My Villain Is Super Sweet (GL) - CHAPTER 43

Something must have happened to Lin Lang.

Gu Qingci was certain of it.

And the place where it had likely happened — eight or nine times out of ten — was at the so-called home of her biological parents.

She took a deep breath, forcing herself to speak as calmly as possible.
She asked Lin Yao for the address of their family home and requested that she help keep Lin Lang’s phone safe and the line open.

Just to be safe, she also asked for Lin Yao’s own phone number and reminded her not to tell anyone else in the family about this.

Lin Yao, young but not foolish, agreed to everything.
Then, timidly, she asked:
“Did something happen to my sister?”

She wouldn’t tell the others — some things she could just sense.
In that house, the other people weren’t trustworthy.

“It’s not clear yet. Don’t be scared. You’ll see her in a few days,” Gu Qingci replied, her voice steady and measured, strangely reassuring.

Lin Yao’s eyes turned red.
She was really scared that something bad had happened to her sister.

She sniffled and promised earnestly:
“I won’t tell them anything. If something happens, I’ll quietly let you know. I’ll also take good care of my sister’s phone.”

Gu Qingci responded gently:
“Your sister is going to be fine. She’s amazing, right?”

Lin Yao nodded hard:
“Yeah!”

Then, without being prompted, she added sweetly:
“And you’re my sister’s boss — you must be even more amazing! I believe in you.”

Please, please bring my sister back, she thought to herself.

After hanging up, Gu Qingci finally realized that she was trembling.

The anger, the fear — all of it had left her physically shaking.

Gu Qingci was not like Lin Lang.

When something happened to Lin Lang, she had only herself to rely on.
Her family, at best, was a burden and of no help at all.

But when something happened to the proud Miss Gu, if she didn’t have a solution right away, she had plenty of people she could turn to.

She immediately turned and went to find Gu Minglan:
“Mom, I think something’s happened to Lin Lang.”

Her voice was trembling, and her eyes were brimming with tears.

At that moment, Gu Minglan, still engrossed in her intense mahjong battle, didn’t quite register what she said.
Confused, she looked up and said:
“Huh?”
Once her brain finished processing what Gu Qingci had just said, Gu Minglan’s expression gradually darkened.

She decisively slapped the tiles in her hand onto the mahjong table and stood up, walking with Gu Qingci to the side. As they walked, she fired off a rapid string of questions:

“What happened to her?”

“When did it happen?”

“How do you know?”

After listening to Gu Qingci lay out the entire situation as simply and clearly as possible, Gu Minglan let out a sigh.
“This is going to be a bit tricky.”

This matter was troublesome for two reasons.

First, it clearly seemed like a domestic dispute. But that wasn’t the real issue — once a so-called family conflict escalates to detaining and hiding someone, it’s still illegal.

Second, it was the New Year holiday! Everyone was off work. Trying to get anything done was especially inconvenient. Even if people had free time, no one liked being approached with trouble on the first day of the Lunar New Year. It felt unlucky, and they definitely wouldn’t be thrilled.

But tricky or not, seeing her daughter so anxious and flustered, Gu Minglan swallowed the words “maybe we should wait a little longer.”
She first contacted someone she knew from the system — someone she’d known for over a decade. No fear of superstition between old acquaintances. The person was willing to help, but after hearing the situation, they gently explained: if someone is missing and there’s no concrete proof of danger, an official report can only be filed after 48 hours, and only by immediate family.

However, he said he could help by having someone check the surveillance footage near the entrance of the residential complex, just to see if Lin Lang had left the area.

Gu Minglan thanked him, then immediately turned to her next move — activating her financial power to quietly hire someone to investigate.
At the very least, they needed to check the building surveillance at Lin Lang’s parents’ place.

Checking surveillance near the gate might help a little, but it wasn’t enough.
What if Lin Lang had been stuffed into a car and taken away? That wouldn’t show clearly from those angles.

After setting everything in motion, Gu Minglan frowned at her daughter, who was clearly anxious and unsettled.
“Composure in the face of a crisis — look at you, what kind of mess are you right now?”

She scolded her lightly, then pulled her into a hug and comforted her:
“Alright, don’t worry. Lin Lang will be fine.”

Gu Qingci looked up at her:
“Mom, could this have something to do with the He family?”

Her mind was still a mess.
The fact that she wasn’t even allowed to report someone missing without being immediate family — not until maybe tomorrow night or the day after — made her chest feel tight with helplessness.

Tangled in worry and frustration, she was already fuming inside.
The He family never stops, do they? One problem after another — first He Jikai dared to lay hands on her, and now they were pulling something shady with Lin Lang?

If that family couldn’t control their own people, then maybe it was time to go all out — find a way to deal with the entire He family once and for all.

In contrast, Gu Minglan remained much calmer.

“Whether they’re involved or not, we’ll know once we look into it thoroughly,” she said, a bit puzzled. “I’ve already made things difficult for them these past two years. They shouldn’t be picking fights now.”

In the past couple of years, apart from handling her divorce and forcing her ex-husband to gradually hand over his shares, she’d also had some people interfere with the He family’s bank loans.

Real estate was a heavy asset game — if you wanted to take them down, you didn’t even need the criminal code.
Just slow things down in the loan process a little.

Oh, I’m not denying your application, she’d tell them.
It’s just… taking a bit longer than usual.

Every time, she’d delay things by two or three months.
The He family’s cash flow was already stretched thin.

If they had a problem with that?
Perfect timing, too. Right now, the entire country is tightening loans in this industry. If they don’t like it, then fine, just don’t take the loan!

The He family is definitely unhappy, but there’s no way they’ll give it up. They’re stuck, with their necks held, what can they do? They have no choice but to endure.

The He family’s subtle and not-so-subtle dissatisfaction stems from the belief that the previous issue was supposed to be settled amicably. They made concessions, you took the benefits, and now they’re being pushed around again.

The problem is, the benefits were given to Ruan Mingjie, and they have absolutely nothing to do with Gu Minglan.

The He family, feeling constrained by Gu Minglan’s actions, redirected their anger toward Ruan Mingjie, constantly finding ways to force him to keep coughing up money.

Ruan Mingjie was being squeezed from both sides. He was almost ready to sell all his shares, and the money he got from liquidating them was all funneled into what he thought would be his “golden goose” projects.

The He family was genuinely scared of Gu Minglan, because they knew she had the power to mess things up. They didn’t even let He Jikai return to the group and take up an official position after he came back from abroad. They were too cautious about upsetting her.

But things weren’t the same anymore. If this had been two years ago, when money was flowing freely and everyone was eager to invest, the He family wouldn’t have even bothered with a small retaliation like this. They would have easily ignored it.

But Gu Minglan had timed her move perfectly, making a precise strike at the right moment.

That’s something Gu Minglan found perplexing now.

The He family clearly knew that because of the previous incident, bringing Lin Lang into her fold meant she was protecting her. So why would they dare to do something like this again?

Were they trying to make up for the earlier offense, or did they think they hadn’t done enough damage?

Gu Qingci spoke softly, “Not necessarily. Isn’t the He family always unable to control their own people?”

Was it really He Jiaqi or He Weimin who ordered He Jikai to target her back then?

No, it was He Jikai himself, blinded by greed and audacity.

And after the incident, did the He family take any real action to rein him in?

No. They stripped him of his position in the company, then sent him abroad for further study! And they made sure he was well-funded to enjoy himself there.

Gu Minglan waved her hand dismissively, “Alright, go do what you need to do. I’ll let you know when there’s any news.”

You couldn’t just sit around waiting for news, could you?

Gu Qingci certainly didn’t sit idly by waiting for updates. She went to her grandparents’ study, where she practiced her calligraphy to calm herself while also contemplating the situation.
If this was really related to the He family, a cold glint flashed in her eyes.

What was the point of practicing calligraphy?

She started listing, one by one, how she could efficiently and quickly, yet legally and reasonably, bring down the He family.

And if she could manage to get He Jikai behind bars in the process, that would be even better!

The person from the system got back to her quickly. After dinner, they made a call.

“We reviewed the surveillance from 6 PM to 12 AM yesterday. We saw her enter the community, but we didn’t see her leave.”

Considering it was the first day of the New Year, that response was quick.

The person using financial influence called around 10 PM, sounding excited.

He didn’t waste words, instead delivering the information that her benefactor most wanted to hear: “We managed to check the surveillance of the building and the underground garage. The only suspicious thing is that at around 9:20 PM, a seven-seater car parked at the entrance of the underground garage, and a person who appeared unconscious was carried out.”

“Their face was obscured, so I can’t be sure if it’s the person you’re looking for, but one of the people who carried her out was Lin Lang’s father.”

He paused and emphasized, “He specifically used the stairs!”

Instead of using the elevator, carrying a person who was unconscious and heavy, walking down the stairs, and parking the car in that spot without showing their face? If nothing was suspicious about this, then he’d chop his own head off!

The power of money was still strong. This person even managed to note down the car’s license plate number.

After providing the plate number, he kindly asked, “Do you want us to investigate further? You know, if you have someone within the system, it would be faster. On my side, the quickest I can get more info would be by the 4th day of the New Year.”

Gu Minglan acknowledged it.

The 4th day of the New Year was when a significant portion of people would return to work.

She responded directly: “We’ll reach out again in a couple of days if needed.”

Armed with the license plate number and the approximate time the car left the underground garage, Gu Minglan contacted the people from the internal system again.

She asked them to track the car’s route through road surveillance — this wasn’t an issue, and they were happy to help.

After a long night of work, the person called back on the morning of the second day of the New Year, sounding resigned: “After the car left the community last night, it didn’t stop until it entered Mingxin Mental Care Center.”

Gu Minglan: “Huh?”

Lin Lang had been sent to a mental care facility. What kind of crazy plot twist was this?!

The person on the other end bluntly clarified: “Her family took her there. Without a guardian’s consent, no one is allowed to see her.”

“Is there any way to get her out?”
“It’s impossible to bring her out right away,” the person on the other end of the phone paused for a moment, then lowered their voice to offer a shady suggestion. “Isn’t she your assistant? You could report her for stealing commercial secrets and fleeing. Once a case is filed, her family will have to disclose her whereabouts, and investigators will be able to see her.”

“As long as she’s conscious and can tell the investigators that she was deliberately framed and sent there, things will get easier. You understand, right?”

“The problem is that the process might take a while. After all, you need to prove that she’s not mentally ill, and there’s going to be a lawsuit involved.”

After listening to this advice, Gu Qingci, with her dark circles from a sleepless night, felt a mix of absurdity and mockery.

It was so easy for someone to be manipulated and sent to a mental care facility, but to prove they weren’t mentally ill and get out? That was nearly impossible.

She didn’t want to get involved in a back-and-forth battle—who knew if this suggestion was exactly what they were hoping for?

With a sense of resolve, as if she were gambling everything on one last throw, the young lady made a phone call.

She smoothly reported the confidentiality project code and her name, appearing calm, rational, and steady: “You told me if anything unusual happens, I could use this number to report it.”

“One of the confidential personnel, Lin Lang, went missing after 8 PM on New Year’s Eve. I suspect…”