Are You Crazy? He’s only an Intern Lawyer?
Chapter 276 - 274: Yang Family Mansion, Skeleton in the Basement!

Chapter 276: Chapter 274: Yang Family Mansion, Skeleton in the Basement!

(Today, two more Chapters will be updated, but due to busyness at work on the 8th, 9th, and 10th, there will only be one update again. Updates will resume normally next Monday!)

...

In Dongfang Capital, located to the southeast.

In a certain coastal residential area, in front of the gate of an abandoned villa.

"This is the Yang Family’s old mansion from back then; the place we’ll be investigating is right here!"

Zhang Wei pointed to the only villa in the area that appeared to have some age to it and said as much.

"Then why haven’t we gone in yet?" Xia Qianyue, who was standing by, couldn’t hold back her eagerness to start.

Although she had just warmed up with a little physical activity, she still wasn’t fully satisfied.

Now, as they arrived at the investigation scene, the detective spirit within her was burning fiercely.

Zhang Wei couldn’t help but admire Xia Qianyue’s energy; she had just fought over twenty gang members and still had so much vigor.

But what he didn’t know was that Xia Qianyue wasn’t lying.

Handling 10 was a breeze for her, and only at 20 did she begin feeling like she was warming up.

So for Xia Qianyue, she had just finished warming up and was now ready for action!

"Don’t be in such a hurry, Silly. After all, this is the renowned mansion of the Yang Family. Even if we’re going in to investigate, we have no official sanction," Zhang Wei said while firmly holding back Xia Qianyue, who couldn’t help but want to climb over the wall and get inside.

"Ah, what a letdown..."

This, of course, caused her to purse her lips, clearly displeased.

"Don’t rush. Look, the rightful heir is coming!"

Zhang Wei raised his hand and pointed as a taxi arrived, and a man wearing a mask, sunglasses, and a duckbill cap got out.

His getup was a spitting image of Xia Qianyue’s from a few days ago, almost like a carbon copy.

The person who came was Yang Chuanfang; his brother wasn’t with him.

"Young Master Yang, you’ve finally arrived!"

"Yeah, my brother took my car and drove it. He managed to shake off a lot of people, giving me the chance to come out," Yang Chuanfang remarked, then sighed, "But I bet he won’t be able to get away now!"

"Did you tell him your purpose?"

"I told him you were looking for me, and that I had to step out for a bit, and he offered to drive and attract the paparazzi’s attention. He didn’t ask where I was going."

"Understood!"

Zhang Wei nodded and then pointed to the old villa in front of them.

"This house, was the same ten years ago as it is now!"

Looking at his family mansion, Yang Chuanfang showed a less-than-thrilled expression.

"Young Master Yang, I know you may not like returning to this home, but the place we need to investigate is your home, and it requires the owner’s consent to proceed," Zhang Wei said.

"That’s fine, you guys can go in as you please. The house has been abandoned for several years since my father died, the stuff inside has probably all been taken by people nearby by now," Yang Chuanfang said with self-mockery, then pushed the ornamental iron fence gate.

The gate was locked, but unfortunately, the lock had been cut. Thus, he surmised that the furniture and items inside wouldn’t have been left either.

After all, how could taking belongings from a murderer’s household be considered "stealing"? Certainly not – that would be taking what’s rightfully yours!

The three of them entered the Yang Family ancestral home together.

Upon opening the front door, a scent of mold and decay rushed into their nostrils.

Zhang Wei fanned the air with his hand and felt somewhat better, then immediately surveyed the villa’s entrance hall.

"Not bad, the place is a lot more spacious after the furniture has been cleared out, which makes it easier to look for clues!"

At a glance, the villa was indeed very open.

With the furniture gone, the view was unobstructed, and on the first floor of the villa, apart from the main entrance hall, there was only a corridor on one side that led directly to the kitchen and storage room behind.

The Yang Family essentially started prospering from Yang Changqing. He became rich after his parents died early, and the second generation only had the two brothers Yang Chuanfang and Yang Chuannan, so there were only three people in the main family.

Therefore, the villa wasn’t actually that big; the family’s living quarters were all on the second floor.

"Let’s go upstairs to check for clues first!"

Zhang Wei pointed upstairs and immediately set off with Xia Qianyue.

"Lawyer Zhang, could you tell me what we are looking for?"

Now curious, Yang Chuanfang said, "Although you’re investigating my ancestral home, I don’t object, but I don’t think you’ll find any clues here."

"No, there are clues here, and even, if we’re lucky, we might find..."

Zhang Wei paused, leaving the second half of his sentence unsaid.

He looked at Yang Chuanfang and comforted him, "Young Master Yang, in any case, let’s put in our best effort. We may indeed find some clues here!"

The three of them walked up the stairs and then groped around on the second floor.

Zhang Wei’s primary target was the main household’s room, which was Yang Changqing’s room.

The beds and cabinets here were all emptied, and almost nothing was left behind, even several floorboards had been pried up by someone.

It must be said, the people around here really took everything they could.

"But that’s okay, if Yang Changqing really has a problem, he wouldn’t leave clues in such an obvious place, it’s unlikely we’ll find any clues on the second floor!"

After searching the empty room, Zhang Wei naturally found nothing.

He even knocked and tapped around, feeling the floor and walls for a long time, but alas, he discovered nothing.

"Zhang Wei, I found nothing..."

"Neither did I, honestly, I’m so familiar with these rooms I couldn’t be more familiar, how could there possibly be any so-called clues!"

Xia Qianyue and Young Master Yang also came out of the two adjoining rooms.

"Let’s go, back to the first floor for another look!"

Zhang Wei didn’t mind either, leading the three down the stairs again.

It was the same old routine, knocking and tapping around, feeling everywhere on the first floor.

The three searched the living room, kitchen, tea room, and even the maid’s room, but still found nothing.

"Lawyer Zhang, I told you there were no clues!"

After they regrouped, Yang Chuanfang shook his head, "After all, this is my house, if there was something wrong, how could I not have noticed?"

As soon as he said this, Xia Qianyue didn’t react, but Zhang Wei’s eyes flickered with a different light.

"Young Master Yang is right, after all, this is your home, you should be more familiar with it than anyone!"

He looked at Yang Chuanfang and then asked, "Young Master Yang, did your father ever warn you about something in the house that you absolutely must not touch?"

"Absolutely must not touch?"

Yang Chuanfang fell into recollection, then unconsciously glanced toward the interior of the entrance hall, below the stairs leading to the second floor.

"There used to hang a painting of my mother; my father said she passed away early, so we were never to touch that painting—it’s the last memory my mother left for him!"

"Your mother’s painting?"

Zhang Wei understood, this reason was plausible.

He immediately went over to check the wall by the corridor, knocking and tapping.

Thump, thump... thud, thud...

"Got it!"

Zhang Wei found that when he tapped in one area, the sound was noticeably different from the rest of the walls.

The surrounding noises were dull, whereas this tapping sounded hollow inside.

His gaze scanned the area around the wall, up, down, left, and right, but regrettably, he didn’t find any entrance switch or mechanism.

Clearly, any mechanism that might have existed had been destroyed by intruders unaware of its presence.

Even if there was a mechanism inside, after so many years, it’s questionable whether it could still operate properly.

But without a mechanism, Zhang Wei had Silly.

"Silly, come take care of this wall and show your real strength!"

"Okay~"

Zhang Wei pointed at the wall, then gave Yang Chuanfang a look to signal him and retreated together with him.

"Lawyer Zhang, what do you mean by this?"

Although Yang Chuanfang was puzzled, he still took a few steps back.

Because he had a feeling that something dangerous was about to happen.

"Young Master Yang, don’t talk, just step back and watch!"

Zhang Wei stepped back several paces, then crouched down on the ground to minimize the chance of injury.

At the same time, Xia Qianyue immediately grasped the situation and went in front of that hollow part of the wall.

She held her breath, clenched her right fist, and pressed it against the wall.

"Haaa!"

With a shout, Xia Qianyue’s muscles seemed to tense simultaneously.

The strength started from the soles of her feet, passed into her upper body, then flowed into her right arm before concentrating at the tip of her fist.

Boom!

From inside the wall, a blast sounded.

Numerous cracks spread from the spot where the fist met the wall, radiating outwards.

Crackling...

Under that one punch, the wall...crumbled, gradually breaking apart inside.

"This..."

Yang Chuanfang witnessed this terrifying scene and muttered to himself, "Good Lord!"

Is this the power of a human?

A woman, with slender arms and legs, was able to shatter the wall with just one fist?

This... this is just... defying the heavens, right?

She’s practically a monster, horrifyingly so!

"Not bad for Silly, truly impressive!"

Zhang Wei couldn’t help but give a thumbs up, and also thought to himself, "This is how Silly should be used!"

The wall had already crumbled, and what followed was much simpler.

Xia Qianyue poked twice at the broken wall with her arm, and a hole was made.

Right away, Zhang Wei took out his phone, turned on the flashlight, and shone it inside.

Inside was a staircase leading to some basement.

Zhang Wei looked into the gloomy space and took the lead in walking in.

Xia Qianyue and Yang Chuanfang naturally followed, and Young Master Yang, upon seeing Xia Qianyue taking action, immediately and courteously gave way to her.

His polite expression seemed to say, "After you, boss!"

After Xia Qianyue went down, Yang Chuanfang then moved.

But he also took a few looks at the entrance, somewhat baffled.

He himself didn’t know that inside the Yang Family Mansion, there was such a hidden basement.

Passing down a flight of stairs that wasn’t very long, Zhang Wei arrived at a secluded space.

The vibe of this place was creepy and terrifying, the whole room had a weird aura.

He held his phone with the flashlight on and scanned the area.

The room was not small—the entrance was piled with many rare and odd wooden toys, ropes, tools, and more...

Zhang Wei saw a dusty couch, several sofas with the surface peeling away, and...

"Holy shit!"

He let out an exclamation because he saw an iron chair, to which was tied a set of chilling white bones!

"My God, that’s a skeleton!"

"Holy shit, Lawyer Zhang, don’t scare me!"

From behind, Xia Qianyue and Yang Chuanfang stepped in and, seeing the bones on the iron chair, both exclaimed in shock one after another.

"This skeleton, from the looks of it, should be... a woman..."

Zhang Wei walked up to the skeleton, examined it carefully, and based on his years of experience in criminal investigation, immediately made a judgement.

Then, he heaved a long sigh, finally understanding some things.

"Young Master Yang, I urge you to grieve with restraint!"

He walked over to Yang Chuanfang’s side and couldn’t help but pat him on the shoulder.

"Lawyer Zhang, what do you mean?"

"Yeah, Zhang Wei, your words are all over the place, what’s with the consolation, could this skeleton be that missing woman? Wait, it can’t really be, can it?"

Zhang Wei had to admit, although Silly could sometimes be not so clever, her intuition was always spot-on.

Women’s intuition is just so inexplicably accurate!

Thump, Yang Chuanfang’s legs went soft, and he suddenly knelt to the ground.

His face collapsed in an instant, his shoulders shook, and his expression was twisted.

Soon, hot tears gushed out.

He couldn’t believe that these white bones before him could actually be... Wen Xiaoyun!

"Young Master Yang, the truth is not yet known to us, all we can do now is inform the investigative department to seal this place off and then conduct an investigation!"

Zhang Wei said, intending to leave the basement with Xia Qianyue.

But then he paused, as if something occurred to him.

"If we report this now, once the investigative department comes over, isn’t there a risk of leaking information?"

Zhang Wei glanced at the skeleton in the secret room and fell into deep thought.

This skeleton had been mistreated here, alive or dead.

And the owner of this house, needless to say, everyone knew it was Yang Changqing.

In other words, even if the skeleton ultimately wasn’t Wen Xiaoyun after DNA comparison, once exposed, it would become evidence detrimental to the Yang Family.

Although Zhang Wei was ninety percent sure that the woman was Wen Xiaoyun, he didn’t want to take the risk.

"We need to find a way to have this body discovered, but without letting the news get out. In that case, we can’t let the Serious Crime Unit find it; we need someone else!"

At that moment, Zhang Wei already had a plan in mind.

"Silly, notify Captain Wu. Tell him we found an unidentified body inside the Yang Family Mansion, the identity is unclear at the moment, and have him bring the investigators over. Oh, and have him bring Mo Yuzhu too. To determine the identity, we’ll need forensic verification, and it has to be from a forensic expert we can trust that won’t leak any information!"

"Alright!"

Xia Qianyue immediately took the order and went out of the basement to make a phone call.

Zhang Wei walked over to Yang Chuanfang, who was kneeling on the ground in pain, with an expression of immense sorrow.

"Young Master Yang, I heard that since Wen Xiaoyun disappeared, you haven’t started a new relationship with a woman in the past ten years?"

"I think you’re still in love with Wen Xiaoyun from back then, aren’t you?"

Upon hearing this, Yang Chuanfang’s shoulders shook, and he said tremulously, "Why... why does it have to be like this... why does it have to be this way..."

"Young Master Yang, please restrain your grief!"

Zhang Wei said, patting him on the shoulder before comforting him, "The dead cannot be brought back to life. What you need to do is look to the future, not be knocked down here!"

"Oh, by the way, the members of Major Crime Unit 7 will be coming over soon. They’re led by Captain Wu, who I know. If you need to cry, please move aside a bit as they’ll need to investigate the clues at the scene!"

"Are you saying... that the person might not be Xiaoyun, that she might still be alive?"

"That... I can only say, the hope is slim."

Zhang Wei didn’t know how else to comfort him, but he knew better than to give the person involved too much hope.

Otherwise, the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment.

If one is filled with hope and it turns to despair in the end, many people cannot bear it and might suffer emotional breakdowns.

Even though Yang Chuanfang is an adult male, seeing his former lover’s skeleton now, he couldn’t help but emotionally break down and cry bitterly on the spot.

That’s after having endured so many years of online abuse, which had toughened him up.

If it was someone else, they might have just stood there, clueless about what to do.

Anyway, after consoling Yang Chuanfang for a few words, Zhang Wei pulled him out of the basement.

Outside, Captain Wu and his team had arrived, and they were dressed in plain clothes, without having brought any field personnel with them.

Unit 7 only brought three people, and that included Xia Qianyue, so the ones who arrived from Unit 7 were just Wu Yong and Old Xing.

"Zhang Wei, where’s the body?"

"Downstairs!"

Zhang Wei pointed out the entrance to the basement to Wu Yong and Old Xing.

The two exchanged glances and then went in.

"By the way, we’ve contacted Mo Yuzhu from the forensic office; she said she’ll take a taxi here soon!"

Before heading downstairs, Captain Wu mentioned this to Zhang Wei.

A few minutes later, a taxi stopped outside the Yang Family Mansion.

Mo Yuzhu, carrying a toolbox and dressed in casual home wear, walked in with a look of resentment.

"Zhang Wei, do you know I’m off this weekend?"

As soon as she arrived, she couldn’t help but fire at someone.

"I had been using the office Wi-Fi to slack off during work hours, and I buffered a week’s worth of shows just so I could finish them over the weekend. You’ve messed up my schedule!"

"If I don’t finish them this week, I’d have to save them until next week to finish. Then during next week’s work hours, wouldn’t I be unable to take advantage of the office Wi-Fi to slack off?"

"Moreover, I had just got to the scene where the male and female leads were about to kiss, and next, they were going to move to the bed, about to have sex. Do you know how long I’ve been looking forward to their sex scene, for a whole week?"

"Seeing them deeply in love, and the two going crazy doing, well, the thing they love doing, that sense of natural progression, do you understand?"

Mo Yuzhu’s eloquence and stunning remarks left Zhang Wei dumbfounded.

For a moment, he didn’t know how to respond.

Trust Mo Yuzhu to make slacking off at work sound so righteous, unbelievable!

You’re even looking forward to the sex scene, you really are a baller, incredibly outrageous!

And that’s outrageously letting outrageousness through the door, outrageous to the core!

However, this baller of a woman was key to the case at hand.

So Zhang Wei waved his hand to draw Mo Yuzhu aside.

"Classmate Mo, I know you’re upset, but how about this, consider me as owing you a favor!"

"And what’s the value of your favor?" Mo Yuzhu rolled her eyes.

"Now that’s not the way to put it. I’m considered one of Jincheng’s top lawyers now, my reputation is surely worth something!"

Zhang Wei said, pointing to Yang Chuanfang, who was still recovering, and the entrance to the basement.

"Also, when you go in later, even if you do identify the corpse, please don’t make it public for the time being. I need you to keep this a secret for me!"

"You make it sound so easy, matching DNA isn’t something simple, it takes at least 24 hours to verify an identity!"

Mo Yuzhu rolled her eyes again and said grumpily, "Also, if I’m being pulled out to work overtime on my weekend, you’re paying for that overtime. And for keeping your secret temporarily, that’s another fee!"

"That’s not a problem at all. I might not have other things, but for overtime and hush money, I’ll definitely pay you!"

"Hmm, that sounds more like it!"

After hearing Zhang Wei say this, Mo Yuzhu finally compromised, huffing and then going down to the basement.