"My point is, I can't marry you, nor will I give you any status, but I will treat you well and ensure you and your family have a comfortable life. Are you willing?"
With tears welling in her eyes, Tong Xiaoli nervously replied, "As long as I can be with you forever, I don't care about any of that. All I care about is you."
Jiaxi pulled her into his arms and kissed her eagerly.
Tong Xiaoli felt as if she were dreaming. Jiaxi hadn't appeared since that night, and she had thought it was all her imagination. Yet, she had always held onto a sliver of hope and had persisted in not spending the money from the card he had given her.
She reasoned that if she didn't use the money, he would think of her every time he checked the accounts, and wouldn't forget her.
She never expected that this day would finally come.
...
Qin Tianyi specifically arranged a discreet location to meet with a retired senior researcher from that pharmaceutical factory.
The older man, flipping through a rather old medical book, paused for a long time at a particular prescription.
Tianyi didn't disturb him until he looked up. Tianyi then asked, "Master Liu, does this prescription in the book remind you of anything?"
Master Liu pointed to the prescription in the medical book and said, "That's right. Mr. Huangfu gave me the original prescription. At first, he asked me to add a few toxic medicinal ingredients to it and make several bottles of pills."
Tianyi asked curiously, "You didn't mass-produce them, just made a few bottles?"
Master Liu nodded and said, "After adding those toxic ingredients, the medicine could no longer cure illnesses and could even be fatal. Even after making those few bottles, I felt uneasy. I asked Mr. Huangfu what the purpose of making these specific bottles was, but he didn't tell me, only to reassure me that it wouldn't harm me."
Tianyi recalled that Song Jiaping had mentioned that his father had given pills made from this prescription to people in the village who sought medical treatment, which resulted in deaths.
"The pills you made reached a village doctor, and indeed, people died. Later, that doctor was sentenced to death for selling counterfeit medicine, and he died without ever knowing what was wrong with the pills."
Upon hearing this, Master Liu trembled and said disbelievingly, "It really harmed people?"
Tianyi nodded and said, "The owner of this medical book was that village doctor. If the pills were made according to the prescription in the book, there would be no problem, right?"
Master Liu said with great regret, "Yes, not only would it not be fatal, but it's an excellent prescription. Later, Mr. Huangfu asked me to slightly improve this prescription and mass-produce it as a traditional Chinese medicine. It was this batch of medicine that revived the pharmaceutical factory, which was on the verge of collapse at the time."
"Did Huangfu Sisong tell you researchers back then where he got the traditional Chinese medicine prescription, or if he paid for it?" Tianyi asked.
The other man shook his head and said, "No, he only said it was a family heirloom prescription from his wife's family. Later, Mr. Huangfu brought two or three more prescriptions. After our research, we made them into traditional Chinese medicine. As soon as they were on the market, they were very well-received by patients. For those years, the factory relied on these few best-selling medicines, and its profits exceeded all other subsidiaries under the Huangfu Group. Mr. Huangfu's capabilities were recognized by everyone, and no one in the entire Huangfu Group had any objections to him."
What Song Jiaping had told him was further corroborated by Master Liu.
Tianyi asked, "The son of the owner of this medical book wants to clear his father's name. If he has to go to court against Huangfu Sisong in the future, would you be willing to testify?"
Master Liu closed his eyes and thought for a moment. Then he opened them and agreed, "I am at an age where I could enter the grave at any moment, and I fear nothing. I only wish to atone for my sins during my lifetime and find peace in my heart. If I were unwilling to testify, I wouldn't have come to see you today."
"That's wonderful." Tianyi shook his hand. He had finally found a witness, but it was far from enough.
After Tianyi had someone escort Master Liu away, he remained sitting in the dilapidated old house. It was already dark outside.
This old house was rented by Song Jiaping when he returned to Lancheng. He paid three months' rent but only stayed for a few days before handing the key to Tianyi when he left.
When he had finally managed to persuade the old man, who had worked at the pharmaceutical factory for many years, to meet, he had thought of this place. It was a good spot that wouldn't be easily discovered.
As Tianyi was about to leave, his phone rang. It was Su Kangxi.
"Mr. Qin, is it convenient for you to meet now?"
"Convenient. What is it?" Tianyi asked.
"We can discuss it when we meet." Su Kangxi asked him, "Have you had dinner yet?"
"Not yet. I was planning to eat back home."
Kangxi suggested, "Let's have dinner together and talk while we eat."
"No problem."
Tianyi arrived at a restaurant near Kangxi's police station. Kangxi was already waiting for him inside.
Kangxi waved to him and asked, "What would you like to eat?"
"Anything is fine, but I'll only have food, no drinks." Tianyi sat down and poured himself a cup of tea.
Kangxi smiled and said, "I can't drink either."
As he spoke, he ordered a few of the restaurant's signature dishes.
Tianyi remembered something else and cautioned him, "Also, what we are investigating is very dangerous. Don't let Susu know about it."
"Don't worry." Kangxi drank tea with him, pondering how to tell him about his thoughts after reviewing the case files.
He had used his convenience at the police station to retrieve the closed cases of accidental deaths involving the Wu family. He had done nothing else these past few days but immerse himself in studying those files.
In these cases of death, the police's conclusions of accidental deaths were not problematic, as, based on the scene, they were clearly accidents.
"You called me here, why aren't you speaking?" Tianyi asked him. "What's going on? Just say what you want to say."
Kangxi put down his teacup and said, "I've read all the accident case files of the Wu family. There are basically no issues. I'm just wondering if the problem with these apparent accidents is that the traces of accident at the scene are too obvious."
"That statement is as confusing as a tongue twister."
Kangxi smiled and said, "Take us police officers, for example. When we see a death scene, we generally have two suspicions: homicide or accident, right?"
"Right."
"But with the Wu family's accidents, anyone looking at the scene would immediately conclude it was an accident and wouldn't suspect homicide."
Tianyi understood and said, "You mean their accident scenes were fabricated, and that's why they were so obvious?"
Kangxi snapped his fingers at him and smiled, "Mr. Qin, you're too smart."
"If that's the case, didn't the officers who handled the scene at the time suspect that the traces of accident were fabricated?"
"No," Kangxi said. "Because the officers handling each scene were different. If you look at each accident individually, you wouldn't be able to tell. It was only because you said that the deaths of several Wu family members were problematic, and I put the case files together, that I noticed this issue."