The Secret of the Yoga Club: The Women's Identity is Not Simple

The fat man sat in the dark room, took a bite of an apple, and juice dripped down his chin.

He chewed while keeping his binoculars open, staring at the building across the street. Ye Qinghan's curtains were drawn, but he had seen everything that had happened in those few seconds at the door.

Ye Qinghan changed into her nightgown and came out to open the door. She stood at the door for a moment, leaning forward as if talking to someone, and then closed the door.

I put down the binoculars and picked up my phone to call Ma Jinli. My finger had barely touched the screen when the door opened.

Ma Jinli walked in carrying a plastic bag containing two boxed lunches and several bottles of mineral water. He glanced around the room; the curtains were drawn tightly, leaving only a slit for the telescope lens to protrude.

A tripod stood by the window, and a laptop sat on a small table next to it, its screen displaying the angle of the building across the street in real time.

The fat man sat in a folding chair, having already eaten most of the apple in his hand.

"What's going on?" Ma Jinli put the plastic bag on the small table, walked to the tripod, bent down and glanced at the viewfinder of the telescope.

The facade of the building across the street was quiet in the night. Ye Qinghan's curtains were already drawn, letting out a blurry, warm yellow glow.

The fat man tossed the apple core into the trash can beside him and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. "Ye Qinghan got home around 8:50. After coming back, she took a shower and changed into a nightgown, then went to the door a little while later and opened it. She stood there for about a minute or two, seemingly talking to someone. From my angle, I couldn't see who was outside, but her posture—leaning forward with her arm raised—definitely wasn't talking to a stranger. Mr. Ma, do you think it could be that kid surnamed Lin?"

Ma Jinli straightened up, walked to the small table, and lit a cigarette.

The smoke dissipated in the dark room, cut in two by a beam of light leaking through the curtains. "It's probably him. Skinny was caught following these two last time, so they're definitely more careful now. Maybe Lin Feng picked her up from the airport, then they came up separately, using a time difference to avoid suspicion."

Ma Jinli put a cigarette in his mouth, picked up his binoculars, and glanced at the building across the street again.

The curtains remained drawn, nothing seemed amiss. "Keep watching. Don't worry about what they're doing when they meet, just get footage of Lin Feng entering and leaving this building. Be extremely careful this time, don't be greedy, and don't act rashly. Skinny was too eager to make a name for himself, and ended up getting himself into trouble. If you discover anything, report it first, don't act on your own. Master Zuo said that as long as we get anything usable, the previous incident will be forgiven, and we'll give an additional 200,000 yuan bonus."

When the fat man heard the words "two hundred thousand", his eyes lit up and he quickly nodded and said, "Don't worry, Master Ma, I'll keep a close eye on things this time, and I won't let a single fly escape."

Ma Jinli stayed in the room for about half an hour, and seeing that there was nothing unusual in the building across the street, he stubbed out his cigarette on the windowsill and turned to leave.

After driving away from the residential area, instead of going directly back to the Keda Hotel, I turned into the back gate of an old residential area in the west of the city.

A white van was parked on the side of the road, with the four large blue characters "Shuntong Logistics" printed on its side. The driver's side window was rolled down, revealing the face of a bald man.

Liu Wei, 47 years old, used to work as a dispatcher at another logistics company, but was fired for taking kickbacks. He was just hired by Shuntong Logistics Company the day before yesterday.

He lost hundreds of thousands of yuan in the stock market a while ago and was so anxious that he searched online every day for ways to make money. Ma Jinli contacted him on this occasion.

Ma Jinli opened the car door and sat in the passenger seat, taking a thick kraft paper envelope from his pocket and placing it on the dashboard.

Liu Wei's gaze was immediately drawn to the envelope. His Adam's apple bobbed, and he reached out to take it but hesitated, rubbing his hands back and forth on his knees.

"Boss Ma, is what you said really okay? My job is just to transport the goods from the seafood market to the warehouse you mentioned, and I don't have to worry about anything else?"

"Don't worry about anything else." Ma Jinli pushed the envelope forward, his fingers still pressed against it. "Here's 100,000. You drive a Shuntong Logistics truck, take their dispatch order, go to the seafood market's cold storage, pick up the goods, then drive back to Shuntong's parking lot. Once everything is done, you'll get another 100,000. The whole process takes less than three hours, and you'll receive 200,000."

Liu Wei stared at the envelope, then looked up at Ma Jinli, his forehead wrinkles forming a deep frown.

Ma Jinli had already found out that he had lost hundreds of thousands of yuan in the stock market. This man was now heavily in debt, his credit card payments were several months overdue, and the bank was calling him every day to collect the debt.

Two hundred thousand was a lifeline for him. Even though he knew there might be problems with this job, he didn't care about anything else.

"Okay, I'll do it." Liu Wei reached out and took the envelope, pulled out ten stacks of banknotes, and stuffed them directly into his canvas bag without even counting them.

He started the truck and, before leaving, stuck his head out to look at Ma Jinli one last time.

Ma Jinli stood by the roadside, watching the taillights of the van disappear into the night. He threw his cigarette butt on the ground and stomped it out, then opened the car door, got into the driver's seat, started the car, and drove towards the airport.

Zuo Ning gave him 500,000 yuan to handle this matter. He only gave Liu Wei 100,000 yuan, and planned to keep the remaining 400,000 yuan for himself.

But sitting in the driver's seat, he felt no joy at the prospect of receiving the money. His fingers gripped the steering wheel slightly, and his palms were sweaty.

Having followed Zuo Ning for so many years, he's done at least dozens of dirty jobs. Stalking, threatening, extorting protection money, breaking people's legs—these things are as commonplace to him as eating and drinking.

But this time was different. This time, Zuo Ning didn't just want to teach Lin Feng a lesson; he wanted to frame Shuntong Logistics and implicate them in smuggling.

If this matter is exposed, Shuntong Logistics will be shut down, Lin Feng, as the legal representative, will go directly to jail, and Longlin Group will also be implicated.

Liu Wei, the one who actually carried out the job, a nobody who was paid to do it, was destined not to live to receive the final payment. Zuo Ning wouldn't leave anyone alive; Ma Jinli knew his style all too well.

As for myself? I'm in a bit of danger too...

He was thinking about his situation while driving. Over the years, he had saved four or five million yuan by doing shady work for Zuo Ning, most of which was in overseas accounts.

This money was enough for him to find a place to hide abroad for a while, provided he could leave the country smoothly. He knew that Zuo Ning's ruthlessness wasn't limited to outsiders; she treated those close to her the same way.

The image of the fat man being smashed on the head by an ashtray last time was still haunting him.

If one day Zuo Ning feels that he is no longer useful, or that he knows too much, his fate will not be much better than that of the skinny guy.