Captured By The Cold Detective (BL)-Chapter 97: I Lied

He Juan’s heart skipped a beat. It’s about Miss Zhao? Had Su Xieren discovered something new or... had he gotten himself into trouble?! All of a sudden, He Juan could not find it in himself to care about the dirty couch anymore.

[Please wait for a while, Xieren. I am coming right now.] He Juan gave a decisive reply.

After that, he did not waste any more time. Grabbing a new change of clothes, He Juan took a short shower, left a message for Mu Yuze then drove toward Su Xieren’s apartment. Fortunately, Mu Yuze’s car had been washed and sent back yesterday so He Juan could use his own car like usual again.

Less than half an hour later, he stood in front of Su Xieren’s door and rang the doorbell. A strong sense of déjà vu struck him. Two days ago, he had also stood right here, ringing the doorbell to Su Xieren’s apartment only to receive nothing but silence. He subconsciously glanced down at the crack of the door and found none of the familiar sticky note. Of course, this time, Su Xieren was home and... Mu Yuze was not here with him either.

The door swung open to show a surprised Su Xieren. "Da-ge, why didn’t you enter the passcode? Have you forgotten it?"

He Juan gave an awkward laugh. He had no idea how to explain this strange sense of reluctance to intrude on what was supposed to be Su Xieren and Miss Zhao’s future house. As such, he merely went with Su Xieren’s reason. "En, what’s the last digit for it again? I forgot..."

Su Xieren stared at his face for one long moment as if he had realized something. The expression on the Beta’s face hardly changed, yet for some reason He Juan still felt like Su Xieren could see through him easily, making him increasingly nervous.

But then, just as He Juan was going to cave under the pressure and blurted out everything honestly, Su Xieren stepped aside and opened the door wider for him. "Come in."

He Juan discreetly heaved a sigh of relief and murmured under his breath as he stepped past the doorway, "Pardon my intrusion..."

After changing into slippers, he made his way to the living room while observing Su Xieren closely. People might not be able to spot anything weird on him, especially when he was on full poker face like now, but He Juan still felt as if Su Xieren’s complexion did not look quite right.

He could not help but ask worriedly, "Xieren, are you okay? Did you get enough sleep last night? You didn’t get yourself into another trouble, did you?"

"What trouble are you talking about?" Su Xieren came out of the kitchen with a glass of warm water and handed it over to He Juan who already took a seat on the couch. "If you count the times Jia-ge has called me in the middle of the night because he couldn’t get through to your phone, then my sleep can be considered very good."

He Juan almost spurted out the water in his mouth. He covered his mouth and hurriedly swallowed, then coughed a few more times. "Yesterday, I—"

"You are really staying at Officer Mu’s house?" Su Xieren directly got to the point.

He Juan’s neck warmed up in embarrassment as memories of last night flashed behind his eyelids with utter clarity. He had seen the missed calls and unread messages from Jia Molei, however he was still not ready to face the other — or to be exact, to quarrel with Jia Molei regarding his relationship with Mu Yuze yet. As such, he pretended he saw nothing and went about his life. He was feeling a tad guilty now. Because of him, Su Xieren had to face Jia Molei’s relentless nagging and complaints when he was supposed to feel down from his girlfriend’s accident...

"...I am," he gave a grimace as he palmed his forehead. "Sorry, Xieren. I will give him a call... later."

Su Xieren gave a nonchalant shrug. He had always been like this. Caring only for the important matters and being indifferent to the rest. He Juan heaved another sigh of relief. At least, Su Xieren would not say that Mu Yuze was no good. He Juan really had no idea what he would do if that were to happen.

"You told me that you have something to say regarding... Miss Zhao?" He Juan asked whilst observing Su Xieren’s expression carefully. "Have you found something else?"

"No, I didn’t." Su Xieren’s face did not change as he confessed honestly. "Actually, I lied to you, da-ge."

"Huh...?" He Juan blinked, confused.

"That day, at the café, I told you that the member card and the letter are all I have found inside the tree trunk. I lied." Su Xieren walked toward the cabinet under the TV in the living room, pulled open the bottommost drawer and took out a little exquisite box.

He Juan could not help but stare. It was obvious that the box was very incongruent with Miss Zhao’s lifestyle. In one glance, it looked like it was made of expensive ebony and lacquered to shine. Delicate patterns were carved onto the box, with a little padlock that was dangling open on the opening. For some inexplicable reason, his heart started to race uneasily.

He Juan raised his eyes to give Su Xieren a doubtful look. "This..."

"You should see for yourself." Su Xieren walked toward the couch and placed the box on the table. Left with no choice, He Juan could only watch as Su Xieren unlocked the box and took out a few pieces of papers and photographs inside.

Majority of the pictures were focused on a slender, courteous-looking man in his fifties. He always wore formal clothes and he had a very awe-inspiring aura that immediately told He Juan that he must be a person from the upper echelon of society. He Juan’s heart skipped a beat as a crazy possibility rushed to his head.

In front of him, Su Xieren was as calm as ever as he pointed at the man in the picture. "Li Mingzhao, CEO and founder of Beida Group."

He Juan was shocked when he heard this. Who did not know about the Beida Group nowadays? It was a gigantic multi billionaire company which produced airplanes and owned numerous chains of five-star hotels across the country. But this person... why was his picture in Miss Zhao’s possession...?

Judging from the angle of the photographs, it was clear that they were taken in secret. It featured CEO Li when he was getting out of a car, entering a certain building, talking amicably with a foreigner He Juan had never seen before. All the while, he had at least two burly bodyguards by his side.

Before He Juan could even make heads or tails of these pictures, Su Xieren dropped another bomb out of nowhere. He placed the papers in front of He Juan and pointed at them. "This is the copy of his contracts when he bought underage Betas and Omegas through auction or child trafficking channels. The latest one was dated a few months ago." Su Xieren sneered. "Mr. Li must be quite a paranoid person to keep something like this by his side."

He Juan’s eyes flew as wide as saucers and his jaws dropped to the ground. He was so shocked that he forgot to breathe. Auction? Child... trafficking channels? They were...

"And this..." Su Xieren was not done yet. This time, his expression became stiff for a moment as he pushed the final photograph toward He Juan.

He Juan’s eyes automatically lowered and as soon as he took in the picture, his entire person froze. All colors drained from his face in an instant. There was a loud ringing in his brain as if a zap of lightning had struck right beside his ears, rendering everything mute and fuzzy for a second.

"Da-ge..." Su Xieren uttered with much difficulty, obviously uncomfortable. In the end, he rubbed his face roughly and sighed, "This is the reason I didn’t tell you that day. I don’t know... what to make out of this..."

In the picture was the same foreigner who had been photographed together with CEO Li, clearly someone who was involved in the line of illegal auction or child trafficking business too. However, it was not the sight which seized the breath out of He Juan’s lungs.

It was the person standing together with the foreigner.

That man was none other than... He Juan himself. That’s right, even though it looked much younger, it was clearly his own face.

It was the version of He Juan he did not recognize at all.