Ou Yunchen hurried over as soon as he received Sister Hong's message.
Sister Hong: "I've found some information about Lan Jie Cai, but she's already dead, so there's a lot that can't be verified."
The first thing that appeared before Ou Yunchen's eyes was a photograph from the police archives.
Lan Jie Cai lay naked on the hotel bed. Her face was greenish, her eyeballs bulged, her mouth was open, and her expression was hideous, suggesting she died in great pain.
From the way she was positioned, she had likely been severely violated.
Sister Hong averted her gaze, unable to bear looking at such a scene. In her memory, Lan Jie Cai had been a top star, one of the "Four Goddesses" of Ju Ying Culture at the time, no less prominent than Zhou Man.
The characters she portrayed in her films were deeply ingrained in people's hearts, and even countless remakes could not surpass her performances.
Yet, her death brought immense heartache to millions of fans, and the cause of death was unashamedly exposed to the public.
Ou Yunchen: "Is this the man who violated Lan Jie Cai?"
Sister Hong: "Yes. They said Lan Jie Cai checked into the hotel, was targeted by a waiter, drugged, and then murdered."
Ou Yunchen: "And he was executed immediately..."
Sister Hong: "Yes. You don't know how bad the impact was when this news broke; many people smashed that hotel..."
"It forced the hotel to close for a year, and then they renovated it."
"But every year on Lan Jie Cai's death anniversary, countless people still go to the hotel entrance to mourn."
Ou Yunchen: "What is this?"
Sister Hong: "After the incident, some fans didn't believe the waiter was Lan Jie Cai's killer. They found some clues and believed the killer was someone else."
Ou Yunchen read through the long-uncovered records. Indeed, some people claimed to have seen Yan Shi Zong and other influential figures in the industry at that hotel on the day of the incident.
Ou Yunchen: "Someone saw them leaving Lan Jie Cai's room late at night. The time of the reported crime was eight in the morning, which was precisely when the waiter delivered breakfast..."
Sister Hong: "In short, the case was full of suspicious circumstances, yet it was hastily closed."
Sister Hong flipped through the materials and found a newspaper clipping.
Sister Hong: "This is a report from a newspaper long after Lan Jie Cai died. It said they had interviewed Lan Jie Cai many years ago."
Ou Yunchen: "She was violated by influential figures in the industry? More than once?"
Sister Hong: "Yes. Although the report caused much speculation, it was quickly denied, with people asking why she didn't speak up back then. Now, not only is there no proof, but there's also no evidence."
Ou Yunchen: "Who were the influential figures Lan Jie Cai mentioned?"
Sister Hong: "Some guessed it was Yan Shi Zong, because he dated many actresses when he was young, not just Zhou Man. Others suspected influential artists under his management."
Ou Yunchen closed his eyes and analyzed rapidly, even hypothesizing how he would escape and clear his name if he were Yan Shi Zong.
Create an alibi!?
Ou Yunchen quickly flipped through the documents, finding a list of guests checked in over the past week.
Ou Yunchen: "Why is there no information about Lan Jie Cai's stay?"
Sister Hong: "That was also a point of suspicion at the time. However, the hotel explained that celebrities often used other names for check-ins to avoid being discovered by fans."
And no mention of Yan Shi Zong?!
Doesn't that prove he wasn't at the hotel?
Sister Hong: "Oh, right. There were others who suspected Yan Shi Zong, but Yan Shi Zong was in another city during that period, and there were even flight tickets to prove it."
Ou Yunchen smiled. A plane ticket could prove he wasn't at the hotel? But technology was truly underdeveloped back then; it was possible Yan Shi Zong exploited loopholes to escape.
It seemed that the Wang family could help Yan Shi Zong so much only because Yan Shi Zong held something over them, something far more serious than Mrs. Wang evading taxes.
Organizing his thoughts, Ou Yunchen decided to ask Sister Hong to investigate if anything had happened between the Wang family and Yan Shi Zong.