"Qin Guan just went to the communication company."
The moment Xiao Zhi's message popped up, Xu Ruyi's heart nearly skipped a beat.
"He's checking your call records. His next step might be to find your other number. Did you call Qi Min? Don't contact Qi Min by phone for now. Hand everything over to me!"
"But even if you didn't call, it will be hard to hide that you met Qi Min," Xiao Zhi's words were filled with worry. "The fact that he's thought of this means he's already highly suspicious of you. Plus, Little Pear saw me today. I think he'll definitely follow this lead!"
"He might also have you followed, monitoring your every move. That could quickly lead him to discover you went to the Xinhe Hotel and met Qi Min."
Yes, Qin Guan would find out.
He was a lawyer with meticulous attention to detail and a super-sharp instinct. He'd won so many difficult cases before, often turning the tide precisely because he possessed these traits and skills.
Like a wild wolf raised in treacherous circumstances, sensing danger would unleash immense potential in him.
Once he discovered a clue and then found out Xu Ruyi had gone to the Xinhe Hotel to meet Qi Min, he would quickly see the whole setup.
At that point, Xu Ruyi would lose all advantage and be completely passive.
Her only advantage now was being in the shadows. If both sides were exposed, forget implementing the next steps of the plan; even the divorce might be impossible for Xu Ruyi to complete smoothly.
She was no match for Qin Guan.
"What should I do?" Xu Ruyi's fingers trembled as she typed these three words.
"We need to find a way to divert his attention as soon as possible," Xiao Zhi said. "Let me think of a way. Sis, stay calm and wait for my message."
"No, I'll do it."
Xu Ruyi took a deep breath – being close to Qin Guan, diverting his attention was something she was better positioned to do.
And to divert the attention of someone as cunning and intelligent as Qin Guan naturally required something sensational, special, and extreme.
"You found it, didn't you? Xiao Zhi was there, right? I wasn't wrong, was I? I've been telling the truth! Captain He, you have to believe me! You must believe me! I'm not lying! I took the polygraph test, you saw the results yourself! I'm not lying! Everything I said is true, it really happened!"
Since seeing that surveillance photo of Xiao Zhi's back, Qin Guan had temporarily lost his composure.
"I knew it! Xiao Zhi was there! He's Xu Ruyi's pawn! Her vile strategist! He followed me! He must have been following me all along! I knew I was being followed! Otherwise, how could Xu Ruyi have known my movements so precisely? Yongfa Supermarket – she could orchestrate Li Yang showing up to confront me! That's proof, isn't it? He met Xu Ruyi at the aquarium, right? I'm telling you, they were conspiring on how to get rid of Qi Min!"
Old He sat quietly, unmoving, silent.
In the past, he might have felt compelled to mock Qin Guan – identifying Feng Zhi based only on a photo of someone's back? You have such sharp eyes, Lawyer Qin!
But Feng Zhi had been attending classes normally at school every day. How would the great lawyer explain that?
Old He didn't say this because he couldn't explain it himself – how could a university student, dutifully clocking in for classes every day, teleport over a thousand kilometers to follow Qin Guan?
He couldn't be in two places at once. Logically, that meant the figure in the photo probably wasn't Feng Zhi; it was likely just a passerby with a similar build.
But Qin Guan recognized it instantly as Feng Zhi. His daughter recognized it too. And that day, many "coincidences" seemed to suggest that what Qin Guan said might be true.
A tangled mess. An unsolvable knot.
"You can't blame me for being agitated."
Qin Guan sat in his chair, picked up the disposable cup in front of him, and drained it in one gulp. The accumulated grievances and the fury of being played for a fool surged uncontrollably in his eyes.
"This whole thing, from start to finish, right up until you brought me here, I was lost in a fog, unable to see clearly. It wasn't until these past few days locked up that I carefully pieced everything together and realized we've all been fooled by Xu Ruyi!"
"She's been setting a trap, all along. The goal was to lure me in and frame me. I'll tell you later how she did it. Right now, I want to talk about her accident."
Qin Guan's mind grew clearer. "That day, she fell down the stairs at the Tianfu Hotel. She fell badly, covered in blood. Then she got into a car accident on the way home, was hospitalized for days. Yes, I thought she was lying. At first, I did think she was lying. But actually, she was telling the truth about the fall itself! She did fall!"
"About the incident itself, she didn't lie. What she lied about was her purpose. She did it to divert my attention! Because that day, I went to the communication company to investigate her call records! I was starting to suspect her! Do you understand? She had me followed, realized I suspected her, so she created this huge commotion!"
"It killed three birds with one stone: it instantly diverted my attention, perfectly continued to cover up the truth that Qi Min had returned, and most importantly, it gave Feng Zhi the chance to take Qi Min away!"
The method of diversion was painful.
To avoid Qin Guan's detection, to prove her own innocence, to prevent Qin Guan from finding the Xinhe Hotel too quickly, and crucially, to buy time for the new plan – giving Qi Min ample opportunity to leave.
Xu Ruyi created a "crime scene."
She enthusiastically replied to Yang Qingqing and went to meet her at the Tianfu Hotel. They drank tea and chatted. Finally, when leaving, she didn't take the elevator.
She took the stairs.
On the steep staircase between the second and first floors, she threw herself forward, falling headfirst into the wall.
Her nose broke. Blood covered her face. Large smears of her blood stained both the wall and the floor.
Blood that couldn't be more real.
"Why are you so foolish? Using such a clumsy method? Why be so cruel to yourself? Weren't you afraid you might die? What would happen to Little Pear if something happened to you?" In the hospital, after Xu Ruyi woke up, Auntie Feng scolded her in a low voice, her eyes red.
Yes, Xu Ruyi's move was indeed clumsy.
She admitted it. She wasn't naturally a scheming, calculating person. This was the first time she'd ever done anything like it in her life.
"I just hope this fall was worth it," she comforted Auntie Feng.
However, when Xiao Zhi called, Xu Ruyi learned that her fall had been in vain – Qi Min, who was supposed to leave that afternoon, had changed her mind.