Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 970: Chapter 14: Lost (Part 4)

Han Bingjiang was not someone who had never seen the world.

But the scene in front of him was so shocking that for a moment his thoughts seemed to come to a halt.

All the nerves in his body suddenly became sensitive, his hair stood on end, and a chill ran up from his soles.

He just remembered that he should have been knocked unconscious by Qiao An with a stick… But when he came back to his senses, why was there a female corpse beside him?

And its face had been skinned—how deep a hatred this represented, and what a cruel method!

In an instant, Han Bingjiang thought of the scene layout as a murder framing—he was sure he hadn’t been sleepwalking or suffered any mental ailments that might allow him to kill without his conscious mind.

Who framed him?

Qiao An?

But he had no enmity with Qiao An—they maybe had an issue later, and that was only after he successfully exposed her for hiding the fact that she already had a boyfriend.

However, he hadn’t gathered any sensational dirt today… Oh, wait, he learned from Qiao An that she had an out-of-wedlock child, and that child is old enough to buy soy sauce.

This was indeed explosive news—but he hadn’t reported it yet!

So what is Qiao An’s reason for framing him?

Han Bingjiang was overwhelmed by confusion—he understood only one thing: if he continued to stay in this place, and got discovered by someone, he would be utterly unable to cleanse himself of blame.

This is a restroom, and despite being an airport with high-security measures, it was impossible to have surveillance cameras in restrooms—therefore, no one knew what happened here!

Here… likely held a lot of his fingerprints!

God knows what arrangements the murderer made following his blackout?

The murder weapon!

Han Bingjiang shivered suddenly, hurriedly picked up the western dining knife he threw on the ground, then hastily walked to the sink and opened the faucet, rinsing the knife which was the murder weapon.

It wasn’t only the murder weapon, the restroom was likely rife with his fingerprints and shoe prints… and his clothes!

His clothes were stained with blood!

Han Bingjiang couldn’t bother dealing with any other potential fingerprints!

He quickly stripped off his blood-stained clothes, wrapped them around the dining knife—which served as the murder weapon—he needed to leave this place as soon as possible!

Oh, right, he also had to avoid the surveillance cameras outside in the corridor—damn it, he had no idea whether he’d been captured by the surveillance on his way here!

Han Bingjiang felt quite calm, thanks to years of experience as a paparazzo, he’d encountered plenty of unexpected situations, and it had honed his ability to stay calm.

He could only force himself to calm down… Han Bingjiang secretly told himself ‘everything will be alright’, and rushed towards the restroom exit.

Perhaps, at this moment, he should have called the police.

The instant he exited, Han Bingjiang’s heart suddenly struggled—by cooperating with the police in their investigation, he should be able to prove that he was framed!

Thinking this, Han Bingjiang slapped his forehead hard—he felt handling the fingerprints on the murder weapon was a stupid decision!

But in the next second, Han Bingjiang felt dizzy when, the instant he walked out of the restroom, several airport SWAT members appeared before him!

The airport SWAT members were stunned upon seeing Han Bingjiang.

But ultimately, they were trained professionals and upon seeing Han Bingjiang walking out from the male restroom, his face pale, holding clothes bundled up in his hands, and looking flustered, they quickly drew their guns at Han Bingjiang.

“Don’t move! Raise your hands!”

Under the loud commands of several SWAT members, Han Bingjiang’s hand shook, and the blood-stained clothes he was holding fell to the ground!

Not only did the dining knife, which served as the murder weapon, get exposed, but the bloodstains on the clothes were fully revealed at that moment…

It was over!

Han Bingjiang’s lips trembled instantly.

At this moment, one SWAT member spoke into the shoulder-mounted walkie-talkie: “Report, we are the third squad! We swiftly arrived at the suspected explosion site and found a suspicious male!!”

They were only freshly arrived; they hadn’t had time to enter the restroom for inspection.

“Explosion… what explosion?”

Han Bingjiang froze, instinctively looking towards the female restroom opposite the male restroom, where smoke was billowing from, “Why would…”

He instinctively moved towards the smoke-emitting female restroom, but just one step out, his body was pinned to the ground by two airport SWAT members!

Han Bingjiang quickly struggled a few times, but it was futile.

“Captain! We found a woman’s corpse inside!”

At that moment, Han Bingjiang, still struggling, heard this, and his body went limp, almost fainting!

“Not me… not me! I was framed! I was framed! I’m innocent!!” Han Bingjiang shouted!

The man who appeared to be the captain spoke directly: “Take this suspect away for investigation immediately! Also, seal off the scene, confirm the deceased’s identity, and notify the bomb squad to check the entire building for other dangerous explosive devices!”

Han Bingjiang’s legs were completely weak… He was dragged away by the SWAT members, one holding each of his arms.

“Not me… not me… it was Qiao An! It was Qiao An! It was her! It was her!!”

I am… innocent.

…

…

Following the crowd, Luo Qiu and Song Ying quickly arrived at the hotel in the previously designated terminal, joining the Song Family entourage.

Song Tianyou was naturally very happy to see his two grandchildren safe and sound.

Meanwhile, the guests who had been resting in the hotel were also emerging from their rooms under the airport staff’s guidance, heading to safer areas.

It wasn’t possible to gather everyone in one place… due to the explosion, people should be directed to open areas.

The boarding gate corridors were immediately opened, and the passengers who had already passed security checks late at night were moved outside to the airport runway area.

“Can’t know what happened, Aqi?” Suddenly, Song Tianyou looked at the man who had been the liaison after returning to the country, Mr. Aqi.

“I’m sorry, Old Master.” Aqi looked apologetic, “It’s shocking that it happened… Don’t worry, I’ll find out what’s going on as soon as possible.”

Mr. Aqi ran to the side and started making a phone call.

Song Haoran playfully remarked, “This might have scared someone half to death. Having a bomb attack on their own turf.”

Song Ying, who had just returned, rolled her eyes at Song Haoran, “It’s already good enough they’ve arranged a channel for you to return. Say less… I don’t know if we can find out anything useful.”

Song Haoran chuckled, “You don’t know, do you? The airline I flew back on from Xiangjiang is actually backed by the Zhang Family holdings… If Aqi can’t find anything out, I’ll be surprised.”

Luo Qiu looked at Song Haoran with surprise.

Hearing them mention the Zhang Family along the way, Luo Qiu had long suspected that this was the family of his former female classmate, Zhang Qingrui.

Zhang Qingrui.

Luo Qiu knew that this sole female classmate in the class back then came from a very wealthy family, and it was later proven that Zhang Qingrui’s family was indeed a hidden giant in the area… but he didn’t expect the Zhang Family to hold shares in an airline.

No wonder the flight back from South America was smooth and without a hitch.

“By the way, who is this child?” Song Haoran curiously examined the child following Luo Qiu.

Song Ying quickly explained Paul’s story, and upon hearing it, Song Haoran, thinking it was just a lost child, did not pay much attention, and he proceeded with a chuckle.

But as Song Haoran walked, he suddenly slowed his steps, squatted down to tie his shoelaces, and after tying them, quickly stood up and returned to his group.

He quietly said to the bodyguards beside him, “Someone is following us.”

The two bodyguards nodded slightly.

When the Song Family entourage turned the corner of the corridor, they quickly blended into the shadows.

The boarding gate was just ahead, and passengers were queuing up, waiting to go out to the airport runway. From the looks of it, cutting in line was impossible—getting into a commotion in such a situation was undesirable.

The Song Family was low-key returning and didn’t want to expose themselves to state scrutiny.

Aqi had already gathered the information and hurried back, whispering in front of the Song Family group, “Rest assured, this is not an attack against you. From what I’ve gathered, airport special police apprehended a suspect, currently under interrogation, and a skinned female corpse was found on-site.”

“Skinned…” Everyone was shocked at such a brutal method.

“What about the explosion?” Song Haoran was more concerned about the bomb.

Aqi promptly replied, “It wasn’t a powerful bomb. The bomb squad found some glass shards, burnt twine, cigarette boxes, and matchboxes at the site of the explosion. It seems like a makeshift Molotov cocktail or something similar.”

“A female corpse and a makeshift incendiary bomb?” Song Haoran was taken aback, “Doesn’t sound like murder.”

“It probably wasn’t aimed at you.” Aqi nodded, “Let’s leave it to the police to investigate what happened. If there’s nothing else, they should lift the alert soon, so everyone can rest easy.”

“Thank you for your efforts,” Old Master Song spoke up.

“It’s nothing,” Aqi quickly replied.

Just then, two bodyguards came back, holding onto a struggling woman.

“Young master, this might be the person following you,” one of the bodyguards said, “We noticed her and she tried to escape, looks suspicious.”

Everyone looked over.

“Qiao An?” Song Ying was the first to recognize the woman the bodyguards had captured—it was the same actress Qiao An they had encountered in the security office.

What puzzled Song Ying was that Qiao An was no longer wearing the casual hoodie and jeans but a long black trench coat… when did she change?

Song Ying found this odd, and she accidentally noticed a green ring on Qiao An’s right index finger.

In her mind, Song Ying recalled the lost items list she had seen out of boredom in the security office, and she started feeling something was odd.

“Little Ying, do you know her?” Song Haoran was naturally surprised.

Song Ying was jolted out of her thoughts and nodded instinctively, “This is the celebrity we met in the security office.”

Song Haoran whistled and sized up the woman in front of him—only to feel a sharp pain as Song Ying stepped on his foot.

“Don’t stare, she has a boyfriend!” Song Ying tugged at Song Haoran’s ear.

Song Haoran, with an innocent shrug, waved for Qiao An to be released, then directly asked, “So, miss, why were you sneaking around behind us?”

“Paul!”

But Qiao An completely ignored Song Haoran’s question and dashed to Luo Qiu’s side… in front of Paul.

Under everyone’s curious gaze, Qiao An tightly hugged Paul, her face full of anguish, “Paul, don’t be afraid, mommy’s here, mommy’s here.”

“Mommy!”

Mommy!

“Whoa, what’s going on…” Song Ying was taken aback—Hadn’t she vehemently denied it in the security office?

“You’re Paul’s real mother.”

As soon as Qiao An in the black trench coat picked up Paul, she unexpectedly heard this question.

She instinctively glanced over and saw a calm young man… But his gaze made her feel instinctively afraid.

She averted her eyes from this young man… from Luo Qiu.

“Paul… he’s my child, no matter… I’m sorry.”

She didn’t finish her sentence, just bowed her head, holding Paul, and charged into the crowd.

“Call her back…” Song Ying was about to shout—just remembering that Paul had already called her mommy once in the security office, and now here again, she suddenly didn’t feel she had the position to stop a mother from taking her child away.

Even though this mother, for the sake of her reputation, initially denied Paul as her child in public, which was somewhat disgraceful.

“What kind of people… in this entertainment industry.” Song Ying shook her head, “Is it worth it?”

But Song Haoran suddenly said, “Say, Little Ying, did you mistake her for someone else?”

“How could I?” Song Ying glared at Song Haoran.

“If you didn’t mistake her, then who is this woman?” Song Haoran pointed ahead.

Ahead, Qiao An, dressed in the hoodie and jeans, was hurriedly walking out of the passage with a foreign youth, likely following the evacuated passengers.

“This…” Song Ying’s lips parted slightly, staring at the Qiao An with Agumos in disbelief, then instinctively glanced, noticing the spot where the other Qiao An, with Paul, had disappeared into the crowd.

“There are… two Qiao An?”