The Vanishing Lover

"This was a game like a labyrinth. In this game, from the beginning, all three parties had a vague understanding of each other's motives."

Qin Guan spoke very slowly.

Slowness was his consistent courtroom tactic—seemingly casual, but in reality, it bought him more time and wore down his opponent's patience.

Killing two birds with one stone.

Now, slowness was even more crucial—as he slowed down, his understanding of the entire event became clearer, and the logic in his mind flowed more smoothly.

"Me, Qi Min, Xu Ruyi—only I was out in the open. Qi Min was hidden in the shadows, casting her net for me to fall into. She watched me the whole time, completely unaware that Xu Ruyi was lurking behind her. Xu Ruyi knew I was having an affair and that Qi Min was up to something, but she didn't know what trick Qi Min was actually playing."

"Xu Ruyi was single-mindedly trying to figure out Qi Min's goal. Qi Min was single-mindedly trying to extort the money she wanted from me. The worst off was me. I thought Qi Min was really dead. I thought Xu Ruyi knew nothing about any of it. My perception of both women was blinded."

"So, in this game, from the very first move, I was at a disadvantage. I was purely and simply a target."

Xu Ruyi truly had no grasp of the overall situation at that time.

She didn't even know exactly what had happened to Qi Min.

Placing that suitcase at the doorstep was her attempt to pierce through the foggy, confusing situation.

That very night, she saw the result—after dinner, Qin Guan, dressed in a suit, excused himself, saying he had business to discuss, and went out.

To figure out the situation, naturally, she needed to follow Qin Guan.

Late that night, while Qin Guan was in the park, dressed in black, using 300,000 yuan in cash as bait to catch "Zeng Demei," Xu Ruyi hid in the distance, enduring mosquito bites in the grass, silently watching it all.

She watched Qin Guan lie in wait near the hut.

She also watched the disguised "Zeng Demei" walk right past her.

She naturally didn't recognize that woman. But when Qin Guan ran out to chase "Zeng Demei," she immediately realized she couldn't let Qin Guan catch that woman.

To understand everything, she had to find that woman before Qin Guan.

This might be her only chance to deal with Qin Guan.

So, she quickly called Auntie Feng.

"That night, right when I was chasing Zeng Demei, the windows and doors of my house were smashed,"

Qin Guan's thoughts returned to that suspicious night.

Late at night, in a high-end residential complex known for excellent security and constant peace, a thug had actually come to smash windows and doors.

And at the time, he hadn't suspected a thing.

"I didn't suspect because, first, I thought I had killed Qi Min. My mind was in turmoil, terrified. The slightest disturbance frightened me, and I didn't dare call the police. Second, the suitcase Xu Ruyi placed at the doorstep had led me astray."

"I thought it was done by the same person, the one blackmailing me. They had found my home. Since they could deliver a suitcase to scare me, naturally, they could smash windows and doors to cause me trouble."

He was so panicked he didn't even notice anything amiss about Xu Ruyi.

"When I got home, Xu Ruyi was in her pajamas, her hair disheveled, but she was covered in sweat,"

To be precise, she was sweating from her forehead down to her roots, her whole body was damp, she was panting, and her cheeks were flushed.

"I thought it was from fear. Because she's timid, always has been since childhood. Something so terrifying happened, and I wasn't home. I kept comforting her... how laughable, myself,"

Qin Guan smiled bitterly. "In fact, she had gone home ahead of me that night. If I'm not mistaken, she got out of the car and ran home as fast as she could, quickly changed clothes... Actually, you can verify this too. The main gate of our complex has surveillance; it must have captured her."

The surveillance footage from that night was naturally erased.

Including the part showing the "smashed windows and doors" at her doorstep, it was deleted early the next morning.

"There are very few things in this world that money can't solve," Xiao Zhi had said.

This was a fact—Xu Ruyi found an excuse, money slipped into the hand of the surveillance room staff, and in less than three minutes, that segment of footage was completely deleted.

"From now on, every step must be taken with extreme care. Don't leave any handles."

Dealing with someone like Qin Guan required exactly that.

After Auntie Feng smashed the windows and doors, she quickly hid the hammer—what kind of person was Qin Guan? His sense of smell was as sharp as a dog's. If he discovered the slightest clue, his attention would immediately shift to Xu Ruyi.

"Meaning, the windows and doors smashed that night were actually done by my nanny, Feng Xiangping,"

Qin Guan stated calmly, looking at Old He.

"She used a hammer, a hammer from my house."

That hammer was the one Qin Guan later discovered in the closet of Auntie Feng's room and subsequently hid in his safe.

"That hammer is in your hands right now. You can examine it carefully. You might even find traces of wood shavings from the door or particles of window glass caught in its crevices. A comparison will tell you,"

Evidence was more important than anything.

As a professional lawyer, Qin Guan knew this better than anyone.

"Feng Xiangping smashed my windows and doors, naturally, on Xu Ruyi's orders. Xu Ruyi was tailing me in the park at that critical moment. Feng Xiangping called me. In my urgency, confusion, and panic, I immediately dropped chasing 'Zeng Demei' and rushed back."

"And that was Xu Ruyi's purpose,"

"She lured me back because she didn't want me to catch Zeng Demei. She wanted to catch her herself, to get to the truth about the Lakeside Villa incident from Zeng Demei's mouth before I could."

"There's a crucial person here: 'Zeng Demei.'"

The woman Qin Guan had encountered but could never find again.

"This 'Zeng Demei' was, of course, fake. Qi Min had a bad relationship with her mother. She probably stole her mother's ID card for this woman to use."

"When I was investigating 'Zeng Demei,' I saw a photocopy of that ID. It was very blurry. I suspect Qi Min did that deliberately to get past scrutiny."

"After all, in such a remote lakeside hotel, staff aren't that easy to recruit."

"This woman, you can find her too," he said, looking at Old He. "Her ID was fake, but the person is real. She was arranged there by Qi Min in advance, worked for several days. She must have left some clues behind."

"Go on," Old He remained expressionless.

But he turned and nodded to the recorder beside him.

They would investigate that 'Zeng Demei'—Qin Guan knew it in his heart.

As long as they found her, that fake Zeng Demei, Qin Guan had a chance to turn the tables.