Chapter 436 - Stay Away From Her

Obviously, Feng Xuan didn't find it in her heart that her father's story matched the things that happened that night. There was this ugly gut feeling within her that refused to believe that it was true. Something in this whole puzzle wasn't fitting.

She didn't know if she had the wrong pieces, or was she working on a different puzzle all together? 

She was glad that she made use of their driver today. She would've probably gotten in an accident with all the thoughts swimming in her mind like they were in a marathon. Everything just wanted to be thought about and to be solved. But she didn't have an answer. Not to a single one of them.

Her stomach was grumbling by the time that she reached The Kingly and she quickly told the receptionist to send a huge meal to Qing Chen's office. Thankfully, she didn't have to disrupt a meeting today as her husband was working on his computer with the city skyline towering behind him.

"Hey," he smiled at her. "How was your morning?"

"I'm sorry for stopping by unexpectedly."

"Nothing to worry about. You know I love seeing you." His hand was busy on the mouse as he scrolled through a wordy doc.u.ment. "What's going on? Are you okay?"

She sat down but the food suddenly arrived. When they were alone again, she told him about what Ma Min said the night before. His eyebrow's furrow got deeper and deeper as she reached the story about The Zookeeper.

"That's the same story that I know," he told her.

"And you believe it?"

"What else is there, Xuan?"

She bit on the corner of her lip. "I don't know."

They transferred to the small dining set that had been set up for them and she began to eat. For a few minutes, she let herself savor the food. "There has to be something there," she told Qing Chen.

But she could not also shake off the feeling that she might just be overthinking things again. What if it was just that?

"You know about those hypnotizing things?" she suddenly said. "I want something like that. I want all The Zookeeper's voice out of my head. I'm going to pay someone good money if they would be able to do that."

"What about The Zookeeper?" he asked as he forked through a mix of vegetables.

"When he said that thing about my mother."

"Which one?"

"That I was the one who killed her."

"You know better than the think about that."

"He had been right about your mother," she snapped. "What if he was right about me too?"

Qing Chen swallowed. "Point taken." He set down his utensils. "You know what? I'm going to ask my father about your mother. He might know something."

"What makes you think that he hasn't told my father what he knows?"

Qing Chen took a sip of his water. "Well, for one, he has a way of thinking that people did not deserve to know the truth. He lied to his own sons remember? What more to his best friend?"

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Qing Chen was really worried about Feng Xuan. The only thing that he wanted to do that moment was to put his wife in a safe place and lock her there. All these people that she was interacting with were not being very helpful with her thought processing. 

It would be selfish of him not to support her in looking for her mother so he would do exactly just that. It was the only thing that would bring her peace.

There was nothing else that he would want for her. He wanted to take her out of her own mind and put happiness in it. He wanted for her to go back to those times that she was only problematizing about what she would put on Gretel's menu.

It felt unreachable at the moment. 

Feng Xuan was sleeping on his couch, tangled with the blanket that he had given her earlier. Even while asleep, the expression on her face would tell you that she was not having a grand time taking a break. There was a slight crease in between her eyebrows. Qing Chen would have smoothed it out if it did not mean that he would wake up his wife.

"Are they here?" he asked his secretary.

The old woman smiled at him. "Yes, Mr. Qing. They already entered the building."

He nodded at her and made his way to the meeting room. Qing Chen rarely get surprised by people and he had to include his secretary on the list. He was going to give her a raise before she would retire so her pension would be great and she would be able to live a somewhat majestic retirement.

Today was the day that Qing Chen was going to go over the details of the project that they would be investing in. Qing Lok was already on his seat, and as always, on his phone when he entered. The air smelled like diffused lemon and numerous folders were already placed on their rightful places.

He took his seat. "How are you today?"

"Same old, same old," Qing Lok said. "Have you thought about what you're naming that machine?"

Qing Chen shook his head. "I thought the inventors were going to name it? Plaster their surnames on it?"

Qing Lok shrugged. "I heard that they would rather have Kingly's name on it."

"Really?"

"That's what the lawyer told me."

They both went quiet when the door opened and in came the people. Qing Chen distinctly remembered the woman, Ms. Chi, who presented the project to them. One thing that he noticed with her new clothes and shoes (courtesy of the PR manager), she looked like a different person.

He was delighted to see her more presentable. But when he shook her hand and she smiled up at him, he knew that he should stay away from her.

As far as possible.