Chapter 38

"Brother-in-law?"

Suddenly, the woman let out a cry of surprise, stepped on the brakes, and stopped the car by the roadside. It was only then that she remembered the man she had just seen was none other than Xu Jianxing, her sister's boyfriend from her university days. Although she had never met Xu Jianxing in person, she had seen countless intimate photos of him and her sister. Even now, when she returned home, she would occasionally see her sister smiling foolishly at their photos together.

After a moment's thought, the woman felt something was off. According to the information she had, Xu Jianxing seemed to be an ordinary person, so how could he have entered this place? His home was not even in this area.

After thinking for a long time, she still couldn't figure it out, so she opened the car door and walked toward the security post, thinking she would find the answers there. After all, for ordinary people to enter this villa complex, they would need the owner's permission and register. However, leaving was not a problem since the owner had already guaranteed their entry. If anything happened, they could just find the guarantor. Moreover, the complex had 24-hour surveillance, and all visitors were recorded.

Soon, the woman approached the security post. The guard, seeing her approach, smiled and asked, "Miss Chen, is there something you need?"

This Miss Chen was Chen Qingguo's granddaughter, Chen Haojie, whom Xu Jianxing had met for the first time at Donghu Park while fishing.

Chen Haojie smiled slightly and said, "Right, do you know who the man in the light blue sportswear who just passed by is?"

"Hmm." The guard was taken aback for a moment before quickly responding, "I know him. That gentleman is a friend of Mr. Lu from Villa 19."

"Mr. Lu? Is it Lu Qian?" Chen Haojie asked immediately. There were only 32 villas in this complex, and although the residents were quite far apart, most of them were familiar with each other. Occasionally, the complex would hold entertainment activities, and Chen Haojie had attended twice. She naturally paid more attention to Lu Qian, a beautiful woman. Additionally, her grandparents had a good relationship with Lu Qian, and the bridge of communication was the adorable little girl, Lu Tingting.

"Yes, yes, it's Mr. Lu Qian," the guard nodded hurriedly.

"Then there should be some registration information, right?" Chen Haojie asked again.

"Yes, Miss Chen, please wait a moment, I'll get it for you." The guard, though unsure of what Chen Haojie wanted, understood that she was looking for information about Mr. Xu. This information was not confidential to the owners or their immediate family members, and anyone could view it. There might even be some unexpected benefits.

This "unexpected" benefit referred to a fraudster who had once tried to scam one of the residents. By coincidence, another resident's wife recognized him as someone who had scammed her years ago. As a result, the fraudster fell into his own trap and became a laughingstock.

Soon, the guard brought Xu Jianxing's registration information and handed it to Chen Haojie, saying, "Miss Chen, here it is, you can take a look."

"Okay." Chen Haojie took the paper and saw, "Xu Jianxing, male, Han nationality, born on March 17, 1988, home address: No. 303, Nanhua Road, Yingchuan City, Beiyuan Province..."

"It's him." Chen Haojie confirmed at a glance. This Xu Jianxing was indeed her sister's former boyfriend. Because of this relationship, her sister had been confined for a long time and was eventually forced to break up with Xu Jianxing. After that, her sister almost never left the house, only going out when her mother insisted.

As for her father, who had forced her sister to break up, their relationship had become icy, and they hadn't spoken much in the past year.

Chen Haojie admired her sister's deep love and strong character but was also very dissatisfied with her brother-in-law. After the breakup, Xu Jianxing had not contacted her sister again.

In fact, Xu Jianxing couldn't be entirely blamed. After graduating from university, although he didn't believe that Chen Haoxue had changed her heart, he knew she had many difficulties. To avoid putting her in a difficult position between him and her parents, and to prevent her from being forced to sever ties with her family or even breaking down, Xu Jianxing chose to leave quietly after graduation, wishing her well in his heart. Chen Haoxue was the most important woman in his life.

Because of this, Xu Jianxing had not fully recovered. If it weren't for the game, his friends, and Lu Qian, he might have gone mad with longing.

Chen Haojie then asked the guard with a somewhat unhappy look, "By the way, do you know what the relationship is between Xu Jianxing and Lu Qian?"

"Uh!" The guard was taken aback and then said with a pained expression, "Miss Chen, how would I know?"

"Hmph." Chen Haojie huffed, "If you don't know, what are you doing as a security guard? I don't believe you people haven't studied the residents of this complex or used it for entertainment. Speak up, or I'll go look at the surveillance footage myself."

"Ah." The guard was stunned, unable to understand why this young lady was so concerned about Mr. Xu. He couldn't help but think that Miss Chen must have a close relationship with Mr. Xu, perhaps even as a friend. If that were true, things could get complicated.

Indeed, as Chen Haojie said, the security guards, especially those in high-end villa complexes, were often bored. Sometimes, they would review the surveillance footage from the entrances and exits to pass the time.

These guards knew a lot about Xu Jianxing, who had appeared in the past two days, and they were envious and jealous of his apparent close relationship with their occasional idol, Lu Qian.

Looking at the guard's expression, Chen Haojie said impatiently, "Do you know or not? If not, take me to the surveillance footage."

"I know a little." The guard hesitated and then said, "According to Brother Ma, Mr. Xu went out for a morning run around 5 a.m. and just returned."

"Damn, you saw it too." A nearby guard, who had been paying attention, cursed angrily.

However, Chen Haojie didn't pay attention to this and said through gritted teeth, "Bastard."

Even if she were ignorant, she could imagine what it meant for a man to spend the night at a woman's house. Even if nothing had happened, she believed Xu Jianxing must have some complicated relationship with Lu Qian, as she knew some of Lu Qian's habits. How could an ordinary person stay at her place?

Without hesitation, Chen Haojie turned and got back into her car. With a roar, the car quickly turned around and headed toward Villa 9.

Although Chen Haojie's father, Chen Xueyi, was the vice mayor of Yunhai City, the villa was actually purchased by Chen Qingguo's second son, Chen Xuefeng, who ran a large real estate company in Shenzhen. Buying this villa was not a big deal for him.

Additionally, Chen Qingguo had a daughter named Chen Jingxian, who, though not as successful as her brothers, ran her own private travel company in Yunhai City.

Chen Jingxian had been in Yunhai much longer than Chen Xueyi, having started her business over 10 years ago. Chen Xueyi had only been transferred here at the end of last year, which was a coincidence.

As for Chen Qingguo and his wife, they knew little about Xu Jianxing and Chen Haoxue's relationship because they had only retired last year. Before that, Chen Xueyi had deliberately hidden Chen Haoxue's situation from them, so they had been in the dark until they moved here to retire. They had never met Xu Jianxing in person or seen his photos.

Soon, Chen Haojie returned to the villa. Seeing her grandparents, Chen Qingguo and Han Guixiang, in the garden, she said angrily, "I'm so angry, I'm so angry, I'm really so angry."

The old couple looked at each other, puzzled. Then, Han Guixiang smiled and held her hand, saying, "My dear granddaughter, didn't you go shopping? Which little rascal made you so angry?"

At this, Han Guixiang, with a youthful spirit, winked and said, "Did our dear granddaughter see a handsome guy on the way and try to pursue him, but he didn't like it?"

"Grandma, have you been watching too many Korean dramas?" Chen Haojie blushed and pouted.

"Ha ha!" The old couple burst into laughter. After a while, Han Guixiang asked with a light smile, "What really happened? Tell grandma."

"It's not a big deal. I just saw my sister's ex-boyfriend, Xu Jianxing, in this complex." Chen Haojie said with a hint of disdain, thinking that her sister's ex-boyfriend must have found a new patron and forgotten about her sister.

"Hmm." The old couple was taken aback and frowned. They were very satisfied with their current life, but the only regret was the heartache their eldest granddaughter had caused them.

To be honest, although they had never met Xu Jianxing, they still had a good impression of him. According to common sense, when Xu Jianxing first met Chen Haoxue, he might have been one of those people who tried to use her father's status for personal gain. The old couple had seen many such people in their lives.

However, Xu Jianxing had not made any moves, and the old couple had almost dismissed this thought, believing he was a good young man. Of course, there could be exceptions, but they believed no one with ulterior motives could remain inactive for a year.

The only thing they were slightly dissatisfied with was how quiet Xu Jianxing had been, to the point where they couldn't imagine it. Perhaps he had forgotten about their granddaughter, or even told her so, but Chen Haoxue couldn't bear to listen and had sunk into her own world.

This made the old couple feel helpless. Even their son had begun to show signs of compromise, as no one wanted their daughter to lock herself away for life.

However, from Chen Haojie's tone, they sensed something different and naturally had some negative thoughts, worrying about their granddaughter and feeling dissatisfied with Xu Jianxing.

But thinking about their son's actions, the old couple felt a bit helpless. As the saying goes, "What you sow, you shall reap." Unfortunately, their granddaughter had suffered, and their efforts had not yielded good results on either side.