Tianyi pushed open the door of the flower room and walked out into the overgrown garden, taking a deep breath of fresh air. The afternoon sun was bright, but it did not penetrate his heart.
After locking Sophie in the garden's basement last night, he had made do with a night in the Qin family mansion.
Returning to his own dusty room, many unpleasant memories resurfaced in his mind like all-pervasive dust.
From the time he could remember, people in the mansion had looked at him with strange, contemptuous eyes, calling him a bastard.
He had asked his mother about this more than once, and his mother had always firmly stated that his biological father was Qin Zhaoye, and he was definitely not the illegitimate child they spoke of.
At that time, DNA testing technology in Lancheng was not yet mature. Shortly after his birth, Qin Zhaoye had taken their samples abroad for DNA comparison, and the result was that they were not biologically related.
His mother and grandmother did not believe this result and asked Qin Zhaoye to do another test, but Qin Zhaoye said it was unnecessary and declared him not his biological son based on the single test result.
Therefore, Qin Zhaoye rarely paid attention to him since he was a child, and his mother often shed tears in secret when she lived in the Qin family mansion. Later, he never asked his mother about it again.
As he grew up, he secretly had another DNA test with Qin Zhaoye, which showed a clear biological relationship. As for what went wrong with the initial test done abroad, it was impossible to know now.
Whether he and Qin Zhaoye were father and son was no longer important. He did not need the recognition of the Qin family, nor did he need a father. All he needed was to know that his mother was innocent.
Those people in the Qin family with ulterior motives had all received their retribution, and that was enough.
However, he had always disliked this mansion, so he left it abandoned and was unwilling to live in it.
Tianyi glanced at his phone charging on the table. There were several missed calls from Susu. He did not call back.
After his phone was charged and turned on, he had only answered a call from Xiao Lin. He had not replied to any other calls or messages.
Susu had been calling his phone continuously. He knew why and what she would ask.
He did not want to discuss these matters with her over the phone. He would wait until they met.
His phone was fully charged. He unplugged it, picked up his phone, and called Xiao Anjing.
"My dear young master, did you lose your phone? Is your phone just for decoration? Why weren't you answering when I called, and why didn't you reply to my messages?"
Tianyi said calmly, "I'm fine. I was just dealing with some matters from last night until now. Do you have any urgent business with me?"
His tone made An Jing pause slightly, as if he had returned to the emotionless Qin Tianyi of a few years ago.
"Oh, I was just worried about you, and Susu was worried too. Last night she asked me what bars you usually go to and what hotels you stay at..."
"I understand," Tianyi interrupted him and asked, "How is the investigation into the art dealer who sponsored Sophie?"
An Jing replied, "We have some leads. This person is not a good sort. He was originally an art teacher, and then he went abroad to make a living as a painter..."
"I'm going to the group immediately. We'll talk in person." Tianyi hung up decisively, then checked the stock market situation on his phone before driving away from the Qin family mansion himself.
...
Susu sat in the living room, not having slept all night, and had waited all night.
Sophie had indeed not returned all night, nor had she sent him any photos from the hotel room.
Sophie's phone had been switched off all night, and Tianyi's phone, which he later managed to get through, still had no answer.
Where did they go after drinking last night? What exactly happened? Could it be that in their drunken state, something that shouldn't have happened had happened...
Susu dared not even think in that direction. If her best friend and husband had something like that happen between them, she would absolutely not be able to face it.
She had given up trying to call Tianyi's phone. She checked the time; it was almost noon.
She called the front desk of Aoxiang Group and asked, "Is President Qin at the group today?"
"May I ask who you are? Do you have an appointment?"
"I am his wife. Is he at the group?"
"President Qin just arrived not long ago. Is there anything you need me to convey?" the front desk staff asked.
Susu hung up and immediately went upstairs to change her clothes and headed directly to Aoxiang Group.
She had also contacted Shishi from the studio and confirmed that Sophie had not gone to the studio today.
The clients Sophie had arranged to meet yesterday were all complaining that they couldn't reach her and were canceling their cooperation with her.
Susu asked Shishi to appease these clients first and deal with them after she found Sophie.
As soon as she entered the lobby of Aoxiang Group, she quickly showed her identity to the front desk staff.
The front desk staff also politely helped her contact Tianyi.
When Susu saw the front desk staff hang up the phone after speaking, she immediately said, "Can I go up now?"
"Madam," the front desk staff said cautiously, "President Qin said he is very busy right now and asked if you would wait in the lobby lounge area, or go home and wait. What do you think..."
"Did you tell him I'm his wife and there's an urgent matter?" Susu did not believe that was Tianyi's original words.
The front desk staff smiled and explained, "Madam, as you heard just now, I conveyed your words exactly. President Qin's secretary did reply to me like this. I'm sorry, but would you like to wait in the lounge area? I'll prepare some coffee and pastries for you."
"No need," Susu said, walking to the lounge area and sitting down absently in a random seat, her mind in turmoil.
She kept asking herself why Tianyi would suddenly act like this.
Did he really do something wrong after drinking last night, or did his secretary miscommunicate and deliberately sow discord between them?
She would rather believe it was her secretary's problem. He and Sophie definitely wouldn't... wouldn't do that!
The front desk staff still brought her coffee and pastries. After all, everyone in the group knew that President Qin doted on his wife.
Now that President Qin was unwilling to see his wife, everyone knew it was likely because his wife might have done something to betray him.
His wife had come directly to find him, probably to beg for his forgiveness. Alas, what man could easily forgive his woman for straying.
These employees were also gossiping privately, and some were even betting whether President Qin and his wife would divorce this time, with odds of fifty-fifty.
Susu sat from noon until dark, ignoring the gazes of the people coming and going in the lobby. Let alone Tianyi, she hadn't even seen a shadow of Xiao Anjing.
From her initial fear and panic, feeling that she couldn't face it, she now thought that if he could explain clearly and apologize to her, perhaps she could forgive his mistake once.
But the thought of Tianyi and Sophie together still made her suffocated.
She had no emotions left, only wishing he would appear before her and tell her what exactly happened between him and Sophie last night.