Two instances of panting:
The first time, at Xu Zhi's house, the people present were me, Liang Ze, Changxia, and Qin Di;
The second time, at Qin Di's house, the people present were me, Changxia, and Qin Di.
Given that I was not involved in either instance, who could it be... is already quite obvious.
Yet I had never encountered anything like this around me before, and I wasn't entirely sure.
"Little Tong, is it what I think it is?" I asked the system, feeling uncertain.
"..."
"Little Tong, are you playing dead again?"
"..."
"Aren't you afraid I'll just quit and refuse to do this anymore?"
"Host, please calm down. Perhaps you can use your own brilliance and intellect to find the answer."
"Why can't you just tell me directly?"
"Heaven's secrets must not be revealed..."
Here it comes again!!!
After shamelessly staying at Qin Di's place for a few days, my cold finally cleared up.
During that time, the daily panting, combined with my occasional probing questions, basically confirmed my suspicions.
The world was crazier than I thought.
On this day, Changxia went to the gym owned by the Chang Group, while Qin Di stayed home to work remotely.
I knocked on the master bedroom door, and Qin Di opened it with a teasing look on her face.
"Oh, your wife has barely been gone for a moment, and already you're having all sorts of wild thoughts?"
Ignoring the provocation, I asked, "Can I come in and talk for a bit?"
Qin Di looked at me for a moment, while I kept a calm and open expression.
"Come in."
"Okay."
"What do you want to talk about?"
"Xiaoxia asked you about Qu Songhe on my behalf before. Do you have any news on that end?"
"Why should I tell you?"
That response meant there was a chance.
"You don't like me, haven't you already taken your revenge on me?"
"Don't talk nonsense. What did I ever do to you that you call revenge?"
"Xiaodi, for Xiaoxia's sake, tell me what you've found out," I said with a sincere attitude.
"For Xiaxia's sake? Do you have the nerve to say that, you domestic abuser?"
"That time was my fault. I've deeply reflected on it and I guarantee I'll never bother you again!" I patted my chest in promise.
"Every domestic abuser makes that promise. Only a fool would believe it."
"Then what do you want me to do before you'll tell me?"
"Whatever you do, I won't be satisfied. I'm just not satisfied with you as a person."
After saying many nice things, Qin Di remained completely impervious, accompanied by a steady stream of sarcasm and mockery.
I finally got angry: "Can't we just talk properly?"
"Hmph, so this is your true face. You put on a friendly act, but the moment you don't get what you want, you instantly change into a different person. Tch, don't I know you, Xu Zhi?"
I didn't know the past between Xu Zhi and Qin Di, but...
"Do you hate me because I can openly be with Xiaoxia?"
Qin Di narrowed her eyes, wearing a rather vicious expression. "What do you mean by that?"
"I won't mince words in front of you. Both of you women know very well what you've been doing." Things had reached this point, and I no longer wanted to play nice with someone who was always hurling insults and radiating hostility.
"What do you know?" Qin Di asked with a sinister tone.
"Saying it out loud ruins the fun. I think I've already made it pretty obvious."
"..."
"I don't harbor any ill will toward either of you. I just want to find Qu Songhe."
"..."
"Xiaodi, you're a smart person. Living in peace with us won't cause any harm to you or Xiaoxia. In fact, with me acting as your shield, the two of you can do as you please even more freely."
"..."
"Xiaodi, when you had the head bodyguard hurt my 'vitality' before, didn't I return good for evil and help you escape unscathed? Isn't it better to have a friend than an enemy?"
...
After my mouth went dry from all that talking, Qin Di finally let down her guard against me just a little bit.Later, the two of us reached an agreement: she would tell me about Qu Songhe, while I would not interfere in their affairs and would keep it a secret from Changxia so she wouldn't feel burdened.
After reaching the agreement, I returned to the guest room.
It was the same guest room where I had rested for a few days due to my cold, and the very room where I had gotten beaten up that day.
Reviewing and piecing things together, I realized I had been in this guest room the entire time that night. I had simply been dizzy and gone to sleep without paying attention to the room's details. The next morning, beaten and seeing so many people acting with such grave solemnity, I had actually thought I was the one who had gone out of line and played the scoundrel.
In reality, Qin Di had come over in the morning, messed up our clothes so we looked disheveled, and then tearfully called her parents.
The result was that I ended up beaten and sent to the hospital.
I figured Qin Di was a deeply calculating person, given how she had set me up.
Yet, at the same time, I felt she was naive to the point of being foolish. Changxia could calmly and tacitly admit that she still liked Liang Ze; she could brazenly flirt with Liang Ze right in front of me; when Liang Ze ignored her, she could casually curl back into my arms; and she could engage in breathless intimacy with Qin Di while others were under the same roof—doing it every single day, as if afraid no one would notice.
With her happily shuttling back and forth between me, herself, and Liang Ze like that, why would Changxia feel any burden even if she knew I found out about them? If anything, she should have felt relieved, let loose even more, and paid me total disregard!
I have to admit, Changxia was the ultimate player among all the acquaintances I had known across my two lives. Occasionally, when I thought carefully about what she did, it would leave me in shock for a long time.
Of course, at that time I didn't know yet that her later outrageous antics wouldn't just shock me—they would shock my entire family for a long time. Truly, appearances can be deceiving.
Still, none of that mattered to me. Coming to this spacetime, the most important thing was to find Qu Songhe. Everything else took a backseat.
Within a couple of days, Qin Di sent an assistant over to brief me on the findings.
It turned out that a major corporation had once commissioned a headhunting firm under the Qin family for recruitment, and the person hired for a certain position back then was a man surnamed Qu.
That man had filled out an information form at the time, which listed his father's name as Qu Songhe.
Brilliant. After being here for seven months, I had finally made some progress.
On the very night I got the information form, I originally planned to call that man surnamed Qu—namely, Qu Kang—when Xu Zhi suddenly spoke up.
I hadn't heard his voice in so long that I thought I was hallucinating.
Xu Zhi said that after finishing his second conversation with me, he had been dragged off to reincarnation. Then, relying on his glib tongue, he had somehow managed to bluff Meng Po and the others into skipping the soup of forgetfulness for him.
His consciousness had sneaked over this time, and he only had five minutes. He told me to ask whatever I needed to ask quickly, as staying away too long would get him caught again.
The situation was sudden, and with only five minutes on the clock, my thoughts were completely tangled, feeling like the sheer volume of information was overwhelming.
"Qiu Zhi, hurry up, I don't have much time left," Xu Zhi urged me.
With no other choice in the rush, Qin Di was the only one who came to mind, so I asked about her.
After Xu Zhi answered, I heard a deep, lingering sigh in my mind, filled with the desolation of someone marching to their death.
A sorrow arose in me for no reason, and just as I wanted to speak, I only heard Xu Zhi say, "Goodbye."
When I called out to him afterward, there was no sound.
"Little Tong, this isn't going to be the last time he appears, is it?" I asked the system, unable to stop myself from trembling slightly.
"Host, Xu Zhi's consciousness has completely withdrawn. You can now freely control this body."
"Did Xu Zhi go to reincarnation, then?"
"Host, everything is predestined, so don't grieve. You know that if you can't find Qu Songhe and get through this tribulation, the next one to go to reincarnation will be you."
I smiled bitterly. Right, I could barely take care of myself; how could I have any time to worry about others?
Pulling myself together, I dialed Qu Kang's phone number.