Rebirth: A Cinderella's Counterattack

Chapter 358: Chapter 340: Financial Crisis

The only difference, probably, was that when her brother talked on the phone about anything confidential, someone was watching him and would hang up the phone, whereas on her side, as long as she wished, no one could control her; she could make a phone call wherever she wanted.

But thinking about it, her brother was being held captive, kidnapped, whereas everything on her end was of her own volition.

If she thought about it that way, her brother must have known, known exactly who was targeting them as siblings. However, her brother hadn’t specifically insisted that she refrain from doing anything, which meant perhaps the people behind this had no ill intentions?

Hu Si entered the room after seeing Luo Qianqian hang up the phone, ”What are you thinking about?” He handed her a bottle of mineral water.

Luo Qianqian shook her head, took the water, twisted off the cap, and took a couple of sips before slowly saying, ”Under what circumstances would the person who kidnapped you bear no malice?”

”The person who kidnapped you?” A mysterious light flashed in Hu Si’s eyes as he lowered his head, seemingly pondering, ”Someone who fancied you?”

Luo Qianqian’s mouth twitched, ”You win.” She knew this man would not say anything pleasant.

Hu Si sat on a nearby chair, serious-faced, ”If it’s about your brother, there are a few possibilities. What we know now is that your brother is fine, not mistreated, and he can contact you every week. So does that mean this person means no harm? Not necessarily, it might be that they have the intent but not the courage. In such a case, you need to think about you, your brother, and the Luo Family’s adversaries. It could also be just to gain leverage, so the people you and your brother have offended can be ruled out.”

Luo Qianqian nodded repeatedly, a serious look flashing through her eyes.

”But if it was the adversary, why would they still let you contact him? Is this a gesture of goodwill or just to emphasize your brother isn’t dead? And are you sure it was really your brother’s voice?”

Luo Qianqian hesitated for a moment, suddenly thinking of the voice-changing bow tie in Detective Conan, but considering the caring tone of her brother, those couldn’t be faked, she shook her head, ”I can’t be absolutely certain, but it’s more likely to be my brother.”

”There’s also a possibility, that the person who took your brother is someone you know, or someone who knows you, bears no malice, just has some motive, and your brother has been persuaded, so making a weekly call could mean to reassure you, yet due to confidentiality reasons, he can’t tell you.” Hu Si smiled, pulling out a scalpel he carried with him, ”If it were me, I have ways to change someone’s appearance, after all, cosmetic surgery is easy, but whether it’s your brother or not is up to you to decide, you wouldn’t fail to recognize your own brother, would you?”

Luo Qianqian looked at the scalpel Hu Si flipped out from his tie, feeling a chill run down her spine, wondering how carrying a lethal weapon hadn’t gotten him arrested yet.

Seeing Luo Qianqian’s slightly fearful expression, Hu Si chuckled and pulled out two silver needles from his sleeve, ”Sometimes carrying these things is just for psychological comfort, just in case I encounter any danger, it could save my life.”

Seeing Hu Si being so forthright, and also because of the things he had just said, Luo Qianqian had already let her guard down significantly, and spoke blankly, ”You say, if I were to change my appearance, would my brother recognize me?”

Hu Si was startled, brandishing the scalpel in front of his chest, ”What are you trying to do? I’m telling you not to mess around, our bodies are inherited from our parents.”

Luo Qianqian pursed her lips and opened her laptop, no longer wanting to engage with him.

”Actually, no matter what you look like, the connection between siblings won’t err. A person’s appearance may change, but one’s essence does not.” Hu Si said earnestly, then opened the door, ”You do your work, I have to perform a procedure to remove some eye bags from a middle-aged woman.”

Luo Qianqian nodded, not taking his words seriously at all.

Looking at the question on the screen, Luo Qianqian always felt as if she was being manipulated, her every move transparently observed.

Luo Qianqian had initially trusted her teacher Hei Yu, but as time passed, she felt he was hiding something and became cautious.

After a moment of thought, Luo Qianqian closed the test paper sent by the laboratory and opened a webpage, directly hacking into the Earthquake Management Bureau.

Hei Yu, in his room, just raised an eyebrow at the anomaly on Luo Qianqian’s computer. As long as the connection wasn’t broken, he didn’t care what she did.

Silently, she sent out a forecast letter. On the home page, in the most conspicuous place, there was a star chart with bold letters declaring that a major earthquake would hit a certain province in May.

Although it was taken down after three hours, many people had seen it. Luo Qianqian curled the corners of her mouth and made a call to Qin Nuan.

Qin Nuan answered the phone. Before she could speak, Qin Nuan’s joyful voice rang in her ear, ”Did you do this? Nicely done!”

Luo Qianqian touched her nose. She had just casually posted the notice on the headlines of major websites, of course using a foreign account. Without real-name verification in place, Luo Qianqian was quite playful and thoroughly enjoyed herself.

”How’s everything on your side?” Luo Qianqian, hearing the long-missed voice, skipped any greetings and went straight to the point. There was no need for formalities between them; they were people who could trust each other.

”I literally feel like killing someone right now.” Qin Nuan glared viciously at Luo Yanran sitting across from her, cracking sunflower seeds, ”What in the world is up with your brother? You wouldn’t believe what he has done.”

”...He hasn’t taken liberties with you, has he?” Luo Qianqian asked, chuckling.

”Spit spit spit, how could I ever fall for him? He actually used eighty percent of our money to buy twenty whole warehouses full of water and instant noodles!” Qin Nuan was livid: ”I had everything planned so well, and then, suddenly, the money was gone.”

”Well, what he bought isn’t wrong.” Luo Qianqian leaned back in her chair, a smile in her eyes, ”It’s disaster relief supplies.”

”Spit spit spit, what about the lottery we agreed on, and the events? You think those don’t cost money?” Qin Nuan rolled her eyes, threw the folder in her hand at the person cracking seeds, her face full of indignation: ”I don’t have a secret stash of cash, what should we do now?”

Luo Yanran caught the folder, his face a bitter smile; a secret fund, as if. His earnings over the years had been cleaned out, okay? Now to buy a meal, he had to ask his dad, even one hundred yuan in his hands would be scavenged by Qin Nuan.

”Lotteries are easy, just get a few lottery tickets, the draw is in two hours, just a bunch of little number cards. The cost isn’t that high, the prize, well, we can just pick something like, my brother seems to have a round-trip ticket for two to Bali-, using it as a first prize isn’t bad.”

”That one, I was actually thinking of selling it, but now that you mention it, using it as a prize isn’t bad.” Qin Nuan flipped through the inventory list in her hands and seeing what Luo Qianqian mentioned, she said: ”You’ve been useful, so I won’t hold it against you for not contacting me for so long, go study well, I’m hanging up now.”

Hearing the beeping from the receiver, Luo Qianqian was a bit dumbfounded. Was this throwing her away after getting what she wanted?

With a helpless shrug, she then started to seriously revise in front of the computer.