Qian Mei's scalp tingled as she looked at the various torture instruments on the wall, both familiar and unfamiliar. She took two steps back in terror, then turned to flee, but the door was locked.
This was not what she had expected!
They were not Lord Si's people; they were devils come to claim lives!
"Have you thought it through?" The Interrogator's fingers tapped lazily on the tabletop, each sound like a death knell striking Qian Mei's heart.
Qian Mei turned back, her legs feeling like jelly as she looked at the masked Interrogator.
Seeing her silence, the Interrogator seemed to lose patience and stood up abruptly.
When Qian Mei saw him turn to select a torture instrument, her legs gave out, and she slumped to the ground. "I'll talk! I'll talk! It was Qin Jian, Qin Jian who told me to do it. I don't know anything. I just helped him deposit money into Qian San's account, and Qian San helped transfer it out. I don't know what it was for."
The Interrogator picked a bundle of wooden sticks strung together with rope from the wall. Qian Mei recognized them instantly.
The thumb screw, commonly seen in historical dramas, also known as the "torture of the rack," was used to extract confessions. When she was at the Qin family, she had even instigated the Second Old Madam to use it on disobedient servants, so she was all too familiar with it.
"I'm telling the truth, I really didn't know. I truly didn't know," she said, shaking her head in terror, backing away, desperate to escape, but unable to.
At this moment, two men in black entered the small room. Disregarding Qian Mei's struggles, they forced her to the ground and began to apply the torture device.
Before the sticks were even tightened around her fingers, Qian Mei was so terrified that she soiled herself. "I'll talk, I'll talk, I'll tell you everything!"
The Interrogator raised his hand, and the two men stopped their torture. "Speak!"
"It was really Qin Jian. He had me find someone to transfer money to a person named Qiao Qiao, to hire someone to kill Yu He!" Qian Mei said, her voice trembling. "Yu He and Lord Qin Qi forced Qin Mei Mei to death. He couldn't get justice from the family head, so he wanted to avenge his daughter himself and kill Yu He."
"I was blinded by greed and took money to do his bidding. I truly didn't know the truth then. If I had known, I would never have done it. I truly know I was wrong, please spare me."
She still had some wit about her. She understood they were looking for Yu He's killer, so she naturally adopted a pleading tone.
However, she never imagined that Yu He could command people from Xing Que to act on her behalf!
If she had known Yu He had a connection with Xing Que, she would never have colluded with Qin Jian to support Qiao Qiao in causing trouble, not even if it meant death. Now her intestines were turning green with regret.
"Anything else?" the Interrogator asked.
"No, truly no more," Qian Mei shook her head frantically.
The Interrogator lowered his hand, and the two men pulled the ropes on the wooden sticks with force.
Qian Mei: "Ahhhhhh..."
Even as she fainted, she couldn't understand why she was still being tortured when she had confessed everything truthfully!
In another small dark room.
Qin Jian sat opposite the Interrogator, who wore a horse mask. He was much calmer than Qian Mei.
"I am Lord Qin Si's man. Lord Qin Si is currently imprisoned and cannot come out. He asked me to take care of Young Master Hui on his behalf and instructed me to support Young Master Hui in becoming the new family head at all costs. Fourth Lord has people in Xing Que; you are here to help us, aren't you?" He straightened his back and said.
He thought that by invoking the name of Fourth Lord, they would be wary and wouldn't dare to do anything to him.
"Who else in the Qin Corporation belongs to Fourth Lord?" the Horse-faced Interrogator asked, without answering, "What are their chances of helping Qin Xin Hui secure the position of family head?"
Hearing him ask this, Qin Jian's suspicion of the small dark room instantly vanished. He said excitedly, "There are several. They are deeply hidden within the corporation, waiting for the opportune moment to rebel."
The Interrogator took out a mobile phone and handed it to Qin Jian. It was the phone that had been confiscated when they entered.
"Contact them. At 5:30, gather at the pawnshop at Number Four, Seventh Street, Black Market, to discuss the action plan."
Hearing this, Qin Jian's eyes lit up. "Are you really going to help us?"
With Xing Que as their backing, their chances of supporting Qin Xin Hui to replace Qin Yongchao as the next Qin family head would be very high!
The Interrogator: "Do we need your permission to act?"
Qin Jian thought to himself, the people of Xing Que were indeed formidable. He dared not neglect them, fearing they wouldn't help him.
He also believed that an organization as large as Xing Que wouldn't lie casually. So, he quickly opened his phone and sent a notification to gather in the secret discussion group.
"Notified. They will all be here on time," he said, looking at the replies in the group.
"Excellent!" The Interrogator glanced at his watch, stood up abruptly, and walked out.
Qin Jian also stood up. "Shall I go with you?"
He was impatiently waiting for good things to happen. The thought of how glorious he would appear when he brought the people of Xing Que to meet those shareholders, and how they would respect him after their successful rebellion, made him eager.
"No need! You have other matters here," the Interrogator said coldly.
"What matters?" Qin Jian was confused, but he soon found out.
Imprisonment!
Not only was he imprisoned, but he also implicated several of Fourth Lord's loyalists who had been hiding well.
The next day, a news report broke in the economic section: Six executives of Qin Corporation were dismissed, and the Qin Corporation underwent another shake-up.
The gossip section below the news added: Qin family's second young master streaked naked in public and was dragged away by psychiatrists, suspected of a worsening mental illness.
Yu He saw this news in the evening when she finished seeing her last patient and was about to pack up. Xiao Qing reminded her.
"Sister He, it seems like Seventh Master's company is in trouble," Xiao Qing said, handing Yu He the opened news article.
Yu He took off her gloves, washed her hands with antiseptic soap, and glanced at it. "Mmm, don't panic. He'll handle it."
In the evening, Qin Beiting returned from work, took the two children to wash up, eat dinner, then took them for a walk, and after returning, bathed them and put them to sleep. This was his daily routine as a father caring for his children.
After he finished his tasks, Yu He asked him, "Was the mastermind found?"
She had read the news report in detail and had a general idea of what had happened.
Qin Beiting was tidying up his pajamas, preparing to take a bath. "Mmm, it's been handled."
"Who was it?" Yu He asked.
Qin Beiting: "Qin Jian, Qin Mei Mei's father."
Yu He hadn't expected it to be him. "How was he dealt with?"
"He's alive. You don't need to worry about breaking the law, nor do you need to worry about him plotting revenge," Qin Beiting said nonchalantly. He took Yu He's pajamas from the wardrobe and turned back to ask suggestively, "Baby, want to shower together?"
Still clinging to life, he was technically alive.
As for how miserable he was, Yu He didn't ask further. After all that had happened, she trusted Xing Que's competence and Qin Beiting's abilities. Instead of expending so much energy on enemies, she preferred to enjoy their time together.
From then on, their blissful life together began its overture...