No sooner said than done. The next morning, just after Qi Ruiming left for the airport, Xi Wen sent over the sorted photos of suspicious invoices and the suspicious locations she had filtered from the dashcam footage.
Qi Ruiming not only cheated, but he also had a son around ten years old. This was originally a devastating blow, and Qi Xi did indeed suffer sleepless nights because of it. But beyond the pain, seeking justice for her mother and ensuring that the person who violated the marriage contract was punished became the driving force for Qi Xi to move forward.
Even though she hadn't slept all night, she was as energetic as if she'd been injected with chicken blood, her mind clear and her thoughts active.
Gu Yan stayed by Qi Xi's side the entire time. He naturally joined Qi Xi in sifting through the information on the receipts. Both of them were completely focused, and their work efficiency was very high. Soon, they identified a suspicious business district location – for the past half year, Qi Ruiming had been regularly going to the CBD area in the south of the city for meals twice a week, even though it was far from both his home and his law firm.
"So, the house my dad bought or rented for the mistress is most likely in this area," Qi Xi drew a circle on the southern part of the Rong City map. "The mistress's child is about ten years old, and the mistress also suddenly resigned from Ruiming about ten years ago. I suspect she was pregnant at the time, so she hurriedly resigned to raise the baby. After all, it's easy to be exposed when the belly gets big. And it's very likely that she had already confirmed through acquaintances that the child was a boy. My dad, being the kind of person who values sons over daughters, would probably be overjoyed to learn it was a son and would let Wang Juan keep the child. If it turned out to be a girl, based on my dad's character, he would have definitely given her money to get rid of it long ago."
Gu Yan nodded. "The mistress should have taken the initiative to negotiate with your father for a price while she had a son. So, if it's real estate and a car, it should have been negotiated before the child was born. After all, your father was eager for a son, and she could just threaten to abort the child if he didn't meet her demands."
Qi Xi thought the same way. Wang Juan was clearly seeking a shortcut through improper means. It was impossible to say that she got together with her father for love. She simply didn't want to put in the effort herself and wanted to experience the life of a "rich and beautiful woman." She was obviously a very purposeful woman and was unlikely to agree to rent a house. She would most likely demand that Qi Ruiming buy a house.
Then…
"Is it possible to look at which were the better residential complexes in this area ten years ago?"
With this goal in mind, Qi Xi narrowed down the surrounding residential complexes, circling a few scattered ones.
Although Xi Wen had also sent Qi Ruiming's navigation information and dashcam content, Qi Ruiming was, after all, a lawyer himself. Obviously, over the years, he had developed the habit of regularly deleting records. Therefore, there were no obvious traces. But fortunately, as long as a person does something, even if it's insignificant, they will leave evidence.
After using the restaurant addresses on the invoices to narrow down the residential complexes, and then matching them with the scattered dashcam and navigation residual information, Qi Xi quickly identified the only residential complex that met the requirements.
On the second-hand housing website, Qi Xi could see that this residential complex was considered a relatively high-end complex ten years ago. They were all small western-style houses, and the price was over a million yuan back then. Over the past ten years, with the surge in housing prices, the average price of a set is now around six million yuan.
Although demanding Wang Juan return the WeChat transfers was definitely not a problem, the main thing was still the real estate. And to sue for the return of marital property, it is necessary to know the exact address of Wang Juan's house. In addition, it is also necessary to prove that the funds came from Qi Ruiming, or to prove that Wang Juan had no legitimate income, so it is highly likely that the purchase money came from Qi Ruiming. This would prove that Qi Ruiming most likely used this property to conceal normal marital income. Only then would it be possible to apply to the court to inquire about Qi Ruiming's deposits and property flow during the divorce division on the grounds that the other party concealed marital property.
Therefore, Qi Xi at this moment could only be considered at the first step of a long journey.
However, hard work pays off. Although Qi Ruiming usually paid close attention, he was probably somewhat conceited and careless because he had been hiding it for ten years without revealing any flaws. Qi Xi found information about a school in his navigation search history.
Rong City Fengling International School.
Gu Yan also saw this information. He frowned. "I've heard of this school. It's a very expensive private international school, jointly run by China and Canada, with bilingual teaching. They have classes from kindergarten to high school."
He looked at Qi Xi, his eyes filled with pity, and hesitated before saying, "This school in Rong City is only attended by the rich and powerful. The tuition alone is about 200,000 yuan per year. A friend of my sister's has a child studying there, but she says the actual expenses are far more than 200,000 yuan, because international schools have many activities, such as overseas study tours during winter and summer vacations. These projects require extra money, and basically all the children inside participate, otherwise they won't have anything in common with the other students after the holidays. Because it is a private school jointly run by China and Canada, it uses the North American teaching system. Therefore, after graduation, these children basically go to Canada or the United States for further studies. You know, the tuition fees in North America are not cheap..."
Gu Yan was very considerate of Qi Xi's feelings, so he only mentioned it briefly. But Qi Xi immediately understood what he didn't say.
His father's illegitimate son was most likely in this school, spending hundreds of thousands of yuan every year, enjoying a carefree aristocratic education. And Wang Juan also gained status and wealth through her son, obtaining a house and a lifestyle that she could never afford on her own.
Qi Xi suddenly felt a little sad. She looked at Gu Yan and smiled self-deprecatingly. "Do you know why I finally gave up going to the United States? Because my dad was unwilling to provide me with a single penny of support. He said he had no money, and tuition in the United States was too expensive."
Since the incident happened, Qi Xi had always thought that she was strong enough. However, she forgot that no matter how strong she was, she still had expectations for Qi Ruiming, and she would still be hurt.
It turned out that he didn't refuse to support her further studies abroad because he had no money, but because he planned to leave all the money to his son. Because his son was the most important person to Qi Ruiming, and Qi Xi, as a daughter, no matter how hard she worked or how excellent she was, was not worthy of spending his money.
Qi Xi felt angry and desperate.
Just because she was a girl, her dad was willing to do such immoral things just to have a boy?
Just because she was a girl, no matter how hard she worked, she would always be inferior?
Why?
"Qi Xi, calm down first. Don't be angry, it's not worth it."
When Qi Xi's emotions were on the verge of collapse, Gu Yan gave her a hug. He gently patted Qi Xi's back, clumsily but diligently comforting her like a child. "I know you are very angry and very painful, but these emotions will not bring any help other than hurting yourself."
"You don't need to prove anything to get his approval. Your excellence and hard work don't need the approval of any third party, because you are already excellent. As long as you can recognize yourself and firmly believe that what you are doing is right, you will be strong enough."
That's right, why pursue the approval of others? Becoming excellent should not be the goal, but the process should be cherished. As long as you grow in the process of pursuing excellence, why care about the final result? Whether you get first place or not is not important. What is important is that in the process of pursuing becoming first place, you have become better than your past self, isn't that enough?
After all, truly excellent people don't need a report card or a certificate or a ranking to prove anything. To become an excellent person, the first thing you need is confidence in yourself!
Maybe what Qi Xi has been pursuing all along is wrong.
She doesn't need Qi Ruiming's approval at all.
She is who she is.
She is a girl who is occasionally fragile, sometimes emotional, and easily moved, but also capable of making a determined effort and sticking to her goals.
Girls are not inferior to boys because of their gender, but girls don't need to desperately prove anything for this reason.
Gu Yan's voice was like timely rain in a drought. Qi Xi only felt that her cracked heart had become moist again. Seeing that her emotions had improved, Gu Yan released his hand patting her back. "So, step away from being the person involved, so that you can analyze the problem more objectively. Why don't we treat this as a case you are handling? Your mother is your client, and your father represents Wang Juan and her son, who are our opposing camp. I will accompany you to defeat your father from a professional perspective."
"He will no longer be your father, but a lawyer competing with you on the same stage. You can completely use your professional abilities to crush him, defeat him and his clients, and make them lose completely and embarrassingly."
As Gu Yan spoke, he extended his little finger. "Let's make a pinky promise."
Qi Xi looked at Gu Yan. His expression was serious and solemn. Although he didn't say any emotional words, Qi Xi only felt her heart beating faster. It was affection, but also the bloodiness of igniting fighting spirit and a competitive spirit.
Qi Xi looked into Gu Yan's eyes and solemnly extended her finger. "Pinky promise."
This battle, she will win.