Liang Shi: "...?"
"What's wrong?" Liang Shi asked.
"How much do you remember about your childhood?" Liang Xinzhou asked.
Liang Shi pursed her lips, feeling that Liang Xinzhou knew something, so she cautiously probed, "I remember Yang Jianni and Qi Jiao."
Now it was Liang Xinzhou's turn to be puzzled. "Who is this?"
Standing to the side, Yu Wan spoke up, "Yang Jianni? Is she the wife of President Qi of Qida Company? Qi Jiao is her daughter?"
Liang Shi nodded, "Yes, I was sent to her house when I was a child, in a... basement."
It goes without saying who sent it.
Yu Wan's expression suddenly changed. "Sent to Yang Jiani's place? Why?"
Liang Xinzhou could just make out the name of President Qi of Qida Company in his mind, but he didn't know what had happened.
"What's wrong?" Liang Xinzhou asked. "Is there something wrong with this person?"
Yu Wan said coldly, "Yang Jiani killed her daughter."
Liang Shi was stunned; he hadn't expected that even Yu Wan knew about this.
If only she had built a good relationship with Yu Wan first. All that trouble investigating, and she just found out from Yu Wan herself.
Liang Shi felt deep regret.
But now was not the time for regrets, so she hurriedly asked Yu Wan, "Do you know the details?"
Chapter 88
Liang Shi spent the entire afternoon at Liang Xinzhou's house.
Because Yu Wan knew a lot, she almost reconstructed the whole incident.
Yu Wan's family had a long-term cooperative relationship with Qida Company, so she knew Qi Xiangui and naturally also knew Yang Jiani.
In Yu Wan's memory, Yang Jianni was a complete idealist. Yu Wan was still young when she met her, and at that time Yu Wan affectionately called her Auntie. At that time, the Yang family was a wealthy family in Haizhou City, but one day, the situation changed drastically, the Yang family went bankrupt and was liquidated, and Yang Jianni married Qi Xiangui in a moment of crisis.
Yang Jianni was a pampered heiress who was spoiled by money, and naturally she was pampered and coddled after marrying Qi Xiangui.
The original Qida was not the size it is today. It was Yang Jianni who, through her family's connections, single-handedly brought Qida to its current position.
After gaining access to Yang Jiani's connections and resources, Qi Xiangui always felt inferior, especially since Yang Jiani had been spoiled since childhood and had a bad temper.
When they first got married, Yang Jianni often lost her temper with Qi Xiangui. Later, as Qi Xiangui's business improved, he started socializing and drinking at nightclubs. These nightclubs were a mixed bag, and many transactions were done openly. Qi Xiangui frequented such places, and when Yang Jianni found out, she made a scene and wanted a divorce.
As a result, Qi Xiangui beat him up and broke one of his ribs.
Domestic violence, once it starts, is impossible to stop.
Yang Jianni originally wanted a divorce, but then discovered she was pregnant. With no relatives or friends in the world, the child in her womb was her only bloodline.
So she endured it for the sake of her child.
What followed was the same fate as all those who suffer domestic violence in this world.
Yang Jianni endured it for the sake of her child, but Qi Xiangui became even more ruthless.
When Yang Jiani was seven months pregnant, she was almost beaten to the point of miscarriage.
The baby was saved by Yang Jiani, who was lying in bed unable to move and receiving intravenous fluids for a month. During that time, Yu Wan went with her mother to visit Yang Jiani, who was lying in bed.
Yu Wan was very young at the time, and when she saw Yang Jiani, she would comfort her and tell her not to be sad.
In her memory, Yang Jianni would gently stroke her face and say, "Auntie will have a cute little friend like you in the future, and Auntie won't be sad."
As she left the hospital, Yu Wan would ask her mother, "Why doesn't Aunt Yang get a divorce? Uncle Qi isn't good to her."
"Because Aunt Yang has nowhere to go now," Yu Wan's mother said.
Entering a wealthy family is like entering a deep, dark sea.
In this wealthy family, everyone has their own troubles, and no one can pull anyone else out of the abyss.
Yu Wan's mother taught her this principle very early on.
Yu Wan's family gradually drifted apart from the Qi family, and she rarely saw Yang Jiani again.
However, when Qi Jiao was in her third year of junior high school, she learned that Qi Jiao had committed suicide by jumping off a building. She was shocked when she returned home, but her mother said that she had been rescued.
That spring was exceptionally long; it snowed all of April, covering the branches that had already sprouted new buds. Qi Jiao stood on the rooftop of the teaching building and, almost without hesitation, jumped off.
But the rescue came in time, and she landed on a thick mat, only injuring her leg.
Yu Wan visited it once more; at that time, Yu Wan was already in college.
When Yang Jiani entered the ward, Qi Jiao would shrink back in fear.
Then, in that early summer when the branches were growing wildly, Yu Wan saw her mother sitting blankly on the sofa, holding Qi Jiao's photo in her hand.
Yu Wan asked what had happened and learned that Yang Jianni had accidentally pushed Qi Jiao down the stairs, where Qi Jiao hit her head and died.
Yu Wan's mother and Qiu Zimin were on their way to find Yang Jiani when they witnessed the scene.
...
It's a sad and painful thing to talk about.
If Liang Shi hadn't brought it up today, Yu Wan would have kept this matter buried in her heart for the rest of her life.
Yu Wan didn't know much about what happened after that. She only knew that Yang Jianni found someone who looked almost exactly like Qi Jiao from somewhere and turned her into the new Qi Jiao.
Apart from them, no one knew that the real Qi Jiao was dead.
After listening, Liang Xinzhou frowned deeply and asked in a cold voice, "Does Yang Jianni have a tendency towards domestic violence?"
Yu Wan and Liang Shi nodded in unison: "Yes."
Then Liang Xinzhou looked at Liang Shi, "In your memory..."
I suddenly stopped asking this question because I didn't know how to ask it.
Liang Shi smiled and said, "I remember Qi Jiao, we were locked in the basement together, Yang Jiani..."
When the name was mentioned, Liang Shi didn't elaborate on her specific actions, but just gave a bitter smile, saying, "She's a madwoman."
"Why did she send you there?" Liang Xinzhou's voice was icy cold. "When did this happen?"
“I can’t remember clearly,” Liang Shi said. “There was definitely such a period. As for why, you’d have to ask the person involved.”
Liang Shi smiled, but it was a distant smile. "Brother, I don't want to put you in a difficult position, so you can pretend you don't know anything about these things, and you don't need to confront her for my sake. But I can't pretend that nothing happened."
The subtext is—you don't have to help me, but you can't stop me.
After a long silence, Liang Xinzhou took a deep breath. "Take what I gave you. Do whatever you want. I won't stop you."
Liang Shi chuckled, "Then thank you, brother. If you ever want to take it back, I'll return it to you."
"Have you figured out what to do?" Liang Xinzhou asked.
Liang Shi lowered his eyes and shook his head: "I don't know yet. There's still too little I can remember."
Liang Shi didn't ask Yu Wan why she didn't call the police back then.
It's hard to say when a mother accidentally pushes her daughter down the stairs, causing her death.
Yang Jiani's ruthlessness in quickly finding a replacement surprised everyone.
Yu Wan said that she saw Yang Jiani at Liang's house a few times later, but she never greeted her, and she didn't even dare to look at the girl directly, for fear of having nightmares at night.
Liang Shi was quite surprised that Yu Wan could speak so frankly to him.
Before leaving, Yu Wan advised her not to provoke Yang Jiani, because she was a madwoman.
Nobody knows what a madman might do.
Liang adapts to the situation.
After telling Xu Qingzhu about it when he got home that night, the two fell into a long silence.
Xu Qingzhu probably thought of Su Yao, and had a video call with Su Yao for more than half an hour that night.
After learning the truth, Liang Shi tried to contact Gu Xingyue several times, but then put down his phone.
Gu Xingyue must be in a difficult position now, and she is unwilling to pressure the other party any further.
//
The night before joining the crew, Liang Shi invited Xu Qingzhu to dinner.
The location was set at a Western restaurant not far from the residential area.
Because there is a medical university nearby, many of the people who come here are college students, both men and women.
The restaurant's popularity exceeded Liang Shi's expectations; it was the best choice she had found after researching various options.
The cello accompaniment perfectly met the system requirements, along with a richly aromatic red wine.
Liang Shi first pulled out a chair for Xu Qingzhu before sitting down opposite her. When the waiter handed over the menu, Liang Shi pointed at Xu Qingzhu and said, "Give it to her."
Xu Qingzhu didn't stand on ceremony and ordered the food skillfully. Liang Shi simply said, "I'll just order the same thing as her."
The cellist on stage, dressed in a blue evening gown, gracefully played the strings, enveloping the entire restaurant in an atmosphere of "romance."
No one was making a lot of noise in the restaurant, but they still attracted a lot of attention.
Perhaps because there are many students here, one of them was wearing a casual light-colored suit, and the other was wearing a dark suit jacket, with a moon-white low-cut fitted long dress underneath.
Xu Qingzhu's long hair was loose. Before the food was served, Liang Shi handed her the hair tie he was wearing on his arm, but Xu Qingzhu shook her head, "Lazy."
It's about being lazy, not about not being willing to burp.
Liang Shi paused, then hesitated before asking, "Shall I help you?"
Xu Qingzhu sat there, her thin back ramrod straight, her voice very soft, blending into the cello music, almost inaudible unless you listened carefully.
She said, "If possible."
Liang Shi smiled helplessly, thinking to himself, what else is impossible?
It was a bit hot in the Western restaurant, so she took off her blazer, leaving only the long dress underneath. She wore a blue necklace that resembled a starry sea around her neck, and her brown wavy hair hung down to one side. On the other side, where her ear was exposed, she wore a blue tassel earring, which should be from the same series as the necklace around her neck.