Rong Jian froze for a moment. “Yes. Who is this?” He replied before thinking too much about it.

“Hahahaha…” Laughter could be heard from the other end of the line.

“Qiqi?” Rong Jian guessed.

“Good guess.”

“It’s the first day of the Lunar New Year. Shouldn’t you wish me lots of luck for the New Year?” he replied.

“Why can’t I wish for all of your wishes to come true instead?” Qiqi asked.

“That would be even better.”

“Rong Jian, will all your wishes come true only when you manage to be with my sister?” the cheeky voice asked on the other end of the call.

“You silly girl. Where are you now?” he asked.

“Ying and I are visiting Aunt and Uncle Rong at their residence.”

“It’s no wonder you’ve been saying all these English terms then. My mother was the one who coerced you into learning them, right?” he replied.

“You can’t say that about your mother, Rong Jian. Aunt’s really nice, and I really like her. She even gave me a red packet yesterday,” Qiqi replied.

“All right, stop speaking English with her. Her English is mostly an inaccurate mixture of English and Mandarin Chinese—it’d harm your grades more than it’d help with it.”

“Okay. Let me get to the serious business, then, Rong Jian. Uncle and Aunt Rong want to know when you’ll be back from your business trip,” Qiqi finally said in a serious tone.

“I’ll be heading home soon,” he replied.

“Are you back in An City already?” she asked.

“Yeah. I’m with Huan right now.”

“Oh, why didn’t you tell me earlier? I could’ve picked you up at the airport. Also, why haven’t you visited my sister since you’re back? It’s the Lunar New Year, but my sister’s all alone in the hospital. I feel so bad for her, yet I can’t go and visit her.” Rong Jian could tell that Qiqi was about to tear up when he heard her voice. “I’ve already called her earlier. I told her that I would visit in the afternoon.” He quickly comforted her.

“I want to see her too, Rong Jian. I really miss her. Ever since Grandma passed away, I’ve never been apart from her for so long,” she pleaded.

Although Rong Jian would always comply with Qiqi’s requests, he didn’t allow himself to get soft-hearted right then. “Not today. You’ll have to wait for a while longer, all right? Your sister’s condition isn’t stable yet, and I don’t want her to get too stressed.”

“Didn’t you promise that you would help Rubing? Have you found a way yet?” Qiqi asked.

Rong Jian felt sweat seeping through his skin. “I’m still working on it. However, you have to believe me—I’ll make sure to keep your sister safe and sound.”

“I do believe you. That’s the only reason why I’ve been putting on a cheerful front; that’s the reason I’ve been pretending that nothing’s wrong. But you haven’t given me any good news after so long, and I’m about to lose it! I can’t pretend for much longer!” she cried.

“I need a little more time. Don’t worry; I just need you to continue making the most out of your days. Trust me—I’ll bring you good news soon!”

“All right.” Feng Qiqi then made a request. “Rong Jian, can you sneakily take a video of my sister and show it to me later? Ying always drags me away from the room whenever I try to sneak a peek at her. I really miss seeing my sister.”

Rong Jian understood why Rong Ying didn’t want Feng Qiqi to see Feng Rubing, so he rejected Qiqi’s request by making up some lame excuse. “Your sister never liked taking pictures. Her mood would definitely be affected if she catches me taking a picture; that would be bad for her recovery.”

“I can’t see my sister, and I can’t even get a video of her…” Feng Qiqi sounded dejected. However, she then came up with a new suggestion. “In that case, why don’t you bring me to visit Grandma Xiao?”

Rong Jian was surprised. “Who’s Grandma Xiao?”

“Grandma Xiao’s an old widow. Rubing said that she reminded her a lot of our deceased grandmother, so she has been caring for her all along. After Rubing was hospitalized and I injured my arm, we haven’t visited Grandma Xiao once. I don’t even know how she’s doing, and I’d like to visit her on behalf of my sister. We used to bring Grandma Xiao home to have reunion dinners with us on the Lunar New Year’s Eve,” she explained.

“I see. Well, why don’t I pick you up after I visit your sister? We can go visit Grandma Xiao then.”

“That’s great! I’ll prepare some gifts for her right now.” Qiqi excitedly ended the call.

“Was that Qiqi?” Mu Yu brought Rong Jian a hot cup of tea.

“Thank you.” Rong Jian took the cup of tea as he explained his conversation with Qiqi. “She said that Rubing has been caring for an old widow previously. Now that Rubing’s hospitalized, Qiqi would like to pay the old lady a visit on behalf of Rubing.”

“That’s really kind of Madam Feng,” Mu Yu commented.

Rong Jian gave her a bitter smile. “Rubing probably gave the old lady extra care because of how the old lady reminded her of her own deceased grandmother.”

All of a sudden, Mu Yu’s gaze lit up. “Chief Rong, do you think Madam Feng might have told Old Madam Xiao about her past? Someone like Madam Feng—an insomniac who’s constantly troubled by nightmares—might have a lot of suppressed emotions within her. I’m sure she wanted a listening ear, but she must have found it hard to open up to anyone. Perhaps her grandmother was her only listener before she passed away. Ever since Madam Feng met Old Madam Xiao and found her similar to her deceased grandmother, it’s highly likely that Madam Feng would project all of her feelings for her grandmother onto Old Madam Xiao.”

“That’s very likely!” Rong Jian’s eyes widened. “I hope she’s actually told Old Madam Xiao something! That would solve so many of our problems. I’ll bring Qiqi over to visit Old Madam Xiao right now.”

“Let me follow you, Chief Rong.” Mu Yu was just as restless as Rong Jian. Qin Jinhuan didn’t say much about it; he simply pointed toward the clock. “It’s past noon. You guys should have some food before leaving.”

Although Rong Jian was anxious to leave, he knew that Qin Jinhuan would feel worried if Mu Yu were to go hungry. Therefore, Rong Jian calmed himself down and patiently sat through a meal with them. He and Mu Yu then left for his parents’ house, where he picked Feng Qiqi up. The three of them eventually arrived at the back alley of Zhenxing Road in North City. The back alley of Zhenxing Road was made up of a stretch of terrace houses that were about to be demolished, and the 76-year-old woman lived in one of the houses.

When they got to Old Madam Xiao’s house, they realized that her windows were all shut and bolted. One of her neighbors told them that Old Madam Xiao’s distant relative had picked her up and brought her somewhere far away to celebrate the Lunar New Year. The neighbor didn’t know where exactly Old Madam Xiao went, nor did she have the contact number of the distant relative that she mentioned.

Not realizing the disappointment in Rong Jian and Mu Yu’s faces, Feng Qiqi was overjoyed to hear that Old Madam Xiao was spending her New Year’s with some family members. At Old Madam Xiao’s front door, Mu Yu lifted her head and looked up to see a tall building that was still in the midst of its construction—Qing Tian Shopping Mall. Li Jianyun’s death had affected the building’s expected date of completion, which meant that Qing Tian Group probably had to pay their merchants a significant sum for breaching their contractual agreements. Mu Yu couldn’t help but worry about Qin Jinhuan when she thought about this.

Rong Jian started to feel helpless once the neighbor told him that Old Madam Xiao might only return after the 15th day of the Lunar New Year. “Let’s go, Yu.” He had no choice but to leave. Mu Yu couldn’t come up with any other ideas either, so they all left together. They first dropped Qiqi off at Rong Jian’s parents’ place before sending Mu Yu home to the Qin manor. Finally, Rong Jian went to Fraternity Hospital to visit Feng Rubing.

When Mu Yu arrived home, Qin Chengxi wasn’t back yet, Qin Xiaozhi was resting in his room, and Qin Jinhuan was nowhere to be seen. However, she didn’t bother making any phone calls; she simply went up to her room and plopped on her bed. Then, Mu Yu started to think about the case.

Feng Qiqi has always treated Feng Rubing like her actual sister. I wonder how Feng Qiqi will feel if she finds out that Feng Rubing is actually her biological mother. What would she think when she finds out that Li Jianyun is her father? I guess she might find it easier to accept the fact that Feng Rubing’s her biological mother. But Li Jianyun as her father… I don’t think anyone would be able to cope when they first learn about the truth. After all, who would be willing to believe that their biological father—who just abruptly appeared in their lives—would be a man who is so immoral and unprincipled? Furthermore, it’d be hard for the child to accept the fact that her mother had conceived her under such circumstances. Learning all about this as a 13 or 14-year-old child is horrible; I think Feng Qiqi would rather believe the lie about her parents dying an early death if she had a choice in this matter. Now that I’m looking at the whole situation, I understand why Feng Rubing chose to sacrifice so much for the sake of Feng Qiqi. Moreover, it seems like Feng Rubing is still unwilling to look back at her past. I feel bad for both the mother and the daughter. Rong Jian and I wouldn’t have persistently looked into Feng Rubing’s past if it weren’t for the fact that she is one of the primary suspects in the case. Rong Jian and I would have rather not known about anything—even if we find out about anything, we’d probably just pretend as if we know nothing. This is the only way to maintain the overall peace in our lives. However, what’s troubling me the most now is that I haven’t found a single, useful clue that ties all three of the murder cases together. We’ve been investigating this case for some time, yet we still can’t seem to prove Feng Rubing’s innocence because we can’t find any evidence. Who exactly is the hidden murderer? Why would the murderer commit these three heinous crimes? What sort of grudge did the murderer hold against these three victims?

Mu Yu couldn’t understand it at all. Upon hearing the notification sound coming from her WeChat, she quickly grabbed her phone. It was Liu Xiaofan—he texted to reply to her New Year’s wishes. ‘My apologies. I only got home late last night, and I overslept this morning. I just saw your New Year’s wishes.’

She knew that he had just got home from Huacheng, so she took the opportunity to ask him about it. ‘No worries. Did you manage to find any new clues?’

‘No. Li Jianyun’s a f*cking nutter. He changed jobs more than he changed women or clothes when he was back in Huacheng, but he suddenly became really serious about his work once he moved to An City. By the way, you’re close to President Xin, right? Xin Yihan?’

Mu Yu felt her heart skipping a beat when Liu Xiaofan suddenly mentioned Xin Yihan’s name. ‘What about him?’ Mu Yu was worried that the case might have something to do with him.

‘Don’t worry; it’s nothing. I just dropped by Yong Yi Industry’s office after I found out that Li Jianyun used to work there, and President Xin took me around the place personally. He was extremely friendly, and he even asked me about you. The company had been handing out some New Year gifts to their upper management when I was there; President Xin gave me one and told me to pass one each to you and Rong Jian. I completely forgot about this because I was so occupied with the trip to Huacheng. I’ll bring it over to you when we’re back at work.’

Mu Yu heaved a sigh of relief. ‘Oh. It’s fine—you can keep it.’

‘That won’t do. However, I can’t meet you now; I’ll talk to you when we get back to work. I’m still half-asleep now so I’ll go back to bed. I’ll talk to you soon,’ he replied.

‘All right. Bye.’ Mu Yu lowered her phone. She felt rather guilty as she hadn’t visited Yin Xiaotian when she fell ill previously. Since it’s still early and Jinhuan isn’t home yet, maybe I should just leave a note for Jinhuan and tell him that I’m going over to visit Yin Xiaotian. She didn’t mention anything about Xin Yihan just to be safe.

Mu Yu picked out a few herbs and fruits from the pantry before she got Huang Bo to drive her over to Xin Yihan’s place at the Gold Academy Residence in North City. Xin Yihan’s maid greeted her at the doors and informed her that both Xin Yihan and Yin Xiaotian weren’t home. Mu Yu gave them a call to learn that they were on their way back, so she let herself in and waited for them in their house.

The villa they lived in was only purchased after Xin Yihan and Yin Xiaotian got married. They had only been married for six months, so there were still hints of their wedding decorations and gifts that were scattered all over the house. Mu Yu had visited twice in the past, but she never stayed for too long as she was afraid that someone might notice how bitter she felt when she saw the place.

After the maid prepared some tea and snacks for Mu Yu, she then headed back to continue with her work in the kitchen. Mu Yu was left alone in the large living hall. She stood up and looked around the place as she silently mourned her past.

Xin Yihan was an extremely persistent and hardworking man. He gave his everything in his work; all of his career’s success could be attributed to the amount of effort that he put into his job. He was a serious man overall, and he seldom engaged in conversations with other women. Being the only woman that he had spoken to and cared about the most, Mu Yu used to happily assume that she would be the only possible candidate for being his wife. She hadn’t expected Yin Xiaotian to show up along the way; she hadn’t expected Yin Xiaotian to abruptly snatch the title of Mrs. Xin away from her.

Yet, Mu Yu had never felt any hatred or jealousy toward Yin Xiaotian. Both Yin Xiaotian and Xin Yihan loved and cared for Mu Yu like she was their younger sister. Furthermore, Yin Xiaotian was a gentle, thoughtful and kind woman. When Mu Yu was with Xin Yihan in the past, he would always be the one that cared for her; now that he was with Yin Xiaotian, Yin Xiaotian was the one who provided him with unconditional love and care. Just this very fact itself made it evident that Xin Yihan would be happier with Yin Xiaotian. It also explained why—despite her loss and dissatisfaction—Mu Yu placed her full trust in Yin Xiaotian. It allowed Mu Yu to sincerely wish for their happiness. After all, nothing mattered more to her than Xin Yihan’s happiness.

Mu Yu walked toward Xin Yihan’s study and glanced at all the loving, happy pictures of them that were placed on the desk. She zoned out for a moment and only turned around to sit on Xin Yihan’s office chair when she felt her legs getting sore.

“Ah!” She initially wanted to rest her back against the chair, but she found herself losing her balance as the chair suddenly tilted backward. She frantically grabbed onto the armrests to stable herself, but she was too late—her body fell backward along with the chair as her legs flailed in front of her. Right then, she heard a loud swoosh. To her surprise, the bookshelf in front of her had moved itself aside to reveal a tiny entrance.

A secret room?! Mu Yu was shocked.