In the middle of the night, Lin Xinyan was sleeping soundly. Something touched her face and she nudged. Between sleep and consciousness, she felt someone kissing her from her cheeks to her mouth…
She opened her eyes and gazed directly into a pair of clear bright eyes looking back at her.
“Why don’t you go to sleep?” Her voice was raspy as she was just waking up.
Zong Jinghao laughed, “You awake?”
Lin Xinyan stroked her hair. Aren’t I awake?
This is an unusual way of waking someone up.
Zong Jinghao put a coat in her hands, “Let’s go. I’m going to show you something.”
Lin Xinyan looked at the two children beside her. They were sleeping soundly, their cheeks pinkish and ruddy. How sweet their sleep!
“What about them?” Lin Xinyan did not want to leave them alone.
“It’s just in the next room.”
Zong Jinghao had arranged everything.
Even their rooms had been changed. It was because Lin Xinyan had been traumatized and the doll incident still haunted her.
He put the coat on Lin Xinyan and pulled it close around her. She got out of bed. Zong Jinghao put his arm around her shoulders and they left the room.
When he closed the door, he glanced at the two children in bed, making sure they were not waken up. Then he closed the door softly.
In the room next door, Shen Peichuan was also awake. He was on the sofa having Chinese tea. On the tea table in front of him was a complete tea set: a teapot and six small blue and white porcelain teacups. The whole room was filled with the fragrance of tea.
“You’re here.” Shen Peichuan put down the cup and stood up to greet her.
Lin Xinyan smiled, “You’re still up.”
“I can’t sleep.” Shen Peichuan’s eyes flashed with anger, “If anyone plays tricks under my watch, I cannot sleep until I’ve caught the culprit.”
Instantly, Lin Xinyan understood why she was asked to come. Could there be new discoveries?
Otherwise they wouldn’t ask me to come.
“You’ve found something so fast?” Lin Xinyan was a little surprised.
“Not for certain, but it shouldn’t be long till we affirm it.” There was another group who had not reported back yet- those sent by Shen Peichuan to Yao Qingqing’s old home.
Zong Jinghao held her as they sat down. He took the remote control from the table and turned on the screen on the wall.
In a short moment, the screen flashed, “Who is Mr. Bai?”
On the screen, a man wearing a leather jacket was looking at Yao Qingqing in a sinister way.
Shen Peichuan was afraid that Lin Xinyan would be confused. So, he explained to her, “Jinghao suspected this woman and he informed Bai Yinning about her. It was actually just an excuse to use Bai Yinning. Because of his special relationship with Yao Qingqing, to find out where she lives is not a difficult task. Sure enough, after Bai Yinning left the hotel, he went to find Yao Qingqing.”
The man sent by Shen Peichuan tailed them and discovered Yao Qingqing’s residential address.
After Bai Yinning had left, the man took out some money and knocked on Yao Qingqing’s door. He gave her the money, saying that it was from Bai Yinning. At that time, the man in the leather jacket came to snatch the money from Yao Qingqing. As they struggled, Shen Peichuan’s man attached a surveillance camera on the TV.
From that camera was obtained this video of the man in the leather jacket asking Yao Qingqing who Mr. Bai was.
Lin Xinyan raised her eyes and stared at Shen Peichuan, “How do you know what Zong Jinghao wants?
She remembered that Zong Jinghao had carried Lin Xichen away after speaking.
He had not interacted with Shen Peichuan at all.
It was after their meal that he called them out.
“I received his text message after Jinghao left.” It was also at that moment that he knew Zong Jinghao’s intentions.
When he left at that time, it was to implicate that since he had given the task to Bai Yinning, he would no longer interfere. In fact, it was just a ruse.
Presumably, Bai Yinning was still unaware that he had been used.
Lin Xinyan glanced at Zong Jinghao quietly. This man’s mind is too deep.
It was so deep that it frightened her. How could anyone’s thoughts be so complicated and also always ahead of things?
He had indeed used someone while that person had no knowledge whatsoever that he had been taken advantage of.
“Is it possible that one day, you would sell me off while I was still counting the money you received for selling me?” Lin Xinyan felt that this was a possibility. She felt that her own IQ was way below Zong Jinghao’s.
Zong Jinghao held her in his arms, and replied, “No.”
He could not bear to part with her. He did not even have enough time for loving her.
In the video, Yao Qingqing was so angry that her face was red and she was trembling all over. “You don’t have to bother who he is. You’ve got the money. Just get lost!”
The man in the leather jacket was not satisfied. He did not let go of Yao Qingqing, “Sister, although this little money is enough for me to spend a while, you should know my appetite.”
“I have no more money!” Yao Qingqing shouted at him.
Slap!
A palm landed on Yao Qingqing’s face. The man in the leather jacket grabbed Yao Qingqing’s collar and threw her to the ground, sat atop her body and squeezed her throat, “You’d better be honest with me. Otherwise I will publicize your scandal until you feel too ashamed to continue living.”
“Your father forced me,” Yao Qingqing’s muffled shout could be heard. She did not fight back but the hands on the ground were clenched tight into fists.
She knew that she could not beat this man and fighting back would only make him attack more viciously.
“Huh, bitch!” The man in the leather jacket let go of Yao Qingqing and stuffed the money into his pocket. Then he glared at her as she tried to get up from the floor and threatened, “You’d better be honest with me. Go and get more money. It was a good clothing store and you had it closed down. Now you don’t even have any income. I tell you, Yao Qingqing, I don’t care whether you sell your body or rob a bank. Every month, give me 20,000. If there is one cent less, I will kill you!”
After threatening her with those cruel words, the man in the leather jacket left the room and closed the door with a loud bang.
Yao Qingqing sat on the floor and wept.
Lin Xinyan looked anxious, “What does this mean?” What she did not understand was why Zong Jinghao suspected her.
“It means that Yao Qingqing is not as innocent as she seems on the surface. No one can live in circumstances of constantly being threatened and deprived and still maintain a pure heart. Do you know? The person I sent to give money to her, pretending it is from Bai Yinning, well, she paid him too.”
Lin Xinyan did not understand. “Why did she pay him?”
“She did not want Bai Yinning to know about the man in the leather jacket and that they were related.”
It was obvious she was hiding something from Bai Yinning.
“Do you want to ask me why I suspect her?” Zong Jinghao picked up a strand of her hair, twirled it between his fingers and started playing with it.
Lin Xinyan nodded her head honestly.
Zong Jinghao explained to her, “I am not sure of her motives, but she has an ability.”
“What ability?”
She had the ability which made him rule out He Ruize as a suspect. At this point, He Ruize did not dare to appear in public. He could not get in or out of the hotel openly. How could he find out more about the monitoring layout in the hotel?
However, Yao Qingqing had a good relationship with Bai Yinning. Thus, she would not arouse suspicion when entering or leaving the hotel.
He had already verified this by checking the surveillance tapes from the hotel manager. During the time they left Baicheng, Yao Qingqing had frequented the hotel.
The purpose was obvious.
Lin Xinyan found it unbelievable, in fact, it was simply impossible. How could it be Yao Qingqing?
“Why would she do that?” Lin Xinyan could not figure it out.
Shen Peichuan narrowed his eyes and snorted coldly, “Maybe her personality is warped, but I think I can find out the truth soon.”
