The Last Time
"Oh, my! This bracelet is beautiful!"
Li XinYun looked at the jade bracelet her mother gave to her happily. "This is ice jade, right?" As the young mistress of the Li's, she appreciated jewelry and gems.
Fang JunRong curved her lips, "Yes, it is. I felt like this was even better than normal ice jade. It's almost glass jade quality. I'll get you an even better one for your birthday." She was better off spending all the money instead of saving them for that father and son duo.
Li XinYun's eyes were curved, making her look even more delicate. "Thanks, Mom."
Remembering what happened in the living room, Li XinYun frowned and asked, "Mom, what's going on with Dad lately? He has been picking on me on everything since Jiang YaGe arrived."
Li XinYun wasn't happy to be treated by her father that way. But given her personality, being picked on wouldn't make her back off, but to fight back even more aggressively. This wasn't her first fight with her father. They have had several fights already over the last few days.
She felt that her home was feeling less and less like a home.
Fang JunRong said casually, "Don't mind him. You still have me."
Li XinYun thought about it and said, "That's true." She paused before continuing, "Mom has much better eyes. Zhong Yi is much better than Jiang YaGe. She doesn't walk around looking like I have been bullying her day in and day out."
She wasn't particularly fond of Zhong Yi before, but with Jiang YaGe as the contrast, her fondness toward Zhong Yi was on the rise steadily.
Fang JunRong smiled and said, "Okay, just don't bully her."
"I didn't bully her. I have been very nice to her." Li XinYun was halfway through what she was saying when she suddenly noticed that Fang JunRong looked different. "Eh, Mom, did you switch to some new cosmetics? How come your skin is looking better and better? Your makeup seems so natural today."
What a child!
She has no makeup on today at all!
Fang JunRong said, "No, not really. I went to have a facial done a few times, was all."
"Which place? I want to go try it out!"
Fang JunRong coaxed her for a bit and made her feel better. She planned to wait till her health report came back. If all looked well, she'd let her daughter try the Beautify Pills and make her the prettiest girl at her birthday party.
She also asked if her daughter wanted to take a trip but Li XinYun rejected that idea. According to her, the sun was too intense lately. If she were to travel now, she might turn another shade darker. She didn't want to be the black swan on her own birthday. Fang JunRong, after all, was going by Li XinYun's preference, so she didn't push the issue.
Fang JunRong then drove to White Crane to meet up with Xu WeiWei. Xu WeiWei was a competent woman and already completed most of the investigation.
Sitting across from Fang JunRong, she jumped directly to the point, "The name of the artist who painted those paintings for Li WangJin was He Ming. He started painting for Li WangJin ten years ago. Li WangJin would always transfer the money to He Ming; then he would transfer the money back to another card that belonged to Li WangJin. Other than He Ming, there was another artist, but he disappeared three years ago. He might not have disappeared-disappeared; he could've simply stopped dealing with these transactions. Li WangJin pays ¥50,000 for each painting."
Fang JunRong's eyes flickered. "What a frugal bastard. He only paid ¥50,000 for each painting."
Over the years, He Ming painted at least
Xu WeiWei pondered for a little bit and said, "Speaking of. The law in this area has changed a bit in the last several years. Now creating and selling counterfeits is also illegal."
Fang JunRong nodded. "Even though in the antique circle it's one's own fault for failing to spot counterfeits, that's just the unspoken rule. Ultimately it's what the law says."
With the amount they spoke about, He Ming could get sentenced to life in prison.
Xu WeiWei said, "If you want to call the cops, my lawyers are ready."
Fang JunRong shook her head and said, "Even if we reported him, and He Ming gave up Li WangJin, Li WangJin could still deny it. He could insist that he is the victim in this. Or, he'd blame it all on his agent."
She wanted Li WangJin to cry over his counterfeits after their divorce.
She looked up and said determinately, "He Ming is doing this for money. If he can work with Li WangJin, he could also work with us. Not to mention we have dirt on him. We will send him to jail if he refuses to work with us. We will contact him to do a big job."
Xu WeiWei's lips tightened. "Aren't you worried that Li WangJin will take all the company's money on the books?"
"That's fine too. Eventually, we will end up with the money anyway," said Fang JunRong nonchalantly.
She wasn't too attached to the company. Plus, Li WangJin had slowly gained control over the company over the years. It was his people in the vital positions. Even if she wanted to fight him over it, it'd still be costly even if she won. Might as well get more cash from it right now. Besides, the company's revenue had been much worse than before over the last few years.
Seeing that Fang JunRong had already made up her mind, Xu WeiWei decided against trying to talk her out of it.
The two of them had finished their discussion when Fang JunRong gave Ning Qing, the owner of White Crane, a call.
Ning Qing joined them shortly and said, "I have someone looking into what you asked me about earlier."
Fang JunRong had asked Ning Qing to investigate the incident of Zhong Yi losing her business card. It wasn't too difficult a task, so Ning Qing agreed to examine it. There was some history between the two of them. When Ning Qing had run into some troubles in the past when she had first started operating White Crane, Fang JunRong had helped her out.
Ning Qing pulled out the security footage and showed it to Fang JunRong.
In the first scene, a short-haired girl snuck into the employee lounge, making sure no one else was around, opened one of the lockers with a key, pulled out Zhong Yi's uniform, and retrieved the business card from Zhong Yi's pocket. Then, she tore it up and flushed it down the toilet.
The next scene was the short-haired girl chatting with Jiang YaGe.
Ning Qing said, "According to you. Jiang YaGe and Zhong Yi were the only two people who knew about your intention of adopting Zhong Yi. Ge Yan, the girl who tore up Zhong Yi's business card, chatted with Jiang YaGe. But we don't have audio for the footage so there's no way for me to find out what they talked about. We can only conclude that Jiang YaGe is a suspect. I have asked Ge Yan; she refused to admit that she had anything to do with Jiang YaGe. I have fired her already. I can't have someone like that working here."
Fang JunRong had Ning Qing send her a copy of the security footage and immediately forwarded a copy to Zhong Yi. She wasn't trying to instigate anything, but she wanted Zhong Yi to keep an eye out.
After that, she smiled and chatted more with Ning Qing before they all split off.
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Zhong Yi was drawing in her room. She had already quit her job at the club and would spend time with her grandmother at the hospital every other day. Zhong Yi spent the rest of her free time learning how to paint at the Li's. She had always enjoyed drawing, but never had the resources to have any proper training in it. Now that she had the opportunity, she particularly appreciated her current life.
Halfway through her sketch, her cell phone vibrated.
Zhong Yi opened her cell phone and realized that her adoptive mother had sent her some messages – two video clips.
Ten minutes later, she stared at the screen at a loss. She had some speculations after she had lost the business card. On the one hand, she suspected her friend, and on the other, believed it was very wrong to doubt her friend like that. So she assumed she had misplaced the card herself.
But why would Jiang YaGe do that to her? She thought they were best friends.
When they started school, Zhong Yi and Jiang YaGe were not particularly close to each other. They were both considered pretty by others and compared with each other. When both of them ended up working at White Crane the secret had brought them together.
In Zhong Yi's eyes, Jiang YaGe was too naïve. YaGe's personality was too blunt, and it was too easy to bully her. She made Zhong Yi want to protect her, and Zhong Yi did that often.
The newfound knowledge exploded in Zhong Yi's brain, making her confused. She wasn't sure how to face Jiang YaGe going forward.
Zhong Yi heard knocking on the door and recollected herself.
"I have cut up some fruits that you like. Would you like to let me in?" came Jiang YaGe's tender voice from the outside.
Zhong Yi opened the door, and Jiang YaGe was standing right outside. The dress that Jiang YaGe wore was Chanel's newest design for the season, and her smile was as pure as Zhong Yi had remembered.
"Oh, you. Don't just draw all day long. You need to learn to relax from time to time. Don't push yourself too hard now."
Both her actions and her words were so thoughtful.
"YaGe, I found the person who stole my business card."
Jiang YaGe furrowed her brow, her dubious look was so genuine. "I thought you misplaced it yourself?"
Zhong Yi said, "I mentioned it to our boss, and she looked through the security footage for me. Ge Yan was the one who took it."
Jiang YaGe's pink lips parted a little, and she looked angry. "I would never have guessed. She didn't look like that kind of person."
Zhong Yi looked at Jiang YaGe closely, not wanting to miss any micro-expressions on her. "Ge Yan had admitted to it already. She said you were the one who told her about it." She tried to trick Jiang YaGe with words, but deep down inside, she still refused to believe that Jiang YaGe would do such a thing.
"She was lying! Did you believe her? I thought you would always be on my side?" said Jiang YaGe emotionally, her eyes tearing up. "Ge Yan saw that you were happy those few days, so she got curious and came and asked me about it. That's when I mentioned to her how Mom had proposed to adopt you." She bit her lower lip with her white and neat teeth, looking hurt and pitiful. "I didn't think she'd be so envious that she took your card. She had always looked down on you, so I said what I said to her. I'm sorry. I guess I have been too trusting with others. It was my fault."
What could Zhong Yi say to that? From the security footage, it was obvious that Ge Yan knew where to find the business card. How'd she know if Jiang YaGe hadn't told her?
Had Jiang YaGe admitted to it and apologized, she might still be able to forgive her. But now that she has put on the front that she was wronged… Zhong Yi made her own decision.
There were tears on Jiang YaGe's long eyelashes. "Do you not believe me?"
Zhong Yi closed her eyes for a bit. When she reopened them, her voice had calmed, "I'll trust you this one time."
But this will also be the last time.