Chapter 2

Chapter 2

“Why are you calling so many times all of a sudden?”

I immediately tried to start a video call.

My girlfriend rejected it instantly. On the other end of WeChat, the status repeatedly flickered: “Typing…”

I dialed again, and again, I was rejected.

Finally, she replied: “It’s too late. I’ve already turned off the lights and gone to bed.”

I stopped calling. My girlfriend had never rejected my calls before; even if she was busy, she would always leave me a message.

Her current reaction was completely abnormal.

Unless someone was coercing her, forbidding her from picking up…

Thinking of that strange man in the photo, a chill ran through my entire body.

I feigned giving up: “Okay, baby. Goodnight then.”

Just then, I saw a new friend request on WeChat. The profile picture was a selfie, and the note read: “Xiao Zhang from Property Management at Apple Apartments.” I accepted it immediately.

“Hello, I’m the property management staff on duty tonight at Apple Apartments. I just called Room 1503, but the call wouldn’t go through. My colleague and I went upstairs to check, and we didn’t see the issues you mentioned.”

The other party sent a photo.

It was a close-up of my girlfriend’s front door.

The cartoon floor mat was clean-there was no mud or footprints at all. More importantly, there were no signs of the lock being tampered with.

I sent a voice call over and fired off three questions in a row.

“Did you go inside? Is she safe? Did you see my girlfriend?”

Xiao Zhang from Property Management spoke in a very polite tone.

“We did. We asked for Ms. Lin’s permission to go in and check. Ms. Lin said she had been working on a PPT the whole time and didn’t hear any noise at the door. Her phone had accidentally fallen and cracked earlier, and it took a while to restart, which caused the misunderstanding. She also mentioned she received the river snail rice noodles you ordered and that they were delicious.”

“We also checked the surveillance footage for the 15th floor, and no suspicious strangers appeared.”

The traffic finally started moving.

The string of tension in my brain loosened slightly because of what the property staff said.

I turned my attention back to the accelerator.

But for some reason, I still felt like something was off. However, there was no reason for the property management to lie to me, and my girlfriend said it was a misunderstanding too.

That meant the only one lying was the delivery rider.

Then what was the deal with that photo? Why did he lie to me?

Thinking about the money I had just tipped him, I understood in an instant.

Dammit!

I used to watch short videos of people sharing their experiences of being scammed and wonder how anyone could fall for such low-level tricks. I remembered a top-rated comment saying: “The reason you think you’re smart and won’t be scammed is simply because you haven’t encountered a scam tailor-made for you.”

When faced with the things they care about most, people are ruled by their emotions.

Sure enough…

Two thousand yuan. That was a whole month’s worth of food money. I gritted my teeth so hard they nearly shattered.

That son of a bitch! How dare he play me!

Anyway, the platform has his information. I’ll settle the score with him later!

But money was a small matter. Without seeing my girlfriend with my own eyes, I couldn’t be completely at ease.

After a moment’s thought, I sent a voice message.

“Nannan, I’m on my way over. I’m really worried about you. I’ll leave as soon as I see you.”

To my surprise, she replied very quickly this time and even initiated a video call.

The background on the screen was very dark, with only a bedside lamp lit.

Nannan’s voice was as gentle as ever, though it carried the weary tone of someone who had been asleep.

“I’m really fine. The phone just broke, that’s all. Between the property management knocking and the phone calls, I haven’t been able to sleep peacefully all night. It’s raining so hard, you should just go back.”

She sent a photo. It showed the back of someone in a property management uniform crouching on the floor to inspect something.

It was likely the Xiao Zhang who had added me on WeChat.

Seeing my girlfriend’s sleepy face, my heart finally settled back into my chest.

My whole body relaxed.

Thinking about it, I really felt bad for her. “Nannan, once I’ve saved enough for a down payment, let’s get married. Then we’ll never have to be apart again. I’m really not comfortable with you living alone, I-”

My girlfriend didn’t say anything else; she was probably truly exhausted.

She muttered about wanting to sleep, and before I could finish my sentence, she hung up the video call.

Though I felt a bit let down, as long as I knew she was safe, I was relieved.

I called the police to cancel the report while I drove.

I explained that it was confirmed to be a misunderstanding.

I was just about to look for a chance to pull a U-turn and head back.

But at that moment, I received another notification from the delivery app.

It was a photo of the river snail rice noodles and milk tea I had ordered, sitting on the shoe cabinet by the door.

The delivery rider sent a voice message directly, his voice strained with a sob he couldn’t suppress.

“Buddy, why hasn’t anyone shown up yet?”

“I’ve left the noodles and milk tea at the door. I’m leaving. I’m refunding the two thousand yuan to you. All I can hear from inside the door is the sound of meat being chopped. I’m afraid I won’t live long enough to spend that money.”