The second daughter of the Qiao family was going to hold an auction. The items auctioned were very special and were her personal collection.

  She planned to auction all those items. All the money earned from the auction items would be donated to a charity to help the disabled, orphans, and elderly who had no one to rely on.

  Many socialites and beautiful women received invitations.

  This was a private auction hosted by Miss Qiao. The people who received the invitations were those on good terms with her. And since some of the items being auctioned were intimate, almost all the people invited were women.

  Qiao Jiusheng and Fang Yuqing also received invitations.

  Qiao Jiusheng had many things that could be auctioned. When she learned that Qiao Jiuyin was actually going to auction off the relics left behind by her parents, as well as the jade carvings that had never been seen before, she got furious.

  On the third day after returning to Binjiang City, she took the invitation and returned to Junyang City accompanied by Fang Yusheng.

  The auction was held at a private high-class club in Junyang City.

  Qiao Jiusheng wore a purple-pink dress and chose a pair of white flats for the banquet. She took the invitation and prepared to leave.

  Before she left, Fang Yusheng stopped her.

  “I keep feeling that Qiao Jiuyin has an ulterior motive for holding this auction.” Fang Yusheng’s intuition was rarely wrong. He wanted to go with Qiao Jiusheng, but because the invitation letter had clearly stated that no men were allowed to go, Fang Yusheng was unable to accompany her.

  How could Qiao Jiusheng not sense that something was amiss? Even though she knew that there was danger, she still had to go.

  “I have to get some things back.” For example, the things her parents left her before they passed away, her jade carvings, and some other things.

  Seeing that his wife was determined to get those things, Fang Yusheng asked, “Do you have enough money? Did you bring the card I gave you?”


  “Yes, I brought it.”


  “Tell me, what is it that you have to get?”


  Fang Yusheng was rather curious about which items Qiao Jiusheng cherished.

  Qiao Jiusheng gave a dazzling smile and said, “There are my jade carvings, my parents’ relics, and a watch.”


  After a moment of silence, Fang Yusheng suddenly asked, “What watch?”


  Qiao Jiusheng said, “A piece…” Her gaze shifted and landed on Fang Yusheng’s right wrist. She suddenly said, “It’s quite suitable for the watch you’re wearing.”


  “Oh? A men’s watch?” Fang Yusheng’s gaze deepened.

  “Yes,” Qiao Jiusheng said honestly. “I don’t know where it came from. Anyway, I’ve been keeping it for more than ten years. It seems to be quite important.” Qiao Jiusheng tapped her head with her index finger and continued, “My memory is bad, so I can’t remember certain things.”


  Fang Yusheng said, “I like blue watches.”


  Qiao Jiusheng thought of her watch and said, “What a coincidence! That watch happens to be blue.”


  The corners of Fang Yusheng’s lips curled up. He shook his car keys and said to Qiao Jiusheng, “I’ll send you there.”


  “Okay.”


  Fang Yusheng personally drove her to the outside of the clubhouse. Qiao Jiusheng went to attend the auction, so Fang Yusheng stayed in the car and played with his phone.

  ***

  The banquet was held on the second floor of the clubhouse.

  When Qiao Jiusheng arrived there, the auction had already started.

  As soon as she sat down, the emcee brought up a fan-shaped jade screen. On the jade screen was an ancient woman in a dress. She had a graceful figure and her posture was graceful. The carving was lifelike.

  This was the first time Qiao Jiusheng had completed a carving alone, and this item held extraordinary significance to her.

  The starting price was 200,000 yuan.

  The carved jade screen was extremely beautiful. The woman in the silk dress on it made it look especially lovable.

  Many people began to bid.

  Qiao Jiusheng did not participate in the bidding.

  Her goal was her parents’ belongings as well as the watch piece. There were too many jade sculptures. If she really bought all of them, the stingy man in her family would probably cry.

  In the end, the jade carving was auctioned off at a high price of 800,000.

  The next item was a longevity lock. This was the birthday gift designed for the Qiao sisters when they were one year old. The sisters each had one, and it was a pair.

  The starting price was 80,000 yuan.

  Qiao Jiusheng participated in the bidding. In the end, she won the Longevity Lock for 300,000 yuan.

  ***

  One item after another was auctioned off. Qiao Jiusheng finally waited for the watch.

  On the big screen, the image of the watch appeared.

  This watch came from the famous watchmaker, Vacheron Constantin. Although it was not a limited edition, it was still worth collecting. Since this watch was already out of production and was well preserved, the starting price was 1.5 million.

  Qiao Jiusheng was not the first to make a bid. She waited for everyone else to bid. At the end, when the bid reached 3.5 million and no one was willing to make a higher bid, Qiao Jiusheng finally made her bid.

  She raised the price to 3.6 million. The other women looked at her. Seeing that it was someone from the Fang family in Binjiang City, they gave up.

  Qiao Jiuyin then said to everyone, “All buyers, after the auction ends, please go to the first floor to collect your auction items.”


  Everyone stood up. Some went straight to the first floor to pick up the auction items, while others went to the second floor to attend the cocktail party.

  Thinking that Fang Yusheng was waiting for her, Qiao Jiusheng went straight to the first floor to get her things.

  The moment she entered the room, she realized that something was wrong.

  There was no staff member in the room.

  Qiao Jiusheng sensed something amiss and turned to leave. At this moment, she suddenly felt a pain in her arm. She regained her senses in shock and saw the expressionless Qiao Jiuyin.

  When she looked down, she saw a tiny syringe sticking out of her arm.

  Qiao Jiusheng was speechless.

  This was her last thought before she fainted.

  Fang Yusheng saw that everyone had left the clubhouse and did not see his Ah Sheng for a long time. He was worried and ran to the clubhouse to find someone. In the end, he obtained the news that Qiao Jiusheng had already left with everyone.

  Fang Yusheng frowned.

  Fang Yusheng found Fang Yuqing, who was about to leave, and asked her, “Where’s your sister-in-law?”


  Fang Yuqing actually said the same thing as those people. She said, “Hasn’t Sister-in-law Yunsheng already left?”


  “What happened?” Fang Yusheng felt more and more uneasy.

  Fang Yuqing said, “Sister-in-law Yunsheng took a call and went out. She went out more than twenty minutes ago.”


  Fang Yusheng’s expression changed. He checked the surveillance cameras immediately, but the surveillance cameras indeed showed that Qiao Jiusheng had left alone. After leaving the clubhouse, she had taken the road opposite Fang Yusheng. She had even hailed a taxi by the roadside and got into the car before leaving.

  Fang Yusheng intercepted the taxi’s license plate and contacted Qiao Sen immediately, asking him to call the traffic police and ask them to pay attention to the direction of the car.

  A few minutes later, Fang Yusheng received a call from Qiao Sen and got a nightmare that almost made him go crazy!

  A car accident had happened midway through the taxi ride. The taxi car had exploded on the spot, and the driver and passengers were burnt to death before they could escape!

  Fang Yusheng felt like he was struck by lightning.

  ***

  Fang Yusheng did not know how he came to the police station.

  When the police told him that the person whose face had been burnt to a crisp was his wife, he almost collapsed. He immediately ran over and stood in front of the burnt female corpse. When he saw the Phoenix pendant that had not been completely burnt on the female corpse’s neck, he collapsed.

  Fang Yusheng’s body swayed, and he knelt.

  He hugged the female corpse and howled. Then, he whimpered like a wild beast.

  Qi Bufan stood aside, looking stunned and shocked.

  How could someone who had been talking and laughing with them in the morning die so quickly?

  Fang Yusheng fainted from crying and was sent to the hospital by Qi Bufan.

  Qi Bufan had just carried him to the car when this man who had suddenly fainted opened his eyes. His red eyes were clear and bright, and he did not look like a grieving person at all. Fang Yusheng said to Qi Bufan, “Bufan, go to the forensic office.”


  Qi Bufan was stunned.

  “Were you acting just now?”


  His acting was too realistic.

  Fang Yusheng remained silent. He was not acting just now. He just did not believe that Qiao Jiusheng would die so easily.

  Qi Bufan brought Fang Yusheng to the forensic office. Fang Yusheng found the most authoritative doctor and handed a piece of black… human skin to the doctor. He had torn it off when he was hugging the female corpse.

  The doctor looked at the human skin, and his expression changed.

  “Mr. Fang…”


  Fang Yusheng took out two strands of black hair from his pocket and handed them to the doctor. Then, he said to the doctor, “I want to get this test’s results as soon as possible.”


  The doctor stared at Fang Yusheng and did not say much. He turned around and entered the laboratory.

  Fang Yusheng did not sleep the entire night.

  The next morning, the doctor took out a report and told him, “The test results show that these are the genes of two different people.”


  When Fang Yusheng heard this, his lifeless eyes suddenly shone with a shocking light!

  He knew that Ah Sheng would not die so easily!

  Fang Yusheng immediately called Qi Bufan and asked him to monitor Qiao Jiuyin’s movements.

  Qi Bufan waited outside the Qiao family manor for two days. During this time, Qiao Jiuyin never left the manor. At the same time, Fang Yusheng went to the police station again and told the police that the corpse was not his wife.

  The police immediately smelled a crime.

  The police officers went to the funeral home to investigate and found that the corpses of a woman and a middle-aged man had been stolen from them the day before.

  Regardless of who had stolen the corpse, these actions already constituted a crime.

  Qiao Jiusheng had been missing for more than 24 hours. Fang Yusheng made a case at the police station and asked them to help find his wife.

  Fang Yusheng suspected that Qiao Jiusheng had gone missing in the private clubhouse. The criminal investigation police had gone to the private clubhouse. After their investigation, they found that the actual data of the building and structure of the private clubhouse was slightly different from the data on the design plan.

  The clubhouse had a total of seven floors. After measuring it, they found that the higher they went, the larger the hall was. The biggest difference between the first floor and the top floor hall was actually 60 centimeters! The area of the stairs behind the hall was consistent with the design.

  What did this mean?

  This meant that a secret chamber about 80 centimeters wide had inadvertently formed between the hall and the corridor!

  The 80-centimeter wide gap could accommodate an adult lying inside!

  It could be possible for someone to hide an adult in a secret room and transport them through a secret passage.

  The findings were exciting and raised doubts about the real motives of the person who had designed this private club.

  After investigation, the police learned that the owner of this private clubhouse was called Wang Quan. However, this Wang Quan passed away two years ago. And before he died, a series of unfortunate events had happened in his family. Ten years ago, his father-in-law had died in a car accident. Eight years ago, his wife had mysteriously disappeared when she had attended the ball. For many years, they could not find her whereabouts.

  The place where the wife attended the ball was this club!

  The police could not help but make a bold conjecture. Perhaps, the wife of this man had not mysteriously disappeared. Instead, the man had hidden her from the public, then found an opportunity to kill her.

  That was why the most terrifying thing was the human heart. These words were really true.

  The police searched every floor several times. Finally, they found a way to open the dark room on the wall of a room on the first floor.

  When they opened the darkroom, they realized that there were indeed traces of dragging in the 80-centimeter wide gap. The police searched for the traces and found a dark passage. They entered the dark passage and realized that it was very long. They walked for more than ten minutes before coming out.

  When they came out of the dark passage, the policemen realized that the exit of the dark passage was in the woods behind the clubhouse.

  In the midsummer season, there would often be thunderstorms. Coincidentally, there had been two thunderstorms in the past two days. Almost all traces in the forest had been wiped away.

  The clues that he had finally found were cut off.

  Fang Yusheng stood in the forest, his expression scary.

  “Mr. Fang, we will do our best to find your wife’s whereabouts as soon as possible.” The policeman could not help but feel irritated when he saw Fang Yusheng’s ugly expression.

  It was fine if anyone else had gone missing, but that person had to be someone from the Fang family.

  Fang Yusheng did not say anything. He turned around and left.