George pursed his lips and moved away, looking worried. “Don’t call the police.” If he were to call the police, he would have done it when he first came. He was still being slightly selfish in this matter. If they involved the police, it would be very probable that… life would be over for Duanmu Xue. Based on how influential the Duanmu family was, as soon as the police were involved, things would get complicated and subsequently exaggerated. After all, this was no simple matter, as it involved the Yuchi family and the Duanmu family.
He did not understand how he could still be selfish about this. This is my last time doing this, George told himself. After this, he would completely get rid of all his desires and interests.
“Why shouldn’t we call the police?” Rory looked confused. “Otherwise, how are we supposed to get in?”
George responded, “Move aside. Let me take care of this.”
“No can do.” Rory was oblivious to where he was coming from, so she shook her head. “You buy my meals and I’ve nothing to give in return. If you don’t want me to call the police… can you let me open the door for you?”
George looked confused. Rory put her phone away and then opened her handbag. She took out a fine steel wire from a little container and walked toward the door to begin picking the lock.
Everyone present remained quiet.
Click. The steel wire broke, and Rory let out an awkward smile. “Wrong one.” She threw that steel wire away and took out another one from the same little container.
Seeing all the strange actions performed by Rory, George felt that he would rather let her call the police than see her do this.
Duanmu Xue, who was hiding in the room, was extremely terrified. Walking toward the window in the room, she realized she had no way out. She went into the bathroom, only to smell a disgusting smell as the guest that used it previously did not flush the toilet. She almost threw up, so she quickly exited the bathroom. There was nowhere to hide in this little place, and the people George brought with him were waiting outside. She could even hear their conversations. She knew deep within that hiding in this place would not work.
Having nowhere else to go, Duanmu Xue eventually took out her phone and gave Duanmu Zhe a call.
Toot-toot. The phone rang for a while before Duanmu Zhe finally answered it.
At this moment, Duanmu Zhe was about to attend a meeting. He saw a call from her and answered it unhappily, “What’s the matter?”
“Zhe… Sob…” Before he could finish his sentence, Duanmu Xue’s crying voice came from the other end.
This startled Duanmu Zhe. “What’s going on?”
“Zhe, please help me out. Can you help me out, please?” Duanmu Xue asked him for help, crying.
Duanmu Zhe stopped walking while the secretary next to him looked at him with confusion. He told the secretary, “You go ahead. Don’t wait for me.”
The secretary nodded and walked away. After the secretary had left, Duanmu Zhe walked to a corner and resumed his conversation, “What’s going on? Didn’t I ask you to stay in the hotel? Did you leave the hotel?”
Duanmu Xue kept crying and that annoyed Duanmu Zhe. He rebuked her, “If you’re going to continue crying, I’m going to hang up.”
This shocked Duanmu Xue. She took a deep breath and quickly stopped herself from crying. “D-Don’t hang up!”
“Then tell me what happened. Why are you crying?”
Duanmu Xue began tearing up again—she was full of regrets but could not utter anything about the things that she did. Right now, she had run out of options; she had to frankly tell Duanmu Zhe everything that she did. “Zhe, I know I’m wrong; I really do. Please help me. I’ll never do this again!”
Duanmu Zhe became furious the moment he heard what she said. After a while, he finally managed to swallow his anger, even though he still could not utter a single word. He was extremely upset. “Xue, I’m so disappointed in you.”
“Zhe…”
Duanmu Zhe helplessly closed his eyes, and Han Muzi’s face came to mind. That woman… if anything has happened to her, my sister…
Since Duanmu Xue had crossed the line, he did not have to help her out so that she could learn her lesson. However, blood was still thicker than water; he could not bear to let her continue in this direction. “Where are you?” Duanmu Zhe sounded exhausted.
After Duanmu Xue had told him her location, he hung up the phone and unemotionally walked toward the elevator. After he had come out of the elevator and reached the parking lot, he gave his secretary a call. “Please inform everyone that the meeting has been canceled.”
The secretary was shocked but did not dare to ask any questions. So, she proceeded to carry out what was instructed.
…
On the other hand, Rory had already broken two steel wires.
“Trust me, this is also an accident!” Rory’s ears turned somewhat red as she spoke; she was utterly embarrassed. She thought she had the necessary skills to do it, but she did not expect to have already broken two steel wires and was still not able to unlock the door.
“That’s strange.” Rory bit her lower lip and mumbled, “Motels like these should be easy to work on. I wonder why I still can’t unlock it after trying for so long. I haven’t done it in a while; perhaps my skills are getting a little rusty.”
George, who stood behind her, became upset as he heard what she said. He asked, “Haven’t done it in while so your skills are rusty?”
Rory nodded but felt that something was not right. As such, she turned around and noticed the abnormal look on George and everyone else’s face. A realization came to her. Lockpicking was something only thieves do. And earlier, she…
The thought of this made her panic. She quickly explained, “About that—I’m not a thief, and I don’t do this a lot. I was just… a little curious previously, so I did some experiments with some friends for some time. I promise that I’ve never done anything bad.”
George nodded. “I believe you.”
Rory responded, “Really?”
“Yes.” George nodded, looking annoyed. “Based on your skills, you won’t be able to do it even if you wanted to.”
Rory responded, “Shut up… I don’t want to hear a word from you.”
George responded, “There’s no way—”
“I can do it. Let me try again.” Rory turned around and began working on it again. When George became impatient and was about to ask her to stop trying, he heard something click. Then, the door opened.
Everyone was stunned when they saw what just happened. What the f*ck? George thought, Did she open it? He instantly became impressed by Rory.
Looking proud, Rory pushed the door and kicked it opened. “Whoever is in here, come out now! We’ve surrounded you; there’s nowhere for you to go.”
Her brash behavior brought George back to his senses. He quickly went and pulled her out. “Come out.”
George went in by himself and saw Duanmu Xue hiding in the corner with her arms around her knees. She lifted her head and looked at George. Her hair was unkempt and her eyes were full of tears.
