Chapter 180: A Traitor Emerges
Bai Shishi had always been afraid of Du Dahai; she couldn’t possibly match his strength.
But Lin Tian was afraid of Bai Shishi suffering a loss at the hands of Du Dahai.
"I’m fine for now. Xiaogang is with me, and he’ll take me home later!"
Bai Shishi paused, then continued, "Lin Tian, you should head home first. I’ll handle things on my end soon, and we can talk at home if anything comes up!"
"Alright, Miss Bai, be careful and come back soon!"
Before hanging up, Lin Tian didn’t forget to remind her.
"Miss Bai, have you fallen for him?"
Just after Bai Shishi hung up with a frown, a questioning voice came from behind her.
Bai Shishi turned to look at the young man’s gloomy face, "Xiaogang, what nonsense are you talking about?"
"You two are living together; I just heard everything when you made the call!"
Xiaogang spoke deliberately, "I didn’t expect Miss Bai to have such a unique taste, actually liking a young student!"
As he finished speaking, a meaningful smile appeared on Xiaogang’s lips.
"Xiaogang, don’t forget who calls the shots at Xianglong Tea House. Who I like or don’t like is none of your business!"
Bai Shishi looked at Xiaogang, whose expression was gloomy, and felt a bad premonition rising within her.
The identity of Lin Tian as a good student was known to only three people at Xianglong Tea House: herself, Xiaogang, and Lin Tian. Previously, she had asked Xiaogang to investigate Lin Tian personally.
Lin Tian had outsmarted Du Dahai twice, and if this was discovered, Du Dahai wouldn’t easily let it go.
"Yes, Xianglong Tea House answers to you, Miss Bai. But if I go to consult Smiling Tiger Du Dahai, what do you think will happen?" Xiaogang sneered cynically.
"Slap!"
Bai Shishi gave Xiaogang a slap across the face and walked away, "Even if I liked a student, it wouldn’t be a despicable person like you!"
"If you don’t want to stay with me, you can go cast your lot with Du Dahai!"
Bai Shishi left with a stern face, feeling forced to act this way; appearing weak might have given Xiaogang an opportunity.
If that happened, this guy would keep using the situation to blackmail her, even trying to achieve some purpose with it.
That slap just now was both a scolding and a warning: I’m not afraid of you, Xiaogang, running to tattle.
Watching Bai Shishi’s retreating figure, Xiaogang’s pale face flushed with fervor, and his scarlet tongue licked his colorless lips, "Miss Bai, soon... you will be my woman!"
Bai Shishi drove home in fury, growing more anxious the more she thought about it on the way.
Lin Tian was suddenly attacked, and it was still Du Dahai who sent people. Now Xiaogang suddenly said he wanted to side with Du Dahai.
All of this felt extraordinarily unusual to Bai Shishi.
"Could it be that Xiaogang really betrayed me?"
Bai Shishi speculated boldly but then shook her head. Xiaogang liked her and might have spoken out of anger.
Bai Shishi was not willing to believe Xiaogang would betray her, subjectively.
Returning home, Lin Tian was in the living room smoking, his face full of worry.
"Miss Bai, you’re back!" Lin Tian extinguished the cigarette butt and greeted her.
"I’m back. How are you? Are you alright?" Bai Shishi asked, looking at Lin Tian with a concerned expression.
"I’m fine; those small fries couldn’t hurt me!"
Lin Tian smiled slightly, "Thank you, Miss Bai, for your concern!"
"But I’m curious, how did Smiling Tiger Du Dahai find out about my true identity?"
This doubt had puzzled Lin Tian all night; he simply couldn’t figure it out.
Apparently, the only ones who were there when they scared Smiling Tiger Du Dahai with the honor student reputation were Bai Shishi and himself.
Surely Bai Shishi couldn’t have betrayed him, right?
"I was thinking about that question the whole way back!" Bai Shishi said solemnly.
"What’s your conclusion?" Lin Tian asked.
"First, your identity might not have been exposed. It’s possible these people weren’t sent by Smiling Tiger Du Dahai at all, but someone intentionally causing you trouble, impersonating Du Dahai!"
"Second, we have a traitor within, who disclosed your information to Smiling Tiger Du Dahai, leading him to retaliate!"
Bai Shishi laid out the two conclusions she came to on the way.
"Impersonating Du Dahai?" Lin Tian pressed his lips together, pondering the interrogation situation.
Under pressure, the person confessed to Du Dahai, but if Bai Shishi’s hypothesis held, it wasn’t Du Dahai who sent them, but another party.
So the question arises.
Who the hell is this person?
Of course, what concerned Lin Tian more was Bai Shishi’s second conclusion.
"A traitor within?" Lin Tian, upon hearing this, found it ludicrous.
The honor student title...
It seemed only himself and Bai Shishi knew about it.
A traitor?
Wouldn’t that mean Bai Shishi had told someone else about his honor student identity?
"Who did you tell? Why is there a traitor?" Lin Tian asked, bewildered.
Bai Shishi was silent for a moment before speaking, "Lin Tian, I’m sorry. Initially, when you were with me, I thought you were a dragon among men and not easy to restrain. So back then, Xiaogang told me not to rely heavily on you!"
"At that time, I thought Xiaogang made sense, so I had him keep an eye on you and gave all your information to Xiaogang!"
"Who knew you would save me time and again; without you, I don’t know how many times I would have died!"
The more Bai Shishi spoke, the more guilty she felt, "So, the ones who know about your honor student identity are not just the two of us, but also Xiaogang!"
"But..." Bai Shishi hesitated.
"Speak, just say it!" Lin Tian said with a gloomy face, clearly angry.
No one would be happy at this moment.
After working hard, diligently, even almost losing his life for this!!!
And the result?
The result is not being trusted by Bai Shishi!
This made Lin Tian feel uncomfortable, unhappy, very uncomfortable, very unhappy...
Even a sense of being deceived mixed into his sentiment.
"But I don’t believe Xiaogang would betray me; he’s been with me for many years. If he wanted to betray, he would’ve done it long ago. Why bother now?"
Bai Shishi finally voiced her reason for not believing Xiaogang would betray her.
Anger aside, they still needed to solve the problem at hand.
Lin Tian had secretly made a decision that after helping Bai Shishi solve all her troubles this time, he would resign.
After contemplating for a moment, Lin Tian said in a deep voice, "I haven’t interacted much with Xiaogang, but he seems fine; he probably didn’t betray Miss Bai!"
"I think so too!" Bai Shishi affirmed, "It must be someone impersonating Du Dahai to attack you!"
"But if not Du Dahai, then who else could it be?"
Lin Tian felt it was mind-boggling, like watching a suspense film; he really wished Detective Conan would possess him at this moment and sort out all the clues.
"Wang Quan?"
"Wang Ba?"
"Or have you offended anyone recently?"
Bai Shishi offered helpfully with three prompts.