Chapter 608: Chapter 608: What Can Be Done by the River in Ten Minutes?

“Mom, was there anything unusual before Wei Xiaoyun planned her fake death?”

Lin Zhiyi always felt that since Wei Xiaoyun was so smart, there was no need for her to guard against Liu He, who was wholeheartedly on her side.

There must be something else that’s been overlooked.

“No. We were best friends, if anything happened, she couldn’t possibly hide it from me.”

Liu He shook her head, her fist clenched for a long time before relaxing.

This scene was caught by Gong Chen, who withdrew his gaze without a word.

“How much money did you give her?”

Liu He was startled, her eyes fixed in place.

“Lao San, how did you know?”

“You just said you both paid off her debt, how much more did you give her later?” Gong Chen stared at her.

Under his gaze, Liu He was flustered, unable to hide any secrets.

“All of it, I only kept a month’s living expenses; she took it to appease the debt collectors, afraid they’d show up unexpectedly and derail our plan.”

After hearing this.

Lin Zhiyi rubbed her forehead.

She finally understood why, during her childhood, her mother and she struggled so much.

Even though her mom worked as a sales associate at a luxury store, every month they barely scraped by.

As a student, she thought Liu He just couldn’t manage money.

Now she knew, there was simply no money, and Liu He was supporting her with borrowed money.

After paying off debts with her salary, there was hardly anything left.

But upon reconsideration, Lin Zhiyi felt something was off.

Wei Xiaoyun’s fake death plan indicated she didn’t want to die.

She even took all of Liu He’s money, so there was no reason for her to commit suicide just because Liu He was ten minutes late.

Yet, the witnesses said she disappeared after jumping into the river.

How to explain the body?

Whose body was it?

Lin Zhiyi’s head hurt from thinking, she couldn’t help but glance at Gong Chen.

He just tapped his temple with his fingers, looking knowingly, yet helplessly.

He finally understood where Lin Zhiyi’s complex personality came from.

A mother easily deceived, and a self not assertive, only able to bravely face the hard truths.

But…

With Wei Xiaoyun’s abilities, it was impossible for her to find a corpse to impersonate her.

Gong Chen pondered for a moment, not wanting to alarm the pregnant woman, he changed the topic: “What did Wei Xiaoyun look like?”

Liu He jolted, shaking her head vigorously.

“It’s been over twenty years, people age, I couldn’t say.”

“What about photos?”

“They’re gone. Xiaoyun said she was afraid loan sharks would use the photos to trouble me, so she burned all of our photos before the plan,” Liu He replied with her eyes down.

Lin Zhiyi exclaimed, “Not even one left?”

“No.” Liu He nodded.

“What about other aunties?”

“The same, they didn’t want trouble either, they destroyed most of the photos.”

Liu He pursed her lips, lost in thought.

Lin Zhiyi didn’t know what to say for a moment.

Gong Chen asked the last question: “Did Wei Xiaoyun leave you anything?”

Liu He paused, then shook her head.

“No.”

“Okay, don’t think too much about it, it’s all in the past now,” Gong Chen consoled.

Hearing the words “in the past”, Liu He’s face regained some color.

She looked up at Lin Zhiyi and Gong Chen, “Why are you suddenly so interested in Wei Xiaoyun?”

“It’s just…”

Lin Zhiyi was about to speak when Gong Chen placed his hand on hers.

She glanced up and continued, “It actually has nothing to do with Wei Xiaoyun, it’s mainly about Mrs. Bai. Her orchid scent, we suspect she might have bought the formula from Wei Xiaoyun, or perhaps Wei Xiaoyun has information on why she’s targeting you, but it seems like we were overthinking it.”

Liu He breathed a sigh of relief.

“Just don’t worry about me, I’ll just keep my distance from Mrs. Bai.”

“Hmm.” Lin Zhiyi stood up and walked over to Liu He, hugging her, “Mom, some things should just be left in the past, what’s important now is that you’re okay.”

Liu He smiled at her, “As long as you’re okay, I’ll be okay. When are you two planning to make it public? The child is so big already, you can’t keep it like this forever, right?”

“Why bring this up again? We’re doing fine right now.” Lin Zhiyi said.

She was no longer the old Lin Zhiyi.

She wouldn’t obsess over Gong Chen’s choices anymore.

Gong Chen stood up and held her, addressing Liu He solemnly, “I promise to give Zhiyi a satisfactory answer.”

He wasn’t the same Gong Chen as before either.

He wouldn’t think that keeping her was protection and love.

Only when they both took a step back did they see parts of each other they’d never noticed before.

Imperfect, but complete and real.

Liu He saw the two of them bantering back and forth, much better than their tense interactions before.

She felt relieved.

“Whatever you two decide. Will you stay for dinner?”

“Okay.”

Lin Zhiyi nodded, pulling Liu He to chat about everyday matters.

As they talked, Liu He brought the topic back to Yang Jingwei.

“You mentioned Mrs. Bai earlier, it reminded me of something.”

“What is it?”

“My friend said President Bai has a new woman by his side, and this time he’s particularly willing to spend money, buying her plenty of things even before bringing her out,” Liu He said.

“What about the previous woman?” Lin Zhiyi asked curiously.

“I don’t know. Generally, stores regularly send product recommendations to high-spending clients. My friend said this woman used to be very proactive about inquiring whenever there was something new, but this time, after sending out the message, the woman didn’t even respond, the phone couldn’t be reached, and even her social media showing off stopped suddenly.”

Lin Zhiyi speculated, “Maybe she’s out of money?”

Liu He chuckled, “How could that be? For people like her, their social media is like their identity card. Not showing off for a day is akin to telling others they’ve lost their appeal.”

Lin Zhiyi frowned and asked instinctively, “Mom, does your friend know who President Bai is seeing now?”

She wanted to see if the person looked like her.

Liu He looked through her friend’s chat records and said, “I heard it’s a minor celebrity, hardly known, but recently seems to be gaining fame through a reality show, I don’t know the name, I’ll ask someone later.”

“Alright.”

Lin Zhiyi replied.

After dinner, Lin Zhiyi and Gong Chen got in the car and left.

Lin Zhiyi held back for half the ride before saying, “My mom lied.”

“Yeah.”

Gong Chen’s emotionless tone didn’t surprise Lin Zhiyi at all.

Liu He’s little tricks couldn’t fool her, let alone Gong Chen.

But when Liu He spoke about the fake death, her expression was indeed sincere.

It’s just that she was evasive in her later words.

What exactly was Liu He hiding?

As Lin Zhiyi pondered, her palm suddenly warmed, Gong Chen clasped her fingers.

“Your mom is pregnant now, don’t push her, she’s already given us a lot of information.”

“What kind of information?”

“What’s so special that your mom was exactly ten minutes late? What could be done in ten minutes by the river?” he said in a low voice.

“The body from back then would have turned to dust by now, nothing can be found out.”

Lin Zhiyi sighed softly.

Gong Chen looked at her and said, “Not necessarily.”