“A shocking video?” Mu Yu was so startled that she nearly dropped her phone.

“That’s right. If you want to see it, come to Rising Sun Plaza. I’ll be waiting for you by the eastern entrance.”

The caller was utilizing a voice changer; Mu Yu was unable to discern whether the caller was a man or a woman, but the other’s mysteriousness had already stirred her wariness. Hence, she immediately questioned the caller and asked, “Who are you? Why do you want me to see this? What exactly are you planning?”

The caller paused for a moment before bursting into chuckles. “It turns out that you already know about Young Master Qin’s dirty deeds with Yin Anran. Still, that’s no problem. This has no effect on my deal with you. Me? I just want a spot of money.” At that, the caller paused for a bit and seemingly waited for Mu Yu’s response. When there was no sound from her, the caller finally spoke again. “Since you’re reluctant to part with your money, I’ll get the paparazzi to pay on your behalf then. Bye.”

“Hold on! Wait!” Mu Yu frantically stopped the caller. “How much do you want? How do you want the deal to be sealed?”

The caller’s confidence made her uncertain of the video’s existence, but she knew that if there was such a video, it could not be leaked to others. If the caller was lying about the video, then she wanted to know who was spiting Qin Jinhuan in the shadows.

The caller laughed. “Get 20,000 worth of cash ready. Be at the eastern entrance of Rising Sun Plaza in 30 minutes. Come alone; if you’re late or tell the police, get ready to see that video online.”

With that, the mystery caller hung up.

Mu Yu looked at the clock and realized it was currently 10:10AM. Walking to the entrance of the neighborhood from her home would take four or five minutes if she jogged her way over, and it would also take at least 20 minutes or so for her to take a taxi to Rising Sun Plaza without being stuck in traffic. Mu Yu was deeply worried that she wouldn’t make it, and she had no more time to think things over. She shot out of bed and changed her clothes without even bothering to brush her teeth or wash her face. She then tied her hair up into a messy ponytail, grabbed her bag, and immediately ran out of the room while thinking up excuses for her grandfather and Huang Bo—whom Qin Jinhuan had asked to be her personal chauffeur—as she made her mad dash out.

When she went downstairs, she did not see Qin Xiaozhi or Qin Chengxi at all; only Li Xianglan was there to greet her, and the latter told Mu Yu that breakfast was about to be served. Since Mu Yu had no time to explain, she forced herself to act normal and said that she would have breakfast outside before hastily walking out of the house. She didn’t see Huang Bo either when she got out. Mu Yu immediately quickened her footsteps and charged off, but she hadn’t expected to hear the honking of a car horn ten steps into her journey. She turned around to see that Huang Bo had come chasing after her in his car; it turned out that prior to his business trip, Qin Jinhuan had already asked Huang Bo to send her to and fro from work every day. Since Huang Bo had no idea when she would wake up for work, he had been waiting there all this while.

Mu Yu hesitated for a moment, but she got into the car anyway.

Although it was daytime, the part of town where Rising Sun Plaza was located was abuzz with activity. Still, Mu Yu felt uneasy when she thought about meeting someone who clearly had evil intentions by herself. Additionally, having Huang Bo drive her to her destination would mean that she would at least arrive five or six minutes earlier than expected. She decided to get out of the car beforehand and observe her surroundings, and she would also get Huang Bo to keep a close eye on her from a discreet spot to ensure her safety.

Huang Bo initially assumed that she was going to the police station for work, so he started the car without asking her. When he found out that she was heading to Rising Sun Plaza, he was surprised. He finally voiced his question and asked, “Are you going shopping?”

“Yes,” Mu Yu answered. “When we get there, find a parking spot near Second East Stop to drop me off. Tail me from behind, but don’t get too close.”

“Which mall are you planning to go to? All the malls there have underground car parks.”

“I’ll just get off at Second East Stop first.”

“All right.” Huang Bo didn’t press any further, only knowing that she hadn’t decided on where to shop first. Then, he continued to drive to the plaza.

Halfway there, Mu Yu lifted an arm to check her watch; seeing that there weren’t many cars on the road, Mu Yu urged him to drive faster.

Huang Bo had always liked some speed when he was driving, so when he heard her say that, he answered with an ‘Okay’ and immediately stepped on the gas.

Mu Yu dully looked at the greenery zooming past the window, her heart not liking this at all.

She had always suspected that there was something going on between Qin Jinhuan and Yin Anran, just like how Qin Jinhuan suspected her of still having feelings for Xin Yihan. However, she chose to believe him in the end because of the recent events. After all, he trusted her feelings for him, and she also intended to spend the rest of her days with him until their hair was white from age. She never expected that only a few days into their peaceful, mutually trusting life together, someone would tell her that there was a shocking video of Qin Jinhuan and Yin Anran!

Mu Yu didn’t want to believe it, but she had to admit that she was currently filled to the brim with doubt; she couldn’t help but believe there really was such a video, because there was no smoke without fire. After all, Qin Jinhuan and Yin Anran had been way too close back then. Nonetheless, she was still willing to believe Qin Jinhuan’s current sincerity toward her—perhaps that video was from way back before he met her.

If there was such a video, could she still face her feelings for him?

Mu Yu had no idea; she only knew that her heart was heavy and suffocated. She also knew that the video could not be leaked to others if he was really in it.

20,000 in cash wasn’t a lot to her, though—it was merely the same amount of allowance Qin Jinhuan gave her.

Mu Yu had adopted a habit of being frugal as a young child due to her parents’ influence, and her purse never had more than five hundred worth of cash; sometimes, she would only have a few tenners in it. There was one time when she saw a few high school students putting on a charity performance for disabled people when she was out on a stroll with Qin Jinhuan. Mu Yu had been moved and was about to donate some money, but she soon realized that she only had a little over a hundred in her purse when she cracked it open. She had felt awkward about it then, but there weren’t any other avenues for her to donate to them either. Once they reached home, Qin Jinhuan took out 20,000 of cash from his safe and placed it in her purse. He would also frequently check her wallet after that; whenever he realized that she was running low on money, he would replenish it.

This initially warmed Mu Yu’s heart, but her heart clenched uncomfortably at the thought of using the allowance that he had given her in exchange for a video of him during a night of passion with another woman.

The video that the caller was talking about might be fake—they probably just want to scam me out of 20,000 bucks, Mu Yu consoled herself with those thoughts.

20,000 bucks was pocket change for her, never mind the Qin Family. If the mystery caller really had such a video on hand, they would’ve asked for 200,000 at the very least. Still, she had her own doubts; she didn’t dare to drop her guard either, for she was afraid that Qin Jinhuan’s reputation would be in tatters if that video actually existed and was spread online. Even if she didn’t stay with him in the future, Mu Yu didn’t want Qin Jinhuan to shoulder such a bad reputation. After all, she did love him once.

Truth be told, Mu Yu hoped that the caller only wanted to scam her out of that 20,000 bucks. Tossing away that amount of money in exchange for peace of mind was a worthwhile deal.

When Huang Bo stopped at a red light, he turned his head to ask for her opinion. “Young Mistress, the Second East Stop is right after this turn. There’s a paid parking lot to its right, but you’ll still need to walk about 700 or 800 meters to reach the shops at the plaza. What would you prefer—”

Mu Yu looked at her watch and saw that there were still eight minutes before the appointed time. There was ample time for her, so she promptly answered, “Just stop the car there. I’ll walk on over.”

“All right.” Huang Bo immediately drove off when the traffic light turned green.

“Huang Bo.”

“Yes, Young Mistress?” Huang Bo quickly glanced at Mu Yu through his rearview mirror and waited for her to continue.

“I want to ask you,” Mu Yu said hesitantly. “Is there… anything between Huan and Yin Anran?”

Out of her own doubts, she decided to get answers from Huang Bo.

“Huh?!” Huang Bo hadn’t expected her to abruptly ask this. After somewhat gathering himself again, he denied it with absolute certainty. “The boss took care of Yin Anran purely because of her sister’s last wish, and there really isn’t anything else between them. Don’t listen to other people wagging their tongues.”

“In that case, has Huan ever stayed the night at her place?”

“Uh… no.”

Although it was just a moment of hesitation, Mu Yu still sensed the beat in Huang Bo’s words, and she instantly went rigid.

If Qin Jinhuan had actually stayed the night at Yin Anran’s house before, there was was a possibility that the sex tape was real.

If that video existed, could she accept it? Could she accept the lies that he once told her? Could she love him without prejudice?

Maybe… not, a voice rang in her head as she thought to herself inwardly.

She couldn’t even accept his close relationship with Yin Anran back then, so how could Mu Yu accept his ‘intimacy’ with her?

I really, really hope that there’s nothing between them!

Mu Yu just hoped that it was some broke person trying to scam her out of her money.

Yet, she couldn’t stop the headache coming on and the dizziness she felt. A chill ran through her body.

“Young Mistress, are you all right?” Huang Bo had already realized his slip-up. By then, he was also anxious since he noticed that something was wrong with Mu Yu’s expression.

“I’m fine.” Seeing that the car had already stopped in the parking lot, she got out of the car.

“Young Mistress…”

“Hurry up and park the car. I want to go shopping.”

“Oh, then you—”

Mu Yu—as pale as she was—ignored him and frantically made a break for the exit of the car park. She ran down the path protected by a shade of trees to reach Rising Sun Plaza’s eastern entrance, for there were only five minutes left before the agreed time.

There were no shops around the east of the plaza, so there weren’t as many people walking around here. Mu Yu pressed on with quick steps, and her eyes flickered over to the eastern entrance.

It was currently past ten in the morning; due to the cloudy weather, it wasn’t all that warm. In fact, it was a little chilly, so there weren’t many people at the plaza. Not only that, the number of people at the eastern entrance could be counted on one hand.

She had no idea which of them was the mystery caller.

After walking to the other side of the road leading to the eastern entrance, Mu Yu looked up in panic while she dialed the mystery caller’s number with her phone. However, the caller quickly hung up on her before sending a text message.

‘I’m at the statue in the plaza. Hurry over.’

She immediately craned her neck to peer at the statue in the middle of the plaza; indeed, there was someone standing at the foot of said statue. Since she felt wary about it, she didn’t even dare to twist her head back to look at Huang Bo. Instead, she looked both ways before crossing the road; she also used the opportunity to quickly look around and saw Huang Bo loitering in a spot about 20, 30 meters away from where she was. It was only then did Mu Yu cross the road with quick steps.

Right then, the car not far to her left suddenly sped up—it had been crawling along the road at a snail’s pace all this while.

Mu Yu had long since noticed that car, and she reflexively took a few steps back to let the car pass. She initially thought that the car would turn left and pass her, but much to her surprise, the car turned right and charged toward her instead.

“Ah!”

“Watch out, Young Mistress!”

She frantically backed away repeatedly, but she wasn’t able to escape in the end. She was sent flying from the impact, and her consciousness slipped away in an instant.