Xia Xiaolan had people monitoring the situation and soon learned of Ye Xiaoqiong’s “counter-accusation.”

“Ye Xiaoqiong deliberately appeared at the Yangcheng train station. She wanted to be taken in by the police for investigation so she could file charges against the Yuan family.”

This plan must have been decided after Zhou Yi refused to testify to the police.

By stepping into the light deliberately, Ye Xiaoqiong could instead clear herself of suspicion.

Now, the accusations of kidnapping, extortion, and physical harm came only from the Yuan family’s one-sided testimony. Without Zhou Yi as a third-party witness and no strong evidence, Ye Xiaoqiong could firmly deny everything.

He Shiyuan had disappeared, and those hired thugs certainly wouldn’t dare show themselves.

Little Yu still didn’t quite understand, “She could have vanished like He Shiyuan. Why risk showing herself?”

Xia Xiaolan smiled, “Vanish? That way, though she’d have her revenge, she couldn’t live openly in society. She’d always be a suspect, affecting her future return home. People always talk about falling leaves returning to their roots – Ye Xiaoqiong can go to Hong Kong now, or seek a living abroad, but what if she wants to return to China in the future?”

No criminal record, no suspicion.

Resolving this matter completely and cleanly – that must be Ye Xiaoqiong’s thinking.

Little Yu clicked her tongue:

“She’s something!”

People become capable when forced to – those who’ve been through life’s hardships either become formidable or get swallowed by life’s cruelty.

“Little Yu, you have the chance to be even more capable than her. Keep at it.”

Little Yu wanted to object, but then she thought about how both she and Ye Xiaoqiong had started as secretaries. Ye Xiaoqiong had been Secretary Du Zhaoqi’s secretary, later becoming his special assistant.

She was President Xia’s secretary.

Their starting points were the same.

If President Xia said she could be more capable than Ye Xiaoqiong, wouldn’t objecting imply President Xia was inferior to Du Zhaoqi?

Hmph, impossible!

President Xia was more capable than anyone.

“President Xia, I won’t disappoint your expectations.”

While they could get information about Ye Xiaoqiong’s situation, news about Yuan Han being taken away by the Discipline Inspection Commission was harder to come by. The Commission’s cases were confidential from start to finish, so Xia Xiaolan could only ask Old Tang at home.

Tang Hong’en had made encouraging progress with Ji Jiangyuan these past few days. Liu Fen, who was supposed to return to Beijing, had stayed a few extra days.

In Xia Xiaolan’s summary, the estranged father-son relationship had finally begun to thaw.

Tang Hong’en was quite moved, “A wise wife prevents many troubles. I don’t believe in the saying about wives bringing prosperity, but your mother’s understanding and magnanimity encouraged me to take that reconciliatory step toward Jiangyuan. When I brought the yam porridge in a thermos to him, Jiangyuan was very surprised. He sat down and finished the porridge, and we had a long talk… Women are indeed more thoughtful. If it were up to me, I wouldn’t have thought to bring porridge!”

The difference between men’s and women’s thinking.

Bringing food was a blind spot in Tang Hong’en’s thinking.

Neither he nor Ji Jiangyuan lacked food or clothing. If he wanted to meet Ji Jiangyuan, they could easily go to a restaurant.

But bringing home-cooked porridge made Ji Jiangyuan feel, beyond his surprise, that he was being cared for by his birth father.

Money can solve many problems, but when both parties don’t lack money, simple warmth and care can be more effective than money.

Xia Xiaolan was curious, “So Mom stayed in Pengcheng instead of returning to Beijing. She’s not going to make porridge for Ji Jiangyuan every day, is she?”

“She’s thinking about whether to invite Jiangyuan to eat at home!”

Oh, that could work.

Xia Xiaolan was interested, “Would he agree?”

Tang Hong’en wasn’t sure, “I don’t know, I haven’t had the chance to bring it up. From what I understand, he’s been contacting hospitals in Hong Kong these past few days, wanting to send Ji Ya there for treatment. They’re preliminarily deciding on Hong Kong Castle Peak Hospital. You know many people in Hong Kong – what do you know about this hospital?”

Ah, Castle Peak Hospital, Hong Kong’s famous psychiatric hospital.

Xia Xiaolan thought if Ji Ya could really go to Castle Peak Hospital, it would be a relatively good outcome. Though Ji Ya wasn’t a good person, there was no need to force a psychiatric patient to kneel on Chang’an Street to apologize – but could the hospital cure Ji Ya’s manic paranoia and princess syndrome?

Xia Xiaolan seriously doubted it!

People with princess syndrome aren’t heinously evil – they can live however they want in their little world as long as they don’t affect innocent people.

“Uncle Tang, I wanted to ask, Zhou Yi’s husband Yuan Han was taken away by the Municipal Discipline Inspection Commission. He hasn’t said anything nonsensical that might affect you, has he?”

Tang Hong’en couldn’t help but laugh, “How could he affect me? Just because he claims to be my relative doesn’t make it so. The Commission will investigate – his surname is Yuan, mine is Tang.”

He was just a small section chief bragging – could he implicate Tang Hong’en?

If Xia Xiaolan and Zhou Cheng were registered as married, Yuan Han might barely count as Tang Hong’en’s “relative,” albeit a very distant one.

But now? They had no connection. Yuan Han’s wishful thinking about dragging Tang Hong’en down – unless this situation caught them completely off guard and someone like Du Zhaoqi was pushing things behind the scenes, there might be a slight possibility.

Du Zhaoqi had confined Ye Xiaoqiong, Du Zhaowei went to complain, and Du Chengrong ordered Ye Xiaoqiong’s release and kept Du Zhaoqi confined in Hong Kong.

Du Zhaoqi was too busy to stir up trouble lately, and Yuan Han alone was far from enough.

“Ye Xiaoqiong had someone send materials to the Discipline Inspection Commission, including audio tapes and records of Yuan Han accepting gifts through his position after transferring to Pengcheng. There was also a report letter from ‘He Shiyuan,’ saying she was asked for sexual favors and benefits. She wrote that Pengcheng’s investment environment frightened her, and she was even more afraid of retaliation from Yuan Han, a high official’s son-in-law, so she only submitted the materials but dared not appear in person.”

Ugh!

He Shiyuan’s report letter was written to utterly destroy Yuan Han.

With people like Yuan Han daring to demand bribes, scaring away Hong Kong merchants – if Yuan Han wasn’t made an example of, wouldn’t this have a terrible impact?

“But He Shiyuan’s identity has been exposed. She’s just a con artist – will the Commission believe her report? The benefits Yuan Han received were also extorted back by He Shiyuan, not just the 50,000 Hong Kong dollars, Yuan Han paid even more.”

This was what puzzled Xia Xiaolan.

How would Ye Xiaoqiong explain this away?

Tang Hong’en sighed, “You are only suited for business. Stay out of these matters. I’ll tell you two things: First, who He Shiyuan is – right now we can only confirm she’s not the daughter of the Hong Kong merchant He family who was engaged to Tang Yuanyue of Hemeihua. However, this identity was something she deliberately let Yuan Han and others misunderstand, not something she claimed herself. Did she ever personally say she was someone’s daughter? No! But her coming to Pengcheng to investigate investment opportunities was real. Second, the Commission found over 40,000 Hong Kong dollars in cash at Yuan Han’s residence, determined to be unspent bribe money.”

The identity of the briber wasn’t important.

What mattered was that Yuan Han’s solicitation and acceptance of bribes was real.

Xia Xiaolan was dumbfounded. Ye Xiaoqiong was willing to sacrifice – she put part of the extorted money back into Yuan Han’s residence. Yuan Han couldn’t clear himself even if he jumped into the Yellow River!

“Wait, if that’s the case, there won’t be any connection to you, but Uncle Zhou Cheng’s side… he probably won’t escape investigation?”