Chapter 58

  Li Yiheng furrowed his brow, seemingly extremely displeased with the feeling of being on guard against Li Jin. Especially when this sharpness was directed at himself. But things had already come to this point, and he couldn't make excuses anymore. So he could only tell the truth: "I heard you guys were having a drinking party, I wasn't worried about you, so I came by to take a look on my way. Coincidentally, I saw you going to the central courtyard skywell, so I followed you over, wanting to say hello, but unexpectedly I heard you talking on the phone..."

  "Then you found out that I had been secretly investigating the whereabouts of that recording, and the person I hired had already found it." Li Jin sneered and continued, "So you quietly followed me, planning to take advantage of the situation and snatch the recording. But instead, you found that I was being set up. So, you just happened to save me, right?"

  Li Yiheng gritted his teeth and let go of his shoulders: "I didn't plan on taking that recording away."

  In other words, all the other guesses are correct.

  Li Jin gritted his teeth in frustration - should he admire Mr. Li's exceptional skills or lament that he was as stupid as a pig, being followed all the way without even half a clue!

  "Where were you?" he asked Li Yiheng, "where were you when I entered the room?"

  "Outside the door." Li Yi Heng said, "I watched you go upstairs and followed in, but the room was too small. I was afraid of being discovered by you, so I didn't make a sound, let alone enter the door."

  No wonder, no wonder Mr. Li's action of bringing himself to escape was smooth all the way, probably he had already observed the terrain outside the building in advance and made preparations to leave safely even if he was discovered.

  "You didn't plan to record the audio, anyway, once the transaction is successful, the recording will be in my hands. At that time, you can easily rob or cheat, and you don't have to turn against me on the spot." Li Jin sneered, "Li Yiheng, if I hadn't almost been caught by the police, I'm afraid you wouldn't even plan to show up, let alone tell me that you've been eavesdropping all along!"

  Under the moonlight, Li Yiheng lowered his eyelids and remained silent.

  Li's words were a jumbled mix of emotions in Lijing's heart. She thought about how she had just been grateful for his timely rescue, but now the truth was laid bare before her eyes. She couldn't help but smile wryly: "Mr. Li, you're still using me like this and yet you expect me to trust you? Don't you think that's a bit ridiculous?"

  "This was my fault, I could have clearly called out to you and come with you, but I didn't. I apologize to you." Li Yi Heng sighed, his usual personality was easy-going and humble, but for him to admit a mistake and apologize was truly harder than ascending to heaven. But at this moment, as he looked at Li Jin, his gaze unexpectedly had a hint of softening, almost some humility, "But I didn't plan on deceiving you."

  Afterwards, Li Jin savored the memory of his tone at that time, which was really like a helpless parent looking at their mischievous child but unable to do anything, so they could only lower their own head first.

  But at this moment, Li Jin was unmoved, and just coldly smiled.

  "Li Jin," Li Yi Heng rubbed his eyes together, saying helplessly, "Do you know? The person who threatened Shu Mu... is already dead."

  Li Jin's eyes widened in shock.

  "What did you say?" he asked softly.

  "The person who threatened Shu Mu is already dead, died in a rental house a week ago." Li Yi Heng looked at him, "For the past month, people from Shu Mu to He Shi have been looking for him, even the underworld has put out a wanted notice, whoever catches him will be rewarded with 100,000 yuan. The one who can make Shu Mu so nervous must be the person holding the recording, so as soon as I received the news, I also sent people to investigate his whereabouts. But he's dead, died silently."

  Li Jin's body shook - he thought of Huang Erzi, who had just lain in front of him with blood all over his face, also silently and suddenly gone, without even leaving a word to accuse the murderer.

  "Who killed him?" asked Li Jin, "Shu Mu?"

  "I couldn't be certain. The man died from an overdose of sleeping pills, and there were no wounds on the body, no signs of being coerced before death. But it's not ruled out that the other party's method of coercion was to give him an intravenous injection." Li Yiheng said, "There were no clues left at the scene, and without evidence, I couldn't make a rash judgment."

  "What about the recording?" Lei Jin continued to ask.

  "I dug three feet underground, but I didn't find it." Li Yiheng shook his head. "Not only did I not find it, Shu Mu also didn't find it. Because by that evening, there was already news that He's people were searching the entire city to find that recording."

  "You said he died a week ago?" Li Jin thought for a moment, and coldly said, "That person said that if he went missing for three days, the recording would be automatically released, but it's already been a week and there's still no news."

  Huang Erzi called himself tonight and said he had found the recording.

  "My men have been searching for a whole week, and they've investigated all the people who might be entrusted with keeping the recording. They still couldn't find any leads on the recording until this morning when I received a report saying that it's very likely in the hands of someone named Huang Erzi." Li Yiheng chuckled self-deprecatingly, "Li Jin, as my former special assistant, you should know that outsiders saying I'm well-connected with both black and white societies is just flattery. In reality, I don't have such a strong network in the underworld."

  Li Jin knew what he said was true.

  Li Yi Heng's ancestors were merchants, but later on his grandfather's generation married into a politician's family and gained a political background. After two generations of politics and business, they harvested the current large family business, but also because of this, Li's family had many concerns when entering the underworld, and until now it has only been superficial. Outsiders say that Mr. Li is involved in both black and white societies, and Lai Jian initially thought so too, but after serving as his special assistant for a long time, he discovered that Mr. Li's so-called underworld power was just used for self-protection, and if one had to say that he had a relationship with the underworld, it was only because he served as a protective umbrella for some black society bosses who couldn't be washed white, a mutually beneficial friendship that wasn't reliable at all.

  But He is different.

  The He family, a well-known clan, originally made their fortune through organized crime. They were involved in various illicit activities such as gambling, prostitution, and extortion, with the first generation's He Zhen being notorious for his ruthlessness. The He Entertainment Company was initially established to launder money, but after investing in several films that turned out to be profitable, they suddenly realized that this could be a lucrative business. As a result, the family's longtime mistress was promoted to a legitimate position, and the He family began to seriously develop their entertainment industry, eventually becoming a prominent player after three generations of accumulation.

  But even so, it was enough for Mr. He to be jealous of Mr. Li until he died.

  Not only because Li Yi Heng is the current head of the Li family, bringing millions of dollars to the entertainment industry and making them struggle financially, but also because the Li family has a clean background and good relationships with all parties, representing a good businessman in everyone's mind. As for He Shi, they have been trying to whitewash their reputation for 20 years, but still can't get out of the mud, it seems like they will be stuck for another 20 years.

  The two families have been openly and secretly vying with each other since Mr. Li entered the entertainment industry, and there was originally a Feng family in between, forming a three-legged situation. Later, after Li Yi Heng acquired the Feng family, the Li and He families became completely at odds, and even the entire entertainment circle was divided into two camps.

  So after Ke Yuan's death, Shu Mu would only publicly acknowledge their relationship with He Jiaer when he returned to the country for the first time. Because the only one who could make Li Yiheng hesitant to take action against Shu Mu was the powerful He family with a strong underworld background.

  "Li Jin, so far, my news has always been one step slower than Shu Mu, or rather, He's family. So if I haven't received any news here, it's impossible that He's side is completely unaware of the situation." Li Yi's throat tightened and his eyes slightly sank, "Tell me, the person who died in the house... was it Huang Erzi?"

  Li Yiheng noticed that there was a dead person in the house, which wasn't strange, but what was strange was...

  "Li Yi Heng, when did you know I was investigating this matter?" asked Li Jin.

  "Tonight, when I heard you talking on the phone in the courtyard, I guessed it." Li Yiheng had a faint smile on his lips. "Huang Erzi has a good reputation for keeping secrets, and even with a knife to his throat, he wouldn't reveal information about his employer, so I only knew that he might have been hired to investigate, but who hired him, I didn't know. However, tonight when I heard you say those things, connecting the causes and consequences, all sorts of possibilities, I understood, you must be getting impatient."

  Li Jin lowered his eyebrows: "Since you've guessed it, won't He Shi guess it too?"

  After all, Shu Mu is now considered He Shi's person.

  "It's hard to say, but it won't be far from the truth. Li Yi Heng furrowed his brow, "Tonight's matter, without evidence, we can't make a rash judgment. But I'm like you, first suspecting Shu Mu and He Shi."

  Li Jin responded with a sound, lowered his head and fell into deep thought.

  If he thought about it carefully, Huang Erzi actually didn't sell himself out, then that phone call wasn't something he was forced to make.

  If Huang Erzi really got the recording and was waiting here for himself to pick it up, but was unfortunately controlled by the person who followed him. The other party forced him to ask, but he was furious and killed him, and then shifted the blame to himself who came rushing over?

  No, it's still not working out. Since the other side is certain that the recording is in Huang Erzi's hands, why not bring him away and continue to interrogate? Why be so reckless as to kill him? Isn't that equivalent to cutting off the only clue?

  Li Jing's mind was a tangled mess. Everything that had been confusing and mysterious to begin with became even more bizarre after Huang Erzi's death, and the only clear fact was...

  The recording that could prove the real culprit's guilt has gone missing again.

  "Li Jin, if you still want to continue investigating this matter, I won't stop you, nor can I. But next time, please keep me informed." Li Yi Heng grasped his shoulder, his tone sincere, "You've already completely exposed yourself in their line of sight. Since they failed to frame you tonight, they'll definitely make another move. I..."

  "I understand." Li Jin raised his head, and in the moonlight, his eyes were filled with sincerity, no longer carrying a hint of mockery. "I won't be so reckless again, you can rest assured."

  Li Yiheng's gaze paused for a moment, and then he smiled lightly as if relieved, his hand grasping the other's shoulder tightened slightly, pulling him tightly into his arms.

  "Do you know that just now, you were clinging to the window and looked like you were about to jump out...?" Mr. Li sighed, as if he still had a lingering fear, "Scared me to death."

  Li Jing awkwardly stiffened in his arms, her hands bent to push him away, but thinking that he had just saved herself after all, and then apologized in a low voice. No matter what the person's original intention was, she felt that it could be forgiven with difficulty. So, the bent arm turned around and lightly hugged the man's back again.

  "Uh... actually, I wasn't thinking of jumping down, I just wanted to jump out the window, hang my fingers on the balcony and wait for them to finish searching, then climb back in..." Li Jin's mind was racing with scenes from movies, "Don't they always do it this way?"

  Li Yiheng's breath caught in his throat.

  Can you believe this?

  Mr. Li really wanted to sigh that the movie had misled people, but then he thought that the largest film distribution company in the industry was his own, so he shut his mouth and sighed with all his heart, thinking that Li Jin Xiao's classmate's thinking was indeed lively and her eyes were indeed sincere.

  It's obviously a life-and-death situation where every second counts, but with less experience.

  This sigh just consumed all the value of the hug with Li Jin.

  Li Jing pushed him away, carefully stuck out his head and looked outside, saying: "It's getting late, I'll go first."

  Li Yi Heng nodded and said in a low voice, "Tonight's matter is as if it never happened. You were never here. From now on, no matter what rumors come out, you don't need to pay attention. I'll take responsibility."

  Li Jin looked up at him for a long time and nodded heavily.

  "Go back," said Li Yi Heng, "don't think about it anymore, have a good dream."

  Li Jin pursed his lips, took a step forward, and stuck to the wall, quickly passing through the empty and deserted courtyard in the shadow of the moonlight. He had been on guard since he arrived, so he parked his car in a hidden alley. He gently opened the car door and got in, and as soon as he sat down, he felt something hard pressing against his chest.

  He subconsciously reached out to touch, but in the next instant, all movements stiffened.

  That's Huang Erzi's phone with a shattered screen.