"I've never heard of Xinhe Hotel. I've certainly never been there."
Xu Ruyi's denial was absolute—her tone resolute, her demeanor firm, her expression blank.
She was digging his grave, coolly and methodically.
Qin Guan sat on the floor, glaring at her on the hospital bed, his teeth clenched so hard they might have turned to blades aimed at her.
Xinhe Hotel. Those words had come straight from Xu Ruyi's mouth—he'd heard them from her that night!
Now, everything clicked:
That night, after Xu Ruyi had been "beaten" bloody and woke in the hospital, she'd known he was eavesdropping. She'd deliberately mentioned Xinhe Hotel and Room 201 to Auntie Feng.
Without her mentioning it, Qin Guan would never have known the address. The note Qi Min had slipped into his pocket—the one with that location—had been stolen by Auntie Feng. The day he met Qi Min in the park, Auntie Feng had "accidentally" washed his clothes early, destroying the evidence.
This wasn't a mistake. Auntie Feng had been searching his pockets, his bags, his room—all under Xu Ruyi's orders.
Somehow, Xu Ruyi had gotten the Xinhe Hotel address from his pocket. She'd gone there, met Qi Min, and returned bloodied. Then, at the hospital, she'd tearfully accused Qi Min of threatening her family, knowing it would enrage him.
She knew him too well.
Worst of all, she'd deliberately added: "Qi Min… she mentioned my father…"
Even now, huddled in the corner, Qin Guan shuddered at the memory.
That line had been calculated to terrify him—and it worked.
Furious and panicked, he'd rushed to Xinhe Hotel's Room 201 to confront Qi Min. In his frenzy, he'd strangled her.
All because of Xu Ruyi. Her scheme—provoking him, planting the bomb in his mind—had driven him to it.
"Qin Guan! Are you going to explain Xinhe Hotel or not? No more games!" Old He's patience was fraying.
Qin Guan wasn't playing games. Trapped in this spiral, every move backfired. He forced his racing mind to focus:
Option 1: Deny everything.
If he denied visiting Xinhe Hotel and meeting Qi Min, he might evade immediate consequences. He'd cleaned Room 201 thoroughly—no fingerprints, no traces. But this would leave him as the prime suspect in Qi Min's original disappearance. With her phone in his possession and forged evidence of her "alive" status, he'd face arrest. Even without a body, the investigation would ruin his career.
Option 2: Confess.
Admit he went to Xinhe Hotel and met Qi Min. Police would track her check-in records. The rundown hotel's broken hallway cameras might not help, but the front desk could confirm her stay. If they found the fake "Zeng Demei" posing as Qi Min's mother, she'd expose Qi Min's scheme: the staged affair at the lakeside villa, the fake death, the blackmail. This would dismantle the original disappearance case, clearing Qin Guan of suspicion.
But—
If he confessed, police would discover Qi Min vanished again after his visit. Though he'd wiped the room, they'd find her traces. The taxi driver who moved her luggage, the texts he'd sent as "Qi Min" to Li Yang… All pointed to her sudden disappearance. Even without a body, Qin Guan would become the prime suspect in a new murder case.
His "brilliant" move—using Qi Min's phone to fake her messages—now backfired. By having Li Yang retrieve her bags from Dewang Liquor Store, he'd meant to frame her as a runaway. Instead, it tied him tighter to her disappearance.
Either way, he lost.
Xu Ruyi had trapped him in a dead end.