Chapter 12

Chapter 12

The press conference finally began on schedule at 3:00 PM.

I took my seat on the platform alongside the injured Luo Yuncheng and a notary. This was a setting I was intimately familiar with, yet for the first time, I wasn’t standing on this stage to whitewash the company’s image. I was there to speak the truth for the dead.

“Friends from the media,” I began, looking out at the crowd. My voice was unexpectedly calm. “Today’s briefing is not meant to address the personal relationship between myself and Mr. Luo Yuncheng. That is a private matter. However, the history of the accidents during North River Phase 3 is not a private matter.”

The screen behind me lit up, projecting the original re-inspection reports and the compensation ledgers.

The room erupted into an immediate uproar.

I continued, “Twenty years ago, during the North River Phase 3 project, Haisheng Group engaged in serious misconduct, including swapping out steel batches, tampering with re-inspection reports, compressing compensation amounts, and concealing facts following the accidents. There is more than one person responsible. The late Chairman Fu Mingzhang bore an inescapable responsibility, and the current CEO, Pan Yuming, is suspected of spearheading several of these illegal acts.”

“Director Song, does this count as Haisheng self-destructing through you?”

“Director Song, are you still an employee of Haisheng?”

“Lawyer Luo, did you and Director Song choose to join forces because of your past relationship?”

Questions pelted us like a tidal wave.

Luo Yuncheng took the microphone, his voice steady. “As co-executors, Song Yucheng and I will hand over all existing evidence to the judicial authorities and initiate a recalculation and recovery process for the remaining compensation. As for the relationship between the two of us, it does not affect the authenticity of any evidence, nor does it affect the victims receiving the results they deserve.”

“Then what is your relationship now?” a reporter asked, refusing to let it go.

Just as I was about to steer the topic back, Luo Yuncheng spoke first.

“We are people who cannot avoid each other,” he said.

The venue went silent for a second before descending into even greater chaos.

At 6:00 PM, the procuratorial authorities officially released a bulletin, opening an investigation into the North River Phase 3 accidents and the suspected illegal activities of the involved personnel. Pan Yuming was barred from leaving the country.

Haisheng’s stock price began to plummet, and the Board of Directors was in a state of total shambles.

While packing my things in my office, I took off my ID badge and left it on the desk, leaving Haisheng for good.

The night Pan Yuming was taken away for investigation, Luo Yuncheng and I went to the north side of the city.

The old site of North River Phase 3 had long since been demolished, replaced by a new commercial complex. We stood at the edge of the plaza; the wind was biting.

“That final set of materials your father had back then… he probably intended to give them to you,” Luo Yuncheng said.

“But he didn’t make it in time.”

“Yeah.”

I stared at the fountain in the distant plaza and suddenly asked, “If you hadn’t left back then, what would have happened to us?”

Luo Yuncheng was silent for a moment. “In all likelihood, something would have happened to both of us.”

“At least you’re honest.”

“I’ve already missed my chance once. There’s no need to lie to you with pretty words anymore.”

I smiled faintly, but my chest ached with a sharp bitterness.

“I used to always feel like you owed me an explanation, that you owed me a return,” I said softly. “Later, as the truth was pieced together bit by bit, I realized that what you owed me was completely disproportionate to the burden you were carrying on your own.”

“No.” Luo Yuncheng turned to look at me. “The thing I owe you most was never an explanation.”

“Then what is it?”

“It’s these eight years.”

I looked at him, unable to speak for a long time.

“Luo Yuncheng,” I called out.

“Yeah.”

“If I said now that I can’t act as if nothing ever happened, would you be disappointed?”

“No.”

“And if I said I can’t act as if everything is in the past, either?”

His eyes flickered slightly.

“Then I would feel,” he said slowly, “that I still have a chance.”

Ultimately, it was Luo Yuncheng who took the first step forward, stopping in front of me until we were barely half an arm’s length apart.

“Yucheng, I’m not trying to use this case to make you forgive me,” he said. “I just want to ask you, once everything is over, would you be willing to let me pursue you again?”

“Does what you’re doing now count as pursuing me?” I asked pointedly.

Luo Yuncheng actually gave it some serious thought. “Then I’ll change my approach starting now.”

I finally laughed.

The wind was cold, but he reached out and pulled my scarf up a little higher for me.