Chapter 43:

Shen Qingzhou drove to Xie Jiayi’s residence and took Xie Jiayi with her to Fang Zheng’s private villa.

When they arrived, they happened to meet Fang Mingjun, who had just arrived there as well.

Fang Mingjun was a man accustomed to having a driver, but today he had driven himself in a silver Porsche, indicating his haste and secrecy.

Standing beside Shen Qingzhou, Xie Jiayi glanced at him and said indifferently, “Open the door.”

Fang Mingjun stared expressionlessly at the mother and son for a moment, then walked toward the villa’s gate, raising his hand to input the password. Yet, just before he did, he turned his back to them and spoke, “You can go in, but I have one condition.”

Shen Qingzhou looked at Xie Jiayi, who readily replied, “Please go ahead.”

“If you find the person you’re looking for inside, don’t take this matter to the police station. If you don’t find them…” He paused slightly. Fang Mingjun turned his head to look at Xie Jiayi, who was listening attentively. After a few seconds of contemplation, Fang Mingjun slightly closed his eyes, turned his head back, and murmured, “Forget it.”

Xie Jiayi said, “Fine then. Hurry up and open the door. We can agree to your first request—whatever we do, we won’t go to the police. After all, we were married for many years, so I’ll leave you some dignity.”

Fang Mingjun’s back stiffened. He decisively pressed the password, and the villa’s door opened with a click. Shen Qingzhou immediately rushed inside, frantically searching upstairs and downstairs, but found no one.

Standing in the first-floor hall, Fang Mingjun slightly relaxed after seeing Shen Qingzhou come down empty-handed.

He tiredly rubbed his temple. “Is that enough? You claim Xiao Zheng kidnapped Lin Qiao, but I haven’t seen any evidence or caught anyone. I’ve played along with your nonsense long enough.”

Xie Jiayi didn’t look at him and said expressionlessly, “You know your own son’s character better than anyone. Don’t come here pretending to be innocent.”

Fang Mingjun frowned. “Jiayi, don’t be so aggressive. After all, Xiao Zheng is still a child—”

Xie Jiayi burst into laughter. “Hahaha! That’s the funniest joke I’ve heard this year. Fang Zheng is still a child? Come on, give me a break. If he hadn’t killed his own child, you’d already be a grandfather by now.”

“What did you say?” Fang Mingjun was taken aback, furrowing his brow.

Xie Jiayi said, “Exactly what you heard. Wang Jiaqi was actually pregnant. But your precious son caused her to miscarry, and he still hasn’t shown any remorse. That’s the son you raised, that’s the ‘child’ you’re defending!”

“That’s impossible,” Fang Mingjun immediately denied.

“What’s impossible about it? All the things he’s done in the past are clear enough. It’s only natural he could do something even more despicable,” Xie Jiayi replied nonchalantly.

Fang Mingjun suppressed his anger. “Xie Jiayi, enough! Don’t say anything else. I don’t want to argue with you.”

“Do you think I want to argue with you? I don’t have the time.”

“Xie Jiayi!” Fang Mingjun’s temper flared.

“Right here. What?” Xie Jiayi shot back sharply.

Shen Qingzhou finally snapped. “Enough! Both of you, shut up!”

Startled by his shout, Xie Jiayi and Fang Mingjun both turned to look at him. Shen Qingzhou gave them a cold glance and left without looking back.

Xie Jiayi hurriedly chased after Shen Qingzhou, but he didn’t wait for her. By the time she reached the car, he had already driven off.

Fang Mingjun followed her out and, seeing her worried expression, remained silent for a moment before saying, “I’ll take you to report this to the police.”

Xie Jiayi looked at him in surprise. “Are you serious?”

Fang Mingjun replied, “Have I ever joked with you?”

“Think carefully. Once you report it, your precious son will get into trouble.”

“I just scolded him earlier. He wouldn’t dare do something like this,” Fang Mingjun said, opening the passenger door and gesturing for her to get in.

After hesitating slightly, Xie Jiayi said, “Don’t regret it later,” and got into the car.

Fang Mingjun didn’t respond, closed the door for her, got into the driver’s seat, and drove away with her to report the incident to the police.

After leaving Fang Zheng’s private villa, Shen Qingzhou returned to his residence in Beijing. When he walked in, Du Xinling was on a phone call. Hearing the door open, Du Xinling thought it was Lin Qiao returning and was about to greet her when he saw Shen Qingzhou rush past like a gust of wind.

Still holding his phone, Du Xinling stared at the slammed door, wondering, what had happened?

Meanwhile, the person everyone was worried about—Lin Qiao—was being taken into a psychiatric hospital by Fang Zheng. Fang Zheng used tape to bind her hands behind her back, draped his suit jacket over her shoulders to conceal the bindings, and firmly guided her through the corridors.

He must have been a regular at this hospital, as the medical staff were all familiar with him. Seeing him leading Lin Qiao inside and witnessing her obvious resistance and desperate pleas for help, they assumed she had a mental illness and even notified the doctor.

When the doctor arrived, Fang Zheng played along with the assumption. “This young lady’s old condition has flared up again. She’s not very calm right now. Doctor Zhao, could you give her a sedative injection?”

Lin Qiao looked at the doctor in horror, explaining, “Doctor, don’t listen to him! I’m not sick! He kidnapped me!”

Doctor Zhao clearly didn’t believe Lin Qiao, who had been labeled with a “recurrence of mental illness.” He seemed to be on good terms with Fang Zheng and completely ignored Lin Qiao’s explanation, immediately arranging for staff to take her to a ward.

Several medical workers came to assist Fang Zheng in restraining Lin Qiao and forced her toward a ward. Fang Zheng stood still, smoothing out the wrinkles in his clothes, and turned to Lin Qiao with a cold smile, as if saying, this is the consequence of disobedience.

Lin Qiao realized she couldn’t be defiant anymore and pleaded, “Fang Zheng, let’s talk! Don’t let them give me any injections!”

Fang Zheng smirked slightly, giving her a distant, rejecting smile, clearly saying, too late.

Lin Qiao was dragged into a private ward in despair. She struggled continuously, and the people in white coats and nurse uniforms removed the bindings on her feet and re-bound her hands and feet to the bed. Lin Qiao knew the more she resisted, the more they would treat her as mentally ill. Yet if she didn’t resist, they would definitely inject her with drugs.

Lin Qiao took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. She looked toward the doorway, where Fang Zheng had already arrived. He looked relaxed, leaning casually against the doorframe, watching her disheveled state. Under his gaze, Doctor Zhao injected her with a sedative.

Lin Qiao felt her consciousness begin to blur. As time passed, her body grew weaker and weaker. She didn’t know how long had passed before she drifted into a drowsy sleep, and the previously noisy ward gradually quieted down.

The entire process of Lin Qiao falling asleep wasn’t long, and Fang Zheng stood by the door watching the whole time. When the other medical staff left, he said to Doctor Zhao, “Let her rest for now. We’ll think about other plans after she wakes up.”

Doctor Zhao was a middle-aged man in his thirties. He leaned close to Fang Zheng and whispered, “What’s going on this time? What are you up to now?”

Fang Zheng smiled. “Don’t worry. If anything happens, just blame it on me.”

“You already have enough trouble on your hands,” Doctor Zhao glanced at him.

Fang Zheng’s expression darkened. “You’re talking too much.”

Doctor Zhao snorted lightly, cast a brief, indifferent glance at the unconscious Lin Qiao, then closed the ward door and left.

Fang Zheng walked to the bedside and sat down, leaning close to Lin Qiao’s face. His long fingers gently caressed her cheek as he sighed, “Look at you. If you had just listened and talked with me nicely, you wouldn’t have made things hard for everyone. In the end, you’re the one who suffered.”

Lin Qiao was unconscious and naturally unaware of what he was doing or saying. She lay on the bed, pale and with her eyes closed.

Fang Zheng searched Lin Qiao and found her phone. Seeing the countless missed calls, he smiled and turned it off, putting it in his pocket before walking away.

In the remote psychiatric hospital in Beijing during August, everything was as quiet as usual. Passing vehicles didn’t stop, and no one knew who had come or what had happened today. The only people who knew were one who had already left and one who was still asleep.

It wasn’t until evening that Lin Qiao slowly woke up. She blinked hard, observing her surroundings, hoping to see her home. But reality disappointed her. What she saw was still the white walls of the psychiatric hospital.

Lin Qiao tried to move her hands and feet, but the restraints on her wrists and ankles were still there. Nothing had changed from before she lost consciousness, except that Fang Zheng was no longer there.

Lin Qiao gave a helpless sigh toward the ceiling, deeply regretting her earlier refusal to communicate with Fang Zheng. If she had agreed to talk with him then, maybe she wouldn’t be locked in this place now?

But maybe not. If she had gone to talk, perhaps something worse would have happened, or she might have heard things that would cause misunderstandings between her and Shen Qingzhou. In any case… meeting Fang Zheng never meant anything good.

Lin Qiao sat alone in the gradually dimming room, lost in thought for about half an hour, when a nurse opened the ward door and came in with her dinner.

The lights in the ward turned on, and the nurse ignored her gaze, placing the food on the small table. First, she closed the window and drew the curtains before coming to feed her.

Lin Qiao helplessly looked at the spoon the nurse brought to her mouth, her lips twitching as she said, “I can eat by myself. Can you untie me?”

The nurse looked at the restraints on her limbs and shook her head. “Doctor Zhao said not to untie you.”

“Is this place a prison or a hospital? Just because of Fang Zheng’s one-sided words, you lock a completely healthy person here. Don’t you fear the consequences when the truth comes out? I will hold you accountable,” Lin Qiao said. “If it gets to that point, I think you won’t just lose your jobs—you might even be arrested. This is illegal detention.”

Hearing her words, the nurse seemed somewhat hesitant. Lin Qiao pressed on. “I won’t make you uncomfortable either. Just untie my hands and feet, I can eat by myself, and after I finish, you can leave. I won’t move, okay?”

The nurse hesitated and said, “Miss, I’m just following Doctor Zhao’s instructions. Please just eat.”

Lin Qiao sneered and glanced at the nurse’s name tag. “Fine then. But let me make one thing clear—I’ve noted your name. I hope you pray I never get out of here, or I won’t let you off. This isn’t a threat,” she said slowly. “You’re an accomplice for knowing the truth and not helping me.”

The nurse was somewhat frightened. She didn’t want to lose her job or go to jail. After hesitating for a while, she finally untied Lin Qiao’s restraints.

“We agreed—I untie you, and you don’t move. I’ll leave after finishing my task, and what you do afterward is none of my business,” the nurse emphasized.

Lin Qiao nodded. “I know. Just make sure there’s no sleeping pills or anything like that in the food,” she asked suspiciously, holding up the rice bowl.

The nurse smiled. “You’re quite cautious. Don’t worry, there’s none. Mr. Fang specifically instructed us to treat you well when he left.”

“Hmph,” Lin Qiao gave a cold, indifferent smirk, quickly took a few bites, then put everything back on the table. “You can take it away now. I’m full.”

The nurse was surprised. “You only ate that much?”

“I’m not hungry. I’ve already eaten a little just to make it easier for you to finish your task. What else do you want?” Lin Qiao retorted.

The nurse sighed. “Then I’ll take it. Goodbye.”

Lin Qiao said goodbye, and after the nurse left, she locked the ward door from the outside. Lin Qiao pushed at it for a while but couldn’t open it.

After thinking for a while, Lin Qiao sneaked to the window and slightly pulled aside the curtain to observe the outside. Her ward was next to a grove of trees. Outside the window were dense plants, spaced very closely, with almost branches touching branches. Jumping out the window was impossible, not to mention the hospital windows were equipped with protective nets to prevent accidents.

She let the curtain fall and returned to the bed, touched the injection mark on her arm, and walked back and forth in frustration for a while, her mind in chaos without any useful ideas. Finally, she simply lay down on the bed and fell asleep.

After all, Fang Zheng wouldn’t dare to kill her. She would just wait here to see what he intended to do. Shen Qingzhou should have noticed her disappearance by now and would come looking for her. She just needed to wait quietly and ensure her own safety.

The only thing Lin Qiao felt fortunate about was that Lin Huiming had gone on a trip to Dubai early on. Otherwise, if he found out, he might end up in the hospital again.

Strangely enough, perhaps due to the residual effects of the drugs, Lin Qiao fell asleep quickly after lying down. When she woke up again, the sun was already high in the sky. Fang Zheng hadn’t appeared, and no one from the hospital had come to her ward.

Lin Qiao threw off the blanket, jumped off the bed, and once again approached the window to observe the outside scenery. Last night’s inspection had been at night, with unclear visibility. Now, during the day, she could see the real scene through a small gap in the window. People in white coats and patient uniforms were walking around in the courtyard, but none were the people she hoped to see.

Disappointed, she returned to the room and walked to the door, peering through the small window on it. Fortunately, the hospital had such a small rectangular window on the door; otherwise, she wouldn’t have been able to get any information at all.

Lin Qiao’s ward was in the farthest corner. Looking out from her position, she could only see other ward doors on both sides of the corridor, with no sign of anyone approaching. It seemed there weren’t many patients here.

Lin Qiao was disappointed again. She was about to withdraw her gaze, somewhat dazed, when she suddenly saw a familiar figure being led by a nurse into a ward not far from hers—Qi Zheng.

Qi Zheng was wearing casual clothes and holding flowers in his arms, probably here to visit someone. Lin Qiao immediately felt a surge of hope. She stayed by the door, tightly watching the ward Qi Zheng had entered, not daring to blink, fearing she might miss the moment he came out.