The Guide to Rising to Power: The Ultimate Schemes of a Green Tea Beauty

The case concerning Liang Zhenghe is still progressing step by step.

But Leung Cheng-ho was determined not to reveal any accomplices, and even casually uttered a remark during interrogation:

"It's boring to say it out loud."

He was not afraid of death; everyone's anxiety, waiting, and repeated deductions were just entertainment for him.

This man wanted to carry those secrets, and a bellyful of schemes to annoy everyone, and sit peacefully until the very end.

Neither Xue Huaiqing nor Shen Yao were particularly happy.

No one can do anything about Liang Zhenghe.

In the face of procedural justice, this kind of person becomes the toughest obstacle. If you don't follow the rules, you're breaking the law; if you follow the rules, they can keep you going until you go crazy.

Ultimately, Lu Xiuting and his team decided to abandon their efforts to further investigate Liang Zhenghe.

If this continues, are we supposed to wait several years or even more than a decade until he's in a good mood and finally speaks up to identify the culprit?

Shen Yao did not tell anyone else about her conversation with Liang Zhenghe that day, except for a few investigators such as Lu Xiuting.

She didn't tell Xue Huaiqing because she didn't want him to suffer any more pain; she didn't mention Liang Xiheng because she still thought that the title of "siblings" might still be able to restrain him.

Liang Zhenghe's crimes warrant the death penalty.

Xue Huaiqing would never let him have such a good time.

Shen Yao was the same.

But on the very day Xue Huaiqing was preparing to take further measures, Liang Zhenghe died.

It was raining in Yanjing on the day Liang Zhenghe died.

The surveillance and listening devices were interfered with by some unknown means and all of them became ineffective.

The only trace was his open eyes, as if to say: You will never know the answer.

Who he met and what he said before he died remains unknown, like a light that has been extinguished forever.

Lu Xiuting looked at Shen Yao suspiciously:

"You really don't know anything?"

Shen Yao replied frankly, "I really don't know."

She was telling the truth.

Lu Xiuting remained silent, his gaze fixed on her face as if he were examining something he had never been able to see through.

After a long pause, he finally spoke, his voice deep and heavy:

"Shen Yao, I'll pretend you know nothing. More importantly, I want to ask you, are you planning to live like this forever?"

He often encountered her on many occasions in Yanjing, and each time, she was accompanied by a different man.

It would be a lie to say I'm not jealous at all.

But Lu Xiuting's deeper confusion was: How did those people manage to do that? Why could they accept her like this?

He began to question his long-held views on relationships. Was he caring too much, or is this just how the world is?

Shen Yao looked at him without flinching and answered him earnestly, "If I really intend to do that, what will you do?"

Lu Xiuting's dark eyes stared directly at her:

"You won't regret it? You won't change your mind? You won't hesitate?"

Shen Yao did not hesitate for a moment:

"I have no regrets, and I will not change."

Upon hearing this answer, Lu Xiuting's heart sank.

That familiar disappointment resurfaced, even carrying a hint of the anger he felt when he caught her cheating.

The man asked himself, why did he repeatedly yearn for Shen Yao to reform? Why did he long for her to say those words—

"Lu Xiuting, I only want you."

At that moment, Shen Yao stepped forward and gently hugged him. Her voice was low, tinged with a hint of probing and a touch of soft regret:

"Are you still hung up on me?"

Lu Xiuting closed his eyes, his voice trembling with suppressed pain: "If I said yes... could you change your mind?"

A genuine sense of guilt washed over Shen Yao.

This man had shielded her from a knife and saved people for her. He had devoted so much effort to this case, partly because she cared about Xue Huaiqing.

She's not stupid; she can see it.

But Shen Yao couldn't bring herself to hurt another group of people for his sake. They had been very good to her. She had already gone too far down this path, and she couldn't turn back.

Filled with guilt, Shen Yao looked up and faced the situation with honesty:

"I can't do it. The reason I can't is not because I don't like you, but because I'm just that greedy."

The turmoil of anger, resentment, and unwillingness surging in Lu Xiuting's eyes suddenly seemed to be gently suppressed by something in the face of her gaze, which was both genuine and feigned.

Shen Yao tiptoed and kissed him.

"If you change your mind," she stepped back half a step, her eyes crinkling at him, "my birthday is coming up soon."

"I'm planning a birthday party that day and I'd like to invite you all. I hope to see you there."

She released her grip and gave him a bright smile:

"I'll be sad if you don't come."

No relationship can be maintained by just one person. Being too clingy will annoy people, while being too cold will extinguish passion. A subtle, almost imperceptible response is the best.

She was greedy and naturally hoped he would come too.

Lu Xiuting stood there, his face slightly pale, his heart feeling as if something was tightening and loosening, then tightening again.

He watched her disappear into the night, remaining motionless for a long time.

For a long time afterward, the man was still reeling from the conversation.

He was an alcoholic and talked nonsense. Even his subordinates couldn't stand it and said he was crazy: "Your girlfriend is cheating on you, and you still want to take the initiative to be nice to her?"

Lu Xiuting also wanted to say that, not only that, she also wanted to raise fish openly and legitimately, and be a sea queen at the same time!

His subordinate advised him, "Boss, she taught you a lesson you won't forget, and you lost. Now you're just resentful, feeling like you're inferior to other men."

"It's the competitive spirit at play, not genuine liking for it!"

Lu Xiuting simply shook his head, his voice low and indistinct:

"no the same."

He's not at an age where he can't distinguish between competitiveness and what he likes.

He only has two choices:

Give up on Shen Yao, or tolerate her and reconcile.

Lu Xiuting thought he had enough time to think things through before his birthday, but not long after, a series of incidents began to occur in Yanjing.

High-ranking police officials, senior members of the disciplined services, powerful figures in politics, company CEOs... one after another, at a frequency that sends chills down your spine.

Lu Xiuting and his team quickly focused their clues on Liang Zhenghe's case, and it turned out that the vast majority of those who had gotten into trouble were indeed inextricably linked to this major case.

Is it a case of evil being punished, or is it a deliberate act of retaliation by someone bypassing procedural justice?

Nobody can say for sure.

The answer is like ashes scattered by the wind.

It can never be pieced back together.

The good news is that, thanks to this series of revelations, the case has actually made a breakthrough.

The individuals involved were arrested one after another, and the investigation was fully launched. Everything seemed to be moving in a "steady and positive" direction.

When Shen Yao and Xue Huaiqing looked at each other, the same question always arose in their minds:

Was there a person who was really dead?

Did he do this?

No one could answer. At least not openly, no one knew the person's whereabouts.

Shen Yao's phone call to Xiao Weixun that day, the harsh words she shouted from afar, and that test, never received any response.

She still felt a lingering uncertainty, a sense of not being able to figure things out, and a heart that couldn't let go.

At least, the pain that Xue Huaiqing had kept hidden for so long was smoothed out, leaving a deep crack.

If it really is him, then the tragic and laughable deep-seated hatred that lies between these half-brothers has been quietly stitched up in a way that no one knows about.

Is this considered justice?

_

"Ah Qing, have you let go?"

Shen Yao and Xue Huaiqing stood side by side by the window, gazing at the endless stream of lights in the night sky of Yanjing.

Xue Huaiqing held her hand and said, "Mmm."

Looking at his profile, Shen Yao knew that he had just avenged his great enemy, and the scab that had been there for too long was slowly falling off.

But there are some things she has already decided, and telling him is just a matter of time.

Shen Yao spoke softly:

"Aqing, there's something I want to tell you."