Knocking someone unconscious without making the slightest sound was an art in itself.
Qiuyun clapped her hands, stripped the bedsheet from the bed, twisted it into a thick rope, and tied the man to a chair.
Then she took out her phone, switched on the video recorder, and propped it upright behind the teapot.
“Cough, cough, cough!”
A basin of cold water was splashed over the man’s face, and he choked as he came to.
Qiuyun grabbed the desk lamp, turned it up to its brightest setting, and aimed it directly at his eyes.
“Name and age.”
The man’s head throbbed, and he was still dizzy. Blinded by the harsh light, he answered instinctively, “Wu Donglin. Twenty-eight.”
“What do you do for a living? How many people are in your family?”
“I—I’m a doorman. There are five people in my family.”
“Who are the five people?”
“My parents and my two older sisters… Wait!”
Wu Donglin finally realized what was going on. “Who are you? What are you doing tying me up? Untie me!”
Qiuyun got to her feet and switched on the bedside lamp behind her. Her calm, unreadable eyes gazed at him coolly.
Wu Donglin fell silent at once.
He remembered now. He had come to his maternal granduncle’s house for a wedding banquet. Everyone in the family was pleased with this bride and had planned to take advantage of the darkness to force themselves on her, leaving her no choice but to submit.
“What were you doing sneaking into my room in the middle of the night?”
Wu Donglin struggled, his face turning red with exertion. “Untie me! Let me go!”
Qiuyun sensed that something was off. Could this man be mentally ill?
“Stop moving around. I’ve already called the police.”
“Don’t call the police! Don’t!”
At the mention of the police, Wu Donglin struggled even harder.
The bedsheet, twisted into a thick rope, had been difficult to knot. Under the force of his struggles, it was beginning to loosen.
Seeing that things were taking a turn for the worse, Qiuyun hurried out of the room and locked the door from the outside. Then she quickly went to knock on Uncle Zhang’s door and the bodyguards’ door.
“What happened?”
The bodyguards reacted quickly, rolling out of bed and rushing outside.
Qiuyun summed it up in a few words. “A large man broke into my room. He seems mentally unstable. Help me restrain him.”
“All right.”
Without another word, the bodyguards grabbed the portable safe they kept with them and charged into Qiuyun’s room. Sure enough, the man had already broken free of the bedsheet. He was using the stool he had thrown beside the door to smash it wildly!
Even with two bodyguards working together, it was hard to believe how strong the man was. It took both of them—two well-built men standing six foot two—to restrain him completely.
Qiuyun was shaken.
Thank goodness she was a light sleeper and had stayed alert. Otherwise, if a man like this had slipped into her room, she would have had no chance to fight back!
Once the man was under control, the two bodyguards took a length of specially made nylon rope from the safe and tied him up securely again.
“Assistant Qiu, what should we do with him?”
Qiuyun breathed a sigh of relief. “Leave him here for now. I’ve already called the police. Go stand guard outside Madam and Miss’s rooms. Don’t let your guard down.”
The two bodyguards exchanged a glance, both seeing the lingering fear in each other’s eyes.
“All right.”
There were people throughout the sprawling compound, both upstairs and down. Neither of them had expected something like this to happen.
Uncle Zhang stayed with Qiuyun to wait for the police and, in the meantime, cursed the scumbag thoroughly.
Before long, the police arrived.
“What happened here?”
Qiuyun handed over her phone, saying, “Officer, this man secretly broke into my room in the middle of the night!”
The police officer took one look at the man sprawled in front of the bench. “Wu Donglin? You again! Just look at you. It hasn’t even been two weeks, and you’re causing trouble again!”
“Officer?”
The officer reassured her in a low voice. “Wu Donglin is what people call a ‘supermale.’” He pointed to his head. “There’s something wrong up here. He’s stubborn and can’t handle stimulation. The moment something sets him off, he starts smashing things. Over the years, he’s wrecked breakfast shops, lottery stores, Internet cafés, pool halls... He’s caused no end of trouble.”
Qiuyun frowned. “But he picked the lock and sneaked into my room in the middle of the night. That was clearly premeditated, not something he did in a fit of anger after being provoked.”
She had a point.
So the police put Wu Donglin in their car. “Come to the station at nine tomorrow morning to give a statement.”
“All right.”
After seeing the police off, Qiuyun told Uncle Zhang to get some rest as well. He had a long drive ahead of him the next day and needed to be well-rested.
When she reported the incident to Madam early the next morning, Qiuyun learned that Wu Donglin was actually the son of Madam’s grandaunt.
He had come over for dinner the previous day too, though he had eaten in the large hall next door rather than the main reception room. He had only come over to watch the commotion when the argument broke out, and for some inexplicable reason, he had taken an interest in her.
“What a disgusting piece of trash! This is completely unacceptable!” Yu Xiang was so furious that she began cursing. Then she turned to her father and said, “From now on, our family is cutting ties with Auntie and her family! To raise a piece of trash like that—and for him to dare sneak into our home in the middle of the night with vile intentions—does he think our entire family is dead?”
Yu the Third also looked grim. “I had no idea your aunt’s son could be so shameless. We simply won’t associate with them anymore.”
Yu Xiang drew a deep breath.
When she had been accepted into university, all her relatives and friends had contributed money or given her gifts of cash. Grateful for their kindness, she had never put on airs with anyone in the family or clan over the years.
She had always thought that they only saw one another once a year, and that, following the principle that the happier party should be the one to give way, there was no need to make an issue of the occasional minor offense.
She had never imagined that they would grow more outrageous by the day.
They had even dared to sneak into the courtyard in the middle of the night!
What was more, since this was her own family home, Yu Xiang had never taken precautions against such a thing. She couldn’t bear to imagine what might happen if someone followed this example and secretly crept into her daughter’s room in the future.
No.
Yu Xiang made up her mind. From then on, whenever she returned home for the New Year, if her parents wanted to see her and the children, they could come to the capital.
There was no need for her to return to this hometown ever again.
When Uncle Zhang heard that Madam and Miss intended to wait for Qiuyun before returning, he drove Qiuyun to the police station first to give her statement.
Madam’s hometown was not far from the city. They soon arrived at the local police station serving the area.
By then, Wu Donglin had already been questioned once, and the police had obtained his statement. They had confirmed that he had an additional criminal intent when he illegally entered the property. Since he also had several prior offenses, he would probably receive a sentence of six months to a year.
Madam’s grandaunt rushed over in tears as soon as she heard the news, but Qiuyun paid her no attention. She simply hired a local lawyer to act as her representative and instructed her to follow the matter through from beginning to end.
By the time everything was settled, it was already midday. Her grandparents insisted that they stay for lunch before leaving.
Their return to the capital was delayed again and again. By the time they finally set off, it was already half past one in the afternoon.
By the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, people had already begun returning to the capital in dribs and drabs. There was a little traffic on the road, and by the time they reached the city, it was already seven in the evening and completely dark.
“I’ll get out here.” Qiuyun asked the driver to stop at a fork in the road. “I have something else to take care of. See you after the New Year, Miss.”
Jiang Chuling was young, but she knew that Sister Xiaoqiu must have run into some trouble. Before they parted, she comforted her, “Don’t worry, Sister Xiaoqiu. Our family would never shield anyone who’s done wrong.”
“Okay.” Qiuyun smiled at her before telling the driver to leave.
She quickly hailed a taxi and had the driver take her to Chengyuan.
It was so late. She wondered whether Pei Cizhou was still there.
After scanning the QR code to pay, Qiuyun hurriedly got out and went to the side gate, where she knocked.
The lock clicked open, revealing an unfamiliar young woman inside. “I’m sorry, but Chengyuan requires reservations. We’re closed for the day.”
