521 A killer, a murderer
Ai couldn’t see the memories but her mother and father’s pained and grieving voices rang in her ears. But those voices faded away as suddenly as they had started whispering to her.
“Ai?”
She jolted, her body feeling cold but soon felt a warm hand on top of hers and a pair of dark brown eyes looking at her anxiously. Zhou Yichen and Xie Nuying hadn’t noticed yet, but Jun had caught her hand trembling and going into a stupor.
“What happened?”
Ai looked ahead and saw her parents bickering as usual. But in her mind, those cheery voices were lamenting. Zhou Yichen was so firm in proving the conspiracy behind her death that it broke her heart.
She bent and whispered to Jun. “I am not sure but I heard Mom and Dad’s voices…from the past. It happened suddenly.”
Jun slightly widened his eyes. He felt it was strange for the past voices to appear without any clue.
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“It was after my-“
“Hey, hey what are you two whispering to each other?” Zhou Yichen leaned with interest. “Tell me, tell me too! Hehe, is it something naughty? Don’t worry, your Dad here is quite forward~”
Jun quickly smiled it off. “Nothing. Just some things from today’s celebration.”
Xie Nuying said, “They are a couple and have their own private conversations. Don’t bother them.”
He threw a glare at her but snorted in the end.
Jun then received a call from Chyou but hesitated to leave Ai away.
“Who is it?” Ai asked.
“Chyou.”
“Pick it up then. She must have got something on Zhan Yahui.”
“But you…”
“I am fine. It was out of the blue, but now I am okay,” Ai patted on top of his hand.
Jun thought for a moment and let out a sigh. “Fine.”
He excused himself for a moment and Ai looked back at her parents who somehow got another reason to argue over. She then felt a nudge at her feet and turning her head saw the cat Jun-cute staring back at her. He who always ignored Ai at every chance he got strangely stayed beside her with an unreadable expression.
Ai softly smiled and rubbed his furry head with the tip of her finger. “I am fine. Hehe, I knew you liked me.”
Jun-cute looked away but remained seated beside her feet, quietly staring at Ai-cat who followed Jun.
—
Inside his bedroom, Jun slid across the green button and said, “Hey.”
His warm and smiling countenance from a minute before immediately turned into an icy and vicious one, akin to a lion who wanted to strike his claws at his enemy.
“Jun! I dug into Zhan Yahui’s past. From the looks of it, she doesn’t seem to have any connection to you. Like you already knew before, she is Shi Shuren’s illegitimate daughter. She hopped from one orphanage to another after her parents died, completed her schooling with some scholarships and joined Dream High early on. I guess she was around eighteen when she went back to Shi Shuren, demanding her rights because it was then that he secretly put some shares on her name and made her a shareholder.”
“I never had anything to do with Shi Shuren.”
Chyou released her breath. “I know. At a cursory glance, there doesn’t seem to be any link between you two. So I went farther to check her records right from her birth. And I found something strange.”
Jun stayed silent.
“Somehow, I didn’t get much information on her parents.”
Jun frowned.
“I searched the family name Zhan in all records, but I didn’t get any data regarding Zhan Yahui’s family. For some reason, her parents’ information isn’t registered anywhere.”
“That cannot be possible.”
Chyou sneered. “I know. When I combed through all the records and found nothing, it strangely reminded me of our dear hacker who planted the drafts in Cui Fen and Sun Bai’s phones. Somebody has tampered with those records to be never found.”
“Can you not find it either?”
Chyou snorted. “Please show me some respect, young man. Do you think I would have called you if I had nothing on my hands? I admit that that hacker is capable but he cannot be more capable than me~ I am far too talented. I won’t rest until I find what I need!”
Jun rolled his eyes at the drama queen. “Who are they?”
*Meow*
Jun looked down and was surprised to see Ai-chan circling around him. He smiled and picked her up and kissed the top of her head.
“Both of her parents have passed away. Her mother’s name was Zhan Kai-Ming, and her father’s name was Ouyang Haitao. The surname Zhan actually comes from her mother.”
Jun froze.
“Ouyang Haitao isn’t actually registered as her father, but I came to know that they had submitted an application to get married at the Civil Affairs. But one day, Ouyang Haitao was shot to his head in some skirmish with some goons, and Zhan Kai-Ming committed suicide a few days after that. It’s really tragic honestly.”
Jun stared at the empty space ahead with a blank stare.
“But I still don’t understand why Zhan Yahui would want to hide this.”
Jun didn’t respond.
“Neither the reason why Zhan Yahui wants to target you. Seriously, why does she hate you so much?”
No answer.
“Jun?”
No answer.
“Jun? Hey Juuuuuun, are you there? Wait, the call is still connected, right? Hey it is! Why aren’t you answering me!” She pouted.
“…Chyou.”
“Finally, you spoke!” She harrumphed.
“Can you show me Zhan Yahui’s childhood picture?”
“Her childhood one? Wait a second.”
He heard Chyou’s keyboard tapping sounds. “Hah! What do you know? There doesn’t seem to be proper pictures in the database either. That hacker seemed to have left no stone unturned. But no fear when Zhu Chyou is here~”
It took some time for her to insert a code in the database and get what she wanted after which she immediately forwarded the picture to Jun.
“Sent. Check it.”
His fingers moved before Chyou had completed her sentence, and he opened the picture.
As soon as the image of Zhan Yahui’s little version appeared on his screen, a shiver ran across his spine. His heart thudded faster similar to what Ai felt just a few minutes ago as the voices came flowing into his mind.
But it didn’t belong to the part of the past which he hadn’t seen before. The memories that knocked on his door were something that he was well familiar with.
A little girl cried as her dress was soaked in blood and her unforgiving and vicious gaze fell upon a little boy wearing glasses with a cold and unfeeling expression.
‘You are…you are a killer! You killed my father! You are a murderer I will never forgive!’