Ye Tiancheng analyzed the situation with the fatty.
"It's not Little Fox. He has no reason. If he truly harbored malicious intent, he wouldn't use such a roundabout method because there's no need. If he were to do it, this method would seem too foolish."
He didn't directly state that Little Fox was not suspicious because Little Fox wasn't entirely without motive.
Little Fox was currently suffering from amnesia, and his stance was on Ye Tiancheng's side, which made him acceptable. However, the truth of this amnesia could only be fully confirmed by Little Fox himself. Everyone else could only take Little Fox's word for it and had no way to verify it.
Therefore, Ye Tiancheng couldn't claim that Little Fox had absolutely no motive or suspicion, or that he was an innocent party. He could only use the current situation to judge that this matter was not related to Little Fox.
"As for whether it could be someone else, we've ruled them out one by one."
Ye Tiancheng said to the fatty, "Firstly, it definitely wouldn't be you. You have no reason to screw yourself over like this, and you seemed completely unaware of this matter just now, so it couldn't be you."
"Let alone Mingzhu and Qingcheng, they are even more impossible."
"The situation in that village at that time, we were always careful when we went out, and all sorts of safety measures were well in place. For someone to place things in both your room and my room, others wouldn't have the opportunity. The only ones who could accomplish this would be among the six of us."
"Little Fox's room wasn't tampered with, likely because that person didn't have the chance to put anything in. Shao Ying had no reason to enter Little Fox's room. Even if she did it stealthily, she wouldn't be able to sneak in. As soon as she entered Little Fox's room without permission, she would definitely be suspected."
At this point, Ye Tiancheng paused slightly. The fatty's eyes were still filled with confusion and helplessness as he stared intently at Ye Tiancheng.
Ye Tiancheng looked at the fatty and continued, "Of course, if you still insist that this matter wasn't Shao Ying, then there's only one last suspect left – me."
Before Ye Tiancheng could finish speaking, the fatty immediately shook his head desperately, "No! I know Brother Ye, you are the least likely person!"
Ye Tiancheng stopped speaking, and Little Fox also remained silent.
The fatty sat down dejectedly. In his heart, he was already subtly convinced. Ye Tiancheng's reasoning was very sound, and he also knew that if Ye Tiancheng wasn't certain about this matter, he wouldn't have casually explained it to him.
However, at this point, the fatty understood that Ye Tiancheng must have suspected Shao Ying for a long time, at least from the moment they discovered those things in the village.
After a long period of silence, the fatty finally spoke, "Why are you only telling me this now? Brother Ye, you must have noticed something earlier."
A hint of guilt appeared on Ye Tiancheng's face. He sighed slightly and said to the fatty, "I'm sorry. At first, on one hand, I didn't want to alert the suspect, and on the other hand, I didn't have conclusive evidence, nor did I want to wrongly accuse an innocent person, so I couldn't mention it rashly."
"Moreover, the reason I'm telling you this now is somewhat due to your relationship with Shao Ying. It's not because I don't trust you, but because your relationship is too close, and I know you like her a lot."
"If I had let you know these suspicions at that time, it would have been difficult for you to hide it from her..."
With that, the fatty had no more doubts.
What Ye Tiancheng did was quite thorough. The timing before was indeed not suitable, and it was difficult for Ye Tiancheng to reveal it to others. The fatty could also sense some things, so he could probably guess that Ye Tiancheng likely hadn't even told Hou Mingzhu and the others. He wasn't the only one being kept in the dark, so Ye Tiancheng's actions were not problematic.
As for why he could speak now, it was because the evidence was conclusive. Even if he knew the truth, he wouldn't be able to hide his emotions. Shao Ying had already been exposed, so they could simply detain her.
They couldn't arbitrarily deal with her privately, but they had previously connected with Nie Chongyang. Nie Chongyang had already established a special task force to handle special incidents. It happened to be a good fit to hand her over to Nie Chongyang's side for detention, and other matters could be dealt with later.
It was just that sadness was unavoidable. The fatty truly thought he had found someone he could spend his life with, only to discover that Shao Ying had ulterior motives.
Now that the lie had been exposed and the truth was laid bare, the fatty couldn't even be sure if his acquaintance with Shao Ying was all arranged and calculated, and not a coincidence at all.
The fatty sighed faintly, "It's my fault for misjudging her. I apologize for implicating Sister-in-law and little niece. Fortunately, they are all fine. I'm sorry, Brother Ye."
Seeing the fatty so dejected, Ye Tiancheng also felt bad. He reached out and patted the fatty's shoulder, comforting him, "You can't be entirely blamed for this. You are also a victim, and you were almost in danger before."
After pondering for a long time, the fatty suddenly asked, "Now that things have come to this, can I ask when and for what reason, Brother Ye, did you start suspecting Ah Ying, her?"
He habitually called Shao Ying by her usual name, but after "Ah Ying" slipped out, the fatty unconsciously frowned, as if wanting to change his address but not knowing what to call Shao Ying anymore. Thus, he stammered a bit at the end.
The fatty didn't expect that after he asked, both Ye Tiancheng and Little Fox frowned.
He couldn't help but ask, "Is it very difficult? But I really want to know, can you tell me?"
Little Fox pursed her lips and chose to give the fatty an answer, "In the beginning, it wasn't because of discovering those harmful things, but because of something else that made us suspicious of her. Later, we discovered those harmful things again, and after some deduction, we were basically seventy to eighty percent certain, but we still lacked some direct evidence."
The direct evidence finally obtained was the video Ye Tiancheng recorded. This might not be the only evidence, but it was undoubtedly decisive.
"In the beginning, the first time we became suspicious of her was still in that village. Before that, we truly never suspected her of having problems. But when we were in the village, at that time you had an accident, and everyone was very worried about you. It was also by chance that we suddenly discovered something was wrong."
"Shao Ying's concern for you at that time was only superficial. She only spoke about it verbally. When you needed care and help the most, she just stood by from a distance."
"We found that very strange at the time."
Speaking of this, the fatty recalled the situation at that time. At that time, because he had good brothers accompanying him, and everyone cared about him, including Hou Mingzhu and Ye Qingcheng, he wasn't lacking in care. Even if Shao Ying was marginalized and only expressed a few words of concern verbally, the fatty wouldn't have thought much of it.
But now, upon careful recollection, the fatty realized how abnormal Shao Ying's actions were at that time.
If even half of the affection Shao Ying usually showed for him was genuine, her attitude at that time wouldn't have been so perfunctory. It was laughable that he hadn't noticed it at all.
The fatty gave a wry smile and nodded, "At that time, I didn't think much of it at all. You didn't think anything was wrong. Thinking about it, I really deserve it for being so obviously unobservant."
Ye Tiancheng shook his head and said, "At that time, you were lovers after all, so it's normal not to notice these things. It was she who maliciously deceived you and deliberately perfunctorily treated you. She betrayed your trust."
Little Fox said, "For something like this, even from an outsider's perspective, it would only seem strange, and they wouldn't immediately suspect so much. We were actually thinking at the time if Shao Ying might have just been scared and couldn't react immediately."
"Therefore, at that time, we were only suspicious and just wanted to observe more, thinking maybe we were overthinking it."
Ye Tiancheng also said, "Yes, we truly suspected her only after there were more 'haunting' incidents. I asked Little Fox to carefully check the rooms, and it was thanks to Little Fox's meticulousness that we almost missed the clues."
"Later, we discovered those things and found them very strange."
"I originally thought, could these harmful things have been left there by the villagers? But after Little Fox checked, she confirmed that these things have a limited shelf life, usually effective for about a day, and must be made fresh. They cannot be stored."
"It was also for this reason that we were able to rule out others and narrow down the suspects to within our group of six."
Although he said they narrowed down the suspects to the six of them, the fatty knew that at that time, the most suspicious people were actually only Little Fox and Shao Ying. And Little Fox happened to be the first to be ruled out because she was the easiest to clear.
Although Little Fox's identity was problematic, Ye Tiancheng and the others knew Little Fox well, and there were things Little Fox truly couldn't do, making it easy to prove Little Fox's innocence.
The fatty nodded and said, "I understand. In that situation at the time, after ruling out others, she was indeed the only suspect."
This "only" was basically equivalent to locking onto the target, no different from directly proving that Shao Ying did it.
Ye Tiancheng didn't know how to comfort the fatty, so he could only say, "Look on the bright side, being able to discover something was wrong early and realize Shao Ying's problem is also a good thing."
"Shao Ying's identity is problematic, but that's not your fault. When encountering such a situation, it's inevitable to feel upset and frustrated, but after overcoming this hurdle, you will surely meet better people in the future. It's better than continuing to be deceived by Shao Ying."
The fatty knew Ye Tiancheng was doing it for his own good, so he just nodded and didn't say anything. However, he couldn't help but feel upset because he had truly developed feelings for Shao Ying. No one would want such a thing to happen, but since it had happened, he had to face it.
However, although Ye Tiancheng said he would definitely meet better people, the fatty thought that after such an incident, he would find it difficult to fall in love again, and he probably wouldn't want to find a partner in the future.
This incident had indeed dealt a significant blow to the fatty, making it difficult for him to accept.
Ye Tiancheng and Little Fox both knew that these kinds of things couldn't be comforted with just a few words. The situation wasn't happening to them, so it was difficult for others to empathize, let alone comfort. Sometimes, it could even backfire.
Therefore, they didn't say much. In the end, they simply left the space for the fatty to adjust his emotions, so as not to add to his troubles.
The fatty also needed to adjust his emotions and think about how to face Shao Ying next.
Ye Tiancheng actually had some decisions in mind. If the fatty could adjust his emotions, then keeping Shao Ying around for a while longer and trying to figure out her true intentions would be possible. But if the fatty couldn't, then there was no need to force him, as this kind of thing was truly difficult to bear.
The trial of love has always been the most difficult to overcome. The fatty had given his true heart, and it was indeed difficult for him to act as if nothing had happened.
If that were the case, they would directly contact Nie Chongyang, submit the evidence, and have Nie Chongyang detain Shao Ying. They would still have plenty of opportunities to figure out Shao Ying's true intentions later.