Ling Zi suddenly found this man a bit of a mystery.
A straightforward man, yet he always said ambiguous things.
The man's departing back looked so lonely. Along the long corridor with the flickering lights, Xia Ziyu finally disappeared at the end of it.
Ling Zi dusted off his shoulders and patted the dirt off his back.
"Ling Zi!"
Someone called his name from the stairway behind him. It sounded like Song Yan. Ling Zi, who was about to leave, stopped in his tracks.
Before he could turn around, something was pressed against his face. He struggled a few times and then went limp.
The tall figure blocked Zhang Rongrong's petite body.
The girl leaned against Ling Zi's waist to keep him from falling, and then summoned some people over.
Judging from how these people treated Zhang Rongrong, they were probably the thugs she had hired.
A dark - skinned man beside them lifted Ling Zi up so that Zhang Rongrong could get free.
"What should we do with him?"
"I'll go get the surveillance. You guys just beat him up."
Professional thugs knew their limits. They wouldn't cause too much harm, but the victim would at least be hospitalized for half a year.
After Zhang Rongrong came back, she called the men to the stairwell and paid them all.
When most of the men had left, Zhang Rongrong called Ding Ruola.
"Who is this?"
"Come to the office building. Ling Zi is in trouble."
Ding Ruola and Song Yan rushed over. They saw Ling Zi lying on the ground and Zhang Rongrong squatting beside him, helping him treat his wounds.
"I've already called the ambulance. It'll be here soon. He'll be okay."
It was really like a cat crying over a mouse - feigning sympathy.
Song Yan asked the staff to help the medical personnel carry Ling Zi downstairs.
"Ruoruo, I'll go to the hospital. You stay here!"
The woman looked anxious. She knew it was probably retaliation from their peers, but the means were too cruel.
She secretly made up her mind to find the mastermind behind this and make that person pay.
After Song Yan left, Ding Ruola glanced at Zhang Rongrong standing beside her.
"Your perfume smells nice today."
Perfume?
Zhang Rongrong frowned slightly. She never had the habit of wearing perfume.
"Fresh? That's the brand."
Ding Ruola smelled a faint floral and alcoholic scent on Zhang Rongrong.
Zhang Rongrong forced a smile and said it was a gift from a perfumer friend.
After saying that, the woman found an excuse and left.
Ding Ruola immediately took out her phone and asked Song Yan if there was a strong smell of alcohol on Ling Zi.
Ling Zi never drank. Ding Ruola had a bold guess that the smell of alcohol was actually the smell of ether.
After Zhang Rongrong walked away, she threw away the handkerchief on her body.
She tried hard to recall the perfume brand the girl had mentioned.
She took out her phone and looked up the brand of perfume.
It clearly stated that it had a liquor - like smell.
Could it be that this little girl was suspicious? Was her words just now a warning?
Zhang Rongrong was a bit confused by Ding Ruola's mysterious behavior.
It wasn't a deep - seated hatred. It was just that someone couldn't stand Zhang Yan being successful.
Ling Zi's test report came out. Ether was detected in his blood test. It was initially inferred that someone had deliberately knocked Ling Zi out and then carried out the retaliation.
His body was covered in bruises. There wasn't a single part of his arms or legs without a bruise.
There were no obvious wounds on the main parts of his body.
"It's all soft - tissue contusions. The most severely injured parts are the legs and chest."
The doctor held a pen and scribbled something on the paper. After giving a few instructions, he handed the diagnosis certificate to Song Yan.
The names of the medicines were probably abbreviations in Roman letters. Song Yan couldn't understand them. She took the list to the pharmacy. There were more than a dozen medicines, some for external use and some for oral administration.
Song Yan was holding the medicines in her arms when her phone started vibrating wildly in her pocket. She had to find a quiet corner, put the medicines on a nearby table, and then take out her phone.
It was an alarm!
For work, Song Yan had sent Xiaotuanzi to a cram school and asked the teacher there to help with the after - school homework.
These were originally things that Zhang Yan should have done, but Zhang Yan was too busy.
Although Xiaotuanzi was a strong child, children at the stage of mental maturity were sensitive.
Song Yan had heard Xiaotuanzi ask about her father many times.
She wanted to answer, but...
"Ruoruo, could you please pick up Xiaotuanzi? Take her home first. I'll pick her up later."
After giving Ding Ruola the instructions, she sent the location of the cram school.
Ding Ruola checked the location. It was in the Kyoto University Town. The educational resources there were excellent, but the only drawback was that it was too expensive.
Time was running out. By the time Ding Ruola arrived, the cram school was already closed.
Ding Ruola was stunned. She wondered if Song Yan had remembered wrong.
Holding onto a glimmer of hope, she decided to call Song Yan.
"No, I'll ask the teacher!"
Song Yan scrolled down and saw several messages from the teacher in the chat box.
[Teacher Xiaomei: I have something to do today. Please come and pick up the child first.]
Song Yan tried to recall what she was doing at three o'clock in the afternoon.
When she saw the last message, her eyes almost popped out.
[Teacher Xiaomei: The child has been picked up by her father.]
Father!
Song Yan felt as if the air around her had stopped flowing. She was so shocked that she forgot to breathe. She took a few steps back and leaned against a wall.
This was not the time to collapse.
She stared blankly at the message on her phone.
Did he know?
Song Yan had kept this a secret for so long. How could it be exposed suddenly?
With that man's methods, all her previous efforts had been in vain.
Xiaotuanzi had gone with her father. Now Song Yan had nothing.
Ding Ruola was standing near the cram school, waiting for Song Yan's call. She also showed Xiaotuanzi's photo to the nearby grocery store owners. The old men and women all knew Xiaotuanzi, but no one had seen her today.
"Go home first. I've already called the police!"
Song Yan didn't actually call the police. She just didn't want Ding Ruola to get involved in this.
Xiaotuanzi liked Ding Ruola very much, and that man was also interested in Ding Ruola.
Putting these two things together, there would be no room for Song Yan around Xiaotuanzi in the future.
How could a mother send her child away with her own hands?
Ding Ruola wanted to say something else, but the other end had already hung up the phone.
This place was not far from the school. At noon, Fang Siyan had told Ding Ruola that he had some school - related matters to deal with.
He should be at school this afternoon.
Ding Ruola caught the No. 600 bus and headed straight for the school.
The school was just as it always was, but Ding Ruola's state of mind was a bit different.
She came to the office of the tutor in the School of Economics and Management.
There was only Song He in the office.