Chapter 17
Zou Mengmeng stared at the small boat and muttered, “Why does something feel off?”
The man next to her also watched the small boat drifting away and sighed emotionally:
“Auntie is really beautiful…”
Zou Mengmeng stomped hard on his foot. “Stop drooling!”
Wang Ming and Zou Shuqing returned to the shore. After handing the boat back to its owner, they walked up onto the bank.
Zou Shuqing still looked frightened. “Oh, that really scared me! How could it be such a coincidence?”
Wang Ming said meaningfully, “You’ll have to talk about this sooner or later. You should give it some thought.”
Zou Shuqing sighed helplessly. “If I can put it off for another day, I will.”
Both of their clothes were soaking wet, and Wang Ming noticed that Zou Shuqing’s undergarments were becoming increasingly visible.
Zou Shuqing caught Wang Ming staring directly at her clothes, her cheeks instantly flushing red. She hurriedly covered herself with both hands, feigning annoyance, “What are you looking at!”
“Our clothes are drenched. Let’s get cleaned up at a hotel.”
Zou Shuqing blushed even harder at that and scolded him with mock anger, “We just started dating and you want to go to a hotel? Are you crazy?”
Wang Ming smiled, “What’s so shameful about going to a hotel? What are you imagining?
We’re close to the shopping district. I meant we should buy some clothes and then book two rooms to freshen up.”
“Two rooms… Well, okay then…” Zou Shuqing nodded, blushing.
The two of them headed to the parking lot, got their car, and drove to a nearby mall.
As Zou Shuqing was about to open the door and get out, Wang Ming gently stopped her, “You wait in the car, I’ll be right back.
What size do you wear? Tell me your measurements.”
Zou Shuqing lowered her head, her voice barely above a whisper, “93, 63, 90. I’ve gained a little weight lately, so my waist might be 64, and my hips are about 91 or 92.”
Wang Ming couldn’t help but take a few more glances. Zou Shuqing was so embarrassed by his gaze that her head nearly drooped to her chest.
“I’ll just pick out what looks right.”
Wang Ming walked into the mall and started shopping.
While chatting with the staff, they complimented that a 93 cm bust was super sexy-
even most celebrities didn’t have such curves.
It goes without saying: the System had rated Zou Shuqing’s figure a 97.
He picked out several outfits for Zou Shuqing and bought himself a new set of clothes. Just as he was about to leave the mall, his phone rang.
At the moment, Wang Ming was carrying several shopping bags. He set one bag down, pulled out his phone, and saw it was Li Zhixuan.
Had she still not reached Zhang Jian? She must have been really worried.
Even Wang Ming felt Zhang Jian was being a bit much, let alone her, his girlfriend.
“Zhixuan.”
On the other end, Li Zhixuan was sobbing, “Zhang Jian is dead!”
The bag in Wang Ming’s other hand slipped and fell to the floor.
He stood there in shock, unable to recover for a long time. After a while, he finally managed to speak, incredulously,
“Zhang Jian? Dead?”
Li Zhixuan cried as she spoke, “Yeah, he died last night. I just came out of the morgue.”
Wang Ming’s mouth trembled, “Don’t joke about something like that.”
Li Zhixuan sobbed even harder, “How could I joke about something like this? Can you come over? I’ve never been through anything like this. I really don’t know what to do.”
Wang Ming forced himself to calm down, took a deep breath, and asked, “Where are you? I’ll come right now.”
“Guanlin Crematorium.”
Wang Ming hung up, steadied himself, picked up the bag from the ground and walked out of the mall.
On the way, he was completely absent-minded. Li Zhixuan’s grief and tears definitely didn’t sound like a joke.
How could this happen? Zhang Jian was his only close brother in Xiguan City.
The other two college roommates weren’t in this city.
Back at the parking spot, Wang Ming opened the car door, placed the clothes he’d bought for Zou Shuqing on the seat, and said with a grave expression:
“Dear, I have something urgent to deal with. You drive back first.”
Zou Shuqing saw that Wang Ming looked off and asked with concern, “What happened?”
“My brother is in trouble. I need to go right away.”
Zou Shuqing nodded. From Wang Ming’s expression, she could tell that it was definitely something serious.
“Let’s keep in touch by phone.” Wang Ming said, then closed the passenger door, left the Shopping Mall parking lot, and walked out to the street to catch a taxi.
Zou Shuqing glanced at the several shopping bags-all containing expensive clothes.
She became even more curious. How had Wang Ming suddenly become so wealthy?
Since they were already boyfriend and girlfriend, she felt she had the right to know this. She definitely had to find an opportunity to figure it out.
Wang Ming got into the taxi. The system panel showed that the third date with Zou Shuqing had reached 56 minutes.
Just four minutes short!
But Zhang Jian’s issue was more important. The date time could be accumulated over the day, so there was no rush.
“Driver, please go faster!”
“We’re already at 80 km/h-any faster and it’s speeding! Once we get out of the city, it’ll be fine.”
Wang Ming was extremely anxious in the taxi.
He tried calling Zhang Jian. The phone was no longer powered off, but no one answered.
When he arrived at Guanlin Crematorium, Wang Ming quickly paid, got out, and jogged toward the morgue.
Li Zhixuan was sitting on a bench outside the morgue, her eyes swollen and red from crying.
When she saw Wang Ming, she immediately stood up, sobbing uncontrollably. “Wang Ming, what should I do? What am I supposed to do…”
Wang Ming suppressed his grief and asked, “What exactly happened?”
Li Zhixuan choked, “The Police contacted me at one in the afternoon. They said he died suddenly in a hotel.”
As soon as she finished, she broke down crying again.
“Sudden death in a hotel? Where is he?”
Li Zhixuan pointed to the door behind her.
Wang Ming composed himself, took Li Zhixuan inside, and went up to the mortuary bed.
He lifted the white sheet. Zhang Jian lay there quietly, his face pale and lifeless.
Wang Ming felt his head buzz and his legs almost gave way.
Tears welled up.
“That damned guy! Died in a hotel room with someone else!” Li Zhixuan looked at Zhang Jian with a mix of anger and sorrow.
Wang Ming was stunned. “With someone else in a hotel room?”
Li Zhixuan’s shoulders shook as she cried, “The Police checked the hotel’s surveillance-he was with a woman…”
She abruptly stopped, then began crying harder.
Trying to steady herself, she continued, “The Police found the woman. After investigation, Zhang Jian died suddenly. The woman was scared, didn’t call the police, and just ran away.”
Wang Ming was dumbfounded.
After a moment’s analysis, Zhang Jian must have gone to the hotel with one of the women from the bar.
To die for a beauty…
Wang Ming tried to calm himself down.
“Maybe they were just talking about work.”
“Work, my foot! The woman confessed everything! He died in the middle of it!
Weren’t you with him yesterday? Didn’t you know he went off fooling around?”
Wang Ming looked innocent. “We were drinking together, yes, but I went home! How can I be blamed if he didn’t go home?”
Li Zhixuan had nothing to say and just continued to cry.
She sobbed, “How am I supposed to tell his parents? A family member has to be present for the cremation.
That fool… Handling the funeral will take a lot of money, but where would I get it? What a cursed fate!”
Wang Ming looked worried as well.
Zhang Jian’s parents only had this one son-they would never be able to bear such news.
If they hadn’t gone drinking yesterday, maybe this wouldn’t have happened.
Thinking of this, he felt a little guilty. Seeing how helpless Li Zhixuan was, he reached out and hugged her.
“Let me handle any expenses that come up next.”
Li Zhixuan leaned against Wang Ming’s shoulder.
[Beep beep… Identifying target.]