“Help me delete… the surveillance footage of me appearing at the Earl Hotel tonight.”
There was silence on the other end of the phone for a few seconds.
Then Qin Yining’s voice became completely alert, sharp with vigilance: “What did you say? You were at the Earl Hotel last night? What happened?”
Gu Ziyao closed her eyes, resting her forehead against the steering wheel.
“Yaoyao, tell me, what happened?” Qin Yining’s voice grew urgent, “Where are you now? Are you safe?”
“I’m safe.” Gu Ziyao’s voice was soft, “I just… need you to help me delete the surveillance footage.”
“First tell me what happened, then I’ll decide whether to help you delete it or not.” Qin Yining’s tone left no room for refusal, “Gu Ziyao, don’t hide anything from me.”
Gu Ziyao remained silent for a long time.
Outside the car window, the sky was gradually changing, as if the warm dawn would soon rise, yet it couldn’t warm her heart.
She opened her mouth, her voice seeming to squeeze out from deep within her throat: “Last night… I ran into Shen Junyan at the hotel.”
Another stretch of silence on the other end of the phone.
Then Qin Yining’s voice came through, filled with disbelief: “What did you say? Shen Junyan? That… husband of yours who disappeared three years ago?”
“Yeah.”
“You ran into him? And then?”
Gu Ziyao bit her lip, the small wound on her lip splitting open again, seeping a hint of blood.
“He… was drugged.” Her voice grew softer and softer, so light it seemed as if she were speaking to herself, “He dragged me into a room.”
Qin Yining didn’t make a sound.
“We… had sex.” After saying this, Gu Ziyao seemed as if all her strength had been drained, leaning back in the seat, her eyes fixed on the sunroof above, “He didn’t know it was me.”
A suppressed gasp came from the other end of the phone, then Qin Yining’s voice exploded: “That bastard Shen Junyan!”
She cursed fiercely and urgently, as if she wanted to drag Shen Junyan through the phone line and beat him up.
“How dare he? He disappears for three years without a single word, and as soon as he comes back—he just—” Qin Yining was so angry she couldn’t finish her sentence, “And he was drugged? Who drugged him? Why didn’t he go find someone else? Why did it have to be—”
“Ningning.” Gu Ziyao interrupted her, “It was me… I didn’t resist.”
Qin Yining’s words caught in her throat.
“I could have resisted.” Gu Ziyao’s voice was calm, so calm it didn’t sound like she was talking about herself, “In his state, if I had struggled desperately, I definitely could have broken free. But I didn’t.”
“Yaoyao…”
“I didn’t struggle.” Gu Ziyao repeated, as if confirming something, “I even… held his hand.”
Tears slid from the corners of her eyes, dripping down her cheeks onto her collar.
“So…” she said, “It’s my own fault.”
Qin Yining was silent for a long time.
Then she took a deep breath, her voice softening: “Where are you? I’ll come find you.”
“No need.” Gu Ziyao wiped her tears, “Just help me delete the surveillance footage. I don’t want… him to find out it was me.”
“You think he’ll investigate?”
“I don’t know.” Gu Ziyao said, “But I don’t want to take the risk. If he checks the surveillance and sees it was me, he’ll think I set him up. I don’t want him to think that.”
Qin Yining sighed on the other end: “Even now, you’re still thinking about him.”
“I’m not doing this for his sake.” Gu Ziyao closed her eyes. “I just don’t want to cause trouble for myself. The three-year deadline is almost up. I don’t want anything to go wrong at this final stage.”
“…Fine.” Qin Yining said, “I’ll help you delete it. But I have a condition—you come to my place right now. I need to see you in person and make sure you’re okay.”
“I’m really fine—”
“Gu Ziyao.” Qin Yining’s voice was unusually stern. “If you don’t come, I’ll tell Shen Junyan about this right now.”
“…Are you threatening me?”
“Yes.” Qin Yining said without hesitation. “Are you coming or not?”
Gu Ziyao fell silent for a few seconds, then let out a soft, bitter laugh. “I’m coming. Twenty minutes.”
“Be careful on the road.”
“Mm.”
The call ended.
Gu Ziyao placed her phone on the passenger seat and started the car.
In the rearview mirror, her eyes were still red, but she had stopped crying.
She glanced at her reflection in the mirror, then looked away, pressed the accelerator, and merged into the traffic.
Qin Yining didn’t live in the Qin family’s ancestral home. Instead, she lived alone in a high-end apartment in Pudong.
On the twenty-fifth floor, the duplex apartment was filled with traces of electronic equipment—three monitors lined up side by side on the desk, a mechanical keyboard, a wired mouse, and several server chassis packaging boxes piled in the corner, not yet thrown away.
She was the well-known “little princess” of the Qin Group, a prominent high-tech digital industry conglomerate in Shanghai’s circles. A computer prodigy since childhood, she felt no pressure after her older brother took over the company and simply enjoyed researching the internet. Sometimes, she also helped people solve various technical problems that “couldn’t be handled through official channels.”
Like deleting surveillance footage.
By the time Gu Ziyao arrived, Qin Yining had already changed into a loose gray sweatshirt, her hair tied into a casual ponytail, her face still bearing traces of sleepiness.
But as soon as she saw Gu Ziyao step out of the elevator, her eyes sharpened instantly, like a high-speed scanner, scrutinizing Gu Ziyao from head to toe.
“Come in.” Qin Yining pulled the door open and stepped aside to let her in.
Gu Ziyao walked in, took off her high heels, and slipped into a pair of cotton slippers Qin Yining tossed to her. The slippers were pink, printed with a cartoon rabbit, creating an absurd contrast with her current state.
Qin Yining closed the door and turned to look at her.
“Sit.” She pointed to the sofa, then turned and headed to the kitchen. “Water or coffee?”
“Water is fine.”
Qin Yining poured a glass of warm water and placed it in front of Gu Ziyao. Then she sat down on the single sofa opposite, crossing her arms and looking at Gu Ziyao with the gaze of someone interrogating a suspect.
“Talk.”
“Talk about what?” Gu Ziyao held the water glass, looking down at the slightly rippling surface.
“From the beginning.” Qin Yining’s tone left no room for negotiation. “How did you end up at the Earl Hotel? How did you run into him? What happened? Don’t leave out a single word.”
Gu Ziyao remained silent for a moment, took a sip of water, and then began to speak.
She spoke slowly, as if untangling a messy knot, piecing together the chaotic fragments as she went. The cocktail party, the hallway, the half-open door, an arm pulling her inside, burning lips, a torn dress…
When she mentioned Shen Junyan pinning her against the wall, Qin Yining’s brows furrowed into a tight knot.
When it was mentioned that she hadn’t resisted, Qin Yining’s lips pressed into a thin line.
When it was mentioned that she had held Shen Junyan’s hand, Qin Yining’s eyes reddened.
After Gu Ziyao finished speaking, the living room remained quiet for a long time.
Qin Yining sat on the sofa, motionless, as if digesting the information. Her fingers tapped lightly on her knees—a habitual gesture when she was deep in thought.