Qin Xi had nothing particular planned for the weekend, so on Saturday afternoon, Zhu Hong and Gu Nian’s father Gu Congsheng also ca over. Seeing that guests had arrived, Sister Su cut so at to make dumplings.
Zhu Hong and Li Xianglu had beco friends through their quarrels, especially since Gu Niannian treated Li Xianglu’s ho like her own, eating and taking things as she pleased.
Gu Congsheng and Qin Xi had matters to discuss. Since it involved confidential county affairs, Li Xianglu and Zhu Hong simply joined Sister Su in the kitchen to eat.
After sitting down, they slowly began eating. Tasting a pork and cabbage dumpling, Zhu Hong nodded and said, "No wonder my son complains about my cooking. Sister Su’s food is truly delicious. Look at these dumplings, who knows how the filling is seasoned, but it tastes so good."
Sister Su smiled, picked up a dumpling for her and said, "Listen to you, sweet-talking. Niannian must have inherited that from you. Eat more if you like it, I’ve made plenty today."
Mothers love hearing their children praised, and Zhu Hong was no exception. She was delighted by the complint, so the three won chatted about children and household matters both big and small.
After the al, Sister Su shooed the other two out so she could wash the dishes alone. Li Xianglu didn’t disturb the n chatting in the living room, but instead brewed a pot of black tea to take into the bedroom.
Li Xianglu’s bedroom was particularly spacious, forty square ters, divided in the middle by a screen. Near the door on the eastern side, there were two sofas and a small coffee table. A display shelf stood behind them.
Upon entering, Zhu Hong surveyed the room. It was slightly nicer than ordinary furniture, nothing special. After sitting down, she looked outside and then said to Li Xianglu, "Soone really ca yesterday."
Li Xianglu knew that Zhu Hong was referring to what happened after she had left the evening before.
Zhu Hong lowered her voice and said, "A man ca, tall and broad, wearing a military overcoat."
As she said this, Zhu Hong described the man’s facial features. Li Xianglu frowned slightly and asked, "Was the man riding a Phoenix Head 28 bike?"
Zhu Hong’s eyes widened as she nodded and said, "Yes, how did you know?"
Li Xianglu smiled and replied, "I guessed. Has he not left yet?"
Zhu Hong shook her head and answered, "He left in less than half an hour. I quietly followed to see, and that’s when I saw him co on a bike."
Li Xianglu nodded and asked, "Did Chou Xue leave?"
Zhu Hong nodded and explained, "Yes, she left when it was ti for to finish work. An older woman ca, said she was her second aunt and that Chou Xue had lost her keys, so she ca to deliver them, and then they left together."
Li Xianglu nodded and instructed, "Alright, don’t talk about this with anyone else, and don’t try to find out about this person."
Upon hearing this, Zhu Hong’s eyes lit up, "Is she a spy?"
Li Xianglu was taken aback by Zhu Hong’s imagination but did not deny it, saying sowhat implicitly, "We don’t know that yet, we need to investigate. It’s best not to do anything when the situation is unclear. Rember, we have both old and young to think about here."
Zhu Hong listened and solemnly nodded in agreent.
Li Xianglu let out a sigh of relief upon seeing this; Zhu Hong seed to be a decent person, but she just talked too much and loved to gossip. If she happened to let sothing slip in front of Chou Xue and she beca suspicious, it could spell trouble. What if these people were cornered like a desperate dog? Or what if soone happened to run into her coincidentally?
Upon hearing Li Xianglu’s suspicion that the man who sought Chou Xue after Li Xianglu’s departure was the sa man who had helped Chou Xue up from the riverbank, Qin Xi quickly took the ti to investigate her background.
A week later, Qin Xi’s side confird the information was indeed accurate. All of Chou Xue’s records were verifiable, matching with photos and testimonies from classmates and teachers from her past, indicating that on the surface, there seed to be no doubts about Chou Xue.
Yet, Li Xianglu still felt there was sothing odd about this person, although she couldn’t quite put her finger on what exactly it was. Perhaps it was the so-called woman’s intuition.
Li Xianglu never thought of intuition as sothing elusive. She rembered that it was by this very intuition that she discovered the people who were watching her in her previous life.
Since there was no issue, she decided it was best to continue interactions as normal.
The bank needed to manage more business so they added a room, a small partition, specifically for handling public sector business. Since everyone was unfamiliar with this area, Li Xianglu was temporarily in charge of this business along with Wang Yanan.
As February approached, Li Xianglu wasn’t feeling very well, often feeling excessive sleepiness. Every day around 5 PM, she would be overwheld with drowsiness.
Li Xianglu was concerned. Why did this feel so similar to the symptoms she had when she was pregnant with her twins? Yet, there were no changes in her diet, nor did she have any cravings.
Thus, she didn’t take it too seriously. The 20th was New Year’s Day, and Li Xianglu had already discussed with the bank to leave ahead of ti on the 3rd of February, while the plane from the military was scheduled for the evening of the 4th.
On the 3rd, Li Xianglu was on duty. After everyone had left and she had completed the count of all the deposits due to enter the vault with Chou Xueqing, she was ready to lock up the treasury and leave when she heard hurried footsteps behind her.
A security guard suddenly lifted his head and sniffed hard, shouting, "No good, there’s a sll of smoke, there’s a fire!"
After saying this, the guard ran towards the lobby, not expecting that the fire had already sparked. Both Li Xianglu and Chou Xue hurried over as well.
They had locked the front door, and now the front door was on fire, making it impossible to exit through there. Chou Xue then shouted, "Go to the director’s office; there’s a window there we can use to escape."
Li Xianglu quickly recalled that the window in the director’s office did indeed lead to the courtyard, so they rushed towards the director’s office.
Three guards were also anxiously running forward when suddenly the power went out. The lobby went dark all at once, leaving them in pitch-black confusion. Following others, Li Xianglu ran towards the direction of the director’s office.
Yet, she didn’t know how it happened, but suddenly she was tackled by soone next to her, causing Li Xianglu to trip and fall. Because of the force of the push, she tumbled to the ground.
Li Xianglu gasped for air, struggling to get up when sothing fell over and crashed onto her leg.
Li Xianglu let out a scream of pain, even as she continued to scoot backwards until a voice shouted, "Director Li!" Upon hearing this, Li Xianglu felt her arm lifted by soone from behind.
Li Xianglu then felt her body being dragged backward, so she put all her effort into moving back with them. They quickly arrived at the director’s room, where the window had already been opened. The person dragging her said, "Quick, quick, get Director Li out."
Soon, the security guards outside pulled Li Xianglu out. Just as she breathed in the fresh air, she heard the guards suddenly cry out, "Chou Xue!"
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