Xing Bi was taken to a quiet and remote house where she couldn\'t sense a soul present no matter how far she looked.

By now, Nian would have understood that I was kidnapped, right? Wait what if Jun or Ai assume that I am safe at home! They wouldn\'t suspect Hou Lin at all!

Does this mean that nothing would happen for my rescue for this whole night!?

Xing Bi let out a string of curses at Hou Lin.

"You can sit anywhere you like."

His words broke her chain of curses, and she jolted at him, bewildered. "Huh?"

"I said you can sit anywhere you like."

Xing Bi took a glance around the house and found that it was fairly neatly maintained. There wasn\'t dust or spider webs formed around any corner of the house.

She coldly glared at him. "As if I would sit anywhere at a place where I am kept as a hostage! Is this some way of mocking me?"

Hou Lin gave her a blank look. "What is there to mock you in this? I don\'t mind if you remain standing, but I don\'t think you would be able to do that for the entire time you are here."

Xing Bi stared at him, noticing something very off about this whole situation. "You aren\'t going to tie me up or something-"

She stiffened and bit her tongue, now cursing herself.

Am I an idiot!? Isn\'t it good that he doesn\'t want to chain me!? Ahhhh I just brought that into his attention now didn\'t I? Stupid Xing Bi!

He replied, unfazed. "There is no need. This area is quite on the outskirts. Even if you go outside, you won\'t get any help. Even so if you insist on escaping, then there are chances you would unfortunately come across some potential drunkard or a sexual predator. It\'s vacant areas like these that attract them."

She felt goosebumps crawling on her skin, and gulped hard. That all drowned any hope of sprinting straight outside the remote house.

I want to escape, but I don\'t want to get myself into some other trouble instead!

"So please sit down."

"..."

"Aren\'t you being too polite?"

Hou Lin paused and furrowed his brows. "Is it wrong?"

"...You legit broke my phone and brought me here without my will! I don\'t think a kidnapper like that would be so polite," she speechlessly answered.

He stared at her. "So should I act harshly towards you? Is that the right thing to do?"

"..."

Why is he asking me that question?

"Obviously not!"

Hou Lin\'s look of bewilderment bewildered Xing Bi.

"What?"

"I don\'t understand. You think I shouldn\'t be polite to you. But you also don\'t want me to be rude to you. Then how should I behave towards you?"

"How about letting me go for starters!" She flared her nostrils.

Hou Lin blinked. "The door is right in front of you. I didn\'t stop you from leaving."

She gritted her teeth.

"You didn\'t stop me with your \'action\', but the words you said did!"

"Is it wrong?" 

"..."

Xing Bi suddenly started to see Hou Lin in a new light, and she wasn\'t sure where the direction of this new light headed.

"Then how about you give me your phone?" She sneered. "I cannot leave, considering the potential danger outside, but I can surely call Nian to pick me up from this damn place! Then it wouldn\'t be a problem, right?"

Hou Lin stared at her in silence.

"Hah! Cat got your tongue?" She snorted.

He slowly withdrew his gaze. "There is no need for that either. You will eventually leave with him."

"Ah?"

He glanced at her sideways. "I want to trade you with Yahui."

Her eyes widened. "Trade?"

"Yes. Mr. Liu Jian and Mr. Liu Nian has her hostage. I brought you here so that I can use you to get Yahui back."

"What?"

Huh, huh, huh? What\'s going on? Why would the twins take Zhan Yahui away?

"That\'s impossible! Why would they capture Zhan Yahui? You definitely have some misunderstanding!"

"It\'s not a misunderstanding. I heard from Sir Liu Jun himself. He had called you when you were in the restroom to tell you to get away from me as soon as possible."

She stiffened.

"Sir figured out that I was the traitor. So to get Yahui out of the pinch, I decided to take you with me."

"...Why? What did Zhan Yahui do that Jian and Nian felt the need to capture her?" Her countenance was filled with fury as she spoke, "Is it related to Ai? She never liked Ai in the first place! She always looked down upon her."

The dream of hearing Zhan Yahui and Hou Lin\'s voices flashed in her mind once again.

\'Zhou Ai is dead anyway.\'

Xing Bi grabbed his collar and with tears threatening to brim her eyes, she angrily confronted him. "Did she do something terrible to Ai? Did you and her hurt Ai? Open your mouth, Hou Lin! I would never forgive you if you dared harm my sister!"

At that proximity, Hou Lin clearly saw her trembling and her fists turning red with animosity. The green veins on the back of her hand showed how antagonized she felt.

"Hurting Miss. Zhou wasn\'t on our agenda. But it was something needed to achieve the bigger picture Yahui had in her mind."

"Bigger picture…" she gnashed her jaw. "What the fuck is this bigger picture!"

"Sir Liu Jun."

She froze.

"It was to target him that she had to bring Miss. Zhou Ai down because Miss. Cai Guiying needed to shine as a writer."

"...What the hell are you talking about? I don\'t understand anything. Target Jun?" She suddenly stopped talking and continued after a thoughtful pause, "Is it related to her taking over Shi Publishing?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because she needed power to take revenge on Sir Liu."

Her jaw slightly dropped in shock. "Revenge? But they know each other simply as editors of rival companies!"

"Rival companies?" He tilted his head. "That\'s too shallow and rivalry was never in the picture."

"Then what was?"

"Her father\'s death."

She stared at him.

"Her father whom Sir Liu killed when he was young."