Chapter 36: The Sealed Secret!

Hospital.

Chen Qing'er had already removed her wig. She looked exhausted, with an oxygen mask covering her nose and mouth, and tears welling in her eyes. It was Chu Feng's support that had allowed her to survive, and perhaps, gave her hope of walking again one day.

"Qing'er, congratulations," Chu Feng said, walking over with a fruit basket and setting it on the table.

"Young Master Chu, thank you." Having learned that Chu Feng intended to hire Chen Meng for a position akin to a bodyguard, Chen Qing'er realized she had misjudged him previously.

"Get some rest," Chu Feng said with a smile. He took out a package containing a dress. "Your brother mentioned that you looked beautiful in dresses before you got sick, and I wanted to see that for myself."

Chen Qing'er smiled, wiping away her tears. "Just don't go falling in love with me then."

"Haha!" Chu Feng took it as a joke. He put his arm around Chen Meng and led him outside to the small garden near the ward to smoke.

"Brother, is there something else you need to tell me?" Chen Meng clearly sensed that Chu Feng’s intentions went beyond just a visit.

Chu Feng glanced around. "You mentioned before that your older brother was a medical doctor?"

At these words, Chen Meng's expression changed.

"Brother, I don't know what you're talking about..." Chen Meng couldn't look Chu Feng in the eye, rubbing his nose nervously.

"Listen... I can help you. Can you not even trust me?" Chu Feng gripped Chen Meng's shoulder.

Chen Meng's eyes reddened, and he choked out, "Brother, I know you mean well... but there are some things, some people, we simply cannot afford to provoke! I’ve already lost my parents and my older brother; I cannot lose my sister too..."

Chu Feng took a deep breath and patted Chen Meng's shoulder. "Fine, I won't force you."

Just as Chu Feng turned to leave, Chen Meng, as if having made a decision, clenched his fists and looked up. "Brother, there is a cookie tin under my sister's mattress... it might have what you need."

Chu Feng's eyes widened.

Chen Meng continued, "Brother, you and the Zhang family... do you have a grudge? Zhang Fuqiang has eyes and ears everywhere. In Jiang City, they are the emperors—the underground emperors—and no one dares to touch him!"

He tossed a key to Chu Feng, who caught it with one hand.

"Mengzi, don't worry! Your brother's vengeance..." Chu Feng tapped his chest, "...I will see it through."

"Be very careful..." Chen Meng nodded at him.

Watching Chu Feng walk away, Chen Meng shed tears. For a moment, Chu Feng’s silhouette seemed to overlap with the memory of his own brother.

Back when his brother left, it had also been a rainy night. Looking at Chen Qing'er in her wheelchair and the young, naive Chen Meng, he had said, "Big brother has to go do something, something that must be done. I may not return... You must protect your sister! And that box..."

...

Chu Feng arrived at the urban village and sat down on a second-hand sofa. Beside him lay the open cookie tin, along with several diagnostic reports.

"So that's it... Zhang Yanran's grandfather's dementia was not natural; it was chronic mercury poisoning!" As Chu Feng read through the documents, his heart began to race. Any one of these items, if leaked, would trigger a massive storm in Jiang City.

"Sun Jin... so that's how it was!" Chu Feng covered his mouth, his eyes bloodshot. Inside the tin was a diagnostic diary.

"Damn it! Damn it! This Zhang Fuqiang is a total beast!" Chu Feng felt a chill run down his spine as he read. It turned out that Zhang Yanran's father had been falsely diagnosed with dementia and declared incompetent, allowing the Sun family's assets to naturally fall into Zhang Fuqiang's hands. As for Sun Jin, she had been sedated and sealed in a room filled with gas, suffocated to death. Her death had been ruled an accident, and the entire Sun family fortune had passed securely to Zhang Fuqiang.

Although Chu Feng had originally helped Zhang Yanran investigate her mother's death simply to win her favor, the sheer brutality of a husband murdering his own wife and father-in-law was truly sickening.

Chu Feng picked up his phone. "Hello, Yanran! The South American coffee beans have arrived. Come pick them up."

Zhang Yanran's voice trembled on the other end. "Okay, I'll be there right away."

This was their secret code, used only when Chu Feng had discovered a lead, to prevent eavesdropping. Chu Feng packed the documents back into the tin and rushed home.

...

At eight o'clock that night, Chu Feng had gathered not only Zhang Yanran but also other relevant people in his high-end apartment. Li Xueli walked in with a platter of fruit, looking at the silent group, wanting to speak but hesitating.

Chu Feng set up a whiteboard and pinned the information and evidence he had gathered. It looked like a crime board from a police station, with Zhang Fuqiang’s details pinned up with thumbtacks. Ma Long, Xuanxuan, Li Xueli, Zhang Yanran, and Mengzi all stared at the information in silence.

Zhang Yanran flipped through the notebook Chu Feng had brought back. Her body trembled, and tears streamed down her face. "My mother was murdered, and the one who killed her... was my own father..." She covered her mouth, tears leaking through her fingers.

Xuanxuan stepped forward and patted Zhang Yanran's back gently. "Sister, at least we know the truth now."

"How could he be so cruel! Such a heartless man!" Zhang Yanran sobbed into Xuanxuan’s arms.

Mengzi stood to the side, feeling constrained, realizing that Chu Feng was playing a much larger game.

Ma Long tapped the ash from his cigarette and said, "Chu Feng, what is your plan?" He was increasingly impressed by this young man.

Chu Feng took a drag of his cigarette, his expression grave. "According to the information we've gathered over the past few days, Zhang Fuqiang has dozens of lives on his hands. He has climbed to the top of the corporate world in Jiang City, likely over a mountain of corpses."

"A general's success is built on ten thousand bones—bah! He doesn't deserve to be a general!" Li Xueli said bitterly. Ever since Zhang Fuqiang had beaten her, her last shred of attachment to him had vanished.

"I considered sending this evidence to the authorities, but none of it is fatal. Because the actual deeds weren't carried out by Zhang Fuqiang himself, he could easily pin everything on his subordinates," Chu Feng explained.

"He's capable of that. If he can murder his own father-in-law and wife, what wouldn't he do?" Xuanxuan said indignantly. Zhang Fuqiang was her enemy as well; now, her only chance to avenge her parents was to assist Chu Feng and the others.

Chu Feng pinned a photograph to the crime board and said, "We still have one opportunity: Yanran's grandfather!"