Chapter 56

Her appetite was unusually good; she actually finished more than half a bowl of rice and even drank a whole bowl of soup—truly unprecedented.

Perhaps it was because a burden had been lifted from her heart, and she was one step closer to her goal, Xie Shiqing felt incredibly happy. She regretted a little that she couldn’t perform the intimate gesture of picking food for her, so her tone of voice carried an extra touch of tenderness.

“Ning Ning, are you completely worn out today?”

Before achieving her goal, she had to keep Zhong Ning steady, make sure Zhong Ning obediently played her role as a puppet.

Although this wasn’t the original Zhong Ning, her choice had never changed.

She appreciated Zhong Ning’s character, but nothing was more important than revenge.

Zhong Ning replied in a complicated tone, “Yeah, completely exhausted.”

Her body wasn’t especially tired, but mentally, she was absolutely drained.

Just the shock of today’s revelations would take her a whole week to recover from.

Xie Shiqing picked up on the tone of hopelessness in her voice, and a small smile appeared at the corner of her lips. “Then sleep in a little tomorrow. Take a good rest.”

She gave her a smiling hug and gently kissed her cheek. “You’ve been on your feet all day. Are your legs sore too? I’ll call a massage therapist tomorrow to give you a massage, help you relax.”

Zhong Ning’s eyes lit up, and she eagerly agreed.

A massage therapist! Just what she had been wanting. If she didn’t take the opportunity to learn a bit, it would be a waste of such a great chance.

“Oh right, Shiqing, today I heard from Nanshuang and the others that Zhang Min has already been arrested?”

Xie Shiqing lazily brushed her hair back. “Yes. I had someone follow her. Zhang Min is a classic spoiled brat. Though the Zhang family ordered her to be grounded, she was never going to stay obedient. I just didn’t expect to catch her so soon.”

She wrapped her arms around Zhong Ning’s neck and said sweetly, “I know Ning Ning feels sorry for Liu Rushi, right? So I didn’t use that case to punish Zhang Min. I chose other evidence instead. The final result is the same, and the crime is even heavier—she’ll serve a longer sentence.”

“It’s just that the people who were covering for Zhang Min can’t be dealt with right away. I originally planned to take care of everything before telling you.”

Zhong Ning was instantly moved, holding her tightly and refusing to let go, her mouth overflowing with a stream of loving words.

Xie Shiqing smiled helplessly, but what she was actually thinking about was the unfinished part of dealing with the Zhang family. Besides the business world, there was still the political side; those few young police officers who had kept silent against her.

If they had told the truth, they could have saved her, but they would have also lost their jobs. Now that they had chosen to keep silent and cover things up, they were still going to lose their jobs.

To be fair, those few people could barely be considered pitiable, oppressed by authority and power.

But Xie Shiqing didn’t have that much compassion or kindness to spare.

Everyone had to take responsibility for their choices. Since they had chosen to sacrifice others to protect themselves, they had to accept that a day of reckoning would come.

“As for Liu Rushi, I had someone look into her as well. I figured you might want to know,” Xie Shiqing said slowly. “Her family background is quite poor. She was the top scorer in the province back then. Despite such great academic performance, her family didn’t want her to study—they wanted her to get married. She stole her ID card and ran away. That’s how she successfully got into Fengcheng University. Her grades have always been excellent, and she worked part-time jobs in her spare time to earn money.”

“She gets poverty grants and scholarships, so life has been manageable.”

“After this incident, she chose to drop out and has been working ever since. Besides her main job, she takes on two or three part-time gigs every day. It’s extremely exhausting.”

Xie Shiqing spoke with gentle patience, “I think she’s quite pitiful too, so I wanted to offer her a job—at the Xie Corporation. What do you think?”

Zhong Ning didn’t have any particular thoughts—she had only one: “Shiqing, you’re just too kind! You’re the kindest and most wonderful person I’ve ever met!”

Xie Shiqing put on a look of modest embarrassment. “Not at all. One of the reasons I do these things is to make you a little happier.”

Zhong Ning was so touched that her heart felt like it was melting.

“Alright, it’s already late. Go to bed early. We’ll talk more tomorrow.”

Xie Shiqing tilted her head and kissed her on the lips. When she heard the door close behind Zhong Ning, the curve of her lips shifted—from soft affection into a cold, ruthless smile.

She had looked into Liu Rushi merely in passing, but after finishing the investigation, she found the girl impressive. Clever-minded, academically outstanding, and most importantly, someone who knew what she wanted—and was ruthless with herself.

Xie Shiqing admired her personality. With a little training, she could become quite useful.

The reason Liu Rushi knew what Zhong Ning looked like was because a bartender at Lixue Bar had told her. Zhong Ning and her group were regulars there, and it wasn’t unusual for them to be photographed.

But Liu Rushi being able to get a job at that bar—that wasn’t by her own ability. Someone had referred her.

When Xie Shiqing went to find her, she was very cooperative, telling everything she knew without holding back. As luck would have it, she was also highly intelligent and had an excellent memory.

A middleman who had introduced her to the part-time job—and Liu Rushi had kept all the records and contact details. After giving her the referral, the person on the other end claimed to have changed professions and no longer did this kind of work, even deleted her from their contacts. But Liu Rushi had saved all the screenshots.

Ever since the hotel incident, she had developed this habit.

Following the trail from the middleman, Xie Shiqing investigated further, and sure enough, traced it back to the Le family. They had a hand in this matter.

Now that she had concrete evidence, it was more than enough. Though even without it, it wouldn’t have made a difference—she had long known it was them.

Whether or not this came to light wouldn’t stop her from making her move.

Zhong Ning returned to her room, still feeling light and buoyant, as if walking on clouds.

Love or the lack of it always revealed itself in the smallest details of daily life. There was no doubt that Xie Shiqing loved her—how could she not be delighted by that?

She went to sleep with a heart full of plans, but that night, she began to dream involuntarily.

It was a lucid dream. Zhong Ning’s soul seemed to be floating high in the sky, or like a spectator watching a film. From a god-like perspective, she saw a large mansion shrouded in a gloomy wind and cold rain.

The Zhong Family Villa.

At first, she didn’t recognize it because the Zhong Family Villa in reality looked different from the one in her dream. The color of the exterior walls wasn’t the same, and the garden was completely changed—there wasn’t a single point of similarity.

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