Chapter 61: The Trojan Cabinet

To have such friendship was truly something precious. Jiang Zhique thought that it was no wonder the girl before her could still grow resiliently, even with that sort of family background. She asked, curious, “What about your… the older sister figure, Tao Xiao? What kind of person is she?”

Qi Ran fell silent. Just as Jiang Zhique decided she didn’t want to answer and was about to find another topic, Qi Ran spoke. Her pace was slow and soft, and luckily with the communicator, Jiang Zhique could hear her clearly no matter how quiet her voice was. “She—actually, now that I think about it, I’ve never really understood what kind of person she was.”

She carefully searched her memories, like digging through a sand sea with both hands. But no matter how hard she tried to clench her fingers, the grains of sand inevitably slipped through the gaps, unable to hold onto even a single one.

Gentle, graceful? That must have been just an act. The Tao Xiao in the photos, rather than gentle, seemed more like someone she knew—Qi Xin—wrapped in falsehood, everything merely a tool to be used, even emotions.

Quiet, indifferent? Using such words to describe a personality seemed too strange.

Beyond that, there seemed to be nothing else.

She paused, slightly stunned, and smiled with self-mockery. She didn’t truly understand Tao Xiao at all.

“Tao Xiao, she’s like… what I imagined a mother should be like.”

In the end, that was all she could say. The words felt hollow.

“What a strange description,” Jiang Zhique seemed troubled, sighing. “What is a mother supposed to be like? Gentle? Accepting?”

Qi Ran paused, only then remembering that Jiang Zhique also didn’t know what a mother was supposed to be like. She nodded. “Supposedly, yes. I’ve seen other people’s mothers being like that.”

“Sounds so nice,” Jiang Zhique nodded along. “But doesn’t it feel strange? When a person is born, the one holding them is a completely unfamiliar woman. For that woman, the child she holds is also a completely unfamiliar child. So why would she be gentle and accepting towards this stranger?”

Qi Ran paused, not quite grasping what Jiang Zhique was getting at.

Sensing her confusion, Jiang Zhique explained. “Logically speaking, you can’t actually feel something like blood ties, right? For normal people, it’s like those stories where a child is taken home by mistake, and you only discover it after raising them for over a decade. That supposed connection of blood doesn’t actually exist. So what drives a mother to become gentle and accepting? Could there be some brain secretion that influences emotions?”

Qi Ran was stunned for a long moment before hesitating. “I… don’t really understand either. After all, I don’t really know what a mother is.”

That was truly the honest truth. She genuinely didn’t understand what a mother was, nor what maternal love was. Though she had seen Xu Yan’s family, she wasn’t used to the sweet, cloying way Xu Yan interacted with her mother and didn’t believe that was the normal interaction between a child and a mother. But aside from Xu Yan’s family, her understanding of the word ‘mother’ was practically zero—she didn’t consider Li Wanying to have any connection to that term.

They were finally about to pass through the dim outskirts of the Old City. The closer they got to its interior, the more shocking it became. The streets had narrowed to the point where a slightly larger vehicle might get stuck and unable to move. The distance between buildings was alarmingly close; looking up from below, they seemed almost pressed together. Gazing out, Qi Ran suddenly understood why there were so many thefts here. It required no complex technique—if you forgot to lock a window, someone from the building next door could just use a clothes-drying pole to reach across into your room.

“Wait, I just thought of a serious problem,” Jiang Zhique suddenly stopped.

“What problem?” Qi Ran asked, confused.

“This place we’re going to, it’s a nightclub. A place like that probably doesn’t allow women, let alone underage girls, to enter, right?” Jiang Zhique hesitated. “Neither you nor I look like we could just walk in. It’s more likely we’d be stopped by the bouncer at the door.”

“It might not be the nightclub itself,” Qi Ran shook her head. “Maybe just somewhere nearby.”

“Why?” Jiang Zhique asked. “In your memory, that… Ghost, she didn’t tell you what you came here to do?”

“To find someone. A woman surnamed Zuo,” Qi Ran said. “Probably around our age.”

“Zuo?” Jiang Zhique paused. “The Zuo Family from Northern China?”

“The person on the shop’s second floor mentioned it earlier, didn’t they? The shop’s first victim was surnamed Zuo. Back then, you and that young man both said Zuo was a rare surname, unheard of in The Circle,” Qi Ran said. “But that post you showed me earlier mentioned the Zuo Family. In your memory, what did we say then?”

Jiang Zhique recalled. “He said the person on the first floor was a native of Zhongnan, never been to Northern China, no connection to the Zuo Family, and not part of The Circle—an ordinary person.”

“So that part hasn’t changed.” Qi Ran thought for a moment, then suddenly spotted the large cargo truck parked at the nightclub’s back door. “I’ve got an idea how to get in.”

…

“This is your method?” Jiang Zhique kept her voice very low, tilting her head to the left. Opposite her, Qi Ran also tilted her head to the other side. The wooden cabinet space was somewhat cramped, forcing them uncomfortably close. Sideways was the only way to avoid their breaths meeting.

She could even smell the shampoo scent from Qi Ran’s hair—it was the same shampoo from the shower room. A tiny sliver of light slipped through the gap in the cabinet door and landed on a hint of blue within those strands. Jiang Zhique looked at that blue hue and thought it was actually a very pretty hair color.

“It’s the best plan I could think of. Do you have a better one?”

Qi Ran whispered back. She wasn’t just lowering her voice; she was lowering her neck too. This damn cabinet wasn’t very tall. For Jiang Zhique, at 1.64 meters, it was no problem. But for Qi Ran, at 1.72 meters, it was incredibly awkward. She had to stoop her head to fit inside. Not to mention the iron rod meant for hangers was digging right into her left shoulder, making her stance lopsided and weird. She’d considered bending her knees but found that standing like that was even more tiring and torturous. In the end, she settled for lowering her head.

“What are you looking at?”

Jiang Zhique said frankly, “Your hair. Why did you want to dye it? You don’t seem like the trendy type.”

Qi Ran was silent for a moment, then smiled soundlessly. “Just a rebellious phase.”

“Never heard someone admit they’re in a rebellious phase,” Jiang Zhique murmured. She knew Qi Ran was just making a perfunctory excuse, not wanting to answer the question, so she didn’t press further. She simply quieted down, tilting her head to listen to the sounds outside.

Sneaking into this wooden cabinet hadn’t been difficult. The truck was parked at the nightclub’s back door, and the cargo hold wasn’t locked. Although two workers were sitting inside, Jiang Zhique had simply made some strange noises outside to get them to briefly leave the cargo hold. As for whether the workers would notice the weight discrepancy because of the cabinet, that wasn’t much of a worry. Thanks to the electric hydraulic liftgate and the adjustable pallet jack, the workers didn’t actually need to physically carry such a large cabinet. Entering the building, there was also a freight elevator. The only thing to worry about was how to naturally get out of the cabinet once inside the nightclub.

Jiang Zhique was getting a headache. That crack was really too thin. Even squinting, she couldn’t clearly see what was happening outside. She could only guess the scene based on the vague sounds outside and the cabinet’s movements. The last thing she needed was to think the cabinet had become still, push the door open, and run straight into a group of security guards—a gift delivery, just for them.

“Is this all of them?” She suddenly heard a woman’s voice from outside the cabinet. The tone was crisp and efficient, sounding like a staff member of the nightclub. “Check the quantity. If the count is right, unload the goods.”