“Hey, daughter.”
“What is it?” Qin Haiyue said peevishly.
The other end of the phone fell silent for a while. After a long moment, a slightly raspy voice came through.
“How is the task I entrusted to you going?”
“What task? Oh, building connections for your company. I’ve taken care of it. Is there anything else?”
“…”
Silence, yet again. Qin Haiyue was becoming a bit annoyed. She looked down at the girl beside her. The girl kept her head lowered, staring at her small hands, seemingly caught in a somber mood.
Finally, after waiting for who knows how long, she heard a response from the other end.
“I heard from your driver that you have a boyfriend?”
“Huh?”
A boyfriend? Who would dare to be her boyfriend? Who was spreading such rumors?
She frowned, thinking for a moment, and glanced once more at the poor little thing next to her.
‘Could this so-called boyfriend be her?’
Interesting, very interesting.
A strange smile inadvertently appeared on her face. She had been slightly worried about how to explain her situation to the family, but since they had come up with their own conclusion, she would just go along with it. This worked perfectly in her favor.
“Yeah, so?”
“…Nothing. I’ve neglected you in the past and feel a bit guilty. Now that you have a boyfriend, I’m happy for you. Take good care of him and be kind; the family has plenty of money.”
“Oh, okay,” she replied flatly. Qin Haiyue suddenly sat on the sofa and pulled the girl into her arms with a laugh. “Come, say hello to my dad.”
The girl shrank back slightly. ‘Is this considered meeting the parents? But I don’t even like Qin Haiyue…’ However, things had progressed to this point, and she had no choice but to comply.
“Hello, Uncle…”
There was no reply from the other end for a long moment, as if he had fallen into deep thought.
“Daughter, why does this boyfriend of yours sound so much like a girl?”
“Oh, never mind that. That’s just how he was born. He’s definitely a boy. If you don’t believe me, you can check his identity; his ID card says so.”
“Well, that’s good.”
“Is there anything else? If not, I’m hanging up.”
“Nothing else…”
The moment she received the answer, Qin Haiyue immediately hung up the phone.
The atmosphere instantly fell back into a dead silence; the two of them had no common topics to discuss. Qin Haiyue held the girl for a while before finding it dull. Her expression returned to its usual coldness as she sat back down across from the girl.
She had already abandoned her plan to grow closer to the girl. She felt it was useless and boring. But locking the girl in the basement seemed premature; the timing wasn’t right yet. She sighed and shook her head to herself.
This lunch had become utterly flavorless.
After casually eating a few pastries to fill her stomach, she took out her phone. Ye Xingmian finally began to eat the food closest to her with cautious movements.
The afternoon passed slowly like that.
—
This was a villa district near a cemetery. Because of its remote location, it was quite peaceful. The warm winter sunlight poured lazily onto the meadow, illuminating the various tombstones within the graveyard. Fragrant bouquets were laid beside the small mounds in memory of those who had passed.
Inside the car, watching the scenery outside recede rapidly, Luo Xi sat in the passenger seat with a constant frown. She felt that something was wrong, yet she couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was.
“Yu, do you have any leads?”
She asked the woman in the driver’s seat. The woman’s name was Ji Yu, and she was the assistant her father had sent to help and guide her. After one year of being together, their relationship was fairly good.
“Miss, what exactly are you asking about?”
Whenever they were alone, this mature woman would always have a faint smile on her face, something that wasn’t common at other times. When Luo Xi first met her, she thought she was a cold woman.
Luo Xi narrowed her eyes, feeling a bit dissatisfied, and pursed her lips. “You know who I’m talking about.”
Ji Yu glanced at her and then turned back to continue driving. The smile remained on the corner of her lips, though it made Luo Xi feel slightly uncomfortable.
“Miss, according to the Master’s instructions, you only need to focus on your own duties. You shouldn’t waste your energy on other matters.”
“I know that, but…” Luo Xi muttered, her brow furrowing.
Her father indeed only wanted her to study hard so she could take over his business. Even her position as the Student Council President was something she had barely managed to win despite his opposition.
She had originally thought that taking over the Student Council would allow her to reduce the bullying in the school, but she had overestimated herself. Her individual strength was too small, and evil was omnipresent.
Gradually, she had grown weary and no longer wanted to interfere.
But…
“But I’m still so concerned. Didn’t you feel it? The way those two interact doesn’t look normal at all.”
“And… that Ye Xingmian… doesn’t look like a boy no matter how you look at it…”
“It would be better for you to stay out of other people’s private business, Miss. Didn’t the Master just lecture you for offending a certain young master from a wealthy family?”
“Ugh, don’t mention that. It’s annoying just hearing about it.”
In front of someone she knew well, the young girl removed her cold and arrogant mask. She sighed, gazing at the continuous green meadows outside. Although it was a cemetery, she had to admit the scenery here was quite nice. From a distance, one could see the silhouettes of mountains, water, and greenery.
It was no wonder this place had become a favorite retirement area for some of the wealthy and powerful.
After agonizing for a moment, she realized she still couldn’t let go of her tendency to meddle. Turning to Ji Yu, she said, “Um, can you help me look into Ye Xingmian’s background? I’m a little curious.”
“Of course, Miss.”
—
The decoration of the Luo residence was not overly luxurious. The floors were made of understated, ancient-looking dark wood, and vintage incense was placed in the center of the living room.
These were all arranged by her late grandfather. Her father hadn’t discarded them after his passing, so they remained in the house.
Sitting in her study, Luo Xi had just seen her father. As soon as they met, the rigid middle-aged man had hounded her with questions.
He repeatedly emphasized how the Qin family was a massive multinational corporation, how opening a branch here would drive GDP and employment, and how many benefits they would reap, blah, blah, blah.
It made her head spin with annoyance. Either way, his words boiled down to one thing: he wanted her to build a good relationship with Qin Haiyue. Since she couldn’t bring herself to do it, she simply stopped listening.
Holding the investigation report on Ye Xingmian that Ji Yu had just handed her, she became more confused the more she read.
Supposedly, the photo on this paper was of Ye Xingmian from two years ago. She tried to compare it with the girl’s appearance she had just seen at Qin Haiyue’s house. How could they be the same person?
And the gender was listed as male — was he really a boy?
Looking further into the family background, the father was in prison for rape. The mother had ignored her family’s opposition to give birth to Ye Xingmian and went out to work on her own.
Now, she had basically cut off all contact with her relatives. Ye Xingmian was currently living with an ordinary, lower-class family. Luo Xi couldn’t help but knit her brows.
Undeniably, this person’s background was pitiful, stirring her sympathy. Driven by doubt, she decided she would pay more attention to this person in the future.