His Sunday Substitute - Chapter 38

Qin Cangye must have lost his mind!

That had to be it!

Su Yinuo clutched her head, sitting on the stairs, utterly distraught.

After Qin Cangye left, his parting words kept echoing in her ears. The incomprehensible possessiveness in them filled her with fear. She couldn’t understand how he had become like this, when they first met, he had been so gentle, so normal.

Replaying their encounters and interactions in her mind, Su Yinuo suddenly realized she had rejected Qin Cangye many times. Each rejection had sent his emotions spiraling. It was her repeated refusals, her repeated wounds, that had driven him to this state.

He wasn’t insane, he just didn’t believe anymore. No matter what she said or did, he wouldn’t trust that she loved him.

What should she do? What could she do?

Su Yinuo hugged her knees, burying her face in them, her heart aching.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.

Su Yinuo immediately looked up, startled, staring at the front door.

How could anyone be knocking?

Her brows furrowed. She knew the villa’s front door led to a courtyard enclosed by a wall. Qin Cangye always locked the gate when he left, so how could anyone get in? Unless they had climbed over the wall.

What were they trying to do, sneaking in like this?

“Hello? Is anyone home? Property management, here for an inspection,” an unfamiliar voice called from outside.

Hah… what a terrible excuse… Property management never does inspections…

After silently mocking the flimsy lie, Su Yinuo nervously picked up the chain and crouched low, cautiously making her way upstairs.

She planned to hide in the bedroom and pretend no one was home. But then, thud, a dull sound came from behind her.

Su Yinuo jumped, turning around to see a masked stranger standing by the floor-to-ceiling window near the front door. In his hand was a black camera.

A wave of unease washed over her. Su Yinuo immediately bolted upstairs and locked herself in the bedroom.

She turned the lock, then crept to the window, parting the tightly drawn curtains just a sliver. After waiting for over ten minutes, she finally saw the man climb back over the wall and leave.

The tension didn’t fade. Sitting on the edge of the bed, Su Yinuo analyzed the situation: A thief wouldn’t bring a camera, so that man wasn’t a burglar or a robber. That only left one possibility, he was one of Qin Weishu’s people!!

Su Yinuo clutched her chest in panic.

He must have taken pictures of her… What should she do? Why did he take photos? Would they come back? What could she do?

Qin Cangye, she had to tell Qin Cangye. Whatever they were planning, their real target had to be him!

Su Yinuo stood up, but the next second, she froze beside the bed. She had no idea how to contact Qin Cangye!

What now? What could she do?

Frantically pacing the room, Su Yinuo took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down.

It would be fine. Qin Cangye would be back by noon. It was already ten, just two more hours. Two hours, and he’d return!

Unaware that the villa had surveillance, Su Yinuo endured the agonizing wait in the bedroom, too afraid to even step outside.

Meanwhile, the moment Qin Cangye arrived at the office that morning, Qin Weishu summoned him for a scolding.

He stood before Qin Weishu with an air of ease and an indifferent expression, letting his words go in one ear and out the other, completely unbothered.

“Take your brother to familiarize him with the business! Hand over a few of the departments and projects under your management to him!”

Qin Weishu was utterly disappointed with Qin Cangye’s attitude and irritably issued the command.

Qin Cangye scoffed coldly and said, “If you want Ronghua to go bankrupt, I can hand everything over to him.” With that, he ignored Qin Weishu and turned to walk out of the chairman’s office.

Qin Weishu gritted his teeth in fury.

Not long after, Old Yan entered. His head had been bandaged, and a cap covered the injury.

He approached Qin Weishu, took out his phone, and showed him the photos his subordinates had secretly taken of Su Yinuo, whispering, “It’s the girl Kong Wenxin brought on the death anniversary. She’s been imprisoned by the young master.”

At the word “imprisoned,” Qin Weishu’s eyes lit up, and he scrutinized the photos. In them, the chain around Su Yinuo’s ankles was clearly visible, and the tense expression on her face as she ran upstairs was interpreted by Qin Weishu as fear.

Qin Weishu burst into laughter. “Hahahaha, Li Ruyin, look at the fine son you gave birth to! Truly crazier than me, worthy of my blood! But,” he stopped laughing, his aged, greenish eyes turning icy cold, “one mountain cannot shelter two tigers. If he refuses to submit to me, then I can’t tolerate him either! The Qin family doesn’t absolutely need him now. This pawn should be discarded.”

“What does the master mean to do?” Old Yan asked cautiously.

Qin Weishu spun the glossy prayer beads in his hand and sneered. “He can call the police, and so can I! Jiang Tiande, the deputy chief of the Jinyang District Police Bureau, his father was just another dog from Chaoyang Mountain who clung to power. He’s taken plenty of favors from me. Send him the photos and make sure he pins the charge of illegal confinement on Qin Cangye! Hmph, it’s time Qin Cangye coughs up the shares under his control!”

“Yes, master!”

After returning to his office, Qin Cangye took out his phone and pulled up the real-time surveillance feed from the villa.

By then, the footage of the stranger climbing over the wall had already passed. When he saw that the living room and study were empty, he frowned and clicked on the bedroom feed.

On the screen, Su Yinuo’s face was unmistakably agitated. Qin Cangye didn’t quite understand, but a sense of unease rose in his chest.

“Vice Chairman Qin, the seminar for the Lotus District urban renewal project is about to start. The leaders from the Development and Reform Commission have already arrived,” Wang Yiliu reported beside him.

“Alright,” Qin Cangye suppressed his unease for the moment and followed Wang Yiliu to the conference room.

Even after the meeting began, he remained unsettled. While Director Wang from the Development and Reform Commission was speaking, images of Su Yinuo’s restless behavior kept flashing through his mind.

She seemed terrified, too afraid to even step out of the bedroom door. She kept pacing to the window but didn’t dare to open the curtains, only peeking through the gaps, as if, as if someone was watching her from outside!

At that thought, Qin Cangye’s heart sank violently. He abruptly stood up from his seat, knocking over the tea on the table.

Director Wang, who had been speaking, froze, his expression darkening. Everyone else was startled and turned to Qin Cangye with puzzled looks. Wang Yiliu immediately stepped forward to clean up the spilled tea.

“Apologies, Director Wang. There’s an urgent family matter I must attend to,” Qin Cangye first politely explained to Director Wang before turning to his trusted subordinate, Gao Fei, the general manager of the Northern Region and the person in charge of this project, and instructing, “Gao Fei, all details should follow Director Wang’s opinions. Give me a detailed report after the meeting.”

“Yes, Vice Chairman Qin,” Gao Fei nodded.

These few simple words left Director Wang thoroughly satisfied. His expression immediately regained the composure and slickness of a seasoned bureaucrat, and he put on a concerned look, urging, “Go ahead, family matters take priority.”

As Qin Cangye drove toward Hidden Mountain Villa, two police cars simultaneously sped out of the Jinyang District Police Station, sirens blaring as they raced toward the same destination.

Since the police station was closer to the villa, the officers arrived outside the gates before Qin Cangye.

When the sound of sirens erupted downstairs, Su Yinuo froze completely. She couldn’t believe it, trembling uncontrollably in panic.

“Is anyone there? Hello?” A female officer knocked on the front gate.

Su Yinuo had never expected the visitors to be the police! There was no way to explain the current situation, if the officers saw her in this state, it would cause immense trouble for Qin Cangye!

This had to be Qin Weishu’s doing. That suspicious person earlier must have been his lackey, snapping photos before calling the police!

Su Yinuo had pieced it all together. She pressed her lips tightly together, refusing to answer, not even daring to approach the window.

“Miss, are you inside? Don’t be afraid, we’re detectives from the Jinyang District Police Station. We’re here to help you…” The female officer continued calling out from the gate.

Su Yinuo crouched against the wall, covering her mouth tightly, praying the police would leave quickly if they got no response.

But then she heard the sound of the gate being forced open.

She didn’t dare go to the window, but the commotion downstairs made it clear, the police had breached the courtyard gate and were now at the villa’s front door!

Her hands trembled slightly as she unconsciously clutched the front of her nightgown. Her eyes reddened, welling with desperate tears.

What should she do?

“Miss, don’t be afraid. We’re here to help you,” the female officer called out a few more times before stepping aside to let the officers behind her force the door open.

Suddenly, the screech of tires braking sharply echoed outside the courtyard gate, followed by the slam of a car door. A tall, icy figure appeared at the entrance.

Qin Cangye’s expression was frigid, his long black coat exuding a murderous chill that put the officers in the courtyard on high alert. Some even rested their hands on their holsters.

From a distance, before even reaching the villa, the sight of flashing red and blue lights outside the gates had plunged Qin Cangye’s heart into an abyss of cold dread.

Because he thought Su Yinuo had called the police.

He assumed her nervousness in the surveillance footage earlier was fear that he’d return too soon and discover she had reported him.

Although he still hadn’t figured out how Su Yinuo had managed to call the police, he was already convinced of his own suspicion. And because of this suspicion, he felt a devastating blow, as if the heavens and earth were overturned. He was utterly miserable, so much so that he wanted to go mad, even to throw himself at the officers’ guns and end his own painful, humiliating life.

But before the end, he truly wanted to see Su Yinuo one last time. Even in death, he wanted to die before her eyes, to have her gaze accompany him into eternal sleep—even if that gaze was filled with hatred.

So, he spoke: “Excuse me, do you have a search warrant?”

“Are you… the homeowner?” the female officer asked.

Qin Cangye nodded and slowly approached, his face ashen.

A detective beside the female officer immediately showed his police badge and said sternly, “Hello, we are detectives from the Jinyang District Public Security Bureau. I’m Zhang Chong, captain of the First Criminal Investigation Team. We’ve received a report from the public that you are illegally confining a young woman in this villa. We will now conduct a lawful search. Please cooperate with our investigation.”

A report from the public?

These words made Qin Cangye’s thoughts stutter for a moment, igniting a faint spark of hope in his heart. If someone else had reported it, could it mean she hadn’t called the police? No, it was also possible she had sought help from someone else.

The spark flickered out.

Qin Cangye took a deep breath, nodded, and opened the door.

Eight officers rushed inside, while Qin Cangye, like a walking corpse, headed straight for the second floor.

The police noticed and immediately followed, reaching the bedroom door before he could.

“Miss, miss, open the door! We’re the police!” The door was locked from the inside, and the female officer knocked urgently.

Just as everyone expected the door to swing open immediately, Su Yinuo’s tearful scream came from inside: “Don’t come in! No one comes in except my boyfriend!”

The officers outside froze. The female officer, assuming Su Yinuo had been brainwashed by Qin Cangye, shot him a glare full of loathing before calling out, “Miss, don’t be afraid. We’re here to save you. With us here, no one can threaten you anymore!”

Su Yinuo sobbed hysterically, “No one’s threatening me! No one! Listen, I have a knife! If any of you dare break in, I’ll kill myself right here! Let my boyfriend in!!”

Qin Cangye’s heart clenched at her words. Frantic, he pulled out his phone and pulled up the bedroom surveillance feed. On the screen, Su Yinuo was pressing a fruit knife against her own throat.

Tears streamed down her face as she stood behind the bed, its frame hiding the chain around her ankle. Her slender body trembled violently, the shaking blade in her right hand seemingly ready to slit her throat at any moment.

Qin Cangye’s hand holding the phone shook uncontrollably. His eyes reddened, and an uncharacteristic vulnerability flashed across his face. He grabbed Detective Zhang Chong’s arm and pleaded, “Please, let me go in. I’m afraid she might hurt herself by accident. Let me take the knife from her first, after that, I’ll cooperate fully with any questioning.”

This unforeseen situation threw Zhang Chong off balance. An hour ago, Deputy Chief Jiang Tiande had instructed him that this was a clear-cut case of illegal confinement, just rescue the victim and arrest the suspect. He had never expected things to unfold like this.

Zhang Chong, an eight-year veteran of the criminal police force, was not the type to fawn on the powerful or blindly follow orders. His professional instincts told him something was amiss. To prevent the situation from escalating, he immediately frisked Qin Cangye to ensure he carried no dangerous items, then called into the room, “Young lady, stay calm. We’re unlocking the door now to let your boyfriend in. Please, you must remain calm.”

Su Yinuo gripped the knife tightly, sobbing as she shouted, “Even if my boyfriend comes in, none of you are allowed inside! Stay out there, none of you can come in!”

The door was quickly pried open, and Qin Cangye stepped inside, shutting it behind him.

A mix of fear, guilt, confusion, and helplessness churned within him, making him hesitate to approach. Afraid of startling Su Yinuo, he called out softly, “Nuonuo.”

“Hurry, come here! Come here now!” Su Yinuo cried anxiously.

Only then did Qin Cangye move forward, circling the bed to stand before her. There were so many things he wanted to ask, so much he wanted to say. He wished the knife in Su Yinuo’s hand would plunge into his own body rather than press against her neck.

But before he could speak, Su Yinuo lowered her arm, dropping the fruit knife as she threw herself into his embrace. Clinging to him tightly, she whispered urgently, “Quick, give me the key to the chain. I’ll say I locked myself up, that I did it to myself. Just give it to me, hurry…”