Lin Xinyan hadn’t thought it through when she spoke earlier. The more she panicked, the more she couldn’t get the words out. She didn’t know how she should explain to Su Zhan how she knew Gu Bei.
She had only heard about him from Zong Jinghao and had never met him in her life.
“Gu Bei went to C City to look for her previously,” Zong Jinghao suddenly said.
Su Zhan was dumbstruck at his words. “Why was he looking for Xinyan? Is it because…”
Su Zhan didn’t finish his sentence, wary of Lin Xinyan’s presence.
Gu Bei’s matter happened due to Wen Qing. If he talked about Gu Bei, he would have to talk about Wen Qing.
At that moment, they saw a rest stop up ahead, and Zong Jinghao told Su Zhan to make a stop there. The latter then pulled over and parked the car in the car park. Lin Xinyan quickly woke the kids to head out for a breath of fresh air.
Zong Yanxi rubbed her eyes groggily and told Lin Xinyan, “Mommy, I need to use the restroom.”
Her mother wiped her face with a wet tissue, and she was soon awake. “I’ll bring you there.”
There weren’t many people at the rest stop at night. Lin Xinyan held onto her daughter’s hand, and they made their way to the restroom. Back at the car, Zong Yanchen was only half-awake; he was still laying in the backseat. Zong Jinghao saw him and opened up the car door on his side, asking if he wanted to use the restroom.
The boy slowly opened his eyes and shook his head. “I’m feeling a little hungry.”
“Get down. I’ll bring you in to buy some food,” Zong Jinghao said.
The little boy got down from the car and grabbed hold of his father’s hand. He looked up and asked, “When are we arriving home?”
“Soon,” Zong Jinghao replied after taking a look at the time.
There weren’t any proper meals sold at this hour, only snacks. Zong Yanchen was craving some oden, so he grabbed some and said, “Let’s get some for Yanxi and Mommy. Daddy, are you hungry? We should get some for Uncle Su too. He must be tired from driving.”
Zong Jinghao patted his head, happy to know that his son was someone who would think of others.
They also bought some corn, rice dumplings, and some drinks.
There wasn’t much they could buy at the rest stop.
After Su Zhan came out from the restroom, he let the dog out to let it have a breather. Then, he began to do some stretches by the car. His body was feeling quite stiff after such a long time in the car.
“Uncle Su,” Zong Yanchen called out as he gave the snacks he bought to the former. “Eat these to curb your hunger. You haven’t eaten dinner, so you must be hungry.”
Su Zhan reached out for it. “You’re so much more humane than your dad.”
Upon hearing that, Zong Jinghao shot a glance at him. Su Zhan’s mouth twitched, and he immediately shut up.
Zong Yanchen was eating some chewy fish balls. He instantly gave one to Zong Jinghao when he found it delicious. “Daddy, have one of these. It’s really nice.”
The latter bent down and bit the fish ball from his son’s hand. Su Zhan was about to ask him if the reason Gu Bei went looking for Lin Xinyan was revenge when Zong Jinghao’s phone rang. He pulled his phone out and saw Shen Peichuan’s number. He only replies to me now. I sent him that text almost an hour ago.
He answered the call while walking away.
“What’s wrong?”
Shen Peichuan was in a difficult position when he spoke. “Sorry, I didn’t go to C City. I was caught up with some affairs in the office, and I left my phone in the car. I only saw your message a few minutes ago.”
Zong Jinghao let out a hum but had no intentions of blaming him. He has a job after all. It would be impossible for him to constantly spare time for other things. He looked over at Su Zhan before saying to Shen Peichuan, “Gu Bei has kidnapped Qin Ya.”
“What?” Shen Peichuan didn’t expect that piece of information at all, nor did he understand how Gu Bei knew Qin Ya. Even if he knew her from the past, she has changed her appearance. So, how did he manage to find her?
“How did this happen? Was she kidnapped in C City? Why did he kidnap her?” Shen Peichuan asked.
Zong Jinghao didn’t know the specifics, but it wasn’t hard for him to guess. Gu Bei definitely knew about Lin Xinyan when he chose to kidnap Qin Ya. He was surely the one behind the photos. He probably wanted to sabotage Zong Jinghao’s relationship with Lin Xinyan or perhaps he had plans to kidnap Lin Xinyan but didn’t have the chance to do so. It could also be because he couldn’t find Lin Xinyan when she came to Baicheng so he chose to kidnap Qin Ya when he knew about her connection to the former.
He had gotten most of the parts correctly. But what he didn’t know was that Gu Bei had changed his plans to lure her out when his plan to sabotage their relationship failed. However, this plan of his was ruined by Shao Yun. He had no other choice in the end and resorted to kidnapping. His sending the photos to Lin Xinyan meant that he had discovered her address.
He had brought along Number Four when he tried to kidnap Lin Xinyan, but she wasn’t around. That was why they kidnapped Qin Ya – they thought that their relationship was definitely not an ordinary one since they were living together.
When they were investigating Lin Xinyan, they found that she knew of someone named Qin Ya. But the latter had a different appearance now, so Number Four thought she was another friend of Lin Xinyan.
“What can I do now?” Shen Peichuan felt a bit vexed. If only I had gone to C City. Gu Bei might not have gotten his way then.
He felt that he had let Su Zhan down.
“Wait for me at the villa at six o’clock.” We might arrive at the villa around that time.
“Alright.”
After hanging up, Zong Jinghao walked over to the car and found them still eating. The car’s bonnet had turned into their table.
When he got closer, he noticed that there seemed to be more food compared to earlier.
“Mommy bought us more,” Zong Yanchen said when he saw his father’s puzzled look.
Lin Xinyan didn’t know that Zong Jinghao had already bought food as she was feeling hungry. Maybe it was because she was pregnant but felt very hungry if she didn’t eat anything.
She had bought almost everything he had gotten earlier. Lin Xinyan handed him a piece of dried tofu and said, “You should eat some too. There’s too much. It’ll be a waste if we don’t finish it.”
Zong Jinghao kept silent.
Here I thought she was worried that I’ll be hungry. In reality, she just didn’t want to waste the food.
Lin Xinyan wasn’t aware of his thoughts when she shoved the dried tofu to his lips. She ordered, “Eat it.”
Zong Jinghao parted his lips and ate it, but before he swallowed it, Lin Xinyan ordered again while holding some crab meatballs, “Open up.”
Zong Jinghao was rendered speechless.
I haven’t even swallowed.
“Hurry up. We’ve stayed here for too long. You have to eat faster,” Lin Xinyan urged.
I still have to chew before swallowing no matter how fast I do it. You can’t be telling me to just swallow it, right? However, the moment he opened his mouth to say his piece, Lin Xinyan shoved a few more meatballs into his mouth.
Zong Jinghao couldn’t utter a word at all.
Lin Xinyan realized that she had been too anxious, so she quickly handed him a bottle of water. He took it but only took a sip of it to wash down the aftertaste when he finally swallowed the food in his mouth. He asked, “Are you trying to choke me to death?”
“No.” Lin Xinyan was just worried that the food wasn’t to his liking.
It wasn’t that decent after all. But they couldn’t ask for more here. It was fine as long as they were able to fill their stomachs.
She tugged on his sleeves as she whispered, “Don’t be angry.”
Zong Jinghao wasn’t angry at all. I have to eat whatever my wife feeds me, even if I’m choked to death. Look at how she’s admitting her mistakes now. How can I bear to criticize her?
He pretended to look pissed when he replied, “I’ll punish you when we’re home.”
Lin Xinyan went silent instantly.
They fed the leftover food they couldn’t finish to Baymax. They had already wasted more than half an hour resting there.
It was already dawn by the time they arrived at B City.
Zong Jinghao immediately drove to the villa. The kids didn’t get to sleep well, nor did they get to have a proper meal during the journey back. With Aunt Yu taking good care of them at the villa, he would be able to handle Qin Ya’s matter without having to worry about them.
Aunt Yu was grinning ear to ear when she saw the group of people arrive. She hugged the kids and talked about how fast time had passed when she saw Lin Xinyan’s belly.
Zong Jinghao told Aunt Yu to shower the kids and change them into clean clothes while he and Lin Xinyan headed upstairs.
Since he was going to meet with Gu Bei, he needed to tidy himself up and change into a clean set of clothes.
Lin Xinyan sat by the bed as she waited for him.
After a moment, the sounds of water flowing in the bathroom stopped, and he came out with a white towel wrapped around his body. He glanced at Lin Xinyan and said, “You haven’t slept all night. Just get a good rest now. Have Aunt Yu cook whatever you feel like eating.”
At that, he went to his wardrobe to get changed.
Lin Xinyan sat around for a moment more before making her way to the wardrobe. Zong Jinghao had put on a shirt and pants and was now buckling his belt. She chose one of his suits and helped him put it on before taking a tie that matched the suit from the shelf. Then, she gently did his tie for him. As a fashion designer, she had a great understanding of both women’s and men’s fashion.
Zong Jinghao raised his brows as she rarely ‘served’ him so gently.
“Is there something wrong?”
Lin Xinyan straightened up his attire and buttons as she said softly, “Promise me, no matter what, you have to bring Qin Ya back unharmed.”
