She abandoned her husband first, then her children, and was ecstatic after the divorce.

Although Zhou Lan lived in the Lin family's old mansion, she always treated other servants with a superior attitude, but she was the most affectionate towards Zhao Quanying and the two maids who took care of her.

The reason was simple: these three people had taken care of her when she was still a young girl.

If this were ancient times, these three would be considered part of Zhou Lan's dowry.

As for Zhao Quanying, he was Zhou Lan's most trusted confidant.

He started out as Zhou Lan's driver, and was promoted by Zhou Lan herself.

Lin Qingran vaguely remembered that when she was a young lady in the Lin family, she once overheard Zhou Lan and Shen Pei'an arguing. Shen Pei'an said sourly that Zhou Lan treated a housekeeper better than him.

Would someone as trustworthy as Zhou Lan betray her?

Lin Qingran found it hard to believe.

Whether it was what she heard or what she saw with her own eyes, Zhao Quanying left Lin Qingran with the impression that she was Zhou Lan's most useful dog.

In Lin Qingran's view, even if someone wanted to break out, this knife could not possibly have been handed to her by Zhao Quanying.

However, during this investigation, Xiao Zhou also stumbled upon something extremely ironic.

“Before, besides the current Aunt Liu and Aunt Zhang, there was another woman surnamed Liu around Zhou Lan. She was older than the others; she was already over sixty when Zhou Lan got married. Not long after the eldest young master was born, that old woman surnamed Liu retired. However, she is still alive. When I was investigating Zhao Ping, I happened to hear about her, so I sent someone to find her under the guise of being the son of an old friend and get some information out of her,” Xiao Zhou said.

"It turned out that when Liu Ma was young, she had a relationship with Zhao Quanying."

Lin Qingran raised her eyebrows with interest.

"I never imagined there was such a story between these two."

No wonder she always felt that the atmosphere between Zhao Quanying and Liu Ma was strange when she saw them meet before.

It's normal for them to exchange work-related information while living under the same roof.

However, their conversations were always rushed, as if they were avoiding each other.

Lin Qingran hadn't paid much attention before, assuming it was because Zhou Lan was strict with her servants that the two of them could only keep their conversations short. But now, after hearing what Xiao Zhou had to say, she realized that they were actually separated lovers.

"They've both worked for the Lin family for so many years, and they've known each other since they were young. If they're in love, why should they separate?"

Xiao Zhou sighed, "According to Aunt Liu, it was Zhou Lan who made them separate."

When Zhou Lan was in school, she had a close friend who came from an ordinary background, but they had an extremely good relationship.

He once came to visit Zhou Lan and took a liking to Zhao Quanying. Later, with Zhou Lan's matchmaking, the two got married.

Liu's mother revealed that it was Zhou Lan who forced Liu's mother and Zhao Quanying to break up in order to bring them together.

After Zhao Quanying and Zhou Lan's best friend got together, they quickly got married and had a child, who was naturally Zhao Ping.

"Why give your own child to someone else if you don't want to raise them yourself?" Lin Qingran asked.

“That’s the problem,” Xiao Zhou sighed.

"Aunt Liu said that Zhao Quanying's wife died in childbirth, and Zhao Quanying had no time to take care of his own child, so he could only send the child to live with his relatives. Since the relatives didn't have any children to look after, they developed feelings for the child and then gave it to them to raise."

That's strange.

That family had no children; Zhao Quanying only had this one son.

Moreover, Zhao Quanying never remarried. No matter how busy she was with work, she always made sure to visit her children.

However, Lin Qingran had lived in the Lin family for so many years and had never seen Zhao Quanying leave or any of her relatives come looking for her, which showed that Zhao Quanying had completely given up on the child.

This is not something a normal person would do, unless Zhao Quanying has become inhuman like Zhou Lan.

"It's hard to say whether it's inhumane or not," Xiao Zhou said.

"However, Aunt Liu had some complaints about them. Her words seemed to imply that Zhao Ping was also forced to leave by Zhou Lan back then. Aunt Liu probably left because she couldn't stand Zhou Lan's actions. But after all, she couldn't fight against the powerful, so she didn't tell the people we sent any more specific details."

Lin Qingran was puzzled.

Zhao Quanying was just a housekeeper by Zhou Lan's side. It would be understandable if she tried her best to matchmake her best friend for the sake of her lifelong happiness.

But what did the child do to offend her?

If Zhou Lan truly cared for her best friend, then after her death, she would have taken even better care of Zhao Quanying and the child.

She forced Zhao Quanying to send the child away, which must have been for some other reason.

Therefore, the text message I received back then was most likely sent by Li Yingying at the instigation of Zhao Quanying or Zhao Ping.

What is their purpose in letting us know the truth?

Lin Qingran turned to look at Xiao Zhou, whose eyes showed a complicated expression. Xiao Zhou lowered his voice and said.

"If a person is unhappy, there is a high probability that he will take revenge on the descendants of his enemies."

Lin Qingran was immediately terrified.

When she was Jiang Jiuge, she always kept herself very well hidden.

Whether as a painter or as the president of Sheng Hai Group, she rarely shows her true face, so few people know her background.

After being recognized by the Lin family, Lin Qingran concealed that past.

Zhao Quanying was not all-powerful; if even Zhou Lan and Fu Xiuheng didn't know, it was even less likely that Zhao Quanying would know.

At the time, I was six months pregnant and about to give birth.

At that time, she was summoned by an anonymous text message, and coincidentally, she overheard what Zhou Lan had said...

It seems this wasn't for anything else, but rather to take his own life.

Lin Qingran felt a chill run down her spine and let out a cold laugh.

She gritted her teeth and said, word by word.

"The Lin family is a den of iniquity; the waters there are truly deep."

“Since they’ve already investigated your identity, Mr. Jiang, Zhao Quanying, as Zhou Lan’s confidante, should know about it. Given the current situation, Zhou Lan is avoiding you, and Zhao Quanying hasn’t expressed her opinion at all. Perhaps Zhao Quanying is afraid of you. Why don’t we talk to Zhao Quanying?”

"No." Lin Qingran shook her head.

"Since they dared to have Li Yingying send me a message directly, they must have thought that I would inevitably meet my doom that day."

Otherwise, they wouldn't have left such a huge loophole.

Now that he has revealed himself, Zhao Quanying will surely wonder if he will investigate his past.

Just like now, once an investigation is launched, Zhao Quanying will inevitably be exposed.