Chapter 282: 【282】Is it a coincidence, or a conspiracy?_1

“No.”

Liu Ping was startled for a moment, but immediately answered.

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

“Where were you last night then?” Tang Feng didn’t give him a chance to catch his breath and asked the next question right away.

“At home.”

“Who can vouch for that?”

“My wife can.”

“What time did you get home?”

“Six in the afternoon.”

“And you didn’t leave the house again after that?”

“No.”

“Are you certain?”

“No…”

The two of them, one asking, the other answering, were as fluid as clouds and flowing water, without the slightest hesitation.

Outsiders were all lost in the fog, unclear about the purpose of Tang Feng’s questions.

Tang Feng paced back and forth with his hands behind his back before suddenly turning around again. His eyes, sharp as lightning, shot towards Liu Ping. “Then why did someone see you on the Antique Street last night?”

“Ah?” A flicker of panic crossed Liu Ping’s face, but he quickly regained his composure. “I… I wasn’t on Antique Street last night… they must have seen wrong.”

“Is that so?” Tang Feng revealed a mysterious smile. “Although the surveillance system in the shop was destroyed, there should be many other cameras on Antique Street. Should I ask someone to check the footage?”

Liu Ping’s breathing became a bit erratic; he swallowed with difficulty. “Ah, I remember now, I… I did go to Antique Street.”

“A friend wanted to buy antiques and asked me to take a look for him.”

“Didn’t you just say that you didn’t leave the house after six o’clock in the afternoon?” Tang Feng immediately caught his slip of tongue and launched a counter-attack.

“I… I had some drinks at home, and then a friend called me out. I was a bit muddled, so my memory is not very clear…” Liu Ping wiped the sweat from his forehead; his face was noticeably paler.

“Oh, called out by a friend, you say?”

“Is that friend a live streamer by any chance?” As he spoke, Tang Feng appeared to casually glance at the live streamer standing nearby.

He had previously investigated the two individuals and found that they had intersected before, specifically last night.

The live streamer’s face also flashed with panic, swiftly averting his gaze.

Liu Ping’s face turned even paler, “No… not a live streamer, he is… he is…”

“He is what?” Tang Feng’s voice suddenly rose an octave, sounding somewhat shrill.

Liu Ping was startled, his replies becoming more nonsensical, “He… he is a live streamer.”

“Didn’t you just say he wasn’t a live streamer? Why are you saying he is now? Which is it?”

“He is… isn’t…”

“What did he want from you?”

“To drink.”

“Didn’t you say earlier that he wanted you to help him look at antiques?”

“Ah right, right… he wanted me to look at antiques.”

“Didn’t you just say it was for a drink?”

“I…”

Under Tang Feng’s rapid-fire questioning, Liu Ping’s mind had gone blank, and his answers were a mess of errors.

Eventually, he couldn’t take it anymore and collapsed onto the ground.

Tang Feng bent down to his level, exuding an intense pressure, “Answer me honestly, were you in the shop last night? I want to hear the truth.”

Liu Ping stared blankly into his eyes, sweat completely covering his face, as though he had just finished a sauna session, and he weakly nodded, “Yes…”

The moment this “yes” was spoken, the room instantly erupted into chaos.

Everyone was shocked to see Liu Ping actually coerced into revealing something.

Tang Feng didn’t lessen his pressure at all and continued to press on, “The shop has rules, no one is allowed in after closing time. What were you doing there?”

“I… I…” Liu Ping’s face showed an expression of anguish.

Tang Feng abruptly changed his approach, “Was someone directing you to swap the genuine snuff bottle with a fake one?”

“Yes… no…” Liu Ping initially nodded subconsciously, then vigorously shook his head.

“Which is it? I want to hear the truth.” Tang Feng’s gaze was as piercing as a knife, capable of killing without drawing blood.

Liu Ping met his gaze and couldn’t help but shiver, “No… no one directed me, I did it on my own…”

With these words, the room once again boiled over.

This time, the truth was laid bare.

It turned out Tang Feng hadn’t been mistaken at all; the original piece had simply been switched.

“It seems we all misunderstood this young man.”

“Indeed, I thought he was deliberately framing someone else to take the blame for him.”

“So there’s a traitor in the shop? It’s despicable for someone to betray their own kind.”

“People like that should be taken out and shot…”

The mood in the room changed instantly; those who were just criticising Tang Feng were now aiming their criticism at Liu Ping.

Zhang Jicheng and the other employees finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Even though such a scandal had occurred, at least Tang Feng and Ya Garden’s reputations were preserved.

Amidst the joy, there was newfound respect for Tang Feng.

Without any evidence, he managed to use just his words to forcibly extract the truth from Zhang Ji.

It was truly impressive.

But Tang Feng was not satisfied with the answer, his gaze still fixated on Liu Ping. “You’re lying. You don’t have the keys to the shop. How did you get in?”

“I… I secretly made a copy of the shop’s key,” Liu Ping stammered.

“You’re still lying. The shop’s locks are custom-made. Where would you get such a key made?”

“I… anyway, I made the key myself.”

Liu Ping had initially admitted to swapping the snuff bottle in the panicked state caused by Tang Feng’s overwhelming pressure.

Now that he had regained some composure, he regretted it deeply.

Having confessed in front of so many people, it was already too late to deny it.

He stubbornly insisted that he acted alone.

No matter how Tang Feng questioned him, he wouldn’t change his statement.

Tang Feng, seeing that he was as unbothered as a dead pig is of scalding water, didn’t want to waste any more effort on him and turned to the live streamer instead.

“Isn’t it convenient? The night you allegedly switched the snuff bottle, this live streamer just happens to purchase it the next morning?”

The live streamer nervously chuckled, looking somewhat uneasy, “Ha ha, yeah, it’s quite a coincidence.”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“A coincidence, or a conspiracy?”

The smile on Tang Feng’s face carried layers of meaning.