Qiao Yiyang then spoke of what he knew.
"I called you, but you hung up my call and sent me a text message, instructing me to come over immediately because of an urgent matter. When I entered this room, I saw you lying unconscious on the bed, and then someone attacked me from behind, and I also passed out. What was their motive? Was it to save Zhou Xi?"
Lin Xinlan nodded, "It should be. Zhou Xi was caught by the police, and his brother must have thought it was us who tipped them off, so he wanted to get back at us. I’m worried now; he arranged for us to sleep in the same bed, I don’t know what his intentions are."
As they were speaking, Lin Xinlan’s cellphone rang.
It was an unfamiliar number, and her intuition told her that it was Zhou Xi’s brother calling.
She and Qiao Yiyang exchanged a look, each seeing the depth of solemnity in the other’s eyes.
"Answer it, let’s hear what he has to say."
Lin Xinlan nodded, answered the call, yet did not speak.
A young man’s voice came through, not the aggressive tone of a criminal; his tone was instead filled with nervousness and a sense of helpless determination.
"You’re awake, aren’t you?" he began.
"Yes. You must be Zhou Xi’s brother," Lin Xinlan stated, not as a question, but as an affirmation.
"Right, I’m Zhou Xi’s brother, Zhou Yu. Please forgive me for treating you this way, but I had no choice; I need to save my brother, I can’t let him go to prison.
I’ve taken photos of you two sleeping together, if you can get my brother out, I will destroy the photos.
If you can’t, then I will release the photos online and let everyone know that Rong Shaoze’s wife has been sleeping with another man.
I just want to free my brother; I didn’t intend to hurt you..."
Lin Xinlan already understood everything. She quickly said to him, "Your brother’s arrest wasn’t our doing. We said that we would let him go, and we keep our word.
Today’s meeting with Mr. Qiao was to discuss ways to reduce your brother’s charges. Do you realize, your actions have angered us.
We were willing to help your brother out of goodwill, yet you treated us this way. How can we hold back our anger and even consider rescuing your brother without any second thoughts?!"
Hearing her words, Zhou Yu became very flustered.
"Is it really not you who called the police?"
"No. If it were us, we wouldn’t have waited until now to call them. Your brother’s exposure was purely accidental; the police found out by themselves, it has nothing to do with us." Lin Xinlan told a white lie.
She couldn’t say it was Rong Shaoze who exposed Zhou Xi, otherwise the Zhou Family’s grudge against Rong Shaoze would only deepen.
She wasn’t helping Rong Shaoze; she was just worried the Zhou Family’s endless revenge would only hurt her.
Moreover, she didn’t want the Zhou Family to live in hatred forever; how painful that would be...
Qiao Yiyang gave her an inconspicuous glance with a calm expression.
Zhou Yu thought it over, felt that Lin Xinlan made sense, and believed her somewhat, "Alright, I believe you. So what should we do now?"
"Destroy the photos, and we will try our best to help your brother so that he’ll serve less time.
It’s impossible for us to rescue him; first, we don’t have that kind of ability to save people, and second, he did commit a crime and should face some punishment.