The multi-day fermentation of the Hong Tian Foundation's news kept it trending, and no matter what scandals Xie Youlin released, he couldn't get it off the hot search.
Netizens even spontaneously petitioned for an investigation into the Hong Tian Foundation, leaving Xie Youlin with nowhere to run.
— Xie Youlin on the phone —
Xie Youlin: "Shall we meet?"
Ou Yunchen: "I think there's no need for that."
Xie Youlin: "For Xiao Yun."
Ou Yunchen: "Don't do anything rash!"
— Xie Youlin ends call —
Xie Youlin stated an address and immediately hung up.
Ou Yunchen, his mind filled with images of Mo Qingyun being threatened, rushed to the location.
Ou Yunchen: "Xie Youlin, get out here!!!"
Xie Youlin had lured Ou Yunchen to a half-finished building. As soon as Ou Yunchen's car stopped, he yelled towards the building.
With a bang, a beer bottle fell from high above, narrowly missing Ou Yunchen's car.
Ou Yunchen looked up and saw Xie Youlin standing at a height, waving at him!
Ou Yunchen climbed to the same floor. Xie Youlin found a stool, sat down, crossed his legs, and seemed to have been waiting for a long time.
Ou Yunchen: "Where is Mo Qingyun!"
Xie Youlin: "Don't be nervous, of course she's not here."
Ou Yunchen: "If you want to die, die alone. Don't drag her down!"
Xie Youlin: "I promise you, as long as I'm alive, she will be too!"
Ou Yunchen: "You're reaping what you sow, don't blame me!"
Xie Youlin: "You really are a busybody. I was laundering money to help Xiao Yun too."
Ou Yunchen: "If Xiao Yun knew you were doing this, she wouldn't help you!"
Xie Youlin: "What's wrong with you? Have you gone stupid? Is Mo Qingyun a naive damsel? Haven't you seen what kind of person she really is after all this time?"
Ou Yunchen: "She wouldn't get mixed up in this with you!"
Xie Youlin: "Believe what you want. I'm just here to tell you that if you ruin me, Mo Qingyun won't be able to escape it either."
Ou Yunchen: "Make her resign from the Hong Tian Foundation immediately!"
Xie Youlin: "It's too late."
Ou Yunchen: "What did you do!!!"
Xie Youlin: "All the authorizations for Hong Tian Foundation were handled by Mo Qingyun. She's the mastermind behind the money laundering, and I'm just a figurehead CEO..."
Ou Yunchen furiously grabbed Xie Youlin's collar and yanked him back forcefully. Just a few more steps forward, and Xie Youlin would fall from the height!!!
Xie Youlin: "Even if you kill me, it's useless. Mo Qingyun is on the same boat as me... If I die, it'll be even harder for her to explain!"
Ou Yunchen: "You did this on purpose, didn't you!"
Xie Youlin: "I did it on purpose, hahaha!!!"
Ou Yunchen: "I will personally kill you, I will personally kill you!!!"
Just as Ou Yunchen was losing his mind and about to push Xie Youlin off, a voice from behind him shouted, immediately halting Ou Yunchen.
Uncle Da: "Ou Yunchen!!!"
Xie Youlin was terrified. He almost lost his life, but thankfully someone arrived in time...
Ou Yunchen: "He, he's the one who made Mo Qingyun authorize it! Let me kill him, let me kill him!!!"
Uncle Da slowly approached. He had already sensed that Ou Yunchen was not in a normal state. If he agitated him further, he might actually push Xie Youlin off.
Uncle Da: "Ou Yunchen, don't get worked up. If Xie Youlin dies, Mo Qingyun will really have to go to jail for him..."
Ou Yunchen: "I'm telling you, Mo Qingyun is innocent! Believe me! Let me kill him, and say he committed suicide out of guilt."
Uncle Da: "Okay, okay!!! Don't let go!!! I promise you, I'll let you kill him, but not now..."
Ou Yunchen: "Then when!!!"
Uncle Da: "When Mo Qingyun is proven innocent..."
Xie Youlin: "Right, Mo Qingyun is innocent. Don't kill me, don't kill me..."
Taking advantage of Ou Yunchen calming down and becoming more rational, Uncle Da quickly rushed forward, grabbed Xie Youlin's arm, and pulled both of them back.
Ou Yunchen lay on the ground. What had just happened?
He felt like he had become a different person. Chaotic images flashed through his mind. Were they memories? Or dreams?
Ou Yunchen seemed to see the faces of his adopted sons. Some were ferocious, some angry, some sad...
Why was he seeing their deaths?
Why was someone tying Ou Yunchen to an operating table? What were those strange liquids?
He screamed on the ground, his head splitting with pain. Xie Youlin seized this opportunity and quickly escaped.
Uncle Da: "Ou Yunchen? Ou Yunchen?"
When Ou Yunchen finally regained consciousness, he was no longer in the half-finished building.
Ou Yunchen: "Where is this?"
Uncle Da: "Awake? You're at my place."
Ou Yunchen looked around the sparsely furnished tin shack.
Uncle Da: "Don't tell me you don't remember what happened yesterday?"
Ou Yunchen: "Yesterday?"
Uncle Da: "It seems you really have some issues."
Ou Yunchen threw off the covers, preparing to leave.
Uncle Da: "Leaving already?"
Ou Yunchen: "I have to go save someone."
Uncle Da: "Are you stupid? Who can you save? The Hong Tian Foundation is under scrutiny. You can only beg me."
Ou Yunchen: "Do you have a way to help someone escape?"
Uncle Da: "Beg me."
Ou Yunchen: "I beg you."
Uncle Da scratched his ear as if he couldn't hear.
Ou Yunchen: "Uncle Da, I beg you, help me save someone."
Uncle Da: "It's not impossible to save them..."
Ou Yunchen: "How much money do you want? I'll give it to you!"
Uncle Da: "I told you, I don't want your money."
Ou Yunchen: "You want me to help you find evidence of the transnational criminal group?"
Uncle Da: "It's good that you still remember."
Uncle Da patted Ou Yunchen's shoulder and then motioned for him to come to the dining table for a meal.
Uncle Da: "What are you waiting for? Think it's dirty?"
Ou Yunchen followed Uncle Da's gesture. The dining table was a discarded mahjong table with a broken wooden board placed on top...
Two bowls of instant noodles were their lunch for the day.
Ou Yunchen picked up a chopstick and was about to put it in his mouth when he saw what looked like a cooked fly...
Uncle Da: "Ah, an extra treat."
Uncle Da skillfully picked out the fly, flicked it to the ground.
Uncle Da: "Did you find out about Yijie Mei like I asked?"
Ou Yunchen: "No..."
Uncle Da: "Yijie Mei is the group belonging to the father of Yishite, whom I shot and killed. I've been collecting information on this group's crimes."
Ou Yunchen: "Yijie Mei is a transnational criminal group?"
Uncle Da: "Yes, they specialize in money laundering for others. Their methods are sophisticated, with a mature industrial chain. For years, we've been unable to get a handle on them."
Ou Yunchen: "So, you suspect the Hong Tian Foundation is colluding with Yijie Mei?"
Uncle Da: "I thought you might be useful."
Ou Yunchen: "I'll help you investigate, but you have to guarantee Mo Qingyun's safety. I don't want her to be implicated."
Uncle Da: "Negotiating with the police? Who do you think you are!"
Ou Yunchen: "Uncle Da, I'll do whatever you ask..."
Uncle Da: "If I ask you to go undercover, can you do it?"
Ou Yunchen: "I can't..."
Uncle Da: "Then there's nothing to discuss."
Saying that, Uncle Da snatched the bowl from in front of Ou Yunchen, splashed the instant noodles on the wall, and told Ou Yunchen to get out.
Ou Yunchen: "I'll find evidence of Yijie Mei's crimes for you, please protect Mo Qingyun's safety."
Ou Yunchen didn't leave. Instead, he knelt before Uncle Da. He truly couldn't bear to see Mo Qingyun take the blame, because in his heart, the real criminal was Xie Youlin, and Mo Qingyun was just a scapegoat.
Uncle Da: "Get out! I told you to get out!"
Ou Yunchen: "Uncle Da, I beg you. Mo Qingyun is already miserable. She's just an ignorant mute. Are you really willing to see an innocent person take such a huge charge? Don't you police officers exist to protect ordinary citizens!!!"
Uncle Da: "I told you, you only have the option of surrender."
Ou Yunchen: "I have no other options. The people I killed won't forgive me just because I wear the cloak of justice..."
Uncle Da kicked Ou Yunchen out. But Ou Yunchen wouldn't leave unless Uncle Da promised to save Mo Qingyun.
Ou Yunchen: "Uncle Da!!! I know what you're thinking! But I've already committed too many lives!"
"This world won't let me forget that I'm a bad person just because I do countless good deeds to compensate for my bad ones..."
"A bad person is a bad person, and they'll never be a good person for life!!!"
Ou Yunchen shouted until his voice was hoarse. Finally, as darkness fell completely, Uncle Da opened the door for him.
Ou Yunchen excitedly stood up and called out Uncle Da's name with a hoarse voice.
Uncle Da: "Are you unwilling to turn back?"
Ou Yunchen: "If you save Mo Qingyun, my life is yours. But I still have unfinished business. Before I'm judged, let me fulfill my last wish..."
Uncle Da: "Then remember this, you owe me forever!"