Sweet Chief Secretary

After Xia Yu changed her clothes, they went back to that ladies’ restroom again, only to find that the laughter had gone. At that time, she was too scared to listen to it carefully. But now she recalled that the laughter was not only gruesome and eerie but also weird, which seemed to be in a stable tone all the time. So, Xia Yu reported it to Shen Qiang.

Shen Qiang, putting on a gloomy face, was looking for something everywhere. Finally, he found a voice recorder in a trash can. He turned it on, and soon that kind of laughter Xia Yu had heard before came from it.

“Who the hell played this ill joke?” Shen Qiang held his arms at once and looked a little solemn after hearing the gruesome laughter. It was not just an ill joke. This behavior was really too wicked. “Go and check the monitoring!”

Then they went to the manager of the resort and told the whole story to him. He cooperated with them to get the monitoring out at once. There was no security camera in the restroom, but there were some security cameras in the hallway. They checked the monitoring during the time when things happened just now and found that shortly after Xia Yu went into the ladies’ restroom, a girl followed in soon, with a big bag on her back. But the girl kept her head down all the time, and her long hair fell down, just covering her face. So, her features could not be seen clearly.

A short while later, that girl came out still with her head lowered, and she might have known that there was a security camera. Then a middle-aged woman went in and helped Xia Yu, which meant that the girl with a bag on her back was the culprit. Xia Yu pursed her lips tightly, searching for a likeness to that girl in her mind.

“Her figure is a little familiar!” Shen Qiang frowned. Apparently, he was thinking where he had met this girl before.

“But we can’t see her face clearly. We’d better be careful.” Xia Yu reminded Shen Qiang, who wore a gloomy face.

On the way back, these two people were both in silence. Xia Yu got out of the car and then went upstairs to her hotel room without eating anything for lack of appetite. Shen Qiang accompanied her for a while in her room before he left.

After Shen Qiang left, Xia Yu locked the door double. She took her clothes and went into the bathroom. When she was taking a shower, she heard someone knocking at the door. She turned off the faucet and asked in a loud voice, “Who’s there?”

But there was no reply. So, Xia Yu wrapped her body with a bath towel which she took from the shelf and looked outside through the peephole. However, she didn’t see anyone, which made her heart sink and her flesh creep.

She didn’t open her door because she was unaware of the person who was in the dark. It was the safest for her to stay in her room under such a circumstance. She turned around and went back to the bathroom to finish her shower. There was another knock at the door just when she finished it. Xia Yu rushed to the door and peeped outside through the peephole, only to find Shen Qiang standing outside.

“Sister, it’s me.” Shen Qiang called Xia Yu outside the door.

“Wait a moment.” Xia Yu answered and then went to change her clothes before opening the door. When she opened the door, she saw Shen Qiang carry a cardboard box in his hand.

“Who left this box in front of your door just now?” He asked. Then he brought it in and put it on the tea table.

“I have no idea. I heard someone knocking at the door when I was taking a shower just now. But I didn’t see anyone from the peephole. Perhaps, this box was left there at that time.”

She began to open the box while she was saying. Once it was opened, the faint smell of blood spread over, which made Xia Yu have a bad feeling in her heart. Shen Qiang beside her also wore a gloomy face and stopped her hands. Instead, he then opened the black plastic bag inside the box in person. The strong smell of blood came to their noses when it was opened. Xia Yu reached out to cover her nose and mouth, and when she saw the stuff inside the plastic bag, she felt her stomach was stirring and went to vomit in the bathroom.

As she vomited, she thought of what she had just seen in her mind. A skinned kitten which seemed to be new-born was in the black plastic bag with blood all over its small body. Its mouth was kept open, and its eyes were also opened, revealing its despair and pain before death.

“Disgusting!” The person who did such a cruel and cold thing must be abnormal! Bouts of cold air spread from Xia Yu’s spine. Anger and terror gathered up in her heart. This abused kitten was sent here obviously to warn and threaten Xia Yu by the person in the dark.

After she vomited and came out of the bathroom, she even dared not to see that box again. Shen Qiang sat on the sofa with a card in his hand and looked terribly gloomy.

Xia Yu came over. He looked at her and said, “I took out this card from the box. Sister, you take a look at it.” He passed the card in his hand to Xia Yu while speaking.

Xia Yu took it over, and her heart sank when she saw the words on the card. Since she was poured with cold water as a threat at the spa resort, she had begun suspecting someone in her mind. But now, this card said, “Don’t meddle in others’ affairs. Or you’ll be the next kitten like this one.”

“I’ll deal with this kitten first. Let’s check the security camera together later.” Shen Qiang clenched his fists, which made his finger joints look pale. There was anger in his eyes. He closed the box and then went out with it in his arms.

Xia Yu, sitting on the sofa, felt extremely agitated in her mind. She rubbed her face with force and then took a deep breath to calm down.

Shortly after that, Shen Qiang came back. They went to the hotel staff and came to the monitoring room to check the security camera of their floor. However, the manager said apologetically, “The security camera on that floor was just down yesterday. It hasn’t been repaired yet.”

Their faces darkened at once. What a coincidence! How could it happen that the security camera was down?

“Check the monitoring of the elevator and the lobby on the first floor.” Shen Qiang said in a cold voice.

The staff then got the monitoring in the elevator out first. But during the past half an hour of checking, no one went out of the elevator. “Perhaps, someone went upstairs by stairs instead of the elevator. Manager Liu, is there any security camera in the staircase of your hotel?”

“Sorry, there is no security camera.” Manager Liu shook his head and said.

“Then check the monitoring of the lobby on the first floor.” Shen Qiang frowned, and bouts of cold air came out of his whole body.

After reviewing the monitoring of the lobby on the first floor for only a few minutes, they found a familiar figure on the screen, who was thin and weak, bending her back slightly and wearing a cap on her head. Her hair rested on her shoulders, and her head was lowered. They could hardly see her face clearly, but her fair and delicate chin.

This figure was similar to that in the ladies’ restroom. Xia Yu pointed at the screen and shouted, “I have found her!” Her voice shocked Manager Liu aside.

The girl was as careful as she used to be at the spa resort, hiding her face from the security camera. But she also carried a large black bag on her back in the video. Xia Yu guessed that the box with a dead kitten in it was in her large bag. As Xia Yu expected, the girl went to the staircase instead of the elevator.

About ten minutes later, the girl reappeared in the monitoring, coming from the staircase as well. Xia Yu looked at her carefully and noticed that the girl’s large bag on her back was not as full as before.

Though they found the familiar figure in the video, they still didn’t see her face clearly, and they had no direct evidence to prove that the girl was the one who left the box in front of Xia Yu’s room for lack of security cameras of that floor. So, they couldn’t call the police or sue her.

These two people went out of the monitor room and both kept silent for a while. Shen Qiang sent Xia Yu back to her room and said to her, “Sister, I’ll deal with it. I won’t let her hurt you.” He examined the room carefully after saying this. Making sure that there was nothing abnormal in her room, he left her room.

At night, Xia Yu was kept awake in her bed because she always thought of that abused kitten in her mind, and she could even sense the strong smell of blood through her nose. The kitten must have been very desperate and painful before it died!

“Whir!” Xia Yu got rid of the quilt on her body. She could hardly catch her breath as if her chest was choked by a ball of cotton.

She didn’t fall asleep vaguely until it was nearly dawn. But shortly after she fell asleep, her alarm bell which she set on purpose yesterday began ringing. She struggled to sit up from the bed and felt dazed. Reaching out and touching her forehead, she found it was a little hot.

She got up and washed her face with cold water to refresh herself a little.

She met Shen Qiang and found that he also looked a little haggard. He must have been as sleepless as Xia Yu last night.

After breakfast, they went to the place where Aunt Jiang’s son worked by car. On the way, they took a nap in the car because they were really too sleepy. When they woke up, they had got to their destination.

The place where he worked was a mine at the foot of a mountain. The air was very fresh there.

Xia Yu came to the guard room and told the guard what they came for. The man was very hospitable after learning about their purpose and asked them to have a seat and wait for a while on the side. Meanwhile, he called to check whether the one they were looking for was there.

About ten minutes later, the guard came to Xia Yu and said, “Excuse me! The man you’re looking for does work in our factory, but unfortunately, he is on a business trip out of town and won’t be back until two days later. You can come back to him in a couple of days.”

The guard asked about this very carefully because Xia Yu said that the doctor might cure Aunt Jiang. It was a good thing, and he was sure that Aunt Jiang’s son would be back in two days.

Xia Yu and Shen Qiang thanked the guard and then left the guard room. Xia Yu felt a little listless. She still needed to stay here for two more days, and she was really not sure what else was going to happen.

But considering that she had made so many efforts to come here and find Aunt Jiang’s son, Xia Yu had no reason to flinch and made up her mind to hold on for two more days. What was more, she had Shen Qiang as her companion here.

“Sister, don’t worry. We can come back two days later. Though this place is small, it has picturesque scenery. How about going sightseeing here?” Shen Qiang just took things as they came. He took Xia Yu to go for a walk here for a long time.

Though it was a mountainous area here, there were quite a few inns and restaurants surrounding the big factory. Shen Qiang looked around for a long while and then picked a cleaner farmhouse to get in.

The owners here were a couple in their forties. They had two children who were a younger son and an elder daughter. The daughter was called Xiao Shuang, who was 21 or 22 years old and looked very beautiful as well as sweet. When she smiled, she had a pair of clear dimples on her cheeks.

She was very lively and talkative. Perhaps, she hit it off with Xia Yu, so she called her sister constantly once she met Xia Yu.

The owner’s son was called Guoming, a handsome boy who was two years younger than his sister. Unlike his sister, he was a little bit quiet. He industriously helped Xia Yu carry the luggage once they arrived here.

“Sister, my dad cooks very well. Especially his country-style cuisine is incomparable. Sister, do you want to have a taste?” Xiao Shuang came over to pour tea and recommended their specialty dishes to Xia Yu.