During this period, Gao Min had been pushing herself extremely hard.
She spent nearly a dozen hours every day, meticulously reviewing the interrogation footage of the members of the Righteous Society over and over again.
Liu Yutong knew what she was searching for.
For all these years, Gao Min had never stopped wanting to bring the real culprit to justice. Even now, after learning about her own origins, one saying held true: the love of those who raised you outweighs even the heavens.
Moreover, Father Gao had truly been a good father.
According to the archives, Father Gao had a partner in his youth who had passed away from leukemia.
At the time, he had no children, and for certain reasons, he never remarried.
That was until Gao Min came into his life. From then on, Father Gao poured all his love into this daughter.
But fate could be cruel...
Liu Yutong also wanted to know who the real culprit was. Unfortunately, she didn’t have the answer either, as there was simply too little concrete information about the incident.
Still, she wasn’t completely in the dark—she had narrowed down a rough list of suspects.
First, based on her extensive investigations and piecing together fragments of events from her past life, all signs subtly pointed toward her own father, Liu Lei.
The most glaring red flag was that Liu Lei had never been posthumously honored as a martyr.
Yet, at the same time, he hadn’t been officially recorded as a suspect either.
This was an incredibly contradictory detail.
Highly unusual.
Liu Yutong could only speculate that Liu Lei must have been present when Father Gao met his end.
But she refused to believe that Liu Lei would have harmed Father Gao.
After all, Liu Lei had entrusted his own daughter to Father Gao’s care—their bond must have run deep. Besides, Liu Lei wouldn’t have wanted his daughter to lose a father.
Taking all the evidence and theories into account, something unexpected must have happened, leading to Father Gao’s tragedy.
And the timing was particularly suspicious—shortly afterward, Liu Lei founded the Righteous Society and rose to power as its leader.
Unlike Gao Min, Liu Yutong wasn’t one to wear her emotions on her sleeve.
But her determination to uncover the truth was no less fierce than Gao Min’s.
Sometimes, Liu Yutong found it ironic. In her past life, she had been such an ordinary girl from an ordinary family.
Yet in this life, everything had become so complicated. The more people she interacted with, the more it felt like she was being pulled into a swirling vortex, threatening to drag her and everything around her into its depths.
It reminded her of a saying: The circles you move in largely determine what your life will be like—or what it will become.
.............
During this time, her cousin Liu Debao had already returned home early.
Her grandparents had also gone back ahead of schedule.
Mainly because they found it hard to adjust here. Despite the comfortable living conditions, they felt overwhelmingly lonely.
As the saying goes, it’s hard to leave one’s homeland—the older you get, the stronger the longing for home.
Liu Yutong didn’t force them to stay. With the bank card Liu Debao had taken back, Liu Jianyi wouldn’t be causing any trouble for now.
Plus, Liu Debao reported daily updates, so she could keep track of what was happening at home in real time.
For instance, Liu Jianyi, unable to access the money in the card without the password and unable to reach Liu Yutong by phone, had managed to borrow a total of 300,000 yuan from others—using the excuse that the card held a million.
Why would anyone lend him money? For one, Guo Longzhi had confirmed that the card did indeed contain that amount.
With both witnesses and evidence, and the village chief Ergou worried that the gambling addict might renege on his promise to marry Liu Yutong once he got his hands on the money, people were willing to keep lending to him.
After all, they could always recoup their losses from the gambling den.
Though Liu Jianyi had borrowed 300,000 yuan, the sum had snowballed from repeated losses—no one had lent him the full amount at once.
Not that anyone would be foolish enough to hand over that much cash.
They weren’t stupid—they feared he might just take the money and run.
In short, a gambler should never have money. Ever since Liu Jianyi learned about the million-yuan card, he hadn’t settled down—instead, he gambled even more recklessly.
And, of course, he lost even more.
No one ever truly gets rich from gambling—unless they own the gambling den.
After losing over 100,000 yuan early on, Liu Jianyi didn’t rein himself in. Instead, under Guo Longzhi’s constant hints, he had a sudden “epiphany.”
It wasn’t that he was unlucky—it was just that Wang Ergou’s gambling den had bad feng shui!
If he switched to a place with better energy, he was sure to win—maybe even recoup all his past losses.
Later, he actually set up a gambling den in his own home.
Before long, villagers who enjoyed gambling during the New Year festivities began gathering at Liu Jianyi’s place, mainly because the stakes were sky-high—single bets could easily reach tens of thousands.
Absolutely terrifying!
This drew crowds of onlookers, even those who didn’t gamble, just to witness the spectacle.
Within days, Liu Jianyi’s home had become the largest gambling den in the surrounding villages.
What they didn’t know was that hidden cameras were installed all over the place.
In any case, everything was under control for now.
Liu Yutong would close the net once she returned.
..............
The Lunar New Year was approaching.
Among the Wanlong Group’s subsidiaries, only supermarket and restaurant staff had to remain on duty until New Year’s Eve. Employees from other businesses, especially core members, had already begun returning to their hometowns.
For those based in Bright Pearl City, Liu Yutong allowed them to take company cars home for the holidays.
In this era, driving a sedan back to one’s rural hometown was a major status symbol—especially in villages where car ownership was rare.
Anyone who returned in a car would instantly become the talk of the town.
“Look! So-and-so came back in a car.........”
Of course, the privilege of taking a company car was reserved for senior and well-respected core members.
There was no helping it—even though the company owned a fleet of vehicles, there weren’t enough to go around.
Still, those who drove back didn’t go alone. They carpooled with colleagues heading the same way or from the same hometown.
This made the journey much more convenient for everyone.
Otherwise, they’d have to rely on public buses, which typically only ran between cities and counties. To get to their villages, they’d either need someone to pick them up on a bike or squeeze into a shared three-wheeler or minivan—a hassle.
Before long, it was the 28th day of the lunar month.
Liu Yutong packed some clothes and skincare essentials, ready to head home for the New Year.
Just as she reached the villa’s entryway, before she could open the door, the doorbell rang urgently.
She opened it, and a gust of cold air rushed in, carrying a figure who nearly stumbled inside.
It was Gao Min.
Her condition looked terrible—most noticeably, dark circles hung under her eyes, and the whites of her once-clear eyes were now streaked with alarming red veins.
Clearly, she hadn’t been resting well, having pushed herself far too hard.
Before Liu Yutong could even ask, Gao Min's icy fingers clamped down on her arm, her voice hoarse with desperation.
"Little sister, tell me! You must know who it is, right?!"
"You definitely know! You know! Tell me! Who killed Father Gao?!"
