Chapter 294 So It Was You
Bai Rong returned to her own hotel room in a daze, her mind replaying Mingchen’s words like a broken record. Till death do us part.
Plopping onto the sofa, she stared off into space for a while.
God seemed to be having some mercy on her if he had given her someone who loved her so deeply.
She had always only ever thought of herself, pitying herself and cursing God for her terrible life.
Now that she thought about it, Mingchen was more pitiful than herself. But all she did was wallow in self-pity.
If she died right now, nothing in the world would matter to her anymore. But what about Mingchen?
She had lived a lonely life with no one to love or accompany her for six years straight.
Whenever she thought of the person she loved, she would become so miserable that it hurt to even breathe.
An icy coldness had sprouted within her heart, causing her to forget how to even smile.
Is that what would happen to Mingchen if I died?
Her chest hurt so, so much. Bai Rong laid down on the sofa, curling into herself.
She used to hate herself for not erasing all memories of Mingchen when she went for hypnosis.
If she had done so, her heart would have never burned for Mingchen, and she wouldn’t be in so much pain because of him.
But if she didn’t remember him, that would only make him even more pitiful.
Maybe that was why she chose not to erase all her memories of him.
The past Bai Rong was madly in love with Mingchen.
And the current Bai Rong was still madly in love with Mingchen.
The hypnosis hadn’t changed anything other than solving her psychological issues.
She laid there in silence for nearly two hours when the doorbell rang. Even then, she refused to budge, focused on soothing the wound in her heart.
The person outside seemed to have other ideas, pressing the doorbell over and over.
Bai Rong stayed where she was.
There was silence outside the door for a moment, followed by the sound of beeping and the door opening.
Confused, she sat up.
Su Xuyan was standing in the doorway, his luggage in tow. His eyes were dark and indiscernible as he stared at her, as if he was examining her or waiting for something.
Standing beside him was the room’s division manager.
The rooms division manager smiled politely when he spotted Bai Rong, explaining, “He claims to be your boyfriend, miss. We rang the doorbell for a long time, but no one answered.”
“I was sleeping.” She got up from the sofa. “Why are you here?”
“What, am I not welcome here?” Xuyan shot back, a smug smirk on his face as he walked towards her.
“You’re not, actually.” Bai Rong rolled her eyes.
He was now standing right in front of her. “Six years together, and you still never fail to make me feel worse whenever I’m in a bad mood.”
“And yet, you still insist on staying with such an ill-mannered woman like me?” she retorted.
Xuyan sounded and looked completely serious as he said, “Our time together barely adds up to seven years. Maybe by the tenth year, you’ll have helped me become less of an asshole than I am now.”
The sudden self-deprecating statement made Bai Rong shut up.
“I’m going to the police station later,” she proclaimed in an attempt to change the topic.
Xuyan’s tone softened as he looked over her. “You look pale. Do you feel unwell?”
“You already know about my condition,” Bai Rong sighed, shaking her head. “That’s it. Just do whatever you want.”
She picked up her bag and left the hotel, shivering from the cold wind outside as she tried to hail a taxi.
A car slowed to a stop in front of her, and the driver called out her name. “Bai Rong?”
Her eyes widened at the sight of the driver, who turned out to be Chen Bin. “What a coincidence! Why are you here?”
“I came specifically for you,” Chen Bin told her, his expression dark and solemn. “Get in.”
Assuming that Chen Bin had already thought things through, Bai Rong got into the passenger’s seat and fastened her seatbelt.
“I considered what you told me, and I think it makes sense. Do you think there’s a possibility that Chunxia’s family threatened the Lu family in order to buy the mansion, so the Lu family resorted to hiring a hitman to kill them? And later, when the hitman was arrested, they ordered someone else to kill the hitman?” he inquired.
Nodding, she replied, “If that version of events is true, then everything else would make sense.”
“Do we have proof?” Chen Bin furrowed his eyebrows as he kept looking straight ahead, a strange glint in his eyes.
“No. If I did, the police would already be making an arrest,” Bai Rong sighed, downhearted. “This case is going to shake up all of A City.”
“Then what should we do? We can’t just let the culprit get away with this,” Chen Bin fussed.
She gave him a sidelong glance. “Justice always prevails. You and I both know the truth now, don’t we? If we continue collecting information about the killers, we’ll reach the turning point soon.”
He clenched his fists. There was a strange mix of reluctance and pity in his eyes as he looked at her, alongside some other complicated emotions.
“What’s wrong?” Bai Rong asked, confused.
“I feel sorry for Lu Biao for being born into that kind of family.” Chen Bin’s eyebrows knitted together.
“Maybe it’s what he deserves. He did rape Chunxia after all,” she sighed. “What goes around comes around.”
“Do you really think karma exists?”
“Probably. Isn’t that why people have self-restraint and stop themselves from doing the wrong thing?”
He hummed in agreement. “Do you want some water?”
Shaking her head, Bai Rong turned to look out the window. “No, thank you. By the way, this isn’t the way to the police station.”
“I’m taking you somewhere,” he answered in a low tone.
Alarm bells instantly rang out in her head. “Where?”
Chen Bin stopped the car by the roadside under the shade of a large tree. “Did you know why I was assigned to Jadeborough to be a director even when my previous job has nothing to do with my current one?”
Bai Rong had a bad feeling about this. “Why?”
“I’m one of Xingzhou’s people.”
She hadn’t expected that. Immediately whipping around to open the car doors, she was horrified to discover that they were already locked.
Chen Bin took out a handkerchief and sprayed it with diethyl ether, leaning over her to cover her nose and mouth with it.
Reflexively holding her breath, her eyes were wide with terror as she stared at him.
In a remorseful voice, he whispered, “I’m sorry. I just found out that the culprit is Xingzhou, too. He called me and told me to kidnap you. “He said that if I didn’t follow his orders, I would lose not just my job, but all of my friends and family as well.
“I never once thought that you were the one assigned to help us crack the case. I just thought that it was fate that led us to meet each other. But you shouldn’t have offended Governor Lu… You simply can’t imagine the power and influence he holds.”
Bai Rong’s lungs were burning, screaming for oxygen. She had no choice but to take in a breath and inhale the chemicals, her vision grew dark and her body went limp…
