Attention Sir, I Have Your Heart Handcuffed!-Chapter 312 - 6. Night is dark, hide and seek (, Part 2)
The Xiang father and son frowned at the same time.
Xiang Yuan took the lead, wrapping his arm around his mother’s shoulders, "Mom, it’s me. There’s a bit of a cash flow problem at Huatai Hall, and I was thinking of borrowing some money from Dad."
Guo Zhengmei turned to glare at her son, "You finally admit there’s a financial issue with Huatai Hall, huh? Don’t try to hide it from me; I can tell it’s all because of that Shi Nian again!" 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎
She had been following the news reports, originally thinking her son’s lawsuit was a sure win, only for him to lose in the end.
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Guo Zhengmei’s attitude took Xiang Yuan by surprise. He hadn’t expected his mother to still be so relentless after the divorce, making him impatient, "Mom, enough!"
"Why is it enough?"
Guo Zhengmei was very displeased that her son was still protecting Shi Nian and was willing to argue with her over it, "I told you long ago that Shi Nian is a jinx, marrying her into our family was a disaster for the Xiang Family! Look, she’s stirred up trouble for four years, tricked A Yuan out of his house, and left him with nothing!"
Xiang Yuan could no longer listen and strode towards the door, stopping at the entrance, "Mom, I gave her the house myself, and leaving with nothing was my own decision. If you keep blaming her for this, then I’ll have no choice but to move out!"
Xiang Yuan slammed the door and left, leaving Guo Zhengmei stunned.
They were already divorced, and she thought her son would have come to his senses, but how could she have known he would still be upset with her for protecting Shi Nian!
Xiang Jingsheng gave her a cold stare, "If it weren’t for you, maybe Shi Nian wouldn’t have been so determined to leave. Now look at our son all by himself, are you happy?"
Even her husband was blaming her, which only fueled Guo Zhengmei’s anger.
"I just asked you, why didn’t you answer? Who exactly did you give that money to?! You think by avoiding it I wouldn’t know? Did you give it to that crazy mother of Shi Nian again? Xiang Jingsheng, I’m asking you, what are you up to, why are you more concerned with Shi Nian’s crazy mother than with me? Do you have something with her, huh?!"
Xiang Jingsheng exploded in anger, his eyes deep black, "Guo Zhengmei, get out!"
Guo Zhengmei sneered, "What, ashamed because I exposed the truth? Xiang Jingsheng, I’ve thought for a long time that your attitude towards Xu Xinzhen was suspicious! She was our son’s mother-in-law back then; even if we were supposed to cover her medical bills, A Yuan could have paid them, why did you have to personally visit every month? Now it’s even more blatant; even after the divorce, you still eagerly go to see her. Xiang Jingsheng, do you have the guts to tell me clearly what’s going on between you and that Xu Xinzhen?"
"... Xiang Jingsheng, I know you stopped loving me a long time ago. But I never would have thought you’d fall for such a madwoman. Xiang Jingsheng, your taste is quite extraordinary!"
Xiang Jingsheng said nothing, he picked up the half-written rice paper and hurled it at Guo Zhengmei’s face.
"Guo Zhengmei, you always mock Xu Xinzhen as a madwoman. But I tell you, in front of her calmness, you look more like a madwoman. You are the one who drove me and our son crazy!"
After saying that, Xiang Jingsheng opened the door and walked out without looking back. No matter how much Guo Zhengmei shouted, he didn’t turn around.
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Three days passed, and Shi Nian kept a cautious eye on the media trends, but there was still no news related to Xiong Jie. Among the bodies found by the police, there was no sign of her.
No news, in fact, was good news.
Huangfu Huazhang called her, saying that his people were investigating every bit of information left in Xiong Jie’s contacts, then following the news clues she might have been interested in to trace where she might have gone.
Shi Nian couldn’t help but worry, "Her phone call records are only available to the carrier, and they can only be accessed by the police for investigations. Can you find them?"
Huangfu Huazhang chuckled lowly over the phone, "Don’t worry about it."
Shi Nian couldn’t help but ask, "... do you have a skilled hacker under your employ who can break into the carrier’s servers directly?"
Huangfu Huazhang laughed but didn’t respond, only saying, "Don’t worry about it."
Shi Nian put down the phone, silently comparing again in her heart. Tang Yanqing had Jia Tianzi and Guan Liang under him, and it seemed that Huangfu Huazhang’s subordinates were equally capable, even having experts in networking.
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The night was deep, and the community where Xiong Jie’s house was located had also quieted down. The windows of the neighboring houses had all gone dark.
A petite figure quickly approached Xiong Jie’s house, stood by the porch, and glanced around before agilely approaching the front door.
It was Shi Nian.
Under the faint streetlights, she rushed onto the porch, swiftly pulling a hairpin from her hair, and under the dim light, she straightened it and inserted it into the lock.
The lock gave a satisfying click, and she smiled with satisfaction, slipping silently inside.
Slipping quietly into the darkness, she had already donned gloves and shoe covers, even tucking her hair tightly under her hooded sportswear to leave no trace.
She wasn’t afraid of the dark; even without a light source, she could move freely in the darkness. She silently moved into the first-floor living room and kitchen, using the streetlamp light coming in through the window to search for any trace Xiong Jie might have left before her disappearance.
She moved slowly, searching the first floor before moving to the second.
She opened the bedroom door, only for something soft to suddenly rush out, colliding with her foot, and with a "yow," it dashed away. Taken by surprise, she barely managed to stifle a scream, letting out a low cry.
At that moment, the window at the end of the second-floor hallway gave a very faint "click," and a shadow was cast on the windowpane by the streetlight outside, silently opening the window.
Is it a thief? Or someone who took away Xiong Jie?
Shi Nian was so startled she didn’t dare move, pressing her back against the wall and slowly sliding down, crouching on the floor. Not daring to get up and run downstairs hastily, she could only lie on the ground and move quietly, hoping that person wasn’t as familiar with the darkness as she was, allowing her to remain safely hidden for the moment.
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The window opened silently, then closed silently again.
A tall silhouette cast by the streetlight through the window stretched diagonally on the wall of the corridor, coming ever closer to where she was hiding.
Shi Nian carefully held her breath, quietly retreating, slipping behind the door.
As long as that silhouette didn’t use a light source, it wouldn’t find her. She covered her mouth and nose, cautiously peering through the crack in the door, quietly waiting for the person to walk past her.
As she hoped, the silhouette did not use a light source, did not turn on the light, nor did it have a flashlight, just walked calmly in the darkness alone.
The person turned the corner, seemingly about to pass by the doorway... but suddenly, that person stopped abruptly, quickly looking back at the door where she was hiding!
Shi Nian’s heart stopped in shock, and her hand quietly gripped the pepper spray baton in her pocket, ready to strike with all her might.
But the person didn’t rush over, instead leisurely leaned against the wall opposite the door, looking very relaxed from their posture, even reaching into their pocket to fumble for something. After the rustling sound of paper was heard, a clean, sweet tobacco scent wafted through the air. Although the scent was faint, due to the limited vision in the darkness, the sense of smell became unusually sensitive, allowing her to identify it.
This scent... Shi Nian frowned. Did this person need a smoke before the job?
That smell was so familiar.
But the person didn’t light the cigarette, just seemed to bring it to the nose to sniff. Acting idle, as if not in a hurry, just passing the time.
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Shi Nian held her mouth and nose tightly, nearly suffocating. She didn’t expect to encounter such a troublesome character. She couldn’t help but pray in her heart, "If you’re stealing, steal quickly; if you’re leaving, go quickly... otherwise, I’ll suffocate!"
Her brain was oxygen-deprived, her consciousness a step slow. She rolled her eyes upward, and when she looked back, she was startled to see that person somehow standing silently in front of her!
"Ah—"
She gasped, whispering a single note, only to have her mouth covered again.
But this time it was with the person’s hand instead of her own.
She was so shocked her hair stood on end, raising her hand to reach out with the pepper spray baton. Her wrist was suddenly gripped tightly, seizing her hand.
In that split second, the person softly chuckled, "Shh... Little Fool, haven’t recognized it’s me yet?"
.
The familiar voice, the familiar touch, the familiar scent.
Shi Nian gulped, finally catching her breath.
She took deep breaths, "Why is it you?!"
He chuckled, "Why can’t it be me?"
Shi Nian glared at him in annoyance in the darkness, "Do you have a search warrant? If not, even a detective can’t just enter a citizen’s home at will!"
He laughed, "I don’t have a search warrant, but I’m here to protect the safety of a citizen’s person and property... I found someone picking the lock and sneaking into a citizen’s home, so I followed in to catch the thief."
"Who are you calling a thief?" Shi Nian understood.
He chuckled lightly, "If it wasn’t you, what are you doing in Xiong Jie’s home? Especially since you picked the lock to get in."
Shi Nian took a deep breath, "...I’m here to visit her. Want to give her a surprise, what’s it to you?"
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Thank you to the following friends:
sheets: yoksun70
sheets: Adorable Li Liang
sheets: wdl329
sheet: manystars＋flowers, wyydingding0528, cerc0303
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