The femme guy naturally did not want to be taken away by the police, “It’s because I’m a man. You told me you can’t get it up for women, and besides me, you can’t find another man…” he yelled loudly.
Ning Shaobai’s disgusted expression was as if he had ingested a fly, and he was just about to speak when a ringtone interrupted, causing everyone to look around in confusion, trying to locate the source of the sound.
Xia Mian was also stunned; this was the oldest type of mobile phone ringtone. According to the memories of this body, at this time, having a pager was enough to make people envious. Mobile phones shouldn’t exist yet, right?
Xia Mian, still confused, saw Ning Shaobai retrieve a small blue rectangular object from his pocket, around the size of his palm. It indeed was a mobile phone!
Everyone’s attention instantly focused on that small device. Ning Shaobai pressed a button, and immediately, a voice came out: “Hey, your stepmother’s been going around saying you like men.”
The crowd observed this novel gadget with awe — the sound quality of the phone was average, but the voice could still be heard clearly.
Ning Shaobai activated the speakerphone. He glanced at the femme guy and scoffed into the phone, “You only inform me now? It has been old news.”
“What?!” the voice on the other side said, “Your stepmother didn’t hire a man to rant about it, did she?”
“No,” Ning Shaobai said, “She hired someone to kill me.”
The femme guy became frantic and agitated, “No, that’s not it!”
But no one paid attention to him; they were all intently listening to the sound from the small phone, “What the f**k! Isn’t she too crazy? But it’s something she would do.”
“Your grandpa mentioned a few days ago that he plans to distribute shares to his grandsons on his birthday this year. It is worth about tens of millions, correct? I think she’s gotten desperate. Even if she failed to kill you, she would be satisfied if you ended up crippled.”
“Damn, that woman is too malicious!”
After hanging up the phone, Ning Shaobai told the police, “You heard it, officers. My stepmother hired someone to kill me to get her own son a larger share of the inheritance.”
“Please take the interrogation seriously. I’ll also contact the police in Yan City to cooperate, and I’ll come in later to give a statement, thanks.”
The femme guy hadn’t expected to get wrapped up in a high-stakes inheritance murder case and was so frightened that he confessed everything, “Officer, no, I…I didn’t intend to kill anyone, really! Someone just told me to come here and scare him. They said I just needed to make a scene, and they’d give me two thousand. I really didn’t intend to kill anyone!”
The truth was finally revealed, but the femme guy was still taken away by the police. The crowd immediately gathered around to express their sympathy, with some restless individuals quickly redirecting the conversation to the topic they were curious about:
“Your family is that rich?!” Tens of millions—ordinary household would already think five hundred thousand as an astronomical number!
“What is that device, Dr. Ning? How is it different from a pager? But it looks much lighter than a pager, do all rich people use this now? How much does it cost?”
“Pagers cost several thousand, this one must be tens of thousands.”
Because Xia Mian stood next to Ning Shaobai, she keenly felt the intense gazes and overwhelming enthusiasm. Since there was no malice, it was hard to refuse, but accepting was not an option either, making it irksome.
Ning Shaobai’s expression darkened. He didn’t respond to anyone’s questions and said directly, “Excuse me, everyone, please go about your business; I have matters to attend to.”
Xia Mian followed him out of the hospital and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Ning Shaobai turned around and said coldly, “What are you doing? You want to curry favor with me too?”
Ning Shaobai was particularly irritable right now. He disliked pointless social interactions, and being in this small, unrecognized city where no one knew him had its perks, but today’s events would likely lead to endless trouble. Had it not been for his grandparents, who had spent their entire lives here, and his desire to shield them from any unfounded rumors that might cause them embarrassment, he would not have made such a public clarification today.
Thinking this, he looked towards the police car, his eyes icy cold.
Xia Mian had also faced the overwhelming enthusiasm just now and could understand Dr. Ning’s mood. On top of that, he had just been framed, and the public’s aversion to homosexuality must have hurt him. So, she decided to be magnanimous and not hold it against him. “It’s okay to like men. Sexual orientation is innate, it’s not your fault. People don’t understand now, but who knows, in twenty or thirty years, same-sex couples might even be able to get married,” she gently comforted him.
“…” After recovering from the shock, he laughed out of irritation, “Your attempt at flattery is quite unique.”
Xia Mian sighed, “If you say it’s flattery, then it’s flattery. If you ever feel down, you can talk to me; I won’t mock you. We might as well be sisters…”
God damn sisters! Ning Shaobai gritted his teeth: “Get lost!”
Seeing that he had gone through a lot today, Xia Mian didn’t argue with Dr. Ning and instead brought up another, more pressing matter: “Do you have a sibling? A sister, perhaps? What about a nephew? How old is he this year?”
Ning Shaobai found her sudden question strange, but he still answered, “Yes. My nephew is six this year, why?”
Xia Mian’s brow furrowed, “Does your sister have a mobile phone? Can you contact her?”
Ning Shaobai raised an eyebrow, “You know about mobile phones?”
Xia Mian rolled her eyes. Not only did she know a lot about mobile phones, but she was also very proficient in using them! “If your sister has a mobile phone, you better get in touch with her. Since your stepmother has made a move on you, your sister should also be cautious,” she urged.
Her words got on Ning Shaobai, and his expression became serious. He immediately picked up his phone and made a call.
Seeing this, Xia Mian sighed in relief. After knowing that Ning Shaobai was the uncle of the male lead, Xia Mian suddenly remembered an important plot point: when the male lead was a child, his parents had a falling out, and his mother took him to her grandparent’s house to find his uncle.
On the way, they encountered a kidnapping, during which several of the male lead’s fingers were cut off, leaving him permanently scarred and disabled. Subsequently, he was abandoned by his family, which led to a gloomy and paranoid personality.
His parents also couldn’t forgive each other for this incident and remained on bad terms after their divorce.
Later, it was revealed that the male lead’s step-grandmother, the second wife of his mother’s father, had orchestrated the kidnapping to drive a wedge between the Ning family and the Huo family, all in order to vie for the Ning family’s inheritance.
In the end, the instigator met a grim fate, but the male lead’s once happy family was irreversibly shattered, never to return to its former state. Even his mother lived with guilt until her death.
Although not detailed, the book repeatedly mentions that the kidnapping happened during a rainy season during the summer when the male lead was six years old.
Xia Mian did not intend to interfere with the plot, but she couldn’t bear to see a six-year-old child suffer such a grave trauma. She hoped that with her warning, Ning Shaobai would be able to contact his sister Ning Shaoyun in advance, thus preventing the tragedy.
Although Xia Mian had been thinking about the plot, she did not expect things to unfold so quickly; the very next day, she stumbled upon the kidnapping scene.
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Author’s Note:
A few years later, Xia Mian felt quite regretful: Dr. Ning is indeed good, it’s just that their orientations do not match.
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