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

"Yes, because some things are too bizarre, even if he told the truth, no one would believe him."

Zhang Yihong smiled, "But you lived with Fu Xiuheng for so many years, didn't you know that Fu Xiuheng and he used to be very good friends?"

When she lived with Fu Xiuheng, his study was always a forbidden area, and Lin Qingran was not allowed to enter.

Until one night, when Lin Qingran got up to go downstairs for a drink of water, she passed by Fu Xiuheng's study and found the door ajar.

Lin Qingran walked over and found that Fu Xiuheng smelled strongly of alcohol, and there were several empty bottles lying at his feet.

He was asleep leaning against the wall, holding a photo frame in his hand.

Lin Qingran mustered her courage and walked into the study, picking up the photo frame from Fu Xiuheng's hand.

He originally thought Fu Xiuheng was missing Lin Yuyan, but he didn't expect that the photo was actually a picture of him and a boy from his student days.

Lin Qingran was very puzzled, but dared not ask any more questions. She hurriedly tried to leave, but Fu Xiuheng woke up at that moment.

That was when Lin Qingran was pregnant with Fu Xingze, and her relationship with Fu Xiuheng improved somewhat. It was also the best time for her relationship with Fu Xiuheng.

So when Fu Xiuheng opened his eyes and saw Lin Qingran holding that photo in front of him, he surprisingly didn't get angry at her. He even took the initiative to chat with her for a while.

He told Lin Qingran that the person in the photo was Zheng Yiming, the eldest son of the Zheng family, who was also his friend since childhood.

Lin Qingran had heard about Zheng Yiming's story long before she returned to the Lin family. He died tragically, and because of the turmoil in the family at that time, he didn't even have a proper funeral.

Lin Qingran assumed that Fu Xiuheng was missing his good friend and never thought of anything else.

It wasn't until Zhang Yihong suddenly brought up these matters in front of her today that Lin Qingran realized something seemed amiss.

A possibility suddenly popped into her mind, as if it had struck her head like a thunderbolt.

Lin Qingran stared blankly at Zhang Yihong, "You mean, Zheng Yiming's death is related to Fu Xiuheng?"

Zhang Yihong sighed softly, "Back then, Fu Xiuheng was just starting out, and the Fu family patriarch hadn't yet decided which of the two brothers would inherit the family business. Fu Xiuheng's talent was actually no match for Jing Nian's, so he had to make a name for himself. At that time, there was a project that both the Zheng family and the Fu family wanted. Given the Zheng family's status, no company in Beijing wanted to offend them, so usually when the two families clashed, the other side would automatically withdraw. In this way, the Zheng family would be grateful for their kindness and would repay them in other ways."

Logically speaking, this should be a sure-fire way to make money.

However, Fu Xiuheng was eager to achieve something, so he tried to compete for the project.

However, Zheng Yiming was Fu Xiuheng's childhood friend, and Fu Xiuheng couldn't disregard his feelings, so Fu Xiuheng arranged to meet with Zheng Yiming first.

“But in the business world, even brothers have to prioritize their own interests. No matter how good the relationship is between Fu Xiuheng and Zheng Yiming, Zheng Yiming would never agree to it,” Zhang Yihong said.

"Moreover, Fu Xiuheng is an extremely ambitious person. If he had proposed to Zheng Yiming back then that he wanted to cooperate on this project, Zheng Yiming would most likely have agreed out of consideration for their years of friendship. However, Fu Xiuheng insisted that he must become the one and only one and break the unshakable ironclad rule of the Zheng family. Once this precedent is set, more and more companies will compete for projects from Jincheng Group in the future. Therefore, Zheng Yiming did not agree at the time and had a big argument with him."

When good friends reach this point, they've completely broken off all ties.

If Fu Xiuheng wants to continue competing for this project, then he can confront Zheng Yiming head-on.

"You should know that although Lin Yuyan and Fu Xiuheng did not have a formal engagement, their families met privately for a meal back then and discussed their engagement."

Lin Qingran nodded. "If I hadn't appeared later, then the marriage between the two of them would have been a done deal."

“But the change is not in your hands.” Zhang Yihong shook his head.

"Fu Xiuheng is eager to form a marriage alliance with the Lin family because he wants to secure a powerful backer for himself before Jingnian arrives. With the Lin and Fu families joining forces, they are not afraid of losing out to Jincheng Group."

So, on the surface it's an engagement, but in reality it's to reassure the other party and win them over to help him.

“Shen Pei’an came from a humble background, but he was ruthless. Most importantly, he was bold and decisive,” Zhang Yihong said.

The childhood sweetheart relationship is just a pretext; the real point is that Shen Pei-an can actually use some underhanded methods to attack Zheng Yi-ming.

They found a relatively unknown model and sent her to Zheng Yiming's room while he was out of town discussing a project.

Their plan was to let the young model sneak in while Zheng Yiming was drunk, and then have the young model pretend that she was forced by Zheng Yiming, creating some scandalous news.

The person in charge of that project was an upright man who couldn't stand these acts of bullying men and women.

If he sees these news reports, the progress of the project cooperation will naturally be hindered.

Moreover, the Zheng family has extremely strict family rules. With this incident, Zheng Yiming's reputation has been damaged, and he will not be appearing in public for some time.

This method is dirty enough, but it must be said that if successful, it will help Fu Xiuheng to some extent.

"As for this matter, I don't know whether Shen Pei'an acted on his own initiative or Fu Xiuheng also agreed," Zhang Yihong said.

But in the end, the commotion caused by the young model was so great that the entire hotel was thrown into chaos. In the midst of the confusion, she fell from the balcony and died instantly.

Zheng Yiming was framed, but he was already in the trap. Everyone who knew the inside information at the time, even those who knew Zheng Yiming's character, couldn't help but suspect that Zheng Yiming had done something to cause the model's death.

Not long after, Zheng Ruiyuan couldn't hold on any longer. Meanwhile, as Fu Xiuheng secured the project he so desperately wanted, Jincheng Group was embroiled in that shocking scandal and began its decline.

At this point, Zhang Yihong revealed a mocking smile.

"After Jincheng Group declared bankruptcy, all its ongoing projects were sold off at low prices. Fu's Group and Lin's Group profited immensely from this. Not to mention in Beijing, no other company in the country made as much money as those two."

Lin Qingran's brows furrowed even more deeply. "You mean, the fraud case that later led to the downfall of Jincheng Group was also orchestrated behind the scenes by these two companies?"