Chapter 1612 - 1616: The Voice Recorder She Left Behind

"Mom, no one knows what kind of woman Qian Qian is in my heart better than I do! She never even asked for wealth or status, she only wanted to stay by my side and protect me!" Beitang Yao let out a silent sigh and said in a low voice, "How could such a kind-hearted girl possibly be the murderer who killed Madam Rong? Besides, Madam Rong died from excessive blood loss! Do you know why I’m so sure it wasn’t Qian Qian who did it?"

The First Madam took a deep breath and listened as Beitang Yao continued.

"Not long before the incident happened, Qian Qian was still in the room with me. We were wrapped up in each other—how could she have split herself in two and gone to the stone chamber to kill Madam Rong?" Beitang Yao said bleakly. "If it really was Qian Qian who killed her, Madam Rong couldn’t have died from massive blood loss in just a little over ten minutes..."

The First Madam’s face was already twisted. Looking at the gloom on Beitang Yao’s face, she knew there was no way she could keep hiding the truth.

After coughing lightly a few times, she said, "Yao, do you really think that girl truly likes you? She only wanted your money, that’s all! This is a recording she asked me to give you before she left. She came to me on her own."

The First Madam silently thanked herself for being prepared early; otherwise she truly wouldn’t have known how to fend off Beitang Yao.

After she finished speaking, she took a voice recorder out of her bag. "Yao, this is the recorder she left behind. Mom has listened to it once already. Son, how could Mom possibly let you fall for a woman like that? She’s nothing like the simple girl you think she is."

However, Beitang Yao didn’t reach out to take the recorder the First Madam was handing him; he just stared at it in a daze.

"You don’t want to press play, is that it? Then Mom will do it for you." Seeing his hesitation, the First Madam made the decision for him.

Beitang Yao had just lifted his hand to stop her when the recorder had already started playing. It was her voice: "First Madam, I can assure you, I don’t have even the slightest trace of romantic feelings for Young Master Yao! He’s just my employer. Staying by his side makes me feel worse than death; he clings to me like a Satan, like a Demon! I’m really terrified, but I don’t dare do anything that might go against him at all. I’m afraid he’ll use my family to threaten me again... These past three months, I’ve been so tired, so afraid. If I can, I don’t want anything anymore; I’ll just disappear from his world like this. First Madam, could you be merciful and let me leave this place? I swear, as long as I leave here, I will never appear in front of any of you again for the rest of my life!..."

The rest went on and on, replaying over and over.

Listening to it, Beitang Yao squeezed his eyes shut, then took a deep breath and said, "Mom, are these really words that Qian Qian said all by herself? Why is she so afraid of me? Why would she choose to leave me? Why? Why is this happening?"

"Yao, don’t think too much about it. Mom didn’t want you to be this heartbroken, but you wouldn’t believe what I said, and I had no other choice, so I let you hear this." After turning off the recorder, the First Madam said gently, "Both Madam Rong and Qian Qian approached men for money. Don’t let yourself sink too deep. You still have three children to take care of. Listen to Mom—marry a decent, proper girl, get along well with her, and give Zi Jian and the others a complete family..."

"Mom, please go out. I want to be alone for a while." Beitang Yao buried his head in his hands and choked out the words.