“So, I heard that Qin Fei had an argument with someone from your past?” Yang Lina went straight to the point. She had heard that the woman whom Qin Fei was arguing with was actually her sister, who is now a business tycoon in Europe. Yang Lina knew that Qin Fei only had one sister and her name is Qin Jinghua, Xuan Hui’s ex-fiancé.
“Yes,” Xuan Hui answered. Xuan Hui’s response earned a few seconds of silence from his mother.
“That photo from seven years ago.” Yang Lina made a deliberate pause. “Do you know what happened? Were you involved?”
Seven years ago, after Qin Jinghua’s photos made it to the news, the Xuan family immediately canceled the wedding and refused to issue any statement to clarify the matter. However, that did not stop Qin Jinghua from begging at the gates of the Xuan family. Qin Jinghua desperately wanted to see Xuan Hui to explain herself but instead of seeing Xuan Hui, she saw Yang Lina. After speaking to Qin Jinghua, Yang Lina never saw or heard anything from her again.
The Xuan family also did not bother to investigate what really happened then. They didn’t think that it mattered whether Qin Jinghua was innocent or guilty. Qin Jinghua had the Qin surname but everyone knew that she had no status in the Qin family. Why would they waste their time and money to investigate the matter? Qin Jinghua’s status didn’t match Xuan Hui in the first place.
However, now that Qin Jinghua had suddenly returned in glory, Yang Lina wanted to make sure that Xuan Hui was not involved in what happened seven years ago.
“I knew about it,” Xuan Hui answered honestly. “Back then, Tang Lingyun wanted Qin Jinghua to cause a ruckus because she knew that you would not tolerate this kind of behavior from your potential daughter-in-law. So, Tang Lingyun drugged Qin Jinghua. That was the only way to guarantee that Qin Jinghua would embarrass herself, under the influence of the drug. However, the effects of the drug made her do something even more than that. Tang Lingyun naturally didn’t let go of this opportunity to ruin Qin Jinghua. And… and I knew about it.”
Yang Lina nodded and remained calm after listening to her son’s explanation. At the same time, she also knew that there is a possibility that Qin Jinghua might retaliate against her son. Her mind began to work in coming up with a countermeasure. “Back then… did Qin Fei also know about this?” she asked.
“Yes. Tang Lingyun showed us the photos before she released it to the public,” Xuan Hui again answered honestly. Xuan Hui would always be honest with his mother because he respected her.
“Hui, there are so many eligible women out there. I even introduced many of them to you. Yet, you had to choose someone who is scheming and unreasonable.” Yang Lina shook her head inwardly as she wondered how stupid was. “If you had merely wanted to get rid of Qin Jinghua back then, you could have just make use of Tang Lingyun and Qin Fei and then leave it at that. And yet, you chose to marry Qin Fei.”
“Mother… We talked about this before. I loved Qin Fei from the moment I first saw her. She captured my attention and-“
“You will be turning thirty soon and yet you have learned nothing.” Yang Lina shook her head. She wanted to tell her son how love could be cultivated over time and that initial attraction does not necessarily mean love. But she said this many times before. She would have said it again but she knew it would only make her sound like a nagging mother.
“Did you do something to aggravate Qin Jinghua?” Yang Lina asked, changing the topic.
“I did.”
“Then tell me about it.” Yang Lina said, an unfathomable gleam flashed in her eyes.
….
The next day, news of Tang Wei Dong’s arrest broke out in every search engine and everyone was very interested in how the police would handle the situation. This is also because Hong Kong was known to have a zero tolerance policy on illegal drugs such as cannabis and ecstasy.
Tang Wei Dong’s case was particularly high-profile because the Tang family was suspected for their involvement in illegal activities such as drug trafficking and illegal money-lending. Moreover, rumors also started circulating around about the ruthlessness of the Tang family. Because of this, the case had gathered a lot of attention. The case received attention from groups fighting against drugs, human rights groups and surprisingly, even from a group known for fighting violations against women.
Rumor has it that Tang Wei Dong had raped countless women and they were mostly from the middle-class who were powerless against him. So when the news of his arrest became known to the public, many people had gathered outside the police station with big placards about his crimes.
Tang Wei Dong was someone with ties to the people who sits at the top of the police force. It would have been easy for him to avoid detainment but the rowdy groups of people, the paparazzi and media outside the police station were not making it easy for him to leave. The police who were bought over by Tang family couldn’t release Tang Wei Dong without facing an outcry from the public.
“Rumors are spreading… They say that Wei Dong’s fingerprint was found on two dead women’s bodies. One in Europe and another somewhere in Asia. And since this morning, international lawyers have been arriving here,” Tang Lingyun said, her face grave as she stared blankly at the cup of coffee in front of her.
“This is very unexpected. Wei Dong had always been careful about his activities abroad. I didn’t think that anyone was capable of finding anything that would have implicated him,” Tang Jian said gravely. Tang Jian originally thought that he could quietly get his son out of the police station but who would have thought that news of his son’s arrest would spread like wildfire when they woke up this morning.
The news had gotten uncontrollable now, making him fume inside.
“This should not have affected our business but it did,” Old Man Tang said hoarsely.
“Jian… Call your contacts. Someone is plotting against us. Check on our spies and ask them if they know something. Lingyun, go home and do not come back here unless I ask you to. I don’t want you to involve yourself in this mess.” Old Man Tang added.
“But Father I…”
“Lingyun… listen to Father,” Tang Jian chimed in. “We have enemies both here and abroad. I don’t want you to get caught in the crossfire. Someone is plotting against us and my guess is it must be one of our enemies abroad.”
Tang Lingyun didn’t argue any further and slowly nodded. She understood her father and brother’s words. She found it reasonable for them to want her to stay away. However, Tang Lingyun was facing a dilemma right now. Given the current precarious situation that the Tang family is in, they wouldn’t have the time and resources to help her plot against Qin Jinghua right?
Tang Lingyun gritted her teeth as she thought about what had happened to her daughter tonight. Since she couldn’t count on her Tang family to help her plot against Lily, she would need a new plan to counter her.
…
Editor: Swaning
