How could I possibly be confined in a cage?

Chapter 165 Revisiting the Zheng Family

Having temporarily appeased Zheng the comprador, Guo Zixing then led his men into the Zheng family home.

Unbeknownst to Zheng, the comprador stared at Qingru's retreating figure with a sinister gaze. Hadn't he already locked that girl surnamed Lü in the backyard yesterday? How did she escape? Did Guo Zixing help her? She escaped unscathed, but his own daughter…

Qingru seemed to sense something and turned around to look, only to find that Zheng, the comprador, had already looked away.

Shaking her head to clear her mind, Qingru had not yet told Guo Zixing about Zheng's unauthorized imprisonment of her.

Guo Zixing walked ahead, looking at the once-grand Zheng family manor reduced to ruins, and felt a real pity.

The meticulously maintained garden was now largely destroyed by the bomb, charred beyond recognition.

Further inside, thankfully the villa was well-built; even though a small portion of it was destroyed, the other half was still passable.

Upon entering the main hall, a room full of corpses lay before them.

Guo Zixing gestured to one of his men to open the door, while he led the rest of the group inside first.

The room was in disarray, and a strong stench of blood assaulted the senses, accompanied by several sharp screams from women, causing one to involuntarily furrow their brow.

Zheng Peilan and Zheng's new concubine, whom Zheng the comprador married last night, were not seen just now. Are they gone, or were they moved?

Qingru was unsure and could only wait and see how things went.

Fortunately, only the sharp corners of the roof were destroyed; the stairs are still usable.

The corpses on the ground consisted of Zheng family servants, men in black, and a few in military uniforms.

Later, did Commander Guo's reinforcements also suffer casualties?

This was something Guo Zixing was unaware of.

I checked the first floor, and there are basically no problems.

The group then ran upstairs again.

The journey was smooth and without any obstacles, except for the corpses on the ground from yesterday.

"Ah!" A terrified scream made Guo Zixing and the others stop in their tracks.

Qingru looked up and saw a slender woman standing at the end of the second-floor corridor, her face pale and her eyes filled with fear.

The woman's legs trembled, and she could barely speak, "Where's my dad? What happened? What's wrong with my family?"

It was Zheng Peilan; her hair was disheveled, and she looked completely lost.

Upon seeing Guo Zixing, she rushed over and threw herself into his arms.

"Why not you? Why?" Zheng Peilan burst into tears, her previous noble and elegant demeanor completely gone, tears streaming down her face.

Guo Zixing stiffened and pushed her toward Jiang Shen. "Miss Zheng, what happened?"

Zheng Peilan suddenly lost Guo Zixing's embrace and looked up in disbelief, "We were both drugged yesterday, why don't you want me?"

Guo Zixing frowned. "Miss Zheng, taking advantage of someone in distress is not the behavior of a gentleman."

Zheng Peilan struggled and tried to lunge at Guo Zixing, but Jiang Shen held her arm firmly.

"What are you pretending to be a gentleman for? Didn't we already have an understanding? Am I, Zheng Peilan, not good enough for you? I am the eldest daughter of the Zheng family, and everything in the Zheng family will be mine in the future. I even studied abroad. Am I not good enough for you? You always ask me out. Doesn't that mean you have feelings for me?"

Guo Zixing's face turned ashen; he was unwilling to listen to Zheng Peilan's ramblings any longer.

"Miss Zheng, please watch your words. I would never engage in any illicit relationship without a matchmaker. Is it wrong to respect you?"

Zheng Peilan couldn't accept it and immediately noticed Qingru beside her. "It's all because of her, isn't it? You brought her with you the first time you met her. Isn't she your lover or concubine?"

Qingru didn't know how to react. She just wanted to investigate the matter thoroughly and didn't want to listen to Zheng Peilan's hysteria.

Seeing that the two did not respond, Zheng Peilan became even more ferocious. Ignoring Jiang Shen's restraint, she roared at Qingru.

"It's you! If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have suffered this humiliation. Guo Zixing, you've got a good plan. You're deceiving me on the surface, but you actually want to keep her, right? Haha, you're really delusional. You want to have the blessing of two women at the same time? Keep dreaming."

Guo Zixing's eyebrows twitched slightly as he looked coldly at Zheng Peilan. "Are you crazy? Instead of resenting the person who drugged you, you resent me?"

Zheng Peilan had a moment of clarity, then became even more frantic, "Ah!!! Why did you save me? Did I beg you? Even if you left me at Jin Anna's place, any man there would be a powerful and wealthy man. You took me home and then humiliated me. Who else should I hate if not you?"

Guo Zixing didn't want to say anything more. Zheng Peilan had lost her mind, and all he wanted to do now was find evidence.

"Take her to rest next door." Guo Zixing waved his hand.

"I'm not going!" Zheng Peilan roared. "You can't control me, Guo Zixing, I hate you, I hate you..."

Jiang Shen had no choice but to restrain Zheng Peilan again and take her away to rest.

Qingru followed, "No explanation?"

"There's no need. Let's go see what happened first."

Qingru had witnessed how miserable Zheng Peilan was after being drugged last night. Seeing that she had regained consciousness today, could it be that the drug had been neutralized?

But yesterday, the only person in her room was... Song Fu...

Qingru followed Guo Zixing into the room, where the luxurious and exquisite decor was marred only by the bloodstains scattered on the floor.

It seems that this place is relatively well protected; apart from the bloodstains on the ground and the messy wardrobe, there are almost no signs of gunshots.

Qingru looked at the messy wardrobe. She had stepped on it last night, and today it was completely unrecognizable.

The large, soft bed stirred slightly.

"Who is it?" Guo Zixing looked warily at the bed.

A lump rose up on the bed, moving occasionally.

Guo Zixing approached, lifted the bed sheet, and revealed a disheveled male body inside.

Qingru gasped, "Song Fu?"

It really was him. The only person who didn't have time to leave last night was Song Fu, but wasn't Song Fu injured? How could that be?

My gaze shifted downwards, and I saw a patch of blood on Song Fu's thigh. His face was pale and weak, and he was covered in cold sweat, clearly indicating that he had suffered an extremely serious injury.

"You know him?"

Qingru explained, "He's my family's driver. He used to work for the Song family. Yesterday, he and I were locked in the Zheng family's woodshed. After we escaped, he hid here. When my father rescued us, Song Fu injured his leg and couldn't walk, so..."

Left with no other choice, Qingru had to reveal that after saving Zheng Peilan the previous night, she had been falsely accused by Zheng's agent. If it weren't for the black-clad men's surprise attack last night, which disrupted the Zheng family's plans, Qingru and Song Fu would probably have "sacrificed" themselves for Zheng Peilan's reputation long ago.

After hearing this, Guo Zixing took Qingru's hand with heartache, "I never expected the Zheng family to repay kindness with enmity..."

If Qingru hadn't brought it up herself, he probably wouldn't have known about this story from last night.

"Stop talking about this, if we don't save him now, he might really die."

Guo Zixing quickly sent Jiang Shen to fetch a military doctor and ordered someone to take Song Fu to the nearest hospital for emergency treatment.

That night was truly absurd and fantastical. Song Fu, Qingru, and the other two were arranged to go to the bombed-out bungalow in the backyard to check on it.

Looking at the scene before her, Qingru couldn't help but sigh.

"These people are really ruthless. They actually planted a bomb in the house. Luckily, I escaped last night, otherwise I would have lost my life."

"This is the Zheng family's private treasury, not their storeroom. How could someone know so precisely where their storeroom is, and so coincidentally choose such an auspicious day to blow it up?"

"Is there a mole? Zheng, the comprador, probably already knows the answer."

The location of the Zheng family's private vault is certainly not widely known. Without an inside accomplice, even if those men in black wanted to destroy the vault, they wouldn't be able to find its location in a short time.

"There might be more than one bomb, be careful," Guo Zixing warned.

Qingru nodded.

Guo Zixing then asked, "Did you see any suspicious people enter the Zheng family yesterday?"

Qingru couldn't help but think of Jiang Shen, who was in a hurry, and subconsciously shook her head, "No, the situation yesterday was too chaotic, I didn't even notice any of this."

Just then, Jiang Shen came over and looked at Qingru with surprise upon hearing this.

She helped him cover it up? Why? Wasn't Lü Qingru Guo Zixing's lover?