A Favor Done, A Husband Won-Chapter 500 - 494: If She Hadn’t Suddenly...

On the laptop on Shi Su’s lap, she was watching the surveillance footage from Six Blessings Building before the fire. She had already watched it countless times during her stay in the hospital over the past few days, but there were some blind spots in the footage she hadn’t examined closely.

The surveillance footage she initially received was given to her by Shi Lingkang. She was worried he might have edited the clips or tampered with them, so she asked Lu Zhao to help acquire a complete version.

The total time of the two surveillance videos differed by about ten minutes.

The copy given to her by Shi Lingkang indeed had a few very short sections removed. One instance was the day before the incident when Six Blessings Building suddenly seemed to lose power. There was a brief period of darkness in the footage, but everything returned to normal after the lights came back on. The following few short clips totaled only a few minutes and were also blacked out in the surveillance video.

The blacked-out portions were in the video Lu Zhao provided, whereas Shi Lingkang’s video had all the blacked-out portions cut out. In other words, the two videos were not much different, as both couldn’t see critical parts.

This accumulated to only a brief ten minutes from the day before to just before the incident. Who did what during this time?

Currently, it can be proven that Shi Lingkang did not personally tamper with anything.

The person in charge behind Six Blessings Building was reportedly an old friend of Shi Lingkang. Although they had not been in contact much over the years due to their respective developments, they were still good friends when they met in the capital. Otherwise, Shi Lingkang wouldn’t have chosen such a close-knit restaurant to invite her and Jing Jihan for dinner.

As Shi Su repeatedly dragged the video slider, watching the waiters walking back and forth in the hallway before the fire, Shi Yuan, who had taken away the silver fungus soup, returned to see Shi Su still watching.

"You should go to sleep." Realizing Shi Yuan wanted to keep her company, Shi Su gestured towards the bedroom door with her eyes, "Go back to your room and sleep. You’ve been taking care of me at the hospital for several days. Don’t think you can stay up late just because you’re young; go to sleep quickly."

Shi Yuan looked at her for a while, shook her head, suddenly turned around to close the bedroom door, then returned to Shi Su’s side, and whispered, "Shi Su sister, I want to tell you a secret."

Shi Su: "?"

Shi Yuan crouched in front of her, hesitating for a long time before saying, "I, I met a few people before I came to the hospital to take care of you. I don’t know who they are, but they said I should stay beside you, keep an eye on your and Mr. Jing’s moves, and report back to them anything significant. If I obediently do this, my mom and I won’t be looked down upon in the Shi Family, but someone would help us..."

Shi Su looked down at her, quietly observing Shi Yuan’s eyes filled with conflict before asking, "So why are you telling me?"

"I, I don’t know... but I don’t want to deceive you," Shi Yuan lowered her head, "When those people asked me, I just told them the truth, that Mr. Jing was seriously injured and hasn’t woken up, remains in the critical observation phase, and is still in the ICU, and even Shi Su sister can’t see him. I also mentioned that your injuries weren’t severe, but you were very upset."

Seeing Shi Su only quietly watching her, Shi Yuan raised her hand, afraid she would be angry, and quickly grabbed Shi Su’s pajama sleeve, "But sister, those were the only things I said. When they asked me anything else, I just shared those observable things I really knew, because I truly wasn’t aware of much more, so I pretended to be clueless. I didn’t say anything else, sister!"

Shi Yuan indeed didn’t say anything more.

Over the past two days, Shi Su contacted Mr. He and clarified some internal networks within Jingjian. Had her uncle Shi Wancheng known about this matter, there would’ve been a targeted change, and Mr. He wouldn’t be so stable without giving her any news.

Shi Su closed the laptop, set it aside, pulled Shi Yuan up, let her sit beside her, and asked, "I found you being bullied by several people in the corridor of the garden behind the Shi Family that day. Had similar things happened before?"

Shi Yuan thought carefully before shaking her head: "No, usually at home, everyone seems to act like I don’t exist. But because I’m the only child there, the adults are more indifferent; they don’t manage me or pay attention, but they don’t purposely bully me either."

So, how coincidental that, while there were quite a few relatives and friends at the Shi Family, suddenly three little girls appeared to bully her, pressing her down into a corner so fiercely.

Such a scene could genuinely cause a teenage girl to feel fearful and fragile inside. If Shi Su hadn’t suddenly intervened to take Shi Yuan away at that moment, would there have been others who "suddenly appeared" to rescue Mr. Shi’s granddaughter, thus gaining their mother-daughter trust and dependence?

Although Shi Yuan’s mother doesn’t have much say in the Shi Family and is not in good health, not showing up much, she is at least Mr. Shi’s biological daughter and granddaughter. Even though they shouldn’t have the surname Shi, in such a sparsely populated situation within the Shi Family, gaining this mother-daughter’s vote of support is crucial.

Shi Wancheng tried to retrieve Shi Dongyang, a waste of a son, from prison in Jiang City, but due to Jing Jihan’s pressure, Shi Wancheng couldn’t get his scoundrel son out. Hence, he now tries to emulate Shi Lingkang by drawing in widespread networks and connections within Shi Xiangchao’s family to secure Shi Yuan and her mother’s support in the inheritance struggle, allowing them to first develop dependence and trust toward him.

Yet all this is premised on Mr. Shi not having made a will, allowing him to seize the initiative through such means in the final struggle. But currently, no one knows Mr. Shi’s intent. Even if Mr. Shi were to write a will now, it couldn’t be accomplished, and he couldn’t even express it clearly. On the day he warned her about the uncle, his lip movements were very vague, and his expression was extremely unclear.

However, Shi Wancheng’s calculations inadvertently encountered Shi Su’s intervention.

Shi Su asked Shi Yuan: "If you didn’t tell me, you could easily remain neutral, offending neither side, merely passing messages. You could plan how to convey it yourself; why did you choose to confide it to me?"

Shi Yuan nervously fiddled with her fingers, her expression conflicted, the corners of her eyes reddening: "I’m seventeen, not seven. Who genuinely treats me well and who thinks I’m young and easily deceived and tries to manipulate me, I can perceive. I fear that by being overly clever, I might lose sister."

As she spoke, Shi Yuan feared Shi Su had suddenly grown weary of her, and hurriedly hugged Shi Su’s arm, avoiding being pushed away: "You treat me well, I understand..."

Shi Su patted her head and asked, "You told them that Jing Jihan was badly injured?"

Shi Yuan nodded, "Yes, I reported what I saw at the time; initially, I was too nervous to know how to lie, so seeing Mr. Jing in the ICU without leaving the danger zone, I spoke the truth..."

Shi Su looked down at the thin blanket on her lap and paused in silence for a moment.

This afternoon, after her discharge, Mr. He disclosed a piece of news: because Jingjian recently has a project on ancient building renovations that will be launched, Shi Wancheng will be returning to the capital in just a couple of days.