0014 014 My father, who was powerful, wealthy, and well-connected
A week passed quickly, and the day Li Huanguang was allowed to visit Qi Shuyao happened to be Qi Shuyao's first day of school. She got up early and begged the driver to go to the detention center first.
The woman who used to face all sorts of discrimination and disdain from her mother-in-law with a smile now has a sallow complexion and her eyes have permanently lost their luster and light. She was clearly surprised by Qi Shuyao's arrival. After a brief moment of surprise, she quickly regained her composure. She brought her face close to the glass, her high nose almost flattened.
“I’ve been watching the news every day lately and I know about what happened to the Pei family. You absolutely must not get involved. Remember what I said: never trust men, never believe in love! Stay by Qi Yu’s side! Don’t go anywhere…”
"Visiting time is here."
Li Huanguang was escorted back, and he looked almost insane as he left. Qi Shuyao watched his back and felt a pang of pain in her heart for some reason.
"Miss, it's time to go to school."
The driver stepped forward to remind her, then quickly got her into the car and sped off to the school. Li Huanguang's last look and words seemed to be a curse swirling in her mind.
"Don't believe in love... Stay by Qi Yu's side... Qi Yu and love... Ah—"
She was going crazy. She knew that her mind was completely incapable of getting involved in such a complicated struggle. The girl's thoughts were being pulled by things that she shouldn't have touched, and she felt like she was being torn to pieces.
She suddenly regretted that she shouldn't have been so willful as to pester Qi Yu to take her to those work events when she was young. She didn't want to know these things; she would rather be like Song Yusheng and know nothing about her family.
The car sped towards the school, but morning reading had already begun. She used facial recognition to bypass the latecomers' line and went straight to the classroom.
Unusually, the back door was open today. She went in from the back and saw Song Yusheng slumped next to the seat, her collar torn open, revealing a large area of skin.
What are you doing!
Qi Shuyao immediately pushed aside the onlookers and went to put a coat on Song Yusheng. Then she turned around, pushed all the books on the table to the ground, and threw a tantrum.
"What are you doing? Just watching her get bullied all by herself? Don't you have any sympathy at all?"
One student whispered, "Aren't they dating? Who can go up to them..."
"Who's dating whom?!"
"With me, what's wrong?"
Yang Xun walked in through the back door. His shirt was always half exposed and half tucked in, and his school uniform jacket was casually draped over his shoulders. He had just washed his face, which was still wet.
"Song Yusheng is dating you? You must have been dreaming last night."
"Stop acting all high and mighty. Who are you trying to fool? Do you really consider her a friend? What kind of friend is she? You don't even contact her during the whole vacation. You didn't even know her family went bankrupt. I was the one who saved her when Su Shaojin was bullying her."
Yang Xun's ugly face magnified in her eyes. Qi Shuyao pushed him away, turned around, squatted down, looked at Song Yusheng, and straightened her coat.
"He's talking nonsense, don't listen to him."
The numb girl raised her eyes, reached out and hugged her best friend. It was no use saying anything now; this was probably the end of her life.
Meanwhile, Yang Xun was still loudly reading out his family's good news.
"Everyone's seen the news, right? My dad's been promoted to mayor of Yangcheng. We're having a banquet at home tonight, and everyone who wants to come is welcome."
Another fly that rose to power by shifting blame to Pei Yuzhou. Qi Shuyao stood up angrily and glared at him.
He stepped forward, his voice very low.
"Qi Shuyao, I can't touch you, but don't be too presumptuous in front of me, otherwise, I might do something. Even if you kill me, you can't go back to the way things were before."
"Really? Aren't you afraid I'll do something to you too?"
"Well, what is inherited and what is stolen are completely different, and you and I are different too."
Qi Shuyao raised her hand and slapped Yang Xun across the face. The classroom fell silent instantly. The bell rang and the teacher walked into the classroom, telling them to sit down without any emotion.
Yang Xun glared and took another step forward, raising his hand to retaliate, but Qi Shuyao pushed his arm away without fear.
Song Yusheng also got up from the ground and dragged Qi Shuyao back, but her rationality had been burned away. She kicked a chair, then pulled Song Yusheng out.
The teacher acted as if she hadn't seen anything.
They walked to the small flower bed behind the building. Qi Shuyao was so angry that she was incoherent and didn't know where to begin.
"What's going on? Is he acting like a jerk first thing in the morning? Should we call the police?"
Song Yusheng pulled her coat closer to her shoulders, buttoned up the collar, and remained expressionless.
"It's just two buttons undone. I usually show more skin when I wear a formal dress, so it's fine."
"What do you mean 'nothing'? How can what you did be the same as what someone else did? What happened to you? What has happened during this time?"
Song Yusheng gently took off her coat, folded it neatly, and held it in her arms. She stared at the ground for a long time before looking up into her friend's eyes and slowly began to recount what had happened in the past few days.
"On the morning of that man surnamed Pei's funeral, a group of people rushed into my house and took my father away. I forced my mother to ask and found out that the reason our family had been hiding in Yangcheng all these years was because many years ago, we were threatened and used by that man surnamed Pei to work for them. On the surface, it was a logistics company, but in reality, we were secretly transporting all kinds of contraband for them. Over the years, we had formed an inseparable network of relationships. It is said that they originally wanted to protect this secret line, but his daughter, me, had been playing with Su Shaojin since childhood, and the Su family was given important positions. So some people suspected that they were colluding and framing us in private. They didn't listen to any explanations. Pei Yuzhou is dead, but his connections are still there. These people are all related to each other. Everyone has stronger connections than my family. Naturally, no one pays attention to us."
That's true. Those families all had this kind of indirect kinship, so they looked down on Qi Yu, who suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
Song Yusheng continued speaking.
"Su Shaojin has also been taken away, probably to Jingyang. His father has become an official. The night before he left, he told me that if I gave him to him that day, he would take me with him... I disagreed. Later, Yang Xun came again. You know about their grudges, right? They fought, and Su Shaojin left with a scar on his face."
"Is Su Shaojin that kind of person?"
"Who knows?"
Why don't you tell me about these things?
“I wanted to talk to him, but it was no use. Uncle Qi couldn’t possibly be involved with us. Besides, Yang Xun is being too persistent. When my dad wasn’t home, he threatened my mom that if she didn’t let him in, he would climb through the window and rape me. Today, he even said in class that we were boyfriend and girlfriend. When no one responded, he said, ‘Don’t you believe me? I’ll prove it to you…’”
"I'm going to kill him..."
"Don't move..." Song Yusheng pulled Qi Shuyao back, her voice so calm it didn't seem like she was talking about her own affairs.
“Your dad has been keeping you in Yangcheng because he doesn’t want you to get involved. You can’t let him have any worries.”
"No, think about it. Pei Yuzhou's matter was definitely not discovered by chance. His family should have heard about it themselves. Just because you and Su Shaojin have a good relationship, they dare to do this to your family. Could it be that they know something?"
“But my dad shouldn’t be the kind of person who leaks secrets; he’s the most timid person.”
"Is that covering up evidence? Just like after Pei Yuzhou died, all the blame was pinned on him so that others could get away with it."
"I don't know, I don't know anything about their affairs."
Qi Shuyao stayed by Song Yusheng's side at school all day, not letting Yang Xun get close to her. She herself couldn't concentrate on the class, as if she had figured out some cause and effect from it.
When she attended Pei Yuzhou's funeral, the only thing she couldn't understand was why his family would perform rituals and expose their own underworld organization in the funeral hall, which was being recorded by numerous cameras. Now, a thought suddenly rushed into her mind.
What if everything was intentional? Did they already know that one day the affairs of the Pei and Lin families would be exposed, and that the existence of the Pei family gang could also prove Pei Yuzhou's actions, making everything seem reasonable, so that the dead would take all the blame, and the rest could clear themselves of all responsibility?
Were these people taking advantage of Pei Yuzhou's death, or did Pei Yuzhou already foresee this and willingly ruin his own reputation?
If it's the latter, why would he go to such lengths? What is the relationship between them? Does he consider others but not his own son's future?
Thinking of Pei Youwen, Qi Shuyao took out her phone. Before the start of the semester, he had taken the initiative to chat with her twice, both times about painting. His tone was polite, and she couldn't tell if he had any ulterior motives, just like an ordinary friend.
So what role did this young man play in this situation? Was he proactive or passive? Was he really as harmless and without desires as he appeared to the outside world?
Thinking about this was much harder than solving math problems. She even lost several more strands of hair. The more she thought about it, the more she felt that Qi Yu was so tired. As she thought about it, she could forgive him for not having time to care about her.
After school that evening, Qi Shuyao went back to the Song family home with Song Yusheng. She sent a message to Han's mother early in the morning saying, "I won't be going home to sleep tonight," and the driver didn't even leave from home.
Qi Yu has been traveling from Jingyang back to Yangcheng every night recently. He specially chose a new home in the northern suburbs of Yangcheng, which is adjacent to Jingyang. If he hadn't been delayed on the road today, he would have been able to pick her up from school in time.
But when he entered the house, not a single pretty little bird fluttered its wings and landed in his arms. The house was quiet and seemed unusually deserted.
Where is Miss?
"He went to Miss Song's house and said he would stay there with her tonight."
"Call her right now and tell her I'm coming to pick her up." His tone was now as cold as the night.
A moment later, a car roared up from the Song family villa, and the man in the driver's seat, his face cold, picked up the phone.
"Get down right now and go home."
"What are you doing? Sheng Sheng is in danger. I'll stay here with her for the night."
“Yang Xun can go to see her every day, but can you stay at her house every day? If she is in danger, her parents will protect her. Come down quickly.”
He actually knew everything about the Song family, and even knew that Song's father had indeed returned home tonight. Qi Shuyao turned around to look at Song Yusheng, shook her hand, and went downstairs with her schoolbag on her back.
Seeing that she was somewhat obedient, Qi Yu's expression softened a bit, but he was still incredibly irritated, radiating coldness as he leaned over to fasten her seatbelt.
Qi Shuyao was even more stubborn than him, snatching the seatbelt and buckling it herself.
She pretended to be indifferent, but she had never been treated like that before. She turned her head away and ignored him, feeling extremely wronged.
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