The Person Who Should Not Have Appeared

Arriving at the Jia Shi Hotel that Xia Yueshan had mentioned.

After paying and getting out of the car, Lin Yu entered the hotel and took the elevator straight up to the sixth floor.

Stepping out of the elevator onto the sixth floor, Lin Yu easily found room 603 not far from the elevator.

He raised his hand and knocked on the door, calling out impatiently,

“Open up.”

When no sound came from inside, Lin Yu knocked again and said with growing irritation,

“Xia Aodi! Hurry up and open the door!”

After Lin Yu’s repeated urging, footsteps approached from inside the room, and the door was pulled open. Lin Yu’s mind blanked for a moment when he saw the young girl standing before him.

“Why is it you?”

“Where’s Xia Yueshan?”

Lin Yu looked at Tang Qinqin, whose cheeks were slightly flushed, and his head filled with questions he could barely contain.

Tang Qinqin’s smile seemed a little forced. She steadied herself with one hand on the door while the other was hidden behind her back. She said with a smile,

“He’s…”

“He went downstairs to buy something.”

“He’ll be back soon.”

“You—you can come in first.”

With that, Tang Qinqin opened the door wider and stepped aside, making way for Lin Yu to enter.

Looking at Tang Qinqin in her pink sweater, Lin Yu furrowed his brows, unable to make sense of the situation.

Wasn’t he supposed to be meeting Xia Yueshan?

Why was Tang Manman’s sister here?

Did they even know each other?

One question after another flooded his mind.

Lin Yu instinctively glanced at the room number on the door.

603.

The room number was correct. He hadn’t made a mistake.

Besides, there was no other hotel named Jia Shi in H City.

Though the scene before him felt strange, out of trust for Xia Yueshan, Lin Yu chose to enter the room.

Once inside, Lin Yu pulled a chair over and sat down against the wall, fixing Tang Qinqin with a scrutinizing gaze. He couldn’t shake the feeling that her presence here was highly unusual.

Tang Qinqin crawled back under the covers, leaning against the headboard. Wrapped up in the blanket like a small bundle, she avoided looking at Lin Yu, her eyes fixed on some uninteresting corner, seemingly nervous.

Watching Tang Qinqin, Lin Yu’s mind was flooded with questions sprouting like bamboo shoots after rain.

Since Xia Yueshan wasn’t here, Lin Yu picked out the few questions he cared about most and asked,

“Do you know Xia Yueshan?”

“Yes.”

Tang Qinqin nodded, her gaze flickering and her expression somewhat unnatural as she said,

“We’re both students at No. 14 Middle School.”

“We’re classmates.”

“Are you just classmates?”

Lin Yu pressed, brow furrowed.

“Yes.”

Tang Qinqin nodded again.

Hearing her answer, Lin Yu’s frown deepened even further.

Just classmates?

That can’t be right.

If they were only ordinary classmates, why would Xia Yueshan bring her here?

And why call Lin Yu here?

Lin Yu’s brows knitted tighter as he grew increasingly uneasy, then asked again,

“Do you know why Xia Yueshan asked me to come here?”

Tang Qinqin shook her head, still not daring to look his way, and said,

“No idea.”

“So, what exactly did he say to you?”

“What reason did he give for calling you here?”

“Why did you agree to come with him?”

Lin Yu pressed on relentlessly.

“I…”

Tang Qinqin’s voice caught, then she sounded a bit flustered as she replied, “He didn’t say much, just told me to come over, said he had something to talk to me about.”

“So I came…”

Her voice gradually lowered, as if she suddenly realized how flimsy her explanation sounded.

Lin Yu narrowed his eyes, naturally catching the holes in Tang Qinqin’s story.

What a joke.

Could a girl really come to a hotel room alone just because some guy she barely knows said a few words?

Even trying to fool a fool wouldn’t be this careless.

Sensing something was off, Lin Yu was about to get up and leave.

But before he could move, another thought struck him.

About Tang Manman’s slipping grades.

Looking at Tang Qinqin, who seemed off in every way, Lin Yu decided to ask her if she knew anything behind the scenes.

After all, she was Tang Manman’s sister, so she should know more than either he or Gu Yue.

Besides, this girl was a bit strange but posed little real threat to him, so there was no need to be overly cautious.

With that in mind, Lin Yu settled back into his seat and asked, “Do you know why your sister’s grades have been dropping?”

A flicker of surprise crossed Tang Qinqin’s face, as if she hadn’t expected the prime suspect to ask that question.

She was silent for a moment, then shook her head, “No, I don’t know.”

Seeing that she didn’t know this or that, and that her whole demeanor was odd, Lin Yu lost interest in continuing the conversation.

He stood up and said, “Alright, I’ll be going now.”

“Isn’t Xia Yueshan out buying something?”

“I’ll just wait for him at the hotel entrance.”

Saying that, Lin Yu turned to leave.

“Hey, don’t go!”

Seeing Lin Yu about to leave, Tang Qinqin panicked.

Looking at the time, it had only been a few minutes, and she hadn’t gotten any leverage yet!

If she let him go now, she might never get another chance like this!

Even though making a scene now would cause Lin Yu some trouble, if she could lure him in, things could get serious.

She wanted to trap him with evidence, expose his true colors—not actually ruin him.

Seeing Lin Yu show no sign of stopping, Tang Qinqin, desperate, called out to hold him back:

“You wanted to know about my sister’s situation, right?”

“I’ll tell you!”