Free Web NovelChapter 167: Chapter 166 The One Who Cheated Was Actually Her_1
Xu Dayuan repeated Yi Xiaou’s words without missing a single one.
Mr. Zhao exclaimed in astonishment:
"Damn, could the nanny be involved with Dong Chengwen? Highly intelligent, well-educated, and so presumptuous—ordinary people can’t pull off something like this. Especially someone of Dong Chengwen’s status, would his family entrust care to someone whose background they don’t fully know?
Even us ordinary folks need to go through an agency to find someone."
Xu Dayuan nodded.
"I have my doubts about this too. And according to what Yi Xiaou said, the nanny was dismissed on Father’s Day, June 19, and then, ten days later, this incident occurred. It’s indeed worth investigating. Let’s wait for Mr. Zeng’s news."
The three of them stopped talking as the car sped along. After about half an hour, they arrived at the detention center. They had already contacted Mr. Ma that morning, and the guards were aware of their visit, so the way was smooth.
They didn’t have to wait long in the visiting room before Dong Chengwen was brought in.
Today, he seemed a bit more spirited than before, with a shaved beard and a washed face. Handcuffed to the chair, the prison guard sat to the side while Xu Dayuan stared at Dong Chengwen and said:
"I don’t have the time to keep running to the detention center. If you want to be convicted and spend your life in here, don’t bother sending messages to your father or having people hope for a new investigation without a single word of truth. How do you expect us to investigate if you’re just mocking the police?"
Dong Chengwen’s face showed no guilt or feigned confusion, he just looked up at Xu Dayuan.
Zhou Ning patted Xu Dayuan’s arm and said soothingly:
"Xu Da, don’t rush. Let me ask. Dong Chengwen, we need to know what exactly you did the night of June 29. We conducted a second autopsy, and Dong Xiaomi died within an hour after eating cake. That means it was around ten o’clock when you all ate the cake. Lying to us doesn’t help the investigation, do you understand?"
Dong Chengwen was silent for a long while. Just when Xu Dayuan thought he was stubborn as a mule and wouldn’t tell the truth, he let out a sigh and looked at Zhou Ning.
"That night I returned home very late. I had planned to take them out for dinner, but something came up last minute. I didn’t get home until after nine, which the surveillance footage can verify.
Xiao Mi was very happy and wanted to eat cake, so Fang Hua and I cut the cake. I have high blood sugar, so I don’t dare eat sweet things. I just took a small bite. Xiao Mi ate most of the cake, and the rest was eaten by Fang Hua. She loves that kind of bittersweet chocolate cake.
Then, I asked Fang Hua to put the kid to sleep, but Xiao Mi didn’t want to go to her room; she insisted on staying in our bed. I went to wash my face, and then I had to discuss something with her..."
Don’t interrupt me after every sentence; I don’t have time to waste here. What did you talk about?"
Dong Chengwen closed his eyes, as if making up his mind.
"I had prepared a divorce agreement, and I brought up divorce with Fang Hua. We started arguing, and in the heat of the moment, I said some harsh words and stormed out. Fang Hua was crying heavily, and I didn’t want to soften again.
I drove around to cool off, but then I started worrying she might do something foolish, so I rushed back. What I didn’t expect was to see smoke rising from the villa area just as I was entering the complex. My heart skipped a beat, and I hurried back, only to have the subsequent events unfold. If I hadn’t gone out that night, maybe what followed would never have happened."
Xu Dayuan narrowed his eyes; this narrative gave him a lot of information.
’Didn’t want to soften again,’ implying he had considered divorce before and softened, which is why the marriage continued.
Furthermore, Dong Chengwen and Fang Hua’s relationship wasn’t as happy as outsiders saw it to be. So who was involved in their marriage?
Was it Yi Xiaou?
An assistant who had greatly helped him in his career, even managing his life, faced with investigating officers, provided all the necessary evidence, even keeping call recordings and surveillance footage intact, something not every legally aware person would do—keeping such evidence seemed somewhat deliberate.
"Why did you want a divorce?"
Dong Chengwen was silent again, and Mr. Zhao, who was behind him, was getting restless. He stood up, smiled at the prison guard, and leaned in toward the table, slamming his palm down onto it, drawing Dong Chengwen’s attention.
"Can you cut the hesitation? If there’s a mistress, just say it. We’ve investigated this far; everything is just a matter of time, understand?
I don’t know what else you have to hide. Speaking the truth is to your own benefit. Do you really want to see the law firm you’ve worked so hard to build get destroyed? Are you aware that people are queuing up every day causing trouble at your law office?"
Dong Chengwen exhaled and looked at Xu Dayuan.
"The situation is rather complicated.
Last year in the second half, I took on a case from Tongnan City in Sujiang Province, which you may have heard about. For this case, I only charged a lawyer’s fee of one hundred yuan, and I visited Tongnan seven or eight times before I obtained some clues.
Some thought I did it for the fame, but by that time, I no longer cared about such things. I was helping a father reclaim his son’s triangular debt from outside parties. The case was difficult since the client’s son had died in a car accident and many pieces of evidence were hard to find.
Just before Christmas Eve, someone from the law firm who was sent to investigate found a lead and located a witness from that time. Hearing the news, I rushed over immediately. Fang Hua was quite angry at that time because I had promised her that we would go to Pumen to spend Christmas together, but for the case’s sake, I still left.
In a few days, I managed to gather evidence and convinced the witness to testify. On Christmas Day, I left the team and flew back to Qindao alone. I didn’t inform Fang Hua to pick me up; I wanted to surprise her by driving a colleague’s car home.
On the way, I booked a restaurant and also flights for that night to Pumen. As the car neared my home, I saw Fang Hua sneaking out of the back kitchen door and briskly run out of the villa to get into a blue Buick van.
At that moment, I was very curious and rolled up the car window to follow. The car headed straight for the sea-crossing tunnel. Over an hour later, we arrived at Wenquan Town in Xinghua City. Fang Hua, followed by a man, walked into the area, arms around each other. I didn’t recognize the man, but he looked very much like this forensic doctor here—tall and skinny, and quite young."
Zhou Ning was taken aback; the thought of He Shancun’s stature unconsciously came to mind, but "tall and skinny" didn’t fit the description. It seemed that Fang Hua had a third party involved, which was quite a surprise to Zhou Ning.
At this point, Dong Chengwen continued:
"I waited outside for over an hour. Fang Hua did not come out, and at that moment, I wished I could rush in and drag the two out. But I didn’t do that. I made a phone call to start investigating the car’s license plate and the registration details of the hot spring hotel. You know the conveniences of my profession.
To my surprise, the other man turned out to be a lawyer as well, but a recent graduate, working as a legal assistant in a private small law firm. Further investigation showed that he might have deliberately approached Fang Hua, manipulated by the opposing lawyer from the Tongnan case—it all became clear.
I was furious and had the police raid at night. Afterward, I took Fang Hua back home and had someone watch over her while handling the case. I immediately took Dong Xiaomi to do a paternity test, and luckily, the child was mine.
I proposed a divorce to Fang Hua. Perhaps you would say, having been married for so many years, didn’t you ever have a change of heart or look for other women? My answer is yes; I did, and not just one. You can call me unfaithful or a hypocrite, but I want my wife to be the person who is always there waiting for me.
As for filing for divorce on June 29th, it was simply because I was tired of having someone constantly keep watch over Fang Hua. She no longer showed me the affection of the past, and this pretense of happiness was very exhausting. I wanted to let go."
Dong Chengwen’s words took Xu Dayuan by surprise, as he had not expected the situation to unfold in this direction.
"Did you retain any evidence?"
Dong Chengwen nodded with difficulty.
"The police records can be found in the Wenquan Police Station of the Xinghua City Public Security Bureau archive. As for the video footage taken at the time and the letter of guarantee written by Fang Hua, they are stored in the safe in my office. Yi Xiaou can go in; I can give you the password."
Xu Dayuan tossed a notebook to Dong Chengwen, who opened it, wrote down the password, and Xu Dayuan glanced at it before throwing the notebook to Zhou Ning.
"What next? Is there anything else you’re hiding?"
This time, Dong Chengwen nodded earnestly. freewebnovёl.ƈom
"Of course, there is more, but the rest is unrelated to this case. Officer, I would like to know if this fire was an accident or caused by someone."
Xu Dayuan glanced at Zhou Ning before nodding and saying:
"Based on our current investigation, the fire is very likely to have been set intentionally. Since you have nothing else to say, Doctor Zhou has some questions for you."
Zhou Ning leaned his arms on the table and stared directly into Dong Chengwen’s eyes, asking without blinking: frёewebnoѵēl.com
"The cake was ordered over the phone by Yi Xiaou four days ago. Was it on your instruction? Did you choose the cake shop, or did Yi Xiaou?"
"I chose it. Xiao Mi likes the chocolate and red velvet cakes from that shop."
"We checked the cake shop’s register. You picked up the cake and flowers at 13:22 on June 29th. From 13:22 until you arrived home at 21:07 that evening, where was the cake kept? Did anyone else touch it?"
Dong Chengwen paused, frowning as he looked at Zhou Ning.
"What do you mean? Was there something wrong with the cake?"
