My online dating circle has millions of followers, why would she put a collar on me?

He looked away, picked up his phone again, and spoke in a very soft voice, with a gentleness that even he himself found hypocritical.

"Anmian, I've investigated the matter thoroughly. It was all done by one of my bureau chiefs who acted on his own initiative."

"He was a bit agitated, and in the interrogation room, he accidentally made physical contact with Jiang Yi, which resulted in his injury."

On the other side, Xia Anmian's questioning voice rang out almost simultaneously, sharp as a poisoned dagger, stabbing through the receiver, precisely into Zhao Jianguo's eardrum, into his temple, and into his heart, which was already beginning to panic.

"You're saying there was physical contact in the interrogation room? Uncle Zhao, your men have some nerve, daring to use torture to extract confessions in this day and age?"

Zhao Jianguo's body trembled violently.

His fingers, gripping the phone, were trembling, his knuckles turning white, and the phone case made a faint, strained creaking sound in his palm.

He didn't know why, but every time his niece got angry, he felt very familiar with her, so familiar that he could predict what she would say next and what she would do next without even thinking.

That sense of familiarity surged up from the depths of my spinal cord.

He had only ever experienced that feeling with Old Master Xia.

This is also why he has always been careful in his treatment of Xia Anmian.

This girl seems to have the natural air of someone in a superior position.

It's etched into your bones, ingrained in your blood, and something you were born with.

That kind of temperament doesn't need any external labels to enhance it; it doesn't need designer bags, luxury cars, or any other material possessions.

She just stands there, without saying or doing anything, and you can feel your own insignificance.

Zhao Jianguo took a deep breath, suppressing the panic that was about to engulf him, and then glared fiercely at Zhao Jianmin.

You fucking got into this mess, you fucking have to cover for me.

Zhao Jianmin lowered his head, like an old cat soaked in the rain with nowhere to go, curled up on the sofa, motionless.

Normally, Zhao Jianmin would have been somewhat afraid and wary of Zhao Jianguo's disdainful look.

After all, he's a department head, he's a bureau chief; a higher rank can have absolute power.

But at this point, he no longer cared.

His career was over, his reputation was over, and everything he had painstakingly built up in his life was gone.

But he still had one lifeline—Gu Qinghan.

As long as Gu Qinghan is willing to protect him, as long as the Gu family is willing to lend even a finger, he can get up from this mess, dust himself off, and keep moving forward.

All he had to do was cling tightly to Gu Qinghan's coattails, hold on tight, and never let go, no matter what.

Zhao Jianguo naturally understood Zhao Jianmin's plan.

You're fucking dreaming.

Hehe, trying to cling to Qinghan's coattails?

Why don't you take a piss and look at yourself in the mirror to see what kind of person you are?

You caused all this trouble, and you expect me to clean up your mess?

You want me to take the blame for you?

No way.

"Anmian, don't get agitated. I'll have Director Zhao come to you and report to you in person!" Zhao Jianguo's voice remained gentle, so gentle it was almost hypocritical, so gentle it gave one goosebumps.

But there was not a trace of a smile in his eyes; they were as cold as two hailstones that struck Zhao Jianmin, making him flinch.

"No need! I don't want to see animals!"

Xia Anmian's voice was as cold as if it had been quenched with ice, each word sounding as if it had been pulled out of an ice cellar, carrying a chill that went straight to the bone.

After she finished speaking, she paused for a moment, and then asked a question that made Zhao Jianguo's heart race.

"Who was it that took Jiang Yi out on medical parole? I don't think that beast has any conscience in taking Jiang Yi to get treatment!"

Zhao Jianguo hesitated for less than half a second.

"It's Su Xiaoyue, and Qinghan," he said. His voice was flat, as if he were reciting a menu.

There was silence on the other end of the phone.

"Anmian, should I inform Qinghan for you?"

Zhao Jianguo's voice came through the receiver, cautiously probing.

"No need." Xia Anmian hung up the phone.

The call has ended.

Zhao Jianguo hung up the phone, and that huge weight was finally lifted off his shoulders.

He leaned back in his chair, exhaled a long breath, so long that all the air in his chest was sucked out, and he felt completely drained. He slumped in the swivel chair, motionless.

He could have easily concealed it, but he said it on purpose.

Young people's emotional problems are the most difficult to solve, more difficult than any other case.

Instead of getting involved, let them make a scene. If things get out of hand, someone will naturally step in to clean up the mess.

By then, none of this will concern him anymore. He'll have already run far away, to a place where no one can find him, and hide until things calm down before coming out again.

Thinking of this, he picked up the red-headed landline phone on the table.

That landline phone, painted red and with a dull sheen in the sunlight, the kind only important people could call. I dialed that number.

beep - beep - beep -

"Hello, Mr. Xia, do you have time tonight?"

……