The hospital room! The smell of disinfectant was not too strong.
Probably because of old age, Lafeier's injuries were healing slowly. In addition, there have been frequent visitors these past two days, naturally all coming to discuss with him about Lin Cheng's succession to the throne. Lafeier had not rested well at all, and now he looked rather listless.
"I'm wondering if she's just putting on an act. Lin Cheng agreed to marry Karina and succeed to the throne to force us to show our hand."
"Otherwise, why would Lin Cheng suddenly compromise, and even from the last time we met with them to when I was attacked and injured, it was her testing me." Lafeier sat on the hospital bed: "What if this really is her deliberately leaving? What do we do then?" After a short pause, Lafeier shook his head and muttered: "I'm probably just overthinking it."
"Maybe she really is just here to help Lin Cheng put on a show for the royal family to see, and she's not actually targeting us at all."
Lafeier thought of something else. He looked towards the middle-aged man standing with his back to him and his hands behind him by the window, and said reproachfully:
"You shouldn't have taken action so rashly at the state banquet that day. What if Qin Hanyue had noticed something and told her..."
The man at the window turned around: "Whether she's acting or we're overthinking, even if this really is a trap she set up, we can still back out and just hand over the throne to Lin Cheng, right?"
"So what if she really is targeting us? As long as she can't confirm who exactly she's looking for, she won't act rashly."
Lafeier smiled wryly: "Yes, as long as she can't confirm exactly who Diamond J is, she won't make a move."
The man at the window warned: "Keep a close eye on her and make sure she stays in Hua Country."
Lafeier: "I'm watching her."
Lai En leaned on his crutch as he came out of his hospital room, intending to go see his father, but saw his father walking towards the elevators.
Lai En called out: "Father, why are you out..."
The man turned around to look at him. Lai En stared at the completely unfamiliar face, stunned. It wasn't his father.
Lai En apologized to the man. He stood there and watched the man get into the elevator...
Lai En arrived at his father's hospital room: "Father, did anyone come to visit you earlier?" Aside from medical staff, no one else could come up to this floor that they had booked out entirely, so that person could only have been visiting his father.
Lafeier looked at him but did not reply immediately.
Lai En said: "I just ran into someone earlier. That person's back looked a little like yours, I almost mistook him for you."
Lafeier: "A friend."
Lai En: "Father's friend? I don't think I've ever met him before."
Lafeier: "Just a regular friend. It's normal you don't recognize him. He heard I was injured so he came to see how I'm doing."
Lai En nodded.
After breakfast, Qiao Ying sat on the sofa holding her phone, not knowing what she was looking at, and sat there for half a day.
Qin Hanyue was busy with work for a while, and when he saw that she was still on her phone, he went over and sat next to her: "What are you looking at?"
Qiao Ying simply handed him her phone.
Qin Hanyue took it and saw that they were photos, specifically surveillance screenshot captures, and the person in the images was Lafeier.
Thinking about how Qiao Ying had been frequently scrolling back and forth earlier, as if comparing something, Qin Hanyue also scrolled back and forth to take a look.
Flipping through them, he realized they were all photos of Lafeier - walking, getting into cars, talking, standing, sitting, eating...just normal, everyday activities.
Qin Hanyue: "What's wrong with these photos?"
Qiao Ying: "Something's off."
Qin Hanyue looked again carefully: "I don't see anything off."
Qiao Ying: "Neither do I."
Qin Hanyue looked at her, then smiled and moved closer to her: "You haven't played a joke on me in a long time."
Qiao Ying gave him an unimpressed look: "I'm not joking with you."
Curious, Qin Hanyue asked her to elaborate: "Then why do you feel like there's something wrong with the Lafeier in these photos?"
Qiao Ying took her phone back, flipped through the images a couple more times, then opened a short surveillance video of Lafeier coming out of a hotel while on a business trip: "Can't put my finger on it, something just feels off."
Qin Hanyue watched her screen: "Do you feel like his every word and move is off? Do you think he seems like Diamond J? Does he seem familiar?"
Qin Hanyue continued: "You were in close contact with Lafeier that day. Is the Lafeier now on your phone different from the one you met?"
Qin Hanyue looked at the Lafeier on the phone walking through a hotel lobby towards the elevators, then thought back to the one he saw that day. If Lafeier really was the original Diamond J, his acting skills would have to be superb, always staying in character.
Especially at their meeting in the private room that day, he would have been more prudent and careful about details than ever. The casual Lafeier captured on surveillance right now should be the real him in a relaxed state, but Qin Hanyue didn't notice anything out of the ordinary.
Qiao Ying didn't respond. She leaned back on the sofa, not knowing what she was thinking.
"Are you worried that even if they make a move against Lin Cheng, you still won't be able to confirm exactly which mask Diamond J is hiding behind?"
Qiao Ying looked at him but said nothing.
Qin Hanyue said: "I believe you can do it. You should be the most familiar with him out of anyone, and recognizing people is your specialty."
Qiao Ying told him: "I did actually receive training in that area."
Curious, Qin Hanyue asked her to elaborate: "Any techniques?"
Qiao Ying: "The eyes."
Qin Hanyue: "Eyes?"
Qin Hanyue gazed into her beautiful eyes: "The eyes are windows to the soul. Appearances can be altered but the eyes are hard to fool."
Qiao Ying: "Your eyes truly are hard to fool."
Her tone was a little mocking.
Qin Hanyue just smiled: "I'm just being frank with you." He went on: "My gaze is direct, your words are direct - we're a natural fit."
Qiao Ying didn't feel like engaging with him and went back to her own thoughts.
Qin Hanyue moved closer to her: "What are you thinking about?"
Qiao Ying snapped back from her thoughts. Looking at the man's face right before her eyes, she raised her hand and lightly scratched the fading marks on his neck.
His gaze naturally fell onto the marks all over her neck as she moved. His eyes instantly became scorching hot and he lowered his head wanting to kiss her.
Qiao Ying turned her face away: "Tell me, if Lafeier really is Diamond J, is Lai En real or fake? And if he's real, does he know?"
Lai En lay in his hospital bed, thinking back to the man he had mistaken for his father earlier. That man's back really did resemble his father's. He had stared at the man's back until he watched him get into the elevator.
The man was standing in the elevator and their eyes met.
That pair of eyes were very familiar.
Lai En picked up his phone and glanced at the room door before making a call to a trusted subordinate in a low voice: "Help me check on someone..."
