"I've known that pig-butcher has eight hundred tricks up his sleeve for a long time, otherwise he wouldn't be able to play Xixi for a fool!" Li Meiya declared, acting as though she had completely seen right through Ye Huan.
Ye Huan looked at Lin Canglan and Li Meiya as if they were utter morons, and said with utter contempt:
"If intelligence came in grades, the two of you would definitely be in the toddler-pants category!"
"Who are you calling an idiot?"
Insulted by Ye Huan for having low intelligence, Li Meiya instantly blew her top, transforming into a screaming shrew.
To be looked down upon for her IQ by a mere pig-butcher was the ultimate humiliation.
"Don't get upset! Don't get upset!"
Lin Canglan hurriedly comforted Li Meiya, saying:
"He's just been exposed by us, so he's at his wit's end, like a dog driven over a wall, flying into a rage from embarrassment. All he has left is cursing us to vent his anger."
He put on the air of someone who saw straight through Ye Huan's intentions, showing not the slightest hint of anger at being called an idiot.
"So that's how it is!"
Understanding dawned on Li Meiya. Her furious emotions slowly subsided, and she sneered:
"Ye Huan, you can spare yourself the trouble! Even if you use all eight hundred of your dirty tricks, you won't escape a good beating today!"
Her words served as a reminder to Jin Feiyu that he could give the order for his thugs to deal with Ye Huan!
Jin Feiyu had long since been unable to suppress his urge to make a move. He realized that Ye Huan was far from ordinary; even if Ye Huan's words were merely guesses, he absolutely could not let Ye Huan keep talking, or Lin Tai and Lin Xixi really would start getting suspicious.
Yet just as he was about to give the order, Lin Tai scolded sharply: "Ye Huan, you mustn't talk nonsense! As everyone knows, Feiyu is fond of Xixi; he would never send anyone to kidnap her. You're framing him like this—do you have proof? If you don't have proof, you harbor malicious intentions, trying to drive a wedge between Feiyu and Xixi."
Ye Huan almost laughed out loud. He thought to himself that Lin Tai really had more tricks up his sleeve: on the surface, he was scolding Ye Huan for framing Jin Feiyu, but in reality, he was prompting Ye Huan to present his evidence.
"Ye Huan, I never expected you to be this kind of person. I know Young Master Jin's character very well, yet you're actually framing him. I'll give you a chance to produce evidence. If you can't bring any out, this afternoon I'm going with you to the civil affairs bureau to get a divorce certificate."
Lin Xixi was even more ruthless. She saw that Jin Feiyu was desperate to make a move.
Therefore, on the surface, she praised Jin Feiyu's character, scolded Ye Huan for framing him, and questioned Ye Huan's integrity.
Then, she used divorce to force Ye Huan to produce evidence that Jin Feiyu had sent people to kidnap her, thereby baiting her mom and dad into demanding evidence from Ye Huan as well. This way, she would force Jin Feiyu to listen to Ye Huan's evidence before he could take action!
Sure enough!
Lin Canglan and Li Meiya fell for it!
"That's right! You accuse Young Master Jin of sending people to kidnap Xixi—do you have proof? If you can't produce evidence, then you're framing and slandering Young Master Jin, trying to alienate the Lin family from him!" Li Meiya clamored.
"Young Master Jin, please let Ye Huan finish speaking before you make a move. If he can't produce evidence, you won't even need to dirty your hands—I'll smash his mouth in myself," Lin Canglan said to Jin Feiyu.
He put on a show of standing firmly on Jin Feiyu's side, completely convinced that Ye Huan had no evidence whatsoever.
Ye Huan gave Lin Xixi another astonished look, thinking to himself that this young woman was truly formidable. With just a casually dug pit, she had made both Lin Canglan and Li Meiya tumble right in!
"Brat, go ahead and talk! If you can't produce evidence, I'll make sure you don't live to see today's sunset!"
Jin Feiyu was forced by Lin Tai, Lin Xixi, Lin Canglan, and Li Meiya into a position where he didn't dare give the order to deal with Ye Huan right away. If he didn't let Ye Huan finish, it would only arouse the Lin family's suspicions!
Even so, he firmly believed that Ye Huan had absolutely no evidence.
"I think the events unfolded like this!"
Ye Huan fished out a pack of cigarettes, pulled one out, lit it, took a drag, and said:
"Jin Feiyu dispatched twelve knife-wielding thugs driving four cars to trail Lin Xixi to the airport, telling them to find an opportunity to kidnap her."
"So when Lin Xixi and I left the airport, the four cars surrounded her vehicle and forced it to a stop. I imagine that right around that time, one of the twelve thugs made a call or sent a text message to Jin Feiyu to report that the kidnapping was about to succeed."
"I bet Jin Feiyu must have been extremely excited at that moment, even picturing all sorts of ways to toy with Lin Xixi..."
Hearing this, Lin Xixi gave the inner part of Ye Huan's arm a vicious pinch.
Ye Huan sucked in a cold breath from the pain and continued:
"However, after waiting and waiting in vain for the twelve thugs and Lin Xixi, Jin Feiyu called or texted the twelve thugs, but couldn't get through to any of them."
"So Jin Feiyu immediately checked the tracker he had secretly had his men install on Lin Xixi's car long ago, and discovered that her car was parked in the parking lot of Shangyang Restaurant."
"This made Jin Feiyu suspect that Lin Xixi hadn't been kidnapped after all, and that the twelve thugs had fallen into the hands of her bodyguards."
"To prevent the twelve thugs from confessing who ordered them to kidnap Lin Xixi, Jin Feiyu rushed over to Shangyang Restaurant with his men, only to find Lin Xixi's car without her bodyguards' vehicle."
"To confirm whether the twelve thugs had fallen into the hands of Lin Xixi's bodyguards, Jin Feiyu asked the waitstaff and then used a chance encounter as an excuse to come to this private room."
Ye Huan extinguished his cigarette butt and went on:
"The very first person he looked at when he entered the private room was Lin Xixi. At that moment, Jin Feiyu's pupils suddenly constricted, which means he was extremely shocked, and finally confirmed that the kidnapping by the twelve thugs had failed, and that they had undoubtedly fallen into the hands of Lin Xixi's bodyguards..."
Upon hearing this, though Jin Feiyu maintained a calm exterior, his heart was already churning with violent shock.
Everything Ye Huan described matched the facts down to the very last detail!
"Worried that the twelve thugs might confess under the psychological pressure and interrogation of Lin Xixi's bodyguards that he was the mastermind..."
Ye Huan stared expressionlessly at Jin Feiyu's expression and eyes, continuing:
"That's why, before coming here, Jin Feiyu made thorough preparations. He and his subordinates agreed on the signal of 'smashing a cup as the command.' The moment he confirmed that the twelve thugs had fallen into Lin Xixi's hands and had confessed to him as the mastermind, he would smash a cup, and his subordinates waiting outside the room would swarm in immediately."
"By then, Jin Feiyu would use some despicable tactics to force Lin Xixi to order her bodyguards to release the twelve thugs. To prevent the twelve thugs from having already confessed, I reckon he would use the lives of Old Master Lin, Lin Canglan, and Li Meiya to coerce Lin Xixi into sleeping with him, and then take photos or videos. That way, even if the twelve thugs had confessed, Lin Xixi wouldn't dare hand the evidence over to the police."
After listening to this, Jin Feiyu finally lost the ability to control his emotions, looking at Ye Huan with utter shock written across his face.
He simply couldn't fathom how Ye Huan knew all of this. Was Ye Huan some kind of Helicobacter pylori living inside his stomach?
Lin Tai and Lin Xixi noticed Jin Feiyu's expression. While thinking to themselves that it really was Jin Feiyu, they were amazed that Ye Huan had figured out the mastermind behind the kidnapping purely through reasoning.
Only, Lin Xixi had a puzzle in her mind at that moment: back then, Ye Huan had only beaten up the twelve knife-wielding thugs, so why couldn't Jin Feiyu get in touch with them?
Oh!
She remembered now!
She had called the police, and after she and Ye Huan left, the police arrived and arrested the twelve thugs!
What Lin Xixi didn't know was that after she and Ye Huan left, the twelve thugs had cried and begged 'Hongluan' to take them away, and had even confessed right there in the car!
"Are you done talking?" Li Meiya asked.
"I'm done!" Ye Huan nodded.
"You spun a very dramatic story, but it's just your own guesswork and reasoning. It can't be used as evidence at all!" Li Meiya said.
"That's right! What evidence do you have to prove that any of this is true?" Lin Canglan asked.
Ye Huan, Lin Tai, and Lin Xixi were utterly dumbfounded. They thought to themselves, didn't these two blockheads see Jin Feiyu's expression and eyes?
Things had reached this point; evidence was no longer needed. The mastermind behind the kidnapping was undeniably Jin Feiyu.
"Brat, you're the best storyteller I've ever seen in my life. You made it up so well I almost believed it myself!"
After recovering from his shock, Jin Feiyu suddenly burst out laughing, saying:
"Too bad for you, no matter how good your made-up story is, it's useless without evidence."
The expressions of Lin Tai and Lin Xixi grew grave. They suddenly realized that Ye Huan really did need to produce evidence.
If he couldn't produce evidence, they wouldn't be able to use the law to sanction Jin Feiyu. Given Jin Feiyu's personality, he would undoubtedly launch a crazy revenge against Ye Huan and continue plotting to kidnap Lin Xixi.
"Is there evidence?"
Lin Tai asked nervously.
"Is there?"
Lin Xixi looked at Ye Huan expectantly.
As soon as those words were spoken, Jin Feiyu completely set his mind at ease. The twelve thugs definitely hadn't confessed, otherwise Lin Xixi wouldn't be asking Ye Huan if he had evidence!
"Getting evidence is too easy!"
Ye Huan patted Lin Xixi's backside from behind to signal her to relax.
Lin Xixi's delicate body shuddered, and she almost couldn't help jumping up and kicking Ye Huan to death. This cheap, scumbag of a bastard—what time was it, and he was still thinking about taking advantage of her?
Still, she managed to hold back in the end, urging:
"If you have evidence, hurry up and bring it out!"
Ye Huan nodded, looked at Jin Feiyu, and said:
"Jin Feiyu, I suppose the text messages and call logs between you and the twelve thugs are still on your phone, right?"
Jin Feiyu's complexion changed drastically. He had actually forgotten to destroy such crucial evidence.
When Lin Tai and Lin Xixi saw Jin Feiyu's expression, they immediately deduced that the text messages and call logs between him and the twelve thugs were indeed on his phone.
As long as they got hold of Jin Feiyu's phone, they would have solid proof of his crime!
Lin Xixi looked at Ye Huan, thinking to herself that this cheap scumbag was quite impressive; he was going to send Jin Feiyu to prison just like that!
Lin Tai looked at Ye Huan with a gratified expression. Although he still hadn't managed to test whether Ye Huan was the person he suspected, this single matter alone was enough to prove that his judgment of Ye Huan had been correct—this kid was exceptionally capable!
As for Lin Canglan and Li Meiya, they were completely dumbfounded!
Stupid as they were, seeing Jin Feiyu's drastic change in expression was enough to wake them up!
For a moment, the two of them cursed themselves inwardly for being fools. They had actually been helping the mastermind behind their daughter's kidnapping all along—they were absolute idiots, foolish beyond belief!
On the other hand, Ye Huan, a mere pig-butcher, didn't even properly butcher pigs, yet he was so well-versed in solving crimes. He really wasn't focusing on his proper job at all.
"Jin Feiyu, what do you have to say for yourself now?"
Lin Tai slammed his hand on the table, stood up, and said angrily.
Snap!
Jin Feiyu suddenly whipped out his phone and smashed it hard onto the floor, exclaiming with exaggerated flair:
"Oopsie, my hand slipped! Oh dear, my poor phone, cost over ten thousand yuan. Who knows if it can still be fixed after smashing up like this?"
As he spoke, he violently ground his right heel into the already shattered phone.
Ye Huan frowned. He hadn't expected Jin Feiyu to pull a stunt like this; it was utterly shameless!
"You..."
Lin Tai, Lin Xixi, Lin Canglan, and Li Meiya were furious. They hadn't expected Jin Feiyu to be so devoid of shame that he would smash his own phone to pieces.
Even though they now knew Jin Feiyu was the mastermind behind the kidnapping, there was nothing they could do to him because there was no evidence left.
And right now, Jin Feiyu had stripped away his hypocritical disguise, revealing his ferocious true face. From here on out, he would probably openly retaliate against Ye Huan and kidnap Lin Xixi!
"Is there any other evidence?"
Lin Xixi looked at Ye Huan and asked.
Lin Tai, Lin Canglan, and Li Meiya also looked at Ye Huan expectantly!
"Brat, do you still have evidence?"
Feeling completely secure with nothing to fear, Jin Feiyu tilted his head and asked Ye Huan with a cocky swagger!
"I do!"
Ye Huan let out a cold laugh and said:
"There's a dashcam in Lin Xixi's car. We can check it to find out who secretly installed the tracker. Once we catch that person, we can interrogate them to find out who the mastermind is."
As soon as those words came out, Lin Tai, Lin Xixi, Lin Canglan, and Li Meiya were struck with a wave of ecstatic joy, while inwardly cursing themselves for being too stupid not to have thought of that.
"Ye Huan, go get the dashcam's memory card right now!"
Lin Xixi handed her car keys to Ye Huan.
"It's no use!"
Before Ye Huan could step out, Jin Feiyu laughed and said:
"The tracker was installed two months ago. Given the memory capacity of the dashcam in your car, the footage of whoever installed the tracker has long since been overwritten!"
Lin Xixi: "..."
Lin Tai: "..."
Lin Canglan: "..."
Li Meiya: "..."
The hearts of all four turned instantly ice-cold!
There was no expression whatsoever on Ye Huan's face. Although he no longer had the physical evidence of Jin Feiyu hiring people to kidnap Lin Xixi in his hands, he believed that Hongluan had already interrogated the twelve thugs and extracted the evidence.
Of course, whether there was evidence didn't really matter, because Ye Huan had already decided to kill Jin Feiyu. He just couldn't do it right here, as it would frighten the Lin family!
"Hahaha, hahahaha..."
Jin Feiyu burst into wild laughter, laughing with unbridled arrogance and defiance until he squatted down on the floor clutching his stomach, tears streaming from his eyes!
After a long while, Jin Feiyu finished laughing, stood up, swept his gaze over Ye Huan and the Lin family, and swaggered:
"That's right, I was the one who had people kidnap Lin Xixi. What can you do to me? Are you going to sue me? Call the police? You don't have any evidence..."
The faces of Lin Xixi, Lin Tai, Lin Canglan, and Li Meiya turned green with anger!
Just at that moment, a police officer pushed open the door and locked eyes with Jin Feiyu, saying expressionlessly:
"Jin Feiyu, you are suspected of dozens of illegal acts including kidnapping and attempted murder. Come with us right now to headquarters for investigation."
Jin Feiyu's laughter cut off abruptly, his arrogant expression freezing stiffly on his face.
That slap in the face came way too fast!
Ye Huan chuckled and glanced at the throngs of police officers outside the door, thinking to himself that Hongluan's operational efficiency was truly high.
Lin Xixi and Lin Tai smiled as well. Based on what the police officer said, Jin Feiyu probably wouldn't be seeing the light of day outside a prison for the rest of his life, and might even be sentenced to death.
Lin Canglan and Li Meiya weren't smiling at all; instead, panic gripped their hearts. With Jin Feiyu getting arrested here, would the Jin family vent their anger on the Lin family?
"Why aren't you thanking me yet?"
Seeing the police take Jin Feiyu and his thugs away, Lin Xixi looked at Ye Huan with a triumphant air.
"Why should I thank you?" Ye Huan asked, puzzled.
"If I hadn't called the police, the police wouldn't have arrested those twelve knife-wielding thugs who intended to kidnap me, and they wouldn't have been able to extract Jin Feiyu's criminal evidence through interrogation, meaning they wouldn't have rushed here in time to arrest him either. If the police hadn't arrived in time, you definitely would have gotten the beating of a lifetime from Jin Feiyu and his thugs. Don't you think you should thank me?"
Lin Xixi finished her elaborate deduction and waited for Ye Huan to express his gratitude.
Ye Huan really wanted to tell Lin Xixi that if he hadn't come to Pengcheng, Hongluan wouldn't have personally led a team to tail him, and those twelve knife-wielding thugs wouldn't have been caught in the first place.
Even though Lin Xixi had called the police at the time, by the time the officers actually arrived, those twelve knife-wielding thugs would likely have long since fled.
Even if the police had arrived in time and arrested the twelve thugs, they wouldn't have been able to interrogate anything out of them.
However, none of these things could be told to Lin Xixi!
"Thank you!"
Ye Huan said it purely to humor Lin Xixi and make her happy.
"Just a verbal thank-you?"
Lin Xixi was thoroughly unsatisfied.
Suddenly, Ye Huan cupped Lin Xixi's pretty face in both hands and planted a fierce kiss right on her red lips, saying:
"How's that?"
Lin Xixi was caught completely off guard by the kiss and froze like a wooden chicken on the spot. When she finally snapped back to reality, she flew into a furious rage, grabbing Ye Huan and unleashing a flurry of wild punches and the Nine-Yin White Bone Claw:
"Ah! You stinky pervert, I'm going to beat you to death..."
Being forcefully kissed by the person she hated and despised the most was something Lin Xixi simply could not endure.
"Hey, hey, hey! You're messing up my hair."
"I'm going to rip out every last strand of your dog hair!"
"Don't tear my clothes..."
"I am going to tear them..."
Watching Ye Huan and Lin Xixi bickering and openly showing affection right in front of him, Lin Tai wore a gratified smile on his face.
Lin Canglan and Li Meiya, however, were furious. That pig-butcher had kissed Lin Xixi right in front of them and was now horsing around with her, clearly doing it just to tick them off.
"All right, all right!"
Lin Tai called a halt with a smile.
Only then did Lin Xixi stop clawing at Ye Huan, looking like she still hadn't had enough.
By this time, Ye Huan's hair had been ruffled into a bird's nest by Lin Xixi, and his shirt had several tears ripped into it.
"Since this meal has reached this point, there's not much point in eating any further. Let's just wrap it up here!"
Lin Tai motioned for Ye Huan and Lin Xixi to sit down, looked at Ye Huan, and said:
"Since you and Xixi have already gotten your marriage certificate, the wedding needs to be put on the agenda. My thought is that you should notify your parents so our two families' elders can meet and discuss the details of the wedding."
Before Ye Huan could reply, Lin Xixi panted slightly and said:
"Grandpa, Ye Huan is an orphan. He has no parents."
When they were processing their marriage registration at the civil affairs bureau, she had seen Ye Huan's ID card and household registration booklet.
"So that's how it is!"
Lin Tai nodded and asked:
"In that case, shall I handle the planning of your wedding from start to finish?"
"That works!" Ye Huan nodded.
Lin Xixi, Lin Canglan, and Li Meiya panicked.
Given the Lin family's and Lin Xixi's reputation in the business world, once Ye Huan and Lin Xixi held a wedding, it would shock the national business community and media—the commotion would simply be too huge.
Lin Xixi didn't actually want to marry Ye Huan; she had only used the marriage agreement to retaliate against him, and once her revenge was complete, she intended to divorce him.
As for Lin Canglan and Li Meiya, they were plotting to break Ye Huan and Lin Xixi up.
If Ye Huan and Lin Xixi divorced after holding a grand wedding, it would deal a heavy blow to the reputations of Lin Xixi, the Lin family, and the Lin Group.
"Grandpa, I think we should put the wedding on hold for now. I plan to spend some time cultivating our relationship with Ye Huan first before holding the wedding," Lin Xixi suggested.
Lin Canglan and Li Meiya chimed in hurriedly: "Xixi makes a lot of sense!"
"What's your take on this?" Lin Tai asked Ye Huan.
"Then let's listen to Lin Xixi!" Ye Huan said.
"Very well, then!"
Lin Tai didn't press the issue, saying:
"I've already prepared a bridal home for you and Xixi. Although it's fully renovated, we haven't bought the furniture yet. I think before the bridal home is ready for you to move in, you can make do by staying at Xixi's place for now. After all, you and Xixi have already gotten your certificates; there's nothing inappropriate about living together."
To this, Lin Xixi, Lin Canglan, and Li Meiya had no objections—they all wanted a chance to deal with Ye Huan up close.
Of course, there was no way Lin Xixi would agree to share a bed with Ye Huan, and Lin Canglan and Li Meiya wouldn't allow it either.
"You might not know this, but I'm actually from Pengcheng myself, and I have a place to stay here. Until the wedding, I'd prefer to stay at my own home."