Zong Jinghao held a plastic bag with one hand while carrying his daughter with the other. When they left the supermarket, the bus was about to pull away too. The mother and son who were buying something in the supermarket just now were in the bus.
When the little boy got into the bus, he looked back at the little girl who was carried by someone in his arms. He felt that she was an innocent yet very adorable child.
“Let’s go.” His mother urged him.
The little boy had to get into the bus.
“Where’s brother?” Lin Ruixi looked around and saw a lot of cars and the crowd. She didn’t notice that a boy with a pair of black and sparkling eyes was looking at her behind the window of the bus.
The bus soon pulled away, and she slowly disappeared from his sight.
“Daddy, what’s that about?” Lin Ruixi pointed at the stall that was selling tanghulu (sugar candy) not far from them and surrounded by a bunch of people.
She fell on Zong Jinghao’s neck and said, “Daddy, I want tanghulu.” Zong Jinghao looked up at the sky for a while and then looked at the bag of snacks that he was carrying.
Hmm, since my daughter wants it, I have only one option: Buy it!
“Daddy’s so nice.” Lin Ruixi kissed and brushed him when she fell upon Zong Jinghao’s neck. Zong Jinghao’s heart melted.
Tanghulus in the old days contained only Chinese hawberries covered in hard candy, but now many different types of fruits could be strung together with a stick. Lin Ruixi wanted one original hawberry tanghulu that was coated in glittering sugar and looked rather appetizing.
She said approvingly, “This must be very delicious.”
Zong Jinghao paid for it and said, “We should go.”
The little girl nodded repeatedly. She was very satisfied now since she got everything that she wanted.
When they returned, the car was already filled up. Shen Peichuan had also brought Lin Xichen back, and he was also holding a tanghulu.
“Why are you guys so late? We’ve been here for quite some time.” Lin Xichen looked at the stuff that Zong Jinghao put into the car. He then looked at his sister and slightly heaved a sigh as he roughly knew what happened.
Shen Peichuan patted him on his head gently and said, “You’re still very young. What are you sighing about?”
Lin Xichen pouted his lips and sat on his seat to eat his tanghulu.
Shen Peichuan followed Zong Jinghao to the back and said, “Su Zhan solved the matter about He Ruilin…”
“We’ll talk about it later.” Zong Jinghao interrupted him as he didn’t want his daughter to hear such nasty things.
Shen Peicuan immediately shut his mouth and said, “I’ll wait for you downstairs.”
“Ok.” Zong Jinghao put her daughter down, placed the food on the desk and said, “You’ll stay in the car with your brother. Daddy and Mr. Shen has something to discuss.”
“I got it.” Lin Ruixi was very thoughtful and lovely.
Zong Jinghao caressed her hair.
The little girl turned away and said, “My hair was messy enough, and it became messier after you touched me. When we find mommy, mommy might not recognize me anymore because I’m too ugly.”
Zong Jinghao laughed softly, pinched her face and said, “Who dares to say that my daughter is ugly?”
Felt joyous, Lin Ruixi grinned broadly, revealing her clean and white teeth.
Shen Peichuan was in front of the car when Zong Jinghao got out of it. He slightly moved backwards to give him the space.
They walked a few steps to the front, but still not far from the car.
“Lin Yuhan’s dead.”
Zong Jinghao startled. Why is she the one who died?
Back then, Lin Yuhan wasn’t injured at all whereas He Ruilin was tortured rather badly. They were purposely being placed in the same place to ‘slaughter each other’, and he had never expected that Lin Yuhan would die.
He thought that He Ruilin’s the one who would die. Nevertheless, neither of their deaths concerned him since the one who survived was found guilty of murder and would surely go to jail. If her crime was found to be severe, she could be sentenced to death.
“I never expected it before He Ruilin…” Shen Peichuan shared the same thought as Zong Jinghao. He used to think that He Ruilin would die, yet it turned out that Lin Yuhan who wasn’t injured was dead.
It tells them how tough He Ruilin is.
She could still kill Lin Yuhan even though she was injured.
“The evidence in the murder of Lin Yuhan by her was inclusive and indisputable. Also, she had been given the death sentence with one-year reprieve due to the old case of contract killing that involved Yu Doudou’s brother. The ones who are watching over her now are my men, and so something like He Ruize’s escape in the past won’t happen again.”
They deliberately kept He Ruilin and Lin Yuhan in the interrogation room with security cameras. Since they recorded the way He Ruilin killed Lin Yuhan crystal clear, it was literally impossible for her to reopen the case. Considering that she was also convicted of contract killing in the past, she had zero chance to survive.
Zong Jinghao looked very calm, as if the woman who was given the death sentence had nothing to do with him.
She brought this on herself and couldn’t blame anyone.
He used to tolerate her and ignore the dirty tricks that she played because she saved him before. Because of that, he missed the chance to be with Lin Xinyan for so many years.
Didn’t he know that He Ruilin was rather ill hearted?
He knew it but tolerated her all the while due to his indebtedness to her. Instead, she’s the one who eroded his patience and gratitude towards her.
“Let’s go.” He strode towards the car.
Shen Peichuan followed him and said, “Su Zhan’s on his way too, and would soon catch up with us.”
Zong Jinghao looked back at him.
Shen Peichuan spread out his hands and said, “He’s already on his way when he informed me that he’s coming. Also, I can’t really stop him since he’s determined to come.”
At this moment, Zong Jinghao’s phone in his pocket rang. He took out his phone and noticed that it was Guan Jing’s call.
He didn’t want to pursue the matter about Su Zhan but take the call instead. When Guan Jing was about to report to him on He Ruilin, Zong Jinghao who was standing in front of the car window said calmly, “I knew it.”
After Guan Jing informed him about some matters related to the company, he turned on his laptop to check the documents that Guan Jing sent to him. Then, he signed on the documents after confirming that they were fine and gave him some instructions before ending the call.
When the night was closing in, they reached Baicheng.
Shen Peichuan said, “Since we had been in the car for the past few days and didn’t really take a good rest, I think we should stay overnight in a hotel. The two kids can also rest well and get refreshed.”
Zong Jinghao didn’t seem to hear him as he was still browsing through some websites. Frowned, Shen Peichuan came closer to him and asked, “What are you reading…”
Before finished speaking, he could see what was on the screen and realized that Zong Jinghao was looking for some information about Baicheng.
The first piece of information was about the origin of Baicheng.
This place wasn’t named Baicheng in the old days, and its original name was County of Mengcheng.
There was an entrepreneur named Bai Hongfei who solved the unemployment issues of the locals. To commemorate him, the city Baicheng was therefore renamed after his surname.
Although Baicheng wasn’t a populous city, it was rather prosperous, and most of the locals here worked in Bai Group.
Zong Jinghao continued to scroll down the screen but couldn’t find much information about Bai Hongfei. Most of them were about the ups and downs throughout his journey to become a successful entrepreneur, and none was about his relationships and family.
“Daddy.” Lin Ruixi was calling Zong Jinghao in the car.
“Are we staying overnight in a hotel? If we are, I’ll make the arrangements right away.” Shen Peichuan asked again.
Zong Jinghao sat straight to stretch his body, looked back at him and said, “Yes.”
Even though there was everything in the car, the space was still limited and they couldn’t really get a good rest in it.
“The button fell off.” Lin Ruixi was sitting on the bed with her legs crossed, while Lin Xichen was leaning on his side and fell asleep.
“Let me take a look.”
Lin Ruixi handed the button over to him, pointed at the collar and said, “It fell off from here.”
“I’ll get you another one.” Since Zhuang Zijin packed her clothes for her and put them in the cupboard, he opened the cupboard, found a dress and asked, “This?”
Lin Ruixi shook her head and said, “This is a pajamas.”
“Zong Jinghao continued to search and said, “This?”
“I’ll look for it myself.” As Lin Ruixi lost her faith in him, she slid down from the bed and searched through the cupboard. Finally, she grabbed a blue dress and said, “This is the one. Mommy bought it for me during my last birthday.”
Speaking of birthdays, Zong Jinghao didn’t even know when they were born.
Zong Jinghao helped her take off her dress of which the button fell off and put on the blue dress that she liked very much. She looked adorable in the dress that was adorned with a small sweater. Apparently, Lin Xinyan knew very well how to dress her daughter nicely and match clothes for her.
Zong Jinghao was a little excited when she looked at his daughter and asked, “Ruixi, when’s your birthday?”
“May.” She said with her pouting lips, “My birthday’s passed for a long time, and I can only wait for next year.”
Zong Jinghao held out his hand to caress her head.
When the car pulled over, Shen Peichuan came in and said, “I’ve found the best hotel in Baicheng.”
He spread his arms and said, “It belongs to Bai Group.”
Since most of the companies were under Bai Group, they didn’t have much choice.