chapter 15

The restaurant was about a forty-minute drive from my home.

My family also lived in the city, but it was even farther from the store where I worked. For the sake of convenience, I had moved out from home.

Maybe I drank a bit too much tonight, because not long after getting in the car, I could barely keep my eyes open.

Mainly, I hadn’t slept at all last night-I really couldn’t hold on any longer.

I reclined the seat a bit and fell into a very comfortable sleep.

Before I even got home, my grandfather called me halfway there, asking when I’d arrive.

I told him I was almost there, that I was in the car and would be home soon.

After hanging up, I was so tired that I planned to doze off again. But just as I was about to close my eyes, I suddenly caught a glimpse of a black dress out of the corner of my eye.

The black dress was lifted by a pair of legs, and at the hem of the dress was a pair of red high heels.

I was so frightened I didn’t dare move. Looking more closely, I saw that inside those red high heels was a pair of fair, delicate feet, the skin as white as jade, flawless toes painted with black nail polish.

Suddenly, I remembered: that night in that house, after Meng Yifan opened the door, the girl we saw had black nail polish on her toes.

When did someone else get into my car?

“Stop the car! Stop right now!”

“I want to get out!”

I shot up from my seat, not daring to look at the back seat, and shouted at the designated driver like a madman.

The driver was startled by me and hurriedly pulled over to the side of the road.

I flung open the door and bolted out, stumbling and scrambling far away.

The driver quickly got out of the car too and ran toward me.

“Boss, what’s wrong?”

He had no idea what had happened and seemed not to have seen anyone else in the car.

“There’s-a ghost!”

I pointed at my car. “There’s a woman inside. Didn’t you see her?”

The driver’s eyes widened and he immediately ran over to check, then came back.

“Boss, there’s no one inside. I only picked up you.”

“Don’t you know how many people got in your own car?”

“Boss, I think you drank too much and started seeing things.”

I was mostly sober by now, but I didn’t dare go check alone, so I pulled the driver along with me to inspect the car again.

There really was no one else in my car, but I knew I hadn’t been seeing things. I had just seen someone sitting in the back seat.

Unwilling to give up, I opened my trunk.

This time, I actually found something that left me stunned.

It was a red high heel. Judging by the style, it was exactly the same as the one Meng Yifan had brought.

When did that guy put this thing in my car?

He’s really something!

I quickly pulled out my phone and called Meng Yifan, fuming.

He seemed to have already arrived at the bathhouse and lazily asked, “Second-in-Command, are you home yet?”

“Meng Yifan! That’s low!” I snapped. “Why did you put that high heel in my car? Are you messing with your brother?”

“What?” Meng Yifan sounded confused. “You mean the high heel I picked up? When did I put it in your car? I threw it in my own trunk-it’s still lying there right now. Are you drunk or what?”

I froze. It wasn’t him?

“There’s a red high heel in my trunk too. I just saw that woman in my car…”

After hearing what I said, Meng Yifan fell silent.

After a while, he asked, “Are you going to sleep at home when you get back?”
I said there was no way I’d sleep at home. Getting involved in something like this, I was afraid I’d drag my dad and my grandpa down with me.

Meng Yifan said, “Then come over to my place later. We can keep each other company, and tomorrow we’ll go look for that Seventh Master Zhao together.”

After hanging up, I got back in the car and told the designated driver to keep taking me home.

I’d definitely go find Meng Yifan after leaving home in a bit.

I didn’t dare go back to my rented apartment alone, either.

After that, I didn’t dare sleep again. Luckily, it wasn’t long before the car pulled up downstairs at my building.

When I got home,

my grandpa and my dad were both sitting in the living room, both looking a bit gloomy.

My dad looked a little nervous as soon as he saw me-a guilty look.

“Dad, where’d you go this afternoon?” I asked him.

“Uh, I… worked overtime.”

“Overtime at the police station?”

It was like we’d switched generations.

He looked at me in surprise. “How did you know…”

I said irritably, “I have a friend who’s a cop. He told me everything. When did you get another apartment outside? How come I never knew?”

My dad’s face didn’t look good. He sighed and said, “I already explained it to the police. Back then, there was indeed an apartment under my name, but it really wasn’t mine. It belonged to a young couple.”

“That was fifteen years ago. The couple wanted to buy a place, but apparently they owed someone money and couldn’t buy property. If anyone found out they owned a place, they’d get sued, and once that happened, the court would freeze and auction off their apartment.”

“So they gave me some money and asked me to have the apartment transferred to my name. On paper, it was mine, but in reality, it was still theirs.”

I was speechless.

So my dad did it for the money, becoming the nominal first owner of that apartment.

But this kind of thing sounds so bizarre. Who would just transfer a property worth hundreds of thousands to a stranger for no reason?

What if my dad was shameless and just took over the apartment? What could that couple do about it?

After all, the deed had my dad’s name on it. Even if they hired the world’s best lawyer, they’d never get it back.

“Were you really that short on money back then?” I reproached him.

My grandpa didn’t look too happy either, glaring at my dad the whole time.

My dad sighed. “Back then, we hadn’t bought a place yet. We were still five thousand short, and they happened to give me just that much. I figured it wasn’t anything illegal.”

“And at the time, your mom was about to leave us. I thought if we bought a place, she wouldn’t go, so I didn’t think too much about it.”

Hearing this made me feel complicated inside.

Actually, my dad did it for our family, so my mom wouldn’t leave.

When my mom left, it was without warning. She just abandoned me and my dad, didn’t even want her own son.

And after she left, my dad never said a bad word about her in front of me. But I knew-my mom must have run off with another man. Otherwise, why would she leave her own son behind?

All these years, she’s never come to see me.

I softened my tone and said to my dad, “Did you know someone died in that apartment? Someone died in there, and the body was hidden inside the whole time.”

My dad nodded, looking very nervous. “I only found out today at the police station that Li Xiumei died. But I swear I didn’t kill her-I didn’t even know she was dead!”

I grabbed my dad’s hand, getting agitated. “You knew Li Xiumei? What exactly was your relationship with her back then?”