Chapter 73

Chapter 73

Li Xiujin timed it perfectly for when Liu Cheng went to see the stray cats and dogs and met him there.

Liu Cheng was slightly taken aback when he got out of his car and saw Li Xiujin, along with Yang Yu holding a dog, but he quickly regained his usual smiling demeanor.

"What a coincidence. I never expected to run into General Li and Colonel Yang here."

"We just adopted a dog here and brought it back to show the shelter owner that we're taking good care of him," Yang Yu said.

"Well then, let's go in together."

While Yang Yu had the shelter owner check the dog, Liu Cheng, already wearing an apron, entered one of the enclosures. He poured dog food into a bowl. As the listless yellow dog ate, Liu Cheng parted the fur on its back to examine it. Seeing the wound had improved significantly, he gave it a pat, then moved to the next enclosure to feed a long-haired cat.

Li Xiujin stood not far away, watching him.

After a while, Li Xiujin walked over. "I truly never imagined that General Liu, who treats human life as worthless, would be so caring towards cats and dogs."

"Of course. Humans are hypocritical, malicious, and selfish creatures. Animals are different; they are pure," Liu Cheng replied without turning his head.

Li Xiujin chuckled. "Well said."

Li Xiujin stepped closer, staring intently at his face. "If people were as pure as animals, then perhaps you wouldn't have lost your father as a child, only to end up with a younger brother."

Liu Cheng's movements abruptly halted. Realizing his reaction was too strong, he plastered on a smile again. "What do you mean?"

"What, didn't understand?" Li Xiujin put a cigarette in his mouth. "Isn't Li Wei your brother?"

A flicker passed through Liu Cheng's eyes, but he continued smiling. "I don't know where General Li heard such an absurd rumor. My parents only had me."

"It's true your parents only had you, but that doesn't stop your father from having children with other women. Like your mother's sister, for instance."

Liu Cheng's smile completely vanished. "General Li, did you and Colonel Yang come here today not to show the dog to the shelter owner, but specifically to say these things to me?"

"We're here to do both," Li Xiujin said with a cold laugh.

Liu Cheng took off his gloves, leaving a final remark: "If you want to know, go ahead and investigate. Trying to bluff me here is useless."

Once he was gone, Yang Yu hurried over with the dog. "General, how did it go?"

Li Xiujin considered Liu Cheng's various reactions. "It's almost certainly true."

Now they only lacked evidence.

Li Xiujin always believed one thing: there are no walls without cracks. The only way to ensure others don't know is if you never did it in the first place.

Not long after, Zhou Dingshan uncovered a very important person.

"This blond-haired alpha is named Chen Leyang. He's a hoodlum who gambles frequently," Zhou Dingshan said, showing Li Xiujin photos from their surveillance.

"This guy doesn't look very old. What could he possibly know?" Yang Yu questioned.

"He doesn't know, but his father does. His father is Chen Jingshan, formerly a Lieutenant Colonel under the Prime Minister. He retired later due to injury."

Li Xiujin asked, "So how much do you think this Chen Jingshan knows?"

"He was very close to the Prime Minister back then. He handled matters the Prime Minister couldn't deal with openly. I believe he likely knows most of the Prime Minister's affairs," Zhou Dingshan said.

"Usually, people who know too much don't live very long. But the fact that he's survived safely until now proves he's extremely loyal and wouldn't easily betray his master," Yang Yu mused, stroking his chin. "And being a military man, he definitely won't be as easy to trick into talking as others."

"You make a good point," Zhou Dingshan nodded. "But people always have weaknesses. Some are lustful, some greedy for money. Chen Jingshan's weakness is his son. He had this son late in life, so he spoils him rotten."

"But this son isn't very promising. Spoiled into arrogance since childhood, he injured a classmate in middle school. After dropping out of high school, he became addicted to gambling."

"After retiring, Chen Jingshan used his savings to start a company, which his son has been squandering over the years."

"So, I plan to use Chen Jingshan's son to pressure him."

After finalizing their plan, Zhou Dingshan went to the casino Chen Leyang frequented to intercept him.

Having just lost several hundred thousand, Chen Leyang emerged with vacant eyes and unsteady legs. Seeing a man in a suit standing by his car, he snapped impatiently, "What's your problem? Get out of the way!"

Zhou Dingshan remained unperturbed. "You're Wu Jing's friend, right? I haven't been able to reach him, so I came here looking for you."

"Who are you? What do you want with him?" Chen Leyang forced himself to focus.

"My surname is Zhou. Wu Jing and I collaborated on a project before. It was very successful, and now it's time for profit sharing, but I can't find him."

Hearing "profit sharing," Chen Leyang immediately perked up. "Profit sharing? How much?"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that."

"Wu Jing and I are like brothers," Chen Leyang insisted.

"At least two million."

Chen Leyang's eyes instantly lit up. He hadn't expected that much.

"He's been out of town recently and probably won't be back for a while. How about this: give me the money, and I'll make sure he gets it when he returns."

Zhou Dingshan laughed. "Do you think I'm an idiot?"

"What if you take the money and run? What do I do then?"

"How could I?! Wu Jing and I are tight," Chen Leyang vowed.

However, Zhou Dingshan still acted unconvinced, demanding he contact Wu Jing.

"Then... how about I mortgage my family's house to you?" Chen Leyang offered.

Zhou Dingshan shook his head.

"What do you want then?"

"If you end up not giving the money to Wu Jing, I'll take one of your arms, plus your family's house and company," Zhou Dingshan stated.

Already driven to irrationality by gambling, convinced his next bet would be a winner, Chen Leyang eagerly agreed.

So, Zhou Dingshan had him sign a contract and gave him two million.

A week later, after losing another gamble, Chen Leyang received a call from Wu Jing. Learning that Wu Jing had never invested in any project, Chen Leyang realized he'd been scammed. Instead of being angry, he felt relieved—since it was a scam, he didn't have to repay the money he'd already lost. But not long after, just as he left the casino, someone threw a sack over his head and took him to a villa.

When the sack was removed, Chen Leyang saw three men: Zhou Dingshan, who had lent him the money; another with a cast; and the last one, extremely handsome but with a sinister expression.

Chen Leyang shivered. "Why did you kidnap me? Don't you know this is illegal?!"

"Pay back the money," Zhou Dingshan said coldly.

"You tricked me first!" "Regardless of whether he invested or not, you took the money and signed the contract. Now that you can't repay, I can take one of your arms and seize your family's house," Zhou Dingshan threatened.

"Please, no, don't!"

"Getting scared?"

"Boss, I swear the next hand is mine! Please, lend me some more money."

"You think I'm a fool?" Zhou Dingshan sneered. "Get me the knife. Let me chop off one of your arms first."

Chen Leyang was scared to tears.

Seeing this, Zhou Dingshan grabbed him by the hair. "Call your dad. Tell him to bring money to bail you out."

An hour later, a stern-looking middle-aged man hurried in. He did a double-take when he saw Zhou Dingshan. "General Zhou?"

Then Chen Jiye narrowed his eyes. "What's the meaning of this?"

"It's simple. Your son owes me money. Either you fork over the money now, or I chop off one of his arms," Zhou Dingshan stated.

"Never thought after all these years, you'd end up in this kind of business," Chen Jiye mocked.

Zhou Dingshan didn't deny it.

Chen Jiye's expression darkened. Over the years, Chen Leyang had gambled away the family fortune, not just his own but also borrowed from every relative and friend possible. Now, forget two million, he couldn't even scrape together two hundred.

But he couldn't just stand by and watch his own flesh and blood lose an arm.

"I don't have the money. But you went to such lengths to find me. You have another purpose, don't you?"

Zhou Dingshan cut to the chase.

"Back then, were both Li Wen and Li Jie pregnant with the Prime Minister's child? Are those children Li Wei and Liu Cheng?"

Chen Jiye's face darkened slightly, and he finally nodded.

"After the Prime Minister married Li Wen, they argued constantly. Depressed, he drank too much one night and mistook Li Jie, who looked very much like Li Wen, for her. They slept together. The two sisters became pregnant one after the other. Li Wen gave birth to Liu Cheng, and Li Jie gave birth to Li Wei."

"When Li Wen found out, she was furious. She divorced the Prime Minister and took Liu Cheng overseas. Not long after arriving, she fell ill with cancer from excessive grief and suffered for three whole years before she died."

"The Prime Minister never ended up with Li Jie either. He just asked me to look after her more. When Li Wei was a bit older, Li Jie married an officer, taking Li Wei with her. Their married life was happy. The Prime Minister felt he had already wronged Li Wen and couldn't wrong Li Jie too. To ensure Li Jie lived well, he greatly promoted this officer."

"You've all probably heard of the Regeneration Plan seven years ago. The Chief Commander was actually Li Jie's husband. But it failed later. Li Jie's husband resigned to take responsibility and took Li Jie and Li Wei abroad."

Hearing about the Regeneration Plan, both Li Xiujin's and Yang Yu's expressions changed slightly.

"You're saying the Regeneration Plan seven years ago was commanded by Li Jie's husband?" Zhou Dingshan also asked.

"Yes. But at the time, the Prime Minister was afraid of gossip, so very few people knew. Even the soldiers and colonels on the front lines didn't know who their leader was."

"That's all I know," Chen Jiye finished, with a pleading look at Zhou Dingshan. "We were colleagues once. For old times' sake, let my son go this time."

Zhou Dingshan sighed. "Once someone gets hooked on gambling, they're pretty much ruined. You save him this time, he'll just keep going later."

Chen Jiye just shook his head.

After letting them go, the three men sat in the tearoom, all looking grave.

"Li Wei's stepfather is Zheng Hai, a lieutenant general. Back then, he was the direct superior of both Colonel Lin and Colonel Lin's mentor," Yang Yu said after reviewing the military personnel list from seven years ago.

"His command of the Regeneration Plan was conducted in secret. So, whether Colonel Lin was investigating or I was following your orders to investigate, we both overlooked him."

Li Xiujin's brow was tightly furrowed. Even with a new lead and a new figure, the events of seven years ago remained shrouded in mist.

"Do you think what happened seven years ago might be related to Liu Cheng?" Zhou Dingshan asked.

"Seven years ago, Liu Cheng had just come of age. What could a newly adult alpha do?" Yang Yu said.

Li Xiujin stood up and walked to the window. "When we were eighteen, we were already participating in battles. His father was the Prime Minister. He could have done plenty."

"So, General, you mean the events seven years ago are related to Liu Cheng? That he might have killed Colonel Lin's mentor and teammates?" Yang Yu asked. "But there needs to be a motive. What was Liu Cheng's motive?"

"When Liu Cheng's mother was gravely ill and bedridden, the very people who broke up his family got married. And the Prime Minister greatly promoted Li Jie's husband, entrusting him with such a major mission. If that mission succeeded, Li Jie's husband would have been commended, and his military rank would surely have been promoted."

"If you were Liu Cheng, wouldn't you hate that?"

"Of course I would hate it," Yang Yu said.

"Then would you just stand by and watch them continue to be happy?" Li Xiujin asked again, then answered himself. "If it were me, not just Li Jie, Li Wei, and Zheng Hai, I wouldn't let the Prime Minister off easy either."

Yang Yu was deeply shocked. "Then, General, what do we do next?"

Li Xiujin didn't speak, but he already had a plan in mind.

That night, he took Li Wei to the Central Headquarters.

Li Wei knew his comfortable days were over, his face downcast. "You really won't kill me, right?"

Li Xiujin looked at him, then noticed his eyebrows and eyes bore some resemblance to both Liu Cheng and the Prime Minister.

Seeing Li Xiujin silent, just staring at him like that, Li Wei's hair stood on end.

"You said you'd spare my life! Otherwise, I would have run when you were injured!"

"Relax, you won't die. After all, your current status is more esteemed than mine," Li Xiujin chuckled.

"What do you mean?"

Li Xiujin didn't answer further.

Taking Li Wei to the Central Headquarters wasn't done secretly. After entering, he stayed inside for two hours before bringing Li Wei out again.

Simultaneously, he had word spread that the Prime Minister intended to release Li Wei.

"General, why are we doing this?" Yang Yu asked.

"Liu Cheng actually hates Li Wei deeply. After Li Wei's parents went abroad and disappeared, Li Wei suffering amnesia and being trafficked into a brothel—it's all connected to him."

"Now, by spreading the news that the Prime Minister plans to release Li Wei, he'll probably hate even more. Once he tracks down Li Wei's whereabouts, he'll definitely act," Li Xiujin mused.

"Then I'll deliberately leave some clues for Liu Cheng to find."

Li Xiujin nodded, his expression dark.

This time, he was determined to force Liu Cheng to reveal the truth and clear Lin Ze's name, seven years overdue.