Volume 1, Chapter 4: She lost her husband, and he is happy?

"Easy to handle?"

When Zhou Jincheng spoke these words, his tone was like that of a long-lost lover. His gaze, fixed upon her face, was focused and earnest, never wavering.

She felt the intensity of his stare from above and looked up to meet his eyes, yet they remained as cold as ever.

It must have been an illusion.

Yu Jin felt bewildered. She looked at him, her eyes questioning what he meant by that. Why did it feel as though he was happy that her husband had died?

Zhou Jincheng’s expression darkened, and his voice dropped heavily. "In a custody battle, the one thing you must avoid is someone interfering. You had better not be lying."

Yu Jin remained silent. A-Wei appeared just in time, shouldering his camera, and reminded her, "Ms. Yu, we should head back to the company."

She was desperate to leave this place. As she picked up her bag from the ground, she suddenly remembered Zhou Jincheng was still standing nearby.

"Attorney Zhou, I'm off work now. Please contact me if you have any questions."

Zhou Jincheng’s thin lips curled into a smile, one so inscrutable that it made Yu Jin shudder.

Behind his rimless glasses, the corners of his eyes lifted slightly, and his long, straight lashes cast a shadow of indeterminate depth across his eyelids.

He nodded with precise, measured movement but said nothing.

He turned and walked away, his face returning to its usual stern and icy composure. Yu Jin carried her bag, walking a short distance behind him, maintaining a deliberate space between them.

Just then, A-Wei caught up to Yu Jin and stealthily pulled a stack of photos from his pocket.

"Ms. Yu, a huge harvest! I just bought these from someone. This news is guaranteed to be a hit."

"Don't worry, I've already checked. It's a primary source. Even though it’s an old case from this school, if we can report it on our company’s account, it’ll definitely get some traction."

Yu Jin worked for a private media firm that primarily operated via an online media platform, managing several different columns.

The company cared most about the "heat" of a story; even if it happened over a decade ago, as long as it garnered attention, they would report it.

*An old school case.* Upon hearing those words, Zhou Jincheng, who was walking ahead, suddenly stopped and turned to look at the two of them.

Yu Jin’s face turned deathly pale. Her fingers trembled, and the photos in her hand scattered across the ground.

His gaze fell upon her face, then shifted coolly and deliberately to the photos on the ground. His eyes darkened.

They were eyewitness shots of a middle-aged man jumping to his death. His head had hit the ground in a pool of blood, his facial features mangled beyond recognition, and the bones of his elbows and knees were shattered into pieces, clearly visible.

Yu Jin bent down, her trembling, pale fingertips reaching for the photos, but a large hand reached out first, picking them up.

She looked up, meeting the man's abyss-like eyes.

"Just photos. Why is reporter Yu so shaken? Do you know him?"

Zhou Jincheng’s tone was indifferent. His scrutinizing gaze rested on her face as his long fingers gathered the photos into a stack, the backs of the pictures facing Yu Jin.

Yu Jin unclenched her fists, trying her best to remain calm. The scene in the photos still lingered in her mind, and she couldn't stop her voice from shaking.

"Anyone would be frightened at the sight of a corpse."

She looked up at him. Her eyes were glassy and rimmed with a faint, reddened hue, as if she had been severely startled.

She bent down to pick up her handbag, but her wrist was caught by a large hand. A familiar sensation washed over her, and her shoulders trembled.

His hand gripped her wrist with room to spare, his long fingers resembling white jade.

In contrast, her fingers were slender and bony, with blue veins clearly protruding, and thin calluses on every fingertip.

They were left behind from working in prison.

To earn a sentence reduction and see her daughter sooner, she had worked harder than any other female inmate, until the fingerprints on her pads were worn away.

Coming to her senses, she pulled back, trying to break free, but the grip on her wrist tightened.

"Chu Tingchun, a board member of Jingjiang University and a well-known wealthy businessman, jumped to his death on June 15th, four years ago. Before his death, he was suspected of involvement in multiple fraud cases, with the amount involved reaching over a billion."

"Since you’re only 'frightened,' I’m sure a reporter like you will personally write such a good story, right?"

Yu Jin was on the verge of tears. She gritted her teeth, her vision blurring with a misty fog.

"Of course. I will write this piece myself."

"Since Attorney Zhou is so curious, remember to download our company’s app and support my work."

Was she expected to write about how her father was an unscrupulous profiteer or a school board member who committed suicide?

She didn't know if those rumors were true or false; she only knew the last order on her father’s phone before he jumped.

A sapphire necklace—a graduation gift he had prepared for her.

His bank cards were frozen, and he had spent the last few tens of thousands in his balance before jumping from that thirty-story building.

In his final moment, he was still thinking of her, his only precious daughter.

He didn't know that at the very moment he jumped, the police had already taken his daughter away at the school gate.

His death hadn't protected anyone; instead, it pushed the Chu family into another abyss, leaving them completely isolated and helpless.

"Naturally." Zhou Jincheng’s expression darkened, and he let go of her hand.

If she were Chu Nanqing, why would she be willing to write this report to smear her own father? She would never agree to it.

Yu Jin held her bag and held out her other hand, demanding the photos.

"Give them to me."

Zhou Jincheng slowly extended his hand to pass them over, but just as the photos touched her damp palm, he suddenly pulled them back.

"Name your price. I want these photos."

His voice was cold, and the gaze he swept over her face was indifferent, lacking any of the ease or friendliness from his earlier teasing.

Yu Jin pulled back her hand, asking in confusion, "Why do you want to buy these photos?"

If she believed Zhou Jincheng wanted the exclusive photos of her father’s suicide just because he had money to burn, she would be a fool.

"It’s no wonder Reporter Yu doesn't know—the man in the photos was my..."

His voice trailed off, and his gaze deepened further as he looked at her.

"Mentor."

Yu Jin barely restrained herself from slapping him across the face. He did not deserve to call her father his mentor.

Forcing a reporter to write a smear piece about her father—was this how he treated his mentor?

Yu Jin really wanted to investigate this properly. Over the years, whenever companies brought up the Chu family to stir up sensation, was it all orchestrated by Zhou Jincheng?

His current prominent status in the industry was all built because her father had paved the way for him, treating him like a future son-in-law, getting him into the best law firm for his internship, and having him study under the most famous lawyers in the country.

His starting point in this industry was the finish line that millions of other lawyers dreamed of.

Her father had loved him like his own, never imagining he was nurturing a tiger.

A-Wei was about to refuse; he had prepared these photos as primary material for Ms. Yu's article, so what was this man doing trying to buy them?

He stepped forward, but Yu Jin stopped him with a single look.

"Fifty thousand. Are you buying?"

"I'll add another fifty thousand. A hundred thousand."

Zhou Jincheng tucked the photos into his suit pocket. Seeing that she didn't refuse, he turned and left.

Watching his retreating figure, Yu Jin frowned. Why would he spend a hundred thousand on these few photos? What on earth was he planning?

"Ms. Yu, let's go too."

Yu Jin came back to her senses and said to A-Wei, "Once the money arrives, I'll transfer it to you."

"Ms. Yu, keep the money for yourself. You have a child to raise. I'm a lone wolf, I don't need it."

Yu Jin had only ever mentioned to A-Wei that she had a daughter; she had never said anything else.

A-Wei didn't know the child wasn't by her side, nor did he know she had just emerged from four years in prison. Even she didn't know when she would be able to bring her daughter back to her.

Yu Jin was indeed short on money; the funds to hire a lawyer for her case had been borrowed.

Her mother was still in a nursing home; she must have owed the hospital a lot of money over these years.

There were expenses everywhere. Even her rent was paid by a friend, and she felt guilty for not being able to pay it back.

The two walked out of the school and put the heavy camera tripod and bags into the trunk. A-Wei drove, and Yu Jin sat in the passenger seat.

They stopped at a red light. On the crosswalk, a woman was walking with a child, followed by a nanny and a bodyguard.

The woman’s face was seventy or eighty percent similar to Yu Jin’s. The difference was her exquisitely styled short black hair and the latest luxury handbag draped over her elbow.

Her complexion was rosy, and her demeanor was one of opulence—the state of someone who had enjoyed great material comfort for a long time.

What resembled Yu Jin even more was the little girl holding the woman’s right hand. Her beautiful, delicate features were no different from Yu Jin’s; it was as if she were a carbon copy.