Xu Mengyu didn't mention this to Xu Lu at all. Zheng Tianming was unreliable, and she couldn't possibly fool around with him.
Xu Lu is so young, he longs for his father's love, but before he can receive it himself, other children are taking half of it away.
Why should Xu Lu be the bad guy? He chooses to accept it, but he's sad. He chooses not to accept it, but he's kind-hearted and wants to be a great hero himself.
In the end, all the bitterness was swallowed by an eight-year-old child.
That night, after Xu Lu fell asleep, Xu Mengyu video-called Zheng Tianming.
Zheng Tianming sat on the bed, still analyzing the case. After the video call connected, he smiled and said, "Miss, it's so late, are you missing me?"
Xu Mengyu held her phone away, her expression one of utter disgust: [Zheng Tianming, I need to make this clear to you. Either you come back alone, or you bring your adopted little girl with you. It's one or the other.]
Zheng Tianming looked at the printed photo: "I knew it, you don't trust me at all."
Xu Mengyu practically rolled her eyes: "Mr. Zheng, do you think I can trust you with what you've done?"
He, on the contrary, turned the tables and accused us first.
Zheng Tianming watched the video intently: "This girl is strange. It seems like she's waiting for me to appear. Putting her in the orphanage might harm the other children."
He called the people who had previously been interested in adopting her, and they said they were willing to adopt her and pay for her surgery.
But she's too quiet, doesn't like to talk, and is easily angered. She loves to swear and smash things.
There's a common misconception that a child can't be that bad.
Moreover, Jasmine is only four years old. Is she capable of murder or arson?
But she met Lily and they spent every day together.
The two shared a deep friendship, and she provided a lot of information about the case while Zheng Tianming was investigating.
It's like having to say a whole bunch of things quickly, according to a script.
Even a four-year-old child with strong expressive abilities will still speak incoherently, especially when anxious or crying.
Let alone a four-year-old, could a fourteen-year-old speak so fluently and logically when meeting a stranger?
If Liang Dawei knew this, how could Zheng Tianming not have noticed?
Plus, she keeps saying she wants to play with her brother. If she really wants a family that much, shouldn't she be eager to see her "mother" now that she has a "father"? Why her brother?
Putting all that aside, she has a strong desire for a family, a desire that is not something she was taught by others.
What exactly did Lily say to her?
Little Jasmine really wants to go home with him and be his daughter. All things considered, this child seems to have...schizophrenia.
Xu Mengyu felt a chill run down her spine: [Then why did you bring her home? Are you crazy?]
Logically, shouldn't he have taken the little girl to the office and let them figure out a solution?
Zheng Tianming looked up. Because it was an old-fashioned house, the gap between the door and the door frame was large. He had just heard the sound, so he hadn't said anything.
Before Xu Mengyu could say anything more, Zheng Tianming said, "I'm definitely going to adopt this child. If you don't want to, then we'll break up, and I'll find her another mother."
Little Jasmine squatted by the door with her doll in her hand, peeking into the bedroom through the crack in the door. She didn't want to be sent back. She thought that if she went back, they would bully her and beat her.
She was so scared.
Zheng Tianming's expression was clearly off, and Xu Mengyu noticed it too; she felt her hair stand on end.
Xu Mengyu: [Calm down, I didn't say I disagreed, why are you yelling at me?]
Little Jasmine carried her doll back to her room. Relieved that her uncle hadn't abandoned her...
Zheng Tianming turned off the lights, lay on the bed, chatted with Xu Mengyu for a while, kissed her for a bit, and after the video call ended, the two switched to text chat.
Xu Mengyu threw off the covers and ran to find Xu Lu. No, it's too scary for her to be so suspicious all by herself. Even though Zheng Tianming didn't explain it in detail, she'll fill in the blanks in her mind!
Xu Lu was fast asleep when he heard the door open. He glanced at it and asked, "Mom?"
Xu Mengyu threw back the covers and got into bed: "I'm scared, let's sleep together tonight."
Xu Lu was so tired from playing soccer that he could barely keep his eyes open. He sat up and tucked the blanket around him. "Don't worry, Lu Lu's here," he said, taking Xu Mengyu's hand in his.
My dear parents, you're such a worry.
Zheng Tianming chatted with Xu Mengyu, but she didn't reply, so he turned off the lights and went to sleep.
He heard the same sound again in the middle of the night, but he turned over and went back to sleep. He wasn't about to be frightened by a child.
He had waded through rivers of blood and seen countless corpses. Apart from being genuinely afraid when Xu Mengyu was angry, he had never been afraid.
Seeing that Zheng Tianming was asleep, Xiao Moli got up and went back, hoping he wouldn't abandon her.
Early in the morning, Zheng Tianming was standing in the bathroom, about to relieve himself, when his phone rang.
Xu Mengyu sat on Xu Lu's bed, her eyes vacant: [Zheng Tianming, you wait, when I get back I'll strangle you.]
Zheng Tianming held his phone up to himself: [Want to take a look?]
Xu Mengyu then saw where he was and understood what he meant by "take a look".
She doesn't care.
After Zheng Tianming saw that the video call had ended, he went to the bathroom and quickly washed up.
He had already discussed Xiao Moli's situation with Liang Dawei yesterday. They suggested consulting a psychologist first, as it could be quite troublesome if it turned out to be schizophrenia.
Because if that's the case, then everything Lily does could be a figment of her imagination.
Maybe Lily never even spoke to her.
Or perhaps Lily secretly hid her phone and influenced others by talking to it.
Both are possible.
Little Jasmine got up early in the morning. She sat obediently on the sofa watching cartoons, holding her favorite plush doll in her arms.
"Good morning, Uncle." Little Jasmine looked at Zheng Tianming with a smile.
She will soon have a home.
Zheng Tianming passed by the sofa, patted her head, and then walked towards the kitchen: "I have to go to work in a while. Are you coming with me or going to school? There are lots of children at school, and you can sing, dance, and play with toys."
"I want to go with Uncle." Little Jasmine said, putting on her slippers and walking into the kitchen. "Is there anything I can do?"
At an age when he shouldn't be cleaning up his own mess, he's saying things that are quite unusual.
Zheng Tianming yawned: "No need, just wait to eat."
Little Jasmine ran back to continue watching cartoons.
Liang Dawei got up early. If he could solve the case, his superiors would give him a reward, and he could buy his wife a decent dress.
He had been wearing the same shoes for several years, and recently he went to a shoe repair shop and spent five yuan to have the soles patched on.
While others have steamed buns and fried dough sticks for breakfast, he brought rice and leftovers from last night from home.
There was no other way; he had sold his house and had to be extremely frugal. If he spent even a little more than necessary, his salary wouldn't be enough to cover his wife's medical expenses.
She was his only pillar in the world.
They had a child when they were young. He was away from home, and his wife was doing laundry. The winter clothes were too heavy, and she stretched them, causing them to lose the baby. They didn't have any more children after that.
Just as Liang Dawei was about to pick up his chopsticks, he saw Zheng Tianming smiling. He was carrying breakfast, and Xiao Moli was following him the whole time.
"Come on, come on, try some fresh xiaolongbao." Actually, Zheng Tianming had already eaten them at home.
Liang Dawei took five, and his other colleagues followed suit.
Zheng Tianming took a bite and asked, "So, what did the surveillance footage find?"
"Don't even mention it," Liang Dawei said, eating a steamed bun. "There wasn't even a ghost in sight."
Everyone else was exhausted too; they went home at midnight and came to work before six.
They worked day and night.
Zheng Tianming let Xiao Moli play by herself and started working.
At this moment, a middle-aged man walked in. After chatting with Zheng Tianming and the others for a few words, he sat down in a chair.
He was busy with his own things at first, and then he started talking to Xiao Moli.
The two chatted happily, and Xiao Moli laughed from time to time.
"When I was little, I also had a good friend. We would go to the vegetable garden together to pick radishes to eat," the middle-aged man said, gesturing as he spoke.
Little Jasmine laughed heartily: "I also have a good friend named Lily, but she can't talk."
Liang Dawei and Zheng Tianming were chatting on the computer.
Liang Dawei: "No, that doesn't add up. She said yesterday that Lily told her she was a pretty girl and that many uncles would like her."
The middle-aged man didn't respond to Xiao Moli's words, nor did he ask about Lily's matter: "Then we were chased by a big black dog, which scared me so much that I screamed." As he spoke, he actually started running in place, constantly looking back, as if a dog was really chasing him.
Little Jasmine laughed so hard that tears welled up in her eyes: "Lily and I were also chased by that big black dog. That big black dog was huge, and the headmaster also got a lot of radishes."
“...”
After that, no matter what the middle-aged man said, Xiao Moli would always pin the blame on him...
"I even crawled through a dog hole before, and a lot of people came looking for me," Little Jasmine said, gesturing to show how big the dog hole was and where it was located.
Zheng Tianming glanced at Liang Dawei, and the two fell silent.
This child has a serious problem; what she says may not be true.
At this moment, the people from the laboratory arrived. The wooden stick that Liang Dawei had brought back yesterday only had Xiao Moli's fingerprints on it, not Lili's.
Moreover, there were no signs of it having been used.
Little Jasmine likely saw what others were using, but after realizing it wouldn't work, she was afraid others would find out, so she directly arranged for it to be used on Lily.
She has a very serious mental illness.
After the middle-aged man left, Xiao Moli approached Zheng Tianming and began telling him the story of being chased by a big black dog when she was a child, even gesturing as if she had experienced it herself...
Liang Dawei was about to cry. He had finally gotten a clue, but now it was all useless.
“You were never chased by a big black dog because you were born in an orphanage, and orphanages don’t keep big black dogs.” Zheng Tianming looked at Xiao Moli seriously.
Little Jasmine immediately tensed up: "Yes, there's a big black dog! It belongs to the dean. You can call and ask if you don't believe me!"
She knew she was lying, and she became visibly nervous after being exposed.
"Little Jasmine, don't lie. Tell me, have you ever been chased by a big black dog?" Zheng Tianming's voice was much louder than before.
Little Jasmine lowered her head, tears streaming down her face: "No, no big black dog chased me."
Zheng Tianming patted Xiao Moli's head: "Good girl, tell Uncle the truth, has Lili spoken to you?"
"But I really did pull up radishes, with Lily," Little Jasmine said, wiping away her tears.
Liang Dawei shrugged, knowing she would only admit it if she saw through his lies; otherwise, she would just blurt them out...
Zheng Tianming almost lost his composure.
Everyone else in the office was speechless.
In the afternoon, Zheng Tianming was sleeping when he heard Xiao Moli telling stories to her female colleagues, all sorts of random things.
As a result, I accidentally knocked the cup off the table.
Little Jasmine took several steps back, then turned and ran to Zheng Tianming's side: "Uncle, Auntie broke the cup."
"Huh? Didn't you break it?" The female colleague, who had been listening with great interest, was stunned. She had only returned in the afternoon and didn't know what had happened that morning.
Little Jasmine shook her head vigorously: "No, no, it was Auntie who broke it, not me."
Zheng Tianming waved his hand, indicating that the glass shards should be cleaned up.
The female colleague frowned, but didn't say anything more.
Liang Dawei came back from outside and went to his rented room to eat: "Come on, try the vegetable rice rolls your sister-in-law made."
Zheng Tianming raised his hand: "I've never eaten this before, give me one."
Little Jasmine ran over and grabbed one: "Uncle, this rice roll is so big, let's eat it together."
Zheng Tianming nodded.
"Tianming, we need to search the surrounding area this afternoon to see if we can find any useful clues." Liang Dawei delivered the last lunchbox.
Little Jasmine raised her hand: "I want to go with Uncle."
She was afraid of being left behind, so she wanted to stick close to Zheng Tianming.
"Okay, wait until I finish eating." Zheng Tianming took a bite, and his phone rang.
He picked up his phone and looked at it: "Hey, bro, um, I'm not available right now. Let's talk when I get home. Okay, okay, you go ahead with your work."
There was no other way; Pei Kaixin was a computer science professor and also the owner of a game company, so we had to ask him for help with high-tech matters.
Liang Dawei leaned closer: "Wow, that's rare. Why are you being so polite?"
"What kind of talk is that? When you ask someone for a favor, is it ever right to do it so confidently?" Zheng Tianming's phone rang again as soon as he finished speaking.
Xu Mengyu finished her meeting and was getting ready for class: [Do me a favor. I need a few capable bodyguards. I'll take Xu Lu to see He Kai on Saturday to check on his farm and then sign the contract.]
Since we're going to cooperate, we should at least do an on-site inspection.
Zheng Tianming turned around: [Yes, Miss, I'll call home in a bit. I promise, she'll definitely be there on Saturday.]
Liang Dawei couldn't help but burst out laughing. What did he just say?
He slapped Zheng Tianming on the waist: "What are you doing? Stand up straight."
Xu Mengyu heard someone talking and knew that Zheng Tianming was busy, so she ended the call.
Zheng Tianming put away his phone and looked at Liang Dawei: "Aren't you afraid of your sister-in-law?"
"In my family, I'm the boss. I'm the king." Liang Dawei said, rubbing his nose as he walked out.
When you're out and about, your reputation is something you create for yourself...
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