Actually, several people were conducting searches under the premise of "Yes," not just Shi Nian’s opinion, but before Jia Tianzi and Guan Liang could say anything, she exclaimed first. Her gaze swept across Shi Nian’s face, full of discontent.
"So, the Lin Qi surname of the Mark family is indeed fake?!"
Jia Tianzi shrugged: "It seems Shi Nian was right. We have to abandon the ’Yes’ search and switch to the ’No’ direction."
It seemed the situation was leaning towards Shi Nian, yet he only quietly looked at Tang Yanqing.
His long eyebrows furrowed together, but he wasn’t in a hurry to speak.
Shi Nian took a deep breath, stood up straight: "No, let’s not give up so easily. Mr. Jia, Mr. Guan, Madam Tang, there is another possibility—the Mark family may still be surnamed Lin Qi, but their family was not originally involved in the textile industry. Their involvement in the textile industry came from an outsider’s influence."
Guan Liang’s eyes lit up immediately: "Yes, it could be that the woman who married into the Lynch family came from a textile family."
Jia Tianzi nodded slowly: "It could also be a son-in-law."
Shi Nian added: "Or it might not be an in-law relation, but a business partner instead."
Tang Yan Yi listened to this and was slightly surprised, unable to resist giving Shi Nian a glance.
Shi Nian met her gaze: "Anyway, the possibility of ’Yes’ is greater, our main line should continue to search along the ’Yes’ premise. Unless there are no more clues to dig into, then we switch to ’No.’
Tang Yan Yi diverted her gaze, sat back down, and focused on the screen: "It’s good to distinguish between primary and secondary."
The group started searching again, and Guan Liang was indeed the fastest, exclaiming: "Found it! In the mid-19th century, a woman who married into the Lin Qi family indeed had an European textile giant family background."
Jia Tianzi also looked at the screen with a knowing smile: "And coincidentally, this woman’s father was a business partner of the Lin Qi family at the time."
Shi Nian laughed happily: "So, it was a two-for-one reason."
Tang Yan Yi frowned: "Yet this still can’t ascertain whether the Lynch family was a noble family. Or whether that family’s woman was of noble origin? The current material still can’t confirm."
Time passed quickly as their brains buzzed together, every time someone proposed a possible cross-reference, everyone would search together to judge correctness.
As the sky gradually brightened, everyone was busy all night, yet they still returned to the point—although they found the reason for the Lynch family’s involvement in the textile industry, what does it have to do with whether they have noble status?
If this causal relationship can’t be found, how to connect Mark with those four "centuries?"
Finally, Tang Yanqing, who was focused on listening and leading, spoke up: "Since we’re stuck in this logic quagmire, don’t struggle, let’s temporarily throw away the current condition and jump directly to another hypothesis."
Tang Yanqing turned her gaze to Shi Nian: "The condition of the four ’centuries’ was discovered by you, so you propose another hypothetical premise."
Shi Nian thought: "Ok. Materials from the 19th century or earlier are hard to find, but An Jian said materials from recent decades can still be found—then please search whether Kangchuan University’s original investors include anyone surnamed Lin Qi; or if there are any in-laws related to Lin Qi."
Guan Liang, Jia Tianzi, and Tang Yan Yi immediately began typing rapidly, starting the query.
Tang Yanqing stopped her hands, raised her long eyebrows again to look at Shi Nian.
"How did you think of that?"
Shi Nian’s cheeks flushed slightly: "In the campus history exhibition gallery, there’s a huge oil painting, supposedly depicting the scene of original investors meeting to establish Kangchuan University. In the center of the painting is a person in palace attire, I think he should be a traditional nobleman from Europe."
"Yes!" Guan Liang was the first again: "Although none of the thirteen original investors are surnamed Lin Qi, one of them was once married into the Lin Qi family."
Shi Nian’s heart raced urgently: "Is it the one in the center?"
Guan Liang turned back and nodded gently: "That’s right. It’s him."
"Who is he?" Shi Nian couldn’t help but tremble in his voice.
Guan Liang replied: "John Ford, Earl of Fod County in Europe. Before WWI, to escape the war, he brought a large fortune to M Country."
Shi Nian softly repeated the surname: "Ford..."
Tang Yanqing squinted her eyes: "What are you thinking of?"
Shi Nian took a deep breath: "Kangchuan University’s Board Chairman, Huangfu Huazhang. His English surname is Ford." Thɪs chapter is updated by N0v3l.Fiɾe.net
Jia Tianzi was also stunned: "So, Huangfu Huazhang and Mark might be close relatives, like cousins?!"
Tang Yan Yi squinted her eyes: "But Huangfu Huazhang injured his cousin severely to save an exchange student, and even might have sent his cousin to court. Quite the righteous act, eh?"
Jia Tianzi slammed the table: "I said we must talk to Huangfu Huazhang face-to-face, but unfortunately he refuses to meet us, not even giving face to Liu Qingtian’s lawyer. And we don’t have an appropriate excuse through normal legal channels to summon him."
Tang Yanqing’s gaze slid quickly across Shi Nian’s face, frowning, she cut off: "Enough."
Shi Nian was taken aback: "Mr. Jia, are you saying you can’t contact him?"
"That’s right." Guan Liang spread his hands: "Our police department doesn’t even have his phone number on record."
Shi Nian lowered his head, took out a small piece of paper from his wallet: "I have it."
Unexpectedly, it turned out to be such a "searching high and low only to find it effortlessly" situation. Guan Liang laughed loudly and jumped up from his seat, bouncing over to snatch the small slip of paper from Shi Nian’s hand.
Then he looked at Shi Nian puzzlingly, "How did you get it?"
Tang Yan Yi’s gaze was also suspiciously cast over.
Shi Nian frowned, "Just a fortunate coincidence, I hope it can help you all."
Jia Tianzi sighed and held Guan Liang back, "It’s useless. He’s made his stance clear. He doesn’t want to meet us or reveal more information, even if we have his phone number, he can still refuse."
Guan Liang looked at Shi Nian unwillingly, "But since Shi Nian managed to get his phone number, doesn’t it mean Shi Nian might help persuade him for us?"
Before Shi Nian could express himself, Tang Yanqing abruptly stood up, knocking into the table with a bang.
"Qiao’er, I’ll say it again: Enough!"
Guan Liang was startled, stammering, "I... what happened?"
Jia Tianzi quickly held Guan Liang back and whispered, "Don’t drag Shi Nian into this. This case is our responsibility."
Guan Liang was still a bit unwilling, "But isn’t Shi Nian working with our police this time... and besides, we’re not outsiders."
Tang Yanqing’s cold eyes cut through like murderous sword light, "Still talking?!"
Shi Nian was also startled, very unfamiliar with Tang Yanqing being at loggerheads with Guan Liang for her. And Tang Yan Yi’s eyes were blended with more suspicion.
Shi Nian hurriedly went forward, grabbing Tang Yanqing’s arm, "Mr. Tang, it’s okay. If I can be of any help, I’m willing to give it a try."
Tang Yanqing’s icy gaze swept over, "You shut up too!"
He coldly surveyed the few people in the room, "This topic ends here, never bring it up again!"
The four in the room were left stunned, looking at each other in disbelief. Tang Yanqing, feeling irritable, lifted his leg and walked out of the room, heading straight to the end of the hallway.
The young master threw another tantrum, and although the four people in the room weren’t surprised, they were still somewhat at a loss.
Shi Nian then got up, lowered his head, and said, "Sorry, I’m going to the bathroom."
Then hurriedly ran out with small steps, standing at the doorway looking around, finally seeing his silhouette at the end of the long corridor.
Clearly such a tall and slender man, yet at this moment his figure shrunk into a small black dot, looking so lonely, so small.
A sudden, inexplicable pain in the left side of the chest.
Shi Nian took a deep breath and quietly walked over.
At the end of the corridor was a window, outside of which the sky was gradually lighting up. Indigo, dark blue, light blue, layers of diluted blues intertwined and floated.
He was facing away from her direction, diagonally leaning his right shoulder against the wall, looking out at the morning light while lighting another cigarette.
Shi Nian took a breath and walked over silently, "Mr. Tang, is the police station exempt from the fire ban?"
He turned around, frowning at her, "Trying to catch me off guard again? You’ll be disappointed."
Shi Nian wrinkled her nose, "Why so aggressive? I haven’t offended you."
His expression still hadn’t softened, but he pulled the cigarette from his mouth, threw it on the ground, and crushed it with his foot, "Still say you didn’t offend me? I’ve said so many times not to mention it, yet you still talked about it with them."
"But what I said wasn’t wrong." She slipped her hands into her pants pockets, looking up at him, "The police handle cases for the people, and every citizen has the obligation to assist the police in solving cases, right?"
"Besides, Huangfu Huazhang is the chairman of the board of directors at Kangchuan University and once saved me. Since I have this opportunity to meet him, naturally I should help the police."
He irritably ran his hand through his hair, "In short, I forbid you from meeting him!"
[Cough cough, everyone’s comments are amazing~ like having sharp eyes! Happy Children’s Day, see you tomorrow.]
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