeed been bribed by someone, then while the man was alive he could still restrain his family from spending recklessly. But once he died, there was no way to hold them back.
Do not talk about patience or restraint.
Unless they did not know there was such a sum of money available to use, how could they possibly hold back once they knew?
Other families could enjoy a comfortable Spring Festival, so why should their own family, clearly having money, not be allowed to spend it?
Probably driven by this kind of thinking, the driver’s family revealed their flaw. During the Spring Festival, they bought a games console and a mobile phone for their son!
“They used cash, right?”
“Yes.”
Xie Qian was very certain. “Once there is a first time for such spending, there will be a second. Please continue to keep an eye on them for me.”
The person who could bribe the small truck driver to cause the accident would not have offered a small amount of money.
But it would not be so much that it could never run out.
If the money was eventually used up, what would the driver’s family do? Would they go to the mastermind behind it all and demand more benefits?
Xie Qian went to see Xie Yuping overnight and spoke with him in the study.
Xie Yuping’s expression was grave. “Do you think this family can lead us to the real culprit?”
Xie Qian nodded gently. “Yes.”
Xie Yuping tapped the table. “It is a bit of a coincidence. You just received news that the small truck driver’s family has shown their flaw, and now the woman surnamed Zhuo has arrived in the capital.”
This time Xie Qian was genuinely surprised.
“The woman surnamed Zhuo has come?”
…
When Zhuo Yue rushed to the Zhang family to claim kinship, Sara Zhuo did not show up.
Old Master Zhang was angered to death, and the Zhang family expelled Zhang Zhijun from the house, yet Sara Zhuo still did not appear.
Only after Old Master Zhang was buried did Sara Zhuo finally lose patience and come to the capital.
Sara Zhuo planned to take her daughter Zhuo Yue back to Shanghai.
In a certain hotel in the capital, Zhuo Yue threw herself into Sara Zhuo’s arms, her expression full of fear. “Mummy, it was not me…”
Zhuo Yue was filled with grievances.
She had indeed gone to block the Zhang family’s door, and she had intended to stay in the capital to make life difficult for Zhang Zhijun.
But she never expected Old Master Zhang’s health to be so poor and his temper so explosive that he would simply drop dead.
Old Master Zhang’s death was sudden. Zhuo Yue had no emotional bond with this biological grandfather, so she felt neither grief nor any particular grudge. Her resentment was mainly directed at Zhang Zhijun and had not yet extended to the rest of the Zhang family.
Zhuo Yue wanted to annoy Zhang Zhijun and make things difficult for him, but she had no intention of offending the entire Zhang family. Even if she had such an idea, she could not yet think of something as vicious as sending a funeral wreath to Old Master Zhang’s memorial service.
The wreath was not sent by Zhuo Yue, yet it bore her name.
The incident caused a huge stir. It not only circulated in the capital but even reached Zhao Qian’s ears.
When Zhao Qian asked Zhuo Yue what she was thinking, Zhuo Yue realised she had inexplicably taken the blame!
Even someone as selfish as Zhao Qian felt that Zhuo Yue’s actions were excessive, truly a case of harming others without benefiting oneself, and she even suspected there was something wrong with Zhuo Yue’s mind.
Zhuo Yue could not defend herself.
Finally meeting her mother, Zhuo Yue poured out all her grievances at once. “Mummy, it really was not me. I did not send the wreath!”
Sara Zhuo gently patted Zhuo Yue’s shoulders, comforting her daughter. “Mummy knows it was not you. You would never do such a thing.”
Zhuo Yue wept with joy.
Sure enough, only Mummy would trust her!
“It was someone else who sent the wreath. Someone wants to frame me…”
Several names of suspects flashed quickly through Zhuo Yue’s mind.
During these Spring Festival days, other people could reunite with their families, but Zhuo Yue could only stay alone in the hotel. She had thought it over repeatedly and suspected it was either Zhang Nan or Zhang Hua who had framed her.
“That Zhang Nan is so arrogant. She said she would never accept me as part of the Zhang family. It might be her framing me!”
Zhuo Yue analysed seriously, “But Zhang Nan does not seem very clever. She probably could not think of such a method. It could also be Zhang Hua. He does not shout or make noise, but he is exactly like a bad dog that bites without warning!”
Zhuo Yue had been in the capital for so many days, yet Zhang Hua had truly endured and never once come to trouble her.
Zhang Nan had a fiery temper and wore all her emotions on her face. Zhuo Yue was not afraid of Zhang Nan at all.
After thinking it through, Zhang Hua seemed the most suspicious!
Sara Zhuo seemed not to care who had framed Zhuo Yue. She brushed the matter aside with a few words. “They are not important. Have you been very bored staying alone in the capital all this time? Come back to Shanghai with Mummy.”
Zhuo Yue lifted her head from Sara Zhuo’s embrace, looking at her mother as if seeing her for the first time. “Mummy, I have been bullied. Are you not angry at all?”
Sara Zhuo was momentarily stunned. A trace of unnaturalness flashed across her charming face.
“Of course I am angry, but I know how to endure.”
Zhuo Yue broke free from her mother’s arms and tidied her own hair.
“It is not Zhang Nan, nor Zhang Hua…”
If it was not these two, then who could it be?
The person Zhuo Yue suspected the most was actually Zhang Zhijun.
Zhuo Yue murmured, “I really want a daddy so much. No matter who it is, as long as he is willing to be my daddy, I would be so happy. Mummy, why is Xie Jinghu not my daddy?”
Happiness is always relative.
In the past, Zhuo Yue had also complained about Xie Jinghu, feeling he lacked decisiveness and did not have the courage to let her acknowledge her ancestors and return to the clan.
But apart from that, Xie Jinghu had always given Zhuo Yue everything she asked for, especially generous with money.
Compared to Xie Jinghu, Zhang Zhijun was far more excessive. Whether in public or in private, his attitude was resolute. He had no intention of acknowledging Zhuo Yue at all!
Even now, thinking about it made Zhuo Yue tremble with anger. “He called me an idiot and said I ruined his family. As if I could choose this myself?”
No matter how powerful a woman is, she cannot give birth to a child alone. There must be a man’s cooperation!
Zhang Zhijun was even more disgusting and hypocritical than Xie Jinghu.
Zhang Zhijun refused to acknowledge Zhuo Yue, yet he used her name to send a funeral wreath to the memorial service, forcing her to bear all the blame and curses.
Zhuo Yue truly could not understand what kind of father this was.
If he hated her so much, why did he ever have her with Mummy back then?
Sara Zhuo remained silent. Zhuo Yue’s heart gradually turned cold.
The answer was right there in front of her. Zhuo Yue simply refused to accept it.
“He has not the slightest guilt towards me, nor any paternal love. He resents me for destroying his family… Mummy, the truth is, my birth was not permitted by him, right?”
Sara Zhuo gave a soft sigh. “Yue Yue, you are a clever child. A clever child should not pursue the reasons. A clever child only looks at the results. Mummy promises you that once everything settles, you will get everything you want.”
Two lines of tears slid down Zhuo Yue’s cheeks. The young girl’s nose turned red. This was genuine heartache from the bottom of her heart.
“Mummy, you do not need to say any more. I have already found the answer.”
