Unexpected Connections

“Hey, daughter.”

“What?”

Qin Haiyue answered impatiently.

There was silence on the other end of the line for a long moment. Finally, a slightly hoarse voice came through.

“How are the things I asked you to do coming along?”

“What things? Oh, building connections for your company? I did it. Anything else?”

“…”

Silence again. Qin Haiyue waited, growing irritated. She glanced down at the girl beside her, who kept her head low, staring at her own hands, seemingly lost in a gloomy mood.

At last, after what felt like an eternity, she heard a response from the phone.

“Your driver told me you have a boyfriend?”

“Huh?”

A boyfriend? Who would dare to be her boyfriend? Who started that rumor?

Frowning, she pondered for a moment, then glanced again at the pitiful little thing beside her.

Could this so-called ‘boyfriend’ be referring to her?

Interesting. Very interesting.

A strange smile crept across her face. Originally, she had been a bit worried about how to bring up the matter with her family. Now that they had apparently made up their own minds, she could simply follow their lead. This worked in her favor.

“Yeah, so?”

“…Nothing. I’ve neglected you all this time, and I feel guilty. Now that you have a boyfriend, I’m happy for you. Take good care of them, treat them well. Our family has plenty of money.”

“Oh, okay.” She replied blandly. Suddenly, Qin Haiyue sat down on the sofa and pulled the girl into her arms with a smile.

“Come, say hello to my dad.”

The girl shrank back. Was this considered meeting the parents? But she didn’t even like Qin Haiyue… Yet matters had already progressed to this point; she couldn’t refuse.

“Hello, Uncle…”

There was a long pause on the other end, as if lost in thought.

“Daughter, how come your boyfriend’s voice sounds so much like a girl’s?”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. They were born this way. They really are a boy—you can check their ID if you don’t believe me. It says so on their card.”

“Mm, that’s good.”

“Anything else? If not, I’m hanging up.”

“No, nothing…”

As soon as she got the answer, Qin Haiyue immediately ended the call.

Silence descended once more. The two of them had nothing in common. After holding the girl for a while out of her own whim, Qin Haiyue grew bored. Her expression turned cold again, and she sat back down across from the girl.

Her original plan to get closer to the girl had been abandoned; she felt it was useless and boring. Yet locking the girl in the basement seemed premature, the timing not right. She sighed and shook her head to herself.

This lunch had become utterly tasteless.

After casually eating a few pastries to fill her stomach, she took out her phone. Ye Xingmian finally dared to cautiously start eating the food closest to her.

And so the afternoon slowly passed.

****

This was a villa district near the cemetery. Because of its remote location, it was quiet. The warm winter sun lazily spilled over the meadows, illuminating the various tombstones in the graveyard. Small grave mounds were adorned with fragrant bouquets, memorializing the departed.

Sitting in the car, watching the scenery rush past the window, Luo Xi, in the passenger seat, kept her brow furrowed. She felt something was off, but couldn’t pinpoint what.

“A-Yu, do you have any ideas?”

She asked the woman in the driver’s seat. The woman’s name was Ji Yu, an assistant sent by her father to guide and teach her. After a year together, their relationship was fairly good.

“Miss, what are you referring to?”

Whenever they were alone, a slight smile always appeared on this mature woman’s face—a rare sight at other times. When Luo Xi first met her, she thought Ji Yu was a cold person.

Squinting her eyes in displeasure, Luo Xi pursed her lips.

“You know who I’m talking about.”

Ji Yu glanced at her, then turned back to continue driving. The smile still lingered on her lips, but it made Luo Xi feel somewhat uncomfortable.

“Miss, according to the master’s orders, you just need to do your part. Other matters don’t require your energy.”

“That’s true…” Luo Xi murmured with a frown.

Her father indeed only wanted her to study hard and take over his business. Even the position of student council president was something she had barely managed to obtain against his objections. She had thought that taking over the student council would reduce the bullying in school, but she was wrong. Her power alone was too little, and evil was everywhere.

Gradually, she had grown weary and no longer wanted to interfere.

But…

“But I still can’t help caring. Didn’t you feel it? The way those two interacted was anything but normal.”

“And that Ye Xingmian… doesn’t look like a boy at all…”

“Miss should mind their own business. Weren’t you just scolded by your father for offending some rich young master?”

“Oh, don’t bring that up. It’s annoying just hearing about it.”

In front of someone familiar, the girl shed her cold and aloof mask. She sighed and looked out at the endless green meadows. Even though it was a cemetery, she had to admit the scenery was nice. In the distance, she could see glimpses of mountains and rivers.

No wonder this place was favored as a retirement area by some wealthy elites.

After struggling with herself for a while, she felt she still couldn’t let go of her nosy nature. Turning to Ji Yu, she said, “Hey, can you look into Ye Xingmian’s background for me? I’m curious.”

“Of course, Miss.”

****

The Luo residence was not ostentatious. The floor was covered in understated, antique dark wooden planks, and a vintage incense burner sat in the center of the living room. These were all arranged by her late grandfather; her father had never discarded them after his death, so they remained.

Sitting in her study, Luo Xi had just met with her father. As soon as they met, that rigid middle-aged man had bombarded her with questions, repeatedly emphasizing how the Qin family was a multinational corporation, and how opening a branch here would boost GDP and create jobs, and on and on. She listened with annoyance. In short, he wanted her to get along with Qin Haiyue. But she couldn’t do it, so she stopped listening.

She held the investigation report on Ye Xingmian that Ji Yu had just handed her. The more she read, the more confused she became.

According to the report, the photo on this paper was taken two years ago. She tried to compare it with the girl she had seen at Qin Haiyue’s house—they didn’t look alike at all.

And the gender: male? Was he really male?

Then she looked at the family background: father imprisoned for r*pe; mother, against her family’s objections, worked outside the home to give birth to Ye Xingmian, and had now basically cut ties with them. Currently, Ye Xingmian was boarding with an ordinary lower-class family. She couldn’t help but frown. Admittedly, this person’s background was pitiful, stirring her sympathy. Out of doubt, she decided to keep an eye on this person in the future.