"Jiang Jinyue!" Su Yan shot to her feet with a start.
Jiang Jinyue slipped her phone into her pocket. "Now can you honestly explain how you got that injury on your head? If I'm in a good mood, I might just delete the recording from a moment ago."
Su Yan looked at Jiang Jinyue, weighing her words.
She had asked Ye Zhan and confirmed that Lu Chenhuai and Jiang Jinyue did not know each other, which was why she had dared to pin what happened that day directly on Jiang Jinyue.
Yet seeing Jiang Jinyue's confident demeanor, she began to doubt herself.
Lu Chenhuai was not someone given to meddling in other people's business.
Perhaps he had taken a fancy to Jiang Jinyue and that was why he had stepped in to take the blow for her.
She had already considered this possibility while in the hospital, but the mere thought of it drove her mad with jealousy, and she had refused to admit it.
Jiang Jinyue unlocked her phone.
Terrified that Jiang Jinyue was actually about to message Lu Chenhuai, Su Yan gritted her teeth and said to Madam Su, "The other day at the bar, a friend of mine had a little friction with Yueyue's friend and accidentally got scraped up. It wasn't entirely Yueyue's friend's fault."
A flicker of guilt seemed to cross Madam Su's eyes, but it vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
She really shouldn't have gotten her hopes up.
Jiang Jinyue curved her lips into a smile and strode out of the living room.
After returning from the cemetery, she went to the address Su Pei'an had given her.
It was a trust center.
Clutching the box she had retrieved from the trust center, Jiang Jinyue stood there for a moment, completely at a loss as to where she should go.
She booked a hotel room on her phone and took a cab there.
Outside, the rain was growing heavier.
Sitting on the sofa, Jiang Jinyue began to go through her father's belongings one by one.
Her father had once been a soldier before being medically discharged due to an injury and coming to Longcheng to do business. For as long as she could remember, she had only ever had her dad, never a mum.
Her dad had told her that her mum had died giving birth to her.
Yet there wasn't a single trace of her mum to be found anywhere in the house—not even a single photograph—and she felt that wasn't normal.
However, every time she saw her dad wearing an apron and bustling about the kitchen making her all sorts of delicious treats, those questions died on her lips.
If the answer meant tearing open her dad's old wounds, she would rather believe the lie he had woven for her.
Her father had died in a car accident. The end had been sudden, and he hadn't left many possessions behind.
There was a watch he used to wear during his lifetime, a few personal items he had used, and a photo album filled entirely with pictures of her growing up.
Jiang Jinyue flipped through the pages one by one.
Suddenly, she realized there wasn't a single photo of her and her dad together in the entire book.
She sped up, flipping through the rest of the album, and indeed, she couldn't find a single picture of the two of them, let alone a solo portrait of him.
An overwhelming sense of being abandoned by the whole world washed over Jiang Jinyue.
Why had they left her without even a single keepsake to remember them by?
Hot tears fell patter, patter. Jiang Jinyue hugged her knees and buried her face in them.
Suddenly, two sharp beeps sounded from the doorway.
Jiang Jinyue jerked her head up, looking toward the entrance with guarded vigilance.
"Lu Chenhuai?"
She stood up from the sofa.
"How did you get in?"
This was a room she had booked; how on earth had he managed to enter?
"You should be grateful it's me who came in."
As he spoke, Lu Chenhuai reached out and engaged the safety chain on the door, ensuring that even someone with a room key couldn't force their way in.
Had she not known that Lu Chenhuai was no scoundrel, Jiang Jinyue would likely have started screaming at the top of her lungs by now.
"Has President Lu run into some pursuers?"
Lu Chenhuai walked over. "You changed how you address me fast enough."
"Don't like me calling you President Lu?" Jiang Jinyue suddenly burst into a smile. "Then should I call you cousin?"
Hearing the word "cousin" slip from Jiang Jinyue's lips sent a tingling sensation straight to the tip of Lu Chenhuai's heart.
Suddenly, two more "beep-beep" sounds came from the door, followed by the sound of the door being pushed open.
Jiang Jinyue looked at Lu Chenhuai. He had already taken a seat in the exact spot she had just vacated.
"Why is President Lu here?" She slipped back into her polite, distant tone, as if she hadn't just called him her cousin a moment ago. "This is just a very ordinary hotel."
It wasn't the kind of place Lu Chenhuai would normally frequent.
"I followed you here."
Jiang Jinyue's gaze turned frosty. "You were tracking me?"
"I've got better things to do."
Lu Chenhuai gave Jiang Jinyue a quick head-to-toe look, his gaze lingering on the jacket she had draped over the sofa.
"Did you bring anything out with you today?"
Jiang Jinyue didn't understand what Lu Chenhuai was getting at.
"You have a micro-locator on you. As it happens, our company recently released a new device designed to detect locators and bugs. Fang Zhi spotted you when you came out of the trust center and intended to come over and say hello, but he noticed the detector he had just picked up started reacting, so he tailed you here without arousing any suspicion."
Jiang Jinyue suddenly thought of the red braided cord she had deliberately put on when she left the house today.
She had previously kept it locked away in her bedroom drawer.
Pulling the cord from her pocket, Jiang Jinyue took a close look and immediately spotted the problem.
This was not her original cord.
Because the silver peace buckle on her old one had once taken a knock and suffered a dent, the spot had been repaired, leaving the color there noticeably different from the rest of the metal.
The one in front of her clearly wasn't that one.
She carefully inspected the peace buckle and found a tiny latch on it. Prying it open with some force, she watched as a tiny device dropped out.
Every year on this exact date, she went to the cemetery.
Everyone in the Su family knew about this habit.
The Su family... Su Yan...
No wonder she had apologized so readily earlier—she had been waiting to spring this trap on her here.
Without a doubt, there was probably a man waiting outside.
Perhaps even reporters or a pre-arranged crowd of onlookers.
It was always the same tired trick over and over again. She really was obsessed with ruining her reputation!
After a brief quiet, a voice sounded from outside the door once more.
"Hello, I'm a member of the hotel staff."
"What is it?"
"Delivering complimentary pear soup for you."
Jiang Jinyue glanced at Lu Chenhuai and whispered, "Since President Lu is already here, why not be a good Samaritan to the end and do me one last small favor?"
Lu Chenhuai looked at her, neither agreeing nor refusing.
"Wait a moment."
Jiang Jinyue quickly packed up the box, pulled Lu Chenhuai to his feet, looked around the room, and pushed him into the bathroom.
She walked over and unlocked the door.
Standing outside was indeed a woman in uniform.
"Here is your pear soup."
Jiang Jinyue took the bowl of soup, glanced at the woman, and closed the door right back.
No sooner had she set the pear soup down than the door swung open again.
The intruder had used a key card to enter.
"Miss Jiang, we meet again."
Taking in the person standing before her, Jiang Jinyue clenched her hands into fists at her sides.
"How did you get in?!"
"Didn't you open the door for me?" The man wore a greasy, leering smile. "Three years ago, Su Jing ruined our fun. Today is a great day, perfect for the two of us to pick up where we left off."
As he spoke, the man advanced toward Jiang Jinyue, his slimy gaze flickering like a venomous snake's tongue.
A chill crept up the base of Jiang Jinyue's spine.
Watching the man close in on her, she reached her hand toward the small of her back.