Kapitel 9: Investigation Part 1

"You still have the nerve to ask?" Tianwei's eyes flash with irritation, all earlier gentleness gone. "I'm here to help you clean up the mess you made!"

"Is this about the tabloids? It's not a big deal, they're always talking shit about me." Jingwei shrugs casually, but Xue Ning can still sense the tension in his shoulders.

It wasn't there before his brother arrived.

"Is there a problem?" Xue Ning asks.

"So to speak. Our family deeply apologises for involving you in such a matter, but your assistance is still necessary with regards to this case." Tianwei gives her a polite bow. She does a double-take at his courtesy.

"How can I help?" She asks.

"I believe you may have some information about the preparators of the drugging case. Normally the police should be investigating, but we would prefer to not alert those responsible that we're onto them."

"It's so serious?" Both Jingwei and her ask at the same time.

"Of course. According to our family doctor, it's not an ordinary date rape drug that normal people can purchase with shady connections. It has an additional aphrodisiacal effect when mixed with the right alcohol. Most women would not even know to avoid its existence, let alone purchase it."

"That explains a lot." Xue Ning muses, remembering how she felt the night before, like she was about to crawl out of her own skin if she wasn't touched and fondled. She shudders at the memory.

"So you believe that someone supplied the women with these drugs to target him?" She asks, feeling a chill creep down her spine.

"Precisely. No matter how annoying Jingwei could be, I doubt he could inspire women to murder him." He turns to his younger brother, whose face was looking more ashen as he stared at the both of them.

"Didi, you know that you are priceless alive. They would have wanted you incapitated, defenceless and ridiculously horny."

"...That would have been a PR disaster waiting to happen." Jingwei laughs with no humour.

"That's assuming they are trying to ruin you in the first place." Tianwei corrects.

Xue Ning and Jingwei stare at him in equal horror.

"What else could they do?" Xue Ning asks, almost afraid of the answer. Jingwei rubs a hand over his face, looking strangely weary.

"Oh loads. You have no idea." Jingwei begins ticking off his fingers.

"Blackmailing me with the resulting pictures and videos for one.

Making sure I end up fucking them without protection so they end up pregnant with my child is another.

Forcing me to marry them due to the pregnancy and hence giving them a route into my family is the third option.

They could also claim all sorts of things happened during that night, because I won't be able to refute them.

Of course, don't forget good old-fashioned kidnapping where they ransom money for my safety. Knowing my dad, he'll probably throw me into the ocean himself for daring to get kidnapped.

So you see, there's all sorts of things they could do! Isn't that amazing?" Jingwei finishes with a dramatic flourish, anger boiling under his skin.

It wasn't directed at Xue Ning though. It was aimed at those women and whoever was working with them behind-the-scenes. How dare they aim at him in a bid to get to his family, just because the other members were near untouchable.

If they wanted revenge, they should have gotten their hands dirty and confronted him in person! Doing this was cowardly, and if not for Xue Ning's interference, he wouldn't be here, eating lunch so casually as she recuperated.

He owes Xue Ning a lot. He wonders if she knows.

"Wow. That's terrible, but it makes sense," Xue Ning replies quietly, remembering what she overheard in the washroom. "One of the women said she wanted to ruin your life."

Both men startled at her words.

"Wait… you knew?" Jingwei asks, staring at her in surprise.

"Tell us everything you remember." Tianwei demands, pulling out a notepad from his pocket.

Xue Ning coughs, feeling slightly awkward under their intense gazes.

"Well, I overheard the two women when I was resting in the cubicle meant for cleaning supplies," she confesses. "It was a while after I saw them cuddling with Jingwei in the VIP room, and they were complaining about how I ruined their plans."

"Really?" Tianwei turns to his brother. "And may I know what happened in the room with them?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary," Jingwei furrows his eyebrows as he recalls the night. "You know, it's the same shit, women flirting with you and asking you to drink. They said the club sent them to look after me."

"Huh? Our club doesn't have that sort of service." Xue Ning cuts in, surprised.

"Hmm. I see. Continue then. Why did you send them away?" Tianwei asks.

Jingwei shuffles in his seat. Was he embarrassed?

"Well I wanted to drink with Xue Ning alone, so I sent them away," he grumbles. "But then it turns out you have a boyfriend, so nevermind me."

"Oh." Xue Ning says, also feeling embarrassed. There was a moment of awkward silence as they met each other's eyes and pretended to look away.

Tianwei clears his throat. "Yes, very interesting, so after you ruined their first plan, which I presume to be drugging you in that private room with no witnesses, they went to the bathroom instead, where Xue Ning overheard them."

"Can you provide names and more details?" Tianwei continues to ask her.

"Sure… one of the women was called Xiumin, she was the one that said she wanted to ruin him. The other woman was called Hua-jie, she seemed to be the one in-charge. She was more… in control of her emotions?" She says, recalling the conversation.

"They also said that Jingwei would come to look for me, so they would just hang around me and wait for another chance to strike before the night ended."

Tianwei gave her an indescribable look at her words, before turning to Jingwei with a raised eyebrow.

"What?" Jingwei asks defensively.

"Nothing." Tianwei replied easily, but he gave Jingwei another look that spoke volumes. Jingwei flushed. "Back to you, Miss Li, is there anything else you remember?"

"Hmm…." she frowns, fingers idly rubbing the soft blanket. "There's one thing that's strange. Usually our club has a protocol for spiked drinks. Even if it's just a suspicion, we aren't supposed to give the drinks back."

"Even if the customer claims she didn't spike it?"

"Yeah. The manager should have been on my side!" She yells, pissed. Both men stare at her outburst, but Xue Ning was on a roll after recalling the sheer indignity of that incident.

"That's why I was so mad when he told me to give the drink back and to apologise to them for the false accusation. Even if I had to apologise, I should compensate with a new drink. Just because they are VIP customers…" She mutters bitterly.

"That's weird. If you're talking about VIP customers, who would be a bigger VIP than me, the man that actually booked this venue for his birthday party?" Jingwei muses, gesturing to his face.

"If someone was suspected of drugging me, shouldn't management throw the two women out?"

He finishes with a flourish.

The room falls into silence as realisation sinks in.