Chapter 8: Little Ding-Dong

After seeing off Qiu Yingying and Guan Ju'er, Qin Hao dialed the private investigator, Old Liu, once again.

"Put that matter on hold for now; I have a new task for you."

Old Liu sounded puzzled. "What’s going on? I’m all set up and just waiting to teach this 'White' scumbag a lesson he’ll never forget."

Qin Hao said impatiently, "Enough talk. I have my own plans. I’ll send you the information in a moment; just keep a close eye on him."

After hanging up, Qin Hao sent Qiu Yingying’s photo, name, and the mission requirements to Old Liu.

Soon, Old Liu called back. "Are you kidding me? Isn't this girl your sister? Are you trying to lure that scumbag White in? You’re really going all out—even sacrificing your own sister."

Qin Hao rolled his eyes. "Get lost. You’re the one sacrificing your sister. It’s this scumbag White who has his eyes on my sister. This girl has been naive since she was little and has never dated. Even without this scumbag White, there’s no guarantee she wouldn't run into a scumbag Red or a scumbag Yellow later. I can’t look after her forever, so I figured I’d use this opportunity to let her experience the malice of human nature. Once she has the experience, she won't be so easily deceived in the future."

"You really are a thoughtful brother," Old Liu remarked, before adding, "But you can't dump this babysitting job on me! I’m a dignified private investigator, after all."

Qin Hao rolled his eyes again. "Alright, great detective. I’ll give you 200,000 once it’s done, and I’ll reimburse any expenses along the way. But there’s one condition: don’t let that scumbag White succeed, otherwise..."

"Heh heh, deal. Don't worry, if I can't even handle a small task like this, I won't be in this business anymore," Old Liu promised, patting his chest.

The next day, early in the morning, the 22nd floor of Joy Mansion began to bustle. Andy left early to drive to work for her first day, and Qu Xiaoxiao headed straight to her father’s company to compete with her brother for the family inheritance.

However, after arriving at the company, Mr. Qu did not agree to Qu Xiaoxiao’s request to be the general manager of a branch; instead, he told her to start as a deputy manager.

While sitting in on a meeting, Qu Xiaoxiao heard her brother, Qu Lianjie, mention a GI air conditioning project several times, which piqued her interest.

She first had Yao Bin investigate the business operations of the two companies under Qu Lianjie, and then researched the prospects of the GI project in the mainland. Qu Xiaoxiao decided to make a move and pressure her father.

Mr. Qu had no choice but to agree to let her try, provided she could produce a feasibility study within a week.

Qu Xiaoxiao had expected her brother, Qu Lianjie, to be furious, but as soon as she stepped out of her father’s office, Qu Lianjie pointed at the stack of documents in her hand.

"What a hot potato you've got there. I brought up so many unreasonable demands in the meeting and none of them were pushed onto me. I didn't expect you to save me. You really are my good sister."

Qu Xiaoxiao immediately felt that something was wrong. She opened the documents and saw they were all in English; she could only recognize a few words.

At work, the scumbag White made his move, inviting Qiu Yingying to dinner that evening. Qiu Yingying even bragged about it to Guan Ju'er.

Guan Ju'er, on the other hand, was having a miserable time. She had hoped to get off work on time, but her manager assigned her a pile of work just as she was about to leave.

When Guan Ju'er returned home, she found Qiu Yingying sharing with Fan Shengmei how Supervisor White had protected her on the subway.

Just as Qin Hao returned home, he heard a knock at the door. He opened it to find representatives from the elevator company there to apologize.

"I’m fine, but the five girls on the 22nd floor must have been terrified. You should go apologize to them."

The person in charge of the elevator company smiled awkwardly, bowed again, and headed upstairs.

Qin Hao thought for a moment, changed his clothes, and went up to the 22nd floor. He arrived just as the elevator company staff were leaving, and saw Andy fiddling with her door lock.

"What's wrong?"

Andy said helplessly, "The lock won't open, and my phone is dead. Could I borrow your phone to call 911?"

Qin Hao chuckled. "This isn't the US; the fire department number is 119. Besides, it’s just a broken lock, no need to bother the firefighters. Let me take a look."

"Then thank you."

"Let me actually fix it before you thank me."

Qin Hao looked at the electronic lock, which showed no response. "Is it out of power?"

"The battery seems to be changed from the inside," Andy said awkwardly.

Qin Hao felt around the electronic lock and found a port. "It should be able to charge from here. Go ask the neighbors if they have a power bank."

Andy hesitated and walked to the door, but she didn't knock. Seeing this, Qin Hao shook his head and knocked on the door of 2202.

"Qiu Yan?" Fan Shengmei opened the door.

Qiu Yingying and Guan Ju'er came over as well, and upon learning the situation, they enthusiastically went to get a power bank.

Andy looked at the power bank in Qiu Yingying and Guan Ju'er's hands, feeling inexplicably moved.

Qin Hao tried it, and the electronic lock beeped and turned back on.

Andy smiled in surprise. "It really works! You're amazing."

Qiu Yingying grabbed Qin Hao’s arm and said proudly, "That’s right, my brother is like Doraemon. Whenever my toys broke when I was little, he was the one who fixed them."

Andy looked confused. "What is Doraemon?"

"It’s a robot cat! He has all sorts of strange things in his pocket. It’s so good. Andy-jie, didn't you watch cartoons when you were little?"

The three of them looked at her with strange expressions.

Andy’s expression dimmed. Qin Hao knew she must be thinking of her unhappy childhood, so he intervened.

"Alright, everyone turn around and let Andy open the door. Do you want to stand here talking forever?"

"Oh, right, Andy-jie, we aren't looking."

After Andy entered the password and the door opened, she changed the batteries and suggested treating everyone to dinner.

Guan Ju'er wanted to decline, but Qin Hao spoke first.

"I happen to be hungry too. How about this? Let’s go eat skewers. I know a place that’s pretty good."

Fan Shengmei hesitated. "Is it far? If it’s too far, forget it. It’s a waste of time to take a taxi back and forth."

Andy suggested, "We can just drive there."

"But Andy, your car only seats four people at most..."

Before Fan Shengmei could finish, Andy said, "Doesn't Qiu Yan have a car too? Two cars will be enough."

"Him? He has a car?"

"Brother?"

"?"

Facing the three question marks from Fan Shengmei and the others, Qin Hao shrugged.

"Is it that strange for me to have a car?"

He walked into the elevator first. Andy followed, and Fan Shengmei and the others, too stunned to speak, followed them in.

As the elevator descended, Qiu Yingying chirped like a little sparrow, asking Qin Hao if it was a van or a truck. In her mind, it would be great if her brother even had a Wuling Hongguang.

Fan Shengmei had similar thoughts, so when they reached the underground garage, she stayed close to Andy, determined to ride in Andy’s Porsche 911.

"Wow, this car is amazing!" Fan Shengmei couldn't help but feel envious when she saw the real car.

Qiu Yingying and Guan Ju'er were also staring wide-eyed.

"Brother, where is your car?" Qiu Yingying asked, though she didn't intend to compete with Fan Shengmei for a seat in the luxury car.

"Right there." Qin Hao pressed his car key, and the lights of an Audi Q7 flashed.

Qiu Yingying and Guan Ju'er were stunned. Fan Shengmei poked her head out from the passenger seat, looking completely incredulous.

"Is it a coincidence? No way, how could he afford such a nice car?"