Ling Wei was somewhat quick to react. She glared at Lin Ruixi. “It was you?”
Nevertheless, that did not sound quite right either. Lin Ruixi was a representative from Rui Mei and she had been out of the country all along. It was only because of this case that she came back here.
The two of them did not even know each other before this.
How could she possibly know that I wanted to kill her, causing her to set me up first instead?
A police officer came over to Ling Wei. “You are under arrest for being suspected of two intentional murder cases. Please come with us.”
“I’m innocent! I have no idea what you’re talking about!” Ling Wei tried to deny it.
“Please come with me to assist in the investigation.” The police officer did not waste any more breaths on her. Instead, he gestured for his subordinates to take her away.
Ling Wei took out her phone, wanting to make a call for help. The police officer plucked it from her hands.
“You’re now a criminal suspect so I suggest that you cooperate with us. Obstruction of justice by not cooperating with the investigation is also a crime,” he reminded her sharply. After that, he turned to look at Zong Yanxi. The other policemen had already released her from the ropes, draping a jacket over her body instead.
She was absolutely filthy and reeked of gasoline. However, she did not mind as she was currently preoccupied with other thoughts. These policemen had come as a surprise since she had not arranged for them. Though, the only reason she had allowed Ling Wei to kidnap her was that she knew that there was someone backing her up.
Whoever this mysterious backer was, they did not reveal themselves only due to their respect for her.
Previously, caused by her own stubbornness, a certain incident had happened. Now, she was too ashamed to face anyone again. That was why she had hidden behind the scenes.
Initially, all that she had was mere guesses and suspicions. Now, she knew for certain that she was right.
Sucking in a deep breath, she focused a cold gaze on Ling Wei. A sneer curled her lips.
“It really is you? Who are you? Why are you framing me?” Inwardly, Ling Wei was starting to panic.
Zong Yanxi walked over to her. “You say that I’m framing you? You were trying to kill me! Didn’t you admit to setting this place on fire last time? Have you already forgotten what you’d said earlier?”
Ling Wei screamed, “Who the hell are you!”
It was evident now that everything was a trap.
“Why don’t you take a guess? Who else can I be other than me? When have I ever changed? Even if I did, it was all because of you. You forced me to see the evil side of humanity clearly.” With that said, Zong Yanxi thanked the policeman who had given her his jacket.
“You’ll have to come with us to make your statement too,” he stated.
“Alright,” she agreed easily.
The color drained from Ling Wei’s face and she muttered in disbelief, “Don’t tell me you’re-”
Before she could finish, she was dragged away to the police car by two policemen. Zong Yanxi also followed the policeman beside her into his vehicle.
The police officer in charge of this case was left behind at the crime scene to gather evidence.
From where he was hiding in the shadows, Li Chengjie tightened his grip on his phone. He stared at the retreating police cars, feeling glad for the decision that he had made.
Is it a coincidence that the police have arrived here just in time? No, that’s impossible. They looked like they had already been lying in wait. As expected of the precious daughter of the Zong family, she has some powerful people behind her.
He kept his phone aside and left the scene. His deal with Zong Yanxi was that they would beat Ling Wei at her own game if she truly wanted to kill Zong Yanxi. They would record everything in the process and use it as evidence.
Of course, this meant that Zong Yanxi would have to be the bait.
Li Chengjie’s men had merely abducted her before they left, not involving themselves in anything else. This was so that they would not be implicated when everything was revealed.
This was his condition for helping Zong Yanxi.
He wanted to extricate both himself and his men from this matter while Zong Yanxi wanted to punish Ling Wei. Since both of them would benefit from the other, they decided to work together.
Now, all he had to do was hand over what he had recorded to Zong Yanxi. He would then be halfway done with his end of the deal.
Getting into his car, he drove back toward the city.
He parked his car at the side of a street nearby the police station. Zong Yanxi only needed to give in her statement so she should not have taken too long.
He rolled down his car window and pulled out a cigarette to smoke as he waited.
The cloud of smoke that he blew out blurred the expression on his face.
After a while, he spotted Zong Yanxi exiting the police station. He stepped out of his car and walked toward her, calling out, “Ms. Zong.”
Zong Yanxi was visibly shocked to see him there. She had not expected him to be waiting for her at the police station. “What are you doing here?”
He scanned her up and down, taking note of how horrible she looked. “Maybe you should change into some clean clothes before we talk?”
“Then, can I trouble you to take me to my hotel please?”
“Let’s go.” Li Chengjie strode back toward his car. He opened the backseat door before he gestured for her to enter.
Once she had settled down, he moved to take the driver’s seat and started the engines. “I won’t be implicated in this mess, will I?”
After all, his men had been involved in the previous incident regarding the fire.
“I won’t go back on my words. We’ve already made things clear right from the start, didn’t we?” She glanced at him and asked, “Do you plan on leading your men to do such jobs for the rest of your lives?”
It was evident that such jobs were not going to work long-term. Even if she did not hold them responsible for what they had done, what about in the future?
There was no way that they would not get corrupted by what they had done. Eventually, karma would come knocking on their door.
“If you’re really looking out for your men, you should find them some serious work. What you’re doing now is illegal, after all,” she suggested.
Naturally, Li Chengjie knew that they could not do this forever. What they were doing was incredibly dangerous and he could not assure their safety all the time. However, his men used to be thugs roaming the streets before he had gathered them together. They were not highly educated and had never held a job in their lives. Having them work a nine to five desk job would be nearly impossible.
“We’ll take things one step at a time,” he replied calmly.
Zong Yanxi did not push the matter further as what they did with themselves did not concern her. It was just that she had noticed how loyal his men were to him. If he truly cared for them, he should be finding them a way to survive legally, not by doing illegal jobs.
He questioned, “Based on the police turnout just now, you would have been able to put her behind bars even without my help. Why did you come to me then?”
She turned her head to gaze out of the window as she replied, “Can I not answer to that?”
In the end, she was still unable to rely on only herself. She knew that her backers were only looking out for her safety. Leaving her alone right now was probably their way of indulging her.
The car stopped at the hotel entrance and Zong Yanxi moved to get out. Li Chengjie queried, “Should I wait for you in the car?”
“Come up with me,” she invited before she pushed the car door open.
For a moment, he stared at her. “You trust me that much?”
“Why would I work with you if I didn’t?” she retorted.
Li Chengjie gazed at her in a new light. It would seem that this pretty lady is not as proud as I thought.
Zong Yanxi entered the hotel and pushed the button for the elevator, Li Chengjie close behind her. The elevator stopped at her floor and they stepped out.
Coming to a stop before her room, he noticed that they used electronic door locks here. After inputting her passcode, the door beeped and unlocked. Twisting the handle, she pushed open the door and gestured for him to step inside. “Come in.”
Upon entering her room, she pointed at the computer and instructed him, “Make a copy of the video that you’ve taken into that USB drive over there.”
“What should I do after that then?”
“Help me hand it over to Jiang Mohan.” Her expression was blank as she said that.
Despite her outward calm appearance, anticipation rose in her. What will be the expression on Jiang Mohan’s face when he finds out that Ling Wei is a murderer? Would he feel the slightest bit of guilt and heartache at discovering that I was murdered?
“That’s the last thing you want me to do for you?” Li Chengjie questioned.
