0121: The Mastermind Behind the Scenes

"Actually, Su Qingwan and I are not in a romantic relationship."

"Huh?! What did you say? Did you two break up?!"

Qin Yunhe exclaimed, her eyes widening, and Ji Yun, sitting opposite, even choked on her drink!

"Wait until I finish. We were never together in the first place."

"But why did Su Qingwan say you were her boyfriend? You didn't deny it either. I heard you even met her mother and admitted it in person?"

"That's true, because I'm Teacher Su's shield."

"A shield?" Qin Yunhe blinked. What kind of cliché novel plot was this?

"It's true. You know how distressed she was because of that incident. But with her parents pressuring her so hard, once she finally opened up to them, she reached out to me."

"Asking you to pretend to be her boyfriend? My Wanwan really knows how to play..." Qin Yunhe held her forehead, feeling a bit dizzy.

Ever since she had known Su Qingwan, she had always been a girl who listened to her parents, never lied, and was straightforward and incapable of pretense.

Of course, because of this, she was also gentle and highly empathetic, which led to the downsides of being indecisive and lacking independent opinions.

Recently, she had started dating someone and even dumped that jerk Jia Qing, which was already surprising enough, but to think there was an even more unexpected story behind it all.

"But I hope, Sister Qin, that you won't tell Teacher Su's parents."

"I understand. I'm her best friend, after all; I know her better than anyone."

Still, she was going to have to tease her mercilessly later. Showing off her relationship to her, when in reality, she was just a lonely single soul!

"That's good."

"I was wondering why you were so bold as to stare straight at me in front of Wanwan earlier. So it was all a fake, huh? High schooler, too young—it's only natural you couldn't resist my charm."

"Um... Hello, Sister Qin." Ji Yun, sitting opposite, greeted her, cutting off Qin Yunhe's somewhat suggestive remarks.

"Sorry, little sister Ji, I was just caught up in talking to him."

"It's fine. Have you had lunch, sister?"

"Not yet. I was just heading back after leaving that place, looking for a spot to grab a bite."

"Then let's eat together. We can't finish all this, and Xu Lin said he wasn't hungry."

"Alright." Qin Yunhe wasn't the type to stand on ceremony, so she nodded and immediately grabbed a burger to start eating.

She choked after two bites, and Xu Lin pushed his unopened cola toward her.

"How do you manage to choke while eating a burger?"

"I'm just prone to it."

As she spoke, Qin Yunhe lifted her head, glanced at Xu Lin, then at the cola cup. As she chewed, her eyes grew slightly moist.

Feeling this sudden shift in her mood, Qin Yunhe lost her appetite, though she couldn't explain why.

"Are your eyes bothering you? Did you get mustard in them?"

"No. Xu Lin, did you and little sister Ji come all the way from school just to eat?"

"There's nobody at home, so we just grabbed lunch. The atmosphere here is nice, we can read, and there's air conditioning."

"I see. Are you two boyfriend and girlfriend, then?" Qin Yunhe asked, feeling a bit gossipy, especially since they were both wearing school uniforms.

Sitting there, they gave off the vibe of a youth romance drama. Besides, after that accident the other day, she had lost her first kiss; if this guy hadn't lost his, she would have felt cheated.

"No, I confessed, and he rejected me," Ji Yun said bluntly, and Qin Yunhe’s eyes widened again.

"He rejected you?"

Qin Yunhe found it hard to believe. While Xu Lin wasn't ugly, there was no reason to reject such a pretty girl, unless the person he liked was as transcendentally beautiful as Chu Qingchan!

"It's true." Ji Yun looked at him with a smile, and he could only nod.

Class Monitor Ji was learning to be mischievous, too; if he didn't nod, she might start recounting his "scumbag" deeds. Still, it was true that he hadn't accepted her confession immediately.

"Are you going back this afternoon?"

"Yes. Based on their conversations, I’ve already gathered the general situation of this scam organization, but I plan to go back this afternoon to dig for more details."

"For example, who the boss is. From what I heard, the three people here are all in charge, but the person who actually makes the money hasn't appeared yet."

"The middle-aged man who interviewed me is one of them. The two who were talking are the others—one is named Qian something, likely the Qian Wan your friend and her boyfriend mentioned."

"The other is named He Yuansheng. Judging by their voices, they are both young men."

"They belong to a larger scam syndicate from another province that has already been dismantled, with all members arrested."

"These guys are essentially the subordinates of the subordinates from that group. The three of them are the managers here. But with the higher-ups gone, their funding source became unstable, so they got a new boss."

"This new boss is referred to as Brother Zhen? Brother Shen? He never comes to the office and handles all financial transactions online."

"Then why do you think you'll get information about the boss this afternoon? He sounds very cautious."

Hearing Qin Yunhe say this, she realized she knew more than Lu Man or Ma Zhiyu did; Lu Man only knew that Qian Wan was the one in charge.

"Because I received a very important piece of news: the mastermind behind it all is coming here today."

"Huh? Is it really that coincidental?"

"Yes, it is. Today marks exactly three months of their cooperation. But listening to them talk, this person is very cautious; they haven't even told them when they are arriving or under what identity."

"So you want to wait and see, but will you be able to tell? Don't they have a small secret room? Who knows if there's a back exit?"

"That's why I'm trying. If there's no result, I'll have to notify the station tomorrow and mobilize the team."

"Sister Qin, you really shouldn't have kept this to yourself. You're in real danger. What if something goes wrong? As a professional, you shouldn't be making mistakes like this."

The two weren't exactly close, but it had to be said—it was a matter of safety and social responsibility.

"I understand. But, little brother Xu Lin, please understand me too. My father was actually very against me becoming a police officer."

"I have to be better than everyone else so that when I face him, I can say I have no regrets."

Hearing this, Xu Lin sighed helplessly. What more could he say?

"By the way, what happened to that tiger the other day?" Sensing the awkward silence between Xu Lin and Qin Yunhe, Ji Yun immediately started a new topic.

"My father agreed to help with Big Snowball. He’s actually been thinking about raising a tiger himself."

"Big Snowball?"

"That's the name I gave it. Whether they keep that name or not, I don't know, but you can go visit it at the zoo when the time comes."

After that, they chatted a bit more, and Qin Yunhe prepared to head back, saying she had to appear diligent to maintain her "honest" cover.

But as he watched her back recede into the distance, Xu Lin’s brow remained furrowed, making Ji Yun feel a bit nervous.

"Are you very worried about Miss Qin Yunhe?"

"Yeah, I have a feeling something unexpected is going to happen."

"Don't be a jinx!"

"..." After being scolded by Ji Yun, he shut his mouth, but a few ideas were already forming in his mind.