Chapter 115: Confronting Li Changsheng Directly

"Are you Lin Xiaosu from the Fengcheng Detective Agency?" Li Changsheng asked, his voice steady and deep.

"I am!"

With just these two words, he captured the attention of everyone present, and a complex array of emotions instantly surfaced in their eyes. Everyone knew exactly what the name Lin Xiaosu signified.

"What are you doing here?" Li Changsheng pressed.

"Just passing by, watching the spectacle," Lin Xiaosu replied.

Li Changsheng said coldly, "Is there perhaps a deeper meaning? Are you here to admire your masterpiece?"

The words were low and devoid of dramatic inflection, yet the implication was a naked, hostile challenge. Several police officers narrowed their eyes. Li Changsheng himself locked his piercing gaze onto Lin Xiaosu, determined to catch even the slightest shift in his demeanor. He Jiang, the premier detective of Jiangcheng, also squinted, watching every movement on Lin Xiaosu's face.

Stunning the snake by beating the grass! This was exactly what he was doing. When a case has no leads, such tactics can sometimes yield unexpected results. Even if Li Changsheng wasn't an expert in criminal investigation, a man who had spent a lifetime in the business world had seen enough to intuitively grasp certain investigative techniques.

Lin Xiaosu replied indifferently, "My masterpiece? Heh... I think it looks more like yours."

"What do you mean?" Li Changsheng asked. The onlookers were equally bewildered.

"An old saying goes: 'Arrogance invites disaster!' And such arrogance is often a result of parents raising a child without discipline," Lin Xiaosu said. "Chairman Li, is it wrong to say that your son's misfortune today is your own masterpiece?"

The entire scene fell into stunned silence. What was this? Provocation! With his son's corpse still lying by the lake, he dared to provoke the father? He was effectively telling the world that the man deserved to die. Was he looking for a beating? Yes, Lin Xiaosu certainly looked like he was asking for one, but who could actually touch him? If you dared to strike, he would surely claim "self-defense." Did anyone doubt he was capable of that?

Even facing Li Changsheng, he remained unyieldingly tough. Even if he was being disrespectful at a funeral, who had provoked him first? You accuse someone of coming to see "your masterpiece" without a shred of evidence—that is a naked accusation of murder. Did you expect him not to strike back?

The first exchange was explosive. The formidable hegemon Li Changsheng was so furious his insides churned, nearly losing his composure. But Li Changsheng was no hot-headed youth. He turned his gaze to the police captain behind him. "Captain Xing, this man had a verbal altercation with my son before the incident and had a motive. He is a practitioner of ancient martial arts, which fits the profile of the perpetrator, and his mocking attitude afterwards only confirms his psychological state... Shouldn't he be detained?"

The captain approached slowly. Li Changsheng's words caused a stir among the crowd; even the neutral observers felt their scales tipping.

Suddenly, a voice spoke from behind Lin Xiaosu. "Chairman Li, I can understand your feelings, but a core element of any crime is the opportunity to commit it! Ten minutes before the incident, I had already brought Lin Xiaosu to the Criminal Investigation Brigade. He has been there ever since, and we only arrived here together after hearing that Li Songtao had fallen into the lake."

The deputy captain noticed his superior and snapped to attention, saluting. "Captain Shen!"

Just like that, the prime suspect was cleared.

Li Changsheng shifted his gaze from Captain Shen. "Even if he didn't do it himself, couldn't he have had an accomplice? After all, he is the only one with a motive."

The crowd wavered again.

Lin Xiaosu sighed softly. "To argue against such nonsense is an insult to both the law and my own intelligence. But since Chairman Li brought up motive, I think it's worth discussing. If this case is a murder, it must be driven by hatred, correct? Hatred is born from being wronged, not from coming out on top. Look at the exchange between Li Songtao and me—who came out on top? I did! I called him a fool, I cursed his father, and I crippled his henchman with a single blow. I gained everything; why would I have any reason to kill him afterward?"

The crowd found his logic sound and convincing, yet many wore pained expressions. He was saying this right to Li Changsheng's face! Was he not afraid of Li Changsheng exploding? The atmosphere grew bizarre.

Lin Xiaosu added, "Chairman Li knows I'm a detective. Since I'm here, I have a theory on how to solve this. Would you like to hear it?"

Everyone, including the police, perked up. Was the Fengcheng Detective really going to help? His investigative methods were legendary—if not elsewhere, then certainly within the Changsheng Group and the Jiangcheng Police Department. And today, ninety-nine percent of the people present belonged to those two groups. They had a certain level of faith in his methods.

"Xiaosu, let's hear your analysis," even Shen Yinchuan prompted.

Lin Xiaosu said, "Why not post online and solicit information? See if this 'Third Young Master Li' had ever committed any heinous acts in Jiangcheng, who he made enemies with, and why. If you gather detailed information and screen it thoroughly, it shouldn't be hard to find the true culprit..."

A rational suggestion. A conventional plan. But why did everyone look so strange? Some looked pained; others had eyes burning with rage. It was because the suggestion was incredibly venomous.

Li Changsheng was burning with fury. You bastard, you won't even let the dead rest! Everyone knew his third son had committed many evils in Jiangcheng. Was this really about collecting clues? You are dragging my son out to whip his corpse! You want the Li family to be the target of every finger in Jiangcheng! You want everyone in the city to say that Li Songtao deserved to die!

"Susu!" A voice broke the heavy silence—it was Ding Lizhong. "Enough. Let's go home." He gestured, and a car pulled up. He and Lin Xiaosu got in and drove away.

Li Changsheng’s icy gaze followed the vehicle. The employees of the Changsheng Group felt their hearts race. They had only seen the recklessness of this man named Lin, but now they realized he was no ordinary person—he was Ding Lizhong's son-in-law!

Li Changsheng stepped into his flying car with a dark expression, his daughter helping him inside. The doors closed, sealing them in a private space.

"What is Ding Lizhong playing at?" Li Changsheng asked in a low voice.

"He's likely trying to relieve the pressure on him," Li Ziyi replied.

"He's worried about the Changsheng Group sanctioning that boy, so he's stepping in to absorb the pressure, making us hesitate to act?"

"That must be his intent."

Li Changsheng's gaze grew cold. "Then he overestimates his own power! Let's go, return to the company!"

"But Father, Third Brother..."

"He's gone; what's the point of these formalities? Send him to the crematorium. Let's go!"

On the road below, Ding Lizhong's car was speeding along. Lin Xiaosu looked at him. "Uncle, stepping in like that wasn't very wise."

"Your feud with the Li family is ultimately because of the Ding family. If I don't help relieve the pressure for you, do I even deserve to be your... uncle?" Ding Lizhong replied.

"Aren't you afraid of facing Li Changsheng's wrath?"

"What's there to fear? This is a society governed by law. As long as you didn't do it, we have nothing to fear. As the saying goes: 'Do no evil, and you need not fear a knock at the door in the night!'"

A knot in Lin Xiaosu's heart quietly loosened. Today's events were full of twists and turns, and deeply meaningful. In the entire world, only he knew that Ding Ruoshui had committed the murder. By playing these games with Li Changsheng, he was indirectly diverting attention toward himself, leaving Ding Ruoshui in the "darkness beneath the lamp."

He wasn't worried about being burned because he had ironclad proof he hadn't done it. Once he was cleared, Ding Ruoshui would naturally be cleared in the eyes of others. It was a subtle psychological misdirection. And that Ding Lizhong had stepped up to share the burden was something he hadn't expected. It proved that the old man was truly in the dark about his daughter's actions. Otherwise, he never would have dared to speak so boldly about not fearing a knock at the door.

Upon entering the Ding villa, Ding's mother and Ruoshui were sitting in the living room. They looked nervous, but as soon as they saw Ding Lizhong and Lin Xiaosu walk in together, the mother hurried over. "Did the Li family's third son really die in a car accident?"

Ding Lizhong nodded solemnly.

"Was it an accident, or..."

Ding Lizhong raised a hand to stop her. "Why speculate? That's the police's job! Anyway, Susu was being questioned at the station at the time. The evidence is solid; it has nothing to do with him!"

The mother let out a long breath. "That's good, that's good. As long as it has nothing to do with us, we're safe."

Ding Ruoshui sat on the sofa the entire time, her face calm, occasionally opening her large eyes to look around with an air of total innocence. Lin Xiaosu observed this, his heart surging. This girl was beyond words. But her parents—they moved him. Ding Lizhong standing up for him, and the mother's genuine relief—they truly treated him as one of their own.

The night continued as usual. If there was anything unusual, it was that Ding Lizhong felt a sense of unease. Before bed, he received a notice from the office: a shareholders' meeting was scheduled for nine the next morning.

"What's wrong?" his wife asked.

"A meeting tomorrow," Ding Lizhong frowned. "How does old Li have the heart to hold a meeting at a time like this?"

His wife understood, her eyes full of suspicion. "True. His son just died. Could it be that his son... like Huang Chengwang, had some issues within the company?"

"Forget it. Let's sleep."