Only after her death did I realize that she was the white moonlight of a billionaire CEO.

Chapter 158: Stealing chicken but losing rice

With the phone on speakerphone, everyone heard the man named Luo Wen say, "Although Jiang Xinghe is not related to the two elders, he is related to Uncle Lan."

"Godfather, Jiang Xinghe is Lan Bo's grandson, so Ms. Chu Xingchen should be Miss Lan Qing."

Upon hearing this, Li Xi and Gu Huaizhou instinctively looked towards Jiang Xinghe, "Who is Lan Bo?"

Jiang Xinghe explained with a dazed look, "Uncle Lan is the old gentleman's confidant."

"Like the relationship between Butler Du and Grandpa Gu?" Li Xi asked Gu Huaizhou.

Nodding, Gu Huaizhou explained softly, "The heirs of large families are usually surrounded by several trusted confidants to assist them in their work. Butler Du is my grandfather's most trusted confidant, and Uncle Gu Han is my father's most trusted person."

"And Chu Xu is my trusted brother."

Although Du Yusheng and Chu Xu were not from the same clan, they were more trustworthy confidants than even relatives in the clan.

In ancient times, this would be considered a loyal and devoted confidant.

It's likely that Lan Bo, whom Luo Wen mentioned, is a close confidant of the Fifth Master, and the two must have grown up together as good brothers.

After hanging up the phone, Fifth Jue looked at Jiang Xinghe, his eyes no longer as calm and composed as before.

“Little Jiang, although you are not my grandson, you are Lancheng’s grandson. That’s good news.”

Fifth Jue was visibly happy to be able to help his good brother find his grandson.

Jiang Xinghe was somewhat bewildered.

His maternal grandfather was actually that Lambe?

"So, my mother isn't your daughter? Then why does she have that butterfly birthmark behind her ear?"

"Or is it that my mother, like Ms. Fifth Dream, has a butterfly birthmark behind her ear?" What a coincidence!

Fifth Jue sighed, "This is a long story."

Upon hearing this, Li Xi quickly suggested, "Sir, Madam, why don't we find a quiet place to sit down and have a leisurely chat?"

"it is good."

Gu Huaizhou took them to a highly private club and cleared out the entire second floor.

Seated in an elegantly decorated Chinese-style private room, Fifth Master recounted the whole story to them—

It turns out that Lan Bo has three children, with his second daughter, Lan Qing, being the most intelligent. After going through several rounds of selection, Lan Qing became Fifth Dream's study companion.

If nothing unexpected happens, Lan Qing will become Fifth Dream's right-hand man in the future.

That year, when Fifth Dream was kidnapped, Lan Qing was actually with her.

"On the day Mengbao was kidnapped, Lanqing also disappeared. We speculate that Lanqing was kidnapped along with the criminals while protecting Mengbao."

"Over the years, neither Lanqing nor Mengbao has been heard from since."

“Your mother, Lan Qing, doesn’t have a butterfly birthmark on her ear. The birthmark behind her ear must have been created using a special method.”

"Now it seems that Mengbao and Lanqing disappeared together, and Lanqing must know what happened to Mengbao."

After saying that, Fifth Jue grabbed Jiang Xinghe's wrist and asked impatiently, "Was the town where your mother last lived Maple Leaf Town under Dongzhou City?"

Nodding, Jiang Xinghe said, "My mother was adopted by the Chu couple in Maple Leaf Town during her time as a homeless person."

Zhou Zhiwei then asked, "Are the Chu couple still alive?"

Zhou Zhiwei's tone was somewhat urgent, "I want to see them and ask them about what happened back then. Maybe we really can find Mengbao."

Jiang Xinghe said sadly, "My maternal grandparents are no longer here."

"As far as I know, my maternal grandfather passed away in an accident when my mother was only 15 years old. Not long after, my maternal grandmother was also diagnosed with liver cancer. My mother returned to the small town to take the civil service exam to take care of my seriously ill grandmother right after graduation."

"but."

Jiang Xinghe gave Zhou Zhiwei a reassuring smile and said, "Although my maternal grandparents are no longer here, my maternal grandmother's younger sister is still alive and is still quite lucid."

“When I went back to my hometown to pay respects to my maternal grandparents before the Lunar New Year, I also visited that old woman. She should know quite a bit about my mother’s affairs.”

This was truly a case of "after the darkest hour comes the dawn," and Zhou Zhiwei immediately declared, "Excellent! Let's go to Maple Leaf Town and ask."

Fifth Jue certainly had the same idea, but he was very worried about his lover's health. "Your health is not good. You may not be able to handle such a long journey. Why don't you go back to Southeast Asia first, and I will go and ask her myself?"

“...No.” Zhou Zhiwei’s attitude was firm. She said, “My illness is incurable. Rather than going back to Southeast Asia alone to wait, I’d rather go with you to investigate the situation.”

"Give me something to do, and life will be more interesting."

"Jue, my days are numbered, I want to go with you."

After a moment's hesitation, Fifth Jue finally agreed, "...Okay."

Seeing that the two elders had already discussed it, Gu Huaizhou said, "If you two want to go to the inland to find someone, I can send my subordinate Chu Ying to accompany you to find the person."

"She is an expert in finding missing persons; she is good at asking people for clues."

Fifth Jue gladly accepted Gu Huaizhou's offer, "Then I'll trouble Huaizhou."

"No trouble."

And so, the Fifth couple returned to Dongzhou City with Gu Huaizhou and the others.

The news spread like wildfire as soon as the two elders arrived in Dongzhou City.

When Jiang Zhulang heard about this at a party, his heart skipped a beat, and he had a bad feeling.

Before the party was over, Jiang Zhulang made an excuse to rush home and woke up his father, who was already asleep.

"dad."

Jiang Zhulang leaned down and whispered in Old Jiang's ear, "The fifth most amazing couple from Southeast Asia have come to our Dongzhou City. They will be staying at the Dongzhou Dixing Hotel tonight."

"...I heard from a rumor that Jiang Xinghe was also with them when they went in and out of the hotel!"

Upon hearing this, Old Jiang was startled awake. "The Fifth Couple? The former patriarchs of that arms-dealing family from the Fifth Family of Southeast Asia?"

Those were people at the very top that the Jiang family could never reach in their lifetime.

"Ah."

Old Jiang was completely baffled. "How could that bastard Jiang Xinghe end up with them?"

That's just a good-for-nothing hoodlum. How could he possibly know someone of that caliber?

That sounds outrageous.

"Dad," Jiang Zhulang said, his expression grim, "Have you forgotten Chu Xingchen?"

Old Jiang was taken aback.

"...You mean?" He was startled, his voice rising, "You suspect that Chu Xingchen, that woman, is really the daughter of Master Wu Jue?"

Jiang Zhulang did not deny it, "Otherwise, how would they have found Jiang Xinghe?"

Her own son was a good-for-nothing wastrel; how could he possibly be of interest to such a powerful figure?

Unless Chu Xingchen is the long-lost beloved daughter of the Fifth Family, and Jiang Xinghe is the grandson of those two!

If that's the case...

Thinking about how he treated that woman, Chu Xingchen, Jiang Zhulang felt a chill run down his spine.

"Dad, if Chu Xingchen really is that Fifth Dream, what should we do?"

"At your age, how can you be so impatient!" Old Jiang scolded Jiang Zhulang: "Chu Xingchen is long dead. Even if she is Fifth Dream, what wrong have we done?"

"Dad, have you forgotten how Chu Xingchen died?" Thinking of his ex-wife's death, Jiang Zhulang felt as if an iron rod had been stuck in his throat, making it difficult for him to speak.

"I strangled her to death with the cord of a hairdryer..."

"After she died, in order to destroy the evidence, we buried her remains in the ground in the front yard of the Jiang family ancestral hall..."

"Shut up!" Old Jiang was also startled and broke out in a cold sweat.

He was old and his heart wasn't in good condition. After being frightened by Jiang Zhulang, his heart rate started to become irregular.

Jiang Zhulang quickly unscrewed the medicine bottle, poured out two pills, and gave them to him.

After drinking his medicine, Old Jiang sat silently against the bed for a long while before saying in a hoarse voice, "The person is already dead. There's no way to verify anything. Even if Fifth Jue comes knocking, what crime can he accuse us of?"

"No matter how arrogant the Fifth Family is, can they really extend their reach into our Dongzhou City and silence us all?"

Hearing this, Old Jiang himself felt much more confident, saying, "Put your heart back down, don't scare yourself, we still don't know what's going on."

"Right."

Jiang Zhulang, who had seen many ups and downs, was much calmer at this moment.

Jiang Zhulang sat down on the sofa, lit a cigarette, smoked most of it, and suddenly sighed, "If Chu Xingchen really is Fifth Dream, then we were really wrong back then."

Old Jiang looked at him silently. "What do you mean?"

Without hesitation, Jiang Zhulang said, "If I can establish a kinship with the Fifth Family as the husband of Fifth Meng, our Jiang family can be said to have boarded the biggest ship!"

“The Fifth Family is a behemoth that the Song Family cannot compare to.”

His current wife, Song Yunzhi, comes from a scholarly family with some influence in the education sector, but the Song family isn't even worthy of supporting the Fifth Family.

Jiang Zhulang regretted his actions when he realized that he had mistakenly killed Chu Xingchen to make room for Song Yunzhi, thus missing such a good opportunity to climb the social ladder.

"This is truly a case of trying to steal a chicken but losing the rice instead."

Old Jiang snorted coldly upon hearing this, "What's the point of thinking about these things now that they've already happened?"

"The Song family isn't bad either, but they're far inferior to the Fifth Family. But whether Chu Xingchen is actually Fifth Dream is still unknown."

"More than 20 years have passed since this happened, so there's no use in regretting it now."

"...you're right."

The father and son comforted each other in the bedroom, while Song Yunzhi, who was eavesdropping on their conversation outside, felt as if she had fallen into an ice cellar, her whole body chilled to the bone.

She returned to her room quietly.

Jiang Xinghe's playful voice came from the phone: "Ms. Song, how are you feeling?"

Song Yunzhi gripped her phone tightly.

She feigned composure and replied to Jiang Xinghe, "The content of their conversation did make me uncomfortable, but so what?"

"We've been married for over twenty years, and we've long been beneficiaries of being tied together in the same boat."

Even if he doesn't love me, I won't divorce him over this.

“I’m old now, and I’m not as arrogant as I was when I was young. Jiang Xinghe, I won’t fall out with Jiang Zhulang or switch sides with you because of this.”

“This is a war between you and your son; I have no interest in getting involved.”

Jiang Xinghe was not surprised by Song Yunzhi's attitude.

Song Yunzhi is a smart woman. It would be foolish for her to easily side with me.

"Ms. Song is right, but I also have a few words I'd like to say to her. Would you like to hear them?"

Reason told Song Yunzhi not to listen.

Jiang Xinghe hated the Jiang family and disliked her stepmother.

Song Yunzhi knew that Jiang Xinghe couldn't say anything nice, and every word he said next was meant to sow discord.

can.

Humans are born with curiosity.

Especially after hearing the cold and ruthless conversation between the Jiang father and son, Song Yunzhi's curiosity grew even stronger.

Song Yunzhi ultimately did not hang up the phone.

Jiang Xinghe said, "Ms. Song, as you just heard, after realizing the true relationship between my mother and the Fifth Family, Jiang Zhulang began to regret it."

"He looked down on the Song family, saying they were too low-class to even carry the shoes of the Fifth Family."

"Then guess what Jiang Zhulang will do to protect the interests of the Jiang family when the Fifth Family comes to the Jiang family to hold them accountable?"

Song Yunzhi seemed to be deep in thought.

Jiang Xinghe told her the answer: "He will use the Song family as a shield."

Song Yunzhi frowned deeply. "Nonsense! This is a crime committed by the Jiang family. What does it have to do with my Song family!"

“How can it not be related?” Jiang Xinghe reminded Song Yunzhi: “As long as Mrs. Jiang is you, Song Yunzhi, this matter can be related to the Song family.”

"If Jiang Zhulang later claims that you strangled my defenseless mother in order to marry him."

"How will you clear your name then?"

Song Yun blurted out instinctively, "Ridiculous! I didn't do any of those things, why should I clear my name?"

Jiang Xinghe's tone was inscrutable: "Then how will you prove that you haven't harmed my mother?"

“I…” Song Yunzhi was stunned.

Yes.

How will she prove herself then?

Song Yunzhi stiffened her neck and said, "Then he has no evidence to convict me!"

"He has no evidence, but his slander is enough to drag your Song family down with him. Who told you to be Mrs. Jiang, Song Yunzhi?"

"Besides, your daughter has bullied me for years, and you've always been cold and indifferent to me."

"Ms. Song, you seem suspicious no matter how you look at it."

There's absolutely nothing more to say about Song Yunzhi's style.

She knew Jiang Xinghe wasn't exaggerating, because Jiang Zhulang was inherently selfish and capable of doing such disgusting things.

Song Yunzhi had already glimpsed Jiang Zhulang's true nature when Jiang Qingkong was nearly killed by Xie Xingyun, and when he, as a father, did not retaliate against Xie Xingyun.

That's a petty, profit-driven person.

He felt it wasn't worth breaking ties with the Xie family to avenge his daughter, so he held back and let his daughter suffer injustice for nothing.

If he can treat his own daughter that way, why can't he betray his wife?

"...Jiang Xinghe, what do you want me to do?"

The fish took the bait.

Jiang Xinghe laughed and said, "I need you to find a way to force that father and son to admit what they did to my mother."

“Ms. Song, I promise you that as long as you help me get to the bottom of my mother’s death, I will not hold you accountable.”

“Every wrong has its perpetrator, and every debt has its debtor. What I want are the lives of Jiang Zhulang and his son.”

Hearing the approaching footsteps outside the door, Song Yunzhi closed her eyes and whispered, "I promise you."

After hanging up the phone and deleting the call history with Jiang Xinghe, Song Yunzhi turned around calmly when she heard the door open and asked Jiang Zhulang, "Honey, didn't you say you wouldn't be back until after 11 pm tonight? Why are you back early?"

It's only 10:30.

Jiang Zhulang said without changing his expression, "I felt a little dizzy, so I came back first."