2057: The Mastermind

The Mastermind

The Wu family's bodyguards had just received the news that they had found several of the Zhou family's neighbors. They all knew of Zhou Hua, but they did not know what she looked like.1

The Zhou family had told everyone that Zhou Hua had smallpox which could not be cured and was contagious. Therefore, she rarely went outside, and when she did, she had to wear a veil and avoid the neighbors. She was treated as a leper as everyone was afraid that she would infect them with a strange disease.

"If that's the case, why didn't the Zhou family kill this lady who was keeping their secrets sooner?" Wu Pingting asked.

"I think it's not that they didn't want to kill her, but that they didn't dare to. After all, most normal people wouldn't want to kill someone without reason, right?" Wu Jingcheng answered his daughter.

"Then why did they kill Aunt when sister was born? I don't believe that aunt had such bad luck that she just happened to bleed to death after giving birth. Dad, do you believe it?"

Wu Pingting had too many questions that Wu Jingcheng just could not answer.

He too wondered why the Zhou family had not just killed Zhou Hua when she was younger and instead waited for her to grow up.

"Isn't that what Zhou Menglu just said? Zhou Hua bled to death when she gave birth at home without a midwife. Perhaps they wanted to kill Zhou Hua sooner but didn't dare to. By using this method to kill her, they would be able to escape the blame even if Zhou Hua had some status. From the looks of it, even though the Zhou family abused your sister, they never actually did anything too extreme—besides the matter regarding Sze Junyan." Nangong Nuannuan chimed in.

"Then... Then who is my aunt?" Wu Pingting exhaled. "She's clearly a commoner from a small family, yet she gives off a particularly mysterious aura."

"All we can do now is go to the matriarch of the Zhou family. Didn't Zhou Mengjing mention that her mother would be coming back today?"

"There's no need to look for her," Wu Jingzhong said. "Zhou Menglu and Zhou Mengjing, two common folks, still don't dare to tell the truth about Zhou Hua. This can only mean that Zhou Hua's true identity is a valuable secret. Zhou Menglu loves her son so much, and even after feeling so frightened of me, she would rather have her son suffer and be sentenced than tell the truth about Zhou Hua. Zhou Hua was raised by Old Lady Zhou, so she definitely knows about Zhou Hua's history. Maybe Old Lady Zhou is the mastermind. If we rashly go question her, if this woman is smart, all we'll be doing is alerting her."

"Uncle, do you mean that... we should play the long game? We should monitor Old Lady Zhou first?" Wu Pingting's eyes lit up as she asked.

Wu Jingzhong nodded. "We'll spy on her for some time first. We'll think of a way to keep Zhou Menglu and Zhou Mengjing's families in custody and we'll see what Old Lady Zhou does. A poor, selfish, and extremely vicious family like theirs would not raise someone else's child for no reason. It's highly unlikely that they randomly picked up Zhou Hua by the roadside and brought her home. It's even more unlikely that they would kill someone only to raise their daughter as their own. She has to have her own reasons for raising Zhou Hua—the same reason she raised Lil Yun.

"When they were so poor 22 years ago, they still rathered give up one million than hand over Zhou Hua. This can only mean that Zhou Hua's identity is more valuable than the one million offered at the time."

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