Chapter 3

Chapter 3

At the police station, Luo Xia trembled uncontrollably.

“Guan Nana’s death has nothing to do with me. Nothing!” She waved her hands frantically.

All she had done was ask Guan Nana to stay close to Zhong Mingjiang and monitor him. When she learned Guan Nana was resigning, she had called in an attempt to persuade her to stay.

Somehow, that made her the last person who had called Guan Nana and the prime suspect in her murder.

“Officer, I swear I had nothing to do with it!” Panic made Luo Xia stammer.

Zhong Mingjiang sighed. “Luo Xia, we’re husband and wife, but I’ve always looked the other way when it came to your private dealings with Guan Nana.”

He had long since tired of Luo Xia. Years ago, she had approached him and persuaded him to rape Qin Jiajia, marry her, and seize her inheritance.

The only reason he had tolerated Luo Xia for this long was because they both knew the truth about Qin Jiajia’s death. If he broke with her completely, she might drag him down with her.

“Bullshit, Zhong Mingjiang!” Luo Xia ground out.

He was clearly determined to send her to prison. She shot him a venomous glare. “You’d better not push me. If you corner me, there’s nothing I won’t do….”

Then something occurred to her.

“Oh, I see. What right do you have to claim I killed her? You’re the killer! You wanted that little temptress Gu Xinyue as your secretary so the two of you could carry on right under everyone’s noses. That’s why you deliberately…”

“Officer, I did speak to Guan Nana,” Zhong Mingjiang interrupted. “She had been making frequent mistakes, so I offered to transfer her to another position. She refused and resigned. I have video footage.”

He called the company, and an employee soon sent over the recording.

“I only made Xinyue my secretary because she was better at the job than Nana. This isn’t the place to discuss company affairs, so I’ll leave it at that.”

“Enough. Quiet!”

Officer Liu and several colleagues finished watching the video, then closed the laptop.

“Luo Xia, what do you have to say?”

“I… I didn’t kill her….” Luo Xia rubbed her temples.

“I had no motive! I called because I wanted her to stay at the company and keep an eye on my husband. I was afraid he’d start an affair at work!”

She turned on Zhong Mingjiang. “If you exercised any restraint, I wouldn’t need people to spy on you!”

Zhong Mingjiang lowered his eyes and sighed. “We’re married. How can a marriage survive without trust?”

As the couple tore into each other in front of the police, satisfaction washed through Gu Xinyue.

She had never had any private contact with Guan Nana. Naturally, no one suspected her of murder.

Outside the station, Luo Xia spat, “Zhong Mingjiang, if you don’t fire that little bitch tomorrow, don’t blame me for what happens!”

He shoved her. “Go ahead. Show me what happens. You think I’m afraid of you?”

“Don’t make me tell them what happened to Qin Jiajia!” If he pushed her far enough, she would do anything.

Gu Xinyue’s expression cooled, but she quickly pressed her lips together. “Mr. Zhong, now that this has become so serious, perhaps I should resign. Then Mrs. Zhong can stop worrying.”

“Ignore her. She’s insane.” Zhong Mingjiang took Gu Xinyue by the hand and led her away.

Back at the company, Gu Xinyue buried herself in work, paying no attention to her colleagues’ gossip.

Soon it was time to leave, but she deliberately remained in the office.

“You little temptress….”

Zhong Mingjiang rushed at her, shoved her across the desk, and lifted her skirt, eager to take what he wanted.

Disgust churned through Gu Xinyue. “Mr. Zhong, don’t. I’m not ready.”

“Just let me feel….”

“Mr. Zhong, please don’t… ah….”

“Mr. Zhong! Mr. Zhong!”

Gu Xinyue deliberately resisted just enough to excite him. They did not go all the way, but Zhong Mingjiang still took plenty of liberties.

A little physical contact was unavoidable.

She needed to whet his appetite until he could think of nothing else, then bring the hammer down.

Zhong Mingjiang drove her home. On his way back, he felt parched, every frustrated urge inside him clawing for release.

He had never met a woman like Gu Xinyue. She looked slender and delicate, yet her figure was flawless, every proportion perfect. Her skin was smooth as cream, every smile and movement as beautiful as a painting. Though she carried herself with easy grace, everything about her seemed irresistible to him.

Beside her, even the stars lost their light.

For once, Zhong Mingjiang had no desire to find some random woman outside. He went straight home.

The house was silent when he opened the door, save for the faint sound of Luo Xia crying.

She had felt wronged from the moment they left the station. She came home in tears and called Zhong Mingjiang’s mother, Xiong Aixiang.

Xiong Aixiang scolded her. A rich man keeping several women outside was perfectly normal, she said.

When Luo Xia complained, Xiong Aixiang pointed out that if Zhong Mingjiang did not have a taste for affairs, he never would have taken up with Luo Xia in the first place.

Then she called Luo Xia a barren hen. She had been married to Zhong Mingjiang for two years and had not given him a single child.

The more Luo Xia thought about it, the more threatened she felt. If this continued, she might lose her position as Mrs. Zhong.

“Mingjiang… Mingjiang….” She wrapped her arms around him, her voice thick with grievance. “Let’s have a baby. Please?”

Gu Xinyue had already inflamed Zhong Mingjiang beyond endurance. With Luo Xia clinging to him now, all he wanted was an outlet for the heat inside him.

Their frantic coupling left both of them drenched in sweat.

Still Luo Xia was not satisfied. “Mingjiang, your mother called me again today. She says I have to give her a grandson soon!”

Zhong Mingjiang sneered. “You insisted on having Qin Jiajia’s uterus removed. Now you can’t get pregnant yourself. Call it karma.”

“Zhong Mingjiang!” Luo Xia’s voice warped with fury.

Then an idea occurred to him. He drew her into his arms. “If your belly doesn’t work, we’ll use someone else’s.”

Leaning close, he whispered his proposal for surrogacy into her ear.
Luo Xia stared at him. “You mean IVF?”

“I mean natural conception.”

Her face changed. So that was what he wanted: permission to sleep openly with another woman.

“Absolutely not!”

Zhong Mingjiang shrugged. It hardly mattered whether she agreed. He would do as he pleased. No one had the right to meddle that deeply in his affairs.

“By the way, the woman who burned to death at the villa wasn’t Qin Jiajia.” He glanced back at her, his expression cold.

“What did you say?”

“Then where is Qin Jiajia?”

“I don’t know whether she’s dead or alive. We both need to be careful. If she’s alive and goes to the police to accuse us of attempted murder, neither of us will escape.”

Gu Xinyue closed her eyes beneath the shower, scrubbing every place Zhong Mingjiang had touched until she felt clean again.

When she emerged in her pajamas, Gu Cangbei was sitting in her living room, watching her.

He had a key to her apartment, but this was the first time he had come so late.

“Something about Guan Nana’s death doesn’t add up.” Gu Cangbei lit a cigarette, his voice measured. “Come here.”

“Who did it this time? Luo Xia or Zhong Mingjiang?” Gu Xinyue asked, drying her hair as she glanced at him.

“Neither.”

Her hands stopped.

A perfectly healthy woman had died without warning or reason.

After resigning, Guan Nana had first eaten lunch at a small restaurant. Then, with no apparent explanation, she met a masked woman. After that, she received Luo Xia’s call and disappeared.

Her body was later found in a sewer.

The masked woman was the key.

“I’ve already sent people to find her,” Gu Cangbei said. “We’ll have an answer soon.”

Gu Xinyue drew a breath. “Zhong Mingjiang is interested in me now. I’ll make him so obsessed he can’t let go. He will pay for everything he did.”

Gu Cangbei crushed his cigarette into the ashtray. “Don’t forget his friend and fellow drug trafficker, Luo Dayuan. He must pay too.”

“All right.”

Gu Xinyue lifted a brow.

Sometimes, when Gu Cangbei looked at her, she could see hatred plainly in his eyes.

At first, she had wondered why he treated her so well: why he saved her, spent so much money creating a false identity, and had her entire body reconstructed.

Later, she learned the truth.

Gu Cangbei had once been deeply in love with his girlfriend, Ji Fenfang.

Her family was desperately poor, and she had started working at a young age. Her parents constantly demanded money, so she took a job at a casino.

The casino belonged to Luo Dayuan and had been financed by Zhong Mingjiang.

Gu Cangbei fell in love with Ji Fenfang at first sight. He admired her devotion to her family and her kind heart, and wanted to spend his life with her. His mother firmly opposed the match.

One night, while Ji Fenfang was working at the casino, she happened upon a drunken Luo Dayuan. He raped her.

She fled and tried to kill herself. Only then did Gu Cangbei learn the truth.

He confronted Luo Dayuan, who answered with vicious insults.

Gu Cangbei could have gone to the police and sent him to prison, but he could not bear the thought of Ji Fenfang’s assault becoming public. He swallowed his rage in silence.

Then Ji Fenfang discovered she was pregnant with Luo Dayuan’s child.

She tried to cut ties with Gu Cangbei, unwilling to burden him, but he refused to leave her. Desperate to make him give up, she abandoned herself and returned to Luo Dayuan.

Before long, she was addicted to drugs, barely recognizable as human.

Gu Cangbei rescued her.

About a week later, Ji Fenfang gave birth to Luo Dayuan’s daughter.

Holding Gu Cangbei’s hand, she told him she loved him, loved him more than anything.

Gu Cangbei accepted all of it. He wanted only to leave the past behind and build a life with her.

But Ji Fenfang’s addiction had sunk too deep. Knowing that living would only prolong her torment, she waited until Gu Cangbei left to pay the hospital fees, then jumped from the fifteenth floor.

Gu Xinyue had learned all this only later.

She gave a faint, bitter smile. She knew Gu Cangbei had saved her, given her a new identity, and helped her seek revenge because of Ji Fenfang.

He hated Luo Dayuan for destroying Ji Fenfang. And he hated Gu Xinyue too. If she had not given all her money to Zhong Mingjiang, how could Zhong Mingjiang have financed Luo Dayuan’s casino?

By that reckoning, she and her inheritance had set the tragedy in motion.

“How is Yiman?”

Gu Yiman was the child Ji Fenfang bore after Luo Dayuan raped her. She was sweet and lovable, and Gu Cangbei treated her as his own, cherishing her more than a biological daughter.

“You have no right to ask about her.” Gu Cangbei’s voice was cold.

His gaze settled on her collarbone. His eyes narrowed. “Why didn’t you sleep with Zhong Mingjiang tonight?”

“It isn’t time yet. I know how far to take things.” Gu Xinyue looked at him impassively.

Gu Cangbei did not stay long. After smoking two cigarettes, he left.

Gu Xinyue’s friend Liu Xiaoxiao emerged from the bedroom with a long sigh. “Does Gu Cangbei really not see that you’re in love with him?”

“Don’t talk nonsense!” Gu Xinyue snapped, her eyes suddenly sharp.

“All right, all right. I was wrong. I shouldn’t have mentioned it. Revenge comes first. But… are you really going to sleep with Zhong Mingjiang again? Doesn’t it disgust you?”

“It does.” Gu Xinyue rubbed her eyes. “This life was salvaged from the ashes. Revenge is the only reason I’m still alive….”

Both she and Ji Fenfang had been raped. Ji Fenfang was dead, but Gu Cangbei, who had loved her deeply, was willing to sacrifice everything to avenge her.

Qin Jiajia, meanwhile, had married the man who violated her and met an unspeakably desolate end.

Early the next morning at the Zhong family villa, Zhong Mingjiang received a call from Luo Dayuan. The man’s voice was urgent.

“Mingjiang, your ex-wife really is alive. I know where she is. This is your chance to kill her. The only question is whether you’ve got the nerve to take it.”