Chapter 48: Evidence

“Shut up!” Fan Chi grabbed an empty coffee cup from the table and hurled it at Qu Wuyan.

“Ah!” Qu Wuyan had no time to dodge; the cup struck her squarely on the forehead. Blood streamed down from the wound, dripping onto her eyelashes, into her eyes, blurring her vision.

“Fan! How dare you hit me!” Qu Wuyan trembled with rage, screaming hysterically.

Fan Xiaoyun was so startled she froze, then cried out, “Dad, how could you hit my mother!”

Why had her father changed so much? Why had he become so irritable and unreasonable? Just a while ago, he’d slapped her, and now today he’d thrown a cup at her mother.

“Madam!” The housekeeper hurried to fetch the first-aid kit and began to stop the bleeding and bandage Qu Wuyan’s wound. “Do you need to go to the hospital, madam? It’d be best not to leave a scar—you still have to shoot films, and this could affect your roles.”

“No!” How could she go to the hospital for this? If the paparazzi caught wind of it, they’d surely suspect domestic abuse and make a scandal out of it.

Fan Xiaoyun, either from fright or genuine distress for her mother, burst into tears. “Dad, ever since Lian Youyou got involved, you’ve been acting stranger and stranger. I feel like I don’t even know you anymore. You hit me, you hit Mom—can we even call this a family anymore? Is our family really going to be torn apart by someone like Lian Youyou?”

Qu Wuyan glared at Fan Chi, gritting her teeth. “Fine, I finally see you for what you are today. You heartless beast. After all I’ve done for you—”

“All you’ve done for me?” Fan Chi sneered. “Don’t act like I don’t know about your little affairs outside. We’re two of a kind, neither of us has the right to judge the other.”

Caught off guard by Fan Chi’s blunt exposure of the truth, Qu Wuyan’s face flushed then paled, leaving her feeling utterly humiliated.

Fan Chi pulled a cigarette and lighter from his pocket. The housekeeper, understanding the gesture, quickly brought over an ashtray and set it on the coffee table before him.

He placed a cigarette between his lips, lit it with practiced ease, and took a deep drag, his lips pressed tight as he exhaled a thin stream of smoke.

“Hmph, you regret it now, don’t you? Regret leaving the beautiful Lian Meng for me?” Qu Wuyan spat bitterly. “If you miss her so much, why don’t you go join her? She must be so lonely in the next world. Go on—”

“If you don’t shut up right now, I’ll tear your mouth apart!” Fan Chi glared at her savagely.

The words stuck in Qu Wuyan’s throat, fear silencing her.

…

Overnight, the news about Lian Youyou had grown even more intense.

Richard scrolled through his phone, reading the endless stream of reports about yesterday’s incident on Weibo and various forums, his headache worsening with every post.

Among them was a video clip, secretly filmed by someone on set, showing Lian Youyou placing a blood pack on Fu Yuanye’s chest. This footage had been uploaded online.

A simple act of preparing a prop had been twisted into accusations that Lian Youyou had been seducing Fu Yuanye, and when she failed, had attempted murder.

User A: “This woman is ruthless—she should be executed immediately!”

User B: “Insider says Lian Youyou stole the second female lead from Shao Zihan, and she only got the part because she brought her own funding.”

User C: “Lian Youyou, get out of the entertainment industry!”

User D: “Stop just blaming Lian Youyou—Brother Yuanye is still in critical condition. Let’s all pray he recovers soon and rises from the ashes [heart][heart]!”

“What the hell!” Richard tossed his phone onto the table. “It was just a little cut with a knife, and now they’re saying he’s fighting for his life?”

His assistant asked timidly, “Mr. Li, what should we do now?”

“Youyou’s been framed far too severely this time. We can’t find any evidence to prove her innocence,” Richard said, frustration etched across his face. “And the person behind this is still manipulating public opinion, using the internet to blow the incident out of proportion and put Youyou in even greater danger.”

“Oh, right,” Richard suddenly remembered. “What’s the situation with Fu Yuanye?”

“Nothing serious, but he’s been hospitalized just in case,” the assistant replied.

“Let’s go visit him, then,” Richard said, standing up.

Fu Yuanye was known for his good reputation and character in the industry, and his company, Yuejia Entertainment, had a good relationship with Richard’s firm. There was no conflict between them. Perhaps, if they spoke to Fu Yuanye, he might be willing to clarify things himself.

“No need!”

A chubby man burst into the room, his face red with anger, trailed by a flustered receptionist.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Li—I couldn’t stop Mr. Guo. He barged in without an appointment,” she stammered.

Richard waved her off casually. “It’s fine, you can leave.”

The portly Mr. Guo plopped onto the sofa, his bulk sinking into the cushions like a mound of flesh. “Richard, what’s going on with this new hire of yours, Lian Youyou? What right did she have to stab our company’s Yuanye with a knife? Luckily, he’s all right, or I wouldn’t let you off so easily!”

Yuejia was no industry giant like Xincheng; they didn’t have many top-tier talents. Fu Yuanye was their pillar, and many other companies were already trying to poach him. The pressure on Yuejia was immense—they’d invested all their best resources and money into Fu Yuanye. If anything happened to him, the loss would be catastrophic—possibly even fatal to the company.

“Oh, come on, Old Guo, listen to yourself—it’s as if Youyou really did harm Yuanye,” Richard replied with a cheeky grin, standing beside Mr. Guo. “Did you see with your own eyes that it was Youyou who swapped the prop knife for a real one? No? Then don’t go accusing the innocent.”

“Cut the crap!” Mr. Guo shot to his feet. At only 165cm tall, he was dwarfed by the 183cm Richard, his presence diminished all the more. Richard’s harmless, affable smile was the only thing saving Mr. Guo from total embarrassment.

Mr. Guo sat back down. “Whatever the case, I want an explanation today! Otherwise, Yuanye’s stabbing will have been for nothing!”

“Of course, of course—I owe you an explanation,” Richard said, offering Mr. Guo a cigarette. “And not just for Yuanye—if we don’t catch the real culprit, Youyou will have sat in the detention center for nothing.”

…

That day, the person investigating Lian Youyou was Director Lin from the provincial public security department, whom Lu Ming had contacted the night before.

The sudden shift from local police officers to a provincial director made Lian Youyou nervous. But the more frightened she felt, the more she reminded herself to stay calm and composed. After all, she hadn’t committed the crime—what was there to fear?

“You don’t need to be nervous, Youyou,” said Director Lin, his smile kind but exuding a soldier’s authority in his police uniform. “I know you’ve been wronged, so I hope you’ll cooperate with our investigation. That way, we can clear your name as soon as possible.”

See? When people speak reasonably, she’s perfectly willing to cooperate. The officers yesterday had only threatened her with confessions and harsh punishments. She hadn’t stabbed anyone—what was there to confess?

Sitting up straight, as obedient as a model student, Lian Youyou said, “Director Lin, could you please bring me my phone?”

Director Lin hesitated a moment. “Ordinarily, that wouldn’t be allowed.”

“Please,” Lian Youyou pleaded. “There’s important evidence on my phone. If you’re worried I’ll try to contact someone outside, you can watch me the whole time, right?”

“Very well,” Director Lin agreed. “I’ll go get your phone.”

Once she had her phone, Lian Youyou opened WeChat and pointed to a video sent by her assistant, Coco. “Director Lin, this is a surveillance clip I asked my assistant to retrieve last night, before I was taken to the police station. It shows the actress Shao Zihan, after collecting her own props in the prop room, throwing something into the trash can as she left.”

She then pulled up a photo from Coco. “And my assistant checked the trash can—you can see, there’s a single pair of disposable plastic gloves inside.”

Director Lin examined the evidence. “Youyou, what you’ve provided isn’t enough to prove Shao Zihan framed you. The video may be real, but your assistant could have put the gloves there to falsely incriminate her.”

Lian Youyou replied calmly, “I know you don’t believe me, but you may not realize—those gloves were the only trash in the bin.”

“What?”

“Here’s the situation, Director Lin. The cleaning lady responsible for that area happened to be delayed yesterday morning, so she only arrived in the afternoon. She cleaned thoroughly, removing every piece of trash. I ran into her as she was finishing, and I saw for myself that the bin was spotless. After filming began that afternoon, no one else entered the room or threw anything in the bin, as confirmed by the video. So when my assistant rushed over, she found only that one piece of trash, as shown in the photo.”

Director Lin regarded the doll-faced girl before him—she looked barely sixteen or seventeen, yet her eyes were sharp and clear. He couldn’t help but feel respect.

She had remained calm enough, even before being taken by the police, to arrange for her assistant to gather evidence and analyze the situation so logically.

Lian Youyou then played Coco’s voice message: “Youyou, I don’t know if you’ll hear this, but I’ve already put the disposable gloves in a plastic bag. Tomorrow, I’ll give them to the police for fingerprint analysis. The cleaning lady has agreed to testify for us. Don’t worry, you’ll be fine!”