Chapter Fourteen: I Am the Backbone

“Hmm...”

The old man pinched the pink diamond and examined it carefully but found nothing unusual.

“What do you mean?”

Jin Luyi continued, “This kind of pink diamond is extremely rare and seldom seen on the market. I even had it appraised by an expert and discovered that this pink diamond is actually a pair with the one from last time!”

The old man immediately understood. “You suspect that the seven victims are somehow connected to that old car accident?”

“I don’t know,” Jin Luyi shook her head. “But I’ve already sent people to investigate further. Maybe we’ll uncover something.”

“It’s been so long...” The old man sighed lightly. He had thought Jin Luyi had moved on from that incident, but it seemed she still harbored resentment.

“That man has probably been released by now, right?”

The man in question, of course, was Ye Feng.

Jin Luyi’s expression hardened, her silver teeth clenched tightly. “I followed your teachings, my foster father. Even facing such a scoundrel, I restrained myself from pulling the trigger. But I will definitely capture him again! Absolutely!”

If it weren’t for the old man’s careful guidance and nurturing over the years, which soothed her anger and set her on the right path, she would have taken revenge with a gun the moment they met again.

“Some things should be let go,” the old man advised. “You have your own life; why keep entangling yourself with that brat?”

“The blood feud over my mother’s death is unbridgeable!” Jin Luyi gritted her teeth. “If he had accomplices back then, I will make sure to catch them all!”

Seeing she was unyielding, the old man said no more. Over years of companionship, he understood that the mother was this child’s soft spot, her inviolable wrath, and touching it would provoke fury.

Now that the perpetrator was out of prison, he only hoped they wouldn’t stir up more trouble.

“By the way, foster father,” Jin Luyi tucked away the pink diamond and asked curiously, “when I came just now, I saw someone near the villa halfway up the mountain. Is that villa really inhabited?”

Mentioning the Yunshang Fenghua villa, the old man stood by the window and glanced toward it, sighing heavily.

“There’s a poor soul living there too...”

...

Inside the Yunshang Fenghua villa,

The interior was pitch black; no one knew how long the lights had been broken. The furnishings were scattered haphazardly, as if ransacked.

Once magnificent, it could no longer hide its decay.

---

Ye Feng entered the villa and found the girl living there, ghostlike in her presence.

Tall and slender, dressed in white pajamas, she moved as lightly as a cat.

Her face was pale as paper, and with the dreary surroundings, at first glance she looked like a wandering spirit.

“You must be Bai Weiwei,” Ye Feng said naturally, sitting on a dusty sofa. “Your brother sent me to find you.”

“My brother?” At the mention of her brother, a faint spark flickered in Bai Weiwei’s lifeless eyes. “Who are you? Why would my brother send you?”

“My name is Ye Feng,” he said straightforwardly. “I was your brother’s cellmate.”

Bai Weiwei tried to sit down but saw only that one sofa in the hall, so she settled on the floor.

“How did you get out?” she asked curiously. “Isn’t the place where my brother is locked up impossible to escape from?”

“My sentence was five years,” Ye Feng replied. “So I got out. But your brother and the others... unless they break out, it’s hard for them to get out again.”

“Ah...” Bai Weiwei sighed softly. She had hoped for a breakthrough but things remained the same.

Bai Weiwei’s brother, Bai Shouqi, was a business prodigy who once held the title of the world’s richest man.

He rose to fame at thirty, reached his peak at forty, and then plummeted dramatically.

His life was like a roller coaster.

Until he went to prison and vanished from the world’s sight.

In prison, Ye Feng had been both mentor and friend to Bai Shouqi, who was only in his forties.

The only thing Bai Shouqi worried about was his half-sister, who was nearly twenty years younger.

Besides asking Ye Feng to look after his sister, Bai Shouqi also tasked him with rebooting his business empire and bringing it back to its peak.

“I will help you rise again!” Ye Feng promised. “That’s your brother’s wish too!”

But Bai Weiwei responded indifferently.

“It’s useless,” she said calmly. “Even if you rise a hundred times, it’s no use. Do you know why my brother failed?”

“Why?” Ye Feng had heard Bai Shouqi summarize it countless times.

“Because my brother had no backing,” Bai Weiwei said. “He truly started from nothing! No matter how brilliant or magnificent his empire seemed, it was just a castle in the air!”

---

“Is that what you’re worried about?” Ye Feng smiled. “That’s only one of many reasons for failure. Don’t worry—you have one now!”

“Where’s this backing?” Bai Weiwei finally showed some spirit.

“Right here!” Ye Feng said firmly. “From now on, I’m your backing!”

Hearing this, Bai Weiwei’s disappointment was palpable.

She had expected her brother to send a powerful force, but it turned out to be just a braggart.

Seeing her disbelief, Ye Feng said no more. She would understand in time.

“Have you always lived here?” Ye Feng stood and looked around, noticing the broken lights. “How did it come to this?”

“Your brother said everything in this villa was protected. He thought you’d be living well here...”

But Bai Weiwei’s life here was miserable.

“You’ll find out soon enough...” Bai Weiwei said, too weary to explain anything.

She had witnessed the rise and fall of this mansion, as if detached from the world, indifferent to everything around her.

Just then, noise erupted at the door.

Someone was coming?

Ye Feng looked outside.

More than a dozen people had gathered.

A middle-aged man led them, barking orders.

“You, check the second floor. You, the third floor. You, the basement! Find anything valuable and there’ll be a hefty reward!”

The man swaggered in and noticed Ye Feng.

Surprised, he said, “Oh, I’m late. Looks like someone beat me to it today. Brother, found any treasures yet?”