If—if Xiang Guang wasn't as perfectly righteous as everyone in the factory imagined, what was his real purpose for helping Zhao Dayong?
Because the transportation crew went on business trips frequently, he was afraid his wife would be harassed in the factory, so he needed someone completely dependent on him to help him watch her every move.
Simply put, he wanted Zhao Dayong to monitor whether Li Hui had any inappropriate interactions with others.
Although there was no physical evidence, both Nan Yue and Jiang Siyan were more than eighty percent certain about this lead.
Xiang Guang was not as flawless as the factory thought.
This was actually normal, as it was impossible for a human being not to have some emotional flaws.
Nan Yue tapped her fingers against her leg. "Xiang Guang has a very strong desire for control over Li Hui."
Zhao Dayong's surveillance, the perfectly rationed food stamps and money, the overly plain clothes...
All of this indicated that Xiang Guang's control over Li Hui had already become somewhat pathological.
Nan Yue raised her eyebrows with interest; her lead was finally getting interesting.
A man praised by everyone actually had an extreme desire to control his wife.
This wasn't uncommon; Li Hui was too popular in the factory, and Xiang Guang was insecure and didn't trust her.
But the bigger problem was, had no one in the factory noticed anything wrong?
Zhao Dayong certainly knew, but what about Yang Hua?
Yang Hua was such a shrewd person and lived right next door to Li Hui; had she noticed nothing?
And then there was Huang Ya Nan.
She was with Li Hui every day and had been even before Li Hui got married; had she not noticed the changes in her friend?
"What about the clues on your end?"
Jiang Siyan rubbed his fingers together and didn't speak immediately.
Nan Yue tilted her head to look at him, her eyes filled with pure trust.
Jiang Siyan's throat suddenly felt a bit itchy.
"...There are a few things in my room that shouldn't be there."
"Hair ties, used tissues, and a small notebook."
At first, Nan Yue was a bit confused until Jiang Siyan slowly added, "The notebook belongs to Li Hui. She has a habit of writing poetry."
Nan Yue: ...??? How did I not know?
It wasn't convenient for Jiang Siyan to take out the booklet, so he explained, "These things were likely salvaged from the trash. The notebook was torn apart and then taped back together. If you smell it closely, there's still a bit of an odor."
Nan Yue's gaze became somewhat horrified.
"Jiang Siyan, you're a creep."
Jiang Siyan: "..."
Nan Yue quickly corrected herself, "No, I mean Tang Yu is a creep."
Jiang Siyan lowered his head, looking somewhat innocent.
Nan Yue felt a bit guilty. "I just said it without thinking. Don't mind me."
Jiang Siyan didn't mind. He was just thinking that when he discovered those things, he actually quite understood Tang Yu.
It seemed he was a creep too.
"But Li Hui doesn't write poetry."
At least not now; there were no poetry collections or notebooks in her home.
If someone loved writing poetry, there should be some trace of it.
Jiang Siyan was silent for a moment. "I'll give the booklet to you at the warehouse tomorrow."
Nan Yue nodded and frowned. "So the most important part of Tang Yu's social network is Li Hui."
Of course, there were two other items, and it was unclear if they belonged to other female comrades or Li Hui.
If they all belonged to Li Hui, it meant Tang Yu liked her, and that feeling had become somewhat pathological.
If they belonged to others...
Then Tang Yu was just a creep who broadly collected discarded items from other female comrades.
She realized that all the current clues pointed toward the roles the scavengers were playing, and these roles had clear and hidden connections.
Was it really a shared secret?
That didn't seem quite right either. Nan Yue felt it was more like they each had their own secrets, but those secrets were all linked by cause and effect.
For example, Tang Yu's secret was Li Hui.
And Li Hui's secret...
Was it Xiang Guang or Zhao Dayong?
As an unmarried male comrade, it wasn't convenient for Jiang Siyan to sit with Nan Yue for too long, so he politely bid her farewell.
"Regarding Wenwen's side, Granny Zhao seems to dislike Li Hui."
Jiang Siyan looked thoughtful. "I'll go take a look."
Among their five roles, Nan Yue was ignored, Zhu Xi Ning was a social pariah, Gu Xiang Kai was a slacker, and only Jiang Siyan, as a college student, might be able to get close to Granny Zhao.
Actually, the Zhong Guochao played by Chi He should be the most convenient, as his status as the factory director's son was very useful.
But Nan Yue didn't want to look for Chi He unless it was absolutely necessary.
Nan Yue sat for a while before going home. She continued to rummage through the house, paying special attention to poetry collections.
But the house was very clean; there were no poetry collections, not even books.
Li Hui used to work in the factory office, was educated, and loved to study, so she should be someone who loved reading.
Yet there were no books in the house.
Items with writing on them were very scarce.
However, she wasn't without gains. Nan Yue discovered that Li Hui had a habit of putting a tissue in all her clothes.
Generally speaking, one would use a handkerchief, but Li Hui used tissues.
The tissues were very clean and had a faint fragrance.
According to Dr. Jiang, the tissues Tang Yu collected were just like these.
Unlike ordinary coarse straw paper, these were white and soft. The scent was gone since it had been some time.
Nan Yue felt ninety percent sure they belonged to Li Hui.
Tang Yu likely had a crush on Li Hui.
And it was somewhat extreme.
Extreme enough to scavenge through the trash for things Li Hui had used and discarded.
Unfortunately, since Tang Yu was Jiang Siyan, he had to find the clues himself. Their current understanding of the social network was just their inference.
Nan Yue vaguely felt that Li Hui should be the small core of this mission. Besides her own constitution that strongly attracted pollution sources, the more important thing was that there were too many mysteries surrounding her.
Leaving aside Zhao Dayong and Xiang Guang, Granny Zhao's attitude toward Li Hui was very strange.
Li Hui's popularity in the factory was well-known; there was no reason for Granny Zhao to treat her like that.
Nan Yue was certain that Li Hui had definitely interacted with Granny Zhao before, and there was some kind of conflict.
Or... it wasn't with Granny Zhao, but with Zhao Yao.
Zhao Yao and Granny Zhao depended on each other, and Zhao Yao listened to everything Granny Zhao said. Granny Zhao not only disliked Li Hui herself but also forbade Zhao Yao from having much contact with her, which was something worth pondering.
It was getting late, and people were returning to the building one after another. Nan Yue had already lied down in bed, waiting to see what would happen at night.
At the same time, Wen Xiang Yuan was closing the gate to the courtyard.
There was a small courtyard behind Granny Zhao's house that she had enclosed herself. She usually grew vegetables there and piled up the recyclables she collected.
As Wen Xiang Yuan was closing the gate, she seemed to see someone standing outside.
Her heart skipped a beat, and she took two steps forward, unsure if she had seen correctly.
The person had half their body hidden behind a tree and was built quite sturdily; it wasn't Zhou An, who frequently came to help.
"Brother Gu?"
Wen Xiang Yuan recognized the person behind the tree.
Why would Gu Xiang Kai come here at this time?
Granny Zhao was inside the house tidying things up. The sounds coming from within gave Wen Xiang Yuan some temporary peace of mind as she walked forward.
"Did something happen?"
Wen Xiang Yuan whispered as she jogged toward the back of the tree, and then her eyes widened in shock.
Behind the tree... there was no one.
It was completely empty; there was nothing there.
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