Qin Jinhuan didn’t come back until the next afternoon. When she saw him coming back, Mu Yu, who had gotten anxious while waiting, got up and asked him about Qin Chengxi’s condition.

“Xi is fine,” Qin Jinhuan replied in a seemingly casual manner as he helped her lie down.

“Did you agree to Qin Wentao’s demands, or did you solve the problem using other means?”

“Grandpa took care of this matter, and I merely sent Xi to the Shang Family.”

Mu Yu was shocked. “Did you tell Grandpa about this?!”

“Qin Wentao is his son, so it’s only natural for him to solve the issue.”

“But with Grandpa’s health, how could he possibly take it? Is he fine for now?”

“He’s totally fine. What did you eat for lunch, and how much did you eat?”

“Didn’t Qin Wentao threaten Grandpa using Xi’s life?”

Qin Jinhuan sneered at once. “Do you think Grandpa would’ve given him the money if he didn’t threaten him with Xi’s life?”

Mu Yu got anxious at once and was extremely distrustful of how Qin Jinhuan had played down the situation previously. “Grandpa is in poor health. Not only that, Qin Wentao and Xi are the ones he cares about the most. How could he not be heartbroken to hear his own son threatening him with his granddaughter’s life? How could he possibly be fine?”

“I’m not lying to you, though. He’s perfectly fine at home right now.”

“Grandpa appears fine only on the surface at most. After all, he’s so concerned about his reputation; it’s already an embarrassing disgrace to him that his son didn’t turn up the way he wanted, so he definitely wouldn’t have grief and disappointment written on his face. He must be swallowing his tears with a broken heart right now! You’ve been very thoughtless this time, for you didn’t even consider Grandpa’s feelings at all! Hurry up and tell Lei Zhi to check on Grandpa’s condition and stay by his side 24/7!”

“That won’t be necessary. Lei Zhi just did a physical examination on him the day before yesterday, and all the indicators were normal. In fact, Grandpa is much healthier than you think he is.”

At once, Mu Yu became a little angry. “Don’t forget that Grandpa is an old man! Your response is typical of someone who forgets the pain when his wound has healed! What if…” Since she didn’t want to say anything that would bring bad luck, she worded it differently and spoke furiously. “Grandpa is so old. In any case, it’s not a bad thing to be more careful!”

Qin Jinhuan poured her a glass of water and handed it to the woman with a smile. At the same time, he explained patiently, “I was already very careful, but you know as well that Grandpa would eventually learn of this matter. Otherwise, this matter will not be solved at all. After all, the final decision is his.”

“B-But you can—”

“Are you saying that I should’ve asked Grandpa to transfer some of the properties under my name to Qin Wentao like what Dong Yueyun has suggested?”

“No, I mean that you could’ve fooled Qin Wentao with a fake transfer agreement to save Xi without startling Grandpa.” Even though Mu Yu didn’t know how many properties Qin Wentao had demanded from Qin Jinhuan, she knew that these properties probably amounted to a huge sum. Based on what she knew about him, he wouldn’t be willing to give Qin Wentao even a dime, let alone such a huge sum of money.

Qin Jinhuan shook his head with a chuckle. “You have underestimated Qin Wentao and Dong Yueyun’s capabilities. They didn’t even hesitate to threaten us using Xi to achieve their goal; moreover, they even put up such a ruse in front of us. They were determined to get what they wanted, so how could they be taken in easily?”

Mu Yu thought what Qin Jinhuan said made sense. Still, she felt depressed. “No matter what, I think it’s somewhat improper for you to let Grandpa take care of this matter directly. What if Grandpa—”

“It’s been proven that there’s no eventuality. If you still don’t believe me, you can have a video chat with Grandpa when he wakes up from his afternoon nap. Won’t everything be clear by then? All right, let’s stop obsessing about this. Tell me what you ate for lunch. Do you still have a good appetite?”

“I’m fine, and I finished half of the nutritious meal that Aunty Lan prepared. How is Xi now? Was she traumatized?”

“Qin Wentao was merely play-acting in the first place. Moreover, Grandpa agreed to his demand in time, so how could he really do anything to Xi?”

When Mu Yu recalled the subject of their conversation, she asked nervously at once, “Have you really given the properties under your name to Qin Wentao?” If this is indeed the case, Huan’s probably the one who feels most frustrated, yet I didn’t comfort him. Instead, I reproached him just now, which is really…

“Grandpa made some adjustments to the properties under his name and let Qin Wentao take the share he was entitled to according to the property distribution law.”

“What your mom left for you isn’t included among them, right?”

“He has no right to get a share of that.”

“Oh, that’s great.” Only then did Mu Yu sigh with relief. The guilt she felt just now eased somewhat, but she was a little indignant when it occurred to her that Qin Xiaozhi might be very sad. “How could they have the cheek to meet Grandpa again after using such despicable means to get a share of the Qin Family’s properties?”

“They’ll never have the opportunity to meet Grandpa again.”

“Huh?!” Mu Yu was instantly scared out of her wits. “D-Did you…”

Qin Jinhuan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as he held her in his arms and explained, “How could I have the nerve to break the law as I please with you being a big warning sign here?”

“Then why did you say they’ll never have the opportunity to meet Grandpa again?”

“They voluntarily signed an agreement drafted by Grandpa himself before taking this portion of the family’s possessions. They’ve agreed to sever all ties with the Qin Family and have nothing to do with us from now on. Also, they will leave An City immediately and never step into the city again.”

“Does the term ‘the Qin Family’ mean you or—”

“Everyone in the Qin Family, including both Xi and Grandpa himself.”

“What? How could they cast aside kinship for money?” Mu Yu asked. However, as soon as she finished asking the question, she realized that her question was rather stupid. She immediately fell silent and looked at Qin Jinhuan with a look of resignation and sympathy in her eyes.

The latter looked unconcerned, though. “It’s good to settle the matter this way, and Grandpa doesn’t have to worry about them anymore. This is good both for Xi and me.”

“Yeah.” Mu Yu let out a sigh with a look of regret. “This will stop them from pointing fingers at Xi all the time—both overtly and covertly—and coveting the properties under your name. Have they left by now?”

“Yeah, they have. Qi Han sent them aboard the plane,” Qin Jinhuan replied with a smile before changing the subject. “It’s time for your noontime rest, so lie down for a while.” He didn’t want to tell Mu Yu how Qin Wentao and Dong Yueyun had played dirty in the company behind his back, nor did he want to tell her that he had wanted to kick them out of the company long ago. Of course, he also wouldn’t tell her the outcome today was exactly what he had wished for.

Qin Jinhuan hated Qin Wentao and Dong Yueyun’s guts after his mother passed away. He had thought of killing them more than a thousand times, so it was already too soft-hearted for him to let them leave An City in such a way right now. Indeed, he had spent a great deal of time and effort to convince himself to do so. In truth, only he knew that his indifference toward Qin Xiaozhi was only written on his face over so many years. If it hadn’t been for Qin Xiaozhi and Qin Chengxi, he would’ve dealt with the pair of adulterers who caused his mother’s premature death a long time ago. Finally, I no longer have to see the disgusting pair of adulterers. Everything is over, thought Qin Jinhuan as he smiled to himself.

Meanwhile, Mu Yu didn’t notice the look on Qin Jinhuan’s face as he helped her lie down. Instead, she inwardly condemned Qin Wentao and Dong Yueyun’s shameless conduct in a sulky mood.

“Just rest like a good girl. I have an important meeting at 3.00PM, so I’ll keep you company again when the meeting is over.”

“Will it take a long time? Would you like me to wait for you to have dinner together?”

“The meeting might be long since there are quite a lot of matters to be discussed during today’s meeting. If I’m not here by 6.30PM, you can help yourself to dinner first.”

“Okay.”

Qin Jinhuan raised his arm and looked at his watch. Seeing that it was almost 2.00PM, he got up. “I still need to prepare something, so I have to leave first. Remember to have a good rest, take your medicine on time, and wait for me to come back.”

Mu Yu nodded as she lay on the bed. After watching him leave, she turned to stare blankly at the ceiling.

Qin Wentao didn’t hesitate to abandon his old father, who loved him so much, and his only biological daughter for the sake of his own interests. Naturally, this showed that he was no less cold-blooded toward his family than Li Jianyun was. As Mu Yu thought of her parents, who had spoiled her throughout despite their poverty, she suddenly thought that Qin Chengxi and Qin Jinhuan were very pitiful even though they were born and brought up in a wealthy family. Luckily, they still had someone like Qin Xiaozhi to depend on for support. Otherwise, no one would’ve known what fate would be awaiting them. Having watched many imperial and family dramas, she thought that dog-eat-dog situations only occurred between siblings, but she didn’t expect that fights between a father and his children were by no means inferior. With that, she couldn’t help but let out a long sigh.

At this moment, a sense of fear surged up inexplicably within her. Even if she and Qin Jinhuan could treat their children with a forgiving and loving heart, there was no guarantee that their children wouldn’t fight to the bitter end and mercilessly tear kinships apart for the sake of their family’s possessions like how TV dramas usually portrayed. She was the only daughter of her family, so she had yearned for the company of siblings since she was a child and gladly called Xin Yihan and Yin Xiaotian affectionately by their first names. Ever since she officially got together with Qin Jinhuan, she had entertained the idea of bearing him several children even if Qin Xiaozhi and her parents didn’t urge her to do so. However, she backed out of this idea for the first time right now. Perhaps I can only…

Just then, a knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. She thought that a medical staff had entered, so she was surprised when she noticed it was Rong Jian and Feng Rubing instead. “Hi, Chief Rong and Madam Feng! What brings you two here?” She happily sat up.

“Be careful, Yu! Don’t hurt your wound!” Rong Jian reminded Mu Yu with his hand tightly holding Feng Rubing, who had difficulty walking.

“I’m fine.” Seeing how Feng Rubing naturally let Rong Jian support her, Mu Yu realized that they had made it up. Then, she shouted delightedly toward the outside, “Come in and pour a glass of water, Cheng Xiang!”

“No, it’s not necessary!” Rong Jian yelled loudly in response before turning to look at Mu Yu. “We aren’t outsiders, so you don’t have to be so polite, Yu. Actually, Rubing and I are here to discuss something with you.”

“Discuss something? What is it?” Mu Yu realized what Rong Jian meant. “Do you mean the three vicious murders?”

Rong Jian nodded. “It’s been confirmed that Rubing has nothing to do with Li Jianyun’s case. Given what the three cases have in common, we can combine all three and look into them together. For now, we haven’t found Gan Wulin and his wife, so we can’t be sure whether Sun Meilan had been to Huacheng a few years ago. Even though Li Jianyun had been there, we didn’t find any dealings between him and Zhao Yongli at Huacheng through our interviews. You previously guessed that the murderer probably had set the three of them as their target because there was a connection between them and the murderer. If your guess is correct, I don’t think that the connection is Huacheng. It could be An City instead, so I think we should focus our investigation back here.”

“It’s not like we didn’t investigate the case here at An City, though. We found nothing, didn’t we?”

Mu Yu’s reply discouraged Rong Jian somewhat. “We must have missed some details, and it’s making us seem passive. Two months have passed since the third murder, so I’m really worried that…” Instead of finishing his sentence, he merely gave a deep sigh.

Both Mu Yu and Feng Rubing understood Rong Jian’s worries, so their expressions turned grave at once. Just then, Feng Rubing, who had been silent the whole time, said with a soft voice, “So far, we know nothing about the murderer who’s been hiding behind the scenes, but I have a hunch that this case is definitely not over yet. The fourth victim will turn up very soon, so the murderer must still be in An City. We should speculate who the fourth victim might be based on the similarities between these three cases.”

Rong Jian’s eyes lit up at these words. Before he could speak, Mu Yu responded to Feng Rubing’s suggestion first. “Judging from the similarities between the previous three cases, the victim in the fourth homicide that the murderer wants to commit must be connected to Qing Tian Group. Besides, there must be something disgraceful about this person in terms of moral character,” she said. As she spoke, she felt somewhat helpless. “None of us would’ve thought that Zhao Yongli and Li Jianyun were so abominable if it hadn’t been for our in-depth investigations, though. Therefore, if we want to discover the fourth victim via the flaws in their moral character, we might not be able to find any clues even if we exhaust all of our manpower and material resources. After all, a person’s vile character isn’t written on their face.”

Feng Rubing sighed like she had a lot to say. “This murderer’s modus operandi is extremely cruel, but he’s not necessarily worse than the few victims. After all, he was somewhat rooting out the dregs of society.”

“That’s right. I also feel this way sometimes,” agreed Mu Yu. She wanted to tease Feng Rubing and Rong Jian by saying that it was thanks to the murderer framing Feng Rubing that they cleared the air between them and got together, but she choked back her words on second thought. After all, it was inappropriate to say something like this on such an occasion.

Feng Rubing didn’t notice the look on Mu Yu’s face as she continued her analysis. “The murderer has done a good job of framing me. This indicates that he either knows me in person or has been paying close attention to me in secret. Someone who has such an opportunity—”

Just then, she was interrupted by the ringing of Rong Jian’s cell phone. “It’s Xiaofan,” he said as he answered the phone and signaled to them that they could continue their discussion.

“Someone who can be in touch with me—”

“What?! How could this happen?!” Rong Jian suddenly stood up with a sudden change in countenance.