After extensive questioning, Qin Guan gleaned little useful information from his daughter.
The child was simply too young. No matter how he probed, her answers remained vague and contradictory:
"I think I saw Uncle Xiaozhi! But I didn't see his face. Maybe it was him? I don't know. I miss him so much..."
"I called Mommy to look! But she was picking vegetables. Grandma Feng didn't look either. Maybe it wasn't him? I called his name, but he didn't answer or turn around..."
"He didn't eat with us. Mommy and Grandma Feng said I mistook someone else. They said I need to eat more carrots because my eyes aren't sharp anymore..."
Her rambling account offered no clarity—whether she'd truly seen anyone, let alone specifics about appearance, clothing, or accessories. She was, after all, barely three.
When pressed too hard, she pouted in frustration: "I don't remember! Daddy, why do you keep asking?"
Qin Guan abandoned hope. Expecting critical answers from a toddler was futile.
His eyes flicked to the officer still watching him through the window like a hawk. Anger simmered in his throat. He gulped cold milk, forcing the rage down. Being treated as a prime suspect under 24/7 surveillance was suffocating.
He needed answers—now.
The unanswered question loomed larger by the hour. If Xiaozhi had secretly returned during this period, everything Qin Guan had deduced would collapse.
Had Xiaozhi been present when Xu Ruyi left mid-call with Qi Min? During Xu Ruyi's recent hospitalization?
The implications chilled him. Though still piecing it together, one truth crystallized: Xu Ruyi had been orchestrating an elaborate scheme long before he realized.
She must have known about his affair with Qi Min—far earlier and deeper than he'd imagined.
That ominous card left on his car window at the airport—I know what you did—had undoubtedly been her work. A threat. But a threat about what?
Chugging his milk, Qin Guan mentally reconstructed timelines. Could Xu Ruyi have tailed him during his business trip? Impossible—he'd video-called her daily.
Yet the theft of the stockings proved she'd tracked him somehow. He vividly recalled that morning: meeting Zeng Demei in Xincheng to exchange ¥3 million for the damning evidence—black stockings—only to later discover Qi Min alive.
He'd parked at an uncommon supermarket to tail Zeng Demei discreetly—a location Xu Ruyi wouldn't have anticipated. Yet within hours of leaving Qi Min, the stockings vanished from his car.
Conclusion: Xu Ruyi had followed him that day. Possibly earlier.
When had the surveillance begun? During his search for Zeng Demei? But he'd been meticulous in covering those tracks!
His mind spiraled. How much did Xu Ruyi know? Since when? Who aided her?
After returning Little Pear to the hospital, Qin Guan bid Xu Ruyi a hollow "rest well" and had officers escort him home under the guise of remote work.
"I'll stay put. Full cooperation," he assured the police with practiced humility downstairs.
The elevator doors closed. His courteous mask vanished.
Now was his chance—with Xu Ruyi hospitalized, he'd ransack their home. Find the missing stockings. Locate that vanished phone!
She was his wife. They knew each other's every hiding spot.
Tonight, he'd turn her world inside out.