He said he'd be back soon, he told her to wait for him at home, he said, "Ah Heng, when I get home, the first thing I want to see is you..."
She rushed out of the living room and walked to the door, where the cold winter wind was biting.
In the wind, the doorplate she wiped several times a day, the doorplate that could lead him home, has disappeared without a trace.
All that remained were the bloodstains dug out of the gravel with great effort.
It's shockingly red.
He... took the house with him, but left her behind.
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The phone rang again.
"Aheng, has Yanxi returned?"
Ah Heng thought for a moment, then her eyes turned cold—"Yes, she's back, and she's already asleep."
"Is he... alright?" Siwan asked hesitantly.
Ah Heng's eyes were bloodshot as she asked softly, "What could possibly happen to him?"
Siwan breathed a sigh of relief—"It's good that you're alright."
When will you be back?
"Aunt Lin has already booked her plane ticket for tomorrow."
"Oh, I see. Is Da Yi with you?" Aheng smiled, but her usually gentle eyes held no trace of amusement.
"Yes." He handed the microphone over.
"Ah Heng. Is my beauty alright?" The voice on the other end was cheerful and straightforward.
"Dayi, listen to me. Hang up now, find a place where nobody knows you, preferably a phone booth, and call back." Aheng took a breath and lowered her voice—"It must be, there must be no one else, no one at all, understand?"
His reply was simple and defensive—"Hmm."
Ah Heng stared blankly at the clock; it was almost three in the morning.
About ten minutes later, the caller ID showed an unfamiliar number.
"Aheng, tell me the truth, has Yanxi come back?" The other party was Xin Dayi.
Ah Heng slowly opened her mouth, asking a question instead of answering: "Da Yi, now I only trust you. Tell me, what happened two years ago?"
She was so calm that she could hear the ticking of the clock's second hand clearly.
Da Yi remained silent for a long time before speaking, "Yan hope, two years ago, the day after Lu Liu left, was locked up at home by Grandpa Yan for a full six months without seeing the light of day."
“Grandpa Yan forbids anyone from visiting him, and tells the outside world that he has a serious illness.” Da Yi’s voice suddenly became excited. “But what a coincidence! Yan Xi has never been sick except for a cold since he was a child. The day before he sent Lu Liu away, he even agreed to participate in the relay race at the sports meet with me.”
Suddenly, the boy looked a little dejected—"I pestered him for a long time, even calling him 'brother' before he finally agreed."
Ah Heng bit her lip and asked with difficulty, "Da Yi, do you mean that Yan hope's illness is related to Lu Liu?"
His voice was almost choked with emotion—"Aheng, Yanxi wasn't sick. He went completely mad. He didn't recognize anyone. I secretly went to see him, but he buried himself in the sheets, his eyes glazed over. No matter how I called him, he wouldn't respond. At that moment, I almost thought he would never come back..."
“Aheng, he’s gone mad. Do you understand what it means to be mad? It means that no matter who you are to him, how long you’ve played with him, or how close you are to him, it no longer matters.”
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Early in the morning, she made a phone call to someone she hadn't contacted in a long time, but who was still a friend.
"Ah Heng, this is so rare! What made you think of calling me?" The other person laughed.
Ah Heng smiled and asked him, "Brother Tiger, if you gathered all your men and they were to roam all over City B, how long would it take?"
The other party was none other than Hu Ba, who had become acquainted with Yan hope and his friends after a fight. They often drank together in their spare time, and they respected each other, forming a friendship like gentlemen.
"It will probably take three or four days," Tiger Tyrant roughly calculated.
Ah Heng asked again, "What if the situation is urgent?"
Tiger Tyrant frowned – “At least two days.”
Ah Heng asked again, "What if we go even faster?"
Hu Ba remained silent, trying to fathom A Heng's intentions.
Ah Heng smiled faintly and said in a gentle tone, "Brother Hu Ba, if I ask you and your men to do me a favor and travel all over B City in one day, then in the future, as long as you need Wen Heng's help, even if it's illegal and punishable by law, I, as your sister, will do it for you. I wonder if this is feasible?"
Tiger King was startled; he rarely saw Ah Heng speak like this. "Ah Heng, just tell me what's wrong, and I'll help if I can."
Ah Heng's knuckles were white, her lips were cracked and almost bleeding, yet she still smiled—"Yan hope has disappeared."
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Ah Heng waited patiently, quietly waiting.
The doorbell rang at six o'clock in the evening.
He and Dayi spoke on the phone; they arrived in City B at five o'clock.
Are you in such a hurry?
Ah Heng clenched his fists, a surge of hatred welling up in his heart in an instant.
She opened the door, and a subtle fragrance of flowers wafted out, accompanied by the sweet scent of plum blossoms.
It really was her.
"Aunt Lin, what brings you here?" Aheng smiled, her eyes clear and bright.
"Oh, come see Xiaoxi. She ran away like that, is she alright?" Lin Ruomei's smile was gentle, but her voice held a hint of urgency as she reached into the living room—"Xiaoxi, Yanxi!"
Ah Heng remained calm—"Why are you in such a hurry?"
She brewed the finest Biluochun tea, smiled warmly, and handed over a purple porcelain cup, filling the room with its fragrance.
Lin Ruomei took the tea, squinted, and smiled—"Xiao hope hasn't come back, has she?"
Ah Heng looked down at the tea leaves floating in the clear water—"Isn't this just what you wanted?"
Lin Ruomei raised an eyebrow—"What do you mean by that, child?"
Ah Heng shook her head and sighed, "No, I misspoke. You meant that it would be better if Yan hope went crazy immediately after seeing those photos, right?"
"What photos are you talking about? What's wrong with you? Why are you saying things that your aunt can't understand?" Lin Ruomei laughed.
"Do you have such a bad memory? It's that photo album you sent me under the name Yan Xi, the pink one, the hardcover one," Aheng described with a smile.
Lin Ruomei stared at Aheng for a long time, her gaze slowly turning from gentle to cold—"Did I underestimate you, Wen Heng? It's really not easy for you to remain so calm after seeing such disgusting things. As for Yan Xi, I only mentioned the existence of those photos, and he couldn't stand it."
Ah Heng's smile faded, and she lowered her head—"Two years ago, you instructed four men to rape Yan hope, who was only fifteen years old, on the very day Lu Liu left the country, didn't you?"
She identified the four men one by one from the photograph with her own eyes.
Lin Ruomei sneered, "That little vixen, isn't she the one who loves seducing men the most? What's the big deal about being slept with by men?"
Ah Heng grabbed his right arm with his left hand, his skin throbbing painfully beneath his sweater—"That night, you took photos and threatened Yan hope that if he told anyone about this, you would send these photos to someone very important to him, like Lu Liu."
She sent the photos to her home simply to ensure that Yan Xi could see them. Ideally, she could make Yan hope's psychological defenses collapse automatically without angering Lu Liu.
Lin Ruomei's expression turned to deep hatred—"This vixen wants to ruin my son? Not so easy. Before she can harm my son, I'll ruin her first! I just didn't expect that after he went mad back then, he could still come to his senses."
Ah Heng looked up, her eyes dark and unwavering—"If I'm not mistaken, it's actually Lu Liu who has always liked Yan Xi, Aunt Lin?"
Lin Ruomei suddenly stood up, hysterical—"What nonsense are you talking about? My son would never like that kind of bastard who doesn't even want his parents!"
Ah Heng also stood up, poured a whole pot of hot water from a purple clay teapot over Lin Ruomei's head, and said calmly, "Lin Ruomei, tell me, how many years in prison does the main perpetrator of a rape charge serve? Tell me, if Yan hope's grandfather finds out, how many years in prison will you serve?"
Lin Ruomei screamed, like a drowned chicken, her previous elegance and nobility completely gone—"What evidence do you have to prove that I did it? Just those photos?!"
Ah Heng took out a voice recorder from his pocket and slowly said, "Physical evidence is certainly not enough. What about adding a confession? Is that enough?"
Lin Ruomei's face twisted into a hideous grimace—"You little bitch! You're just like Yan hope, a bastard!"
Ah Heng reached out and slapped the woman in front of him hard across the face—"Lin Ruomei, we respect you only because you're older. Don't think everyone's afraid of you! If you utter another word against Yan Xi, before I take you to court, I won't hesitate to stab you in the back because of 'self-defense in the heat of the moment, when you were seizing evidence and using violence'!"
She grabbed the fruit knife from the table, looked at Lin Ruomei, and her gaze grew even colder.
Lin Ruomei looked terrified—"You, how dare you?!"
Aheng laughed, her eyes even more bloodshot—"Why wouldn't I dare? Who do you think you are? Don't even mention one Lin Ruomei, even a hundred, a thousand, if it could bring me, Yan Xi, peace and happiness, why wouldn't I?"
"Besides, you don't seem to know who's behind Yan hope and me, and whose grandchildren are those bastards you keep cursing!"
Lin Ruomei collapsed to the ground.
Ah Heng walked up to her, his once gentle eyes now devoid of warmth, looking down at her with a hint of cold cruelty.
"Thanks to you, Yan hope has disappeared. If he's missing a single hair, I'll pluck all yours; if he's freezing and starving, I'll make you suffer ten or a hundred times more; if he's gone mad, I'll make you go mad too, just like you did before, how about that?"
Chapter 44
Ah Heng knew that Da Yi was kind-hearted and would not be able to hide it from Si Wan, so she quietly waited at home for Si Wan's questioning.
This matter cannot continue until Yan hope is found.
Her harsh words to Lin Ruomei were merely a temporary lapse in judgment on the woman's mind. Once she had time to scheme, she would not let the matter rest.
Moreover, although Lin Ruomei is not necessarily wary, only because her husband died young and she is nominally in charge of the Lu family, who is actually standing behind her? To put it bluntly, it's none other than Old Master Lu.
The Lu family and the Wen, Yan, and Xin families have been close friends for generations. Whenever I heard my grandfather mention that Grandpa Lu was also a distinguished military officer, but in the early 1980s, he retired from the military at the height of his career and let his son switch to the business world. The reason why his business grew so big in the past twenty years, even arousing the envy of the Wen family, was partly due to his business acumen, but mostly due to Grandpa Lu's influence.
With power comes money, and even those who are unwilling will outwardly appear pleased, receiving preferential treatment and smooth sailing, thus giving their businesses the capital to grow. In recent years, even after the Wen family took a stake, the Lu family has shown signs of monopolizing certain industries.
Old Master Lu was a shrewd man. He never appeared in public about the family business and kept things very separate from his son and daughter-in-law. But, as Chinese people have always been, if you can maintain a good public image, you won't have to worry about the substance.
Besides, they're all family anyway. If they adopt a humble attitude in front of outsiders, and everyone below has been tempered to a certain level, how could they be foolish enough to offend the Lu family?
In recent years, after his son passed away, Old Master Lu has become increasingly reclusive. But he only has this one daughter-in-law, and he must protect her no matter what.
Although Ah Heng managed to intimidate Lin Ruomei by mentioning the Yan and Wen families, Old Master Lu might not be afraid of either family.
Moreover, even she couldn't be sure that, given how much her grandfather disliked Yan Xi, he might feel some pity for Yan hope when he wasn't in the country...
Ah Heng closed her eyes, gave a bitter smile, and when she opened them again, she was gritting her teeth.
Don't blame her for being cunning; this time, however, she's determined to bring Siwan down.
She was of low status and had little influence, but Siwan was different; he was the only son in the family and the apple of his grandfather's eye...