Shen Nian held Chen Bei's trembling hands and looked at her seriously: "Don't be afraid."
Hearing Shen Nian's words, Chen Bei's fear was slightly soothed. She held the cup and took another sip of water before continuing.
"I heard them pointing at us like buying livestock, and at that time I didn't know what it meant to select concubines, I was just scared. I wanted to run away when they weren't paying attention, but Wang Yong caught me. Wang Yong beat me up and knocked me unconscious."
"The next day when I woke up, I found myself and several other girls lying on the floor of a room, and we... didn't have a single piece of clothing on."
Chen Bei's eyes grew redder and her voice shook more and more: "Ping Ping and I reported to the police immediately. At first, the police swore to us that they would definitely find out what happened yesterday and give us an explanation. But on the same day, I received a call from an unknown number. As soon as I answered, the person on the other end cursed at me very rudely, saying a lot of insulting words to me, calling me shameless and saying that I was wasting their time and they had to put in effort to deal with this damn slut."
"He even mocked me, saying it was useless for me to report to the police, that he has backers, and that we were just ordinary people whose puny arms could never twist around their thick thighs. After he vented his anger, he hung up. The next day, I asked Ping Ping, and she said she had received a call too, from Wang Yong's wife, who cursed her for deservedly being a mistress at such a young age, going to that kind of place on purpose to seduce her husband."
"..." Shen Nian was not surprised by Wang Yong's wife's unreasonable behavior, having witnessed it more than once before.
Chen Bei continued: "At that time, we were young and naive, so we told the police officer in charge of our case that they were threatening us and asked them to provide evidence. We were so stunned by their cursing that we didn't record anything. Later, we presented all the evidence we could find, determined to fight to the end, but nothing ever came of it."
"It was only later that we realized even the police officer in charge was Wang Yong's man, so no matter how much we protested, there would be no result. At that time, we were summoned and told a lot of hurtful things."
"They told us Wang Yong had backers, and besides him, the other rich second-generation kids present also had backers. We said Wang Yong called and threatened us, so they told us to provide evidence. If we didn't have evidence, they would sue us for defamation and put us in jail."
"What they didn't know was that after being cursed at, we started recording audio on our phones all the time, so we recorded everything they said. Later, we found Wang Yong's home and raised a ruckus there, just to expose his hypocritical facade."
"But why did you suddenly back down?" Shen Nian asked.
She remembered Lu Lingchen telling her that Chen Bei had abruptly dropped out of school back then, and her family had practically fled the capital overnight.
And the Ping Ping that Chen Bei mentioned...
"..." Hearing Shen Nian's question, Chen Bei lowered her head and laughed miserably: "Because I saw the harsh reality and understood the true meaning of 'the strong are kings, the weak are bandits.'"
"After that day, I received another call. They had found all my information - which university I attended, my major, even my parents' identities and workplaces."
"They threatened me that if I continued to cling to this matter, they would spread news of what happened to my school, so I wouldn't be able to hold my head high; they would also publicize it at my parents' workplaces, letting everyone know they had such a shameless daughter. They even found my hometown address and said they would print flyers and scatter them from the east to the west of my village, so everyone would know."
"..."
So this was the real reason Chen Bei and her family hurriedly left the capital all those years ago. Even after so many years, recounting it still made one feel indignant.
Shen Nian stared at her and asked seriously, "Now, are you willing to be a witness and expose their despicable behavior back then?"
"..." Chen Bei sat there, frowning, unable to make a decision for a while.
Shen Nian added enticingly, "Including your friend Ping Ping, if she is also willing to testify, the Lu family and Lingrui Group will fully protect you both."
As soon as Shen Nian said this, Chen Bei's expression changed drastically!
One could clearly see the panic on her face as she became restless.
Shen Nian immediately noticed her strange state and asked, "What's wrong?"
"Ping... Ping Ping..." Chen Bei shuddered, her face pale and eyes red. It took her a long time to complete the sentence: "Ping Ping died that year!"
"..."
Hearing this, Shen Nian's expression also changed drastically.
.....................
Five minutes later, Lu Lingchen came in with the files he had.
In total, he had three victim files - one was Chen Bei's, and the other two were of others.
Now, Lu Lingchen pushed one of the files toward her: "Please confirm, is the Ping Ping you mentioned this person?"
Chen Bei looked down and saw three bolded words on the file.
Zhang Yueping.
Unlike Chen Bei's file which was very comprehensive, Zhang Yueping's file contained very little information - only that she may have been involved with Wang Yong's incident back then, with no further details.
It was understandable, as it was an event from so many years ago. Lu Lingchen's people had already done well to find this much in such a short time.
However, what surprised Lu Lingchen and Shen Nian was that Zhang Yueping and Chen Bei knew each other.
Upon seeing Zhang Yueping's name, Chen Bei immediately broke down in tears.
Originally, Shen Nian thought she had known the real reason behind Chen Bei's family leaving the capital all those years ago.
But now she realized that was just the beginning.
After Wang Yong threatened Chen Bei's family back then, Chen's father and mother were scared.
They were just workers who had been laboring for years, and this was all they had achieved. If Wang Yong really spread the news far and wide, not to mention being ridiculed by others for the rest of their lives, their daughter Chen Bei's reputation would be ruined.
As the saying goes, good news doesn't travel far, but bad news spreads a thousand miles. If word got out that their daughter had been drugged, no one within a hundred miles would dare marry her in the future.
Wang Yong had money and power, while they only had thin, bamboo-like arms that could never twist against his thick thighs.
This matter could only be swallowed.
But Zhang Yueping refused to swallow her anger and insisted on an explanation. Chen Bei chose to let it go, but Zhang Yueping raised a ruckus on her own.
"...Ping Ping's personality has been like this since childhood. Once she sets her mind on something, she absolutely refuses to back down easily. When I saw her stand alone against capital, I wavered at the time, considering whether I too should courageously confront capital."
"But...in a couple of days, Ping Ping went missing." Chen Bei's voice trembled with fear as she spoke on.
