Chapter 66 Bad News And Worst News

"What?" Tianwei stood up in surprise, nearly jostling over his breakfast. He did not shriek, but he came pretty close to it. Everyone in the room stared at his uncharacteristic behaviour.

"Ge? Is everything okay?" Jingwei asked cautiously.

"No. No it's not." Tianwei replied, before he realised that he was still on the line. "I'll put you on speaker, Officer Tang. Kindly repeat what you've said to the rest of my family."

"Good morning everyone, sorry to disrupt your peaceful morning. I have bad news to report," Officer Tang said gravely.

Then he dropped that same metaphorical bomb on the rest of the listeners. Some of the maids hastily stifled their screams, and one of them even dropped her jug of orange juice, causing it to spill all over the expensive carpet.

"Preposterous!" Sun Haowei roared, slamming his hand on the dining table. His mood, already poor to begin with, plummeted to the deepest pits of hell. "What is the meaning of this!"

"What on earth?" Xue Ning exclaimed, dropping the last bits of fried dough stick on the table.

"Holy shit," was Jingwei's reply. His mouth had dropped to his stomach. Xiumin wasn't an innocent person by all means of the word, and she had tried to do considerable damage to him, but he still didn't want her dead!

How could this have happened?

"We've already contacted the coroners to do an autopsy." Officer Tang continued. "They'll hopefully be able to figure out the cause of her death."

"That's only part of the problem!" Jingwei yelled. "Officer Tang, how on earth could someone kill her in the middle of the night? Don't you have people on night shift duty guarding her? Or are they all dead too?"

"No, no, they're not dead. But they have been hauled off for questioning." Officer Tang replied. "They apparently fell asleep at their posts after eating supper."

"Then what about security cameras?" Xue Ning asked. "Surely the police station must have them."

"We do, and we'll be looking through the footage later," Officer Tang said. "This incident also has all of us on edge."

"I'll join you after breakfast," Tianwei said, his tone making no room for objections. He then shoveled food as fast as he could into his mouth, before gulping it down with coffee.

"Xue Ning and I will go too!" Jingwei said. "We can help!"

"Nonsense, what help will the two of you be? Don't interrupt the police doing their jobs!" Sun Haowei barked at them both.

"But -"

"The both of you should stay for now," Tianwei agreed. "Father, have you told them about the new arrangement we agreed on yesterday?"

"That arrangement is over," his father scowled over his congee. "I changed my mind."

"Father!" Jingwei protested. Xue Ning looked at him, curious and confused. Was this decision made without consulting her? Of course it was.

"What is it?" She asked, not expecting an answer due to Sun Haowei's angry face, but Tianwei replied anyway.

"We want you to live with Jingwei to better protect him." Tianwei said, "and now that we have gotten such sombre news, I believe that securing Jingwei's protection is now a greater priority."

Sun Haowei clenched his hands hard enough for his knuckles to turn white. Regrettably, Tianwei made a good point. If someone had dared to sneak into police custody to murder their prime suspect, it showed that they were clearly ruthless enough to clean up lose ends by any means necessary.

They haven't even gotten a hint of useful information from her! And now, their attempts on his youngest might just escalate. They've already resorted to murder, Sun Haowei did not want to think about what they would do to his youngest son if they managed to get their hands on him.

Even if this impertinent woman wasn't a real bodyguard, at least he knew she'd probably throw her body in front to shield his son from a bullet or two. She was willing to antagonise him for Jingwei's sake, and they weren't even together!

Of course, there's no guarantee that his son wouldn't be throwing himself between her and a bullet, but she seemed more alert than his idiot son, so the chances of her being the shield were higher.

That was enough reason for him to keep her around… for now.

If she got injured in the line of duty, he would get Tianwei to prepare a hefty severance package and retirement back in the countryside where she came from, further separating her from his son.

If they lived together, his son would probably drive her away with his poor living habits.

Either way, they would be separated for good. It was just a matter of time; he simply needed to be patient. He reminded himself that one did not reach the top of the business world without the ability to plan ahead and the ruthlessness to sacrifice pieces.

(Old age was making him more irritable than usual, or perhaps it was just Xue Ning's angry, judgemental face, so foreign yet familiar at the same time.)

"Hmph. I see your point," he said curtly. He turned to Xue Ning. "You are now my son's temporary wife. Pack your things and prepare to move into my son's house by today. There is no time to delay."

Xue Ning's mouth dropped open. What was the first part of his request? Did she mishear?

"Thanks Father! I knew I could count on you!" Jingwei exclaimed, before turning to beam delightedly at her. "We'll go right after breakfast!"

"Alright," she said, because what else could she have said? She'll grill Jingwei about the 'pretending to be his wife' issue later in private.

Her appetite mostly gone, she then waited for Jingwei to demolish his remaining food. He then led her to his garage, a building the size of a school, that was just meant to house his many, many cars. If normal people collected stamps, Sun Jingwei collected cars in all shades, of all designs. But he still made his way to the red Ferrari from the night before. Xue Ning grabbed his shirt sleeve before he could get in.

"Do you have another, less conspicuous car?" Xue Ning demanded. "Do you not recall us getting tailed just a day ago?"