Mu Yu knew something was wrong. She hurriedly put up an awkward smile while she explained, “Yihan and I bumped into each other by coincidence. Don’t misunderstand. There’s nothing going on between us.”
She knew what his taboo was.
“If there’s nothing going on, why were you crying?” Qin Jinhuan’s voice was very cold. “And you did it in public! You just can’t let him go, can you?”
“No, no, no. It’s not like that, it’s not like that at all. You’ve really misunderstood.” Mu Yu explained continuously, “I didn’t cry because of him. It was because of Wenwen!”
“Do you dare say that you don’t feel anything toward him, and that you have absolutely no thoughts about him?”
“I-I don’t! I’m fully aware of my own status!” Mu Yu’s eyes flickered uncontrollably.
“From now on, when you’re alone with people of the opposite sex, you’re not allowed to get too close to them, do you hear me?”
“Yes.”
“It would be best if you don’t interact with anyone of the opposite sex when you’re alone. Do you hear me?”
“Yes.”
“Turn the other way when you see Xin Yihan.”
“Yes—wait what?” As Mu Yu responded, she immediately corrected herself to negotiate with him, “I will avoid any contact with him after we’re back at An City. But can today be an exception?”
“No.”
“But didn’t we just agree to meet up with him just now? Xiaotian and him must be waiting for us at the hot spring now. If we don’t go, won’t it look bad?”
“There’s nothing bad about this. Just tell him that something has come up all of a sudden, and that we can’t go.”
“But…”
“I said no means no. Why do you have so much nonsense to say?” Qin Jinhuan snatched the bag from her hand angrily, and threw it on the ground.
“Why are you so aggressive? It’s not like I did anything to embarrass you.” Mu Yu, who was already not in a good mood, felt her resentment overflowing, causing her to lose her temper.
“You still think it’s not embarrassing enough? If there were reporters nearby, you’d be making the headlines tomorrow!”
“Didn’t I just have a small chat with him? How would that make the headlines? The reporters don’t even know me. Even if they do, they don’t even know that I like Yihan.”
“Was it necessary to talk in such a secluded area? You were even crying and leaning so close to him. Any reporter would have noticed that something was going on.”
“I’ve already told you that I was crying because of Wenwen! Not because of Yihan! Also, how was the place that we talked in secluded? It was the main entrance of the resort!”
“If I hadn’t shown up, the both of you would be having an intimate moment in a secluded corner of the hot springs.”
Mu Yu was fuming. “Do you know that you are slandering me? Please don’t make assumptions out of nothing.”
“I was just reminding you.”
“I am not a three-year-old. I don’t need your reminder on things like this. Don’t forget that Xiaotian was there too!”
“Xiaotian?” Qin Jinhuan sneered, “You claim that you treat Xin Yihan like your own brother, but until now, you’ve never addressed Yin Xiaotian as your sister-in-law. What do you think this implies?”
“I’m just used to calling her that.”
“It’s obvious that you cannot get over the fact that he’s already married. You’re still having fantasies about him.”
“Bullsh*t! From the moment he got married, I had already moved on from him!” Mu Yu’s face turned red from the agitation.
“If you had really moved on from him, then you wouldn’t be lashing out at me just because I don’t allow you to see him.”
“I am not lashing out. I am just presenting the facts to you. Can you be reasonable?” When she saw him turning his face aside, Mu Yu became even angrier. Knowing that there was no way for a clear explanation, she might as well admit it. “Alright. Even if I can’t forget Yihan, even if I still have feelings for him, what can you do about it? I have kept those feelings buried in my heart. I know where my limits are, and I won’t show my feelings. I won’t taint the position of the Qin family’s mistress. And I won’t embarrass you, Mr. Qin.”
“You aren’t allowed to keep those feelings in your heart! You are now my wife! You can only have me in your heart!”
“I’m only your wife by contract.”
“Don’t forget that we’ve already registered our marriage! If you have someone else in your heart now, that means you’re spiritually unfaithful. That also means that you’re unfaithful to this marriage. And your parents will be punished according to your wrongdoings!”
“Don’t you dare cross the line! I won’t go, alright?” The word ‘punished’ made Mu Yu soften her attitude immediately.
She wasn’t afraid of anything. She just didn’t want to drag her innocent parents into this.
“Go and pour me a glass of water.” Qin Jinhuan then sat down in front of the sofa.
“Okay.” When she saw that his expression had softened a little, Mu Yu sighed in relief, and hurriedly went to pour him a glass of water. Yet, she didn’t forget to curse him secretly under her breath, “I hope you die of choking!”
“Hey, here’s your water.” After putting the cup onto his hand, she turned around.
“Sit down.”
It was the demanding tone again.
She turned around in dismay. “Is there anything else that you want?”
“You’re unhappy?”
“No, I’m very happy, very happy indeed.” She replied without an ounce of expression on her face.
Why would he ask that when he knew that I’m unhappy? Isn’t he obviously trying to annoy me? But what else could I answer beside saying that I’m happy?
“Come sit down and talk to me.”
“What is there to talk about?”
“What kind of trouble is Jiang Wenwen in?”
Seeing that he was asking about this, she knew that he had believed in what she had said before. Although she was still upset about what happened, she didn’t want to escalate the matter with him. She then sat down, and told him a simplified update regarding the police’s suspicion toward Yan Xiaobing. At the same time, she also highlighted Yan Xiaobing’s tragic encounter.
“So they finally found the murderer?” Qin Jinhuan was obviously uninterested in Yan Xiaobing’s tragic encounter. His eyes only shone with enthusiasm at the thought of the murderer getting caught.
His attitude had made Mu Yu very unsettled, and she immediately came to Yan Xiaobing’s defense. “He hasn’t confessed to anything. The police have no direct evidence to prove that he is the murderer! So to be precise, he is just a criminal suspect. Please don’t put them in the same basket.”
“The criminal suspects are usually the murderers! Let Rong Jian have him taste some of his own medicine, and he’ll confess to everything.”
As Qin Jinhuan talked, he pulled out his phone, making Mu Yu instantly nervous. She quickly stopped him. “Are you going to let Chief Rong force a confession out of him with torture? This is against…”
“The most important thing is to identify who the murderer is.”
“Come on. Chief Rong has enough experience from handling many cases. If Yan Xiaobing really is the murderer, Chief Rong must have his own way to make Yan Xiaobing plead guilty. Do you think he needs you to tell him what to do?”
“That’s true.” Qin Jinhuan put his phone back into his pocket and sat down cheerfully. “Rong Jian is best at interrogating. This murderer will suffer adequately under him.”
“He is not a murderer! He is a criminal suspect!” There was always a trace of hope in Mu Yu’s heart. She corrected him again, and couldn’t help but sympathize with Yan Xiaobing’s tragic past. “If it wasn’t for the fire five years ago, his kid would be attending kindergarten now. His entire family would have been happy and blissful. Pity him…”
“How is someone who could kill in such cruel ways, worth your sympathy? Are you nuts?’
His words made Mu Yu very displeased so she immediately retorted, “It’s yet to be confirmed that he’s the murderer, but that’s beside the point. Even if he was the culprit, you can’t put all the blame on him. Sun Meilan herself was at fault too! You have no idea how hateful people like Sun Meilan can be, especially the way she spoke. She enjoyed telling lies, especially twisting the truths. She would trash talk to hurt Yan Xiaobing repeatedly. I really don’t understand why your company would hire such an employee.”
The way Mu Yu countered him sentence after sentence upset Qin Jinhuan. He retaliated, “You can’t glorify a bad person into a saint, and you can’t villainize a good person into a demon. Those who are the talk of the town aren’t good people to begin with.”
Seeing that he wasn’t only apathetic with Yan Xiaobing, but was also degrading him with words, Mu Yu was even more irritated. She bantered, “There are news all over the Internet about how terrible you are. Does that mean you’re a bad person too?”
“Ugh, how can a ruthless and evil murderer be compared with someone like me?”
“I was merely staying factual.”
“According to your logic, Sun Meilan had said bad things about Yan Xiaobing. So, she deserved to be killed by him. So many people had said bad stuff about me, do I have to kill all of them too? Won’t this turn the world upside down?”
“This isn’t what I meant! I just think that what Sun Meilan did was way out of line!”
“No matter how out of line she was, it still wasn’t as bad as Yan Xiaobing killing her and cutting her tongue into pieces. Sun Meilan had only agitated him, but he had taken her life! He wouldn’t die from getting agitated, but a life is a life! This kind of person is best to be sentenced to death. Or else, he would continue killing again just from getting a little annoyed.”
Qin Jinhuan, who was ignoring her and taking it lightly, made Mu Yu aggravated. “What do you mean by getting a little annoyed? Would you please speak out only after learning about the situation from Chief Rong?”
“I don’t want to waste my time learning about these. I am only interested in how Rong Jian is bringing the murderer to justice.”
“You are really cold-hearted. The law is no more important than humanity itself.”
Qin Jinhuan snorted. “People like you who always bring your own emotions into doing things, will never become a qualified forensic doctor.”
Mu Yu immediately refuted. “A person who is as cold-hearted and indifferent as you will never become a qualified CEO.”
“Excuse me, but I’m sorry to let you down. The Qing Tian Group is now the leading company in An City. The people in An City would assume an earthquake was happening if all of my employees stomped their feet on the ground at the same time.”
His arrogant look drove her even more furious, to which she said sarcastically, “I will only assume that there are bandits attacking the city.”
“If I were a bandit, then you are my bandit wife.”
Since they weren’t on the same page, she was done speaking another word to him.
Mu Yu really didn’t want to bother with him, and turned to walk out of the room. “The room is getting stuffy. I’m going out to get some air.”
“You’re still going to see him?”
In order to avoid any more misunderstandings, Mu Yu stopped on her heels and turned back to lie on the bed, irritated.
At this time, her phone rang. She hesitated for a moment when she saw it was from Yin Xiaotian. After arranging the words in her head as quickly as she could, she answered the phone and explained to Yin Xiaotian.
Luckily, Yin Xiaotian wasn’t suspicious of it, and didn’t insist on Mu Yu joining them. She even hung up after saying a few words of concern. When Mu Yu heaved a big sigh of relief, she turned to see Qin Jinhuan looking at his laptop. Since she wasn’t allowed to go out, she lay on the bed sulkily and tried to sleep. However, because she had slept for too long during the morning, she didn’t feel the urge to sleep. Taking out her phone, she browsed through her friends’ Wechat posts, and saw that Jiang Wenwen had posted a few lines of despondent quotes. She quickly sent a comforting message to her best friend, as she knew that Jiang Wenwen was feeling miserable.
After chatting with Jiang Wenwen for some time, she learned that the news of Yan Xiaobing as the murderer had spread around the neighbourhood. Besides Gan Wulin and his family, almost everyone took pity on Yan Xiaobing. They had a discussion and even planned to set up a petition for him.
Mu Yu was again touched. Thinking of Qin Jinhuan’s attitude, she became even more upset, and she couldn’t help but glare at him from the corner of her eye.
In the evening, Qin Jinhuan called her for dinner. When she was worrying about bumping into Xin Yihan and the others, she received another call from Yin Xiaotian. After learning that they were already back in An City, and only then she was relieved.
Since they didn’t have much to do in particular when they were outside, Bian Zijun, Cheng Xiang, Weng Yun and Huang Bo joined them for dinner.
At the dinner table, Qin Jinhuan and the others talked about Yan Xiaobing again. The four of them had immediately expressed their thoughts on how Yan Xiaobing deserved justice. This made Mu Yu very unhappy, and she countered their words grumpily. Then, she left the table with the excuse of needing a walk after having a full meal.
The four of them, who didn’t understand the situation, looked at each other. Realizing that he had said something upsetting, Cheng Xiang got up quickly and said loudly, “Boss, I will go and apologize to Mistress…”
“Let her be.”
“But…” Seeing that his Boss wasn’t saying anything more, Cheng Xiang went back to his seat obediently despite having a bad feeling about it.
Meanwhile, Mu Yu walked out of the restaurant angrily, and walked all the way to the golf court of the resort. Thinking of the words ‘malicious murder’ and ‘executed’ mentioned in their conversation, she thought of Yan Xiaobing’s tragic experiences again, and the music that he was about to face. It was as though she could hear Jiang Wenwen’s cries ringing through her ears, and tears couldn’t help but start to spill.
“What’s going on?”
As a familiar and gentle voice rang in her ears, she was in such joy that she speedily lifted her head, only to have her face filled with bafflement.