Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Seeing that Ning Yichu seemed ready to leave right then, He Shixia asked gently, "You want to go now? How about tomorrow or the day after? I'll come with you, okay?"

Ning Yichu raised an eyebrow at him. "What, am I a prisoner now? Can't I step out for some air without you, my warden, keeping an eye on me?"

He Shixia softened his voice. "Not a warden. How about thinking of me as your bodyguard and driver? A Ning, you've just recovered and did so much talking at the restaurant earlier. You should rest a bit more."

"Besides, I've arranged for a lawyer to come this afternoon. The contracts are all prepared. Once you sign, the lawyer will handle the rest. In a few days, you'll have all the assets in my name. Isn't that a bit more important than going back to the Ning family?"

Ning Yichu blinked, thinking that money was indeed much more important than the Ning family.

So he sat back on the swing, swaying slowly, and asked, "All of it? For me?"

He Shixia smiled, finding Ning Yichu's cautious reaction quite endearing.

"Yes, all the assets I would leave behind if I died right now are yours," He Shixia said. "Compared to inheriting an estate, the difference is that you don't have to split it with my parents, and... I'm still alive, so I can still earn more assets in the future..."

"A Ning, looking at it this way, isn't me being alive more valuable than being dead?"

Ning Yichu didn't feel the least bit guilty. He said slowly, "If you're giving me your future assets too, then yes, it is."

He Shixia laughed. "Of course, I'll give you everything."

Ning Yichu looked him over. "Then remember to include that clause in the divorce agreement."

He Shixia nodded first, not challenging Ning Yichu's assumption that they would divorce, then mentioned casually, "But if we divorce, without the marital relationship, there might be some gift taxes... probably quite a significant amount..."

Picking up on the implication, Ning Yichu deliberately retorted, "As expected of someone in the entertainment industry, always thinking about tax evasion."

He Shixia, who had only wanted to use the "legal tax exemption" pretext to test the waters about not rushing the divorce, was left speechless.

"By the way, is my surgery scheduled?" Ning Yichu asked again.

He Shixia paused slightly. "How about going to the hospital tomorrow first to check your condition and discuss the plan with the doctor? Your pregnancy is quite a special case. Although it's still early, it might involve abdominal surgery. Even if your body can support it, we likely can't proceed immediately after the exam. It might take time to arrange. If you still have energy after the check-up, we can head straight to the Ning family from the hospital, okay?"

Sitting on the swing, Ning Yichu tilted his head slightly. "I'm so touched to have such a thoughtful husband."

Hearing Ning Yichu deliberately put on a sweet, clingy tone and call him "husband," He Shixia knew it was sarcastic mockery, yet he couldn't help his heart tightening, his breath catching for a few seconds.

Ning Yichu noticed and thought He Shixia was being weird. But at the same time, he found it quite amusing.

So he deliberately continued in an exaggerated tone, "Husband, why aren't you saying anything? Don't you like me calling you that? Should I change it? Shixia gege?"

Ning Yichu sat smiling on the swing, his thin body swaying gently like a breeze. Looking at his features, He Shixia almost couldn't resist stepping forward to kiss him.

Barely restraining himself, He Shixia called out, "A Ning..."

Ning Yichu suddenly let go of the swing ropes, extending his hands towards He Shixia as if asking for a hug. "Come here, gege."

The last two words were drawn out slowly and lingeringly, as if they had circled his tongue several times before being uttered with care.

Already unsettled, He Shixia didn't overthink it, afraid he might fall from the swing, and quickly stepped forward.

But Ning Yichu withdrew one hand, grabbing the swing rope beside him again.

As for the hand he hadn't withdrawn yet, after He Shixia approached, it mercilessly smacked He Shixia's face.

Slapped, He Shixia was stunned for a moment.

Ning Yichu steadied himself on the swing rope, his expression already cold. "You're quite daring to imagine."

He Shixia touched his slapped left cheek, turned his head, and naturally offered his right cheek. "Want to make it symmetrical?"

Seeing his reaction, Ning Yichu was taken aback for a moment, blinking. "...Get lost."

He Shixia walked a few steps to the side to avoid blocking Ning Yichu's swing.

Then he nonchalantly started a new topic. "By the way, during the days you were sick, I had someone start investigating at Kangning. Three months ago, on the night of our accident, the hotel surveillance was already incomplete. Moreover, the footage there is overwritten every three months, so it's no longer viewable..."

Unlike the He Group, which has diversified business, the Ning family specializes in hotel operations. Their chain, Kangning Grand Hotel, is nationally renowned.

Three months ago, the Ning family held a birthday banquet for their young master, Ning Zeshu, also celebrating his graduation, inviting many business elites. It was held at the Kangning Grand Hotel's flagship store in City A.

Since most attendees were of some status, surveillance in the indoor areas of the banquet hall was turned off; only the peripheral cameras were on, to avoid security issues with no way to investigate afterward.

Additionally, considering some guests might need restrooms or to stay overnight, the Ning family specifically vacated an entire floor of guest rooms in advance and allocated a dedicated elevator for that floor only that night.

The surveillance in the elevator was running, but the cameras in the corridors of the guest room floor were turned off.

After the accident with He Shixia, in his previous life, after Ning Yichu recovered, he had also wanted to investigate the hotel. But it was the Ning family's territory. With limited ability, no matter how he disguised himself, he couldn't avoid the Ning family. He was discovered by Ning Zeqi before even reaching the surveillance room, and naturally, found nothing.

Hearing He Shixia's words, Ning Yichu interrupted, "So, right after the incident, you had testing agencies check my pillbox, but you didn't check the hotel surveillance? You only remembered this now, belatedly?"

He Shixia apologized, "That was my oversight."

Then he explained further, "At that time, I was waiting for you to wake up in the hospital. Honestly, I was in a daze myself. Coincidentally, He Rulin volunteered, saying he could help check the hotel surveillance to avoid missing any suspicious points."

"Back then, I didn't know He Rulin had once pursued you and been rejected, nor did I understand your situation in the Ning family. Thinking that He Rulin and Ning Shaoyi were classmates, it would indeed be easier for him to talk to them, so I agreed."

Ning Yichu said, "Oh," and then, "So He Rulin said the surveillance showed no issues?"

He Shixia: "Yes."

He Shixia recalled that three months ago, when the Ning family held the banquet at Kangning Grand Hotel, he didn't know what kind of banquet it was before going. He only knew it was hosted by the Ning family, and his parents asked him to go along. Since he happened to be free, he agreed.

After arriving, he found out it was just Ning Zeshu's birthday and graduation banquet. It was only because the Ning family valued this young master that they invited so many guests for such an ordinary occasion.

Generally, for banquets where the main guests are younger generations, even if the two families are old friends, He Shixia's parents wouldn't be so attentive.

"But... my parents still hadn't given up on trying to matchmake me with Ning Zeshu back then, which is why they specifically asked me to attend," He Shixia said. "After learning about the banquet, I planned to leave early."

However, the Ning family's patriarch, who had already celebrated his eightieth birthday, personally came to stop him upon hearing He Shixia was leaving. Being an elder, He Shixia patiently listened to him for a while.

Elder Ning said that if a guest left right after arriving, it would make the Ning family, as hosts, lose face. So if He Shixia didn't want to stay in the banquet hall, he could rest in a guest room upstairs for a while and come down to leave with his parents when they were ready to go.

After saying this, Elder Ning didn't give He Shixia a chance to refuse and told the person beside him to arrange a guest room for He Shixia.

The person beside Elder Ning was his young wife, married only a few years, twenty-eight years old, named Lu Xi.

Upon hearing this, she said, "Arranging guest rooms seems to be Xiao Chu's responsibility tonight."

He Shixia, who was about to refuse, paused slightly.

Lu Xi continued in that moment, "That child has a solitary nature. At such banquets, he always hides in a corner, as if being ignored or excluded. We thought he didn't like such occasions, but not letting him come made him even more unhappy. So this time, we gave him some light tasks so he wouldn't be lonely in a corner, hardly talking to any guests."

As if mentioning an unsightly but unavoidable "family embarrassment," Lu Xi smiled apologetically. Elder Ning also frowned, clearly displeased.

Lu Xi: "Xiao Chu should be near the entrance. Let me take you, He Sixth Young Master, to find him and get a room key. Which rooms are still available depends on the keys Xiao Chu has left."

At this point, for the sake of social etiquette, He Shixia, who hadn’t refused in time, couldn't very well back out now.

Thus, that night at the banquet, He Shixia and Ning Yichu crossed paths for the first time.

However, the two didn’t exchange any more words at the time.

He Shixia said he needed a guest room to rest briefly, and Ning Yichu casually handed him a room key. After He Shixia thanked him, Ning Yichu replied with “you’re welcome,” and they parted ways.

—These details weren’t written in the original novel’s plot. In the original book, the entire incident was only summarized from the protagonist’s perspective as “the fake young master climbed into He Sixth Young Master’s bed,” with the process left out as it was deemed unimportant.

So it was only now, after hearing He Shixia’s account, that Ning Yichu finally learned why He Shixia had come to him for the key card that day.

As he reached this point, He Shixia looked at Ning Yichu, who sat calmly on the swing, and said softly, “That night, after I went to the guest room, you came to bring me some food.”

Although the original novel didn’t specifically elaborate on this, this world, derived from the original plot, wasn’t just words on a page, but a real, living world where every minute was personally experienced. Ning Yichu certainly hadn’t forgotten this incident.

He gave a noncommittal nod. “My foster mother asked me to deliver some food to the guests resting in the rooms, so they wouldn’t go hungry and make the Nings look like bad hosts.”

He Shixia frowned. “There was room service available, yet they insisted on putting you to work.”

Ning Yichu scoffed. “I had nothing better to do. So, you ate what I delivered and then started feeling off. As for me, after delivering the meals to the guest floor and returning downstairs, I drank a glass of orange juice handed to me by a waiter… I was taken upstairs by someone; the elevator surveillance couldn’t have missed it.”

Therefore, either He Rulin, who had checked the surveillance footage back then, had lied, or someone else had tampered with the footage, deceiving even He Rulin. The least sinister possibility was that the useless He Rulin was just sloppy and hadn't checked properly, so he overlooked it.

“What did the waiter who handed you the orange juice look like? Do you still remember any distinguishing features?” He Shixia asked.

Ning Yichu shook his head.

Perhaps due to the effects of the drugs, and after falling ill for a few days following that night, although Ning Yichu remembered the general sequence of events, he couldn’t recall the face of that unfamiliar waiter. The person likely had an ordinary appearance, without any striking features that would leave a strong first impression.

Later, when Ning Yichu tried to investigate on his own, he had waited near the hotel staff exit for several days, hoping that seeing the person again might jog his memory, but he still came up empty.

Now, with so much time having passed and the hotel surveillance footage already recorded over, there were even fewer clues.

He Shixia said, “It’s alright. I’ve had my people reach out to the staff involved that night to investigate every possible lead. We’ll find some traces eventually.”

Ning Yichu suddenly chuckled. “Hey, the more I think about it, the more it seems like your parents and the Ning family conspired to arrange that night’s incident on purpose.”

He Shixia went still for a moment.

Author’s note:

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