He cleared his throat and focused his attention on Rong Xiang. Clearly, even though the two men were the ones making sure he couldn’t leave, she was the one who had the final say. “I see why you are worried but as I said, I am a private investigator. I have already handed you my business card to prove this and have also let you see the pictures I have taken. So you can rest assured that I had no nefarious thoughts behind what I was doing.

“Of course, you also have a right to privacy. I admit that I have infringed on this by secretly taking pictures in the hope to fulfill the assignment handed to me by my customer. Instead of following such a secretive approach, I should have come over, introduced myself, and asked for information directly and in an above-board manner. I genuinely apologize for that.”

He nodded at Rong Xiang, then thought for a moment and apologized to the other three people he had taken photos of as well. Anyway, it couldn’t hurt to show some sincerity. “Now, this matter has already happened but nobody was harmed. In light of that, I hope that we can find a solution to the current situation that won’t cause trouble for any of us.

“For example, how about this? Since you already have the camera, you might as well delete the pictures. Anyway, it’s your right.” He tried to show a humble and honest attitude of a man just trying to make a living somehow and who didn’t want to make trouble for anyone.

Rong Xiang looked at the camera in her hand. Naturally, even if the photos were deleted in the end, she wouldn’t delete them now before Mister Du arrived. From what she knew, he had gone to deal with a matter that cropped up in one of the other branches of the organization. Until he made it back, at least half an hour would go by. Could they just wait that long?

She furrowed her brows and looked back up at Ruan Xia. Anyway, they had already wasted some minutes with this back and forth. She might as well try and make some more time pass before coming to some kind of solution. Maybe she could also call Mister Du after a while and already relay the situation to him over the phone so he wouldn’t be unprepared when he arrived. If he truly wanted to call the police, he could also tell her to do so.

Making up her mind, her brows furrowed even further. “Even if I delete the photos now, who is to say that you won’t just come back and take new ones? Today, we were lucky that our security guard caught you. Maybe next time, another one will be on shift and you’ll get away with the pictures. How could we let that happen?”

Ruan Xia glanced at Li Ming. So this kind of organization actually even had a security guard with them … No wonder he had been caught like this. Well, he suddenly felt a lot less embarrassed about the whole situation.

Turning back to Rong Xiang, he nodded. “I can see why you’d have this worry. But you really don’t have to worry. I will naturally report to my customer what has happened today. Surely, he will be understanding that there is no way to get any pictures.”

At that, Rong Xiang’s brows rose. Right. He had mentioned his customer before but she hadn’t really thought about this because she was preoccupied with how to deal with the overall situation. But actually, this customer was more important than Ruan Xia himself. After all, the private investigator that had been hired was just the one doing the job. The motive behind the job was what they really needed to deal with.

“I’m sorry but what exactly did your customer send you to investigate here?” The photos gave some hints but then, she wasn’t an investigator or even a security guard so she couldn’t make much sense of it. She only felt that it should be related to the organization somehow. She’d have loved to hear Li Ming’s thoughts on it but she didn’t think it would be a good idea to have him let go of Ruan Xia even if holding onto him was just a precaution.

Ruan Xia smiled noncommittally. “I’m sorry. I am very willing to cooperate with you in finding a solution but this information is confidential, I’m afraid. If it were to get out that I had divulged any information about one of my customers, I wouldn’t be able to keep this job.” He tried to look embarrassed about it, hoping that Rong Xiang wouldn’t try to pry any further.

Rong Xiang wasn’t sure what to do with this information. She could somewhat understand it but that didn’t mean that she could just ignore this either. Even if they waited until her boss returned, Mister Du would also want to know. It seemed that, in the end, they could really only call the police so they could find out for them who was targeting them and why?

Li Ming furrowed his brows. He also thought about the dilemma that they were currently in. But then, maybe there was one way to deal with this. “Then how about calling your customer now? You explain to them in front of us what happened. Best put them on speaker so we’ll know they really back off. Of course, you may tell them that they are currently being overheard so as to not break confidentiality. If they don’t want to deal with it because their own privacy is more important to them, we’ll take it from there.”

Hearing this suggestion, Rong Xiang nodded. “That seems like the best solution to me. What do you think, Mister Ruan?”

Of course, Ruan Xia could only nod. After all, things had already gone this far. “Well, my phone is in my pocket …”

He just mentioned it so they wouldn’t jump him with two people when he reached in and tried to pull it out. Before he could move though, Zhu Yi had stepped forward and taken it out for him, sidling up closely to Ruan Xia and giving him a deep look. “I’m looking at you very closely so don’t try to do anything funny!”

Ruan Xia glanced at the incredibly harmless-looking person behind him but still took the phone from his hand and opened the contact he had typed in just a few weeks ago. Without saying a word, he directly pressed the call button.

A moment later, a familiar voice sounded from the other side. “Yes, Mister Ruan?”

Behind Ruan Xia, Zhu Yi’s eyes widened and he stared at Li Ming. “Isn’t that your crazy ex?!”

Li Ming also stared at the phone in a daze. Indeed. The voice sounding from the other side was Mo Fang’s. Somehow, he had a sinking feeling about this.