But it really upset the little girl.

"Officer, what did you just say?"

"He's basically just an old acquaintance of my parents. And that's it. He's not even my elder, so what right does he have to act as my matchmaker?"

"I think he's totally up to no good. For all I know, he might have some shady, unspeakable purpose!"

Hearing her accusations,

Lin Benzheng, standing to the side, could only try to comfort her.

"Daughter, don't be so angry."

"After all, this whole thing was a misunderstanding to begin with. And in the future, I might still need him to look after me in business quite often. Now you've made such a scene. If you end up offending him, how am I supposed to deal with him in the future?"

Lin Benzheng tried to reason with her earnestly, anxious to the point that sweat was almost beading on his forehead.

Tang Shiyu also spoke up from the side.

"Miss Lin, he most likely did this out of concern for you. You can refuse him, just find a tactful way to turn him down."

"Otherwise I really might have to reconsider whether to use you as our spokesperson. If someday you can't hold it in and explode, and some paparazzi happen to catch it on camera, it could very possibly affect our company's reputation."

Seeing that Tang Shiyu seemed a bit embarrassed,

Lin Zimo's expression suddenly changed.

"No, Miss Tang. It's not what you think."

"It's just that this Boss Jin has always been fussing over me from way back. Even though at first I felt it was nice to have one more elder looking out for me,"

"I'm already in my early twenties. If he keeps doing this, it's really weird, and it easily draws gossip from other people."

As she spoke, a blush climbed onto Lin Zimo's pretty face.

Lin Benzheng also exchanged a glance with his wife beside him.

"Daughter, so this was what you were struggling with?"

"Yeah, Dad, you don't even know. Last time he brought his secretary to pick me up at the company. Some fans happened to see it. They thought I'd found myself a sugar daddy!"

Lin Zimo was so mad her little face turned red.

Obviously,

this "sugar daddy" she mentioned was definitely not a compliment.

This finally made Lin Benzheng understand his daughter's thoughts.

"Honey, since that's the case, why didn't you ever tell us about it before?"

Seeing that Lin Benzheng was rather surprised,

a bit incredulous even,

his daughter curled her lips.

"Dad, it's not that I didn't want to. But I'm already an adult. How could I possibly tell you everything?"

"I don't want to run to you over every little thing and make you worry."

Seeing that Lin Zimo was genuinely very upset,

Lin Benzheng had no choice but to coax her.

"Daughter, we're very happy that you can be this considerate of us."

"Yes, it shows our daughter has grown up."

"You're growing all the time and can handle things on your own now. That really is something to celebrate. It's something that makes us truly happy."

But even though the parents kept praising their daughter,

and it seemed like the matter had finally come to an end,

Luo Fei suddenly straightened his face,

and asked rather sternly,

"Miss Lin, I know you were chatting quite happily just now. But judging from what you said, it seems you already knew that Boss Jin cares a lot about you. So am I to understand that your call to the police just now counts as a false report?"

This bold assumption

made Lin Zimo's whole body jolt.

"No, Officer, that's absolutely not what I meant."

"Please don't misunderstand me."

Seeing that Lin Zimo looked terrified, almost on the verge of tears,

Luo Fei simply smiled it off.

"Lin Zimo, you don't need to be nervous. I'm not blaming you. But we definitely can't just let this matter slide."

Luo Fei's tone was serious.

That made Lin Zimo shudder all over.

"Mr. Luo, then tell me, what do I have to do for you to forgive me?"

"You have to know, I really didn't mean to slander anyone on purpose. It's just that Boss Jin's behavior is driving me crazy."

But after listening, Luo Fei still kept a stern face.

"Lin Zimo, you yourself said you're an adult now. So if an adult makes a mistake, you should voluntarily admit it and acknowledge your fault, shouldn't you?"

Luo Fei's counter-question

left Lin Zimo speechless,

her mouth opening and closing without a word for quite a while.

Li Yu also added from the side,

"Miss Lin, since you say you're an adult, you should take responsibility for your words and your actions."

"Even if we don't detain you this time, you still need to accept criticism and education, and we'll make a record, to confirm that you won't make a similar mistake again."

Li Yu was already using the most appropriate approach here.

Given what the other party had done,

even if she handled it strictly by the book,

and left Miss Lin with a criminal record,

the latter would have no grounds to complain.

So at this moment, when he heard Li Yu's decision,

Father Lin, who was fairly reasonable,

hurriedly bowed to Li Yu to express his thanks.

"Officer Li, I think you're right. What you just said was indeed a good lesson for my daughter."

Lin Benzheng spoke sincerely, his face full of seriousness.

Li Yu replied casually,

"It's nothing, Mr. Lin. For ordinary people, most of the time we focus on education and guidance, just to make sure they don't repeat the same mistake. That's all."

After a while,

with Luo Fei leading Lin Zimo into the next room,

he spoke to her in a more serious tone.

"Miss Lin, are you sure that aside from what you said, this Boss Jin hasn't done anything else unusual?"

Seeing Li Yu come in and close the door behind him,

and confirming that her father and the others hadn't followed,

Lin Zimo couldn't help feeling a bit puzzled.

"Officer Luo, what do you mean by that?"

To be honest,

just a moment ago Luo Fei had been doubting her,

even suspecting she was stirring up trouble on purpose.

But now he had suddenly changed his attitude.

This left Lin Zimo rather surprised.

Yet Luo Fei simply smiled and shook his head.

"Lin Zimo, think about it. If I'd said from the start that Boss Jin might be a problem, what attitude do you think your parents would've had? They would've been very resistant, and they wouldn't have allowed me to talk to you alone."

Hearing Luo Fei say that,

clearly trying to prove that he trusted her,

Lin Zimo couldn't help feeling a bit taken aback.

"Mr. Luo, so you mean you actually believe what I said?"

"And you're willing to entertain my suspicions?"

Seeing that she seemed somewhat incredulous,

Luo Fei gave a noncommittal smile. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

"Of course, Miss Lin."

"Even though he's your parents' friend, that doesn't rule out the possibility that he has some improper thoughts about you."

"We've handled too many cases. Most of them involve acquaintances committing the crime. So we have to be cautious. There's nothing wrong with that."

Realizing that he actually believed her,

Lin Zimo instantly felt like she'd found an ally.

She was deeply grateful inside,

and nodded repeatedly.

"Mr. Luo, actually this Boss Jin has done a few things in the past. Or rather, there are some things I'm not sure were his doing, but I just find him a bit strange…"

As soon as she said that,

Luo Fei's interest was piqued.

"Miss Lin, go ahead. What exactly is going on?"

"What have you noticed?"

"I won't blame you for making bold assumptions."

Lin Zimo took a deep breath,

then told Luo Fei all the things that had made her uncomfortable.

"Mr. Luo, what I'm talking about isn't anything huge."

"But logically speaking, I'm not that close to this Boss Jin. Yet ever since I was in primary school, he's been helping me."

"He even put up a lot of money to support me, going all out to push me into becoming a big star."

After hearing her explanation,

Luo Fei finally understood.

So what bothered Lin Zimo was that

she and this man weren't particularly close,

not even really friends,

and yet he kept showing her excessive concern, which made her feel very uncomfortable.

But because he was her parents' friend,

she didn't know how to bring it up.

"Oh, so because you really didn't know what else to do, you came up with this clumsy idea, hoping he would stop harassing you?"