Chapter 32: The Murderer

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Qiao Yanxin’s words left Officer Wang with not the slightest shred of dignity.

Wang Hui’s expression shifted, but in the end, he said nothing.

“I was only concerned about Mr. Qiao. This was merely a reminder. Whether you believe it or not is up to you.”

With that, Wang Hui turned and walked away, looking rather angry.

I vaguely heard some of the other officers defending him.

“Captain, with her attitude, why are you still helping her? Aren’t we just asking for trouble?”

The officer spoke with obvious displeasure, curling his lips.

Wang Hui sighed.

“It’s not that I want to help her. If something really happened to that child, I’m afraid my daughter would be devastated.”

The daughter Wang Hui was referring to was Wang Ruyi.

When Wang Ruyi was in college, she attended the same university as I did. She had been very fond of me and had pursued me relentlessly for a while, but I never agreed to be with her.

After I rejected her, she even considered taking her own life.

The incident caused quite a stir. Because of it, the university eventually advised her to withdraw.

Later, I had no idea what the Wang family had said to her, but I never saw her again, and she stopped bothering me.

From then on, the two of us lost contact entirely.

Wang Hui did not continue discussing his daughter, however. After saying a few words, he changed the subject.

Only after hearing their conversation did I realize that another person had gone missing in the area. They had come to investigate.

Qiao Yanxin stood there in a daze for several minutes before reluctantly getting into the car.

Once inside, she gazed out the window, lost in thought.

After a while, she sighed and picked up her phone to call Secretary Zhang.

“Secretary Zhang, find Qiao Yunzhou within three days. I don’t care where he is or how much time and effort it takes—you must bring him back to me. Even if he’s dead, bring me his ashes.”

There was a brief silence before Secretary Zhang replied, “Understood, President Qiao.”

“Oh, and how is your investigation in West City going? What exactly happened?”

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Secretary Zhang sighed. “We still haven’t found anything, President Qiao. We should have an answer tomorrow.”

Qiao Yanxin said nothing, her fingers tapping unconsciously.

“And investigate whether there have been any cases involving men in the area.”

“Understood, President Qiao.”

After a moment, Secretary Zhang spoke hesitantly. “President Qiao, don’t worry too much. Young Master Qiao is a grown man. It’s impossible for him to have simply vanished without a reason. Besides, good people are protected by fate. I’m sure nothing has happened to him.”

“Mm.” Qiao Yanxin answered in a low voice, clearly not in good spirits.

No one knew what was on her mind. She returned home in a daze.

The next day, when she went to the office, she seemed completely distracted.

She repeatedly signed contracts in the wrong places and even managed to write her own name incorrectly.

During the regular meeting, her subordinates nervously reported the financial statements from the previous quarter. The company’s losses had increased by several percentage points compared with the quarter before. Qiao Yanxin had always been extremely strict at work, and everyone had prepared themselves to be reprimanded.

But to their surprise, she merely answered distractedly, “You’ve all done very well. Keep working hard next quarter.”

Everyone was stunned.

“All right. Meeting adjourned. I have other matters to attend to.”

Everyone could tell that something was seriously wrong with Qiao Yanxin.

Of course, I noticed it too. I simply didn’t know who had caused her to become like this.

Was it me?

That thought seemed unbearably conceited.

I knew that, in Shen Jiao’s eyes, I was nothing. How could I dare think that way?

Qiao Yanxin hurried out of the conference room and entered her office.

Secretary Zhang followed close behind.

Qiao Yanxin collapsed into the enormous executive chair.

Seeing Secretary Zhang standing beside her, she asked, “Well? Did you find anything out about what I asked you to investigate yesterday?”

Secretary Zhang nodded, quickly opened the folder in his hands, and began his report.

“We’ve found out that the person renting the apartment in West City was indeed not Young Master Qiao. However, that man’s surname is also Qiao. His name is Qiao Lin.”

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Secretary Zhang pushed a photograph of the man toward Qiao Yanxin. At first glance, the man in the picture did bear some resemblance to me.

There were not many similarities from the front, but his profile looked remarkably like mine.

Combined with the shifting red and green lights in the bar that night, his features would have been even harder to make out.

Mistaking him for me was understandable.

And since he also happened to bear the surname Qiao, the misunderstanding had grown even larger.

Qiao Yanxin nodded, looking as though a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

“What about Qiao Yunzhou? Have you found out where he is?”

Secretary Zhang shook his head apologetically. “I’m sorry, President Qiao. We still haven’t found him. I checked every form of transportation. Young Master Qiao didn’t take a plane, a high-speed train, or an ordinary train. He hasn’t purchased a ticket through any platform.”

“So he never left South City at all? He’s still here?!” Qiao Yanxin cried out in disbelief.

Secretary Zhang nodded gravely.

“That does appear to be the case. According to the records, he should never have left South City. I also checked Young Master Qiao’s financial transactions and discovered that he hasn’t spent any money these past several days.”

Qiao Yanxin let out a cold laugh.

“Do you think I don’t know what he’s trying to do? He deliberately wants everyone to believe that something happened to him, when in reality, he’s perfectly fine. He simply wants all of us running around in circles searching for him. It’s because I’ve been spending a little more time with Tingchu lately. He wants to attract everyone’s attention by pulling something like this. Qiao Yunzhou, I really misjudged you. I never thought you could be so childish!”

Secretary Zhang’s mouth fell open slightly, clearly surprised that she would think that way.

I, too, found it both ridiculous and helpless. When I heard Secretary Zhang say that I had no recent spending records, I had wondered whether Qiao Yanxin would realize that I was already dead.

I never expected her to believe that I had done all this merely to attract everyone’s attention.

Why would I want their attention?

And why would I joke about my own life?

Even after everything that had happened, Qiao Yanxin was still so childish.

Secretary Zhang hurriedly explained, “President Qiao, I don’t think we can be certain that Young Master Qiao did this to attract everyone’s attention. Have you forgotten? That murderer was released from prison not long ago!”

“And I’ve also heard that quite a few people have gone missing in this area recently!”

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