Telephone

"But that doesn’t prove he’s innocent. In fact, that’s exactly why I suspect him. It’s too much of a coincidence. The lounge happened to be in a private area where the Sky-Eye System hadn’t been installed, making it a blind spot."

Lin Qinghe continued, "Also, the time he spent in the lounge with you happened to cover the period when Hans Hu died—more than two hours. People usually need to use the bathroom or something during that time.

"I think if Gu Sheng had asked to use the bathroom, you probably wouldn’t have followed him. That would have given him an opportunity. Once he’d done it for ten-odd minutes, doing it again would have been perfectly normal. Maybe he took advantage of that mindset of yours~~"

Lin Qinghe sounded completely certain, as if she had already grasped the truth. Of course, this was only her speculation. She had also noticed that Le Erya’s relationship with Gu Sheng had recently become somewhat unusual, so she hadn’t gone to Le Erya to verify it.

Le Erya said firmly, "Who told you he ever went to the bathroom? He-jie, I can tell you with certainty that during those two-plus hours, he stayed in the lounge the entire time. He didn’t go anywhere."

"Xiao Ya, you can’t be so certain. Even if he never asked to use the bathroom, how can you be sure you kept an eye on him the whole time?"

Lin Qinghe naturally trusted her own judgment. "More than two hours isn’t a short time. People get sleepy easily. You might have dozed off without even realizing it.

"If he really had been plotting something, he could have completed everything in three to five minutes. That might have been all the time you spent distracted."

"He-jie, are you saying an Ability User with psychic powers could get distracted? That’s ridiculous. Let alone two hours—even if it were an entire day and night, I wouldn’t get distracted."

Le Erya retorted, "I can tell you clearly, and I can say this with complete certainty and responsibility: Gu Sheng never left the lounge from beginning to end."

At that moment, Wu Mengchen spoke up. "Xiao Ya, can you tell us what exactly happened between you and Gu Sheng in the lounge? Why are you so certain that he’s innocent?"

"I~"

Le Erya opened her mouth, then fell silent again. She really found it difficult to talk about what had happened that day.

"Why did you stop?"

Lin Qinghe became somewhat aggressive. "Did you remember that you let your guard down…"

"That’s enough!"

Before Lin Qinghe could finish, Le Erya shouted angrily, "You want to know? Fine, I’ll tell you! After Gu Sheng got to the lounge, he slept the entire time. He slept on my…"

The various leaders present wore slightly awkward expressions. They now understood why Le Erya had hesitated and struggled to speak earlier. Saying something like that in public really was~~

"Xiao Ya, I never thought you would choose to lie to protect Gu Sheng!"

Lin Qinghe simply didn’t believe Le Erya. Or perhaps this case had nearly become an obsession for her, and she refused to let go of any possibility. "Gu Sheng and Chu Xin are a couple. Now you’re saying Gu Sheng slept on your~~ Then what exactly is your relationship?"

"You want evidence, right? I’ll give you some!"

Le Erya shouted through tears. She took out her phone and operated it for a while, then left the conference room without even saluting or saying goodbye, not looking back.

"Ding-dong~~"

Lin Qinghe stood there blankly as her phone suddenly rang. She instinctively picked it up, swiped the screen, and opened the file Le Erya had just sent. It contained quite a few photos and videos.

The subjects of both the photos and videos were Le Erya and Gu Sheng. They were all dated recently. One series of photos showed Gu Sheng using Le Erya as a pillow and sleeping soundly. The date matched the time Le Erya had mentioned exactly.

"Ring-ring~~ Ring-ring~~"

Inside a suite at the Hangzhou Holiday Hotel, Gu Sheng lay against the headboard, waiting for the fragrant beauty to come out and offer herself to him. Water splashed continuously in the bathroom. Just as he began to feel bored, his phone rang repeatedly.

"Yaya!"

Gu Sheng lowered his head and saw the incoming call displayed on the screen. The two characters "Yaya" entered his eyes. He swiped to answer, and had barely spoken when he heard sobbing from the other end.

"Yaya, what’s wrong? Where are you? I’ll come find you."

Le Erya’s crying made Gu Sheng’s heart tighten. He hurriedly sat up straight, moved to the edge of the bed, and put on his slippers.

"It’s nothing, little brother Gu. I’m just in a bad mood and wanted to cry a little. Don’t come over…"

Le Erya’s voice came through the phone. Jiang Shaofeng heard her sadness and kept comforting her while repeatedly asking where she was. At that moment, Liu Daimei walked out wearing a bathrobe, her slightly damp hair giving off a captivating fragrance.

"What’s wrong~"

Liu Daimei found it strange that Jiang Shaofeng was on the phone. She knew Gu Sheng’s social connections very well. At this late hour, no one should have been looking for him.

"Shh!"

Gu Sheng gestured for Liu Daimei to be quiet, then continued comforting Le Erya on the other end of the call.

"Little brother Gu, you’d better go out less during this period. Be careful if you run into Lin Qinghe or Wu Mengchen…"

Le Erya gave Gu Sheng another series of warnings. This time, she actually addressed Lin Qinghe and Wu Mengchen by their full names, something she had never done before. Then, before Gu Sheng could say anything else, she simply hung up.

"Beep, beep, beep~~~"

Gu Sheng looked somewhat depressed at the screen showing that the call had ended. After thinking it over, he still didn’t call back. During the final moments of the call, he had heard someone calling out. If he hadn’t misheard, they had been Lin Qinghe and Wu Mengchen’s voices.

Putting everything together, it was probably that Le Erya had quarreled with her two sisters. The cause might have been him, which was why she had specifically called to warn him.

"What’s wrong?"

Liu Daimei wrapped her arms around Gu Sheng’s arm and rested her head against his shoulder, looking gentle and dependent. "Whose call was it? Are you leaving? Where are you going? It’s so late, and you won’t be able to get a taxi. How about I take you?"

"It was Yaya’s call. From what she said, it sounded like she had quarreled with He-jie and Chen-jie. The reason should be me."

Gu Sheng spread his hands helplessly. "If I’m not mistaken, they’ve probably started suspecting me. Yaya most likely doesn’t believe it, so the three of them may have gotten into an argument."

"Is it serious?"

Liu Daimei’s expression turned solemn. The chaotic period they had anticipated had yet to arrive. If they attracted the attention of the Criminal Inspectors and Patrol Security forces at this point, it would be troublesome.

"It should be fine. We covered everything up cleanly. They won’t have any evidence. It should only be speculation."

Gu Sheng shook his head and sighed, then turned to look at Liu Daimei. "Even if there really is a problem, at worst, the few of us can run abroad and come back after the world falls into chaos. It’s just that this would make things difficult for you, Mei-jie."

Liu Daimei embraced Gu Sheng passionately. "It wouldn’t be difficult. As long as I’m with you!"

"Mei-jie!"

Gu Sheng lowered his head and kissed her. The two of them lingered together for a long while. After their lips parted, they looked at each other and smiled.

"By the way, Chen-jie, about Mei Daizi’s situation—I mentioned it to you last time…"

Gu Sheng changed the subject and brought up the beautiful woman he had in Sun Country.

"Why are you in such a hurry? I’ve already asked someone to arrange it, but how could an international transfer be that easy?"

Liu Daimei rolled her eyes at Gu Sheng and said resentfully, "Tell me, what debt did I owe you in my previous life, you troublemaker? You bully me like this, and I still have to arrange things for your future rival.

"Ah! I really have such a miserable life! I have the status of a concubine but worry about the primary wife’s affairs, doing things I don’t even enjoy."

"Mei-jie, you get the primary wife’s treatment too!"

Hearing this, Jiang Shaofeng raised his brows with a smile and pushed the beautiful woman toward the headboard, then…