In life, some people who are naturally suspicious or have confidential documents in their rooms, or those who value privacy and dislike others invading their space, often take precautions. They might place a strand of hair in the keyhole before leaving or tuck an inconspicuous piece of thread into the gap in the doorframe after closing it, all to determine whether someone has entered their room when they’re not around.
“Did you forget to lock the door when you left?” Yin Yunqiu never doubted his son’s keen eyesight. The young man didn’t answer him but instead leaned against the wall with one hand, occasionally letting out a small burp, and pouted childishly, saying, “Where’s my hair? I had it hanging there!”
Saying this, he seemed as if he might even get down on the floor to search for the missing hair.
Yin Yunqiu walked up and indeed found that the brown hair that had been hanging by the door for years was gone. Staring at the door, his lips flattened instantly, and a fleeting glint of sharpness appeared in his pitch-black eyes.
He remained composed, ran his hand along the wall, and in an instant, the long corridor lit up as bright as day.
The sound of turning on the lights startled the young woman. The bright light seeped into the dark study. In this eerie atmosphere, she covered her mouth, afraid to make even the slightest sound, fearing her breath might betray her. As the footsteps outside drew closer, her legs went weak, and she nearly fainted.
With a click, the door opened, and in the span of just a minute, it felt like a century had passed. Without paying any more attention to his inebriated son, Yin Yunqiu remained vigilant as he walked into the room. He accurately found the room’s light switch and subconsciously checked the security net and the tightly closed windows before examining the room.
The young man’s study wasn’t very large, and one could easily see everything at a glance. An ordinary person wouldn’t have been overly suspicious, but Yin Yunqiu was inherently distrustful. He checked every nook and cranny of the room, from behind the sofa to the curtains and the door frame, until his footsteps stopped in front of a cabinet that couldn’t possibly hide a person.
His voice turned frosty as he said, “Are you coming out on your own, or should I pull you out?”
How could that be possible? She had been discovered in the end? Jiang Mingqin’s vision went black, and the breath she had been holding dissipated completely.
Seeing that she hadn’t made any moves, the man ran out of patience. He forcefully opened the cabinet and dragged her out.
The cabinet was square and could never fit a person of normal stature. However, Jiang Mingqin, who had received dance training and was incredibly fleXieble, could easily slip into such a space without leaving any traces. Even the young man, much less anyone else, would never have noticed her hiding place. Yet, she had still been discovered by this man with piercing eyes.
In truth, Yin Yunqiu had initially only been guessing. His intuition, honed through years of business, had told him that someone was in the room. Plus, the still-warm laptop had given him a clear indication that someone had been there. But after searching the room without finding anything, he eventually discovered the cabinet. Yin Yunqiu almost instinctively thought of his son’s childhood, when he used to play hide-and-seek with him. The young boy had loved hiding in various cabinets around the house.
Every time he opened a cabinet, he would find that adorable little figure, with the child tilting his head and extending his delicate little arm, pouting and saying, “Ah, I hid so well, but you still found me.”
He would then laugh and carry the child out.
So, as he had expected, when he opened the cabinet, he came face to face with the terrified look on the young woman’s face. He stared at her coldly and promptly confiscated the hard drive she had hidden on her person. He sneered, “You received bribes from someone, didn’t you?”
“No, Father! Those are all my study materials! I was just afraid that you would think I had ill intentions, so I hid in the cabinet unconsciously.” Jiang Mingqin’s eyes welled up with tears, and she sounded extremely anxious. She was attempting to defend herself, but her words were incoherent.
Yin Yunqiu didn’t believe her words for a moment. He didn’t want to disturb the elderly man who was still sleeping, so he called the butler and the guards directly. As he dialed the internal line phone, tears streamed down the girl’s cheeks, almost soaking her clothes. Her eyes were swollen, and she desperately pulled at the man’s sleeve, her words incoherent, “Father, Father! Please, don’t do this! I really didn’t have any ill intentions! I just wanted to take a look in the room. In all the years I’ve been home, I’ve never entered Minglu’s study even once. I was just curious! I really didn’t have any bad thoughts! I swear, Father, I’m your own daughter, we share the same blood. Even though Minglu and I aren’t related by blood, he’s still my brother. Why would I harm him? Father, you have to believe me!”
“Don’t even say you’re my daughter,” Yin Yunqiu’s tone was filled with disgust, and even a chilling murderous intent. He couldn’t explain what he felt when he opened the cabinet and saw the girl’s face, filled with fear and despair. It was a kind of indifference that confirmed his suspicions, or rather, a coldness that didn’t even register disappointment. His expression was stern as he said, “You claim you had no ill intentions, yet you were hiding in a cabinet? You say you had no ill intentions, yet you were wearing gloves? You’re just like your mother.” Entering someone’s room while wearing gloves meant one thing, and it wasn’t that of an innocent visitor.
Yin Yunqiu was already too tired to pay her any more attention. He brushed aside her agitated hands, gestured for the guards to take her away, and then looked coldly at the butler.
It was only then that the butler realized that the spare key hanging in the room had been taken by the young lady without him noticing. He broke into a sweat as he admitted his negligence. Thankfully, they had caught her on the spot. If they had discovered this afterward, it might have resulted in an irreparable loss for the Yin family.
Yin Yunqiu inserted the hard drive confiscated from the young woman into his computer and narrowed his phoenix-like eyes slightly. His thoughts were close to what he had expected. None of the study materials were real; all the folders she had copied were related to gaming. She had copied everything related to game development in a hasty attempt. She had no interest in financial statements or similar documents—clear signs of an industrial spy.
Fortunately, due to the rush of time and the large volume of the young man’s files, she hadn’t had time to send anything out before he discovered her. Yin Yunqiu felt a twinge of relief.
Then he immediately remembered his young son, who had been carried back to his room by the butler to sleep soundly. Yin Yunqiu sighed again, not knowing how to explain things to the young man. Minglu had always idealized people too much, and if he found out that someone he considered a family member had perhaps been bought by a business rival, would he be scared after sneaking into the study late at night to steal confidential documents from his own room?
Yin Minglu was truly drunk; he woke up with a splitting headache, feeling as if he had crashed headfirst into a car. He let out groans and rolled on the bed for more than ten minutes before starting to feel better.
When he finally got out of bed, he realized that the whole Yin family had already heard about it. “Young Master is amazing! He noticed the missing hair even when he was drunk, which led Mr. Yin to discover the thief!” The subordinates had also heard this, and one by one, they praised him and flattered him.
Hearing it so many times, even if he had no recollection, Yin Minglu believed it must be true. When he checked the hidden surveillance camera in the corner, he understood the sequence of events and the outcome. Everyone was concerned about whether his game secrets had been leaked, sympathizing with him for the ordeal, or trying to teach him that he shouldn’t be so defenseless and naive. Only he knew that even if those files had been stolen, he hadn’t suffered any loss. The real game secrets would definitely not be casually exposed, and he had set up computer passwords. He wasn’t actually that naive; he had just prepared for a “sting operation” in advance.
However, he was happy to let others misunderstand.
Yin Yunqiu only mentioned that there had been a thief in the house without naming anyone specifically, but among the employees of the Yin family, who didn’t have their own suspicions? Those who needed to know had already figured it out. In response, the elderly Mr. Yin leaned on his cane, sighed deeply, and said he didn’t care anymore. However, if you got close enough, you could still hear him muttering something like, “Who did this girl end up following?”
So, in less than half a month, Yin Minglu heard the news that Yin Yunqiu had married off his daughter.
Because Jiang Mingqin tearfully told Yin Yunqiu that she didn’t feel safe in the Yin family and only wanted to obtain something from Minglu to exchange for some reward from the man she liked. She denied having any ill intentions towards the young man from the beginning, and she didn’t admit to having any thoughts of causing his downfall. She simply said she was young and naive, and she had been bewitched by that man, which led her to make foolish decisions.
She also mentioned that Minglu was just too outstanding, and whether it was in the Yin family or the Jiang family, everyone’s attention was always on him. She felt invisible because she wasn’t outstanding enough, which made her feel even more insecure, leading her to resort to some lowly tactics. Her intention was simply to make people notice her in their eyes. She insisted she wasn’t wrong and blamed it all on Minglu being too exceptional.
In short, according to the girl, all the mistakes, no matter how numerous, were the fault of others.
These heartfelt words of bitterness and resentment made Yin Yunqiu sneer a few times. He already felt that his daughter was beyond redemption, but it was better to marry her off and let her cause trouble for someone else. Competing with rivals was no longer possible; those competitors were even more well-informed, and they had secretly mocked Yin Yunqiu for being wise but having an incompetent daughter.
The choice of groom was made in haste, and Yin Yunqiu was generous with the dowry, even refusing the groom’s family’s betrothal gifts. However, when the newlyweds met at a high-end restaurant, they still had some conflicts.
The groom curiously asked, “May I ask Miss Jiang a question? Did you really steal your brother’s documents to sell them to a business rival?”
This matter had become widely known in high society. Even though the Yin family was wealthy, nobody dared to bring home a lovesick girl like her. Even if they did marry her, she would be kept at home, far away from any company affairs. After all, she had stolen confidential documents from her own family even before getting married and had helped competitors harm her own people. How could anyone accept such a girl into their home? If it weren’t for the considerable sum of money the Yin family was offering, the groom would have been reluctant to agree.
Upon hearing the groom’s question, Jiang Mingqin blushed deeply.
However, after a brief exchange of words, it seemed that the groom was even less inclined to marry her. He pretended to receive a phone call on his latest-model phone, nodded along, said a few words, and then used a company matter as an excuse to hurriedly leave. This left Jiang Mingqin completely humiliated and on the verge of flipping the table in front of her.
But because the young talent she had just met, while not on the level of someone like Xie Jiangcheng from a prominent family, was still the most eligible bachelor she had encountered recently, Jiang Mingqin gritted her teeth and tried to make another attempt.
She had the groom’s contact information, so she sent a few invitations in a subtle manner. However, each time, the groom responded with an ambiguous attitude, leaving her frustrated. She couldn’t help but wonder why, as a legitimate heiress of the Yin family, albeit with slightly lower education credentials, and possessing both beauty and a good figure, she couldn’t attract numerous admirers, even if she had made a mistake.
She was about to explode, thinking that she was, after all, the legitimate daughter of the Yin family. Even though her education was slightly lacking, she was pretty, had a good figure, and should have had a wealth of suitors, especially given the amount of money the Yin family was offering. Shouldn’t she have plenty of admirers chasing after her, even if she had made a mistake?
Little did she know that the groom’s friends had asked the same question. After much hesitation, the groom finally answered.
It turned out that after he had inquired, Jiang Mingqin repeated the same excuse she had given to Yin Yunqiu. She claimed she was naive, lacked a sense of security, and had been influenced by someone else, portraying herself as the victim. Coupled with her innocent, pure face that resembled an ailing beauty, her appearance was still quite convincing.
The young man mentioned that as long as she admitted her mistake, he thought they could still date. However, the girl had never admitted to her wrongdoing, not even in her words.
This almost ingrained sense of entitlement, as if it were an unfathomable abyss, momentarily frightened him, and he naturally didn’t want to have anything to do with a girl like that.
The author has something to say: Thank you to the little angels who have voted for me or irrigated me with nutrients~
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