Chapter Fifteen

Zhan Ni's physical examination took the entire morning. By the time the two of them left Renyuan Private Hospital, it was already two in the afternoon.

Before leaving, Liu Mumu glanced back at the hospital building and remarked, "This hospital is pretty good. There aren't many people, and the environment is nice."

"It's all right." Zhan Ni sounded casual. "There's also a Renyuan Private Hospital in Shen City. It should be a chain hospital. My mom had her checkups there before, and I accompanied her."

Shen City was the provincial capital of the northern small city where they lived. It wasn't far from them—just an hour away by high-speed rail.

Liu Mumu rarely went out, so this was the first time she had heard of it.

"Really? What a coincidence." Liu Mumu's brows furrowed almost imperceptibly, but she turned around and smiled at Zhan Ni. "Let's find somewhere to have lunch. How about we go home after we eat?"

Before Zhan Ni could answer, her phone rang.

She hurriedly answered it and spoke a few words to the person on the other end before saying, "Got it. I'll wait for you at the hospital entrance."

After hanging up, she said to Liu Mumu, "My brother is coming to pick me up, so I won't eat with you."

"All right, then. I'll leave after he gets here."

"Mm." Zhan Ni nodded.

Less than five minutes later, Zhan Huitian's car pulled up by the roadside. When he saw Liu Mumu beside his sister, he did not get out. He merely glanced at her through the lowered window and said coldly to Zhan Ni, "Get in."

Zhan Ni obediently opened the car door, then waved at Liu Mumu, leaving behind only a cloud of exhaust.

In the car, Zhan Huitian asked Zhan Ni irritably, "Why were you with her?"

Zhan Ni did not understand why her elder brother's attitude had suddenly changed. She could only say cautiously, "I was a little scared to get the examination alone, so I asked her to accompany me. Is there a problem?"

Zhan Huitian paused before saying, "Dad ran into her while having a meal before. That girl was rather rude and offended one of Dad's guests. You should keep your distance from her in the future."

"Ah..." Zhan Ni looked surprised, then nodded. "I understand."

After a while, she said softly, "Liu Mumu has always been like that. She isn't very good at reading people's expressions, but she probably didn't do it on purpose."

"Mm. Children without manners are usually that way because their parents failed to teach them properly. I'm not stopping you from making friends, either. With your status, you'll have more friends in the future. You don't need to cling to this one."

"Oh."

"By the way, I suddenly remembered something. I recall Mom celebrating Dad's birthday when I was little. It was in October, and the weather was already getting cold then. Am I remembering it wrong?"

Zhan Ni shook her head with a smile. "You're not. The birthday on Dad's ID card isn't his real birthday. When Grandpa registered it, he wrote both the date and Dad's age incorrectly. Mom said his birthday was the first day of the tenth month on the lunar calendar."

Zhan Huitian looked somewhat surprised. "I remember Mom's birthday was on the second day of the tenth month?"

"So you do remember, Brother. Mom was born at one in the morning on the second day of the tenth month. She and Dad were exactly two hours apart, and they were even born in the same hospital."

Zhan Hongye and his ex-wife had been childhood sweethearts and knew each other's families very well. Zhan Ni had lived with her mother for years, so naturally she knew all these things clearly.

A smile appeared on Zhan Huitian's face. "They really were fated."

Zhan Ni smiled as well, but her expression soon turned desolate.

What use was being fated? After Dad became wealthy, hadn't he still divorced Mom and gone to live with someone else, taking her brother with him? He had left her to accompany Mom, and they had become two separate families.

After being out for most of the day, Liu Mumu finally returned home with an empty stomach.

Fortunately, she had a little angel of a younger sister. When her sister heard that she had not eaten, she hurried into the kitchen to cook her some noodles.

While waiting to eat at the dining table, she called Dong Zhenghao.

Dong Zhenghao's voice sounded hoarse over the phone. She did not know whether he had just woken up or was ill.

"Mumu, did something happen?" Dong Zhenghao was uneasy and quickly added, "I still haven't found out Zhan Hongye's birth details."

"It isn't about his birth details. I want you to investigate something. Zhan Hongye's ex-wife is named Zhang Xueli. She once received medical treatment at the hospital in our city. Where was Zhan Hongye during the two months before she went there?"

"That'll be easy." Dong Zhenghao agreed readily.

"And what do you know about Renyuan Private Hospital?"

"I only know that its investor is from the capital. I don't know anything beyond that. Is there a problem with this hospital?" Dong Zhenghao asked suspiciously.

"Nothing. I was just asking."

She simply felt that something was strange. Unfortunately, even if she found out something, it would be useless.

Less than half an hour after the call ended, Dong Zhenghao called again.

He said to Liu Mumu, "I found out. Last September, Zhang Xueli went to the Central Hospital in your city for an examination. During the two months before that, Zhan Hongye reportedly went abroad to negotiate a project. But the project seemed to have failed, and there was no news of anything afterward."

"He really wasn't in Qing City." Liu Mumu muttered under her breath. It seemed that Aunt Zhang's death could not be separated from Zhan Hongye.

Was this Zhan Hongye person insane?

"His ex-wife died last year. Did you ask me to investigate this because..." Dong Zhenghao thought of the state in which Zhan Hongye's ex-wife had died and shuddered inexplicably. "Could it also have something to do with him?"

"The possibility is quite high. The trouble is that even if we know he's a bad person, we can't do anything to him."

"You don't need to worry about that." Dong Zhenghao gritted his teeth fiercely. "Now that we know he was the one who made the underhanded move, do you really think I can't deal with him?"

He truly had no special methods, but he was not someone who could be bullied at will. Otherwise, he would never have made it this far.

Liu Mumu had not intended to interfere either, but she quickly reminded him, "Watch your limits. I don't want to hear you singing Tears Behind Bars the next time we meet."

"Can't you wish me something better?"

"All right. Something better would be that you don't sing off-key?"

Dong Zhenghao hung up angrily. Qing City Public Security Bureau.

The entire fourth floor of the office building belonged to a newly established but extremely low-profile department that almost no one knew about: the Special Case Investigation Section.

In the spacious office, Captain Fang Chuan was listening to several of his subordinates report their recent investigation results.

When the investigator was speaking about Dong Zhenghao, the office door was pushed open. The first thing that entered everyone's sight was a pair of gleaming leather shoes. Above them were long, well-proportioned legs wrapped in custom-tailored suit trousers.

Even in the sweltering summer, the newcomer wore a crisp suit. His shirt buttons were fastened meticulously to the very top, and when he slightly raised his hand, the diamond cuff links glittered with scattered light.

Fang Chuan rose to his feet. "Consultant Yan."

The other investigators also hurriedly turned around to greet him.

The man gave them a slight nod. When he lowered his eyes, the indifference in them was quickly restrained.

Yan Xiu walked into the office and casually closed the door behind him.

Fang Chuan pulled over a chair for him. Without any unnecessary pleasantries, he said directly, "We're looking into Qin Kai's case. I sent you the information before."

Yan Xiu nodded. His legs were crossed, and his long, fair fingers rested on his thigh. He said coldly, "I've already read it. His condition was indeed caused by a curse."

Fang Chuan continued, "We've investigated Qin Kai's social connections. For now, there are two suspects. One is Zhan Hongye, his competitor. The other is Dong Zhenghao, a business partner who had a very close relationship with him. Dong Zhenghao and Zhan Hongye are brothers-in-law, but according to what we've found so far, the two have a bad relationship."

The investigator who had been about to report earlier but had not gotten the chance raised a hand. "Consultant Yan, Captain, I just received word that Dong Zhenghao went to his company yesterday, then suddenly returned home not long afterward. He switched cars with his wife and quickly left Qing City."

"Where did he go?" Fang Chuan asked hurriedly.

The investigator shook his head. "We don't know yet. His movements over the past two days have been difficult to make sense of. He kept switching high-speed trains, and his destination seemed uncertain. His behavior suggests that he was hiding from someone."

Fang Chuan turned to Yan Xiu and asked, "Consultant Yan, should we secretly bring him back for questioning?"

Yan Xiu looked thoughtful. Hearing Fang Chuan's question, he replied, "Not for now. This is rather interesting."

"How so?"

"The curse that caused Qin Kai's death requires the caster to be within a certain distance to succeed." He turned his head, a trace of interest in his eyes. "What do you think he was hiding from?"

"Do you think he was cursed as well? But why would he flee instead of going to a hospital? Judging by Qin Kai's symptoms, an ordinary person should have gone to a hospital, right?" Fang Chuan recalled the diagnosis certificate he had seen for Qin Kai.

"Perhaps someone gave him guidance." Yan Xiu leaned back in his chair. "Investigate Zhan Hongye first. Find out whether anyone related to him by blood has died under inexplicable circumstances."