Thirty minutes was fairly ample for two little girls who did not need makeup, skincare, or a whole series of preparations before going out.
After Qin Luming tidied up the staircase, he went to change clothes. By then, the two little girls had also finished changing.
They wore white off-the-shoulder puff-sleeved tops. The puffed sleeves did not look bulky, and each was decorated with three purple bows. Their skirts parted at the front, revealing adorable pumpkin shorts underneath. Their stockings each had a bow, one on the left and one on the right, with purple garters attached above to keep them from slipping down.
The two were dressed identically, except Zuozuo wore a black rose hair clip, while Caicai's was pink.
The pendant on Zuozuo's VCA necklace was a rose-gold butterfly, while Caicai's was still a pink butterfly... It was not that they had fixed stylistic preferences or distinctions; they simply took turns wearing them.
Qin Luming draped jackets over their shoulders and headed out with them.
Considering how exquisitely adorable and pleasing to the eye they were, Qin Luming decided not to hold it against them for ruining the stair panels he had custom-ordered and waited half a year for. He planned to paint several coats of black paint over them himself when he got back and simply change the overall style and color scheme.
After all, their relationship with him was so close and special. Qin Luming thought that if he truly had two younger sisters who had grown up with him, he would probably spoil and indulge them just as much.
Qin Luming had originally wanted to eat boiled pork with blood sausage or fish cooked with lamb... but Zuozuo and Caicai both wanted a buffet, so he indulged them.
The little girls did not have exacting demands when it came to flavor. To them, buffets were simply more fun. They had no interest in the so-called views, atmosphere, and premium ingredients offered by top restaurants... After all, the views from the several indoor and outdoor dining rooms at home were already excellent, and the so-called atmosphere was nothing more than a mixture of decor, lighting, scenery, music, alcohol, dishes, presentation, and tableware.
The ingredients at home could be used without regard for cost or portion size, with satisfying one's appetite as the top priority. Unlike restaurants, where ingredients that vanished in a single bite had to be dressed up in every possible way and grandly labeled "exquisite."
Whenever they wanted something Qin Luming could not make, or dishes that were troublesome to prepare or required hard-to-find ingredients, he would take the two of them out to eat. For instance, the boiled pork with blood sausage Qin Luming wanted today involved nothing more than soaking large chunks of pork belly in broth before slicing them, but he did not keep fresh blood sausage in the kitchen.
After Qin Luming, Zuozuo, and Caicai got out of the car, the ride-hailing driver stopped outside the restaurant and watched the two little girls' backs for a moment before slowly driving away. It made one face an unavoidable truth: wealthy families had more options for genetically optimizing their offspring... How could ordinary families possibly give birth to and raise a pair of twin daughters who looked like dreamlike maidens?
In a car across the street, Gu Shuiyun and Chen Kou'er, who had just gotten off work, sat watching Qin Luming, Zuozuo, and Caicai enter the restaurant.
"That young man with the two little girls is Qin Luming, the one who found Gu Qing'an's phone," Gu Shuiyun said to Chen Kou'er. Chen Kou'er had been waiting for her to get off work. They had planned to discuss something and have dinner together.
Before they knew each other, they had lived in the same residential complex and never once run into each other.
After getting acquainted, they had encountered each other twice in one day.
Perhaps that was the difference between paying attention and never having paid attention... They might have crossed paths before they knew each other, but since they had not recognized one another, they had never taken notice. Even if they had met, no lasting impression had remained in their hearts.
"I suddenly remembered that I met President Qin just a few days ago. I wonder whether this Qin Luming is part of the Qin family," Gu Shuiyun said, brushing aside her bangs and frowning slightly. City A was quite large, but there were also quite a few acquaintances. After enough connections and detours, people who had seemed utterly unrelated could turn out to share some social ties.
"President Qin? You mean the guy who first married the An family's second daughter, divorced her, then married the An family's eldest daughter, and later divorced again?" Chen Kou'er did not know as many prominent figures as Gu Shuiyun did; she had only heard of him. Her deepest impression was that President Qin was far more promiscuous than her own old man.
"Yes." Gu Shuiyun nodded.
"That's possible... I heard President Qin divorced for the first time and then married the An family's eldest daughter because she had given the Qin family a pair of twin daughters. Those two little girls just now might be them." Chen Kou'er knew a little about the gossip that socialites and heiresses in those upper-class circles loved to discuss. Affairs between men and women were the easiest things to spread far and wide. After hearing enough, she had seen every kind of maneuver, but President Qin's string of antics was still quite eye-opening. Who knew how many self-important successful men envied him endlessly? The An family's eldest and second daughters were both famed for their ethereal beauty.
"If that's the case... then Qin Luming really has nothing to do with Gu Qing'an's disappearance, right? The Qin family has no grievance against ours, and there's no business conflict either. I've never heard of their family using such methods in business. Kidnapping Gu Qing'an would bring them no benefit at all." Gu Shuiyun sighed helplessly. "Right now, what I most want to hear is someone calling and telling the old man to pay a ransom."
"I don't believe that if Gu Qing'an really dies this time, the old man will truly donate all the assets and leave nothing for us," Chen Kou'er said. Though she claimed not to believe it, her tone was filled more with resentment. To prevent his children from resorting to any means necessary and fighting among themselves over the inheritance, the old man had long declared that if any one of his three children died for any reason, he would donate all his assets.
The old man Chen Kou'er spoke of was Gu Cheng. His first wife had died young, leaving behind his eldest son, Gu Qing'an. His second wife was still alive, but she had already divorced Gu Cheng. She had borne him a daughter, Gu Shuiyun. His third wife, Chen Kou'er, had also borne him a daughter, Gu Huahua.
Chen Kou'er had always believed that Gu Cheng had another son outside the family, but this son was hidden deeply. Even Gu Shuiyun and Chen Kou'er had no concrete evidence, much less had they ever seen him... Gu Cheng was rather biased toward sons over daughters. When it came to the future inheritance battle, Gu Shuiyun and Chen Kou'er believed they were at a disadvantage, so they had formed something of an alliance and remained close.
Gu Qing'an had originally been in a vegetative state, and the doctors had said there was almost no chance of recovery. Gu Shuiyun and Chen Kou'er had only needed to guard against Gu Cheng's son raised outside the family. Yet Gu Qing'an had unexpectedly regained consciousness, immediately making Gu Shuiyun and Chen Kou'er feel even more threatened... And now that Gu Qing'an had vanished again, it seemed that was not necessarily a good thing either.
"Let's eat first... I wonder whether they found any clues on the phone." Gu Shuiyun parked the car and walked toward the restaurant with Chen Kou'er. After the phone had been handed over to the police, they had not yet informed Gu Shuiyun or Chen Kou'er of the situation... Gu Shuiyun suspected it was more likely that Gu Cheng had put in a word, and that the police had to report any news to him first rather than to his daughter and young wife.
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