Chapter 38

Chapter 38

This was Zhang Qiong’s second time at the Tianfeng Hotel, and she desperately wanted to avoid a repeat of the unpleasantness from her first visit.

To that end, she wore a bucket hat today, paired with black-rimmed glasses and a mask that covered half her face.

She had told Qin Song in advance that she wanted to stay in Room 616. After picking up her key card at the front desk, she headed straight upstairs.

Everything went smoothly this time. From the elevator all the way to the door of 616, she didn’t run into that resentful woman, Huang Yuanrui.

Zhang Qiong pulled out her key card. Just as she was about to swipe it, she suddenly remembered Liang He’s peculiar “instructions.”

She looked left and right, and after confirming the hallway was empty, she knocked lightly three times before swiping the card to open the door.

She felt that this gesture was both ridiculous and eerie.

Once inside the room, she habitually moved to hang her bag and clothes in the wardrobe. The moment her hand touched the handle, she remembered another of Liang He’s “superstitions.”

Sighing, she placed her clothes and bag on the table instead.

She couldn’t quite explain why she was listening to Liang He so submissively. Perhaps she truly felt something different for him, or perhaps he had simply tapped into her deepest fears.

Zhang Qiong planned to stay in 616 until her husband and children returned from their hometown.

Once her family of four was back home together, she wouldn’t be afraid even if someone came knocking in the middle of the night-hell, she wouldn’t even care if a gang fight broke out at her doorstep.

With nothing much to do on her own, Zhang Qiong took a shower, curled up on the bed, and turned on the TV.

After flipping through several popular dramas and movies, she found them all quite dull.

She opened her phone and sent a message to Qin Song.

“I’m already in 616. Are you coming over tonight?”

Qin Song: “I’ll be there in a bit. Wait for me.”

Zhang Qiong put down her phone and lay back comfortably to wait for him.

Footsteps echoed in the hallway.

Was Qin Song here already?

Zhang Qiong, who had been on the verge of drifting off, opened her eyes and pricked up her ears to listen to the movement outside.

The footsteps in the hallway grew louder as they approached, then faded as they moved away-the person had walked past. It wasn’t Qin Song.

Zhang Qiong closed her eyes again.

A moment later, the footsteps returned.

Zhang Qiong had a vague feeling that the person outside was looking for something or someone. They had clearly walked past, yet now they had circled back. Finally, the footsteps stopped-the person seemed to have halted right outside her door.

Zhang Qiong gripped the quilt nervously.

*Beep-beep-*

The sound of a card swiping followed by a door opening and closing came from outside.

Oh, it was the room across the hall.

Zhang Qiong relaxed.

There had been so many things lately that had kept her on edge; her nerves had become fragile and sensitive.

Just then, the girl at the front desk called Zhang Qiong’s room.

Qin Song had ordered a delivery of peach resin milk for her, but the delivery robot was broken. The front desk asked Zhang Qiong to come down and pick it up.

Zhang Qiong went downstairs to retrieve the food. Feeling a bit hungry, she finished it in a few bites.

She didn’t feel like sleeping anymore, so she took out her phone to scroll through Douyin.

Perhaps because she had mentioned “Sanya” to Liang He several times on WeChat, the Douyin algorithm was pushing a lot of Sanya-related videos and photos to her.

Zhang Qiong enjoyed looking at them; photos of such places usually put her in a good mood.
As she scrolled through a few videos, something familiar suddenly caught her eye.

She scrolled back up a bit and found the post that had triggered the feeling.

It was a photo of a beach. She was certain she had seen it somewhere before.

She tapped on the image to take a closer look-wasn’t this the same photo Liang He had shared with her? She had actually stumbled upon Liang He’s Douyin!

Feeling a spark of excitement, Zhang Qiong quickly tapped the profile picture to view the homepage.

The creator wasn’t Liang He; it was a woman.

Was this his wife?

Zhang Qiong examined the profile bio carefully: Douyin ID: Strawberry Jam, Age: 20, Female, IP Location: Hainan.

His son was already in college, so there was no way this was his wife.

Zhang Qiong narrowed her eyes and began going through Strawberry Jam’s Douyin posts one by one.

The first post: A photoshoot in Sanya after getting her makeup done by a trending influencer makeup artist. The girl really did look about twenty-very young.

The second post: Hainan’s dregs vinegar hotpot and coconut chicken.

The third post: Photos of the beach and a night market.

The fourth post: A goofy video filmed with her roommates in a student dorm.

The fifth post: Her two pet cats.

…

Zhang Qiong scrolled back to the third post and noticed something.

The beach photo in the video was identical to the one Liang He had sent her. Among the night market photos, there was one of a dessert. She had seen it in her chat with Liang He; he had told her it was Qingbuliang.

Zhang Qiong opened her WeChat chat history with Liang He to compare the images carefully.

Then, she made a startling discovery.

In the bottom right corner of Strawberry Jam’s photo, there was a Weibo watermark. The photo Liang He had sent her had that corner cropped out.

Liang He-an elegant, easygoing, and steady middle-aged man in his forties-had actually stolen travel photos from a twenty-year-old girl?

Zhang Qiong found it absurd. She was more inclined to believe another possibility-that this was Liang He’s mistress.

She continued scrolling through Strawberry Jam’s Douyin and found that the girl had tagged her boyfriend in a video featuring roses.

Zhang Qiong clicked through to the boyfriend’s homepage and saw those same Sanya photos on his Douyin as well-it seemed she had gone to Sanya with her boyfriend.

Liang He really had stolen her pictures… Why would he do that?

The background music of the post was still playing when Zhang Qiong suddenly heard a thud.

The sound was jarring against the music. Zhang Qiong tapped back into the post and listened again.

This time, there was no thud.

Qin Song would be arriving soon. Zhang Qiong didn’t want to dwell on Liang He anymore; she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from messaging him again.

She put her phone aside and lay back down to rest with her eyes closed.

As her surroundings grew quiet, she seemed to hear that thud again.

It was a very faint sound, impossible to hear if one wasn’t listening closely.

Zhang Qiong didn’t think it was coming from next door; it didn’t sound that far away.

It sounded more like someone was standing inside the wardrobe and, because they had been standing for too long, their feet had gone numb, causing them to shift their weight from one foot to the other.