Chapter 262: Chapter 262

Mrs. Luo seemed a bit embarrassed.

Shi Nian keenly observed, it was indeed—embarrassment, not panic.

"I’m sorry, Mr. Shi, I really don’t want to talk more about what happened back then. Let bygones be bygones."

Shi Nian smiled: "Auntie, forgive my bluntness: 1, You called me ’Mr. Shi’ just now, indicating you are aware of my profession, and you are quite concerned."

"I understand that, because journalists are not widely liked nowadays to some extent, and you worry that I’ll pry into your privacy and write it up to sell."

Mrs. Luo paused and then frowned: "Sorry, I really hope it’s just prejudice, but I genuinely harbor a degree of wariness towards journalists."

Shi Nian nodded with a smile: "I understand. But I promise you, I will absolutely respect your privacy, and the people involved will be given pseudonyms."

Only then did Mrs. Luo slowly nod.

Shi Nian continued: "2, It seems your expression bore more of concern rather than panic. Evidently, after all these years, though you still have lingering fears about the past, you’re not as frightened now. Your current worry is that unveiling past stories will uncover secrets you’ve long buried."

Mrs. Luo opened her eyes wide.

Shi Nian bowed his head: "Auntie, forgive my frankness: On a night of the year’s grandest festival, when both Dad and Mom promised to take the child to see the clown stage play, how much anticipation would there be in a child’s heart? How could both parents coincidentally break their promise for work? There must be a reason."

Mrs. Luo was taken aback: "You could even guess this?"

Shi Nian smiled faintly: "Because I am a child of a very busy working dad. Even though my dad was busy, sometimes unable to take me out alone to play for a year or more, whenever he promised me something, he’d make sure to fulfill it."

"Auntie, Chinese parents might temporarily be too occupied with work to care for their children, but they also value their promises. Since both parents had solemnly promised the child, unless there was a very special reason, such simultaneous breach of promise wouldn’t occur."

Mrs. Luo listened, her eyelashes trembling lightly, as she slowly bowed her head, inhaling deeply: "Shi Nian, could you stop asking?"

"I know it will be difficult," Shi Nian gently held Mrs. Luo’s hand: "But I think it would be less painful than having Rosa recall that period herself. Since this accident is linked to past events, the police will unquestionably require Rosa’s statement. If she recounts it herself, she might suffer more."

"No mother in this world would willingly let her daughter endure such pain again, right?"

Mrs. Luo cried, quickly wiped her tears, and resolutely nodded.

"Alright, I’ll tell you. That year, my husband and I had some emotional issues... We considered divorce at one point. But because of Rosa, we had no choice but to endure repeatedly. That day was all planned, we’d go see the clown stage play together, and I thought it might be a chance to mend our family relationship. But unexpectedly, before finishing work, my husband called, saying he had a last-minute task and needed to work overtime."

Mrs. Luo looked tearfully at Shi Nian: "You know a woman’s intuition. My husband loves our daughter dearly, and since he solemnly promised her, he would rarely break his word so hastily. So, I felt he must be lying, that he wanted me to take Rosa to the play alone, giving him a chance to date that woman from his company..."

"I went mad, neglected my daughter, called her saying I also needed to work overtime, and secretly drove to my husband’s company..."

"But who would’ve thought, during such a delay, by the time we returned home, our daughter was already missing! Had I known earlier, I would never have done that... Oh God, Rosa means everything to me, how could I have done such an unforgivable thing."

Shi Nian also sadly closed his eyes.

Mrs. Luo still concealed the details of that night’s true events, and whether Mr. Luo did have an affair was left ambiguous. But those matters were no longer important, compared to Rosa’s disappearance and experiences that year, they seemed trifling.

Moreover, they are still together now. Perhaps their daughter’s disappearance gave their marriage, on the brink of collapse, a chance to reunite. With a common goal of finding their daughter, their hearts came closer, reunited once more.

Shi Nian nodded: "Since neither of you could return home, did you arrange for someone to watch over Rosa apart from calling her? Considering her age then, there should no longer be a nanny at home, right?"

Mrs. Luo nodded: "She was twelve that year, already capable of taking care of herself. We had no relatives here, so I could only call my neighbor, Mrs. Wang, another Chinese-American, asking her to watch for Rosa’s activities, ensuring she didn’t watch TV or play on the computer too late."

"Twelve years old..." Shi Nian calculated, "So that should be about fifteen years ago."

"Yes," Mrs. Luo sadly smiled: "It was just around the millennium, so that year’s clown festival was the grandest ever. Clowns from all over the world nearly outnumbered the residents of our small town."

At the police station, Guan Liang walked to Tang Yan Yi’s desk, tapped her chair back, gesturing for her to follow.

Tang Yan Yi understood, got up, and followed Guan Liang into his computer room.

Once the door was closed, Tang Yan Yi nervously and excitedly asked, "Did you find anything?"

Guan Liang smiled mysteriously: "As long as I’m allowed to use unconventional methods, there’s nothing I can’t find."

That night, due to mysterious associations with a clown’s smiling face, Yanyi had Guan Liang investigate what Huangfu Huazhang was doing before and after Rosa’s case.

However, the Ford family’s records have remained elusive for centuries; normally, even Guan Liang couldn’t glean much from standard inquiries.

Tang Yan Yi was very disappointed, so Guan Liang quietly proposed to her: "Princess, if you really want to know, I might manage it by hacking into some non-public databases... But this isn’t legal. You’re the police commissioner’s daughter; I wouldn’t want to implicate you."

Tang Yan Yi scoffed: "Rubbish! You’d be stripped of your uniform if not for my protection. Go ahead and investigate, we’ll face any issues together!"

Exploring how far the police department’s network can delve into the vast universe of the internet has always tantalized Guan Liang. With Tang Yan Yi’s approval, he immediately got to work. Even then, it took dozens of hours before he found some results, showing just how well-hidden these records were.

Guan Liang sat down, his fingers flying, and soon various different pieces of information appeared across nine screens in front of him.

Guan Liang pointed at one screen: "Fifteen years ago, the Fude Group and the Ford family faced a major crisis. That year, a just-turned-20-year-old Huangfu Huazhang took over as the chairman of the Fude Group, single-handedly rescuing the group and family from impending disaster."

Guan Liang looked at Tang Yan Yi steadily: "That year was also the first time Huangfu Huazhang appeared in Ford family records under the name William Ford."

"Oh?" Tang Yan Yi was taken aback: "What does this mean?"

Guan Liang sighed: "It means that before he was 20, Huangfu Huazhang was just Huangfu Huazhang, not William Ford."

Tang Yan Yi squinted: "Are you suggesting his identity is fake?"

"No," Guan Liang’s fingers seemed to never rest, even when not typing; he kept a pen moving restlessly between his fingers, turning it over repeatedly, mesmerizingly: "I only mean: there was no William Ford fifteen years ago; fifteen years ago, there was only Huangfu Huazhang."

Tang Yan Yi, unable to bear watching the pen spin any longer, grabbed it and tossed it, deftly landing it in a pencil holder three meters away.

Guan Liang cheered with a whistle.

Tang Yan Yi ignored his whistle, concentrating on voicing her deduction.

"He’s a child born out of wedlock? Or maybe he wasn’t accepted by the Ford family before, so didn’t even have the right to their surname? Somehow, due to a massive crisis faced by both the Fude Group and the Ford family, or because there was no suitable heir, or because other heirs weren’t able to save the situation, he was chosen out from the masses, assumed the responsibility, and finally acquired the delayed family surname?"

Guan Liang snapped his fingers: "Indeed, nothing less expected from the second princess of the Tang Family!" Thɪs chapter is updated by NoveI★Fire.net

Tang Yan Yi smiled, biting her lip, "Huangfu Huazhang is 35 now, could it be that before he was 20, he lived only with his Chinese mother in China, only coming to M Country that year?"

[Second update of the morning]

Thanks to Lan for the big red envelope, Tong’s envelope, irenelauyy for 10 flowers, chuoyy for flowers

sheet: Saturn person on earth, drj0920, Fei Shaoxie,