Chapter 309: Pulling a Disappearing Act

Chapter 309: Chapter 309: Pulling a Disappearing Act

With his worries settled, Jiang Fan breathed a sigh of relief.

Inside the orphanage, the children were still playing happily. Yin Ruxue had already come out, holding Mengmeng’s hand, with the director and Junyue following behind them.

"Grandma, Junyue, sorry to have troubled you today!" Jiang Fan said apologetically.

"What nonsense are you talking about?" The director stroked Mengmeng’s head. "Mengmeng is such a wonderfully well-behaved child. She isn’t picky with her food, and she was good during naptime, too. Bring her over to play more often when you have time. The other children here really like her."

"Grandma, I’ll definitely come back to play again!" Mengmeng said.

"Good, good, good!" the director said happily.

"Grandma, we’ll be leaving for today. I’ll come see you all another day," Yin Ruxue said, then smiled at Mengmeng. "Say goodbye to Grandma."

"Goodbye, Grandma!"

After saying their goodbyes, Yin Ruxue tossed the car keys to Jiang Fan and said in a low voice, "You drive. I’m a little tired. I’ll have someone drive the other car back to Yifeng Garden later."

"Okay!"

Jiang Fan didn’t overthink it and got straight into the Maybach.

Jiang Fan drove in the front, while Yin Ruxue sat in the back, holding Mengmeng.

"Mengmeng, tell Mommy, how did you hurt your knee?"

"I tripped on a rock and fell," Mengmeng said. "Daddy said he didn’t even cry when he tripped on a rock, so I held back my tears, too."

"You’re such a good girl, Mengmeng. It’s all Daddy’s fault for not watching you properly!"

Yin Ruxue’s words were pointed. Jiang Fan drove on in silence, not daring to speak.

From the back seat, Yin Ruxue continuously instructed Mengmeng, telling her all sorts of things to make her more aware of potential dangers.

The words seemed to be for Mengmeng, but also for Jiang Fan.

Soon, the car stopped at the villa’s entrance.

Hearing the car, Nanny Chen had already opened the villa’s door.

Yin Ruxue said gently to Mengmeng, "Mengmeng, go find Nanny Chen. Mommy has something to say to Daddy."

"Okay!" Mengmeng quickly got out of the car and ran toward Nanny Chen.

Jiang Fan was a little surprised, though he’d had a feeling the entire ride that Yin Ruxue wanted to say something to him.

"Ruxue... President Yin, what did you want to say to me?"

Yin Ruxue paused for a moment before speaking slowly.

"Jiang Fan, I saw Mengmeng’s injury. I don’t think I need to say much more about what happened today. However, I’m not an unreasonable person. Mengmeng isn’t made of glass, and I can understand a small scrape like this..."

Yin Ruxue’s voice grew lower. "But, Jiang Fan, whether you see yourself as a father or you just see this as a job, do you think you fulfilled your duty today? Mengmeng disappeared, and you were nowhere to be found. If anything had actually happened to Mengmeng today, I don’t think we’d be sitting here talking so calmly, would we?"

"President Yin, it was my fault today. You can dock my pay..."

Jiang Fan’s face burned with shame. Even though he had been away to see Chen Xuan and Su Qingchu, he was still overcome with guilt.

Thankfully, Liujiang River hadn’t laid a hand on Mengmeng today. Otherwise, he would never be able to face Yin Ruxue for the rest of his life.

Jiang Fan’s apology was sincere.

Yin Ruxue gave a small laugh. "It’s not the first day I’ve known you. I know your temperament better than anyone. If I docked your pay, you’d just see me as some kind of slave driver."

"However, you do have a point. Having you pretend to be Mengmeng’s father isn’t a long-term solution. The truth will come out eventually. From now on, I’ll try to limit the time you and Mengmeng spend together. I’ll figure out a way to explain it to her."

"President Yin, that’s not what I meant..."

"Don’t worry, I won’t short you on your salary. The pay we agreed on still stands!"

Jiang Fan sighed. For some reason, he felt Yin Ruxue drifting away from him again, and the feeling was unsettlingly strange.

Yin Ruxue had gotten out of the car by now, her expression cold.

Jiang Fan opened his door and handed the keys to Yin Ruxue.

"President Yin, I’m truly sorry about what happened with Mengmeng today. I won’t let it happen again."

Yin Ruxue hesitated for a moment before taking the keys.

"Get a taxi back yourself. I won’t be driving you."

Jiang Fan nodded. Just then, as if on cue, his phone rang.

Jiang Fan silently answered the phone. The call was from Old Niu.

"Hey, Old Niu!"

"Fan, did you get Qiang’s text?"

"What text? I haven’t seen it!"

"Sigh... Something big has happened. What the hell does Qiang mean by this? Damn it all!" Old Niu cursed under his breath.

While Old Niu was talking, Jiang Fan glanced at his phone. Sure enough, there was a new text message from Wu Qiang.

He hadn’t noticed it earlier while he was driving and was only seeing it now.

The message was just a short line: "Fan, I’ve let you down in this life. Don’t blame me in the next."

"Old Niu, you got a text too? What’s wrong with Qiang? What does he mean by this? I don’t get it."

Old Niu’s voice on the other end was rushed.

"Fan, you don’t know? Here’s what happened. That girl who was with you transferred 500,000 to Qiang, right? I also scraped together 500,000 for him. Yesterday, we were all set with the landlord and about to sign the lease. I’d even contacted the restaurant equipment supplier. All we had to do was sign the contracts and make the payment. But Qiang kept stalling yesterday, saying we’d sign today instead. I’ve been calling him all day, but I couldn’t get ahold of him. Then, just now, he suddenly sends me a text like that. How could I not be freaking out?"

"What the hell is going on?" Jiang Fan said, astonished.

"Jiang Fan, you don’t think... you don’t think Qiang fucking ran off with the money, do you?" Old Niu asked.

"No way. You and I both know Qiang’s character better than that," Jiang Fan said firmly. "He would never run off with the money."

"I think so too. Otherwise, I would’ve called the cops already."

"Hold on, let me try calling him first."

"Okay!"

Jiang Fan hung up and immediately dialed Wu Qiang.

But the call went straight to a cold, automated message: the phone was off.

He tried calling two more times, but got the same result.

"What is it? What happened?" Yin Ruxue asked Jiang Fan.

Jiang Fan sighed. "It’s one of my buddies. We were planning to start a business in the next couple of days, but today he just disappeared and sent this bizarre text out of nowhere."

Jiang Fan simply handed his phone to Yin Ruxue.

Yin Ruxue frowned after reading it.

"Is this that friend of yours, the delivery driver? The one who sold you out to me for a bit of cash? You don’t think he’s going to do something stupid, do you?"

Jiang Fan gave a bitter laugh. "I’d fucking like to know what’s going on, too. Why send a cryptic text and then just vanish into thin air?"