Liang Shi glanced at the box she put in the drawer. "Here, it's Yang Shuyan."
"I'd say so, I guess." Xu Qingzhu turned on the TV, a smile always playing on her lips. "If Teacher Liang keeps working hard, who knows, she might become my new goddess in the future."
Liang Shi: "?"
Why bother trying so hard?
Yang Shuyan has excellent delivery of lines, with clear pronunciation and full of emotion; she can draw the audience into the scene with just a few sentences.
Liang Shi, who had been humble for over twenty years, suddenly said, "My acting skills are no worse than hers."
Xu Qingzhu didn't even look at her, and said in a perfunctory tone, "Really? Then Teacher Liang is really amazing. I look forward to the day you become a big star."
Liang Shi: "..."
"Moreover, the people you see every day won't become goddesses," Liang Shi added.
"Huh? Why?" Xu Qingzhu asked.
Liang Shi: "A goddess must exist in a vague and ethereal way, and distance makes the heart grow fonder."
Xu Qingzhu almost choked on her milk tea, then looked at Liang Shi and asked with particular seriousness and surprise, "So, is Teacher Liang jealous?"
Liang Shi: "..."
She immediately denied it: "How could that be?"
Xu Qingzhu chuckled, "It's alright, I understand."
Liang Shi was taken aback: "Understand what?"
"Don't worry, Teacher Liang." Xu Qingzhu patted her shoulder. "Even if I like Yang Shuyan's acting skills, I won't stop supporting you. I can... support both."
Liang Shi: "..."
A few seconds later, Liang Shi removed her hand and said through gritted teeth, "You should just climb the wall instead."
Xu Qingzhu tried to hold back her laughter, but couldn't help it.
But after laughing, she comforted Liang Shi, saying, "Teacher Liang, you will have many fans just like Yang Shuyan in the future."
Liang Shi: "...Oh."
After several rounds of silence, Liang Shi started watching the movie intently.
Yang Shuyan does indeed have a face that looks like it belongs on a movie set, exuding a high-class feel.
Her acting skills are also outstanding; several senior actors almost couldn't keep up with her performances.
So young and so talented, he must be a gifted actor.
Just like Sister Ying.
Liang Shi saw a scene in the show where someone jumps off a building and suddenly said, "Although it's impolite to interrupt you while you're watching TV, I still have something to say."
Xu Qingzhu pressed pause, raised an eyebrow, and asked, "What is it?"
"I remember you once said that Qi Jiao jumped off a building in her third year of junior high school, is that right?" Liang Shi asked.
Xu Qingzhu nodded: "Are you still investigating Qi Jiao's matter?"
“Yes,” Liang Shi said, “I saw her yesterday and noticed she still had wounds on her body. Rainbow said she often gets those kinds of wounds, so…”
She paused for a moment and then didn't say anything more.
But Xu Qingzhu already understood.
Qi Jiao is still being abused, and she cannot escape.
Although this was a family matter for the Qi family, Liang Shi had also experienced this kind of abuse when she was a child, and in her few memories, that older sister was a good person.
Despite being terrified and feeling wronged, she would still plead for Liang Shi when he was a child. When her mother beat him, she would protect Liang Shi and persuade him to apologize and admit his mistakes, just so that he would be beaten less.
After hesitating for a while, Liang Shih decided to let Xu Qingzhu hear his conversation with Qiu Zimin from earlier that day.
The rain outside was getting heavier and heavier, with occasional claps of thunder.
It was only a little past five o'clock, but the dark clouds covered the sky, making it as gloomy as if it were night.
The streetlights also turned on earlier than usual.
Xu Qingzhu listened to the recording at double speed, and like Liang Shi, she was surprised when she heard the line, "So why would you provoke a madman who would kill his own daughter?"
After listening, she gasped, but was the first to state her conclusion: "She plans to kick you out of the Liang family."
“I know,” Liang Shi said. “I’m looking for a suitable place. Once I find one, I’ll move. I’ll try to leave on my own before she kicks me out.”
"Okay." Xu Qingzhu said, "I'll also ask Cherry to keep an eye out for me, so we can move together later."
Instead of taking the opportunity to propose separation or divorce, she planned to find another place where the two of them could live.
Liang Shi did not mention this matter.
Her mind was filled with Qiu Zimin's words, "So Yang Jianni killed her own daughter? Then who is Qi Jiao now? She seems to know that she is a substitute."
Xu Qingzhu nodded.
Because when Liang Shi went to see her last time, she almost blurted out that Qi Jiao was dead.
At that time, Liang Shi and Xu Qingzhu speculated that he might have died in the suicide attempt during his third year of junior high school.
After all, Qi Jiao has almost disappeared from the public eye since then.
But then... Qiu Zimin said that Yang Jiani killed Qi Jiao herself.
Xu Qingzhu also had a question: "Did Qi Jiao have plastic surgery? She looks like the original person now. What about Qi Jiao's original grave? According to Sister Ying, Yang Jianni would never have left her daughter without a grave."
"That's possible," Liang Shi said. "After all, everyone thinks Qi Jiao is still alive."
"Can you tell where Qi Jiao has had work done?" Xu Qingzhu asked.
Liang Shi thought for a moment and answered based on her impressions of those she had seen in the entertainment industry: "Her nose seems to have been slightly augmented, and she's also had her eyes widened, including her lips, which seem to have been filled out."
“That wasn’t a big change.” Xu Qingzhu said, then fell silent, lost in thought.
Liang Shi followed her train of thought, and a few minutes later, the two suddenly met eyes and said in unison, "Orphanage!"
After they finished speaking, they both laughed.
But his expression quickly turned serious.
“Since the surgery wasn’t extensive, it means that this person originally looked somewhat similar to Qi Jiao. In addition, Qi Jiao probably died quite young, so she had plastic surgery during her adolescence,” Liang Shi said. “Including after differentiation, a person’s appearance can change, so no one knows that the current Qi Jiao is not the original one.”
“Yes.” Xu Qingzhu nodded: “It’s impossible to encounter this kind of thing from a normal person, so there are two possibilities.”
"One possibility is that this family was so poor that they had to sell their daughter, and Yang Jianni bought her to be a substitute for her daughter. Another possibility is that Yang Jianni saw Qi Jiao in the orphanage, and because her daughter had passed away, she adopted this girl and made her her own daughter."
A decade or so ago, identity information was far less comprehensive than it is now.
The process of adopting a child from an orphanage is not complicated; if you have money, you can take the child away anytime.
Therefore, the latter is the most likely.
After a moment of silence, Liang Shi said, "But there are two possibilities. One is that Yang Jianni killed her daughter first, felt guilty and remorseful, and then sought a replacement, which led her to Qi Jiao. The other is that she felt her daughter was disobedient, judged her by her twisted standards, and after seeing this, she intentionally killed Qi Jiao and then switched her with Qi Jiao..."
...
If it's the latter, then the nature of this matter changes completely.
It takes a really cruel heart to do something like that.
Liang Shi and Xu Qingzhu both fell silent, and the milk tea in their hands lost its flavor.
After a while, Xu Qingzhu said, "I'll call Cherry."
Cherry's uncle has been doing charity work, sponsoring many orphanages and nursing homes, and Cherry has had a habit of regularly volunteering at orphanages and nursing homes since high school, so she probably knows more about these things.
"Then let me ask Sister Ying," Liang Shi said.
The two split up.
Half an hour later, Xu Qingzhu shared the information she had gathered with Liang Shi.
There are many orphanages in Haizhou City, but most of them were established in the last ten years or so.
More than a decade ago, the largest orphanage was Angel Orphanage, which housed nearly half of the orphans and disabled children in Haizhou City. However, five years ago, the orphanage was rebuilt and transformed into the Compassionate Nursing Home.
Many remarkable people have emerged from this orphanage.
The former dean had a lot of connections and would often select the most suitable children for wealthy families who wanted to adopt. Those children, with their outstanding abilities, would go abroad to study and then return to become senior executives in companies, or even inherit the family business.
But five years ago, the director suddenly fell ill, and during his serious illness, he directly turned the orphanage into a nursing home.
Later, the director became mentally unstable, saying that he had harmed the children and was a sinner. Then his son took over the affairs of the nursing home, and the director also lived in the nursing home.
Cherry often volunteered at Angel Orphanage during high school, so she became very familiar with the director and her son.
I still visit nursing homes occasionally, but I've been quite busy with work, so the frequency of my visits has decreased significantly.
In comparison, other orphanages seem rather mediocre.
Without the many outstanding individuals at Angel Orphanage, most children would find it very difficult to be adopted.
Cherry thought Xu Qingzhu wanted to adopt a child, so she recommended a slightly better one: Chunmiao Orphanage.
It's said that the management here is quite good, and all the children have access to education.
Xu Qingzhu smiled and brushed the matter off, then searched for all the orphanages in Haizhou City and made a list.
Although Angel Orphanage seems to be the most likely candidate, other options should not be overlooked.
Of course, if Yang Jiani has the ability to adopt a child from somewhere else, then it's as if their efforts were in vain.
But Xu Qingzhu felt that Qi Jiao must have had plastic surgery abroad.
More than a decade ago, cosmetic surgery technology in China was not advanced, so it was difficult to achieve an ideal appearance.
The information Liang Shi obtained from Zhao Ying was similar to what he had learned before.
But Zhao Ying then carefully questioned her dear mother and obtained an important clue: Yang Jiani had previously sponsored three orphanages, namely Angel Orphanage, Spring Seedling Orphanage, and New Language Orphanage.
It is said that in the year Qi Jiao jumped off the building, Mrs. Qi lived a secluded life and did not interact with many people.
After combining the information, the two basically focused their attention on the Angel Orphanage.
Other places may also need to be checked, but only after failing to find any clues at the Angel Orphanage.
After a long silence, Liang Shi let out a soft sigh, "Why does everyone think that raising someone is enough to be called a parent?"