Meanwhile, the old couple received the two messages at the same time.
“…”
They exchanged a glance. At first, they assumed it was a prank, but after failing to trace its source, they could only try to decipher the two words “seeking husband.”
There seemed to be only one person who would send such a pointless message.
“‘Must kill someone’?” Qin Ruolan finally sounded out the three characters, her brows lifting slightly. “Could it be that the one who sent this message is that not-too-bright girlfriend of Shen Sixing’s?”
“Her?” Shen Shu scoffed. “Shen Sixing has kept her and that child under such tight protection that not even a drop of water could get through. He’s even stationed people within three kilometers of the school. I doubt she even knows which way the front door of the Shen residence faces.”
Qin Ruolan lifted the freshly issued paternity test toward the light.
She gave the sheet a gentle shake. “Look at this paternity test. The child is neither Miss Wen’s nor Shen Sixing’s.”
“I know our son quite well. He isn’t easy to get close to. How exactly did those two end up together? And how did they calmly accept a strange child, then absurdly decide to build a family together?”
At first, she had assumed Shen Sixing was merely bored and wanted to fool around.
But over the past month, Shen Sixing had been cutting his sleep to the bone so he could finish the task Shen Shu had given him as quickly as possible.
Every day, he looked like the sort of workaholic who woke up and immediately threw himself into work. It was utterly beyond her expectations.
Qin Ruolan spread the report flat on the table again and tapped the paternity results with one finger.
“This whole situation is far too strange. A child of unknown origin, and an utterly ordinary woman—Shen Sixing even turned his back on the entire family over them. Don’t you think there’s a huge piece of the puzzle missing here?”
Shen Shu was also pondering Shen Sixing’s motives.
His son was like a block of ice that was impossible to melt. He was slow to warm up and highly guarded.
What could have made him so devoted?
Love at first sight?
Wasn’t such a melodramatic plot a little too implausible?
Qin Ruolan folded the report and slipped it into the inner compartment of her handbag, giving a cold, mocking laugh. “If those three can’t give me a reasonable explanation, I won’t let them off.”
“Besides…” She flicked the thin sheet of paper. “I think we should meet the child first. She may be the link that brought those two together.”
“Shen Sixing’s people are too troublesome. I had someone follow her for three days. He has at least six undercover guards stationed around her, working in shifts. Even when she goes downstairs to buy a bottle of soy sauce, someone follows close behind.”
“I don’t want to alert Shen Sixing. It would be best if we could handle the whole thing without making a sound.”
Shen Shu approved of her approach. “How do you plan to do it?”
Qin Ruolan said, “Create some trouble that will require Shen Sixing to keep an eye on it personally. As long as he’s away, there will always be a gap we can exploit.”
“And distract the child’s mother as well.”
Qin Ruolan had a feeling that woman would be difficult to deal with.
—At that very moment, Shen Sixing was staring at the warning message on his phone that read, “Seeking husband,” with his entire head buried in his hands.
His shoulders shook with laughter.
“Must kill someone.”
The young man repeated the three words indistinctly, then sat up straight and leaned back against his chair. The corners of his lips curved uncontrollably.
He could imagine Wen Ya’s expression when she had sent the message even with his eyes closed.
After laughing, a faint shadow gradually settled between his brows.
…
When Shen Yi was tied up, she did not feel particularly panicked. More than anything, she felt relieved—as if she had finally been expecting this to happen.
It would have been strange if that old-fashioned couple from the Shen family hadn’t tried to do something to her.
The previous month and a half had been peaceful only because they hadn’t found an opportunity.
After another month and a half, Wen Ya went out to hand over a mission, leaving Shen Yi alone at home.
When a group of people burst in and pointed guns at her, Shen Yi’s thoughts froze for a moment. Then she made the most natural decision in the world: she raised both hands above her head in a textbook surrender.
She obediently stood up and followed them into the black car waiting downstairs.
By the time she got in, someone was already sitting inside.
The woman sat beside her, dark sunglasses covering most of her face. The visible line of her jaw and the slight curve of her lips radiated an oppressive presence that could not be ignored.
The car started moving.
The street outside the window began sliding backward.
The woman gently pushed her sunglasses up, revealing most of her face.
Her lips were a vivid red, and her skin was so pale it was almost translucent. Between her brows and eyes was a beauty so extraordinary that it seemed impossible to find a second person like her anywhere in the world.
Shen Yi had still been trying to guess the woman’s identity.
But the moment she saw that face, she instinctively raised her voice.
“Third Brother?”
“Third Brother?” Qin Ruolan precisely caught the short exclamation. “What kind of reaction is that?”
Did she look like her brother?
She removed her sunglasses.
The impact of her features was even more overwhelming up close.
Her dark eyes, sharply defined brow bones, straight and slender nose bridge—everything about her looked as if it had been drawn in a single stroke by a comic-book artist.
Shen Yi was stunned for a moment. She blinked blankly, then realized that what she had said sounded rather strange.
“I mean, you’re incredibly beautiful.” She paused, then added, “Just as beautiful as my Third Brother.”
Qin Ruolan’s brows lifted slightly. “You use the word ‘beautiful’ to describe your Third Brother?”
Before coming, Qin Ruolan had imagined many possible reactions from Shen Yi.
Crying, screaming, trembling with fear, or trying to curry favor.
The one thing she had not expected was for the little girl to call her “Third Brother” at first sight.
Qin Ruolan had looked down on Wen Ya and Shen Yi from the very beginning.
If Shen Sixing’s condition hadn’t been so strange lately, Qin Ruolan would not have bothered meeting her at all.
As far as she was concerned, Shen Yi was merely a little thing Shen Sixing had picked up on a whim after taking pity on her—plain-looking, and not particularly bright.
Shen Yi cupped her face in both hands and gazed at her with large amber eyes, her expression utterly sincere. “Yes. Men can be just as beautiful as you are.”
Qin Ruolan’s expression remained cold. Her dark eyes paused on Shen Yi’s face for a moment before sliding away.
“Trying to flatter me won’t do you any good.”
Her tone was indifferent. “I don’t fall for that.”
Shen Yi grabbed both sides of her hair and tugged them down slightly. It was clear that the woman before her would be very difficult to please.
Still, the fact that she was willing to converse meant she probably did not hate Shen Yi as much as she appeared to.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Shen Yi asked the question she most wanted answered.
“Madam, is my father all right?”
She wondered whether her poor, helpless young dad had been bullied at work.
“Quite well.” Qin Ruolan’s tone held a hint of mockery. “He’s been working very hard lately. He’s practically killing himself trying to meet with you two.”
Working hard?
In Shen Yi’s memory, Shen Sixing was the kind of person who could collapse onto the sofa and turn into a limp noodle. If someone urged him to go out, he could drag his feet for thirty minutes. After coming home from overtime, he would stand in the entryway for a long time before even taking off his shoes.
She truly could not imagine what Shen Sixing looked like when he was working hard.
Shen Yi lightly rubbed her earlobe and cautiously asked, “Madam, can I see him?”
This time, Qin Ruolan genuinely thought she was very strange.
An ordinary eight-year-old might not cry or make a fuss, and might even be able to chat naturally with an adult like her—but he actually dared to ask to see his father?
“You want to see him?”
“Then you’d better not come running back out in tears.” Qin Ruolan smiled faintly, not quite a smile.
She knew very well what Shen Sixing had been up to lately.
