Su Banxia sighed and looked at her. "Not good. I'm lucky Pei Shaoze didn't kill me."
Fang Shiqing hadn't asked about what happened tonight, but hearing her say this, she lifted her eyes to look at her. "What exactly happened?"
After a moment's thought, Su Banxia still spoke up. "Lin Tongze showed up at Old Master Pei's birthday banquet tonight. He should be Pei Shaoze's half-brother!"
"Huh?"
Fang Shiqing was shocked. "What's going on?"
Su Banxia shook her head. "I don't know either. And Pei Shaoze is convinced I stayed at Dingsheng to steal its secrets. The key point is, part of Dingsheng's secrets have already been learned by Lin Tongze."
She paused. "My days aren't going to be easy from now on."
She had no idea how Pei Shaoze would deal with her, and just thinking about it gave her a headache.
Fang Shiqing finished washing her face and looked at her, at a loss for words. After a moment, she said, "Did you give Dingsheng's secrets to Lin Tongze?"
Su Banxia shook her head and looked at her. "How could I? When I came back to China and joined Dingsheng, it was my own plan. At first, I agreed with Lin Tongze to stay at Dingsheng and investigate a case from a few months ago for him. I never promised to help him steal Dingsheng's secrets. Besides, I didn't even know about his relationship with Pei Shaoze before."
Fang Shiqing wiped the water from her hands and looked at her. "Have you considered that Lin Tongze might have had you join Dingsheng from the start just to use you?"
Su Banxia frowned. "Impossible!"
She only found out after returning to China that the boss of Dingsheng was Pei Shaoze. Even if Lin Tongze were omniscient, he couldn't have known that.
"What are you going to do now?"
Fang Shiqing asked her.
Su Banxia didn't know what to do either.
She sighed softly. "What can I do? Go see Dad tomorrow."
From what Pei Shaoze said at the Pei residence, he wasn't about to let her off easily. Unless he tormented her until she was thoroughly worn out, he probably wouldn't let go.
They chatted for a while and then went to sleep.
The next day.
Unbeknownst to them, the dog days of summer had arrived. July in Yanshi was the hottest place in the country.
Without air conditioning in summer, it was impossible to sleep at night.
Going outside required as much courage as northerners braving winter.
When Su Banxia woke up in the morning, it was because of the heat. Last night, she had probably set the air conditioner temperature too low.
It got a bit cold, so she turned it off in the middle of the night.
Waking up in the morning, she felt very hot.
She slowly got out of bed, took a moment to adjust, and heard noises outside.
She paused for a moment and left the bedroom.
In the living room, Guoguo and Su Hao were already awake, along with Fang Shiqing. The three of them were eating at the table.
Seeing the food on the table and the sounds coming from the kitchen, Su Banxia was startled.
She looked at the three at the table and asked, "Who's here?"
Fang Shiqing grinned. "You'd better go change your clothes."
With that, she gave Su Banxia, still in her pajamas, a particularly mysterious look.
Su Banxia frowned slightly, glanced toward the kitchen, and wondered if Lin Haoran had come to see Fang Shiqing.
After a moment's thought, she turned and went back to the bedroom to change.
When she came out, Lin Haoran wasn't there, but Lin Tongze emerged from the kitchen wearing an apron.
She was stunned. Lin Tongze smiled at her and said, "Go wash up and get ready for breakfast."
Su Banxia: "..."
She felt a bit flattered.
She glanced at Fang Shiqing, whose eyes were fixed on the food on the table, not even looking at her.
Well, that one was just a foodie.
The two kids were even worse, eating more eagerly than anyone. Su Banxia was speechless and turned to go into the bathroom to freshen up.
When she came out, the other three had almost finished eating.
Seeing her ready, Lin Tongze waved her over. "Come here."
Su Banxia walked to the table. Lin Tongze had been waiting for her—milk, eggs, and the breakfast he'd bought from outside.
Without saying much, Su Banxia lowered her head and ate.
Guoguo and Su Hao had to go to school. Su Banxia had planned to take them after eating, but Fang Shiqing spoke up directly. "Take your time eating. I'll take Guoguo and Xiaohao to school."
She gave Su Banxia and Lin Tongze a sly look. "You two take your time."
Su Banxia was a bit exasperated. Indeed, women's gossipy nature was innate.
Once the three left, the apartment was left with only Su Banxia and Lin Tongze. She had nothing to say, so she quietly ate.
Lin Tongze kept watching her eat. When she was almost done, he spoke. "Still angry about last night?"
Su Banxia paused and looked at him. "Angry about what?"
She finished eating and got up to clean up.
Lin Tongze followed her, helping as he said, "I never told you about my relationship with the Pei family before. I was also surprised last night that Pei Shaoze brought you along."
Su Banxia paused and turned to look at him. "So that's why you came here first thing this morning?"
Bringing breakfast and even frying eggs himself.
Just to apologize?
Lin Tongze saw her calm expression, showing no sign of anger, and felt a bit helpless.
In six years of knowing each other, her emotions toward him had always been so faint. Even now, when she might suspect he had used her, her face showed no anger.
"Banxia, I'm sorry about the Pei family matter."
Su Banxia cleared the food from the table and looked at him. "Did you get those Dingsheng secrets through me?"
She had joined Dingsheng to help him investigate whether Pei Shaoze was behind the Lin family's business crisis, not to steal Dingsheng's secrets.
If she didn't care about his relationship with Pei Shaoze or what they planned to do next, she just wanted to know now whether she had been used as a pawn to obtain trade secrets.
And she had been completely in the dark the whole time.
Being sold and still counting the money for the seller—that was truly foolish.
Lin Tongze frowned slightly, a shadow crossing his handsome brow. "Banxia, my issues with the Pei family won't involve you."
Su Banxia didn't listen to that. She asked him again, "Just tell me, how much of what you have came through me?"
She didn't want to be treated like a fool. She had returned to China genuinely wanting to help him, but she never imagined that investigating things would turn into corporate espionage.
Lin Tongze didn't want to lie to Su Banxia. His initial goal was to find out if the Pei family was behind the Lin family's crisis.
But he hadn't expected that the information Su Banxia gave him would contain so many hidden details.
Those details were usually impossible to uncover unless you looked very carefully.
Seeing his silence, Su Banxia had basically confirmed it.
Was she angry?
It seemed unnecessary.
She looked at Lin Tongze and frowned slightly. "You should have been clear from the start. If you had, with all our years of friendship, you know I wouldn't have refused."
She hated being lied to, especially by those she trusted most.
Lin Tongze looked at her, his handsome face apologetic. "This is my fault. I should have been upfront from the beginning."
Su Banxia smiled faintly. "It's fine. It's already like this now."
But now, Pei Shaoze had dumped all the blame on her, and even her explanations felt redundant.
It was getting late. Su Banxia tidied up, and they left together. Lin Tongze looked at her. "I'll take you to Dingsheng."
Su Banxia didn't refuse. There was no reason to.
She still had something to say to him.