“What do you mean?” Bei Tian furrowed his brows as he continued to listen to the woman sobbing on the other side of the phone. “It is already late. Why would you call her for an appointment?” Irritation instantly replaced his usually calm and fun demeanor.
“I- I was just… I thought Lily, and I were friends. Then… she just snapped at me.”
Bei Tian rolled his eyes as he eyed the wall clock to his left. It was almost 11 in the evening. Lily had all the reasons to snap. “Do you know the time though?” he asked trying to calm himself. How could this woman expect that Zhuo Jingren would like her when she was this stupid?
Of course, Bei Tian was unaware that Lin Yu Yan was only trying to get his sympathy and didn’t mean to sound whiny. She only wanted Bei Tian to help her out and encourage her or maybe say something to Lily.
“I- I know.” Lin Yu Yan said. “I- I know I… Am I disturbing you? I am sorry. I didn’t mean to…” Lin Yu Yan did not continue what she was about to say. She wanted Bei Tian to interrupt her and say that it was all right, that she was not disturbing him at all.
But his interruption never came and an awkward silence followed her words.
“I am busy Yu Yan… I still have a project to finish.” Bei Tian said after a long pause. “You can call me in the morning if you need anything else.” He said before dropping the call.
“Your ability to attract a woman is still first-class ah.” Bei Tian commented as he sat across Zhuo Jingren. “Lin Yu Yan got Lily’s private number… someone must have given it to her.”
“Hmmm… let’s not talk about insignificant people. Let’s talk about the fact that you are here in the middle of the night free-loading, shall we?” he asked, unamused as he watched Bei Tian messily swallow some noodles. The sound of him slurping down the soup occupied the study.
“I am not here to freeload. I just don’t want you to get lonely while your heroine fought some bad guys.” He said. “Jingren ah, why are you letting Lily handle everything? Have you become so smitten to the point of being useless?”
Zhuo Jingren shook his head before letting out a sigh. “If you think that way then… you simply don’t know my wife.” Would Lily really want him to interfere? “This is her business. The Qin Family was her family. Lily would ask for my help if she could not handle it. She is that type of woman. She would not want me to interfere with her own plans.”
“Still… she is a woman and someone was already after her life. Don’t you think it is …” Bei Tian didn’t continue his words as he lowered his head. Then he finished his noodles in a few gulps before he eyed Zhuo Jingren. As expected, the latter was staring straight at him. “I’m sorry. I just…”
“It’s all right,” Zhuo Jingren nodded before he stood up and walked towards the window. He let out a deep sigh as he contemplated everything that had happened so far. “Your sister… already woke up.” He uttered. “She took the wine that Lily was supposed to take.”
“I heard about it.” The change in Bei Tian’s face was instantaneous. His face became blank as he stared at Zhuo Jingren’s back. “I also heard that they wanted her to marry someone. Someone influential in Mainland China. It wasn’t a secret that they are ruthless but this…”
“She is a drug addict. She is a loose end, someone that could ruin their family’s reputation. Their decision to throw her into a wolves den is only right, business-wise.”
Silence permeated the whole room until the door was opened, revealing Lily with a stern look on her face. “Who gave my number to Lin Yu Yan?” she said as she sat down across Bei Tian. “Was it you?” she asked the man in front of her.
“No! Of course not!”
“Then?” Lily tilted her head towards Zhuo Jingren.
“I didn’t.” Zhuo Jingren approached her and kissed her lightly on the lips. “How was it?” he asked.
“It’s good. Xuan Hui will start working for me… given that he won’t get arrested by the police this time.”
“Qin Mo is not making any moves. He is not calling someone either. I wonder when will he contact his backer.” Zhuo Jingren sat on his chair.
“He will soon.” Bei Tian answered. “Don’t worry, our people are observing everything. They will follow wherever he goes and is tracking his communication system. We will know who is backing him soon.”
“Do you think it’s the Zhou’s?” Lily asked.
“Probably. They have the means to do it. ” Zhuo Jingren answered before his lips lifted into a smile. “What a crazy bloodline.” His words earned a low chuckle from Bei Tian. It was a fact. Both of them came from a family where people would not hesitate to eat their siblings and children to survive. They were lucky enough to have survived this long.
“It should be them.. or the Lee’s. Either way… I am getting tired of this.”
“The Lee’s? You mean… Isaac?” Bei Tian said.
“His adopted son.” Zhuo Jingren answered. “Isaac or his adopted son.”
Silence followed. Lily stared at Zhuo Jingren as she thought about his words. Isaac made it clear to her that he wanted Zhuo Jingren to be safe. Framing Zhuo Jingren would just betray his goal of keeping his grandson safe from the attention of the Zhou Family.
However, there is also a fact that Isaac’s intervention now had been too late. The Zhou Family already know that Zhuo Jingren was the person that they were looking for. They already knew that he was a threat. Something that they need to eliminate.
But what if Isaac was doing this to prove a point? What if he wanted Zhuo Jingren to ask for his help? He wanted his grandson to acknowledge that he was still an infant in the scheming world of foxes and wolves?
Lily shook her head, removing the thoughts from her head. She was only overthinking. She massaged her temple before she closed her eyes. She needed to rest, sleep and cuddle with her husband.
