Refuse to Confess (31)

The next day, Gu Sheng was pleasantly surprised to see Yi Zhongshen receiving an IV at the hospital.

"Not bad, today I didn't need to remind you," he said, hanging his bag on the side and sitting on the chair next to the bed.

"It seems like what Xiyun said worked," he added. Gu Sheng had asked junior to persuade him yesterday.

This IV treatment room was a private room arranged by Yi's family. Hospital ward resources were always tight, especially nearing the Chinese New Year. It was challenging to find even a corridor bed, let alone a private room.

Fortunately, Yi Zhongshen didn't need to be hospitalized; they just found a quieter place for him to receive the IV treatment, and they managed to find a few empty rooms.

In a private room, it was less noisy, and they could talk more comfortably. Yi Zhongshen could also rest for a while during the treatment.

However, at the moment, sitting on the bed with his laptop, Yi Zhongshen didn't seem interested in resting at all. The gentle light from the screen fell on his face, making his handsome features appear even colder and indifferent.

Gu Sheng noticed belatedly, "What's wrong? Are you in a bad mood?"

Without looking up, Yi Zhongshen continued to stare at his laptop, dealing with messages with the needle in his hand.

"Uh, yeah," Gu Sheng recalled something, "Did something happen between you and your junior these past two days?"

He searched through the pile of nutritional supplements brought to the bedside and pulled out a bag of pistachios while peeling them.

"Xiyun used to be very concerned about your health, but these past two days, it seems like he's not that eager to come when you're receiving the IV treatment. Did something happen between you two?" Gu Sheng inquired.

"No, nothing," Yi Zhongshen denied directly.

"I didn't let him come. I've been busy lately," he explained.

"Busy? You?" Gu Sheng couldn't understand; he had been quite puzzled recently.

"It's not that. Zhongshen, what have you been busy with these days? Didn't you already set up the models for the numerical modeling competition? How could you be so busy with just family matters?"

Could it be that his aunt and others assigned him some major projects?

Yi Zhongshen remained silent for a long time.

Finally, he decided to share a bit with his good friend.

"There are issues at home," he said.

Gu Sheng was surprised, "What happened?"

Ever since Gu Sheng's family discontinued cooperation with Bai Gelei due to his character, he hadn't paid much attention to family matters.

After all, compared to the Gu and Yi families, Bai's family had a relatively smaller influence in Q city and couldn't compete with them on the same level.

Could it be that Bai's family recently caused some trouble again?

"Bai Gelei's heart is not at all focused on the recently signed project," Yi Zhongshen said.

That project was meticulously prepared by the Shi Enterprise, and Bai Gelei had made several trips to City B to finally secure the major construction contract.

"Maybe there are problems with the Liu family," Gu Sheng speculated, feeling a bit puzzled.

How did Yi Zhongshen know so clearly about Bai Gelei's work attitude and project?

Could it be that Yi Zhongshen was actually helping his family take over the Shi family's project?

However, that wasn't the main point of the conversation for now, and Gu Sheng didn't delve into it further. Instead, he asked, "What kind of problem could the Liu family have? Are they trying to expose Bai Gelei's search for his real son?"

Even though Bai Gelei had previously hosted a grand banquet and publicized his search for his true son throughout the city, the truth about his real son being missing was not known to the public. Bai Gelei had only stated that his ex-wife's family hid their own son to extort money from him, and he refused to return him.

He placed all the blame squarely on the Liu family, and his reputation had not been affected in the least.

But Gu Sheng thought again, "Even if the Liu family really exposes the truth about Bai Gelei swapping his own child, wouldn't it have not much impact on him?"

Perhaps many people would still consider it the Liu family's fault since they intentionally exchanged a distant relative's child for their own.

"Unless the Liu family can make everyone believe that Bai Gelei did wrong by his ex-wife," she added.

Honestly, such things were not uncommon in the upper circles.

Bai Gelei's recent momentum was strong, and it wasn't certain that anyone would actually go after him publicly.

"Or maybe they'll just go all out and reveal Bai Gelei's weaknesses directly to the public," Gu Sheng continued, peeling a couple more pistachios.

"With Bai Gelei's personality, that might be the move that damages him the most."

However, since Bai Gelei had buried this secret for so many years, he must have prepared himself and had countermeasures in place.

At least when it comes to dealing with the media, Bai Gelei probably made arrangements long ago, so it's unlikely that the Liu family could stir up much commotion.

Yi Zhongshen furrowed his brows, "We still don't know for sure."

With his resources and the Yi family's status, it wouldn't be difficult for him to investigate Bai Gelei's affairs.

But the Liu family isn't based in Q city, and ever since the child swapping incident was exposed, Bai Gelei has been retaliating against the Liu family, significantly reducing their influence and making them more closed off and cautious internally.

Recently, it has become quite challenging to investigate the Liu family.

Yi Zhongshen has also tried other methods. He vaguely senses that Wu Ying might have some involvement in the Liu family's affairs. After all, her sudden gift of many gold bars to Bo Xiyun was quite inexplicable.

However, Wu Ying has never been an easy person to handle, and Yi Zhongshen's contact with her hasn't gone too deep. The two of them have only reached an agreement on helping Bo Xiyun so far.

While Yi Zhongshen was contemplating, Gu Sheng made his own guess, "There probably won't be any significant issue. After all, besides public opinion and the truth from back then, the Liu family doesn't have much to rival Bai Gelei."

Yi Zhongshen didn't confirm or deny it, his furrowed brow still showing concern.

Indeed, there was a difference between the Liu family and Bai's family.

But recently, Bai Gelei has been suppressing the Liu family harshly, and as the saying goes, a cornered rabbit will bite. Maybe one day, they would really make a move.

Little did anyone know that Yi Zhongshen's unfavorable guess would soon become a reality.

Just one day later, the Liu family suddenly exerted force and released a series of explosive information.

The explosive information released by the Liu family was as follows:

1. Bai Gelei was determined to have his ex-wife's son back and claimed that the real reason he had changed his ways and returned to his family was that he had suffered severe genital injuries in a car accident years ago. He not only lost his reproductive ability but also had a deformed organ that he was too embarrassed to show anyone, which is why he stopped fooling around.

2. Fourteen years ago, Bai Gelei had conducted a paternity test for the child, and it was precisely during that test that the blood sample was swapped, keeping Bai Gelei in the dark all these years. This act of swapping the blood samples involved the Liu family and some members of Bai Gelei's own family. There were people within his family who deliberately didn't want him to have a child and deceived him thoroughly.

Furthermore, the child Bai Gelei had been raising for over a decade wasn't even a distant relative of the Liu family; he was a beggar they had encountered on the street. The Liu family purchased this beggar for a mere eighty-nine yuan from a beggar's market and used him to replace Bai Gelei's real son.

The messages written by the Liu family were filled with scorn and hatred - describing how this unwanted street beggar was a perfect match for someone as despicable as Bai Gelei.

Most larger media outlets in Q city had received hush money from Bai Gelei, so it was impossible for them to report this news. However, the Liu family was ruthless in their actions. Instead of seeking media exposure, they directly made the information public in several active local WeChat groups with the most members and liveliest discussions.

The explosive news, along with multiple evidence photos, spread throughout the entire social circle of Q city in just one afternoon. WeChat group chats have particularly astonishing spreading power within local circles, especially among older age groups, where the scattered messages had no way of being intercepted.

Since this news didn't involve high-level politics or graphic images, the platform's officials didn't take any action to block or investigate it.

In the end, the platform only blocked two WeChat accounts of the Liu family under the continuous bombardment of report calls from Bai Gelei's family. But by that time, the news had already spread completely.

No one could have expected that the Liu family would display such a resolute determination, exposing everything under the suppression by Bai Gelei.

To prove the authenticity of the messages, they even included their own identity information as evidence.

The Liu family knew their fate was sealed, yet they were willing to sacrifice everything and go all out to take down Bai Gelei.

Their stubbornness and obsession had always been evident. Otherwise, they wouldn't have divorced Bai Gelei despite his favorable conditions and wouldn't have refused to give him the child fourteen years ago.

The information revealed by the Liu family undoubtedly caused a huge uproar.

With the approaching Chinese New Year, people were less focused on work, and various group chats were highly active, just waiting to start their holidays.

Under such circumstances, the explosive family gossip emerged in such a sensational way and immediately became the center of discussions.

In the end, it almost became the hot topic for people to talk about during their leisure time after meals.

These messages hit Bai Gelei right in the heart.

The first message touched on every man's most sensitive issue – his inability to reproduce, like a living eunuch. The second message exposed Bai Gelei's lax management, revealing that the family known for being decisive had been betrayed by those around him. And the third message shattered his belief of passing on his legacy, only to discover that the child he had raised for over a decade was a beggar nobody wanted.

One revelation after another, they publicly strangled this man who had always cared about his reputation.

Bai Gelei's pride was completely shattered. Upon receiving the news, he flew into a rage and smashed his most beloved enamel vase. Subsequently, his blood pressure skyrocketed to dangerous levels, and he was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance, causing a delay in handling the news.

As the news spread, Yi Zhongshen and Gu Sheng also learned about it.

Yi Zhongshen immediately left the meeting he was attending and contacted the bodyguards who were with Bo Xiyun, instructing them to bring him over immediately.

Meanwhile, Yi Zhongshen went to the hotel and went straight to Gu Sheng's room.

"The tickets to City B have been booked," he said, his face icy, and his tone extremely cold.

"Take him there right away. Go and do a paternity test."

Gu Sheng stared at him blankly, looking dazed. It wasn't until Yi Zhongshen repeated his words that he finally found his voice.

His voice was trembling, "I saw it, the photo they released of the child they bought on the street all those years ago..."

In order to make the child look pitiful and elicit more money, the beggar market gang broke the child's originally healthy legs, leaving him with just a tattered cloth to sit alone on the cold winter streets, asking for money from every passerby.

That emaciated child, with his thin and bony frame, huddled up due to the freezing winter wind. His lips were cracked, and there was no hint of the round softness that should be typical for his age; he was extremely malnourished.

The only thing captivating about him was his beautiful round eyes, quietly gazing at the camera.

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Tn: this was a rollercoaster but lol Bai Gelei.

<3