Xu Wei nodded and said, "Yeah, did Ye Mo tell you that? But I don't even know your name yet."
"I'm Ning Qingxue. I wanted to ask—do you know where Ye Mo is? He hasn't come back all day," she said. In her view, since Ye Mo lived with Xu Wei, Xu Wei must know where he went.
"I haven't seen him in two days," Xu Wei said, surprised. "Isn't he staying with you?"
"With me?" Ning Qingxue was just as surprised. Something felt off—clearly, things were not as she had thought.
Seeing Xu Wei's puzzled expression, Ning Qingxue added, "Aren't you his girlfriend? Doesn't he live with you?"
Xu Wei blushed at the question and felt a bit annoyed. But facing such a beautiful, elegant woman, she couldn't lash out, so she replied coolly, "When was I ever his girlfriend? That's a bit much. You live with him every day and say I'm the girlfriend? That's really twisted."
"What? Doesn't Ye Mo stay with you every night?" Ning Qingxue asked, shocked.
Xu Wei noticed Ning Qingxue didn't seem to be lying and replied, "We just rent rooms from the same landlord. We're not even that close. Isn't he living with you?"
Now Ning Qingxue realized she had misunderstood Ye Mo. But if he didn't live with her or with Xu Wei, where was he staying? A hotel, maybe—he did have money now.
"Oh… maybe he's staying in a hotel. I just don't know where he's gone today." Ning Qingxue felt a bit guilty after realizing her misjudgment.
"No way—he's definitely not at a hotel. I'm up every day before 6 a.m., and he's always in the courtyard," Xu Wei caught herself, realizing she almost admitted Ye Mo stayed nearby.
Trying to change the subject, she awkwardly said, "Anyway, maybe he really is at a hotel. I have things to do—I'll head in."
But Ning Qingxue stopped her awkwardly. "I'm sorry, Xu Wei. I really haven't been living with him. But then, how could he be in the courtyard every morning at five or six?"
Xu Wei originally wanted to laugh it off, but seeing that Ning Qingxue wasn't lying, she frowned. The whole thing felt eerie. Could Ye Mo be... She didn't dare finish the thought.
Then, as if remembering something, Xu Wei said suddenly, "The landlord installed surveillance cameras in the front and back yards. The feed is stored on a computer in the storage room. I'll take you there."
Ning Qingxue quickly followed her into the cluttered storage room, located in the living room corner—a place Ning Qingxue had never even noticed. Sure enough, a dusty monitor was there, powered off.
They turned it on and pulled up the recent footage. One camera showed the front gate, the other showed the backyard. Clearly, the landlord was thorough.
As they reviewed recent recordings, they saw footage of Ye Mo leaving in the early morning each day—never at night.
But when they scrubbed through more footage, they saw Ye Mo sitting beneath a tree in the yard night after night. He sometimes slept on a stone slab under the awning, but most of the time he just leaned against the tree, using only a flat stone as a cushion.
"He's always slept under the tree?" Ning Qingxue and Xu Wei looked at each other in shock.
Then both suddenly remembered—it rained heavily a week ago. Hastily skipping to that day's footage, they were stunned to see Ye Mo still sitting beneath the tree in the downpour. The rain seemed to form a curtain around him. Though unclear, it didn't look like he got wet. Later, he moved to the stone slab to sleep.
Xu Wei, a sentimental girl, began crying as she watched—tears streaming down. She felt sympathy and even resentment toward Ning Qingxue. How could she treat Ye Mo this way? Just because she was beautiful? Such a heartless woman.
Wiping her tears, Xu Wei shot Ning Qingxue a glance, then turned and left the room without saying a word. She no longer wanted to be in the same space as her.
Left alone, Ning Qingxue watched the footage of Ye Mo sleeping on the stone slab. She didn't feel quite as sorrowful as Xu Wei, but an ache bloomed in her chest.
He had money. Why sleep under a tree? Why stay out in the rain instead of under the eaves? Even if he had wanted to share her room, she wouldn't have refused. After all, that was why she came in the first place.
Earlier, she thought Xu Wei's crying was dramatic, but now she felt her own heart a little cold. Still, she remembered a saying: "The pitiful often have something detestable about them." She didn't realize Ye Mo felt the same way about her.
She sighed. Maybe Ye Mo was so frugal because he'd been too poor before. She was somewhat moved that he gave her the room, but more so, she believed he only did it for the 500,000 yuan.
She fast-forwarded to last night's footage. As always, Ye Mo sat under the tree and later moved to sleep on the stone slab around 1 a.m.
But what happened next nearly made her scream.
Song Shaowen had scaled the wall and sneaked in with two men.
Ning Qingxue remembered what Li Mumei had said—didn't Song Shaowen die? Why was he in the footage?
Her scalp tingled.
As the footage continued, Song Shaowen and his men approached Ye Mo, spoke with him briefly, and then left together. The courtyard returned to calm.
There was no audio, so she couldn't hear what was said.
But now she understood: Ye Mo must have agreed to something and left with them. If Song Shaowen had come for her, why didn't he act? What exactly had happened?
Song Shaowen finding this place was terrifying in itself. If Ye Mo hadn't been there...
Then the thought struck her: Song Shaowen's car crashed off a cliff—was Ye Mo involved?
She couldn't suppress her worry and called Li Mumei.
"Mumei, you said the three people in the car all died. Was anyone else in the car?" she asked.
"No, what's wrong? Just the three. The coroner confirmed it. Song's family is in disarray. Don't overthink it—I'll come to see you tomorrow," Li Mumei comforted her.
After hanging up, Ning Qingxue was still uneasy.
That video footage must never be seen.
She hurriedly copied the surveillance footage to her external drive, then deleted it from the computer.
But she knew—it could still be recovered. If the Song family started investigating and discovered Song Shaowen had been to Ninghai, they might come looking.
Still, Ning Qingxue had made up her mind: Song Shaowen's death must be related to Ye Mo.
She just hoped no one ever traced it back to her.