Making excuses

"There must be some misunderstanding!"

At the police station, Qin Ke was so agitated that he stumbled over his words. "I-I'm just friends with Hu Kai! I'm shocked he would do something like this, too, but it has nothing to do with me!"

Qin Ke knew perfectly well what he had done, but he had never expected the police to come looking for him. The system had clearly told him that the phone call couldn't prove anything.

The police might find the call suspicious, but the system had changed his number. Tracing it would only lead them to a telemarketer.

They certainly wouldn't suspect anything was wrong with the conversation itself.

But his guilty conscience left him unable to stop throwing mud at Hu Kai, bad-mouthing him at every turn.

Hu Kai's mother had been listening from behind him, her fury rising. She lunged out, grabbed his hair, and started cursing. "You little slut! How much did someone pay you to slander our Kai like this?"

The injuries on Qin Ke's face had only just healed, and now someone was yanking him around, hitting and cursing him again. Furious, he shoved her away and pointed at her, swearing. "Where did this crazy bitch come from?"

"Are you all insane, hitting people the second you show up? If you're sick, go home and take your medicine!"

He was too furious to notice what the crazy woman had just said.

Hu Kai's mother tried to charge at him again, but the police scrambled to hold her back. "This is a police station! Both of you, calm down!"

Hu Kai's mother crumpled her face and burst into loud sobs. "Officers! Look for yourselves! The investigation hasn't even concluded, and he's already accusing my son!"

"And he's cursing at me! What kind of friend insults his friend's mother like that?"

Qin Ke's furious expression froze. Who had she said she was?

Hu Kai's mother kept going. "What are you pretending for? Friends? I've never even heard of you! You're nothing but a whore!"

Qin Ke's face turned livid. "What nonsense are you spouting?"

Hu Kai's mother had come prepared today. She glared at him. "Fine, then tell me. What kind of friend transfers a house in his own name to you for you to live in, and buys you piles of clothes and expensive jewelry?"

"And takes you to fancy restaurants and on trips? Friends? Do you even believe yourself? What kind of friend transfers tens of thousands to you at a time?"

At that, the surrounding officers began looking at him differently.

Qin Ke's face flushed scarlet with humiliation. Hearing someone mutter that he sounded like a kept man, he roared at them, "Are you even a police officer? Gossiping about people like that!"

The young officer hadn't expected his muttering to be overheard. He looked embarrassed, but still stiffened his neck as he offered an apology.

Once Qin Ke had worked out what to say, he began making excuses, tears falling with a blink. "It's not like that at all. I met Hu Kai while looking for work after quitting my job. We only became friends later."

"He saw that I was struggling, so he let me stay there. He was the one who insisted on transferring it to me. I-I've always been grateful to him. He really treated me well."

"Actually... actually, he did confess to me. He really does like me. That was when I realized why he treated me so well. But I turned him down. I didn't think I deserved someone as wonderful as him!"

After speaking, he even made a show of wiping his tears, sobbing so hard he seemed unable to catch his breath.

"I didn't mean to be so aggressive. You have no idea what I've been through lately..." His face had mostly recovered, and he still looked every bit as pitiful.

As he spoke, he deliberately leaned against an officer beside him and cried. The man's eyes immediately clouded over. "I-I think we shouldn't just take one side's word for it, either!"

"If Mr. Qin is innocent, wouldn't this be taking things too far?"

The other officers hesitated as well, seemingly weighing the truth of his words.

But why did his story sound so different from what he had said earlier?

"Well said! Even a dog would be moved to tears!"

That voice made Qin Ke shudder.

An officer beside him promptly introduced her. "Mr. Qin, this is a family member of another party involved in the case. You should know her-Miss Qi Sinian."

Qi Sinian rolled her eyes, opening with a sneer. "Impressive. First you seduced my brother, then Cheng Yu, and now another admirer has popped up?"

"Your charm truly knows no bounds~ The line of people chasing you must stretch around the earth more than five times. Aren't you just irresistible~"

Hu Kai's mother found those words immensely satisfying. The young lady of the Qi Family really did know what to say.

Qi Sinian found a chair and sat down, looking at everyone in puzzlement. "Why are you standing? Sit down. If you're going to watch a show, you should get comfortable."

"There's another lead I haven't mentioned. I beat him up on the night of the competition. I have reason to suspect this was deliberate retaliation."

Everyone's eyes widened in shock. That made his conflict with the Qi Family an undeniable fact.

Hu Kai's mother looked smug. She had known he was no good!

Qin Ke sat down trembling, cold sweat pouring off him. "Th-that doesn't prove anything!"

"Didn't the police just say the caller wasn't me? I never contacted him!"

Qi Sinian laughed. "Why are you getting so worked up? Did I say it was you?"

The officer in charge of the case explained to everyone, "No one answered that call, so we traced its source."

"It was only a telemarketer."

Qin Ke secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness for the system.

The officer paused, then looked at Qin Ke again. "But that telemarketer is your older brother, Qin Wei."

Qin Ke: ???

System, what the hell are you doing?!

The system helplessly pointed out that it had told him long ago it would use the original owner's personal connections when necessary. He was the one who hadn't looked into them.

Besides, it was only an artificial system. The host still had to handle the specifics himself.

Qin Ke's expression turned awful. Who would bother learning about that bunch of penniless relatives? What an artificial idiot! All it did was make trouble for him!

Qi Sinian watched his shifting expressions with a cold smile. She had known he probably had something to do with this. Hu Kai was just as despicable, but if Qin Ke really had had a hand in it...

Hmph. He would pay for it.

"Oww~ Hot, hot!"

These days of bland food were torturing Lin Xingye to death. Not only was he forbidden from eating anything good, even the porridge burned his mouth.

Bo Xi touched the side of the bowl. It was the same temperature as Qi Sijing's, and Qi Sijing was wolfing his down over there, while Star had barely taken two bites before yelping from the heat.

He couldn't use Qi Sijing to test the temperature next time. He wasn't reliable.

All he could do was set the porridge down and coax him gently. "Then eat it in a little while, Star. Let's leave it to cool first."

Lin Xingye nodded miserably. He was starving.

Seeing that she finally had something to do, Aunt Liu hurried over with a plate of fruit and edged Bo Xi aside. "Star, have some fruit. Get some vitamins in you~"

Lin Xingye had only just been allowed to eat a little these past two days, and even his fruit had to be soft. He wanted something spicy.

But since Aunt Liu had already brought it over, he still ate two large pieces. "Thank you, Aunt Liu~"

[Auntie, I wanna eat spicy food.]

Bo Xi glanced at him silently and decided to watch him more closely, lest Mother Lin and the others soften and give him something he wasn't allowed to eat.

The person who had nearly wheedled a bag of sunflower seeds out of Aunt Liu last night, only to be caught by An Shi, said, "No more, no more. I want something else~"

[I want spicy dry pot, extra-spicy Xinjiang stir-fried rice noodles, fried chicken, fire noodles... hss, haa...]

Qi Sijing: The porridge in his mouth instantly lost its appeal.

After keeping watch for two days, Mother Lin had been taken home by Father Lin to rest. Old Master Qi had also been forcibly taken home, so for now, only Aunt Liu and Mother Qi remained here.

Qi Sijing's mother was enjoying the show.

Cheng Yu had volunteered to feed Qi Sijing.

Mother Qi felt deeply gratified. The boys were so close.

Cheng Yu fed Qi Sijing with a broad grin. Qi Sijing's mouth was nearly stuffed full, leaving him only able to mumble, "Cheng Yu, my mouf... my mouf isn't that big!"

Mother Qi: What a lovely sight~

"You'd better hurry up and enjoy a good meal. An Shi said he's going to beat you up!" Cheng Yu slyly whispered this "friendly" reminder.

Qi Sijing choked.

While everything was lovely on Lin Xingye's side, Qi Sijing nearly choked to death on his.

Lin Xingye even turned around to pat his back with his hand, which was bandaged into the shape of a steamed bun. "What's wrong? Eat slowly."

[He's injured. What if coughing like this tears his wound open? Doesn't Cheng Yu know how to feed someone?]

Cheng Yu snapped the plastic spoon in his hand.

Fine, fine, fine. I've really shot myself in the foot.

Just then, An Shi pushed the door open. "Aunt Liu, Aunt Qi, please step outside for a moment. I need to do an examination."