After the Real Young Miss Became My Canary - Chapter 45

Chapter 45

Fu Xin looked at her gratefully: “You finally remember? I thought you’d forgotten.”

Song Zhi smiled: “If I forgot, I forgot. It’s no big deal.”

Fu Xin: “But it’s really important to me! I never properly thanked you. I mean it.” She glanced around cautiously: “Although I don’t know what Song Qin means, I don’t think he would lie to you about this.”

Song Zhi asked calmly, “What is your point?”

A trace of cold sweat ran down Fu Xin’s back. Song Zhi’s gaze was calm but carried an intense pressure. She gripped her hands to stop herself from trembling. She lowered her head; at this angle, her eyes looked the most like the pair in Song Zhi’s memory. She said sincerely: “This is an opportunity.”

Song Zhi looked at her light-colored eyes. The light eyes turned dark, and the soft, round face of the woman blurred into the slender, sharp chin.

“I thought you wouldn’t come.” Song Qin gestured for Song Zhi to sit opposite him.

Song Qin had arranged to meet her in the camellia pavilion in the backyard garden. The weather was lovely today; a few streaks of golden sunlight pierced through the soft clouds, falling warmly on them. Because of the warm sun, Song Zhi had a rare bit of patience. She didn’t sit. She stood with her arms crossed. Song Qin didn’t deserve to have her sit beside him.

Song Zhi looked down at Song Qin: “What is it?”

Song Qin smiled, a grim expression on his sharp, thin face: “Do you know how your mother really died?”

…Song Qin said Song Zhi should have put the item back in her bedroom.

Fu Xin first quickly scanned the room, confirmed the item wasn’t visible, and then quickly checked the vanity, coffee table, bedside table, and floor-to-ceiling wardrobe. Nothing.

Song Qin had lured Song Zhi out under the pretext of a secret. Fu Xin didn’t know how long Song Qin could keep her, so she had to move fast. She searched everywhere, even nervously lifting the massive wardrobe. Song Zhi’s wardrobe was huge, taking up about 200 square feet, created by knocking through another room. After scanning it, she determined the photo was definitely not there and turned her attention elsewhere.

Finally, she found the photo. She wasn’t sure why Song Zhi had decided to hide it under the bed. Finding the photo, she immediately turned and left the room.

As she turned, her back was completely soaked in sweat. She moved upstairs, every nerve taut. She listened to her own heartbeat and the faint, unknowable sound of footsteps coming from somewhere. The steps were extremely light but impossible to ignore. Several times, she stopped because of the footsteps, only to realize it seemed to be her imagination.

The last time, she decided to ignore the inexplicable footsteps. She hurried forward, trying to round the bend ahead. Just past that bend, she would be out and could…

“Miss Fu, why are you upstairs?”

Fu Xin stiffly turned her head, seeing a maid looking at her curiously. She forced a smile: “I…” Two words dominated her mind: I’m done!

The maid looked at her unnatural expression, and then a sudden thought seemed to click: “Did the young master ask you to go to the study?”

In this moment, Fu Xin couldn’t think of anything else, and even if she could, there was no way out. She immediately nodded, following the maid’s suggestion: “Yes.”

The maid was very helpful: “Then you should hurry up. Don’t stand here; the young master will scold you if he sees you.”

Fu Xin suddenly remembered Song Qin’s attitude towards Song Guan. She realized that Song Qin was only respectful on the surface and didn’t hold much genuine reverence for Song Guan. If an outsider like her knew this, wouldn’t the maids in the house know it too? She looked at the maid’s eager smile and thought: It’s highly likely they do.

An idea immediately struck her. Fu Xin twisted the corner of her clothing and spoke hesitantly: “Um.” She stammered: “There’s something I need to ask you.”

The maid was warm-hearted and immediately pressed her: “What is it? Just say it. I’ll do anything I can!”

Fu Xin closed her eyes, seemingly making a huge decision: “I know this request is a bit presumptuous, but I can’t not ask. Can you please not tell anyone that I came up here today? You know the relationship between the young master and Mr. Song is not…”

She didn’t finish her sentence, but the maid understood: “Oh, that’s all? Don’t worry, I won’t tell. I’m just filling in for a few days; I’ll be leaving when my sister comes back.”

Fu Xin nodded. She pulled a few banknotes from her wallet: “Great! Thank you.”

The maid waved them away, refusing to take the money, and Fu Xin didn’t insist. What she was about to do was more important.

Song Zhi interrupted him impatiently: “If you really have nothing to say, I’m leaving.” With that, she turned to walk out of the pavilion.

She had initially suspected Song Qin told Fu Xin those things, but after testing him today, she realized Song Qin was completely unaware. So, how did Fu Xin know about the past, and why did she impersonate the person she saved? What is she trying to gain from this?

Song Qin watched Song Zhi’s retreating figure with a trace of panic. He didn’t know if Fu Xin had succeeded. What if Song Zhi went back now and they ran into each other? Seeing Song Zhi walking farther away, he grew anxious. He had said so much, and Song Zhi wasn’t interested. What else could he say to keep her? Nothing.

No! There was one thing.

He suddenly remembered something.

Song Qin: “Dad met your mother once right before she died.”

Song Zhi: “They met countless times.”

If I send Shen Ying things she likes, maybe she won’t dislike me so much? What does Shen Ying even like? Movies? How about I send her a cinema? Speaking of which, I still haven’t given her the money I owe her, and my company dividend for this month is still overseas.

She had received her mother’s inheritance and multiple stock dividends on her first day abroad, which was why she agreed to go overseas. Her lawyer told her that her mother’s final assets, which Song Guan never got his hands on, had been entirely transferred abroad and were managed by a specialized trust fund to prevent Song Guan from finding and seizing them.

Song Qin: “That time was different. Less than an hour after Dad finished talking, your mother jumped from a building.”

Song Zhi turned around, her eyes fixed on Song Qin. Her face was beautiful and refined, but her lack of expression made her seem unattainable—not hard to approach, but high above him.

Song Qin vaguely remembered the day. The weather was nice, blue sky and white clouds, and the wind was warm. He had been taken back to the Song family by Song Guan before An Ran (Song Zhi’s mother) died. His own mother only entered the Song family home several years after An Ran’s death. At that time, An Ran’s illness was already very severe, and the Song Corporation was established. She was utterly helpless against Song Guan. However, she found a way to avoid seeing Song Qin, so Song Qin never saw her once from the moment he entered the Song home until An Ran died.

Therefore, his only impression of An Ran was the violent argument she had with Song Guan that afternoon.

“…Why did you give up?! This was such a perfect opportunity!” Xu Jiu was unable to calm down. She completely failed to understand why Shen Ying would abandon such a good opportunity, a chance they had planned for years, sending them back to a dead end. Xu Jiu’s voice choked up: “Didn’t you always want revenge? If it weren’t for her, Grandma also… Are you scared, or did you get soft?”

Shen Ying: “Those things have nothing to do with her. She is innocent.”

Xu Jiu had always agreed with Shen Ying’s plans because there was no need to disagree. Shen Ying could even be described as terrifying; she was like a high-speed machine, and her plans were like tightly fitted screws in a machine, never making a mistake. But this time was different. Shen Ying seemed to have changed, quietly adopting a new appearance without Xu Jiu knowing. When did this change begin? It seemed to be after she met the person surnamed Song.

Xu Jiu: “Do you know how long we’ve waited for this plan?”

Shen Ying nodded, her voice very quiet at that moment. She looked out the window at the thick, unyielding darkness of the night: “Fourteen years, five months, and seventeen days.”

Xu Jiu loudly interrupted her: “Fourteen years! You know it’s fourteen years! How many fourteen years do we have?”

Shen Ying’s voice was weightless: “Can we casually harm an innocent person just for ourselves? Song Zhi is a living person; she can feel pain. I know you hate the Song family; I hate them too. I wish this so-called family would vanish into smoke right now. But we must never achieve our goals by harming others, or how are we different from them?”

Xu Jiu hesitated: “But…” But this seems to be the only way they can get the evidence right now. Shen Ying seemed to read her mind and shook her head. Xu Jiu immediately perked up. Just as she was about to ask if Shen Ying had a new plan, Shen Ying’s phone suddenly lit up. Shen Ying placed the illuminated phone in front of her.

A message appeared before her.

“Got it.”

Song Zhi frowned: “Is what you’re saying true?”

Song Qin nodded: “Of course. I wouldn’t lie about something like this.”

Song Zhi: “I can’t believe you without proof.”

Song Qin shrugged: “I can’t help it if you don’t believe me. That’s all I know, and what I said is indeed the truth. If you really don’t believe it, just assume I made it up to drive a wedge between you and Song Guan.” He stood up and smiled: “I do know where the evidence is, but you’ll have to trade something for it, right?”

He was already overly feminine in appearance, with a sharply pointed chin and extremely large eyes. When he smiled like this, he looked sinister, like a poisonous snake coiling to strike, flicking a wet, sticky tongue close to Song Zhi’s face. He was deliberately provoking a conflict between the two, and he even put his intention on full display. Yet, Song Zhi was helpless against him.

Song Zhi was instantly disgusted.

At that moment, the maid’s voice drifted in from outside: “Young Master Song, your friend is looking for you urgently.”

Song Qin asked doubtfully, “Who?”

The two were in the center of the backyard garden, and the maid was outside, separated by a long distance. Song Qin’s voice was too quiet; the maid probably didn’t hear him. She shouted louder: “He came in with a visiting card, and we couldn’t stop him! He insists on finding you in the garden!”

Song Qin frowned: “Who!”

A voice came from the bend in the small path in front of the pavilion.

“It’s me.”

The next second, a man walked out from the bend.

Song Qin instantly panicked.

Their discussion was over. Song Zhi was about to leave. She had just thought of a legitimate reason to find Shen Ying and was about to go pester her again shamelessly. Then, she noticed a trace of unusual panic in Song Qin, and she realized… she knew this man.

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