Zong Jinghao glanced at his wife with a deep frown. He was not uneasy over Lin Guoan’s death. Rather, he was uneasy over his intuition that Lin Guoan’s death must have been related to Zhuang Zijin.
From the day when she had decided to remarry Lin Guoan, Zong Jinghao already had a bad feeling about this. As predicted by him, Lin Guoan was dead, on New Year’s Eve.
Zong Jinghao went to the window and only spoke after making sure that Lin Xinyan couldn’t hear him. “Where was he found dead?”
“At his home. I’m at the crime scene now. This news came as a shock to me as well. He just died so suddenly, without any sickness or injuries. Is this karma coming into play?” Shen Peichuan rambled on.
Naturally, Zong Jinghao brushed that superstition off.
“I’ll go over now.” If it weren’t for the fact that this incident involved Lin Xinyan’s relatives, Zong Jinghao wouldn’t even have bothered to pay heed to such a matter.
In fact, Lin Guoan’s death was not enough to make him take this matter into his own hands. He was worried that Zhuang Zijin was involved in his death, and that was why he had to take care of it.
For so many years, Lin Xinyan and Zhuang Zijin were inseparable as they pulled through their hardships together. They had a very connected mother-daughter relationship. Although Lin Xinyan was mad at Zhuang Zijin for not listening to her as she insisted on remarrying Lin Guoan, Zong Jinghao could see that his wife still cared for her mother deeply.
It would be good if Zhuang Zijin were not involved in this case. But if she is…
Zong Jinghao hung up the call and returned to the dining hall. Lin Xinyan still continued to ignore him as she enjoyed her meal.
A strand of her hair slid over her shoulders as she lowered her head. Zong Jinghao tucked the loose strand behind her ear and uttered softly, “I’m going out now.”
Lin Xinyan hummed in reply.
“There’s no one else at home today, so you can go back and sleep for a while after you’re done eating,” Zong Jinghao added gently.
Lin Xinyan nodded and asked, “You’re going to your company?”
Zong Jinghao hesitated and lied, “Su Zhan and Shen Peichuan have asked me to join them for lunch.”
“Oh, okay. Don’t drink too much. It’s bad for your health,” Lin Xinyan uttered in concern.
Zong Jinghao was surprised by the concern in her voice, and his eyes curved into a hearty grin. For so many years, there was no one else who actually cared about his health, and Lin Xinyan was the first. He kissed his wife affectionately as warmth enveloped him. “Wait for me to come back.”
Lin Xinyan pushed him lightly. “Go now. Don’t keep them waiting.”
Zong Jinghao hummed in reply and left with his coat.
Right after Zong Jinghao had left, Aunt Yu entered from the courtyard.
She removed her snow-covered coat at the entrance and saw that Lin Xinyan was still by the dining table. The hems of Lin Xinyan’s sweater were rolled up slightly, revealing a bruise on her waist.
Aunt Yu thought that her eyes were playing tricks on her and approached Lin Xinyan to check on her waist.
She rounded her eyes in horror when she saw that it was really a bruise. “Your waist…”
Hearing that, Lin Xinyan pulled her sweater down frantically.
“Did Young Master Jinghao hit you? Does he have a tendency for violence?” Aunt Yu’s eyes were filled with disbelief. Who else could have hit her if not Zong Jinghao?
“No, I fell down and knocked my waist last night,” Lin Xinyan lied.
Aunt Yu still refused to believe her. “How did you end up knocking your waist?”
Lin Xinyan lowered her head and let her hair cover her beet-red face. “I slipped in the toilet, that’s how I knocked my waist. Excuse me, I’m going up first.”
Afraid that Aunt Yu would pester her further, Lin Xinyan got up and escaped from the dining room frantically.
Aunt Yu eyed the unfinished bowl of soup and called out, “Are you full? You haven’t finished your soup yet.”
“I’m full now.”
Without turning back, Lin Xinyan ran into her room and closed the door. After panting out a heavy sigh, she raised her sweater to check her waist in the mirror. Only then did she see the bruise on the back of her waist. No wonder it feels so painful here! That horny Zong Jinghao had been taking me by the side of the sink last night!
She then loosened the fly of her skirt and tucked the sweater in, in case the hem of her sweater rolled upwards to reveal her waist again.
When she was done, the tired Lin Xinyan plopped herself on her bed. To her misfortune, she couldn’t sleep at all, even after quite some time.
Since she couldn’t sleep, Lin Xinyan got up again and went downstairs. Aunt Yu was wiping the dining table now. They had booked a place at a renowned restaurant for their reunion dinner, so Aunt Yu was not busy at all as she didn’t have to cook.
“Aunt Yu, let’s go shopping.” Lin Xinyan decided to get some presents for her kids and the elders for the Chinese New Year celebration.
Aunt Yu nodded with a smile. “Sure! But you should wear something thicker. It’s snowing outside.”
Lin Xinyan took note of that and returned upstairs to get her handbag and coat. The driver was on holiday now, so Lin Xinyan would be the one driving. Aunt Yu wanted to take the backseat, but Lin Xinyan insisted for her to sit in the passenger’s seat instead.
Her act surprised Aunt Yu greatly. Although she was favored by Zong Jinghao, she was always aware of her status as a mere servant to the Zong family.
Nevertheless, Lin Xinyan merely smiled. “We are a family, so don’t be so distant with me.”
With that, Aunt Yu finally took the passenger’s seat. Despite the cold weather, Aunt Yu felt that she was wrapped in warmness by Lin Xinyan’s kind gesture.
“Young Master Jinghao is lucky to have married you.” She was not praising Lin Xinyan because of her beautiful face alone. She was praising her for her kindness and down-to-earth personality towards the servants, seeing as Lin Xinyan had never acted like a stuck-up woman who had married into a rich family.
Most of the maids who worked for rich families were always treated like slaves or even discriminated against, as though they were thieves who would steal their properties. Getting scolded by their masters was common for maids and housekeepers, especially when they did something that was not in their master’s favor.
Aunt Yu thought that she was lucky enough to be serving kind families like the Zongs and the Wens, but never had she expected that an outsider like Lin Xinyan would be just as easygoing as the two families too.
In contrast, it never crossed Lin Xinyan’s mind of how kind her gesture was. To her, Aunt Yu was merely someone who she should respect, as she was the one who had taken care of Zong Jinghao throughout his life.
As much as she didn’t want to think so, Lin Xinyan knew that Aunt Yu was the one who was by Zong Jinghao’s side most of his life, instead of Cheng Yuxiu and herself.
Zong Jinghao’s undivided trust towards her was enough to show that Aunt Yu was indeed a kind and selfless woman.
Soon enough, they arrived at the mall.
According to the Lunar traditions, tomorrow would be the start of the year of the Rat, hence the place was lavishly decorated with red and gold decorations of the rat. The mall was still crowded with people coming out for some last-minute shopping before the Chinese New Year.
Lin Xinyan and Aunt Yu started to walk around the ground floor. The ground floor mainly consisted of the kid’s zone with foods and clothes for children. Since the twins were not with her now, Lin Xinyan planned to get something here for them.
Being the mother she was, Lin Xinyan was very familiar with their favorites and soon came out with bags of food and new clothes.
They then proceeded to the second floor. When they passed by a menswear store, Lin Xinyan spotted a nice suit that would look good on Zong Jinghao at the display window. Thus, she entered.
Aunt Yu followed her in with a smile. She found that Lin Xinyan now looked exactly like a normal married woman who was shopping for both her husband and kids.
A heartwarming sight indeed.
Zong Jinghao usually wore dark-colored suits, which were either black, grey, or dark blue with no patterns and designs. However, this particular suit which Lin Xinyan had spotted for him had dark checkers that would reflect a light hint of blue when shone underneath the light. For Zong Jinghao’s lean figure, this suit would be perfect for him, as the patterns were not that obvious, suiting his tastes for simple-looking suits.
The shop attendant praised Lin Xinyan for her choice. “That’s a wonderful choice from you. Our store specializes in high-end business wear for men, and this suit that you’ve chosen is our limited edition. Your husband can wear it to any formal occasion and would give off a staid and serious vibe with its dark colors.”
Lin Xinyan checked the price tag and was stunned in her place; the price came up to a grand figure of a hundred and eight thousand.
For the entirety of her life, she had never once bought herself such an expensive piece of clothing before.
However, she really liked the suit, and soon she asked the attendant. “Do you have any discounts?”
The attendant shook her head. “I’m sorry, there’s no discount at the moment. If you think that this suit is too pricey, you can check out the other cheaper suits over there. They range from around thirty to sixty thousand, so they should be more affordable for you.”
For any high-end menswear store, the cheapest set of suits would also be worth around ten thousand. However, when Lin Xinyan compared the cheap ones with Zong Jinghao’s set of suits, she realized that even the lousiest ones that he owned were of much better in quality than most of the suits in the store.
He is rich, of course, he can afford to buy the best suits available. I don’t have so much money to spend like him.
Nonetheless, I can’t expect him to wear such a lousy suit, right? With that, Lin Xinyan gritted her teeth and asked the shop attendant to wrap up the painstaking suit that she had chosen.
Poor Lin Xinyan could feel her heart bleeding when she swiped her card.
