Chapter 17
“Boss Jiang, you’re back?” Luo Jingyao pretended to be completely casual. “Isn’t this my first day at work? I was just calling home to let them know I’m safe.”
Boss Jiang neither said she believed her nor that she didn’t. She simply stared at her in silence for several seconds before suddenly letting out a laugh.
“What? Does this place look like some kind of shady establishment? Do you really need to call home just to report that you’re safe?”
“That’s not what I meant…”
Perhaps seeing how awkward Luo Jingyao looked, Boss Jiang waved her hand and stepped forward. She casually hooked her arm through Luo Jingyao’s and walked back with her.
“From now on, we’re all family here. Just call me Sister Jiang. You’ll understand after spending more time with us. I don’t have high expectations for my employees. As long as you do your own job properly, that’s enough.”
“Alright, Sister Jiang.” Luo Jingyao readily went along with it.
Soon, the training area, which had become quiet during lunch break, grew lively again.
Seeing that it was almost time for the afternoon session to begin, Boss Jiang finally let go of the hand she had been holding onto Luo Jingyao’s.
In just a little over ten minutes, the woman had nearly dug up her entire family history. Luckily, Luo Jingyao had prepared beforehand, and her half-truth, half-lie answers managed to get her through.
After an overly intense morning of training, most of the trainees were relying purely on willpower by the afternoon. After all, this was a weight-loss training camp, not a torture camp. Probably to prevent anyone from collapsing, the breaks in the afternoon had clearly become more frequent.
When the whistle for another rest period sounded, Luo Jingyao wiped the sweat from her forehead and shifted her gaze toward the instructors’ lounge in the corner ahead.
She skillfully avoided the trainees lying sprawled all over the floor and walked straight toward the door.
She stood outside for a while first, but unfortunately, the music blaring throughout the training area was too loud for her to tell what was happening inside.
After thinking it over, she finally placed her hand on the doorknob and pressed it down.
Creak—
The moment the door opened, the first thing that entered her sight was a wall of bare, muscular chests.
Perhaps they had just finished training outside and were still overheated, because the male instructors inside had all taken off their shirts. Steam-like heat even seemed to rise faintly from their bodies.
As expected, a wave of unmistakable sour sweat hit her the moment the door opened. Fortunately, Luo Jingyao had enough experience—she had already held her breath the instant she stepped inside.
The men, who had been chatting and laughing moments before, became slightly uncomfortable at her sudden appearance. The youngest-looking instructor sitting in the innermost corner stood up and spoke awkwardly.
“Sorry about that. There haven’t been any female coworkers at the camp before. We’ll pay more attention in the future. Coach Luo, please don’t feel uncomfortable.”
“It’s fine. Just do whatever you normally do. Besides, I’m the one getting the benefit here.”
Luo Jingyao looked completely unfazed, her tone even teasing.
Seeing that she really didn’t seem bothered, the young instructor immediately relaxed and introduced her to the others.
Only after going through the introductions did Luo Jingyao finally learn everyone’s names.
For example, the youngest instructor was actually surnamed Xiao. His name was Xiao Ping.
Then Xiao Ping pointed at the entire wall of metal lockers beside them and raised his hand generously.
“Except for the ones without spare keys hanging on the doors, Coach Luo, you can pick whichever one you like.”
“Oh, alright.”
Throughout the conversation, Luo Jingyao never stopped observing. She answered casually, but her gaze quietly swept over every corner of the lounge.
When her eyes lingered briefly on a certain corner, she turned around and casually picked a locker.
Then, pretending to be curious, she pointed toward that area.
“What are those things over there?”
Xiao Ping followed her gaze and immediately understood.
“Oh, those are our instructor class journals. The camp requires every instructor to fill one out every day. They’re an important factor when calculating our bonuses at the end of the month.”
“After you get through these first two days, Sister Jiang will probably give you one too.”
Hearing this, Luo Jingyao’s brows twitched slightly. She immediately followed the opening he gave her.
“Could I take a look at yours first? Otherwise, I might not know how to write mine when the time comes.”
“Of course. Go ahead.”
Xiao Ping agreed without hesitation. The others didn’t object either.
Just then, the whistle from outside sounded again. Everyone said goodbye to her before getting up and leaving one after another.
Soon, the not-so-spacious lounge became completely empty.
Suppressing her pounding heartbeat, Luo Jingyao waited until she was sure the door was closed before walking over to the table with the stack of orange-covered notebooks.
She picked up the top one.
The first blank page only had two lonely characters written in the center:
Xiao Ping.
The handwriting wasn’t particularly elegant, but every stroke was neat and orderly.
She flipped through a couple more pages.
Each page had a date written at the top, followed by a sparse daily record.
What class they taught, how the trainees performed overall, which trainees needed special attention, followed by a self-summary and plans for tomorrow.
Nodding slightly as if she understood, Luo Jingyao took out her phone and snapped two pictures of the open notebook.
Then she opened another one.
How should she put it?
The handwriting of the five instructors could only be described as “each having their own unique style.”
A few minutes later, she carefully restored the stack of journals to its original state and turned to leave.
Unexpectedly, the moment she opened the door, she almost collided with Boss Jiang standing outside.
Their noses were almost touching.
Luo Jingyao instinctively stepped back and looked at her in surprise.
Facing her suspicious gaze, the woman slowly curved her red lips.
“Tired? Do you think this workload is manageable? If it’s too exhausting, you can take a little more rest.”
Luo Jingyao frowned.
She thought Boss Jiang was sarcastically implying that she had spent too long in the lounge, so she carefully replied:
“Coach Xiao mentioned the class journals to me, so I thought I’d study how to write them first…”
“You don’t have to be so nervous. I didn’t say anything!”
Boss Jiang suddenly smiled and reached out, gently patting her shoulder in reassurance.
But the next second, her tone changed.
“By the way, I suddenly can’t find my phone. Do you have yours on you? Let me borrow it for a moment.”
Luo Jingyao lowered her gaze to the hand in front of her—its nails painted a dark red.
The muscles at the corner of her eye tightened slightly.
Under the woman’s unwavering stare, she slowly took her phone out of her pocket, unlocked it, and placed it lightly into Boss Jiang’s palm.
A satisfied look flashed across Boss Jiang’s face as she casually opened the photo album icon in the bottom corner.
The screen lit up.
One after another, vibrant pictures of blooming flowers appeared before them.
It was an extremely simple photo album.
Nothing but flowers.
“Sorry. I’m used to using my own phone and thought this was the call button.”
Boss Jiang gave a perfunctory apology, then found the phone icon and tapped into it again.
She casually glanced through the call history.
On the surface, there was nothing unusual. Most entries were just strings of numbers without notes.
After finding her own number, she dialed it.
Ring… ring…
A clear ringtone sounded near the water dispenser not far away.
The woman lightly said, “Found it,” and before leaving, naturally returned the phone to Luo Jingyao.
Watching her graceful retreating figure, Luo Jingyao silently let out a breath.
She lowered her head, opened the messaging app, and looked at the chat labeled “Lin.”
Seeing the words “All images sent successfully”, she swiped right without hesitation and pressed the red delete button.
Her lips pressed together unconsciously.
She couldn’t help admiring Lin Jiafan’s sixth sense.
This training camp really wasn’t as simple as it appeared.
Boss Jiang’s reactions were all incredibly suspicious. After all, she had never seen a legitimate business owner act this guarded.
The only question was—
What exactly was this woman feeling guilty about?
Could it be that she had realized Luo Jingyao’s true purpose wasn’t innocent?
But Luo Jingyao quickly dismissed that idea.
If Boss Jiang had truly figured something out, then the safest choice would have been to refuse letting her in from the beginning.
She only felt as though there was a thick fog in front of her, hiding everything from view.
Deep down, she even felt a little sympathy for Lin Jiafan and the others.
They spent day and night suspecting this and investigating that, yet somehow they still hadn’t gone bald.
That was honestly impressive.
If finishing this job could also cure her terrible habit of opening doors and somehow ending up at crime scenes whenever she did, she would definitely run faster than anyone else.
After calming herself down, Luo Jingyao thought it over and decided to continue working.
The basement level had no windows. All lighting came from rows of glaring spotlights on the ceiling, making it nearly impossible for anyone inside to notice the passage of time.
It wasn’t until the trainees cheered excitedly, realizing the day’s training was finally coming to an end, that Luo Jingyao noticed it was already time for dinner.
Speaking of which…
She tilted her head slightly and looked up at the repaired rows of spotlights overhead.
She wondered whether Lin Jiafan’s side had made any progress.
Lost in thought, the vibration from her pocket suddenly made her eyelids twitch.
She glanced down at the caller ID.
The moment she saw the number, she answered and brought the phone to her ear.
“The photos you sent me have already been compared by the forensic department. None of the handwriting matches the letters received by Wang Guifen.”
It was Lin Jiafan.
None?
Luo Jingyao immediately felt disappointed and pursed her lips.
“Coach Luo, the investigation at the training camp can end here. You don’t need to go again tomorrow. After work today, go straight home, understood?”
Lin Jiafan’s voice carried obvious concern as he reminded her.
“Mm.”
She answered vaguely, but deep down, she still felt that something wasn’t over.
Even if those five people weren’t the imitator…
Then how exactly did they get involved with Wang Guifen?
“As for everything else, the police will investigate further. You don’t need to worry about it anymore.”
Lin Jiafan still couldn’t fully relax and emphasized it again.
But Luo Jingyao only replied with an unrelated sentence:
“Have Pang Guang look into Boss Jiang again.”
Then she decisively hung up.
Immediately afterward, she quickened her pace and caught up with Xiao Ping, who was walking toward the restaurant.
She smiled brightly at him.
“Do you have some time?”
“How about going out for a drink together?”
—
Half Summer Novel, happiness comes in abundance
