Chapter 501: The Framing Plan

Father Zhang lit a cigarette and continued, “I thought about going directly to her and offering her money. I could come up with tens of thousands, but my wife said that wouldn’t work. These young girls haven’t faced hardships and don’t understand the value of money. Bribing her wouldn’t work. If she told Jinlei, he would know we were meddling behind the scenes. We needed a foolproof plan.

“My wife understood our son well. He’s very stubborn. If we could throw some dirt on this girl’s reputation and make them break up on their own, it would solve everything. My wife followed her and found a boy who was very close to her. He was also from a rough background, quite a match for her…”

“Yue Chao?” Chen Shi interjected.

“Yes, that’s the name. My wife approached Yue Chao, hoping he could find a way to break them up. But Yue Chao said he couldn’t do much since the girl was completely infatuated with my son. He couldn’t understand these young people! But Yue Chao had an idea. He knew a place where some high school girls were engaged in prostitution. He planned to lure her there and then call the police. If my son found out she was involved in such things, he would definitely leave her.”

Lin Dongxue was shocked. Chen Shi thought that this might be Zhang’s way of shifting the blame onto Yue Chao.

Chen Shi asked, “That sounds like a decent plan, but how was your son supposed to find out?”

“That’s easy. I had a friend in the media who would take some photos at the scene and publish them. My son would see them.” Father Zhang actually seemed proud of his cleverness.

“How did the plan go?”

“It went well, but I don’t know if Yue Chao had crap for brains. At the critical moment, he intervened and rescued her from the police. No photos were taken… Ah, these kids today, one is more unreliable than the next. Yue Chao had agreed to help me for twenty thousand yuan.”

“Mr. Zhang, now we come back to the original problem. Your framing plan failed. You might have taken extreme measures to get rid of her!”

“I didn’t! Heaven’s my witness, I couldn’t kill anyone!” Father Zhang was sweating profusely. “I was so angry I wished she’d get hit by a car. No, no…” He slapped his own mouth repeatedly. “I would never kill anyone. I cared about my son’s future, but I wouldn’t commit murder! I was up for a promotion at that time. I wouldn’t risk my future!”

“Then tell me, your plan failed, your lie was about to be exposed, what did you do? You wouldn’t just give up, right?”

“I… I gave Yue Chao twenty thousand to fix it.”

“How?”

“He was supposed to rape her and then take some photos for my son to see. He agreed.”

Lin Dongxue was stunned. If Yue Chao had really done that, Zhang Jinlei might have killed him right then.

“When was this?”

“I don’t remember. You can ask Yue Chao. He promised to handle it. Then the girl died. My first thought was that Yue Chao did it. Attempted rape turned into murder. He’s a thug. I couldn’t report it. My son would have gone mad if he knew. It’s been so many years; I can talk about it now. You should investigate Yue Chao. He’s definitely the main suspect!”

Chen Shi exchanged a glance with Lin Dongxue and stood up. “Thank you for your cooperation.”

“I hope you can be gentle when you tell my son. He might get too emotional. Please consider a parent’s feelings.” Father Zhang clasped his hands in a pleading gesture.

“Mr. Zhang, if Yue Chao is the killer, you’ll be charged with incitement. You can explain that to your son yourself!” Chen Shi and Lin Dongxue walked out, leaving Father Zhang slumped in his chair, looking lost.

Outside the bank, Chen Shi made a phone call. Lin Dongxue said, “If I hadn’t heard it myself, I wouldn’t believe there are parents like this. Sometimes I’m grateful to be an orphan.”

“The scarier part is he still thinks he did everything out of love for his child. Let’s head back.”

“Aren’t we going to find Yue Chao?”

“Old Peng told me the fingerprints matched. He was the one who sent the banner. With this evidence, we can make him talk.”

“That idiot left fingerprints? Can he really be the killer?”

Back at the station, they picked up the fingerprint results and had a quick lunch before heading to find Yue Chao.

Yue Chao was currently with clients, a group of elderly people, at his company. The company had given them a simple lunch and was now selling them a health supplement.

This sales method, called “conference marketing,” was in full swing. No one noticed Chen Shi and Lin Dongxue slipping in through the back.

Yue Chao, in a cheap suit that strained against his bulky frame, was passionately pitching the product. “Great news, everyone! We have an internal announcement. Today, all products are buy one, get one free. Yes, for only 998 yuan, you get a box of cordyceps essence and a box of nano rejuvenation capsules. Only today, only now!”

The speakers blared “Grateful Heart,” and the salespeople swarmed the elderly, getting them to sign orders. Each time an order was signed, they would shout, “Ms. Li ordered three sets!” “Mr. Wang ordered one set!” The atmosphere was electric.

Lin Dongxue winced, “Isn’t this outright fraud?”

“We’ll report this health supplement company to the relevant authorities.”

When the conference ended, the elderly happily left with their purchases. Yue Chao, sweaty and flushed with success, was chatting with colleagues about their earnings when he saw Chen Shi and Lin Dongxue approaching.

“Doing well in sales?” Chen Shi asked.

“Just making a living. What do you want?” Yue Chao replied.

“Let’s talk.”