Je ne serai pas ta poupée

Chapitre 24

"General manager?"

Mom's face fell: "Daughter, although our family isn't rich, we don't need to sell ourselves for personal gain. If you don't have enough money to buy a house, didn't I say I'd help you out? At worst, I'll go back to the business, smash all those feng shui masters' jobs, and easily make a million or two to buy you a house!"

"Oh my god!" Qiqi frowned. "Here we go again! It's no wonder I don't talk to you. Once I do, you go on and on... Whether he can be my boyfriend or not depends on whether he lives to see the day after tomorrow!"

"What! This child has a terminal illness at such a young age??" Mom asked, her eyes wide.

Qiqi rolled her eyes and shook her head, saying, "It's not an illness, it's a 'Great Void'!"

I told my mom the whole story of the "great collapse" of Tianyuan Apartment.

After hearing this, my mother asked with dissatisfaction, "Why didn't you tell me sooner that we were facing such a big problem as the 'Great Void'?"

Qiqi was overjoyed and asked, "Did Mom already have a secret solution to the 'Great Void'?? Hooray!"

My mother's eyelids drooped, and she said, "No. There's no solution to the 'Great Void'!"

Qiqi was furious and yelled, "What was the point of telling you earlier!"

"Of course it'll work! I would have told you earlier to give up quickly, lest it be a waste of time and effort!"

He died on the seventh day after death.

Then, I looked at my lovely mother with a speechless expression.

My mother then added, "Let me remind you, the 12th of August, the day of Ji Chou in the Ji Chou year, is extremely inauspicious. But the building definitely won't collapse in a single day; it will collapse in an instant. Think about which instant it will be—it must be within a specific hour. In other words, the 'Chou hour' is the most likely time, as the 'Grand Duke Jupiter enters the day' and the 'Grand Duke Jupiter enters the hour' simultaneously..."

Qi Qi was startled and grabbed her mother's arms tightly, saying, "Old ginger is spicier! I almost overlooked the timing factor! That means I have to solve the 'Great Void' problem at Tianyuan Apartment between 11 pm and 1 am tomorrow night, otherwise it will be too late by the 'Chou' hour?"

My mother nodded and said, "The feng shui books passed down from our ancestors are all on the bookshelf. Let's go and cram for a while."

After saying that, he went to look at Meng Cheng again.

With a pained expression, Qiqi walked to the bookshelf and picked up one by one the incomplete, traditional Chinese characters in vertical format, trying to find a solution to the "Great Void"...

When Qiqi's mother got up to make breakfast while yawning, she found that Qiqi was still in the living room.

There were at least a dozen handwritten books stacked on her desk.

Mom shook her head, then went to cook her a bowl of egg noodles and brought it to her desk.

When she returned from her morning exercise, she found the egg noodles untouched, and Qiqi was still engrossed in checking the handwritten copy with red eyes.

My mother sighed and said, "Only when you experience longing do you suffer from it."

Qi Qi said, "Stop making noise!"

My mom reminded me, "It's okay if you don't eat, but call and ask for leave. It's almost time."

Qiqi glanced at her watch—oh no, it was already eight o'clock!

"I can't go to the company today," Qiqi picked up the phone, about to call Zhou Haisheng, but then stopped.

Zhou Haisheng must have fabricated a feng shui assessment report for Tianyuan Apartment, collected 500,000 yuan from Boss Yan of Dilong Industry, and was planning to confront him today. How could he call him now to ask for leave?

Qi Qi absolutely cannot pretend to be nonchalant when asking for leave, and then resolve the "Great Void" before launching an attack on Zhou Haisheng.

After thinking for a long time, Qiqi called Tianxin.

“That’s easy. I’ll tell you a lie, and Zhou Haisheng won’t take it seriously.”

Qi Qi thanked her and continued to bury herself in those difficult-to-understand traditional Chinese vertical handwritten manuscripts...

Qiqi spent a day and a night browsing through all the family's handwritten feng shui books that she hadn't finished reading in the previous twenty years.

In summary, Qiqi learned a lot of feng shui experience and solved many long-standing feng shui problems.

Besides figuring out how to resolve the "Great Void".

What infuriated her most was that these books mostly offered a perfunctory explanation of how to resolve the "Great Void" (a concept in Feng Shui), simply suggesting "moving to avoid misfortune."

It is now 9 PM on August 11th.

Starting at 11:00 AM on August 11th, which is actually August 12th. The period from 11:00 AM on August 11th to 1:00 AM on August 12th is the "Zi Shi" (11 PM - 1 AM) hour, specifically the Zi Shi hour of August 12th.

Mom is already asleep.

She has always been easygoing and plump.

No matter if you experience a major or minor setback, you can still sleep and eat as usual.

Qiqi tiptoed downstairs, took the violin case from the Beetle's trunk, and placed it in the passenger seat.

She didn't know what the point of coming to Tianyuan Apartment was, because she hadn't yet found a way to solve the "Great Void".

However, Gao Jinze said he would stay in Room A, 8th Floor, Building C, Tianyuan Apartment.

Qiqi wanted to go with him, regardless of whether Building C of Tianyuan Apartment would collapse two hours later on August 12th.

Chapter Nineteen: Corpse Transformation

1.

As soon as the car approached the vicinity of Tianyuan Apartment, it heard a piercing siren.

Qiqi's heart clenched immediately!

Could it be that Building C of Tianyuan Apartment has collapsed?

Could it be that Gao Jinze is still in the building? Qi Qi couldn't help but step on the gas pedal hard and rushed to the entrance of Tianyuan Apartment.

Her car was stopped by a policeman.

Qiqi opened the car door and rushed out, grabbing the policeman's arms and asking, "Is it overturned...? Is anyone inside? Have they been rescued?"

The policeman gave her a strange look, coldly withdrew his arms, and said, "The building has been collapsed for over a month. Did you drive all the way back from America just to see the show?"

Qi Qi was stunned for a moment, then exclaimed loudly, "I didn't mean Fenghe Shuiyuan, I meant—Building C of Tianyuan Apartment!"

"Are you a reporter? Such fast news... Something happened in Building C of Tianyuan Apartment. No one is allowed to enter without a press pass. Back off, back off."

The police officer was about to urge Qiqi onto the car.

Qiqi caught a glimpse of a police tape cordon in front of the Tianyuan Apartment building. While dodging it, she asked, "Please tell me, what exactly happened in Building C of Tianyuan Apartment?"

The police officer replied indifferently, "I don't know either. I'm just on guard duty."

Qi Qi was extremely anxious. She took out her phone and dialed Gao Jinze's number. Unexpectedly, the call was answered after only one ring.

Qi Qi was overjoyed: "Jin—President Gao, are you alright? Is Building C alright?"

On the other end of the phone, sirens blared, and the surroundings were noisy.

Gao Jinze's voice was hoarse: "It's nothing serious, Qiqi... Why did you come? Go back first, I'll come find you tomorrow!"

"What exactly happened in Building C?! It didn't collapse? Then why are there so many police cars here?!"

Qiqi was extremely anxious.

"I have something to do... The officer over there is calling me, we'll talk in a bit!"

Gao Jinze hung up the phone after saying that.

Qiqi paced back and forth outside the cordon at the entrance of Tianyuan Apartment.

A news van from Shanghai Oriental Television arrived at the entrance of Tianyuan Apartment.

A tall, long-haired beauty stepped gracefully out of the car.

At first glance, Qiqi thought it was Jolin Tsai, but then she realized it was Cai Yini, the well-known host in Shanghai.

She wouldn't show up unless something serious happened, which only deepened Qiqi's worries.

Fortunately, she knew that Gao Jinze was alright at the moment.

Thinking of Gao Jinze, Gao Jinze appeared, except he was sitting in a police car.

Behind the police car followed a hearse, creating an eerie and unsettling scene.

Qi Qi's heart was in her throat. She rushed towards Gao Jinze, but the policeman from before grabbed her expressionlessly.

Cai Yini rushed forward with a microphone, banging on the police car door and shouting, "Officer Qu, may I interview you and General Manager Gao Jinze?"

The police car stopped and the door opened. A middle-aged police officer jumped out of the passenger seat, stared at Cai Yini, and said with a big smile, "Little Cai, it's been months... I've been calling you as soon as I have any good stuff."

Cai Yini smiled brightly: "Thank you for taking care of me, Officer Qu. Come on, let our photographer take a good picture of Officer Qu, the most brilliant and capable officer in Minhang District, to make him look handsome!"

Officer Qu's old face beamed with joy.

While he was posing, Cai Yini took the opportunity to greet Gao Jinze in the back seat of the car: "Mr. Gao, it's nice to see you again. Could you briefly explain why there is a dead body under the foundation of Building C of Tianyuan Apartment?"

Qiqi's mind went blank.

Gao Jinze simply said, "I'm sorry, I have no comment."

Cai Yini smiled sweetly and said, "President Gao, we're old friends... I won't do any reports that are detrimental to you. Look at what happened last time, I managed to suppress it... President Gao, if you don't speak up, I, as the host, can only speculate, which might be even more detrimental to you and Tianyuan Apartments—"

Gao Jinze glared at her and said, "Miss Cai, are you threatening me?"

Cai Yini smiled brightly and said innocently, "Oh my, how could a little woman like me threaten a grown man like you... We're about to start recording, do you know what to say, Mr. Gao?"

Gao Jinze glared angrily, but there was nothing he could do.

The camera was focused on Gao Jinze's face.

Cai Yini formally repeated the question from before: "President Gao, could you briefly explain why there is a dead body under the foundation of Building C of Tianyuan Apartment?"

Gao Jinze exhaled a breath of stale air and said, "I've been reinforcing the foundation of Building C of Tianyuan Apartment these past two days. Tonight, when the workers were excavating the cement in the center of the lobby, they unearthed a body—as for who the body is, we can only do so through forensic identification. I'm going to the police station to make a statement now."

Suddenly, an old woman stumbled out from the intersection, dressed in stained coarse cloth clothes, worn-out black cloth shoes, with a head full of messy silver hair and a hunched figure. She cried loudly and rushed towards the hearse, banging on the back door of the car.

Qiqi vaguely heard her calling out, "Awu, Awu, Mother has finally found you! Come home with Mother now... We won't make money anymore, and Mother won't take her medicine anymore..."

Qiqi felt a pang of sadness. She remembered seeing this old woman at Tianyuan Apartment last time. Her name was Granny Qian, and she was the mother of a missing construction worker. Could this body be her son's?

The old woman was helped away by the security guard, Xiao Wei.

Gao Jinze saw Qi Qi, and Qi Qi looked at him too.

He called out, "Qiqi, I'll be back as soon as I finish giving my statement. Wait for me!"

Qiqi nodded vigorously.

The police cars and the hearse have all driven away.

The cordon has also been removed.

The homeowners who had been watching the commotion went back to sleep.