0091 091 Taiping Xiaochangjing
"What do you know?"
Qi Yu also became serious. He sat up by himself and helped her to sit up as well. The air conditioner in the garage was finally turned on. Qi Shuyao leaned over the bed and reached for her phone, which had been thrown to the ground. She was in a hurry, and her words were so chaotic that they were incoherent.
“When I was at Shu Li’s house, the window of my room faced the backyard. There was a large garden there, and the trees completely blocked the view, so you could hardly see anything. There were many trees and grass, but they didn’t block the way. There was a path that led directly out, around the gate, and out of their yard. Not only could people walk there, but cars and trucks could also come in. That night, Guan Xiang went in with a driver. It was already past midnight, but I hadn’t gone to sleep yet. Shu Li came out to pick him up, but it wasn’t a pleasant experience. He kicked Guan Xiang, and Guan Xiang even cried until his nose was running. He told Shu Li that the leader of the construction site in Linxian District who had killed people was his subordinate. He had escaped this time, so he sent all the most valuable things in his house to Shu Li.”
It matched up. Qi Yu personally checked Guan Xiang's family's treasures one by one, and many antiques that would be covered with reinforced glass in museums were all gone.
But the more he listened, the more he frowned.
"How did you hear so much? Didn't they notice?"
"Guan Xiang was probably not paying attention to his surroundings at the time, but Shu Li was always very vigilant. He kept glancing at my window. I only opened the sliding window less than a centimeter wide and didn't stick my head out. These people have done too many bad things, so they suspect everyone and don't trust anyone. Guan Xiang drove away crying, and Shu Li immediately ran up to see if I was asleep."
"So, what other deals do Shu Li and Guan Xiang have?"
"What connection? He's two-faced. He burned all those things a few days after Guan Xiang left."
Qi Shuyao raised her phone and opened the video she had recorded.
It was another night in the basement. The video didn't show what was in the flames, only Shu Li's back. His hair was all white, but his back was still straight.
Qi Yu put down his phone, rubbing his temples. The few clues that had finally been straightened out were now tangled up again.
"Don't frown. Things are pretty clear now. Regardless of what Shu Li is planning, Guan Xiang is someone who can connect everything that has happened so far."
"What?"
"Did you look through my paintings?"
"……right."
"They even went through my phone."
"right."
"Have you seen the portrait I drew?"
Qi Yu nodded repeatedly, while Qi Shuyao was somewhat excited. She changed her sitting posture several times and waved her hands incessantly.
"Do you remember the time I was kidnapped by Guan Xiang? Second Madam was really drunk. She probably doesn't even remember it herself. She told me that there was a girl in their family who was sent here when she was a child. That year, she was about the same age as Pei Youwen, and also the same age as all the girls I listed before who looked similar. I roughly described their characteristics, and Second Madam said that was it. However, the girl in their family was surnamed Yang, the Yang of the Yang family. Going back further, didn't we also trace the Yang family's relationship? Pei Yuzhou's wife was also from the Yang family. So he put that girl under the Yang family's control and sent her to Guan Xiang under the pretext."
She didn't explain it clearly, leaving Qi Yu completely confused. Qi Shuyao became even more agitated, desperately wanting to find paper and pen to draw and write it down for him, but there was nothing around.
The air conditioner fan swayed left and right, up and down, and the moment she sat up, a cool breeze blew onto her forehead. She finally remembered that there was one very important thing she hadn't told Qi Yu.
June 3rd, the third day since the opening of Xuan Sha Guild Hall.
When a new store opens, some problems will gradually emerge. Each private room in the club has a different style, and the needs of the guests are also different. For example, there is a box room on the second floor. The room is full of large cabinets. Some people like to bring girls here and do some naughty things in the cabinets.
However, the inside of the closet hadn't been properly cleaned, and several dresses had already been torn after two nights. On the third day, Tu Mi bought two large bundles of stickers and wallpaper to put inside the closet, and Qi Shuyao, having nothing better to do, climbed in to help her put them on.
The clubhouse is not open during the day. The manager, who had been busy all night, was catching up on sleep downstairs. When Pei Youwen arrived, he came upstairs and, hearing a sound coming from this room, went in.
Qi Shuyao was lying inside the cabinet, the door half-open. Pei Youwen didn't know there was someone else inside. He came in and started hugging and embracing Tu Mi. After she gave him a few perfunctory replies, he started daydreaming about the future.
"I didn't dare bother you the other day, afraid you'd think I was clumsy and would mess things up. You always say I'm a spoiled young master who's never experienced anything. Actually, I am... well, the past is the past. We should think about the future, right?"
While cutting stickers, Tu Mi casually chimed in.
"What future?"
Upon hearing her reply, Pei You straightened his back instantly, but then suddenly slumped back down.
Do you think someone like me has a future?
Tu Mi found it novel.
"What kind of person are you? Have you ever experienced any setbacks in your life? All you did was realize your father's true colors after he passed away. You didn't lose anything. Your money is still your money. I didn't take a single penny. But your mother has suffered a lot because of you."
“I have returned the money to my family in other ways, but my mother still doesn’t want to talk to me. But life goes on like this, and it’s harmonious enough.”
"That's great, what else do you want?"
"But I can't see a future."
“Speaking of the future…” Tu Mi put down what she was holding, turned around to face him, “Your dad really didn’t plan any direction for you, aren’t you his son?”
"That's why I approached Qi Shuyao in the first place, hoping to find a way out through her. My dad really gave up on me. He didn't care about anything and left me to fend for myself. From the time he was hospitalized until he passed away, I didn't even see him once. He didn't mention me in his will, and I didn't even get a share of the family property."
When he said it, he no longer seemed sad; he was quite calm, yet also somewhat curious.
"What's your relationship with Qi Shuyao? You seem to know her quite well. What happened to her the other day?"
“She’s a friend. I made her at the hospital. She had a fight with her dad that day and ran away. She had nowhere to stay.”
"How willful!"
"So, everyone has their own strange problems, so there's no need for you to always complain."
"But we can't just keep living like this in a daze."
"What...do you want to do?"
"Actually, my vision for the future is very simple: a home, a house, a child, and just being together."
Tu Mi rolled her eyes slightly, hidden beneath her bangs, then turned and picked up the scissors again, saying something lightly.
"Didn't I tell you? I can't have children after my miscarriage. You should find someone else."
Pei Youwen wasn't surprised, but Qi Shuyao, who was holding her nose and barely breathing inside the closet, was quite astonished. However, before she could think about it further, another sound came from outside.
"Then we can use surrogacy."
"What is that?"
Tu Mi had gotten used to it, but the world still kept giving her unexpected shocks with things she had never heard of before.
Pei Youwen became excited again. He knelt down beside Tu Mi and explained with exaggerated gestures.
"It's very simple, that's how I was born."
"……ah?"
Tu Mi looked up at the cabinet, gazing into the darkness behind the half-open door. She couldn't quite hear what he said after that.
"You know that pregnancy is when a man's sperm enters a woman's body and combines with an egg, right? But with modern medical technology, they can combine outside the body and even grow and be born inside someone else's body. It's very convenient. You just have a malfunctioning uterus, but you can still form an egg normally. Then we can go to a professional institution to find a suitable surrogate mother, and we will have a healthy baby of our own."
He became more and more excited as he spoke, moving closer and closer to Tu Mi. Her gaze kept drifting towards the cabinet, and she kept trying to avoid him. She waved the scissors between them, finally managing to block Pei Youwen from getting closer.
He calmed down, sat back down, and, tu mi twirling her hair, forced herself to stay calm and asked him in return,
"You said this is how you were born, what do you mean?"
“I also have an older brother, the eldest brother, but he was killed by my father’s enemy. They were already very old at the time, and my mother couldn’t get pregnant, so they went to a surrogacy agency to have twin boys, me and my brother. Unfortunately, I… in the end, I was the only one left.”
"Then you are..."
Tu Mi didn't know what to ask, and kept stammering and rambling. Her phone vibrated in her pocket against her thigh, so she secretly took it out. Qi Shuyao had sent a message.
"Let's continue this topic and let him talk more."
Tu Mi put away her phone and continued asking questions.
"But that's not a good idea. Even if we have a child, how will we tell him about it later?"
"You can just tell me directly, or not at all. Actually, I found out by overhearing my parents' conversation, but I accepted it quickly. It's not a big deal, because I found out something even more exciting."
"What's up?"
He leaned closer, his voice very soft, and Tu Mi gently pushed him away.
"Speak louder, my hearing isn't very good because of the fall, but there's no one else here, it's okay."
"That's right. When my dad went for surrogacy, he didn't just surrogate for me and my brother. He collected a lot of sperm, and he selected sperm from each one that could produce girls. Then he searched for eggs from at least fifty highly educated women in the egg bank. In the same year as me, more than fifty girls were born, all of them his daughters. But some of them died during their growth. I didn't know that before. It was during that argument between the two of them that all of this came to light."
Tu Mi was completely shocked; her question came from the bottom of her heart.
"What does your father need so many girls for?"
"It's a marriage alliance. Some people give gifts when they want something done. They just give people away because you can't verify the origin of a gift, but you can verify a person's DNA. If you accept my person, you're on my side. It's a pity that his daughters didn't grow up before he died. He was completely useless."
"No, how could he raise so many children on his own?"
"How could he possibly raise them himself? They were all sent to various families. Some became actors, some were sent to the homes of old men with special interests when they were young, and some were sent to consolidate his subordinates. But most of them were raised by his different subordinates and then sent to various forces that he wanted to unite with when they grew up."
Qi Shuyao already had a general idea in her mind, but when she actually heard him say it, she was still so shocked that her heart trembled. Her palms were sweaty, and her phone slipped down and hit the bottom of the cabinet with a thud.
Tu Mi kept a close eye on the movements inside the cabinet. The moment the sound came out, she pushed the scissors off the table, the sound drowning out the noise from inside the cabinet, and even making Qi Shuyao let out a long sigh of relief.
"Do you understand? It's obvious. The actress is An Yuan, and the one who was given to the old man is Yao's nominal daughter. I've seen her at Zhu Jiangxu's house. She's the same age as Pei Youwen but as tall as a child. Later, Sister Jiangyu asked a few of the wealthy ladies they often met, and they said that Yao gave her a medicine that prevented her from growing, so she could always maintain a childlike appearance. There are also the ones that were given to you and Zhu Jiangxu, as well as the one from the Guan family, who was also given there when she was a child and grew up in the Guan family."
Qi Yu listened quietly the whole time. He took out a cell phone from his pocket. Qi Shuyao leaned over to look and found that it was the one that Guan Xiang had taken from her. She watched him skillfully unlock the screen. The screen layout was exactly the same as hers. She watched him find the file she had hidden, pull out the relationships she had compiled, and add Guan Xiang's name to the blank space.
"So, Guan Township connected all these people?"
Qi Shuyao didn't reply. She was clutching her hair, forgetting what else she hadn't said; her scalp was practically peeling off from her grip. Suddenly, she leaned close to Qi Yu, her eyes wide.
Do you know someone named Grandpa Dong?
How do you know him?
"Jiang Yu told me that Grandpa Dong went to her wedding."
Qi Yu put down his phone and unconsciously raised his hand to rub his cheek.
"Yes, who is this Uncle Dong?"
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