“Grandpa, you’re overthinking this. Do you think that I would easily accept a man with such a bad record as my husband and father of my child?”
The old man had a teasing smile on his face and looked at Zhao Youlin with a reserved manner. That look on his face was extremely annoying.
Zhao Youlin’s face slightly darkened. She tried hard to resist the urge to be disrespectful and beat someone up violently. She started to shoot threatening glares at the old master.
Seeing that the situation was not right, the old master very spinelessly began to change the subject. “Fine, fine. We won’t talk about this. We won’t talk about this. Youlin, how is the investigation on the malfunction of the elevator going?”
Zhao Youlin was caught off guard a little. Looking at the old master’s expression that had turned serious in a flash, her expression became stern as well. She frowned and answered, “Uncle Xiao is still investigating. We’ll probably get some answers in a few days.”
The old man nodded. Zhao Youlin hesitated for a moment, she could not help but added, “Grandpa, if… I mean if this incident has something to do with some people in the Zhao family, I…”
The old master raised his eyebrows slightly at her words. He gave Zhao Youlin a meaningful look. “Looks like you already have someone in mind.”
Zhao Youlin furrowed her brows a little and said conservatively, “It’s still just a guess. Until I get any evidence, I won’t jump into a conclusion easily.”
Zhao Youlin had joined the company for only two weeks. She did make some enemies in the company, but it was unlikely that they hated her so much to the point that they wanted her to die.
And the only two people who had such intentions, one was admitted to the hospital because of her, while the other one…
Zhao Youlin’s heart sank slightly. Xiao Jingyao had bluntly told her that day that the malfunction of the elevator might not be an accident, it could be sabotaged by someone with evil intentions.
Somehow, the first thing that flashed in her mind was that day in the cemetery, the vicious threat that Zhao Youxi told herself before she left.
She had said, “Zhao Youlin, you’ll die horribly!”
The shriveled knuckles were tapping on the wooden table by the sofa, making several thuds sound.
The old master pondered for a moment. Then, the corners of his lips suddenly raised into a cunning smile, which Zhao Youlin felt incomparably familiar with. “Lass, are all the requests you made with me when you agreed to join the company just jokes? Was it just for fun?”
Zhao Youlin shuddered instantly. Looking at the old man’s annoying and treacherous look, she cursed internally. An old fox is wiser indeed!
A faint smile appeared on her face. She said slyly, “I got it.”
The old master nodded in satisfaction. The grandfather and the granddaughter exchanged a knowing smile.
One had to say that Zhao Youlin’s intuition was very accurate. On the fourth day after the elevator incident, Xiao Jingyao had found something in the thorough investigation he carried out.
“General Manager, I’ve thoroughly gone through all the company’s surveillance on that day. In addition to that, I also found the people who had entered and left the elevator maintenance system that day. After a rigorous search, I can basically determine that the person who tampered with the elevator that day was…”
Zhao Youlin raised her head from the complicated paperwork. Looking at Xiao Jingyao’s hesitating expression, she knitted her brows and asked in a cold voice, “Who was it?”
Xiao Jing Yao pursed his lips and hesitantly spat out a name. “It was Ms. Zhao, Zhao Youxi.”
Zhao Youlin’s face darkened instantly. Although she had made some speculation earlier, the real confirmation and vague suspicion were two completely separate concepts.
She recalled how the elevator fell and broke to pieces that day when she was caught by Mu Tingfeng in time.
If it wasn’t for Mu Tingfeng’s quick reflexes and him catching her hand just in the nick of time, would she end up like that elevator? No, maybe even worse than that elevator.
After trying to calm her restless mind, Zhao Youlin raised her head and looked at Xiao Jingyao. She asked calmly, “Have you found any evidence?”
“The surveillance monitor in the building was broken beforehand, so Ms. Zhao’s actions were not captured.”
Zhao Youlin snorted and said coldly, “Looks like she’s not that hopelessly stupid after all. However, since you said it was her, there should be other evidence.”
Xiao Jingyao nodded. He put on a white glove before carefully taking out a glass bottle containing an orange-yellow liquid from a file bag.
“This is?” When Zhao Youlin saw the bottle of liquid, a trace of puzzlement swept across her eyes.
“I’ve had this stuff tested in the lab. It’s a superacid. Its acidity is 100 million times stronger than concentrated sulfuric acid. It’s extremely corrosive. She just estimated the time and placed a few drops on top of the cable of the elevator. The cable of the elevator would break while it was running.”
Zhao Youlin stared deeply at the bottle of terrible liquid that was enough to put people to death, despite it being just a small bottle. Then, she gestured to Xiao Jingyao to continue.
“This is probably Ms. Zhao’s first time committing such an act. After she tampered with the elevator, she anxiously wanted to get rid of this thing. So, she rushed into the washroom immediately after that, probably attempting to flush this thing down the toilet. Unfortunately, someone was in the washroom at that time. And it could be someone who she really did not want to see. Due to the urgency, she could only throw this thing in the trash can outside.”
When Zhao Youlin heard what Xiao Jingyao said, her expression changed a little. She could not help but interject, “Who did she meet in the washroom?”
Xiao Jingyao paused for a second before he answered. “Mrs. President.”
“My mom?” Zhao Youlin’s face darkened. Her eyes, which were fixating on the bottle of liquid in Xiao Jingyao’s hand, grew more hostile.
Should she be thankful that Zhao Youxi was not bold enough to hurt her elders? When she thought that Duan Yarong had walked past such dangerous stuff, a deep fear came upon Zhao Youlin, which made her even more determined in a certain decision she had made.
“Yes. The surveillance on the top floor failed to capture the image of Ms. Zhao’s tampering of the elevator, but the surveillance below captured the scene of Ms. Zhao throwing something away. And I also had someone check it out. This bottle has Ms. Zhao’s fingerprints on it.”
Zhao Yulin pondered sullenly for a moment before asking again, “Have you told my dad about this matter?”
Xiao Jingyao did not say anything, but Zhao Youlin directly took his silence as an acknowledgment in silence. It made sense. He was Zhao Shunrong’s subordinate in the first place. He would report everything to Zhao Shunrong in advance.
“What did my dad say?”
“President Mu said everything is up to you.”
“Up to me.” Zhao Yulin glanced meaningfully at the glass bottle in Xiao Jingyao’s hand. If she wanted to take down Zhao Youxi in one strike and take away her chance to ever turn the table around in Zhao Enterprise, this small bottle was not enough. She had to do something more and make something else out to make it work.
That was Zhao Youlin’s plan. Though she did not expect that before she could decide when she would find Zhao Youxi’s weakness, the latter would come to her by herself.
