The message only had two words.

“You’re free.”

After he sent the message, he thought about it before wandering back to the table. He snapped a picture of the document and sent it to Cheng Qingchong. She was a clever girl. Without an explanation, she would understand what happened.

However, the man who had been cold-blooded for many years, who refused to mind other people’s business, was surprised to find himself in a charitable mood twice that night.

The first time was when he called Qin Yinan before the man left. He wanted to tell him, I haven’t touched her , but he didn’t because he felt it was very unlike him to do so.

The second time was just now. He didn’t need to send the picture to Cheng Qingchong, and after he did, he still couldn’t understand why he did it.

…

Cheng Qingchong wandered the streets of Beijing alone until 3 am before she returned home. She was sad but looked calm on the surface as she took deliberate steps up the stairs.

She realized that Jin Ze’s men would be there in a few hours. After a week of freedom, she would have to return to her identity as Xiao Yin. At the corner of the staircase to the third floor, Cheng Qingchong suddenly stopped. Like a soulless doll, she stood there dumbly for a long time before she moved her legs to climb up the rest of the stairs. As she did so, she sought out her key from her bag.

The staircase was dark, and Cheng Qingchong coughed lightly to activate the light. She glanced perfunctorily at her door before returning to focus on her key search. After a few more steps, she stopped. Then she raised her head again to look at the figure that was standing in front of her door.

Cheng Qingchong was dumbfounded. For a moment there, she thought she was hallucinating. She stared unblinkingly at Qin Yinan.

The corridor was quiet, and after the voice-activated lights went off, it became dark as well. The cigarette in the man’s fingers flickered on and off.

They stood like that in the dark for a long time until Qin Yinan coughed to himself. The light came on again to reveal the face that was carved into her memory.

Her lips fell open, but before she could say anything, he began by saying, “Why aren’t you opening the door?”

Cheng Qingchong’s fingers that held her key shook. She used every ounce of energy to stop her emotions from running wild. With careful steps, she walked toward him. She lowered her head when she walked past him and used the key to open the door.

“Why…” Cheng Qingchong wanted to ask why he was there, but before she could get the question out, Qin Yinan pushed open the door and strode into the room like he lived there.

He stood at the front door and looked around the room before his gaze settled on the luggage placed neatly on the balcony.

His lips pressed as he snuffed the cigarette out. Then he stalked toward the balcony and grabbed the scissors that she had left on the table after she used them during the packing and ripped open the packages that she spent a long time wrapping up.

“Qin Yinan, what are you doing?” Cheng Qingchong came to, and without even closing the door, she rushed into the room.

She tried to stop him, but she was not as powerful as the man. In less than two minutes, the man had shredded all of her paper packaging.

“Do you know how long it took me to pack all of them up? Why did you open all of them? What are you up to?”