Chapter 51: Investigating the Car Accident

Zhou Jingchuan half-crouched down, his large hand gently petting the Samoyed’s head.

"You aren't going to be called Greedy anymore. Your name is Xiao Qi, and Xiao Qi cannot be a glutton from now on, or you'll turn into a chubby boy."

When he uttered the name "Xiao Qi," his tone was exceptionally tender, as if it were a name meant exclusively for someone special.

Tang Xi suddenly felt a twinge of regret for giving the Samoyed that name.

Because every time Zhou Jingchuan called it, it felt as though he were calling out to her.

Yet, the name was already chosen, and there was no sense in taking it back now.

At that moment, Zhou Jingchuan's phone rang, and he exchanged a few brief words in Cantonese with the caller.

"I'm sorry, something urgent has come up in Hong Kong, and I need to head back right now." He glanced at the Samoyed, which was still devouring its food voraciously. "Could I ask you a favor?"

"To look after Xiao Qi for you?"

Zhou Jingchuan gave an affirmative hum. "He has a habit of being walked morning and evening because he doesn't like to relieve himself randomly inside the house. Is it too much trouble? If you don't have time, I can have my assistant handle it."

"I have time, I can take care of him." Tang Xi actually liked Xiao Qi quite a bit—after all, she was the one who had named him.

Would little Xiao Qi count as half her dog, then?

"Do you have the number for a housekeeping service?" Zhou Jingchuan asked abruptly. "I didn't hire a cleaner before Xiao Qi came, and now he sheds a lot."

Tang Xi had never concerned herself with housekeeping matters, but she suddenly thought of Sister Yu. "I don't have a cleaning service's number, but I know an auntie who is very meticulous in her work and completely trustworthy. Coincidentally, I was planning to hire her to come over and cook for me."

Having tasted Zhou Jingchuan's cooking, Tang Xi had completely given up on competing.

She simply had to accept the vast gap in culinary skills between people.

"Then would you mind asking her to tidy up my room as well when she comes to cook? As for her wages, I will cover them together."

Tang Xi hurriedly waved her hands in refusal. She already owed Zhou Jingchuan so much; how could she possibly let him pay for her housekeeper?

She simply had to pay for this herself, or her conscience wouldn't rest easy.

Zhou Jingchuan didn't press the matter further, as the situation in Hong Kong must have been pressing.

"Are there any confidential documents in your room?"

Zhou Jingchuan picked up his coat. "No."

The only secret had already been locked inside his bedside drawer.

Zhou Jingchuan pressed the elevator button, and the phone from earlier rang again. His expression, a mix of anxiety and a trace of tenderness, remained as he spoke softly in Cantonese.

When Tang Xi unlocked her door and stepped inside, he had just finished his call.

Acting on a sudden, unexplainable impulse, Tang Xi opened a translation app and tried typing in the last sentence she had overheard him say.

It sounded as though he had said: I like you, too.

And the translated meaning was: I love you, too!

Zhou Jingchuan’s personal life was a blank to the outside world, always kept low-profile and mysterious.

There were rumors that he was secretly married with children, that the woman was a former Miss Hong Kong, and their son was already six years old.

There were also rumors that he lived a lavish and wildly unrestrained private life, entangled in complicated romances with numerous celebrities and internet influencers.

And even more sensational rumors claimed that he had lived a life of asceticism for ten whole years, solely waiting for someone who would never return.

Rumors remained just rumors, and up until now, not a single tabloid or magazine had ever published any genuine scandal surrounding Zhou Jingchuan.

He was so detached and dormant that he seemed like a ruthless underworld judge completely devoid of a personal life.

Tang Xi put down her phone: Could it be that she had just stumbled upon a massive, incredible secret belonging to Mr. Zhou?

~

Tang Xi received the private detective's call while walking the dog in the neighborhood.

"Miss Tang, the investigation you asked me to undertake has made some progress."

Ever since the car accident, Tang Xi had asked Li Yixuan to hire a private investigation agency to look into the cause of the crash.

The police department had found no substantive evidence, so they had closed the case early, ruling it a routine traffic accident.

There were security cameras at the scene of the accident, which had captured the entire process of the truck hitting her.

The vehicle that struck her had lost control due to brake failure, and the driver himself had sustained injuries in the crash.

At the exact moment the car caught fire, Zhou Jingchuan had pulled her out, but the driver was not so fortunate; not only did he fracture several ribs, but he also suffered severe burns.

Afterward, the police checked the driver's bank account and found no suspicious sources of remittance.

According to the background check on his social relations, the driver was an honest, law-abiding ordinary freight driver with no criminal record, spending more than twenty days a month driving on the highway.

"Please go on," Tang Xi said, sitting down on a bench while little Xiao Qi played obediently nearby.

"I have been tailing the driver's daughter recently and discovered that she spends money very lavishly."

Tang Xi was already familiar with the driver's family composition: he was divorced, and his daughter lived with her ex-wife. He had never remarried after the divorce, earning a living driving a large cargo truck to support both his ex-wife and daughter.

His ex-wife was unemployed and spent her days playing mahjong, while his daughter was just a college freshman.

The private detective sent over several photos of the girl's shopping receipts.

They included designer handbags, various high-end skincare products, records of stays at five-star hotels, and first-class airline tickets for travel to various cities.

Just adding those up amounted to over two hundred thousand yuan.

Moreover, her high-end consumption showed no signs of stopping. The private detective mentioned that she was currently at a 4S dealership, looking at a sports car worth a million yuan.

The driver's monthly income was around six thousand yuan, and he had no other investment projects or extra real estate; in fact, he himself rented a forty-square-meter basement.

Yet his daughter was eyeing a luxury sports car worth millions—this clearly defied all reason.

"Miss Tang, if they used cash transactions, it will be very difficult to find evidence," the private detective said, sounding troubled.

Cash transactions left no trace, and even if her spending far exceeded her financial capacity, it would be impossible to prove whose money they had accepted.

"Which dealership is she at? Send me the address."

Twenty minutes later, Tang Xi drove to the 4S dealership.

Upon entering, she saw the young woman arguing with a staff member.

"Is this how you run a business, driving customers away? I'm going to file a complaint against you."

The girl speaking was Jiang Zihan, the daughter of the truck driver.

"I'm terribly sorry, miss, but the car you wish to test drive requires a preliminary asset verification first. This is our store's policy, and we ask for your understanding."

Without proof of five million yuan in assets, it was impossible to take that sports car out for a test drive.

"Do you think I can't afford it? Let me tell you, I'm definitely buying this car today. Call your manager over here."

The sales representative remained polite: "Even if our manager comes over, asset verification is still required first."

Jiang Zihan was about to continue arguing when a pleasant voice suddenly chimed in: "Are you students from Xinjing?"

The group turned toward the sound and saw a woman wearing a pure white woolen coat, its lapel design lending a sense of effortless comfort, paired with a light purple plain scarf, making her look like a refined, literary intellectual woman who had stepped right out of a novel.

"That lady is so pretty, she looks like a fairy," Jiang Zihan's friend couldn't help whispering in praise.

Jiang Zihan was also captivated by the woman standing before her. As a woman herself, faced with such peerless beauty, she found it impossible to look away. After a long moment, she finally remembered that the woman seemed to have spoken to her.

"Yes, we are students at Xinjing." She completely failed to notice how the stranger could have known this detail.

Tang Xi stepped forward. "A friend of mine is a teacher at Xinjing. Are you planning to test drive a car?"

"Zihan took a fancy to that yellow sports car, but they won't let us test drive it."

"That's right, they're looking down on us just because we're students."

The classmates began chirping away, eager to voice their grievances.

Tang Xi smiled slightly. "They're just following protocol."

With that, she took a card out of her handbag and handed it over. "They are my friends. May they test drive the car now?"