62: Been set up

After she finished speaking, as if she had found the perfect reason for her righteousness, she met Lin Chao's gaze with confidence.

However, there wasn't a hint of approval on Lin Chao's face.

He merely sized her up from head to toe with an extremely peculiar look, making Lan Qingyu feel uneasy.

That look was thirty percent helplessness, thirty percent amusement, and forty percent... like he was looking at a silly child who hadn't grown up yet.

He finally let out a long sigh.

"So, you didn't do any investigation at all?"

Lan Qingyu blinked blankly.

"Investigate what?"

Her voice suddenly rose an octave, as if she had been insulted.

"I just ate lunch at Xiao Ru's house today! I saw it with my own eyes!"

"Her house is just that big—small and dilapidated! Her mother was lying in bed, her face sallow, with a pile of medicine bottles next to her! How could that be fake?"

She spoke a lot in one breath, her chest heaving violently due to her excitement.

Lin Chao didn't interrupt her.

He just listened quietly, letting her pour out all her grievances and justifications.

It wasn't until the background music in the cafe changed to a new song that Lan Qingyu's voice gradually died down.

Only then did Lin Chao slowly pick up his cup and take another sip of the latte, which had already gone somewhat cold.

"Tsk."

He smacked his lips and shook his head.

"How could such a shrewd and formidable person like Sister Yanran give birth to such a..."

He paused, seemingly weighing his words.

"...stupidly cute daughter?"

With a 'boom.'

Lan Qingyu felt as if something had exploded inside her head.

Her face instantly turned the color of pig liver, flushing red from the base of her neck to the tips of her ears.

"Who are you calling stupidly cute?!"

She suddenly stood up from her seat, propping her hands on the table and glaring at Lin Chao.

"Make yourself clear!"

Lin Chao lifted his eyelids and glanced at her. Instead of showing any apology, his face carried a hint of realization, as if saying, 'As expected.'

He shook his head.

"Just based on the superficialities you saw with your eyes, you were in a hurry to fork over the money."

"Have you ever considered whether that twenty-thousand-yuan IOU was actually real?"

"And have you ever considered if that Zhong Xiaoru might be exploiting your sympathy?"

His voice wasn't loud, but every word was like a small hammer, striking heavily against Lan Qingyu's heart.

"The most crucial point."

Lin Chao leaned forward slightly, his sharp gaze seemingly trying to pierce through her soul.

"From twenty thousand, it suddenly became a hundred and twenty thousand."

"Didn't it occur to you that this might have been a trap she set for you from the very beginning?"

Lan Qingyu's lips trembled, and her face turned deathly pale.

But her loyalty to her friend made her choose to retort immediately.

"Impossible!"

She almost screamed out.

"Xiao Ru isn't that kind of person! She saved my life!"

Seeing her obsessed and stubborn state, Lin Chao completely gave up on reasoning with her.

He sneered, "I called you stupidly cute, and you still won't admit it."

"She wasn't after that twenty thousand at all; she calculated that you would jump out so she could swindle you out of this hundred and twenty thousand!"

"Maybe as soon as the money is in hand, she'll find a place to split it with those hoodlums."

These words were like a bolt of lightning, striking Lan Qingyu so hard that her whole body stiffened, unable to utter another word.

Lin Chao didn't bother looking at her soul-crushed expression anymore.

He directly pulled out his phone and swiped a few times on the screen.

"You don't believe it, right?"

"Fine."

"I'll call your mom right now. I'll ask Sister Yanran what she thinks about this."

"Don't!"

Lan Qingyu was like a cat whose tail had been stepped on; her fur stood on end instantly, and she lunged forward to press down on his hand without thinking.

"Don't call my mom!"

There was a hint of imperceptible panic and... guilt in her voice.

Lin Chao arched an eyebrow, looking at her with leisure.

Lan Qingyu retracted her hand as if she'd received an electric shock. Her eyes darted around, and she muttered somewhat uncomfortably.

"If... if Xiao Ru really is... that kind of person as you said..."

"Then my mom... my mom would definitely scold me for being stupid too!"

Hearing this, Lin Chao finally couldn't help but roll his eyes grandly at the ceiling.

"Oh."

"So you do know?"

Lin Chao's words, which were thirty percent mockery and seventy percent teasing, were like a needle that accurately punctured the last bit of bravado Lan Qingyu had just mustered.

Her cheeks instantly turned red again. Like a child caught red-handed, she didn't know where to put her hands or feet.

Her mouth opened, but she couldn't find a single word to retort.

Indeed.

Even she herself felt she was stupid, so what else was there to say?

The air conditioning in the cafe was running high, yet she felt hot all over, wishing she could find a crack in the floor to crawl into.

The two of them remained in a stalemate.

One was leisurely, with a faint, ambiguous smile on his lips.

The other had puffed-out cheeks, angry like a pufferfish, yet unable to lash out.

After a full half-minute, Lan Qingyu was like a deflated ball as she muttered in a small voice.

"Then... then I can't just let it go like this."

She looked up, a hint of unwillingness in her eyes.

"I'll go investigate it myself, alright?"

As she said this, she deliberately puffed out her chest, trying to reclaim a bit of her pitiful dignity.

However, when Lin Chao heard this, the smile on his face vanished without a trace.

The way he looked at her was even colder than when he had called her stupid just now.

"You?"

He spat out a single word lightly, filled with disdain.

"You're going to investigate alone?"

Lin Chao leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest as he let out a cold laugh.

"Lan Qingyu, have you still not figured out the situation?"

"What if—and I mean what if—that Zhong Xiaoru 'saving' you the first time was a complete setup from the very beginning?"

"What if she and those hoodlums were in cahoots all along?"

"If you run over there all by yourself like a fool now, are you trying to deliver your head to them on a silver platter?"

Lin Chao's voice wasn't loud, but every word hit home: "Are you really not afraid of something happening to you!"

Lan Qingyu was left speechless by his string of 'what ifs,' and her recently puffed-out chest slumped once more.

Her small face was deathly pale, and her lips were trembling slightly.

It wasn't that she hadn't thought of these possibilities; she had just deliberately ignored them.

Now that Lin Chao had bloodily exposed them, she felt a wave of lingering fear.

"Then... then what do you say we do?"

Her voice carried a hint of a sob, and her eyes were full of confusion and helplessness.

"I... I'm still unwilling to believe Xiao Ru is that kind of person..."

She murmured to herself, as if trying to convince herself, yet also as if asking Lin Chao for help.

Suddenly, a flash of cunning crossed her watery, large eyes.

Lan Qingyu's eyes darted around, and as if grasping at the last straw, she suddenly fixed her gaze on Lin Chao.