Back Then, I Adored You

Jiang Qianqian had been waiting at the elevator for about five minutes. Finally, she ran into Liang Doukou’s assistant.

They had met a few times before, but Jiang Qianqian had never talked to Liang Doukou’s assistant. She didn’t even know the assistant’s name. She froze for a second when the assistant walked past her. She had to reach her hand out to stop her from moving forward.

Liang Doukou’s assistant stopped and looked at Jiang Qianqian in confusion. She asked politely, “Sorry, how can I help you?”

Jiang Qianqian looked around and pointed at the empty emergency exit. “Are you free now? Can we talk over there if you’re free?”

Jiang Qianqian was afraid that the assistant would say no to her, so she leaned forward and whispered quickly, “I know your mother is sick and needs a lot of money. I can help you with that.”

Liang Doukou’s assistant looked shocked for a second, positively shocked that Jiang Qianqian knew about her dilemma. She nodded and led their way to the emergency exit.

Jiang Qianqian followed right behind the assistant and closed the emergency door behind her. Jiang Qianqian took a check out of her purse and wrote down a number on it. She passed the check to Liang Doukou’s assistant.

The assistant glanced at the number on the check, but she didn’t take it. Instead, she gazed into Jiang Qianqian’s eyes and asked very directly, “What do I have to do for you?”

“The video.” Jiang Qianqian was direct, too. When she saw that the assistant understood what she meant, she went directly to the point. “I want the short video that you shot on your phone revealing Liang Doukou’s secrets.”

The assistant had only wanted to blackmail Liang Doukou with the video. She had never thought of hurting her in any other way. She pressed her lips together and turned around. She dodged Jiang Qianqian’s gaze and said, “I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

“Stop it. If I’m talking to you about it, it means that I must already know everything. The check is here. If you can give me the video, you can walk away immediately with this check. I’ll be fine without that video, but,” Jiang Qianqian paused for a second on purpose before she continued, “If I were you, I would take the check right now and leave. Your mother’s life is more important. If Liang Doukou can’t get the money for some reason and her video gets stolen anyway, you would lose everything.”

After their talk, Jiang Qianqian fell into deep thought. With her head tilted, she thought and asked, “What tricks do you think they would use to steal it? Voice recording? Calling the police? Persecuting you with fraud?”

“It could happen.” Jiang Qianqian nodded in agreement and gave the assistant a big smile. “Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Jiang Qianqian, cousin of Liang Doukou. People may not know it, but I, as her family, know…”

The assistant seemed shocked to hear that Jiang Qianqian was Liang Doukou’s cousin. She suspected Jiang Qianqian might have heard more than she was letting on from someone. She said quickly, “I can give you the video, but I need 200,000 more.”

Jiang Qianqian tore off another check without any hesitation. She wrote down another number and passed both checks to the assistant.

The assistant took them and checked to make sure the checks were legitimate before she reached her hand into her purse. She took out a flash drive and passed it to Jiang Qianqian.