The phone was missing.
That phone Qin Guan had kept meticulously hidden - Qi Min's phone - had disappeared.
The hollowed-out space within that thick book lay completely empty.
Frantically, he pulled down all the books from the shelves, opening each one to check.
Nothing - he hadn't misremembered, hadn't accidentally misplaced it. After disposing of the body, he'd personally placed it inside the book!
But the phone had truly been taken.
Xu Ruyi.
It could only be Xu Ruyi.
Who else in this house could have silently taken the phone from his study besides her?
But she was hospitalized!
She had someone else take it.
She had someone enter this study she never visited to secretly remove the phone - Xu Ruyi had complained many times that he'd decorated the study too formally and gloomily. She disliked it intensely, especially Qin Guan's massive legal tomes, saying even seeing those books on the shelves made her dizzy.
Had she secretly installed surveillance cameras in the study?
Qin Guan swept books off the shelves, meticulously inspecting every compartment, including the displayed photos and trophies...
The corners, drawers, doors, windows.
He even took a knife and slashed open the leather chair back.
Still found nothing.
This study he'd personally designed from renovation, he knew better than anyone. If he couldn't find anything, there was nothing to find.
But if Xu Ruyi hadn't installed hidden cameras, how had she located the phone?
Someone must have carefully flipped through every book - only through thorough searching could they have found it.
Who?
Cold chills danced and rolled across Qin Guan's back as he stared at his pale reflection in the bookcase's glass surface, unable to believe everything that had happened today.
Xu Ruyi had self-harmed, framing him to the police.
Xu Ruyi had secretly taken Qi Min's phone he'd hidden.
When had she planned all this?
When had she discovered the phone?
Who was her accomplice?
Qin Guan had only taken out this phone twice - once to get the key from the repair shop, another time to New Lotus Hotel intending to force Qi Min's appearance and dispel police suspicions.
Xu Ruyi couldn't have discovered it during these times. On the first occasion, she'd been out all day, returning bloodied that night before being hospitalized. The second time she was already bedridden.
Meaning she'd discovered the phone long before Qin Guan took it out.
She must have found it the moment Qin Guan returned from his business trip.
This realization made Qin Guan's blood run cold. His legs gave way and he barely caught himself on the heavy desk, supporting his collapsing body - she had known everything those days after his return? Yet still acted affectionate and smiling?
When had the Xu Ruyi he knew and understood become this scheming and terrifying?
Even Qin Guan's usual composure shattered. Panting heavily, he staggered to his daughter's room - technically Xu Ruyi's room now.
She'd mostly slept here since their daughter's birth due to the child's poor health and restless nights, only returning to the master bedroom once or twice weekly to fulfill wifely duties.
Even those duties left Qin Guan unsatisfied - sometimes in their marital bed, she'd rush off at the child's slightest whimper. Several times when Qin Guan initiated intimacy, the baby's crying would make her cling to him apologetically: "Husband, I'm sorry, I have to go. Tomorrow, okay?"
But that sweetness belonged to the past.
After her father's death, she'd permanently moved to the child's room, claiming overwhelming grief.
"My father's gone. I can't rest peacefully in your arms anymore. Let me stay quiet with Little Pear. In this world, I only have you and our Little Pear..."
Qin Guan had believed her then.
Truly believed.
She'd sounded so sincere. Her close relationship with her father was real, his death had genuinely devastated her.
So he understood, supported her, gave her space.
Now looking back, that's when she'd started rejecting and plotting against him!
An icy tremor rose silently from the depths of his heart.
No. Impossible.
Qin Guan dismissed the thought, barging into the room to violently yank open drawers and cabinets - no need for pretense now. Xu Ruyi knew everything.
His affair with Qi Min - she must have known long ago!
The drawers held only children's picture books, hair clips, toys, and Xu Ruyi's sentimental novels.
This was probably why Qin Guan had underestimated her - a nearly thirty-year-old woman engrossed in childish, melodramatic stories about love and leisure.
Who could have imagined that was just her facade?
Finding no trace of Qi Min's iPhone after ransacking the room, Qin Guan stood panting, clothes soaked with sweat - of course Xu Ruyi wouldn't keep the phone here after taking it.
But worse than the missing phone was the question: What did she plan to do with it?
Expose his affair with Qi Min to demand divorce?
No, too simple.
Qin Guan couldn't guess - ever since discovering her self-harm at Tianfu Hotel, this woman had become completely incomprehensible.
Surveying the devastated house, he ran fingers through his hair, still unable to figure it out.
Finally grabbing keys, he rushed out.
Qin Guan drove straight to the construction site.
He needed to check on "Qi Min".
This was his most urgent confirmation - without the body, there could be no autopsy to determine cause of death, no criminal charges.
Xu Ruyi couldn't cause major trouble with just a phone - he, Qin Guan, was the expert in criminal homicide cases.
What could a phone prove?
At most evidence of his affair. Besides, Qi Min had reappeared publicly after disappearing - a phone from before her final disappearance meant nothing.
Rationalizing this, Qin Guan sped through the night.
Reaching the pitch-black construction site, only scattered lights from nearby temporary shelters illuminated the area - workers had retired after dark.
No one around.
Using his phone as a flashlight, Qin Guan stumbled through the uneven terrain.
He didn't notice the shadow behind him quietly raising a phone, capturing photos of his every move.