Chapter 226: Chapter Twenty-Six: Bewildering and Mysterious

Yao Wenju slightly furrowed his brows, looking at me bewildered: "What are you saying? What isn't me?"

I stared at him, coldly saying: "Were Wu Fei and Han Duo sent by you to destroy the Yang family's feng shui ancestral tomb? Was Han Rui killed by you? Also, was the masked man who slapped me that day you?"

The atmosphere instantly turned tense; almost everyone in the room surrounded me, a few bodyguards tried to attack me, but Yao Wenju waved them off.

"Yang family, what's your relation to the Yang family?" Yao Wenju frowned and asked back.

I didn't answer, but with a cold expression I pressed him: "Tell me, are you that masked man?" Saying that, I deliberately pointed to my face, revealing the Yao character.

Yao Wenju followed my pointing, saw the Yao character, he looked puzzled at the ring, then at my face, and finally chuckled: "Oh, this is quite similar!"

"Speak, are you the masked man who hit me?" This was my third interrogation.

Yao Wenju shrugged, feeling I was utterly bewildered, he countered: "You say, how did I hit you back then? Like this?" While speaking, Yao Wenju gestured with his hand.

However, this very action left the aggressive me stunned.

Because Yao Wenju attacked me from the right, while the masked man attacked from the left. Of course, direction isn't the point; the point is the masked man's backhand slap, indicating his ring was on his left ring finger. Whereas Yao Wenju's ring is on his right ring finger.

"Your ring... has it always been on the right hand, never changed?" I stared at him, bewildered; after noticing this doubt, my heart gradually calmed. Upon reflection, not only is the ring's position wrong, but Yao Wenju's build also differs greatly from that of the masked man who attacked me.

But... if not Yao Wenju, who else could it be? First the plow-head talisman, then the jade plate finger; surely no one would deliberately fabricate facts to frame Yao Wenju?

"You all go out," Yao Wenju said, waving his hand as I was puzzled, calling everyone in the hall out.

He ran to the coffee machine, brewed two cups of coffee, after finishing handed me one, gesturing for me to sit down first.

"What exactly is your relation to the Yang family, and what happened to the Yang family? Why do you suspect me of being the mastermind behind killing Yang Shouren's son?" Yao Wenju's train of thought was clear; he asked all the crucial questions.

"I, Pangzi, and QingSongShu came to help the Yang family handle the feng shui ancestral tomb..." I slowly explained the whole context to Yao Wenju in detail, including Wu Fei and Han Duo, the masked man's fight, and Yang Rui's death, leaving no detail unmentioned.

After listening, Yao Wenju remained silent for a moment, sitting on the sofa slowly stirring his coffee, contemplating quietly.

I felt the situation growing bigger, so I anxiously urged him: "Brother Wen, if this truly isn't your doing, then someone is deliberately framing you. Although I don't know who that person is, you also need to quickly devise a countermeasure, otherwise once the Yang family takes action, everything will be over."

"The Yang family has already taken action!" Yao Wenju slammed down his coffee.

"What? Already taken action? That's impossible!" I first gasped in shock, then felt puzzled. Yang Shouren had said he'd put everything aside to first handle Yang Rui's aftermath, so how could he change his mind so quickly?

No, Yang Shouren hasn't changed his mind; I've been in the house all tonight, Yang Shouren never left the Yang family estate, nor did he issue orders to anyone. Therefore, the command for the Yang and Yao families to act definitely did not come from Yang Shouren.

There must be a greater hidden truth behind this.

"Sun Miao is dead... my Yao family's businesses in Yichang have three supermarkets sealed and five bars smashed; this is the Yang family indirectly using both legal and illegal connections. Also, the Masked Beast incident at the casino, I suspect was also instigated by the Yang family!" Yao Wenju threw a bombshell at me, leaving the previously confused me utterly bewildered, unable to tell east from west.

At this moment I completely didn't know who to believe. The Yang family people say the mastermind behind everything is Yao Wenju. Yet now Yao Wenju says he too is a victim harmed by the Yang family.

Surely it can't be that Yang Shouren personally killed his own son and then used this as an excuse to attack the Yao family? No matter how you look at it, this possibility is slim, after all Yang Shouren's feelings for Yang Rui are genuine; it's evident, not feigned.

Yao Wenju said nothing, instead pulling out an envelope from under the table. I took it, opened it, and found it was a stack of photos.

After clearly seeing the photos' contents, my eyes widened and I sucked in a breath of cold air.

This stack of photos shows two people meeting at a small restaurant; at the restaurant table, the two look mysterious, whispering and plotting secretly. I know these two people all too well: one is my fellow disciple from Yin Mountain, Wu Fei; the other is the Yang family's second master, Yang Shouren's younger brother, Yang Shouyi.

"What is this...?" I kept flipping through the photos, looking at Yao Wenju with doubt.

"Look carefully at the last one, see what you can discover!" Yao Wenju pointed at the bottom photo; I skipped ahead, flipping open the lowest photo. Upon spreading it out, I was shocked again.

The photo still only shows Wu Fei and Yang Shouyi, but behind Wu Fei there is a vague, blurry shadow; upon close inspection, one finds that this shadow matches the gray-clad Pangzi who was swallowed by the Masked Beast—it's practically identical.

"Before the casino incident, over the casino's share issue, I and the Yang family had a disagreement. How to put it? Yang the second master was being unreasonable, insisting on taking an extra ten percent from my Yao family. Know that my Yao family's share of the casino profits was only twenty percent anyway. He casually wanted to seize half of what my Yao family deserved, simply sucking our blood!"

Yao Wenju rubbed his forehead, slowly explaining: "According to reason, over these many years our profit split has been fixed; the Yang family's second master suddenly making this request is indeed strange. Afterwards, Sun Miao paid extra attention, after the meeting sent people to tail Yang Shouyi. He worried that the Yang family might have teamed up with other shareholders to annex my Yao family's shares, and even act against my Yao family's other holdings in Yichang. However, other shareholders didn't notice, but they did capture this batch of things."

"Then Yang Shouyi said you once sent people to Yang Family Village in the middle of the night—what's that about?" I put down the photos, looking at Yao Wenju.

Yao Wenju replied: "It wasn't me who sent them, but my subordinates followed the sallow-faced young man in the photo all the way to Yang Family Village."

"Want some coffee?" After Yao Wenju sweetened and stirred his coffee, he handed it to me. Then he picked up my cup on the table, added sugar, and slowly adjusted it.

He mused: "I originally suspected Yang Shouyi of failing to seize my Yao family's shares, so I used a ploy to kill with a borrowed knife, sending an unknown mystic to cause trouble at the casino. If everyone who won money at the casino then died mysteriously after leaving, people would surely think the casino was engaging in black‑on‑black violence. Once its reputation was damaged, the other shareholders would blame my Yao family."

"Wait... why would the other shareholders blame my Yao family after the casino incident, when the Yang family also has a stake?" I felt somewhat puzzled.

Yao Wenju gave a self‑deprecating chuckle, said nothing, and just pulled something from his pants pocket and tossed it over.

I casually caught it and looked—it was a paper crane folded from yellow paper. This paper crane was what Yao Wenju previously used to seek the Masked Beast.

"Don't underestimate any shareholder in this casino; those who can enter this game all have backgrounds not much weaker than my Yao family. Their connections, wealth, and relations are beyond your imagination."

Pausing, Yao Wenju said firmly: "So, as long as they investigate carefully, discovering that my Yao family inherits from the Wu lineage is not difficult. Afterwards, they will naturally suspect that my Yao family itself is behind the mischief. Regardless of whether anyone believes it, by then my Yao family will surely be in trouble."

I believe what Yao Wenju said; those who can sustain the casino's operation and participate in its management are certainly not ordinary people. This casino launders black money, gambles on smuggled antiquities, and even arranges contract killings. So audacious, there must be a profit chain within that ordinary folk dare not imagine.

"I thought the Yang family merely wanted to use a borrowed knife to kill, but hearing you say this, the matter is really not simple at all." Yao Wenju stopped stirring his coffee, frowned, lifted the cup to his lips, and took a light sip.

Just then, a flash of lightning streaked outside the house; the indoor air grew more oppressive, as if heralding an impending storm.

Yao Wenju's explanation made me more vexed and anxious, my head hurt even more. Amidst the myriad thoughts, I lightly sipped some coffee.

Who would have thought, as soon as the coffee entered my mouth I couldn't help but spit it out with a puff.

Damn, what the hell is this stuff? The taste is literally like cat shit.