Chapter 9: It Wasn't an Accident, It Was Murder

Dongning is only a second-tier city, but its cost of living rivals that of a first-tier metropolis. Rong Leying flipped through various rental websites, only finding a few listings that were reasonably priced, not too far out of the way, and rented directly by the landlords.

Just as she was about to add their contact information one by one to schedule viewings, she suddenly heard Auntie Wu in the next bed say, "I live alone now, and every day I just collect rent."

Collecting rent! This auntie was a landlady!

Rong Leying immediately became interested. "Auntie, do you have any other cheap places available?"

Auntie Wu and Grandpa Rong looked at Rong Leying at the same time and asked in unison, "You want to rent a place?"

Rong Leying nodded repeatedly. "I want to rent a cheap place that allows short-term leases."

Grandpa Rong frowned deeply. "Aren't you living at your father's place? Why do you need to rent? Are they bullying you?"

Rong Leying had never told Grandpa Rong about the deal between her and Rong Mingda. At the time, she had only said that living there would make it easier to take care of him during his surgery and to manage her part-time job. She hadn't told him about the messy business at the Rong household either.

Afraid that worrying would affect the old man's health, Rong Leying planned to tell him only after he had fully recovered.

"No, it's just that the place they live is too far away. I spend quite a bit of money just on taxis every day."

The Rong family villa was in the suburbs. Every time she took a taxi to the city hospital, it cost her dozens of yuan, and it was hard to hail a cab, let alone take the bus.

How could the Rong family be so wealthy and not even arrange a car? Grandpa Rong understood that his granddaughter was being mistreated in that house, and he cursed that ungrateful, heartless adopted son in his heart!

"Sir, doesn't your son live with you?" Auntie Wu gossiped.

Grandpa Rong shook his head. "No, my son and his wife live in Dongning, and I live in the countryside in Shunzhou."

Auntie Wu had spent years immersed in all sorts of neighborhood gossip and sensed a story immediately. She opened her mouth, just about to probe further, when a nurse walked in to change their IV drips.

After the nurse left, before Auntie Wu could continue her gossip, two young men walked in. The man in the lead had sharp, sword-like eyebrows and bright eyes, tan skin, a buzz cut, and an air of uprightness and powerful presence.

The man behind him was thin, with an ordinary face but eyes that were piercingly bright. Neither of them looked like ordinary people.

The two revealed their identities: they were police officers from the Dongning Criminal Investigation Brigade responsible for investigating Rong Leying's car accident.

The handsome man in front was Tang Chengyun, the captain of the First Criminal Investigation Team.

The thin one was Li Yingzhe, his team member.

"Miss Rong, we need to understand a few more details regarding the car accident," Tang Chengyun said.

"Alright, let's go outside to talk."

This was the first time Rong Leying had met them; the people who handled the traffic accident previously were just two ordinary traffic police officers.

For the past two days, Rong Leying had repeatedly emphasized that this was not an accident but a deliberate, premeditated murder, but the police had continued to classify it as a traffic accident.

The families of both the truck driver and the taxi driver insisted it was an accident and were willing to follow the standard compensation process.

She had thought it would just end there and that she would have to rely on herself to seek revenge. She hadn't expected someone from the Criminal Investigation Brigade to come looking for her.

Rong Leying suppressed the excitement in her heart, told her grandfather she would be right back, and followed them out of the ward.

After they walked away, Auntie Wu gossiped, "Sir, did the person who hit you run away?"

Grandpa Rong shook his head. "I don't know."

He had just been transferred out of the intensive care unit and had only regained his senses that morning; he hadn't had the chance to ask about the specifics of the child's accident.

Grandpa Rong looked toward the door, a vague, bad premonition in his heart. He felt that this car accident might not be a simple traffic incident.

Tang Chengyun found an empty doctor's office, and the two of them sat down next to Rong Leying.

"Officer, did you find something?"

As soon as she sat down, Rong Leying asked impatiently, "You finally believe what I said."

*Officer...* The two of them were only in their early thirties, and one was not even thirty yet.

Being called "uncle" by a twenty-year-old college student was a very strange feeling.

But the two were used to it and didn't dwell on her choice of address.

Tang Chengyun stared into Rong Leying's eyes and asked, "We did find some things, but I'm curious: Miss Rong, why did you suspect that this incident wasn't an accident, but man-made?"

Rong Leying replied honestly, "The case was transferred from the traffic police to the Criminal Investigation Brigade, which means you found something. You must have checked my background and know that I don't get along with the Rong family."

"I am simple, kind, positive, and helpful. From childhood until now, apart from the big black dog in our village that doesn't like me, only the Rong family hates me."

The young girl's fair face still held some lingering baby fat. Her figure was neither fat nor thin, and her grape-like eyes were firm and bright.

"Pfft—" Li Yingzhe couldn't help but laugh out loud.

This little girl was quite confident.

Tang Chengyun glanced at Li Yingzhe, and the latter immediately straightened up.

Tang Chengyun turned back to look at Rong Leying, his eyes filled with a bit more appreciation. This young girl was not only brave and smart but also quite confident.

"Yes, we did find some things, but we can't be sure yet if it has anything to do with the Rong family."

Behind the Rong family stood the Zhang family—the maternal side of Zhang Yan—and the forces behind them were intricate and complex. They were also targets of other cases Tang Chengyun was investigating.

Although Rong Mingda hadn't announced bringing Rong Leying back within their social circle yet, Tang Chengyun had been keeping an eye on the affairs of the Rong and Zhang families, so he knew.

That was why he had taken over this traffic accident case.

Tang Chengyun took a photo out of his pocket and handed it to Rong Leying. The photo showed a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties.

Rong Leying recognized the truck driver at a glance.

"Bao Laosi is dead. He fell into the river while drunk yesterday and drowned."

"Dead!" Rong Leying's face was full of surprise.

*Could it be that the mastermind killed him to silence him?* This thought immediately popped into her mind.

"We found that Bao Laosi received a large sum of cash two days before the accident, and the taxi driver was diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer last month," Tang Chengyun said.

Bao Laosi was indeed the truck driver, but he loved to gamble and owed a huge gambling debt. The day before the accident, he had taken a large bag of cash to the casino to pay off his debts.

The taxi driver had been diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer last month and was the only breadwinner in his family, with an elderly, sick mother and young children to support.

Because of the heavy family burden, his wife was extremely stingy with money to survive; she would get into a huge argument with others over a ten-cent difference in vegetable prices.

But after the only breadwinner in the family died in a car accident, his family didn't make a scene and instead actively sought to pay compensation.

This was very strange.

Additionally, there was a transfer of 5 million yuan into his wife's bank card before the accident. According to his wife's explanation, it was her father's insurance payout.

The account that sent the money was indeed from an insurance company. Her father had died in an accident last year and had purchased a million-yuan accident insurance policy before he passed away.

This insurance company was a property under the Zhang family's name.

Tang Chengyun briefly and clearly stated some of the things they had found, and then asked in detail about Rong Leying's life during her time at the Rong household.