Qi Min was indeed refusing to leave.
Over the phone, even the usually steady Xiao Zhi sounded urgent.
"She's making a bunch of excuses! One minute she says she ordered takeout and has to get it, the next she says she bought clothes online and has to wait for the delivery. Bottom line: she just doesn't want to go!"
The real reason for Qi Min's reluctance was crystal clear to Xu Ruyi.
First, she hadn't given up on Qin Guan yet; she still held hope.
Second, she wasn't satisfied with the price. She'd gotten the forty thousand yuan too easily, so regret quickly took root, convincing her she was worth more. After all, Xu Ruyi could afford it, and Xu Ruyi needed her help – greed was, after all, human nature.
It was also the core motivation behind Qi Min's affair.
Since Qi Min and Qin Guan were already at odds, the greed didn't need hiding anymore.
The question was, how to solve it?
"I have everything arranged, but if she absolutely refuses to leave, I can't drag her away. This requires her cooperation; we can't coerce her," Xiao Zhi said.
Yes, coercion or dragging her away wouldn't work. Qi Min could easily contact Qin Guan.
And there was an even more serious problem – Xiao Zhi added: "Sis, Qi Min's attitude is off. She's evasive, clearly wavering inside. What I'm worried about is, if Qin Guan shows up now and they meet, Qi Min is very likely to betray you, to try and regain Qin Guan's trust. She might even actively team up with Qin Guan against you. After all, besides wanting money, she wants to take your place."
Defect, betray, and sell her out to please Qin Guan, joining forces with him against the legitimate wife.
Qi Min was absolutely capable of that.
A woman who shamelessly wrecked a marriage and used an affair for extortion was fundamentally untrustworthy.
In this plan, from the moment Xu Ruyi actively sought out "Zeng Demei" and decided to confront them head-on, she had mentally prepared herself.
She just hadn't expected Qi Min's betrayal to come so quickly.
Lying in the hospital bed, Xu Ruyi barely registered her physical pain. She lay still, her mind working with cold clarity – if Qi Min told Qin Guan, if Qin Guan knew for certain that Xu Ruyi was aware of everything and was secretly acting against him, it would be disastrous.
Her plan wasn't ready. She currently had no solid evidence to counterattack Qin Guan. The affair was the only thing making Qin Guan hesitate.
If even that leverage was gone, it would mean an open, direct confrontation.
But how could she possibly win a direct fight now?
Thinking of what Qin Guan had done to her parents, his ruthless schemes and tactics, and her young daughter, Xu Ruyi's heart sank like a stone to the ocean floor.
What to do? What to do?
She had never been good at this kind of thing. She was fundamentally no match for someone like Qin Guan.
If Qin Guan chose to fight her openly, she would struggle to protect even herself and her daughter.
Moreover, she was lying in a hospital bed, badly injured from her fall, unable to get up for days.
"Feng Zhi appeared repeatedly near the Xinhe Hotel, lingering, unwilling to leave, which means Qi Min changed her mind. She wasted Xu Ruyi's ruse of self-harm. In other words, Xu Ruyi fell for nothing."
"Xu Ruyi was lying in the hospital then, physically injured but mentally clear. She would naturally realize that Qi Min was likely to defect, to betray her. And that was absolutely unacceptable to Xu Ruyi."
"But she was stuck in her hospital bed, her mobility restricted. She couldn't go to the Xinhe Hotel to confront Qi Min. She couldn't even stop Qi Min from contacting me by phone."
"So," Qin Guan stared at Old He – the events of that day were becoming vividly clear in his mind, layer by layer. "The first thing Xu Ruyi needed to do was to preemptively destroy the trust between me and Qi Min."
"To make Qi Min completely lose my trust. As long as I didn't believe that woman, even if she did inform on Xu Ruyi, Xu Ruyi would still have a chance to salvage the situation."
This was Xu Ruyi's "remedial measure" that day.
Getting Qin Guan to trust Qi Min? Xu Ruyi didn't know how. But shattering Qin Guan's trust? No one understood that better than Xu Ruyi.
Because no one knew Qin Guan like she did.
She knew all about this man raised with her parents' support – his background, his past, everything about him.
Including, of course, his vulnerabilities.
"My biggest vulnerability, the thing I'm most sensitive about, is my background," Qin Guan said with a bitter, wry smile. "My parents, my childhood, my childhood home – all of these are scars I never want anyone to see. And that day, when I met Qi Min, everything she said stepped precisely on those landmines."
"I finally understood that those words didn't come from Xu Ruyi telling Qi Min. They came from Feng Zhi. Feng Zhi went back and 'accidentally' leaked that information about me to Qi Min."
"She didn't suspect a thing, Sis. Just as you predicted, she was very curious, kept pressing for details..."
Xiao Zhi sounded much more relaxed over the phone.
Qi Min didn't even need much prompting; she was intensely curious about Qin Guan's past.
"So Qin Guan didn't have a bad childhood environment after all? He never mentioned it. His father was strict with him? You can tell, he's incredibly demanding of himself, driven to succeed. So his parents were that strong-willed..."
"Coming from the countryside isn't shameful. I'm from the countryside too. His mother was kind? Good to him? Stayed up every night reading by lamplight with him? No wonder Qin Guan never talks about his mother. Probably painful. Ai, if they were still alive, maybe Qin Guan wouldn't have needed the Xu family's support, wouldn't feel so subordinate. If his mother were alive now, how wonderful, she'd surely be proud of her son..."
Besides her curiosity about Qin Guan's background and family, she was even more curious about the inner workings of Qin Guan and Xu Ruyi's marriage.
"Didn't Qin Guan and Xu Ruyi always have a good relationship? Why does Xu Ruyi want to deal with him?"
"Do they usually fight?"
"I heard they slept in separate rooms after Xu Ruyi's father died. Is that true?"
"Xu Ruyi is young, beautiful, and rich. Everyone knows Qin Guan cheated. Does she have plans of her own? Tell me honestly, does she have a lover outside?"
...
This woman truly had no trust in Xu Ruyi; she only wanted to gather more information beneficial to herself.
She also clearly still held onto hope regarding Qin Guan.
"That day, Feng Zhi must have followed Xu Ruyi's instructions and fed Qi Min a whole story about my background, family, and marriage."
Qin Guan closed his eyes, remembering the bizarre nonsense Qi Min had spouted that early morning.
"Qi Min was stupid, completely unaware it was Xu Ruyi's ploy to drive a wedge between us. Or perhaps, she was fooled by Feng Zhi's seemingly honest and reliable face, thinking she'd finally gotten the 'truth' about me, finally learned about my background and upbringing."
That fool actually talked about his father being strict and his mother loving.
She even thought these were "truths," "heart-to-heart talk" that would bring them closer. Little did she know they were like fatal knives to Qin Guan.
If she hadn't kept spouting those "taunts," Qin Guan might not have lost his composure.
Qin Guan lowered his eyelids, quickly suppressing the rising memory. When he looked up again, his gaze was still calm and steady. "Xu Ruyi lay in the hospital bed, using the shocking, real injuries to her body to completely disrupt my mind. Then she performed a pitiful act for me, lying about how Qi Min had bullied, humiliated, and hurt her."
A vulnerable, innocent wife, bullied, mocked, humiliated, and hurt by her husband's mistress.
"She succeeded, Captain He. I know she looked genuinely innocent, but she truly succeeded," Qin Guan looked at Old He. "She completely destroyed my trust in Qi Min. And that was the first step of her conspiracy."