Chapter 421: Is There a Relation?
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Need to tell her something?
Xiang Wan perked up and sat straight, looking at him.
“I’m here, Captain! Please give me your instructions!”
Her actions amused Bai Muchuan. He smiled as he patted her head again.
“You’re really!”
He paused for a while. “It has been such a long time. There are some things I’ve almost forgotten!”
Xiang Wan nodded heavily to express her agreement.
In the river of memory, it was only common for one to forget a lot of things that had happened long ago…
“Xie Wanwan’s dad—I’m referring to her real dad,” explained Bai Muchuan, “not Meng Chi’s dad. At that time, he’s a high-ranking government official in Jin City and had good relations with Cheng Weiji privately—”
His explanation suddenly made Xiang Wan realize—that might be the reason why Xie Wanwan and Bai Muchuan had such a steadfast friendship.
Both of them had a lot in common in their family background and childhood suffering.
It should be easy for them to befriend each other.
However, for men, it must have been difficult to fall in love with such women as well, right?
When Xiang Wan thought of this, she recalled Xie Wanwan’s doll that someone had stolen back in a hotel in Jin City.
Back then, when the voice recording of her doll got exposed… there was a part of it wherein Xie Wanwan mentioned something about her family background.
Her dad had an affair, and he even brought that woman back home openly. Her mom couldn’t handle that, so she fell ill and left the world shortly.
After that, her dad sent her to that Youth Training School.
Consequently, her dad lost his backer and went to jail. Another family then adopted Xie Wanwan…
If that was the case, the Meng Family was the one that adopted Xie Wanwan.
Moreover, if Xie Wanwan’s dad and Cheng Weiji were good friends, would they have planned and arranged to send their “disobedient” children together to that Youth Training School?
She looked at Bai Muchuan with doubtful eyes.
That was when she got a definite answer.
“Before I got sent to that school, I’ve never met Xie Wanwan before. We got to know each other there.”
Xiang Wan pouted and looked at him from the corner of her eye skeptically.
Bai Muchuan laughed and tried to “catch” her pouting mouth by pressing both of her lips together before pulling her back to his arms. “Back then, Xie Wanwan, her mom, and her maternal grandparents were on that very coach. Four of them in total…”
It was just that Xie Wanwan’s mom did not know that the reason her husband had forked out money for their trip was purely because it was more convenient to have a rendezvous with his mistress when they weren’t around.
It was basically evil intentions hidden beneath the guise of enthusiasm.
Yet, Bai Muchuan had said it calmly. “I believe this case could be related to her?”
Of course.
Xiang Wan felt her bones weakening after hearing all these. “Have you gotten the list of names of all those people who were on the coach?”
Bai Muchuan shook his head. “It’s been too long! The travel agency then was long gone. It’s been 20 years, girl! Time brings great changes!”
“How did you know that all four of them were inside the coach?”
“I’ve already interrogated Xie Wanwan after we brought her back from Nanmu.”
He used the word “interrogated” to put it in a professional light.
However, he only gained a frown from Xiang Wan.
“Cut it out. Even if it’s just questioning, I won’t say anything…”
Bai Muchuan heard her snorts and cracked into a smile before ruffling her head.
“In fact, Xie Wanwan’s maternal grandparents and her mom had long pa.s.sed away. As for her… we are the one who saved her from the brink of death.”
This took Xiang Wan aback.
She felt a chill ran down her spine.
It seemed like they had entered a game which someone else had already set up in advance.
They could only follow the clues to complete the objective of the game, but there was no way for them to change the rules.
“What about the others?” she asked again.
Bai Muchuan replied, “I’ve asked Qi Canghai to contact Old Mr. Xu.”
“So what happened?”
Bai Muchuan’s eyes dimmed. “He said that his daughter was a freshman in college that year when the disaster happened. She was around 18 years old, and she also met Zhao Jiahang in that same year. Both of them fell in love and signed up for a trip together… In the end, they faced the disaster and barely survived. He was really against her dating Zhao Jiahang because of that incident, feeling that he was not a dependable person!”
“Good grief!”
Xiang Wan felt gooseb.u.mps all over.
“So you’re saying that besides Xie Wanwan’s family members, the young Mr. and Mrs. Zhao were also on that coach?”
Bai Muchuan nodded. “Yes, but both parties did not know each other…”
“This is too creepy!” Xiang Wan felt numbness at the back of her head and huddled closely with Bai Muchuan, as if a ghost story had sent shivers down her nerves. “What happened next?”
“At that time, they had just fallen in love and having survived that disaster just made them even more adamant that they need to be together.”
Unbelievable!
Xiang Wan’s elbow even went numb.
Too crazy!
Too terrifying as well!
Xiang Wan’s heart was pounding rapidly.
She could imagine the scene—a coach flowed helplessly along with the overwhelming flash flood and landslide while the young couple was in a tight embrace.
They said “I love you” loudly, promising to spend their lifetime in each other’s arms.
After surviving this disaster, their feelings for each other grew stronger.
After they graduated, the young lovebirds married each other even though Mrs. Zhao’s dad had objected violently to this marriage…
At that time, little did they know that there would come a day, where Mrs. Zhao would meet a terrible car accident that would disfigure her, paralyze her, and make her unable to conceive.
As for Mr. Zhao, his love did not withstand the test of time.
He had another woman—Tian Xiaoya. Consequently, he died in a freak accident.
Both had deviated from their promise, yet they had thought it was because of their nature as humans had made them so.
They would not have known that all that had happened were simply an act of revenge…
As for Mrs. Zhao’s accident, Xiang Wan had seen the dossier and held doubts about it before. Old Mr. Xu even believed that Zhao Jiahang was the culprit…
Now that she thought about it, these incidents… were probably the stories mentioned in the voice recording that contained truths no one knew about.
“What about Sun Shangli?” Xiang Wan realized that her voice was trembling a little. “… Could it be that she was also on that coach?”
Bai Muchuan shook his head. “I’ve gotten the intelligence team to look into Sun Shangli, Huo Shan, Kong Xinqiong, and the like. Kong Xinqiong and her husband Wu Hongliang were from Ha City. From what we have now, both of them did not come to Jin City 20 years ago. As for Sun Shangli, Huo Shan, and Tan Ziyang, we have no conclusion yet.”
“Oh…”
Xiang Wan nodded her head weakly.
That was 20 years ago.
In these 20 years, many changes would have taken place.
One could even forget about their own memories.
Let alone other people’s incidents.
“That time, Sun Shangli was also a college student, right?”
Bai Muchuan concurred. “When Sun Shangli died, she was 40 years old!”
“That means when the disaster happened, she was only 20 years old. I remember that both of her parents were professors. She was also a straight-As student… That Huo Shan should be much older than her, is he?”
“Yeah, older by a few years!”
“Twenty years ago, Huo Shan was just starting to carve out a career in real estate property. Sun Shangli was still studying at college. Oh, I remember now! Wasn’t Tan Ziyang her first love? Both of them studied in Shan City!”
Bai Muchuan affirmed what she had said.
He could not conceal the admiration in his eyes.
“Little cutie, how could you remember these things so well?”
“Hehehe!” Xiang Wan smirked and snuggled against him. “Big bear, you remember it clearly as well.”
“…”
He raised his eyebrow in dissatisfaction upon hearing that new form of address.
Xiang Wan replied as if she had done nothing, “Just like both Mr. and Mrs. Zhao… Sun Shangli and Tan Ziyang could have come to Jin City for a short trip as well… Shan City and Jin City are neighboring cities, and it’s really common for college students to go on trips together.”
The next instant, she looked at Bai Muchuan’s face which was deep in thought.
“Well, I think it was the fate of these people that determined the real cause of these series of cases.”
Bai Muchuan looked a little gloomy; his fingers squeezed her shoulder gently, and he did not make any further remarks.
Xiang Wan started to dive deeper into her thoughts.
As she mulled over it, her ears started to hear a hum.
She suddenly had an epiphany.
Her own inference frightened her so.
“Little Xiang Wan?”
Bai Muchuan noticed the abnormality in her expression and held her closer.
“What’s up?”
“I was just thinking—” Xiang Wan looked up at him; there was a blank look in her eyes. “Do I have anything to do with that incident?”