Zapatos de cristal

Capítulo 9

"I think he was involved too!" Ningxia recounted the emails from "The Avengers".

Ning Kang frowned, pondered for a moment, and then said, "How about you take this to be appraised?"

"No need for testing! We'll know tonight!" Ningxia said unhurriedly.

Ning Kang looked puzzled.

That evening, Ning Kang waited anxiously. When Ning Xia came out of the shower, he asked impatiently, "How did it go? Is it ready?"

She looked at Ning Kang and laughed, "Brother! Turn off all the lights!"

Both square boxes were propped up, and the two bronze mirrors were erected. By the faint light filtering through the window, Ningxia saw two slightly distorted faces appear before her. Looking at her ghostly reflection, a surge of tension rose within her. Ning Kang seemed even more nervous than Ningxia. He had heard her speak of the mirror's wondrous properties before, but had never witnessed them firsthand. At this moment, his heart pounded wildly, and his palms sweated.

Ningxia casually rotated the two bronze mirrors a few times. When one of the ancient mirrors faced the white wall, a faint red light shone through the back of the mirror. However, no matter how the other mirror was rotated, no light was seen.

"Aha! This is a real treasure!" Ning Kang exclaimed in delight after seeing the strange characters visible on the back of the ancient mirror.

"Alright!" Ningxia said somewhat dejectedly, turning on the living room light. "You were right, what Fang Jian found for me is indeed the genuine article!"

Ning Kang laughed, "It seems Fang Jian really is a man! You'd better make the most of him!"

Ningxia glared at him and sat down on the sofa: "Don't talk nonsense! We're not like that!"

"Then you should at least apologize to them now!"

Ningxia lowered her head and thought for a moment, then nodded: "I will! In a few days! Brother, tomorrow, I want you to come with me somewhere!"

"Where?"

"Gu Tan Club!" Upon hearing this, Ningxia immediately noticed that Ningkang's face suddenly became unnatural.

"What's wrong? Have you been there?" Ningxia noticed something amiss and pressed for an answer.

Ning Kang nodded, then shook his head, his eyes somewhat unfocused: "No! I have been there, but..." He then became extremely serious.

"But what?" Ningxia still wouldn't let him go.

Ning Kang turned around and said to Ning Xia seriously, "You'd better not go to that place!"

"But Su Yun's diary..." Ningxia sensed that something was wrong with Ning Kang.

"Forget about Su Yun's ghost diary. He's already dead, what's the point of going after him?" Ning Kang suddenly interrupted Ning Xia's words very rudely.

"I want to know that woman's secret!" Ningxia was very surprised by Ning Kang's sudden change in attitude.

"What woman! You're just like your sister-in-law, just like Su Yun, all you do is talk about 'woman in red' all day long, it's all nonsense and utterly incomprehensible!" Ning Kang shouted.

Ningxia looked at the furious Ningkang with a face full of grievance, truly bewildered, tears welling up in her eyes, about to spill over. Seeing this, Ningkang sighed, his tone immediately softening: "Alright! Xia! I was worried about you! Do you understand? Don't go looking for those pointless things! What if you become like Jianna?"

Ningxia choked up a little: "I just want to know what happened?"

"Don't worry about it anymore, okay? I don't want to lose my sister again!" Ning Kang leaned back on the sofa, looking extremely tired.

Fortunately, the supervisor who came out was another beautiful woman. Ningxia looked at her name tag, which read "Xia He".

"I'm Xia He, the supervisor. Is this your first time here, miss?" Xia He seemed much more amiable than Qiu Yue, and her demeanor was not as aggressive.

Ningxia coughed, somewhat embarrassed, and said, "I'd like to see your manager, Lin Wei!"

Xia He smiled and invited Ning Xia inside, leading her through a maze of turns to the building where the previous manager had worked—only to an office on the second floor.

In the central office on the second floor, Lin Wei was sitting in the inner glass room, talking on the phone with someone.

"Please wait a moment!" Xia He poured Ningxia a cup of green tea and walked away quietly.

Lin Wei saw Ningxia through the glass room, smiled and waved, and Ningxia smiled and nodded back.

"Miss Ning, it's an honor to have you here! I'm so sorry I didn't greet you properly!" Lin Wei said half-jokingly as he came out of the inner room after finishing his phone call.

Ningxia's face flushed slightly, and she laughed, "President Lin is just joking!"

Lin Wei smiled and said, "Don't be so formal. You can just call me by my name. That 'General Manager' thing is what company employees call me!"

"Okay!" Ningxia felt her face getting even hotter.

"By the way! Did Miss Su Yun's parents bring you the necessary documents?" Lin Wei's smile gave Ningxia a sense of warmth.

"I called them, and they said they'd come over in a couple of days to process it!" A hint of sadness flashed in Ningxia's eyes again.

"So what brings you here today...?" Lin Wei was unsure of Ningxia's purpose.

"That's how it is..." Ningxia recounted the story of meeting the mysterious woman in Su Yun's diary, but she concealed other details.

Lin Wei's brows furrowed slightly, accentuating his mature and composed demeanor, and a surge of warmth welled up in Ningxia's heart. After a moment's thought, he looked at Ningxia with a half-smile: "Ningxia! May I call you that?"

Ningxia blushed instantly and nodded hastily.

"I've worked here for over three years, but I've never seen or heard of this woman in red. Although I don't live here, I spend most of my time here. I've explored almost every corner of the area around this club, but I've never seen any Ming-style ancient buildings. Miss Su Yun's diary may not be true!"

Hearing Lin Wei's resolute words, Ningxia didn't know how to respond. She could only stare at Lin Wei with her bright, innocent eyes, as if something was swirling in her eyes, and her white teeth bit her rosy lips.

Suddenly, Lin Wei's heart softened, and he continued, "However, there are some places on the back mountain of our club that I haven't been to. If you really want to see for yourself, I can go with you to find them!"

Ningxia nodded gratefully: "Then let's go now!"

"no!"

"Why?" Ningxia was disappointed again.

Lin Wei grinned, revealing a row of pearly white teeth, and said, "Miss! I can only take care of personal matters after get off work!"

Ningxia breathed a sigh of relief: "Then when will you take me?"

"But..." Ningxia was afraid that he would change his mind again.

"No buts! Wait for my call!" Lin Wei's voice wasn't loud, but it carried a subtle yet irresistible force, leaving her no choice but to nod in agreement.

"Do you know my phone number?" Ningxia had just reached the door when she thought for a moment and turned back.

"Didn't you register your information here last time? Of course I know!" Lin Wei said with a smile.

"But I don't know your phone number! If you forget, I can call you!" Ningxia seemed a little persistent.

"Okay! Okay!" Lin Wei said helplessly, taking out a business card and handing it to her.

"Then I'm off!" Ningxia was finally satisfied and left happily with the business card.

As her figure disappeared at the end of the corridor, Lin Wei's face instantly changed to an extremely heavy and complex expression. He picked up his phone and dialed a number: "Hello! It's me..."

Ningxia was in the best mood she'd been in over twenty days. Sitting on the bus home, she watched the scenery rush by with delight, a smile unconsciously spreading across her face. Meanwhile, a pair of eyes in the last row of seats were fixed on the youthful, beautiful figure in front of them, a barely perceptible sneer playing on their lips.

When Ning Kang returned home, he was still not back. He went straight into his room and, in high spirits, opened the drawer under the dressing table. But as soon as he looked, his expression changed drastically – one of the dressing cases was missing!

Ningxia immediately touched the box, and was immediately pierced by the wood shavings on its surface, and a thin stream of blood flowed from her fingertip.

This box is fake!

Where is that really? Ningxia panicked and frantically searched the house. Half an hour later, she had practically turned the house upside down, but the box was still nowhere to be found. Panting, she sat on the bedroom floor. She thought that the only person who could take something like that from the house was Ning Kang!

Thinking of this, she immediately rushed to the bedside table, opened the drawer, and was shocked to find that Su Yun's diary and the red cell phone inside were also gone!

Ningxia was greatly surprised. Why had Ningkang taken both Fang Lian's and Su Yun's diaries? What was his intention? She hurriedly ran into the study, and sure enough, the rare copy of "Ancient Mirror Tales" was also gone! What was he planning to do? Shocked and anxious, she dialed Ningkang's cell phone, only to find it was disconnected due to unpaid bills! What happened?

She ran into Ningxia's parents' room, where Ningxia was temporarily staying. It was spotless, as if no one had ever lived there. She opened the wardrobe; inside were only a few bundled clothes belonging to Ningxia's parents, and nothing else!

Ningxia almost angrily rushed to the phone again and dialed Ningkang's office number in Shanghai, only to find that the number had also been cancelled! She slammed the phone to the ground in frustration, and a series of short beeps came from the receiver.

She suddenly remembered something and immediately dialed the airline's number. She learned that there were three flights from the city to Shanghai today, the first two of which had already taken off, and the third would take off in half an hour.

Without hesitation, Ningxia hailed a taxi and headed straight to the airport. He arrived at the airport at 3 p.m., ten minutes before his scheduled departure time.

Ningxia rushed to the management office, found a manager, and pretended to have an urgent matter, requesting to check the passenger list for the 3:10 flight to Shanghai.

The manager, a middle-aged man in his forties, listened to Ningxia's request and then sternly refused, saying, "I'm sorry! We cannot disclose the passenger list to you!"

"Could you please check if there's anyone named Ning Kang? He's my brother! I urgently need to speak with him!" Ningxia pleaded anxiously again, tears welling up in her eyes once more. The middle-aged man frowned, looking at the pitiful yet beautiful girl before him. Unable to find a reason to refuse, he coldly said, "Please register your ID card!"

Ningxia was overjoyed and quickly took out her ID card. After the middle-aged man looked at it, he returned it to her and instructed the staff next to him to check the passenger list on the computer.

"No passenger called Ningkang!" Less than two minutes later, the staff member said coldly.

"What about the first two flights? Are they running?" Ningxia hurriedly asked.

The staff member looked at the middle-aged man, who nodded.

After a while, the staff member spoke up: "Still no! No passenger named Ningkang has checked in today!"

The middle-aged man said to Ningxia with some regret, "Miss! You can leave now!"

Ningxia walked out of the airport, looking at the passengers coming and going and the vehicles passing by, wondering, where exactly is Ningkang? Could it be that he hasn't left the city? Exhausted, he got into a taxi and told the driver the address.

The taxi driver suddenly turned around, beaming at Ningxia, and said, "Oh! It's you, miss! What a coincidence!"

Ningxia looked at the unfamiliar young male driver in front of her with a puzzled expression, not remembering that she knew him, and asked in surprise, "Do I know you?"

"Ah! Of course not!" The young driver was a little embarrassed by the question.

"Then why did you say it was a coincidence?"

As the young driver started the car, he said to Ningxia, "You definitely don't remember me! It was about a month ago, weren't you in a hurry to catch a red-eye flight to Shanghai and asked me to speed past you? Luckily, I made it in time, and you gave me a hundred yuan to thank me and didn't ask for change, right?"

Ningxia was baffled and laughed, "Are you sure you haven't mistaken me for someone else? I haven't been to Shanghai or flown on a plane recently!"

The driver smiled, shook his head, and said with absolute certainty, "I can't be mistaken! I recognized you the moment I saw you! Although you were wearing a red dress that night, I absolutely cannot mistake you!"

Ningxia found it a little funny: "You've really mistaken me for someone else! I don't have a red dress at all!"

The driver looked somewhat surprised: "Really? No way! My memory is excellent! I would never mistake you, and besides, you're so outstanding and so beautiful!"

Ningxia's face immediately darkened, and she turned her head away, ignoring him.

The driver noticed Ningxia's displeasure in the rearview mirror and wisely kept quiet. They soon arrived at the residential area. She coldly paid the fare and prepared to leave, but the strange driver stopped her again: "Miss! That butterfly bracelet you wore the other night was beautiful! I'd like to buy one for my girlfriend. Could you tell me what it is?"

Ningxia turned around and coldly replied, "Let me tell you, you've mistaken me for someone else! I'm not the person you saw!" She then immediately left to avoid further trouble from the strange driver. After she left, she muttered to herself, "No way! How could he look so much like me!"

Ningxia returned home dejectedly, hoping to see Ningkang, hoping he would joke with her and appear at home in time. However, it was past midnight and there was still no news from Ningkang. Ningxia was a little annoyed and felt a bit tired, so she quickly washed up and prepared to go to bed.

"Ring ring..." The quiet room was suddenly filled with the sound of a ringing phone, startling Ningxia. It was the landline in the living room.

"Hello! Brother? Where are you?" Without thinking, he grabbed the receiver and shouted.

A voice came from the phone. Ningxia was a little surprised and stammered, "Okay...okay! Okay...I...I'll be right there!" After hanging up the phone, she rushed to the place where she had just received the call, the Municipal Public Security Bureau, with great confusion.

Although it was already night, the police station was still bustling with people and busy at work.

The officer who received Ningxia was Wu Linshan, the policeman who investigated the cause of Chen Ying's car accident last time. He was a mature and steady man in his thirties.

Wu Linshan said apologetically, "I'm so sorry, Ningxia, for calling you here so late! You know, this case has been dragging on for several days. We just found the suspect and his car, so we immediately notified Chen Ying's parents, but they want you to come and identify him first, to see if he's the person you know!"