Jiang Xiaoqing carefully walked over to Gu Nian. Squatted down next to the couch, she asked, "Luo Xiu didn't cross the line with you, did he? He did record ahead of time his own 'criminal evidences'……"
"What criminal evidences?" asked Gu Nian with her lingering breath.
Jiang Xiaoqing placed Luo Xiu's cellphone in front of Gu Nian and briefly described the incident that took place in the elevator lobby to Gu Nian.
Upon hearing that, Gu Nian shuffled a little on the couch and, with a weathered look, said, "You have worried about the wrong person. My precious son is such a docile person, he would never commit a crime. If anything would have happened, of course I'd be the one who would commit the crime."
"……"
With the word "docile", Jiang Xiaoqing looked like she had something stuck in her throat. She turned and gave Qin Yuanyuan a painful look.
Obviously, Qin Yuanyuan's observation was much better than that of Jiang Xiaoqing. She asked, curiously, "Do you remember what you have done last night?"
Gu Nian nodded in a moving and tragic way.
Now even Jiang Xiaoqing was curious. "What have you done?"
"I can summarize that in a two words," said Gu Nian with deep regret.
"?"
"Abhorrent and despicable."
"…………?"
Recalling the only bit of remaining memory from her dream, Gu Nian buried herself into the couch with a sob –
"I have sinned. Wuwuwuwu. I could never face my precious son again. Wuwuwuw!!"
Jiang Xiaoqing went silent for a few seconds and slowly, slowly pushed Luo Xiu's cellphone a little bit closer to Gu Nian.
She said to her cruelly, "Even so, you must return your precious son's cellphone to him today. A few calls had come in for him this morning and all from the same number. No caller identity was associated with the calls."
"……"
Old mother Gu stopped crying.
She lifted her head up from between her outstretched arms and slowly looked over to the black phone. "No…… caller identity? Perhaps they were spam calls?"
Jiang Xiaoqing, "Spam calls that started from 6:30 AM all the way till after 7? That's some work ethics then."
Qin Yuanyuan, standing closer to the wall, said worriedly, "We worry it might be something urgent. But not knowing anything about Luo Xiu, we also didn't want to answer the call for him."
"Mmm mmm." Jiang Xiaoqing chimed in. "It did sound quite urgent––"
Before Jiang Xiaoqing could even finish talking, the phone in front of Gu Nian started buzzing again.
All three of them stopped talking.
Finally, both Jiang Xiaoqing and Qin Yuanyuan looked over at Gu Nian at the same time. "Perhaps you want to pick it up."
Gu Nian said expressionlessly. "I am no more suitable to answer his calls than you."
Jiang Xiaoqing, "What are you worried about? He's your son, right? What's wrong with a mother answering the calls for her son?"
Gu Nian, "……"
Jiang Xiaoqing, "Besides, I desperately want to find out who it was. Calling so early and waking us up. If it was a spam call then hand it over to me. Let me yell at him!"
Qin Yuanyuan chimed in as well, "As we still have his phone, perhaps you should answer it. What if it is an emergency?"
"……"
Qin Yuanyuan finally nailed Gu Nian's worry. She thought about it a little and finally picked up the phone and pressed "talk".
Gu Nian lifted the phone up to her ears and said softly, "Hi?"
"You––"
Started at the same time as her was a languid and melodious male voice coming from the other end. Unfortunately, it stopped after just one word.
Gu Nian Wushuang just about to check and see whether she was still connected when she heard the other party asked, "Woman?"
Gu Nian, "…I guess so."
"…………"
More silence.
A few seconds later, Gu Nian heard the languid voice pulling away some and, with a playful tone chuckle, sounded as though he was talking to someone else on his end ––
"Grandpa, a woman answered his phone.
"I reasonably assumed that Luo Xiu had been kidnapped and very likely had been killed."
Gu Nian, "…………?"