He Wanqing nodded blankly. "Then why didn't you call the police?"
Mu Jinghang's expression immediately froze. Luckily, his face that now looked as dark as the bottom of a pan wasn't too obvious.
"I did call. However, by the time the thief was caught, he had already spent all the money! Even though he is now behind bars, my money's not coming back!"
He Wanqing stared pitifully at Mu Jinghang. "That's so tragic."
"Exactly!" Mu Jinghang put even more energy into his act and almost cried out loud.
"Auntie, please offer your generosity and let me stay here for a while. After I make some money, I will repay you!"
He Wanqing didn't have the chance to speak when Qiao Qing's lips quivered and ordered coldly, "Get him out of here."
Huh?
Mu Jinghang's expression froze again. Did something go wrong?
Based on all the information he found, this pair of mother and daughter should be very easy to scam.
He Wanqing peered over to Qiao Qing, looking a little torn. "Baby, why are we shooing him away? Look at how pitiful this kid is. This is an unfamiliar new city and everyone's a stranger to him. Plus, he is pretending to be strong by not telling his parents. How great of a guy he is."
Qiao Qing looked at her speechlessly. In the end, she didn't say anything, sighed, and went back upstairs.
He Wanqing thought Qiao Qing had agreed to this so she waved around her hand, "Come on in. I haven't cleaned up the guest room yet, so I will first go – huh?"
He Wanqing paused then looked over Jun Yexuan, "I still don't know your name."
Jun Yexuan retracted his gaze that was on Qiao Qing and responded with a smile, "Auntie, my last name is Ye, first name Xuan."
Qiao Qing paused her footstep. Without turning her head, she hid in the corner of the staircase.
Mu Jinghang noticed how Jun Yexuan had used a fake name so he too, got rid of his real last name, "Auniey, my name is Jing Hang."
He Wanqing doesn't read much news related to the capital city so she wasn't at all sensitive to these two names.
Without thinking about it too much, she continued speaking to Mu Jinghang, "You can go to little Xuan's room to take a bath. I will take some of Qiao Qing's father's clothes to you."
Hearing He Wanqing calling Jun Yexuan "little Xuan", Mu Jinghang almost broke character and laughed. Right in front of someone's warning face, he said with a twisted face. "Alright, auntie."
On his way up the stairs, Jun Yexuan wished he was at least eight meters away from Mu Jinghang.
Once they reached the room, Jun Yexuan's expression darkened right away, "You did all this to yourself?"
Mu Jinghang squeezed out some pitiful tears. "I didn't plan on this, third brother. I originally just wanted to look a little bit miserable."
"Who knew that on my way here, I unintentionally passed by a meeting point of the beggars. They thought I was here to steal their business so a group of them chased after me and hit me!"
"When I was trying to run away, I accidentally bumped into a dog cage and broke it. So I was pursued by several giant dogs for many blocks!"
"Luckily, my leather shoes are sturdy, which is why I survived. Third brother, I almost didn't get a chance to see you again!"
Then, he walked up to ask for consolation.
Jun Yexuan backed away in disgust, "Your life isn't strong enough to handle inching any closer to me. Get the hell out of here and go clean yourself up!"
"..." Mu Jinghang remained silent.
*
Inside the study room.
Qiao Qing turned on her laptop and her fingers tapped away on her keyboard.
After a series of movements, she stared at the text on the screen and her gaze turned a whole degree colder.
Just as she was about to take a drink out of her cup, her gaze solidified and her fingers thumped against the table, "Come in!"
Just then, a shadow flipped inside from the open window.
Qi Feng had his arms behind his back and he smiled, "Ms. Qiao, you are getting sharper and sharper."
Qiao Qing ignored his sucking up and said coolly, "Where's my necklace?"
Qi Feng coughed gently. "Ms. Qiao, our Sect Leader kept your necklace."
At those words, Qiao Qing squinted her eyes. Qi Feng gulped and quickly extended his hand, palm side down, and then placed a jewelry box on her desk.
"However, in exchange, the Sect Leader asked me to give you this."
Qiao Qing lowered her gaze and looked at the small and delicate jewelry box.