"You're mistaken," Tian Jing said, holding her husband's hand. "My father-in-law was a righteous man. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been so severely injured saving Accountant Li. It shows he wasn't deceived, just too trusting."
"You are his cousin and also his elder brother-in-law. With such a status, if he doesn't believe you, who else in this world can he trust?"
"And yet, you were the one who taught him a lesson about the importance of vigilance against deception."
Wu Hui chuckled, "No wonder Li Zuozuo was outsmarted by you, and Li Weiguo's choice is also not good."
"You're wrong again," Tian Jing denied. "There's a saying: 'Scheme and scheme, only to scheme yourself.' I follow the principle of 'If the enemy doesn't move, I don't move.' Those who are anxious always make mistakes, and your current predicament is a result of 'Good and evil will eventually be repaid.'"
Wu Hui sighed deeply, "Perhaps you're right. I want to get out."
"Want to get out? I have a way."
Wu Hui immediately sat up straight. "What way?"
The police officer facing the wall also turned around.
"Confess and be pardoned. Confess your crimes and expose others. If your contribution is significant, you might get a reduced sentence."
Wu Hui fumed, "Are you playing with me?"
Tian Jing feigned innocence, "I'm not. You can ask the police comrades if I'm telling the truth."
Wu Hui grinned, "What if I expose the Xiao and Chen families?"
Tian Jing spread her hands, "As you wish."
Li Zhengguo pulled his wife up. "Let's go. No point talking nonsense with him."
Wu Hui looked up. "You're guilty."
Tian Jing looked down at him. "You're pathetic. It's already 1980, and the reform and opening up has been going on for over a year. You're still living in a dream of threatening others with leverage. The leverage you hold has rusted and turned to dust."
"In this new era where background and origin don't matter, the country welcomes overseas wanderers back. What leverage do you have against me? The Chen family? The Chen family's demise has nothing to do with me."
"The Xiao family," Wu Hui reacted quickly, realizing Tian Jing still cared about the Xiao family. "It's not about the Xiao family's background."
"Wu Hui," Tian Jing said impatiently. "I said I came out of boredom to listen, not necessarily to get your so-called information. You are the one who needs me."
"Alright, I'll talk."
Wu Hui knew that if he delayed any longer, he would lose his chance. "I hope you can help recover my family's lost wealth and give half of it to the Wu family."
"On what grounds? Once recovered, it's illicit money and must be returned to its rightful owners."
"No, that's only a small portion. The bulk is from the Xiao family. Years ago, Old Master Xiao sent two men with wealth to the Tian family, asking them to protect you for a few years and then personally hand over the wealth to you."
"But one of them became greedy and conspired with the other to split it half and half, since the Xiao family had already moved overseas."
"The other man refused and severely criticized the greedy one, who then claimed he knew his mistake. The other man let him go. Who knew that in the middle of the night, that man fled with half the money."
"That man couldn't defeat the other one, so he tried to frame him. He left this half of the money, intending for the other man to either lose half or be forced to accept it."
"But that man miscalculated. The other man intended to tell you the truth directly. On the way, he met me. With my eyesight, I immediately detected gold and silver in his bag."
"I knew this man was proud and wouldn't take advice. So I persuaded him to go home for a drink, got him drunk, and then extracted the truth from him."
"Because he failed to properly guard all the money, this man felt ashamed to face you. When I heard this, I was delighted and immediately patted my chest, telling him I would deliver it for him."
"Then you intercepted more than half of it, gave a small portion to Old Man Tian, and instructed him to treat me well, making Old Man Tian believe that my value was only worth that little bit of money he received. Old Man Tian couldn't get any more, and without hope, he mistreated me."
"Then, that man's slow mind finally caught up. He realized something was wrong, investigated my situation, and confronted you. You then colluded with Li Zuozuo to kill that man."
Tian Jing's words left Wu Hui utterly shocked. "You? You knew?"
Tian Jing shook her head. "I didn't know. After you just spoke, I knew who that person was, and then I understood why Li Zuozuo wanted to kill his own brother."
"It's because he learned from you that his father did indeed leave him something, which was the status of an outside servant of the Xiao family. His father passed it to him, not to his brother."
"Otherwise, all the wealth you mentioned just now would have been his. How could it have been taken away by one person?"
"His father obtained the status of an outside servant of the Xiao family because Xiao Wei was sent down, because I was born. Everything stemmed from the Xiao family."
"When Old Mrs. Tian personally told me the reason for the feud between the Xiao and Chen families, I suspected someone was pulling the strings behind the scenes. You stirred up trouble between me and my husband, trying to make us turn against each other."
"Li Zuozuo looks very similar to his younger brother. You separated Li Zhengguo, who inherited his father's appearance entirely, from me. Then, with me heartbroken, he returned to the Xiao family and assumed the identity of an outside servant of the Xiao family."
"Then, with eloquent words, he described how he saved me from suffering. My grandfather, heartbroken for me and grateful for his loyalty, not only wouldn't hold him accountable for the original money but would also reward him with a large sum."
"Am I correct?"
Wu Hui stood up in shock. "You... you're not human. You... you didn't just guess right, you said it exactly as it happened, as if you were there."
"Heh," Tian Jing sneered. "I've seen more of human nature and people's hearts than you have, even though you're older than me. In the Tian family, how could I have survived without observing human nature?"
Li Zhengguo squeezed his wife's hand. "Let's go. All this coming and going is for money."
"We're leaving. Are you still going to see Li Zuozuo?"
"No, let him live in his dreams of getting rich. I'm afraid I'll tear him apart."
"Then we won't see him. Let's go home."
"Mmm, home."
The couple left the reception room hand in hand.
Wu Hui sat back on the stool, defeated. All his efforts were in vain. If he hadn't tried to scheme against her later, would he have been locked up?
After leaving the detention center, Li Zhengguo asked, "Will you look down on me because I'm the son of a servant?"
Tian Jing lightly slapped him. "What nonsense are you talking about? Will you blame the Xiao family for causing trouble for your father?"
Li Zhengguo shook his head. "No. My father was destined not to live a long life because he was too righteous and too trusting."
"He carried gold and silver, went to the Wu family, and was easily persuaded to drink, all because he trusted his cousin."
"Wu Hui didn't kill him then, but later he still colluded with Li Zuozuo to deal with him. It's been ten years. Why didn't he learn his lesson?"
"From the man who took half the money and fled, to being tricked out of the other half by Wu Hui, he still managed to trust Accountant Li again. As a hunter, wouldn't he understand that Accountant Li was luring a wild beast? It was just foolish bravery."
"And I, because I was on a mission, couldn't rush back in time. Otherwise... forget it. Fate is fate. From the moment his father called him into the room alone before he died, his fate was sealed."
Tian Jing held her husband's hand tightly. "I'm sorry."
"Silly, I already said I don't blame anyone. And I also said, regardless of whether our two families are enemies, it has nothing to do with us."
"So, should we tell your mother-in-law?"
"No, let's not tell her. People's hearts can't withstand testing. We'll just pretend we don't know."
Tian Jing smiled. Her husband's heart was inclined towards their own small family, which was excellent.