Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Although Ye Mingxi spoke decisively, anyone who knows a little about the law understood that it would be difficult to convict Chu Jianguo and his wife based on this incident.

Firstly, eighteen years had passed, and much of the evidence had long since disappeared. Even if the DNA database at the police station confirmed Chu Jianye's identity as a human trafficker, it wouldn’t prove that Chu Jianguo knew about his brother’s crimes.

As Chu Jianguo had pointed out, everyone knows that Chu Jianye had been estranged from his family for over twenty years. Even if someone had truly seen Chu Jianye carrying a child back to the Chu family in the dead of night eighteen years ago, it would be hard to produce concrete evidence. Chu Jianguo could easily claim that the witness was mistaken.

Therefore, most people believed that Ye Mingzhao’s question to Lawyer Liu about the potential sentence was merely an attempt to scare Chu Jianguo and Zhao Meijuan.

At least, that’s what Chu Qingyi, who had just arrived, thought.

"Ye Mingzhao, don’t push it too far!" Chu Qingyi, breathing heavily, stepped in front of Chu Jianguo and Zhao Meijuan, who looked pale, and angrily rebuked Ye Mingzhao. "What proof do you have that my parents were hiding a criminal? Is it wrong for my parents to do a good deed?"

With his eyes turning red, he looked at Chu Hengyi, who was standing silently beside him, and said with great disappointment and choking emotion, "Brother, others might not know better, but you lived with us for eighteen years. Were there any moments when our parents let you down? How can you just sit there and let them bully our parents?"

"What kind of person are you? Eighteen years of raising you didn’t warm your heart at all—"

Before he could finish, a recording interrupted him.

"The Ye family already knows about Uncle Chu’s matter. I’ve called you dozens of times; why didn’t you answer?"

Chu Qingyi’s face turned ashen, like a cat that had bitten its tongue, and he fell silent.

Ye Mingzhao took the phone from Lawyer Liu, pressed pause, and asked with a smile, "Chu Qingyi, right? Since you like to talk so much, why don’t you explain to everyone what this means?"

Chu Qingyi: "..."

The hot-tempered Ye Mingxi exploded on the spot. "So, all three of you from the Chu family knew quite a bit! Now we have both witnesses and evidence; what else do you have to say?"

A police officer, who had been standing by, finally stepped forward and said calmly, "Chu Qingyi, please cooperate with us and give a statement."

Chu Qingyi was flustered. He hadn’t expected Lawyer Liu to have recorded the conversation and hurriedly explained, "I don’t know anything; I was just speculating. I’ve heard about the Ye family’s affairs while studying at Xinhai University. I’ve even seen members of the Ye family visiting Ye Mingzhao, who looks so much like my older brother..."

Chu Jianguo and Zhao Meijuan also panicked. Zhao Meijuan suddenly sat down on the floor and started throwing a tantrum. "Oh, there’s no justice! The Ye family is bullying us with their power and ingratitude! We raised their child with hard work, and now they’ve turned against us! Heaven, open your eyes and see! If I had known this would happen, I would never have agreed to let my husband adopt that child."

"Why doesn’t someone strike those ungrateful wretches with lightning!"

Chu Hengyi watched Zhao Meijuan’s tantrum in the hall of the public security bureau in silence. When her wailing began to lose momentum, he spoke quietly. "Let’s go."

He turned to Ye Mingzhao, a look of weary disillusionment in his eyes. "There’s no evidence, is there?"

Although Lawyer Liu had recorded the conversation between Chu Qingyi and Chu Jianguo and his wife, such a recording couldn’t be used as evidence in this context. He didn’t want to listen to any more of Chu Qingyi’s excuses.

As soon as Chu Hengyi’s words left his mouth, Chu Jianguo and his wife’s faces lit up with joy. Chu Qingyi also breathed a sigh of relief, saying happily, "I knew you wouldn’t be so heartless, Brother."

Chu Jianguo snorted coldly, his tone growing bolder. "You still have some conscience, not letting down the Chu family who raised you for eighteen years."

However, no matter what, the house that was almost within their grasp was now gone. The more Chu Jianguo thought about it, the more his heart ached, but with so many people from the Ye family present, he didn’t dare say anything more.

Ye Mingzhao, who Chu Hengyi had just spoken to, raised an eyebrow slightly. Of course, there was evidence, but it was in someone else’s hands.

Eighteen years ago, Hua Rui, out for revenge against Chairman Ye, had hired human traffickers to kidnap Ye Mingyi. Her original plan was to kill Ye Mingyi to make Chairman Ye experience the pain of losing a loved one. So, when Chu Jianye and his accomplice carried out the crime, Hua Rui’s people were monitoring them the entire time. They naturally knew that Chu Jianye had secretly taken the child back to his hometown. But with the police investigation being so tight at the time, Hua Rui’s people couldn’t afford to show their faces.

However, the person surveilling Chu Jianye had taken photos and videos to report back to Hua Rui. These photos and videos could prove that Chu Jianguo and his wife knew about Chu Jianye’s crimes. They also showed that they helped him conceal the evidence.

What Chu Jianguo didn’t know was that Chu Jianye’s and his accomplice’s deaths were also orchestrated by Hua Rui—

It was Hua Rui who had someone secretly cut the brake lines, causing Chu Jianye and his accomplice to lose control of their car while evading the police, sending them plummeting off a mountain road and to their deaths.

The main reason Hua Rui did this, besides wanting to silence him, was to punish Chu Jianye for acting on his own. She couldn't tolerate the fact that Chu Jianye had taken her money but refused to do her bidding, even going as far as trying to secretly return Ye Mingyi to the Ye family in exchange for a reward. So, she decided to eliminate Chu Jianye to remove any future problems.

As for Ye Mingyi, who had been secretly left at the Chu family, Hua Rui had originally intended to have him killed. However, she was surprised to find that Ye Mingyi, now adopted by the Chu family, was living a miserable life.

Looking at the abused Ye Mingyi, Hua Rui's thoughts suddenly changed. She thought it would be too easy to just kill Ye Mingyi and let the Ye family off the hook. Instead, she believed the Ye family's son should live a difficult and painful life out of their sight, enduring torment and suffering.

She even sent people to secretly photograph and monitor Ye Mingyi’s every move, organizing all the videos by date and watching them repeatedly when she was bored.

Ye Mingzhao couldn't understand Hua Rui's twisted psychology—unable to defeat the strong, she oppressed the weak instead. Nevertheless, thanks to Hua Rui's twisted actions, Ye Mingzhao was able to complete the crucial piece of evidence needed to put Chu Jianguo and his wife behind bars.

Of course, there was no need to go into these details with Chu Jianguo and his wife. Allowing them to be arrogant and smug before being caught was one of the few mercies Ye Mingzhao would grant them.

On the way back, Chu Hengyi became even more silent. He was already a man of few words, but now he didn't say a single word.

The wound on his arm had received simple treatment, with a few band-aids stuck on Chu Hengyi's veiny forearm.

Chu Hengyi stared at the band-aids, his mind flashing back to the scene of everyone just leaving the police station.

"Don't you feel any pain?" Ye Mingzhao, hands in his pockets, suddenly spoke.

Chu Hengyi looked at the dried nail marks, not feeling any pain. After getting into the car, Ye's wife cleaned his wound and carefully applied the band-aids. Her tears fell on Chu Hengyi's arm, feeling cold.

Chu Hengyi remained silent. He had always struggled to understand why his birth parents didn't love him and why his adoptive parents, who had raised him for eighteen years, didn't love him either. People often say that raising a child is more important than giving birth, but Chu Hengyi felt he benefited from neither. He once thought he was simply unlikable and unworthy of love.

It wasn't until today that Ye Mingzhao helped him solve one of these mysteries.

After a long and exhausting day, Ye Mingzhao was also tired. Leaning back in the leather seat, he closed his eyes to rest. Suddenly, he heard Ye's wife exclaim, "How did such a deep scar get here?"

Ye Mingzhao opened his half-closed eyes and saw Ye's wife rolling up Chu Hengyi's pants, revealing a deep scar on his right ankle.

The scar was old, its color faded, standing out starkly against his bronze skin.

Chu Hengyi lowered his pants and said calmly, "When I was young and naive, I stepped on a bear trap while collecting herbs in the mountains."

Ye Mingxi's eyebrows twitched at the thought of how painful it must have been, "When did this happen? It looks very deep! Does it still hurt?"

Ye's father and elder brother Ye Mingchen also looked over. Ye's wife was already crying uncontrollably.

Chu Hengyi lowered his eyes, not wanting to speak.

Remembering the Chu family's attitude at the police station, the five members of the Ye family exchanged glances and tactfully refrained from pressing further.

They quietly returned to the old Ye family estate. It was already late at night. Chu Hengyi went straight to his room, and the others also retired to their rooms.

Perhaps because of the scar, Ye Mingzhao actually had a dream after falling asleep.

He dreamed of a young animal whose right leg was caught in a bear trap. It howled in pain all night, but no one came to help.

Then, Ye Mingzhao woke up.

Unable to sleep, he got up, poured himself a glass of wine, and walked out to the balcony. The moonlight bathed everything, and a gentle evening breeze blew, carrying the faint sound of water.

Following the sound, Ye Mingzhao spotted someone swimming in the pool downstairs.

Thinking for a moment, he grabbed the wine bottle and headed downstairs.

Chu Hengyi wasn't sure how long he had been swimming in the pool. Exhausted, he leaned against the edge of the pool and noticed Ye Mingzhao sitting on a lounge chair, having been there for who knows how long.

"Would you like a drink?" Ye Mingzhao, with a faint smile, invited the slightly dazed Chu Hengyi.

Chu Hengyi thought for a moment before climbing out of the swimming pool and walking over to Ye Mingzhao.

Water streamed down his body, highlighting his muscular, chiseled form. As Chu Hengyi drew closer, Ye Mingzhao could feel the heat radiating from him.

His gaze fell on Chu Hengyi's ankle. When they were in the car earlier, the light had been dim and he hadn't seen it clearly. But now, under the bright moonlight, Ye Mingzhao could see that the scar on Chu Hengyi's ankle was deeper than he had realized. The gnarled scar tightly encircled the man's ankle like a menacing centipede, twitching faintly as Chu Hengyi moved.

It was then that Ye Mingzhao realized Chu Hengyi had more scars than just the one on his ankle.

Noticing Ye Mingzhao's gaze, Chu Hengyi suddenly spoke, "Does it frighten you?"

Ye Mingzhao didn't respond. Images from the original novel flashed through his mind. The sparse description of the male lead's childhood was now brought to life before him through these scars.

"If you'd like," Ye Mingzhao swirled his glass slowly and spoke calmly, "I can make the Chu family live in fear, like hunted prey."