“Ouch!”

When Qin Jinhuan reflexively reached out to grab her, he recognized the female voice. “Anran?”

“Jinhuan, it’s me!” Yin Anran clutched at his sleeve and said in panic.

“What happened?”

“Officer Liu just met with me to ask about Wanqing’s ring! That’s when I…”

“I’m going to visit Yu at the hospital,” he coolly interrupted and headed out.

“Hey! Jinhuan! Jin—” Upon seeing Bian Zijun walking out of the office, she decided to block him since she failed to stop Qin Jinhuan. “It turns out that Dong Wanqing’s ring was not…”

When she realized that Bian Zijun was as calm as Qin Jinhuan, she immediately understood the hint and asked them, “Did you both already know about the ring?”

Bian Zijun gave her a light nod before he hurried after Qin Jinhuan, leaving Yin Anran staring at his back with a conflicted gaze.

Only Bian Zijun and Qin Jinhuan were taking the private elevator. Once the doors slid shut, Bian Zijun asked him softly, “Boss, how do we deal with Miss Yin?”

“Let’s leave her alone for now.”

“Do we need to send someone to keep an eye on her?”

Upon hearing that, Qin Jinhuan flashed a faint smile. “At this juncture, I don’t think anyone would dare to make a move.”

“That’s true.” Bian Zijun gave it some thought and inquired, “How do you plan to deal with her in the future?”

“I will think about that once we have wrapped up this investigation. Just focus on Dong Wanqing’s case for now.”

“Yes, I have been keeping a close eye on the case.”

“Okay.” Qin Jinhuan fell into a silence after that and he stared vacantly at the elevator doors.

The elevator came to a stop at floor one of the basement. When the doors slid open, the duo were greeted by the sight of Weng Yun standing beside a car. He held the car door open and dutifully waited for the two. Qin Jinhuan gave him a slight nod of greeting when he entered the car and Bian Zijun followed suit. After that, Weng Yun closed the doors and he quickly drove the car out of the parking basement.

When they arrived at Fraternity Hospital, they saw Qi Han waiting for them at the main entrance with an insulated food flask in his hand. Qin Jinhuan left the car and received the food flask from him before heading straight to the inpatient department. At first, he thought that Mu Yu’s parents would be there to take care of her, but he entered the room only to find Feng Rubing there. Still, he was not surprised to see her because she was warded in the room next door and as Mu Yu’s colleague, she would want to pay Mu Yu a visit.

“Huan!” Mu Yu sat up on the bed and beckoned Qi Jinhuan over in agitation. “What happened to Chief Rong? He hasn’t been answering our calls!”

“Is that so? Perhaps he’s occupied with something else,” he suggested nonchalantly while opening the flask to pour the soup into a bowl for her.

“That doesn’t make sense!” Feng Rubing sounded worried. “He told me that he’d be at the hospital to handle the procedure for my discharge today. It’s almost late afternoon now, but I can’t see him anywhere or get in touch with him. Could something have happened to him?”

“What could happen to a police chief in broad daylight? I bet he must have received an urgent mission and was in an inconvenient situation to take your call.” At this stage, he was done pouring the soup into a bowl and looked at Mu Yu, telling her, “Grandpa requested Aunty Lan to make you some chicken soup. Drink it while it’s hot.”

Mu Yu shot Qin Jinhuan a warning look to stop him from feeding her in front of Feng Rubing. “I made a call to Director Gu, but he told me he didn’t dispatch Chief Rong on any mission! He even confessed that he was unaware of Chief Rong’s absence at work.”

“What about Liu Xiaofan? Did he report to work today?”

“Yes! He clocked in at work. I called him as well, but he doesn’t know anything about Chief Rong!” Mu Yu looked worried when she recalled her frantic attempts to get hold of her superior. “Since Officer Liu is Chief Rong’s close partner, the fact that he had no idea what happened to Chief Rong is alarming! Something serious must have happened. Huan, please think of a way to find Chief Rong now.”

“Yes, that’s true. Today’s the first day he has vanished like this.” Feng Rubing’s face scrunched up in grave concern.

In contrast, a calm Qin Jinhuan blew on the bowl of hot chicken soup and he stole a look at Feng Rubing before saying, “Maybe he’s in a bad mood, hiding in a corner and drinking his sorrows away.”

Mu Yu immediately understood the underlying statement in his words and she gave Feng Rubing a questioning look.

Feng Rubing was quick-witted and understood what they were implying before she instantly denied, “I did not argue with him in the past two days! When he left my room yesterday, he seemed to be in a good mood and promised to come in today to handle my hospital discharge procedure. He even reminded me not to have breakfast at the hospital cafeteria and wait for him to bring breakfast. I have been waiting for him at my window since the morning. I even…”

Realizing that the way she spoke was close to describing Chief Rong, she paused and blushed for a while. Mu Yu was surprised by her shy demeanor and she felt happy for Rong Jian.

Meanwhile, Qin Jinhuan seemed to be ignorant of the situation and he signaled Mu Yu to drink the soup. Soon, he threw out a weird question, “Since the two of you are doing well as a couple, there is no reason for him to drink his sorrows away. Have you asked someone else to check on him at his place?”

When he spoke of the two as a couple, Feng Rubing blushed even deeper and was too embarrassed to speak. Mu Yu was the one who answered on her behalf, “I called Officer Liu to ask him about Chief Rong. He promised to head to Chief Rong’s place to check on him. I wonder if he’s already there. Sigh. Huan, if Chief Rong is not at home, where could he be? He—”

She was interrupted mid-sentence by her ringing phone on the table. It was a call from Liu Xiaofan, which she answered in no time. “Officer Liu, did you find—”

“Chief Rong is sleeping at home!”

“What? Sleeping?”

Mu Yu was shocked to learn about the truth, but Feng Rubing appeared to be more stunned because she shot up from her seat. She wanted to take the phone from Mu Yu to ask questions. In the heat of the moment, she forgot about her injured leg and felt a jolt of pain. While she winced, she quickly lost her balance.

“Hey! Look out!” Mu Yu exclaimed, but Qin Jinhuan had already thrown the bowl of soup aside to grab Feng Rubing, who was falling. A loud crash was heard when the bowl landed on the floor and shattered into pieces.

On the other end of the call, Liu Xiaofan noticed the commotion and worriedly asked whether everything was alright. After Qin Jinhuan had saved Feng Rubing from falling, Mu Yu turned to her phone and explained, “Madam Feng almost fell down, but she’s fine now. How about Chief Rong…”

From the corner of her eye, she noticed Qin Jinhuan gesturing at her. She blanked out for a second before leaning forward to hand her phone to Feng Rubing. Feng Rubing took the phone and immediately fired her questions, “Why is he sleeping in the late afternoon? Is he sick? Touch his forehead for me. Check if he’s running a fever. If he is, you’d better send him to—”

“He’s not sick. He’s just drunk.”

“Drunk? Why did he drink so much? Is it serious? Is he fine?”

Feng Rubing was shocked to find Rong Jian drunk again. The mention of his drunk episodes immediately brought to mind the incident from last time, when he became stupidly drunk after she turned him down.

Since Feng Rubing had persuaded herself to accept his love, why would he choose to get drunk at this time? He was uncontactable since morning, so he must have been in a foul mood. Normally, he rarely drank alcohol, not to mention drinking himself to oblivion.

Could it be that… The thought made her pale. Her ears were buzzing and her mind went blank to the point that she could not hear anything from Liu Xiaofan on the phone.

“Madam Feng? What’s wrong?” Mu Yu sensed that something was wrong by looking at Feng Rubing’s expression and shot an alarmed look at Qin Jinhuan. “Huan, what do we—”

Qin Jinhuan instantly snatched the phone from Feng Rubing and turned on the loudspeaker. They heard Liu Xiaofan continuously calling for her from the other end. He promptly interrupted Liu Xiaofan and repeated the question, “How’s Rong Jian now?”

“Hello, Young Master Qin.” Liu Xiaofan sounded alert, cautious and extremely respectful. “Don’t worry, Chief Rong is fine; he’s only drunk. He’s still sleeping, but he’ll be okay once he recovers from the hangover.”

“Okay, do you know why he drank so much?”

“What happened last night was…” Liu Xiaofan patiently went into the details. “Last night, a couple of us were bored and hung out over supper. Since Doctor Feng is about to be discharged and she has been socializing well with Chief Rong lately, he was happy about the situation and had too much to drink. That was how he got drunk. We had to send him home, but it was too late at that time and it was a bother to head home, so we decided to stay over at his place. In the morning, we woke up to find him still sleeping. Interrogating Dong Wanqing was not a difficult task, so we figured we could leave Chief Rong at home and go to work. The work kept us busy until late afternoon. Before that, I tried to call him a few times but he did not answer. We decided to grab some food and check on him again; our last meal was breakfast as we were all starved. Right when we dug in, I received Doctor Mu’s call, asking about Chief Rong. I had an odd feeling, but I was rather clueless, so I didn’t tell her anything so as not to worry her. With an empty stomach, I rushed over to Chief Rong’s place to find him safe and sound. That was when I returned Doctor Mu’s call to update her.”

“Alright. Take good care of him. A hangover is bad for the body.” Just when Qin Jinhuan was about to hang up, Feng Rubing suddenly reached out to grab his hand and she yelled into the phone, “The reason why he had too much to drink last night was not only because of happiness. Am I right?”

Sensing the tremor in Feng Rubing’s voice, Liu Xiaofan expressed his shock. “If the reason is not due to happiness, then what could it be?”

“Could he have gotten drunk because…” She realized that there was no need to express her insecurity aloud and instead kept her mouth shut as she released Qin Jinhuan’s hand with an upset look.

When he hung up, Mu Yu started consoling Feng Rubing because she could tell what was going on in Feng Rubing’s mind. “Madam Feng, don’t overthink it. Chief Rong is definitely not the type to abandon others. He rarely drinks and the reason why he drank last night was likely because he was happy for you. As for why he became drunk, it must have been the result of peer pressure from Officer Liu and the others. You know Officer Liu—he’s just a troublemaker.”

Feng Rubing did not reply and only forced a smile at Mu Yu, but it turned out to be an ugly one. Looking at her feet, Feng Rubing slowly turned around and dragged herself out of the room.

“Hey! Madam Feng! Don’t—” Mu Yu suddenly stopped speaking after seeing Qin Jinhuan’s gesture. When Feng Rubing left the room, she gave him an astonished look. “Why did you wave at me just now?”

He was in the middle of getting her another bowl of soup and he explained, “Her worries can only be resolved by the source of her issues—Rong Jian himself. As an outsider, you are only wasting your time by trying to advise her. That’s why you should keep quiet and stay out of their issue.”

Mu Yu agreed with his reasoning and nodded, but she soon wore a concerned look. “Why would Chief Rong lose his sanity last night? Now that Madam Feng has misunderstood him, let’s see how he’s going to explain himself.”

“Things will eventually be resolved. Quit worrying about others and focus on your health. Here, open your mouth and drink the soup.”

Mu Yu was about to open her mouth, but the thought of Liu Xiaofan’s words prompted her to grab Qin Jinhuan’s hand. She wanted to ask Qin Jinhuan more about Dong Wanqing’s case but was interrupted by a knock on the door. Feeling surprised, she turned to check out the visitor. When she recognized the visitor’s identity, she pushed Qin Jinhuan away with uncontained joy and almost hopped off her bed to greet the guest.