episode 39

The outer walls of the residential area are painted red, but the color is no longer bright. On this gloomy, rainy day, from a distance, it looks more like pig's blood that was splashed on a few years ago and has now dried up.

Take a few more steps closer and you'll see that the wall is cracked with many mottled marks due to its age, as if spiders have crawled on it and spit out red webs.

He Xun stepped into the shallow puddles, squinted and surveyed his surroundings for a while, then lowered the brim of his hat and walked into the first unit.

The old apartment building didn't have an elevator, so he climbed the steps and walked upstairs.

The rainy day was gloomy, the motion-activated lights were intermittent due to years of disrepair, and the stairs beneath his feet were uneven, making He Xun's ascent up the stairs feel very oppressive.

During the trip, we also encountered several young girls with strange expressions and excited faces carrying several plastic buckets down the road, whispering to each other as they walked.

The expressions on their faces made He Xun feel inexplicably uncomfortable. He frowned and slightly turned to make way for them. The girls were also stunned when they saw him, and then quickly disappeared around the corner of the stairs.

He Xun climbed to the sixth floor in no time.

There were two households on the sixth floor, but he didn't even need to knock or ask; he already knew which household He Lianmeng lived in.

Several pools of unidentified red liquid were splashed in front of room 601 on the north side. The liquid was glaring and smelled foul.

The seemingly strange behavior of those girls earlier now has a reasonable explanation.

Just as I expected.

A mocking glint flashed in He Xun's eyes. He took out his phone and snapped a few photos of the bloodstained door. Then, he took out a notebook and pen from his backpack, turned on the voice recorder, and knocked on the door.

"What do you do?"

A knocking sound rang out, and He Lianmeng impatiently lifted her head from the man's arms, asking him a question in an annoyed tone.

"Hello ma'am, excuse me, I'm a staff member of the property management. We're conducting a population census right now. Would it be convenient for you to open the door?"

"We just saw one group off and another one comes. So much trouble."

He Lianmeng muttered something, pulled her loose bathrobe tighter, got up to open the door, and saw a man with his upper body bare reclining on the sofa, his right hand propping up his cheek, his tone teasing: "This time it's not another one of your husband's die-hard fans, is it?"

He Lianmeng didn't say anything, but glared at the man and walked over to open the door in her slippers.

What came into view was a tall young man.

The young man wore a plain white printed T-shirt and a black baseball cap. His eyebrows and eyes were so handsome that anyone with a normal sense of aesthetics would compliment him.

Unfortunately, he was wearing a mask, so his face was completely hidden from view.

A hint of regret was clearly visible in He Lianmeng's eyes.

He Xun also quickly glanced at the woman in front of him the moment he opened the door.

It is He Lianmeng, no doubt.

The other person looked thinner than when he participated in the show a while ago. His perfect bone structure, which was originally covered by fat, was gradually becoming visible again, and his mental state was not as bad as he had imagined.

Indeed, whether a woman is thin or fat, it doesn't change the fact that she is beautiful.

He gripped the black leather notebook tightly, his eyes crinkling slightly: "Excuse me, sorry to bother you."

He Lianmeng glanced behind him to make sure no one else was following before turning around and entering the house. She crossed her arms and raised her chin, saying, "Come in, make yourself at home."

He Xun followed closely behind, taking the opportunity to observe the layout and details of the room.

It's a standard one-bedroom apartment, not very big, and the kind of layout where you can see the whole thing at a glance.

The furniture is visibly old, with a brownish-wood color, making it an excellent location for taking retro photos or filming TV series.

He Xun looked around and finally fixed his gaze on the sofa.

I was startled when I stopped; there was a naked man lying on the sofa—though, strictly speaking, he wasn't completely naked, since he was wearing denim shorts.

To be fair, this man is quite good-looking, with regular and handsome features. He is about 190 cm tall, and even when he is half-lying down, you can see that his muscles are well-defined, with broad shoulders and long legs. His body is a standard inverted triangle.

A model, perhaps?

But... why does he look so familiar? It's like I've seen him somewhere before.

Given his open and honest relationship with He Lianmeng, what is his relationship with her?

As He Xun was pondering this, the man glanced at him, finally sat up, picked up an apple from the coffee table, took a bite, and joked with him with a grin: "Why are the property management staff wearing masks? Anyone who didn't know better would think spies had come to the door."

"......"

Agent He Xun's thoughts were interrupted. He calmly replied, "I'm sorry, sir, I've had a bit of a cold these past few days. The manager was worried that I might infect the residents, so I'm wearing a mask."

"Oh, I see."

He Lianmeng scoffed: "Don't just strike up a conversation with a handsome young man like that."

Upon hearing this, the naked man's lips curled up slightly, and he wasn't annoyed: "What nonsense are you talking about?"

He Lianmeng made a surprising remark: "Your modeling industry has always been bisexual, and everyone can be a 'two-pronged' partner. Do you think I don't know that?"

Having heard so many teasing remarks, He Xun deliberately pretended to be deaf, ignoring them, and smiled politely as he deftly opened the notebook: "So, which of you would be willing to write down some relevant information?"

Unexpectedly, just as he finished speaking, a shrill cell phone ringtone sounded.

He Lianmeng's expression suddenly changed. She turned around abruptly and ran quickly to the bedroom to answer the phone.

He Xun paused for a moment, then glanced at the naked male model on the sofa and tentatively asked, "Why don't you write this down first? I still need to check the house facilities."

The naked man was clearly carefree and didn't question why a property management worker conducting a census would need to inspect the building's facilities. He took the pen and notebook and said, "Okay, I have to write down ID numbers and stuff, right?"

"Yes, you can take a look at how the previous users filled it out."

After giving his instructions, He Xun looked around and headed towards the bathroom.

The bathroom was cramped and dimly lit. The metal showerhead was covered in spots of limescale, and the plastic shelf next to it was piled with all sorts of toiletries, all for women.

In addition, a men's razor and two sets of toothbrush cups were lying horizontally on the metal shelf embedded in the wall.

This man lives here regularly.

Other than that, there's nothing special about it.

He Xun averted his gaze and pretended to carefully inspect the water pipes and water heater.

The house was small and not soundproof, so He Lianmeng's voice on the phone could be heard clearly and smoothly into his ears.

"I'm warning you, Huo Liang, I'm giving you three days to return my daughter to me. Be careful, or I'll expose everything about you!"

"What? I'm an accomplice? Don't make me laugh. Mr. Huo, when the court was sentencing people, weren't the masterminds sentenced first?"

"What am I afraid of? My reputation has already been ruined by you, so I'm not afraid of mutual destruction!"

"It's a shame you didn't win an Oscar for Best Actor. So what if I cheated on you? Can it compare to the outrageous things you've done?"

"That's your own daughter!"

The call ended there, but He Lianmeng was still clearly overwhelmed by excitement and anger. After cursing "bastard," she suddenly threw her phone against the wall. The fragile phone fell to the floor with a thud, and the screen shattered into pieces.

Upon seeing this, the naked male model in the living room quickly dropped his pen and notebook and ran to the bedroom to comfort He Lianmeng.

As it turns out, beauty really does have a calming effect. Under the seductive influence of the naked male model's deep, bubbly voice, He Lianmeng gradually calmed down.

She chuckled, wrapped her arms around the male model's neck, and said in a playful tone, "Simply saying nice things isn't enough."

Then, the two of them kissed passionately, oblivious to everyone else. The sound of their lips mingling was like raindrops falling into He Xun's ears.

He Xun walked out of the bathroom in disbelief, his surprised eyes looking into the bedroom, where a scene unsuitable for children was presented before him.

In that split second, he suddenly remembered that this man—wasn't he the man in the photos of He Lianmeng's infidelity that Huo Liang had exposed?!

It's just that the photos Huo Liang posted were rather blurry, mostly showing his back and profile, so he didn't think of them at the moment.

accomplice--

Cheating —

Jade and stone burned together—

Shocking things—

Biological daughter—

Give me back my daughter—

He Lianmeng's phone call revealed quite a lot of information.

Although we cannot yet ascertain the full truth, at least for now, it is certain that He Lianmeng's infidelity is a fact.

In this matter alone, Huo Liang did not wrong her.

Even so, that's no reason for those people to drag a woman out and parade her through the streets.

This kind of thing is at most a matter of personal morality.

The reason why such a big fuss happened is ultimately because He Lianmeng is a woman. Otherwise, why didn't anyone take turns naming and humiliating those rapists, cheating men, and leaders who sexually harassed students?

He Xun is a man, so of course he can better understand the morbid and twisted psychology of most men, which ranges from filth and inferiority to arrogance.

What he needs to do now is to string the broken beads together and find out what Huo Liang is up to behind the scenes, and why he forced He Lianmeng to say that he would perish with him.

And what does Huo Liang intend to do with his own daughter?

His intuition told him that what Huo Liang was about to do was definitely not a good thing.

This concerns a child, so we need to act quickly.

He Xun quickly composed himself, walked to the living room, picked up his notebook and pen, and put them back in his backpack.

He coughed lightly twice, a hint of shyness in his eyes: "Um, brother, sister, I'll be going now."

Upon hearing this, the two mandarin ducks, who were entwined together, paused and finally separated.

The naked male model's handsome face had a suspicious blush, but He Lianmeng showed no embarrassment whatsoever. She remained composed, tucking her disheveled black hair behind her ear: "No need to see me out. Please close the door behind you."

"OK."

He Xun turned around, about to push the door open and leave, when a fair and slender hand suddenly covered the back of his hand.

He raised an eyebrow and glanced sideways, only to see He Lianmeng.

You should know who I am, right?

Her tone was colder than before, a stark contrast to her image as a housewife on the parenting reality show.

He Xun curled his lips into a smile, remaining unmoved: "Sorry, I don't know what you're talking about."

"Whether you really don't know or you're pretending not to know."

Whether she genuinely suspected him or was merely warning him, He Lianmeng sneered, staring into his eyes as if trying to bore holes into them. "You'd better not spread what I just said on the phone. If you alert them and it gets to my daughter, I will not let you off the hook."

He Xun's eyes showed just the right amount of bewilderment, and he quickly said like a clueless young man, "Don't worry, protecting the privacy of residents is the duty and responsibility of our property management staff."

He Lianmeng didn't know whether she believed him or not. She stared at him for a long time before withdrawing her hand with an inscrutable expression.

He Xun nodded gently: "Then I really won't bother you anymore, sister." With that, he grasped the doorknob, pushed the door open, and left.

At the same time, He Lianmeng's sinister voice drifted over from behind: "Remember this, even if you're handsome, I won't let you go."

The naked male model standing nearby, about to take off his pants: "..."

He Xun, who was about to go down the stairs: "..."

Of course, He Xun didn't accept the praise for nothing. As soon as he left the residential area, he took out his phone and called the police on He Lianmeng's behalf.

Another group of people carrying bricks entered the community, aggressively intending to smash He Lianmeng's windows.

Um.

Because Na Jie praised him for being handsome.

He Xun thought to himself with an air of smug pride.

*

The driver was right. It was already evening when He Xun walked out of the residential area, and the rain was getting heavier. It was impossible to hail a taxi in the remote suburbs, and taking a bus was out of the question.

So he followed the driver's instructions and walked through the rain to a small hotel not far away.

The small hotel wasn't very formal. Behind the counter wasn't a neatly dressed receptionist, but two middle-aged women sitting there, chatting and eating sunflower seeds. If you listened carefully, you could tell they were talking about the hottest young male celebrities in the entertainment industry right now.

The two women's eyes lit up when they saw the tall young man walk in.

He Xun immediately felt as if he had entered a spider's web.

His lips twitched slightly, but he pretended not to notice and politely said, "Hello, I'd like a single room."

"Young man, are you an adult?"

This statement is highly suggestive of teasing.

He Xun wasn't annoyed. He took out his ID card, bent down, and handed it over. His dark eyes held a hint of a smile, as if the Milky Way had shattered within them: "Sister, please take a look."

The woman didn't even glance at the ID card; her shrewd eyes fixed on He Xun's face. "Yes, he's an adult."

Another woman teased him, "Didn't you bring anyone with you? You're so young, don't go astray."

He Xun laughed: "How could that be? It's just me."

After dealing with the two unruly older women, He Xun bought a bucket of instant noodles and a bottle of mineral water before going upstairs.

The small hotel couldn't compare to the big city, but he adapted well, having stayed in far worse places before.

The first thing he did upon entering the room was to wash up. He took off his rain-soaked white T-shirt, hung it by the bedside to dry, and then took out his voice recorder, phone, and computer, sitting down at the narrow table.

He Xun was slender, but his muscles were smooth and taut. His back was slightly hunched and his shoulder blades were clearly defined. From behind, he looked like a butterfly about to take flight.

He turned on his computer and logged into the "Male Servant Gossip Agency" account.

Ding Xiabing's previous video had already surpassed 500,000 views, showing a good upward trend. Her followers subsequently increased by tens of thousands, and many people were urging her to post more.

He Xun wasn't in a hurry at all.

His video style is short, concise, and high-quality; constantly posting videos would only ruin his public image.

He listened to the recording again carefully.

Considering that he was still only seeing a part of the whole picture and was afraid of alerting Huo and He's innocent daughter, he did not plan to expose He Lianmeng's affair for the time being. He simply recounted He Lianmeng's current situation and posted it along with those excessively bloody pictures.

In his writing, he deliberately reduced subjective language and tried to be as objective as possible in describing the truth.

He also remembered the fan who sent him a private message hoping he would pay attention to the "He Lianmeng" cheating scandal, and he decided to tell the truth about it.

"Thank you for your concern. He Lianmeng did indeed cheat on me. I have solid evidence, which I will release at an appropriate time later."

After finishing all that, the instant noodles were ready. He Xun stretched and put away all electronic devices except his phone.

Just then, his phone screen suddenly lit up.

It was a video call from Mo Shilin.