116: Getting Him
"I'm near the department store at Parade Street." Ning Ning glanced out of the window.
"Wait for me there," Wen Yu said, "fifteen minutes."
After she hung up, Ning Ning made full use of the fifteen minutes to look through the messages in the phone so as to get a clear idea of the relationship between Zhang Xin Ai and him.
The corner of her mouth twitched.
The two of them knew each other.
Wen Yu's psychology teacher was Zhang Xin Ai's psychologist.
It was just...
[There is really nothing between me and Doctor Zhou.]
[Trust me!]
[I'm just sick! I can't control myself!]
What did she mean? Could it be that having loose morals was a kind of mental illness?
Ning Ning looked at Wen Yu's replies next.
[Doctor Zhou is a teacher I'm greatly indebted to. Besides, he has a wife and child, please restrain yourself.]
He did not reply to the second message.
[You are not sick, this is also not an illness, this is but your personal hobby and a type of habit in your life.]
As calm as a scalpel, he peeled off the seductive skin and revealed the ugly bones on the inside. Not only did Wen Yu see through Zhang Xin Ai's nature, he also maintained a level head and figured out what she was doing behind his back.
She was seducing Wen Yu and his teacher Doctor Zhou at the same time.
Old habits die hard, Zhang Xin Ai had wanted to experience the joys of two-timing a teacher and his student.
Although Doctor Zhou was a man with a family, but he was unable to resist the temptation of the femme fatale in front of him. This seemingly mature and earnest man did something that shocked everyone including Zhang Xin Ai at the end—he abandoned his wife and child to propose to Zhang Xin Ai.
How could Zhang Xin Ai agree to it? She told him with an innocent face, "You are a person with a wife and child, how could I have fallen in love with you? Ah, you're saying that this was not what I said before? I was sick...when I'm sick, I cannot control my mouth. If I had ever said anything along the lines of liking you, you must not take it seriously...hehe."
In the end, the only person with an egg on his face was Doctor Zhou. He had made a big joke of himself, he had even gotten divorced with his wife. His wife and child hated him to death now, he could not even disclose her "sickness" to the public due to the non-disclosure agreement. He disappeared in the middle of a certain night, no one knew where he went, no one ever saw him again.
The car door beside her was suddenly flung open.
Wen Yu got in the car. He placed his briefcase in between the two of them, as if to draw a line in the sand.
Ning Ning looked at his side profile. A twenty-four-year-old Wen Yu, the naivety of a child could barely be seen on him anymore, the scholarly aura from his teenage years had been sharpened like an unsheathed sword... Ning Ning felt that she did not know him well anymore because she could not feel any warmth from him. He was like a marble sculpture placed high up inside the church, overlooking the ugliness of humankind.
What changed him?
"...Long time no see." She greeted him with difficulty.
"There is no need to reminiscence about the past." Wen Yu asked blandly, "Where is Pei Xuan?"
The taxi brought them to the foot of the apartment building. The two of them had gone upstairs and seen that the door was open, they carefully walked in. There was no one behind the door, no one in the living room... Wait, the sound of water was coming out of the bathroom.
Ning Ning held her breath and followed behind Wen Yu as he slowly walked towards the bathroom.
Water was slowly seeping out of the door crack, making the mahogany floor wet. They carefully pushed open the door to the bathroom. A dense white steam greeted them. The white porcelain floor was completely soaked in water, the floor drain was spitting water out crazily, but the water would not stop.
Where was the water coming from?
Ning Ning slowly turned her head and looked over. She saw that the bathtub was overflowing with water continuously, Crew-Cut Man's corpse was floating up and down the water surface, causing water to flow out of the bathtub as he undulated, pouring out onto the floor.
She could not help but scream while covering her mouth with both her hands.
Wen Yu took a step forward and took a look at Crew-Cut Man's corpse. He looked back and asked her, "Who is he?"
"...Pei Xuan's lackey." Ning Ning looked away, she did not want to look at the corpse. "I escaped while the two of them were fighting, I didn't think he would actually...did Pei Xuan kill him?"
Wen Yu stared at her without saying a word.
The atmosphere between the two of them was very weird. Within the silent bathroom, only the water that held the corpse was still flowing and making splashing sounds.
"...Let's call the police." Wen Yu took out his phone, but did not immediately make the call, he shot her a strange look instead. "Is that okay?"
What was not okay about that? Ning Ning urged, "What are you waiting for? Quickly..."
The next second, the car door was opened, Wen Yu got in the car. He placed his briefcase in between the two of them, then looked up and saw that Ning Ning looked at him with a shocked expression. He said, "There is no need to reminiscence about the past." Wen Yu asked blandly, "Where is Pei Xuan?"
As the taxi drove towards the apartment, Ning Ning thought about it. Why? What did she do? She didn't do anything. What did she say? She had only said seven words. She had not finished her sentence, why did she suddenly go back to the beginning?
Back at the apartment building again, back upstairs again, discovering the corpse in the bathtub again, falling into silence again.
Looking at his strange expression, Ning Ning suddenly understood a very serious problem.
"You..." Ning Ning forced a smile. "You don't think that I killed him right?"
Wen Yu's eyes brightened for a moment.
...You really think so!!
Hold on. Upon more deliberation, there really was such a possibility.
The person who had said Pei Xuan was looking for trouble was her, the person who had said Crew-Cut Man was his lackey was also her. In the end, Pei Xuan was nowhere in sight, while Crew-Cut Man was lying dead in her bathtub.
If that was the case, there was a possibility that she had knocked Crew-Cut Man out and placed him in her bathtub, then left once she turned on the tap. She then met up with Wen Yu so that she would have an alibi. The two of them returned to discover the crime scene together, then she framed Pei Xuan who was nowhere to be seen.
That was why Wen Yu had wanted to call the police.
What about Zhang Xin Ai? Zhang Xin Ai would definitely not want the police to come. Crew-Cut Man's life or death were none of her business, she did not care whether Pei Xuan got caught either; what she cared about now was herself. Not only did she not want the police to find out that she had been secretly helping Pei Xuan to launder money, she also did not want tabloid reporters to find out that a man with a crew cut had died in her house not long after he was released from prison.
She would not want to call the police, she would only want to gag Wen Yu's mouth.
"Damn Pei Xuan! You actually want me to clean up for you after you killed someone!" Ning Ning roared angrily in her heart, then racked her brains and told Wen Yu, "I'm not lying, Pei Xuan was really here."
Wen Yu stared at her closely, seemingly trying to perceive if she was lying.
"I'll just tell you the truth." Ning Ning took a deep breath and looked at him sincerely. "Before Pei Xuan went into prison, he left five million with me. I did not expect that he would be released early from prison, so I spent the money..."
The next second, the car door was opened. Wen Yu got into the car, then placed his briefcase in between the two of them...
All right, since Zhang Xin Ai did not allow her to tell him the truth, then she would lie to him.
"...You know about my illness." Ning Ning had no choice but to use Zhang Xin Ai's excuse from years ago, showing her hands, her face was full of helplessness, "Father and son, brothers, teacher and student, when I see these types of men I would not be able to control myself. Pei Xuan and the guy in the bathtub...they were superior and subordinate, so I..."
The next second, the car door was opened. Wen Yu got in the car, he placed his briefcase in between the two of them...
The lie didn't work either! What else could she say?
Over and over; failure, upon failure, upon another failure.
Moreover, Ning Ning did not know if she was imagining things, but the time she had before returning to the beginning was getting shorter and shorter. At first, she could finish everything she had to say in the bathroom. Later on, it became a sentence. Even later on, she would return to the beginning the moment she opened her mouth. What was going on? Was there a punishment for failing too many times?
"...Let's call the police." Wen Yu took out his phone, but did not immediately make the call, he shot her a strange look instead. "What's the matter? Are you feeling unwell?"
Ning Ning's face was as white as a sheet, she was rooted on the ground without saying a word.
She could not say anything.
She had failed this scenario too many times, so much so that as of now, as long as she were to utter a word, she would return back to the beginning.
But how could she move the plot forward without speaking?
Ning Ning bit her fingernails. Since Wen Yu was already standing here, having witnessed everything in the bathroom, he would definitely call the police. No one could stop him, especially not Zhang Xin Ai whom he had viewed as the suspect.
Since they did not see eye to eye regarding the matter of the police, then she could only seek a compromise through other means...but what specifically could it be? Quickly think of it, quickly think of it!
As she was too anxious, not only did Ning Ning start to bite her nails, she even started to pace in place. She had forgotten her whereabouts. There was so much water on the floor, the porcelain tiles were so slippery that she fell before she could take two steps. She screamed and hugged Wen Yu reflexively, Wen Yu also held her up reflexively.
"How could you be so careless?" Wen Yu furrowed his brows as he helped her up.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." Ning Ning said before feeling surprised. She had already said so many words, why had she not returned to the beginning?
The bathroom turned quiet. The atmosphere between the two of them had turned strange again. The reason for the atmosphere this time was different...Ning Ning's clothes were wet.
She was not wearing a lot to begin with. Her clothes were thin, although she did not fall into the water when she slipped previously, the water that was splashed around had splattered onto her, the already thin clothes had gotten wet, making them look transparent. From a bystander's point of view, she seemed to be hugging Wen Yu while she was naked.
"...Let's go out for now." Wen Yu let go of her as he looked in another direction.
The two of them walked out of the bathroom. Ning Ning sat down on the sofa. Wen Yu stopped himself from speaking a few times, but at last he could not hold it in anymore. He held his fist up to his mouth and coughed. "You're drenched, go change?"
Ning Ning looked at him with a complicated expression.
In reality, the main character ticket was very strict. Twice she had walked out of her house wearing the wrong clothes, the main character ticket ended up returning her back to the beginning. The fact that she was sitting there fine and dandy proved that she was wearing the correct set of clothes, it proved that Zhang Xin Ai was more than happy to face him with her current getup.
That came from her desire to seduce...
Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Ning Ning covered her face with her hands, her voice was a little husky, it trembled a little, "The moment I closed my eyes, I would see the corpse in the bathroom... I don't dare to be alone, can you accompany me to the bedroom to take my clothes?"
Wen Yu hesitated for a moment. "I'll see you to the door."
Ning Ning laughed bitterly. She had not returned to the beginning after saying that much.
Damn it, she knew what Zhang Xin Ai had wanted to do now.
"Seduce him, capture him, turn him into a puppet under the skirt who would listen to everything I say. If you failed, I would lose everything; if you succeeded, I would be able to get him, to get everything." In this moment, that gentle and lazy voice seemed to have appeared by her ear again. A person, or a role by the name of Zhang Xin Ai was hugging her tightly from behind in an attempt to merge into Ning Ning's flesh and bones like last time, by turning into smoke or water and becoming one.
"...But how can I do that?" Ning Ning struggled, saying in her heart, "This is Wen Yu, more...moreover, his brother is currently watching us."