Chapter Thirty-Seven
It had started raining heavily outside, raindrops pounding against the windowpane, washing away the grime. The light from the nearby streetlights shone through, giving the gray factory a touch of warmth. Zhou Mo squinted, observing her surroundings. She had never been here before, and she wasn't sure what the outside world looked like.
It's really difficult to get the information out.
It would be better to...
Zhou Mo turned her gaze to Sun Zhe. Sun Zhe was a veteran of fights and was particularly sensitive to prying eyes. Almost the instant Zhou Mo looked at him, he turned his head to stare at her, but he quickly regretted it.
"Why...are you looking at me like that?"
Sun Zhe felt uneasy under Zhou Mo's gaze. This girl was simply insane. He was afraid that Zhou Mo would say something that would infuriate him, so he blurted out his dialect.
"You need to have a reason for arresting me."
Sun Zhe looked at Zhou Mo warily, "This has nothing to do with you."
"Then let me go."
"impossible."
Zhou Mo rolled her eyes. She hated people like this who talked to themselves the most. They would say it had nothing to do with her, but then drag her into all the inhumane things they did. They were really hypocritical trash.
"Then untie me."
"impossible."
"Then you'll cooperate with me."
“No…” Sun Zhe’s words were forcibly pulled back from his lips by his mind. “Cooperate? What can you cooperate with me on? With your Muggle-like little body, I can kill you with one punch.”
Zhou Mo grinned and said, "But I'm smarter than you."
Sun Zhe was speechless.
"I know your boss won't let you touch me, and I know the people behind me won't let you touch me either. You only arrested me because of those few bastards. How about this, I'll give you a chance to cooperate with me and achieve your goal this time. Last time you came back empty-handed, your boss was very disappointed, wasn't he? It seems that no matter how useful a person is, if they can't achieve their goal, they're still a piece of trash." Zhou Mo deliberately lowered her voice as she spoke, her tone persuasive and coaxing, echoing in the empty factory. Her voice slowly transformed into a chorus of words, striking Sun Zhe's nerves with neither too much nor too little force.
There are many ways to achieve a goal, but the most common method throughout history has been coercion and inducement.
She couldn't be forced to do it.
Offering bribes is still worth a try.
As expected, Sun Zhe's arrogant and disdainful expression turned into suspicion. He narrowed his already small eyes into tiny slits. "Why are you helping me?"
“Because Yu Xi took my college acceptance letter, which was a crucial turning point in my life. He wanted to ruin me, so why should I help him?”
Seeing that Sun Zhe was wavering, Zhou Mo continued to increase the temptation, "Do you know where I applied? Z University in Zhengyang City. That's your territory, isn't it? I'm deceiving you now. After I go to university, I'll be thousands of miles away from home. How do you want to get back at me? I won't even have a chance to fight back."
Sun Zhe suddenly remembered what Li Zhenliang had told him: never be violent towards Zhou Mo unless it was a critical moment. At first, he didn't understand why Li Zhenliang valued such a young girl so much. Now it seemed that this girl must have some extraordinary qualities to have been able to stay by Yu Xi's side for so long and gain the Qi family's favor.
"Ha, just as I thought, a dog that bites doesn't bark."
Zhou Mo smiled, but inwardly she was practically grinding her teeth to powder. "Trust me, then listen to me. If you don't trust me, then do as you please. But I have no obligation to cooperate with any of your actions. You can use violence, as long as you think about how to explain it to your boss."
Sun Zhe silently grumbled to himself, thinking that Li Zhenliang was not his boss.
But he had no intention of correcting Zhou Mo's statement.
What do you want to do?
"Didn't you want to take that batch of goods?"
"...You want to trade yourself for that shipment?" Sun Zhe didn't mean to mock, but his tone was undeniably irritating. "The goods aren't with Yu Xi, they're with He Ru. You mean Yu Xi would turn against He Ru for you, handing over the goods just to exchange for you? Hahahaha, I wouldn't have dared to think like that before I broke with them, and you actually dare." Sun Zhe finished laughing and looked at Zhou Mo seriously. "Do you even know that He Ru is Yu Xi's closest person? Who are you to me?"
"I'm... his mother."
Sun Zhe thought Zhou Mo was cursing and was about to laugh at her, but when he saw Zhou Mo's serious expression, he was stunned. This girl seemed to really think of him as Yu Xi's mother.
This is insane! This is insane!
These people in Ming'an City have all gone mad.
Is there something wrong with the feng shui of this city? Why do these two things look increasingly sinister as they grow older?
Yu Xi was frantically searching for Zhou Mo. At first, he thought it was Zhou Mo's revenge for his last departure, since he knew how petty Zhou Mo was. But Yu Xi quickly realized something was wrong.
Zhou Mo's seemingly petty nature actually reflects her broader perspective.
Sean saw the uninvited guest and was about to put on airs and give Yu Xi a hard time when the chair he was about to sit on was kicked away by Yu Xi. "Where is Zhou Mo?"
Shawn tried to avoid falling by straining his core, just like he was doing a horse stance. His henchman grabbed a weapon and was about to hit Yu Xi on the head, but Shawn raised his hand and the henchman quietly retreated.
"What's wrong? Your mom's lost, and you're in such a hurry?"
Where is Zhou Mo?
Shawn noticed something was wrong with Yu Xi and unwittingly added fuel to the fire by chatting with the madman. "I don't know why I arrested her. Everyone in Ming'an knows how much you and she are protecting. Who would dare to touch her? Would they be crazy?"
"I want to live a little longer, to live out the best years of my life, so that dying won't be a waste." As he spoke, Shawn pulled his body to the side, as if to suggest that if Yu Xi didn't believe him, she could go in and check herself.
Yu Xi had also interacted with Shawn Ke and made friends with him, so she knew that Shawn Ke was not lying.
He frowned, his mind racing to find out where Zhou Mo might be.
Sean rarely saw Yu Xi so angry. "Hey, have you called He Ru? He knows best what Ming An is up to."
"Zhou Mo isn't with him."
"Oh." Shawn's fingers casually curled the ends of his hair. Yu Xi didn't say whether she had called He Ru or not, only that Zhou Mo wasn't with He Ru. If you thought about it carefully, you could taste a lot of the implications in those words.
“Hey, Yu Xi, we were brothers before, so here’s what I’ll do: lend you my man so you can go find your head of the family.”
Yu Xi glanced at Shawn, clearly not believing that Shawn would be so kind.
Shawn pretended to be Xi Shi clutching her heart, saying, "I'm your older brother, so why do you believe others but not me?"
"Give up being a prostitute and become an actress?"
Yu Xi left Shawn's place after saying that.
The gentle expression on Shawn's face crumbled after Yu Xi left. The rest of his underlings had quietly left while the two were bickering, leaving Shawn alone in the large living room. He slowly raised his head and looked at the huge oil painting in the center of the room—a woman's profile. The painting technique was imitating that of Europe, but the painter was obviously not a professional; the technique was clumsy, and the colors were not harmonious.
Shawn stared intently at the oil painting until his eyes were bloodshot, until he felt dizzy, until he lost his balance and stumbled to the ground, but he still refused to look away.
Finally, a girl's exclamation brought him back to his senses.
He recognized it.
That was Qi Xiao's voice.
"Xiaoxiao..."
"Xiao Qi!"
Qi Xiao never expected to see Shawn harming himself when she arrived. Memories she had kept sealed away since childhood flooded back into her mind. Seeing Shawn like this, Qi Xiao couldn't bring herself to be heartless. She helped Shawn to the sofa and turned to pour him some water, but Shawn, who was in a daze, grabbed her wrist.
"Don't go."
"Let me get you some water."
"Xiaoxiao, I was wrong. Don't go with Qi Kai. I'm willing to be your brother."
The concerned look on Qi Xiao's face vanished instantly. She coldly pried open Shawn's fingers. "Are you willing? I'm not."
When they arrived, Shawn didn't get to drink the water Qi Xiao had offered.
Qi Xiao found Yu Xi on a park bench. The moment she saw the man, Qi Xiao thought she had traveled through time, and then a strange sense of understanding welled up in her heart.
As expected.
"Yu Xi, Sun Zhe has returned to Ming'an."
With just one sentence, Yu Xi immediately found a way out of his aimless search, and he looked at Qi Xiao.
Qi Xiao didn't waste any words, "I heard Qi Kai talking to his men about what kind of deal they were making. I don't know the specifics, but Sun Zhe wants the goods he didn't get last time."
"If he were to arrest Zhou Mo, he should have notified me immediately."
Qi Xiao, with a serious expression, voiced his suspicion, "I suspect that Li Zhenliang said something to Sun Zhe when he came this time. Zhou Mo applied to Z University, and she'll be going to Zhengyang City sooner or later. That Li Zhenliang..."
"She won't go to Zhengyang."
Qi Xiao wanted to say something, but when she met Yu Xi's extremely cold eyes, she was startled. "What do you mean? Do you want to control Momo?"
"Don't forget, all the good things and happiness you've had lately have been because of Zhou Mo! Do you want to ruin her?!"
"Can't I continue to have a smooth and happy life?"
“Aren’t you the same?” Yu Xi curled up a mocking smile. “If it weren’t for Zhou Mo, would you be able to run away now? Don’t think I don’t know what kind of deal you made with Qi Kai and He Ru to get them to allow you to study at Zhengyang.”
"If she absolutely has to have someone with ulterior motives by her side, why not me?"
Qi Xiao was rendered speechless by the rebuttal.
She wants a friend.
Yu Xi wants a family.
In some ways, she is no different from Yu Xi.
She won't be happy staying in Ming'an.
“She won’t be happy even if she goes to Zhengyang,” Yu Xi said calmly. “Ever since her parents died, she hasn’t been able to be happy without any burdens.”
“Natural disasters or man-made calamities,” Yu Xi sneered. “There’s no difference.”
Once Yu Xi learned who had taken Zhou Mo away, things would be much easier to find. From beginning to end, he hadn't thought about looking for He Ru. Perhaps it was because of what He Ru had said before that he was a little scared. He Ru was indeed very self-disciplined, but he was also very self-disciplined, yet he had repeatedly made exceptions for Zhou Mo. So he was afraid that He Ru would also make exceptions for Zhou Mo.
He was afraid that Zhou Mo no longer needed him as a family member.
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