Chapter 234
Chapter 234
“Darling, don’t you think Rocky looks handsome?”
Qin Yuan had taken off her coat and was sitting in the pet restaurant with her arms around the poised black German Doberman, taking photos like a genuine animal lover.
No one in the Qin Family was ugly. Even Qin Zhiguo, who always looked greasy and rumpled from running around on cases all day, had a rugged sort of middle-aged handsomeness if one looked closely.
Qin Zhizhou had been even more presentable when he was young. He hadn’t done particularly well in school, but he’d managed to marry his superior’s daughter through sheer force of good looks.
Qin Yuan had been held back somewhat by her biological mother’s genes and had slightly triangular eyes, but with the right eye makeup, she was still quite pretty.
Hugging the handsome Doberman, she displayed a respectable fraction of her older cousin’s mastery of the fake smile.
Beside her sat a tall, slender man with a high-bridged nose.
A closer look at his features would reveal that he was probably mixed-race.
When he smiled, even the way he looked at a dog seemed full of tender affection.
He smiled faintly, rolling Qin Yuan’s earlobe between his thumb and forefinger. “But right now, all I can see is you, my dear.”
Qin Yuan had deliberately removed her earrings. As the man’s fingers toyed with her soft earlobe, it gradually turned dark red.
Her eyes seemed brimming with clear water as she bit her lip and gazed at him.
Just as her father, Qin Zhizhou, had said, this man was the best match she could possibly find.
Qin Yuan lowered her head, adopting the docile posture she had practiced and exposing her neck.
The man was immensely pleased. His hand shifted to encircle Qin Yuan’s slender throat.
Her meticulously cared-for skin slid smoothly beneath his palm. Gripping the bones of her neck, he rubbed his thumb smugly over the pulsing blood vessel beneath her skin.
To him, this animal-like display of submission was deeply satisfying.
He exerted more force, pressing Qin Yuan’s head downward.
Qin Yuan’s expression changed slightly, but her face grew even redder as she bent forward under the pressure of his hand.
The black Doberman sat upright beside them like a spectator.
Just as a certain unmentionable scene was about to unfold and defile the restaurant, someone abruptly knocked on the private room’s door.
Qin Yuan sprang bolt upright and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
Displeasure crossed the man’s face. He straightened his suit and rose to his feet.
When he opened the door, he found the restaurant manager standing outside, wringing his hands.
Behind the manager were two police officers.
One of them said, “Sorry to disturb you. Someone reported a stolen item.”
A look of utter disbelief flashed across the man’s face. “A stolen item?”
He froze for a moment before catching the officer’s implication.
The police had come straight to their door with a clear target in mind. What else could that mean?
He was so incensed he nearly laughed. “Me? Steal something?”
What an outrageous joke.
The officers didn’t care about that. One of them took out his badge and showed it to him. “A young lady filed a report claiming that she lost an item here.”
Qin Yuan’s face went pale. “A young lady? Who?”
“That would be me!”
Qin Ying obligingly stepped out from behind the two officers.
A smile played on her lips as she said, “My bracelet is missing, and I suspect…”
She didn’t point a finger at anyone in particular, but the way her gaze swept across them said it all.
All she needed was a handful of sunflower seeds to complete the image of a sharp-tongued busybody enjoying the spectacle.
The man standing in the doorway sized Qin Ying up.
Being something of a sucker for a pretty face, the flash of amazement in his eyes was quickly followed by a slight easing of his anger.
He said with remarkable patience, “Miss, your accusation is both rude and completely unfounded. Please stop making a scene.”
Qin Ying was studying him as well. She smiled. “How am I making a scene? My bracelet disappeared right after you bumped into me.”
The man laughed in exasperation. “I’ve never seen you before, let alone bumped into you.”
Qin Ying shrugged. “Your word proves nothing. Let’s check the surveillance footage, inspect the scene, and conduct body searches.”
Standing behind them, Qin Yuan’s face had gone white with fury. Finally, she snapped, “Qin Ying, are you doing this on purpose?”
Qin Ying turned to her with a smile. “What are you, a parrot? Is that the only thing you know how to say? This man is the one who stole from me. It has nothing to do with you!”
Qin Yuan choked on her words and nearly ground her teeth to pieces.
The two officers who had responded to the call sensed something was off. One of them asked Qin Ying sternly, “Miss, do you know these two?”
Qin Ying tilted her head indifferently. “I know the woman, but not the man. I’m certain I lost my bangle when I bumped into him.”
She spoke with absolute conviction.
Even the man was briefly taken aback by her confidence. Then, caught between anger and amusement, he said, “Fine. Pull up the surveillance footage.”
“I’d love to see what exactly you’re trying to pull.”
Once the footage was brought up, however, the two officers found themselves with a headache.
The cameras had still been working normally when the man passed by.
After that, Qin Ying left the room, apparently to use the restroom.
But then the footage abruptly dissolved into static before cutting out completely, as though something had suddenly interfered with the signal.
The manager was dumbfounded. “That’s impossible. We only had the system inspected two days ago.”
Qin Ying silently apologized to him, then pointed at the screen. “I bumped into him on my way back from the restroom.”
“And my gold bangle was this thick!”
She pulled up the purchase record for the gold bangle she had fed to Di Shang a couple of days earlier.
It was worth ninety thousand yuan, more than enough to meet the threshold for a criminal investigation.
Without surveillance footage to support either side, there was little the police could do, despite how dissatisfied Qin Yuan and the suited man clearly were.
The officers began photographing the scene, securing evidence, and taking statements.
By this point, the man was genuinely furious.
His expression was black as thunder, and he was extremely uncooperative when the officers asked for his name and other personal information.
This kind of situation gave the police a headache too. After looking up the man’s identity, one of the officers approached Qin Ying, who was playing on her phone, intending to ask for more details.
Then the man’s lawyer arrived.
The man was clearly wealthy and well-connected, and his lawyer was exceptionally capable.
With the lawyer coordinating matters, they all went to the police station to complete the necessary procedures.
This was probably the suited man’s first time being brought into a police station, especially under an accusation like this.
He sat on a stainless-steel chair bolted firmly to the floor, his face as black as the bottom of a pot.
No matter how humbly Qin Yuan tried to coax him, he refused to spare her so much as a glance.
Left with no other outlet, Qin Yuan turned to glare at Qin Ying.
Only to find Qin Ying casually making a phone call as though none of this had anything to do with her.
“Did you make it home?” Qin Ying asked Han Lie over the phone.
Han Lie still wasn’t used to talking on a phone. “I’m home already.”
Hearing that, Qin Ying finally relaxed. She couldn’t help praising him as if he were a child who had just made it through his first day of kindergarten.
“Good. I’ll bring you all some late-night snacks when I get back.”
Han Lie wasn’t thinking about snacks. He asked worriedly, “Will this really be okay?”
He was naturally referring to their plan to have Thunderbird jam the surveillance cameras so Qin Ying could make a false accusation.
Since she was sitting in the police station, Qin Ying couldn’t explain in detail. She merely smiled. “It’ll be fine.”
Rather than waste time devising some elaborate scheme, it was much simpler to get her hands on the man’s information directly.
As for whether he would press charges against her, he could go right ahead. The surveillance system had cut out, so no one had any hard evidence. In the end, the whole matter could only be smoothed over.
Just as Qin Ying had expected, the other party’s lawyer wrapped up the case with only a few words.
Feigning indignation, Qin Ying rolled her eyes as she left the police station.
She hailed a taxi and, once inside, sent Qin Zhiguo a message.
“Uncle, I need an emergency favor. Help me look into something.”
“If we’re even a little too late, that wretched girl Qin Yuan is going to throw herself into a fire pit.”