The Disowned Young Lady Married a Homicide Detective - Chapter 27

Soon, Gu Yezhou contacted the taxi driver from that night, and the dashcam happened to capture Lin Zedong wearing a mask.

When he got off the bus, Lin Zedong used WeChat Pay to pay, and the payment account was immediately traced back to him.

Even with Attorney Jin’s defense, when all the evidence was presented to him, Lin Zedong deflated like a punctured balloon and confessed everything.

That evening—

After Lin Shuyue took him home, he asked Xiaoyue to confirm Lin Zehui’s situation.

At the same time, Xiaoyue was asked to find someone to retrieve the surveillance footage from the entertainment center that night. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Sang Ning’s figure on it.

Sang Ning looked anxious in the surveillance footage; she wouldn’t be able to return to Ping An Apartment anytime soon.

So Lin Zedong took a taxi to Ping An Apartment. His purpose was simple: he just wanted to negotiate a deal with Shi Li.

He knew that the illustration Yang Tao submitted was by Shi Li, but the copyright had already been transferred to Yang Tao, who then transferred the copyright to the Lin Group.

These procedures are all legal and compliant.

But it was precisely because of Lin Zedong’s stubbornness that he did not want the Lin Group to have any stain on its reputation, at least not while it was under his control.

He recognized the female lead on the poster at a glance, and he also knew that Shi Li had actually infringed on Sang Ning’s portrait rights. But after all, it was a comic. Once it was converted into a comic and some features were added, it was actually quite difficult to protect his rights in this regard.

Lin Zedong was worried that the female lead in the poster would be discovered by Shi Li, causing a scene on Weibo and negatively impacting the Lin Group.

But he was too late. By the time he arrived at Ping An Apartment, Shi Li’s Weibo had already been updated.

It was nearly 1 a.m., and there was no one in Ping An Apartment.

The cold wind howled at night. Lin Zedong bypassed the surveillance cameras at Sang Ning’s door, went up another staircase, and knocked on Shi Li’s door.

Shi Li had never seen Lin Zedong before and asked with a puzzled look, “Who are you?”

Lin Zedong took out his phone and pulled up the poster illustration. “I know the woman in it.”

“What do you want?” Shi Li asked warily, lowering his voice. Then, he immediately peeked out and looked at the door next to him. Seeing that the light was off, he breathed a sigh of relief.

“Come in and speak.”

Lin Zedong entered Shi Li’s house without any trouble. The house’s layout was completely visible, except for the bedroom, which was located in a room on one side.

The first thing he saw when he entered was the paintings on the easel, and he couldn’t help but reach out and touch it.

The light touch lasted less than three seconds before Shi Li shouted, “What are you doing! Don’t touch my painting!”

Shi Li valued the painting more than his own life, so he grabbed the easel and put it aside.

“Still painting so late?” Lin Zedong looked at Shi Li’s clean clothes, without a trace of paint.

At this time of day, not sleeping or drawing, it seems more like waiting for someone.

Shi Li’s eyes darted away. “It’s none of your business. What do you want to do? Even if you know her, you can’t do anything to me. I know her too, and it was with her permission.”

Lin Zedong suddenly found this very interesting. “You mean, you infringed on the other person’s portrait rights, and the other person even allowed you to profit from their portrait rights?”

“What nonsense are you talking about! I haven’t profited from this, my comics are all free.” Shi Li glared at him fiercely.

Lin Zedong didn’t want to waste time arguing with Shi Li, so he took out the folded contract from his pocket and said, “Sign here, and I’ll keep it a secret for you.”

“What are you signing?” Shi Li looked at him warily. After taking the contract, he carefully read the terms and conditions. More importantly, the poster he had just drawn actually belonged to the Lin Group. How could he be willing to accept that?

“I disagree! I will not allow you capitalists to obtain the copyright! I’m going to post on Weibo right now to condemn you! Your Lin Group, just wait for your stock to plummet!”

Although Shi Li is a homebody, he is also a well-known cartoonist, and he has seen the tricks of the trade in the business world.

Lin Zedong’s face darkened. He thought that Sang Ning next door hadn’t returned yet, so if he made a move now and forced him to put his fingerprint on it, everything would be settled.

But Shi Li kept her distance from him and was unwilling to cooperate at all.

Just as Lin Zedong’s patience ran out and he was about to take action, he heard a knock on the door.

His expression changed, and before Shi Li could speak, he hid in Shi Li’s bedroom.

While waiting in the bedroom, he saw women’s underwear on the bed. At first, Lin Zedong had someone hiding in the closet. He went up and pulled open the closet, and found that most of the closet was filled with women’s clothes.

Lin Zedong also has a copy of Shi Li’s background information.

Shi Li doesn’t have a girlfriend at all.

Just as Lin Zedong was about to open the door to leave, he saw what was happening in the living room. He was about to use this to threaten Shi Li.

A man picked up an ashtray and smashed it against the back of Shi Li’s head.

Shi Li didn’t react at all. He even turned his back to the man and said, “I want the money, not a penny less.”

With a loud clang.

Shi Li was knocked to the ground, and the man hurriedly fled with the blood-stained ashtray in hand.

The door was open at that moment, and Lin Zedong quickly stepped forward to close it. He wanted to reach out to help Shi Li, but he hesitated when his hand was halfway up.

He stood there, bewildered, and after a moment of stunned silence, he realized that Shi Li had woken up.

“Help…help me.” Shi Li struggled to crawl over and grab Lin Zedong.

At this moment, Lin Zedong dared not let Shi Li touch him.

His mind was perfectly clear. Looking at the climbing rope at the door, he realized that the man must have been trying to strangle Shi Li.

However, the moment the ashtray hit the ground, it quickly stained one corner of the ashtray red, scaring him away.

Lin Zedong’s eyes darkened, and he muttered under his breath, “Useless.”

Then he went to the kitchen and looked around. It was spotless, without even a dishcloth.

Lin Zedong deliberately took off his shoes when he entered the house in order to prevent making any noise.

The man ran so fast that he didn’t notice a pair of men’s leather shoes at the door when he came in.

This made Lin Zedong breathe a sigh of relief.

He picked up the only plastic wrap in the kitchen and wrapped it around his palm again and again to make sure he wouldn’t leave any fingerprints in the house.

He remembered that Lin Zehui had excitedly boasted to him about finding a girlfriend with a special profession, and that he had gone to great lengths to do so. During the conversation, he mentioned that there was a friend who was helping him keep an eye on her and lived on the third floor.

The entire third floor has been rented out, but people are rarely there.

Shi Li’s voice came again.

In the dead of night, even the faintest sound is amplified infinitely.

Lin Zedong made up his mind. Since someone had already paved the way, he would lend a hand.

He walked past Shi Li, but Shi Li reached out and grabbed his trouser leg.

Lin Zedong paused, but instead of hastily kicking the man away, he said softly, “Don’t worry, I’ll save you. I’m going to go out and call an ambulance for you now.”