Chapter 48
The test results came back quickly; the glass beads Qiao Yan sent were very ordinary and contained no special ingredients.
The glass bead bracelet returned to Wen Zhiling's hands.
One day on a TV program, a similar bracelet appeared during a board game segment. Wen Zhiling flipped it over and saw that there was indeed a "winner" symbol engraved in the center, which was the prize for the winner of the game.
The more she looked at the bracelet, the more familiar it seemed, and in the days that followed, her dreams became clearer and clearer.
The dream was bright; spotlights shone blindingly down from above, illuminating the cold metal table and her bound wrists. The sharp pain of needles piercing her skin was intense. Many people stood behind the observation glass, watching her and the whirring instruments beside her.
-
Midway through the program, Wen Zhiling visited Zong Linhan's parents.
As luck would have it, it was the day the show hinted at a romantic pairing between her and Li Xu.
As luck would have it, this scene was playing on the living room TV.
Wen Zhiling could barely hold her chopsticks.
"Zhi Ling, come and try this sweet and sour pork ribs. It's Auntie's specialty." The matriarch remained calm, seemingly oblivious to the pink atmosphere of the variety show. She enthusiastically placed a tempting piece of pork rib into Wen Zhi Ling's bowl, her eyes filled with affection. "Look how thin you are. Xiao Han must not have taken good care of you."
Wen Zhiling smiled somewhat awkwardly, "No, Auntie, it's just that I don't gain weight easily."
Zongfu is a serious man. He looks fierce when he's not smiling. Now that he's been watching TV programs, Wen Zhiling is under a lot of pressure. She's worried that he might take those things seriously, so she's tried to explain herself several times.
Zong Linhan noticed her hesitation. "Dad, stop looking. You actually believe this?"
Wen Zhiling quickly whispered that the relationship between her and Li Xu was just a forced romance created for the show.
Zong Linhan: "Yeah, he can't beat me."
Wen Zhiling: "..."
After I finally managed to explain it clearly, he had to add that last sentence.
Father: "What I'm worried about is that there are rumors going around that you two are siblings. What will happen in the future? You and your second uncle have gotten into this mess. Have you thought about that?"
Zong Linhan: "I've thought about it."
The patriarch raised his chin slightly, "Tell me about it."
Zong Linhan: "Retire from the entertainment industry and find a secluded mountain forest to live in."
The patriarch frowned.
Zong Linhan: "I had wanted to retire from the entertainment industry for a long time."
The patriarch sneered, "Going deep into the mountains to study those criminal investigation cases of your Bureau of Extraordinary Investigations?"
Zong Linyang, who was peeling shrimp, casually added, "Helping the rabbit solve the problem of the fox stealing things."
Zong Linhan laughed out loud.
The father was so angry he couldn't speak. He was so angry at his two sons' back-and-forth that he thought he'd die of anger.
He subconsciously glanced at his mother's face, expecting her to be so angry that her eyes would redden, but he found that she didn't care at all. She was smiling and holding her phone, showing Wen Zhiling the latest photos from the Paris fashion shows and asking if she liked any of them.
After the dinner, Zong's father asked his wife, "Why weren't you angry today? He even said he was going to retire from the entertainment industry."
The matriarch sent the clothes Wen Zhiling had chosen to her assistant to contact the brand. "Why isn't he leaving the entertainment industry? Is he going to wait until people find out before he leaves? What a huge blunder!"
The grandfather was puzzled. "Didn't you want him to focus on his acting career?"
The matriarch looked up and said, "I just wanted him to be safe! Now that he has a girlfriend, believe me or not, he'll definitely cherish his own life. What do I have to worry about?"
The father deeply appreciated his wife's wisdom; indeed, this was the truth.
-
Meeting Zong Linhan's parents was no different from completing her graduation exam for Wen Zhiling. However, she didn't expect them to be such approachable people, unlike their serious images on screen. She quietly developed a sense of anticipation for home.
After a long day of tension, Wen Zhiling returned home, turned on the TV, and lay down on the sofa to rest.
The doorbell rang.
No one usually comes here. Zong Linhan has a key, and Meng Run just waits for her downstairs.
Looking out through the peephole, Wen Zhiling was slightly taken aback. The person standing at the door was Zong Linyang, whom she had met just today.
He didn't say much today, as if he didn't know her at all. Wen Zhiling had no idea why he would suddenly come to find her.
-
Zong Linhan, wearing a protective mask, glanced at the collapsed ruins before him.
This is the latest discovery of a property associated with Zong Linyang.
The wood is largely carbonized, and the walls are blackened with soot. The once luxurious villa is now just ruins.
"Team Leader Zong, over here!" A team member waved from the entrance of the basement passage.
Zong Linhan stepped over the deformed metal frame, treading on thick ash and large slabs of glass.
A teammate handed over a half-molten metal box, square in shape and a bit heavy.
"It was preserved in a secret compartment behind the fireplace, where the fire didn't completely burn in."
Another team member took the detector and scanned around the box. After confirming that no suspicious signals were emitted, he signaled to the captain that the box could be opened.
Zong Linhan, wearing gloves, unlocked the door. Inside, instead of documents or jewelry, there was only an old photograph carefully sealed in a waterproof bag.
Zong Linhan took out the photo and was immediately stunned.
He had this photo, exactly the same one. Only his photo only showed Zong Linyang.
For the first time, he finally saw the photograph clearly.
Young Zong Linyang got out of the black car, draped his coat over another person, and carefully held the little girl beside him, afraid that she would fall.
Zong Linhan's breathing suddenly stopped, and his blood seemed to freeze instantly.
The little girl's features have changed, but she is still recognizable at a glance; this is Wen Zhiling.
Although he had heard Zong Linyang's ambiguous reminder to Wen Zhiling, he had thought he had only seen it in the laboratory.
"Captain Zong?" The team member asked anxiously when he noticed that something was wrong with his expression.
Zong Linhan snapped back to reality, clutching the photo tightly in his hand.
He almost immediately took out his phone, found Wen Zhiling's number, and dialed it.
"Beep...beep..."
"Team Leader Zong, there's no signal here," a team member cautiously reminded him.
He turned and walked straight out of the yellow warning line area. Almost the instant his cell phone signal bars reappeared, a new message popped up.
Wen Zhiling: "Your brother came to see me."
A chilling panic gripped his heart instantly, especially since Zong Linyang was just leaving the house when he received the call, saying he was going to meet an old friend.
If he was previously certain that even if Zong Linyang did something underhanded, he would still have a bottom line and wouldn't harm his family and girlfriend, then after seeing this message, he was no longer so sure.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
