Chapter 118: Confessions
Liu Qingling, whose name was called, playfully blinked: "Should I now, like Xiao Lei, put on a 'sinister smile'? To show my respect for Lao Yang's deduction?"
Lei Miao said discontentedly: "That wasn't a 'sinister smile,' okay? Don't make me sound like some domineering CEO, it sounds so greasy. Please respect my expression just now, it was clearly a 'mysterious smile'!"
Wei Shu gave him an elbow with a look of disdain: "What's the difference? Any expression you make ends up looking greasy!"
Lei Miao: "Weizi, do you feel uncomfortable all over if you don't pick on me for a single day?"
Wei Shu looked at him in surprise: "You're only realizing this now?"
Unsurprisingly, the two started fighting. The others were already used to it.
Anyway, the two young masters had no celebrity image to maintain and couldn't care less about having fans, so no one was concerned that their on-screen scuffles would spark fan wars online.
Besides, they weren't actually fighting—they were just aggressively messing up each other's carefully styled hair and makeup for the day, making sure neither of them looked presentable anymore.
Once the fooling around was over, everyone quickly got back on track.
Liu Qingling admitted that the villa's owner had left behind only a large amount of debt, with no inheritance to distribute.
"But, while there's no money to share, it doesn't mean there are no treasures left. The old master truly instructed me before his death that there is one most, most, most precious thing in this house. That thing is priceless, whoever obtains it could rival a nation in wealth." Liu Qingling raised a finger: "But, to obtain that thing, all eligible heirs must be gathered, and then a suitable heir must be chosen from among them to inherit that priceless object."
"That's why I gathered everyone here. Our Lawyer Lei can attest to this." Liu Qingling said.
Just as Yang Ji had finished his analysis, Liu Qingling also brought out his clues, which conveniently connected the storyline from Cousin Wei's side.
Logically, Cousin Wei had no right to share this family fortune, but back when the villa's owner was making his fortune, he had borrowed a lot of money from his sister, which remained unpaid to this day. So, Cousin Wei's purpose for coming was not to claim an inheritance, but to recover the money his uncle owed his mother from whoever inherited the estate.
Another noteworthy point was that Cousin Wei and Adopted Daughter Wei were actually in a romantic relationship. After Adopted Daughter Wei was adopted and subsequently sent away by the villa's owner, she was placed in the care of the villa's owner's sister, along with an additional support allowance. Cousin Wei and Adopted Daughter Wei had developed feelings for each other over time, discovering they were kindred spirits. Since they shared no blood relation, they could have been together much sooner—if not for Adopted Daughter Wei's nominal status as an adopted daughter, which made them siblings in name only.
This side plot didn't greatly impact the main storyline, so everyone set it aside for now, and it was Yin Chengjue's turn to present his clues.
Yin Chengjue laid out the clues he had found, which included some letters with clear signatures – these were correspondence between Butler Liu and the maid.
The language in these letters was full of intimacy and ambiguity.
Others: "..." What a messy household!
Yin Chengjue pointed to the date on the letters: "Note the date, these letters are from over ten years ago. This means Butler Liu and the maid were already involved over ten years ago."
"Wow! So can we speculate that the children the maid gave birth to aren't actually the villa's owner's? The villa's owner was deceived, the illegitimate son and daughter he raised aren't biologically his!" Wei Shu clapped his hands: "This is karma! The villa's owner cheated on his wife, then he himself got cheated on by his mistress. He thought the mistress was his true love, but her true love actually loved someone else. These love polygons are so messy and clichéd, yet many people still flock to them."
Guan Haifeng belatedly reacted: "Wait, so I'm not the villa's owner's son? I'm Butler Liu's son? Did anyone find evidence for this?"
"Here." Ling Ting raised her hand: "I was going to wait until it was my turn to explain the plot, but I've found conclusive evidence proving that you and your sister share no blood relation with the villa's owner." As she spoke, Ling Ting produced two DNA test reports.
Ling Ting then pointed at Servant Yang: "And Servant Yang actually knew about this. Not only that, he used it to blackmail Butler Liu, wanting him to give him half after helping his two children inherit the fortune. This explains why Butler Liu had to deal with Servant Yang, because he knew too much."
Ling Ting looked around, observing everyone's expressions: "Anything further would be helping the detective route complete their task."
Yang Ji: "So you're not from the detective route?"
Ling Ting: "I can clearly say I am not, so I'm now going to look for the items needed for my own task route."
The benefit of piecing the story together was that each task route's objectives became clearer. Everyone dispersed again to take action. Yin Chengjue went straight to the villa's owner's room and indeed saw rows of bookshelves filled with books, just as Guan Haifeng had said, all varieties, everything one could want.
Yin Chengjue randomly picked two books to flip through, but a cloud of dust fell onto his hand.
"This... doesn't look like they were frequently read?" As Yin Chengjue said this, a thought suddenly struck him.
Books not frequently read meant these weren't books the villa's owner enjoyed reading!
Following this line of thinking, Yin Chengjue quickly found three books with significantly less dust: one was "Dead Soul Cycle" that Guan Haifeng mentioned earlier, and the other two were "Reflecting on Faults" and "Confessions".
"Dong! The escape route player has found a key clue. Players from the other two task routes, please hurry." The broadcast installed in each open room suddenly sounded. Yin Chengjue, who was still holding the book, quickly flipped through the pages and saw something fall out from between them.
Yin Chengjue looked down and saw it was a family portrait.
"Dong! The treasure hunt route player has found a key clue. Detective route players, please hurry."
A key clue?
Yin Chengjue quickly picked up the family portrait. It was a photo of a family of three.
The family of three: the villa's owner, his first wife, and a little boy sitting between them.
The little boy in the photo looked very young, probably not yet at the age where the family hereditary illness would be diagnosed.
In this photo, all three were smiling happily. The husband had his arm around his wife's waist, the wife leaned against her husband, and the child sat on their laps, holding a Gundam model toy. The child's face had Yin Chengjue's photo stuck on it, indicating this was the character Brother Yin in the storyline.
Yin Chengjue: "..." Stuck on so sloppily? Qin Linlin, your account is finished.
It was a very warm family portrait, and precisely because it was so warm, it felt somewhat strange.
According to the storyline they had just pieced together, the villa's owner had already gotten involved with the maid around the time his son was diagnosed with the family hereditary illness.
But in this photo, the villa's owner's smile didn't seem fake, and his intimate, natural pose holding the lady didn't seem fake either.
Without that prior storyline context, what a happy family this would have been.
Wait! No!
Yin Chengjue rubbed his fingers over the three people in the picture.
Come to think of it, the maid never actually became pregnant with the villa's owner's child...
"Brother!" Rong Yu pushed open the door from outside, calling out excitedly: "We were wrong! Our earlier deduction was wrong! It wasn't like that. I found the villa's owner's computer, there's a diary inside. The villa's owner and the lady didn't divorce because of a third party, but because the villa's owner was diagnosed with having limited time left! Think about it, ponder it carefully! This is a family hereditary illness! The male owner had every reason to be ill!"
Right! This was the inconsistency he had been feeling!
"So, he didn't want his wife to worry, hence this desperate plan. He intentionally hired the maid who already had a child to make the lady leave, is that it?" Yin Chengjue said.
Rong Yu: "Yes. The villa's owner always knew about Butler Liu and the maid. This matter was decided after they discussed it. The butler and the maid needed money to raise their child, so they could only help the villa's owner keep the secret. Who would have thought that one wrong step leads to many more, and there was no turning back."
The villa's owner's condition fluctuated, but he held on, wanting to see his son grow up. After his son came of age, he could no longer hold on.
Originally, if things had been explained clearly, even though illness would eventually take someone from this family prematurely, it wouldn't have happened so soon. At least they could have enjoyed several more years of happy, warm times together.
But the villa's owner didn't want to see his wife endure the pain of losing both her husband and son to illness, so he tried every means to force her away, to seek a new life, a new beginning.
He just didn't expect that, even heartbroken and utterly disappointed in him, the wife still refused to abort the fetus, stubbornly giving birth to the second child, gambling on a future for the firstborn.
They each expressed love in their own way, but also hurt others in their own way.
The villa's owner loved the lady but deeply hurt her, making her leave in despair and disappointment, causing them to live their entire lives in misunderstanding.
The lady loved her son but also hurt her second son, making the younger child a living medicine.
But to say she didn't love her second son – then who was it who stayed by his bedside tirelessly, wiping his sweat and changing wet towels when he had a high fever and was in pain?
If all of her actions and care toward the second son were viewed only as maintaining the "special medicine" for the eldest son, that interpretation felt far too cruel.
"Brother, I think I know what that treasure is!" Rong Yu said.
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