What does this mean?
A young girl running to the bamboo forest in the middle of the night to play something like this?
Where is the propriety?
Shi Lijin closed the tablet and no longer had the heart to continue reading the documents. His calm state appeared quite abnormal. Based on the knowledge Nanzhuang had acquired, this was known as the calm before the storm.
Sure enough, before the man had even been calm for half a minute, Nanzhuang watched him stride out with swift and decisive action.
Shi Lijin walked all the way straight to the backyard bamboo forest, and only when he arrived at the spot did he start to wonder why he had come over.
Just to deal with someone listening to audio in the middle of the night?
There was no need, truly no need.
With a black coat draped over his shoulders, Shi Lijin sat quietly on the bench by the large tree and waited inexplicably for a long time, but he failed to hear any of the sounds that had previously emerged from the tablet. The only movement of any kind was a pure black puppy running over from the distance.
It seemed she had already left.
The puppy ran only a short distance before stopping and refusing to go any further, as if sensing some unapproachable aura coming from the person. Yet this stranger was truly novel, so the little black dog tentatively wagged its tail to observe the situation first.
Shi Lijin cast an indifferent look at it. Aside from the red string around its neck looking slightly nice, the dog was of mediocre appearance and pitch black all over.
After sitting for a few minutes, he returned to the villa.
On the other side, Gu Qingjiao had already fallen asleep like a lump of mud.
In order to clear up the matter of the watermelons, she had to avoid meeting that lethal villain.
Her mind was now filled entirely with questions about watermelons, to the point that even in her dreams, she found herself picking melons inside a greenhouse.
After anxiously waiting for a day, she finally received the news that the system had fully recovered, and she also learned through testing that the watermelon juice inside the syringe was indeed problematic.
One poisonous melon means all melons are poisonous.
Just who could be so cruel?
Gu Qingjiao: “Did the novel mention who poisoned them?”
System: [In the original text, a guest is supposed to come over from the North Estate in a few days. After eating the poisonous watermelons, they collapse and remain unconscious. Shen Kewen rushes to the South Manor upon receiving the news and immediately has Uncle Long arrested. In the end, Uncle Long spends the rest of his life in prison.]
Gu Qingjiao stood up in excitement and asked, “Did anyone witness it with their own eyes or did surveillance cameras capture him poisoning them?”
System: [No.]
Gu Qingjiao: “Then since there is no surveillance and no eyewitnesses, on what grounds did she conclude that it was definitely Uncle Long who poisoned them?”
System: [I do not know on what grounds. I only know it has nothing to do with us. Host, your life has exceeded its time limit. If I do not hurry and put you back into the female lead role, the system perception will only grow weaker and weaker, and then you will forever be an insignificant cannon fodder while Shi Lijin tries to shark you every day.]
Gu Qingjiao did not particularly care whether she was the female lead or a supporting character, but the system’s final remark laced with an intimidating tone gave her a headache.
Gu Qingjiao said helplessly: “I am trying my best as well, but he refuses to shark me.”
System: [Weren’t you quite bold before? Think of another way then.]
“The situation is special right now,” Gu Qingjiao sighed, looking deeply troubled as she suggested, “How about this, you help me find the real culprit who framed Uncle Long. Afterward, let alone sitting on Shi Lijin’s lap, even if you want me to ride on his shoulders, I can give it a try.”
The system was skeptical: [Really?]
Gu Qingjiao nodded sincerely: “Really.”
The system ultimately chose to trust the host, organizing the information while saying: [Actually, this matter is very simple. Uncle Long used to be the old butler here. When Shi Lijin was locked in confinement by his stepmother when he was young, Uncle Long was personally responsible for monitoring him and held far too many secrets. Now that the head of the Shi family has passed away, it is equivalent to him losing his umbrella of protection.]
Gu Qingjiao understood the general picture. In other words, the true mastermind behind the scenes was actually Shen Kewen.
However, Shen Kewen was far away in the North Estate, so how did she manage to poison the melon patch in advance?
At that moment, the system screen happened to project some chat dialogues, with dozens of topics related to “Gu Qingjiao” appearing all at once, making her dizzy.
[Fiancée? People like her are a dime a dozen for us.]
[Shen Kewen moves really fast. The husband just died and she is already anxiously sending her niece over. I heard the marriage agreement is even prepared already; where would our daughter ever get such an opportunity.]
[Opportunities are created by people. No matter how good that Gu Qingjiao is, she cannot withstand the Second Young Master disliking her. I heard that as soon as she entered, she was dragged into the dark room by the people of the South Manor. The Second Young Master did not even bat an eye when he found out.]
[Does that mean my daughter still has a chance?]
[Of course, you should also teach your daughter to learn from others, act pitiful and flirt a little. Who knows, maybe your daughter might even squeeze onto their marital bed in the future.]
System: [Look, these are all cursing you.]
The system originally thought Gu Qingjiao would be furious upon seeing this, but instead she calmly poured a cup of tea to sip leisurely, asking slowly: “So? What does this have to do with the watermelons?”
The system prompted: [Look at the group name.]
Gu Qingjiao glanced at the group name: Shi Family North Estate Melon-Eating Group.
She finally lost her composure. How could another North Estate group pop up right after she had just wiped out the South Manor melon-eating group?
Gu Qingjiao narrowed her eyes and thought for a long time, pointing at the chat box of the person who claimed she was acting pitiful and said: “There is a mole in the South Manor.”
If a mole had not appeared, how else would those people from the North Estate have known what was happening to her here.
She flipped through that woman’s space updates and found nothing other than a few photos of her and her daughter together. However, every single update had a like from the exact same person.
Gu Qingjiao felt that this person’s avatar looked somewhat familiar, as if she had seen it in the South Manor Melon-Eating Group that day.
The system kindly reminded: [Want to report them? I have already helped you find various world-breaking pictures that can completely blast this group into dust.]
Gu Qingjiao shook her head: “Wait until I figure out this person’s identity first. If the owner of this account is truly a mole in the South Manor, then he probably poisoned the watermelons too.”
Gu Qingjiao clicked into the suspect’s avatar and first discovered it was a male, and secondly, the person’s space was locked, making it completely impossible to obtain any other information.
The system hummed smugly: [How is that, out of moves are you? Call me System-sama, and the cheat code to crack the space will be yours for free.]
Gu Qingjiao also smiled triumphantly, turning her hand around to log into the account she had applied for previously. The profile and nickname remained completely unchanged, still reading “Shi Lijin”.
She noted down the suspect’s account and used “Shi Lijin” to add him.
System: [You really have a way.]
Soon, the suspect accepted the friend request, though he did not send a message right away.
Gu Qingjiao guessed that this person must be browsing through her profile, trying to see if it was genuinely Shi Lijin.
However, she had already anticipated this point. As for personal information belonging to Shi Lijin, as the son of a wealthy conglomerate, his identity was far too noble, so naturally his real information could not be published online. It had to be pragmatic yet mysterious, low-key yet luxurious, for example:
Age: 55
Zodiac: Scorpio
Current Residence: Trinidad and Tobago
Personal Bio: .
It was evident that the suspect remained silent for a long time and doubted for a long time.
Three minutes later, the other party finally could not hold back and sent a message over: [Second Young Master?]
Seeing that the fish was about to bite, Gu Qingjiao was not in a hurry to reply. She wanted to first build up an aura that this young master is very busy.
Timing it to two minutes, Gu Qingjiao sent the first message over: [Come to the gym, I have something to discuss with you.]
The other party hesitated for a long time, clearly still doubting the identity.
[Didn’t we just meet earlier? Is there anything else you need, sir?]
Gu Qingjiao thought for a moment, feeling that this person was not very easy to fool and might still be testing her deliberately.
Combining her unilateral understanding of Shi Lijin, she decided to open a web page and search for overbearing CEO quotes.
Overbearing CEO quote number one: Woman, do you need me to repeat myself a second time?
Overbearing CEO quote number two: Daring to defy me? Do not forget your identity.
Overbearing CEO quote number three: Take this one million dollar check and get out of my sight immediately.
Shi Lijin: [Do you need me to repeat myself a second time?]
Suspect: [Please do not be angry, I am dealing with some matters and cannot get away at the moment.]
Shi Lijin: [What matter? Do not forget your identity.]
The other party remained silent for two minutes.
Suspect: [I will come find you as soon as I finish up.]
Shi Lijin: [No need, go settle this month’s salary and leave the South Manor immediately.]
Suspect: [Apologies! Second Young Master, I will be there in ten minutes!]
Meanwhile, another screen in the study was also scrolling through the conversation between those two individuals.
Pointing at a certain message on the tablet, Nanzhuang gave a thumbs-up and said: [This Gu Qingjiao is incredible, she imitates him so accurately!]
Shi Lijin glanced at him: [Not accurate.]
Nanzhuang: [It is accurate! That tone and that aura are simply on par with yours!]
Shi Lijin put down his crossed right leg, mimicked the action, and said: [Then you should go settle this month’s salary and leave the South Manor immediately?]
Nanzhuang immediately straightened his posture to look like he was swearing loyal allegiance, and said in broken Chinese: [Second Young Master, I think you are not like him at all. Huh? Where are you going?]
[Do not follow me.] Shi Lijin put on his coat and walked away on his own.