As Chi Yingyu watched her brother-in-law being forced into Si Yina’s car, she felt that if she were only a bit stronger, her brother-in-law wouldn’t have had to surrender himself to someone else for her safety.
Chi Yingyu desperately wanted to take her brother-in-law back, but she was completely lost regarding her current situation. When the other party left yesterday, some of the bodyguards followed the agreement and obediently sent her to the city, leaving the desolate outskirts.
Upon arriving in the city, Chi Yingyu didn’t just get out of the car quietly. Instead, she took down three female bodyguards on her own, trying to force them to reveal exactly where Si Yina was taking her brother-in-law.
But Chi Yingyu’s interrogation yielded no useful leads. All she got was the name of a resort island, but that name didn’t even show up on navigation. She had no idea how to find it or how to get there.
After learning the name, no matter how much she pressured those bodyguards, she couldn’t get any more useful clues. After all, they were just employees. Despite her urgency, Chi Yingyu hadn’t reached the point of torturing them.
Even though Chi Yingyu’s mind couldn’t settle because of Jiang Lai, she needed to have the spirit and strength to search for her brother-in-law the next day. That night, she checked into a random hotel and put their luggage inside.
She planned to get a simple night’s sleep and head to the docks at the coast the next morning to ask the locals if they knew about that resort island. If the locals knew of its existence, there would surely be a way to get there.
While Chi Yingyu was calculating her plan to find her brother-in-law, she picked up her phone before bed to try and contact him. Finally, beneath her pinned contact, she saw messages from her sister.
Chi Yingyu’s thoughts had been entirely on her brother-in-law, causing her to completely ignore everyone else, including the sister she hadn’t seen in a long time.
Chi Yingyu only had Jiang Lai pinned on her chat app. Because of him, even a small matter was an urgent priority; the importance of his messages was incomparable to anyone else’s.
Next were some old group chats and other conversation windows. Even her sister, who had recently returned, didn’t have the status to be pinned. Chi Yingyu was happy about her sister’s return, but beyond that happiness lay a sense of crisis, a bit of reluctance, and resistance.
Chi Yingyu knew very well that she was no longer the sister she used to be. That kind and lively younger sister had long since disappeared. At this moment, Chi Yingyu only cared about those she deemed important and only wanted to maintain her current life. She did not want any changes to occur in the life of their family of three.
After confirming that her brother-in-law wouldn’t contact her for the time being, Chi Yingyu silently opened the chat with her sister. To her surprise, the latest messages were her sister asking if she had arrived in Haicheng.
Chi Yingyu was certain that no one knew she had accompanied Jiang Lai to this city except for Jiang Leyi and Xu Ruobing back home. She had never posted anything on her Moments, so why did her sister know?
Was her sister watching them from a place she didn’t know about? From their previous conversations, Chi Yingyu knew that before her sister revealed herself, she had been observing their lives in secret. It seemed that behavior was still ongoing.
Thinking of this, Chi Yingyu’s mind drifted back to Jiang Lai. Fortunately, only she and her niece knew Jiang Lai’s true identity; otherwise, she would have no advantage over her sister at all.
Chi Yingyu glanced briefly at the messages. It was already very late, and she didn’t intend to reply to her sister now. She would wait until she went out in the morning. It was too late now; what if the notification woke her sister up?
The excuse she found for herself was almost flawless, but Chi Yingyu knew in her heart that she was simply afraid to face her sister. If her brother-in-law knew her sister was still alive, he would definitely choose her sister without looking back, because her sister had always been the one he deeply loved.
Unlike the excuse Chi Yingyu made for herself, Shen Ruxue was not resting at all. Instead, she was quite energetic. Even in the middle of the night, the resort island she was on was bustling with activity, and there were even helicopters landing.
However, these lively scenes had nothing to do with Shen Ruxue. For the past few days, family matters had nothing to do with her. Aside from being unable to return immediately, she was free to move around.
While Shen Ruxue was finishing up everything here, her heart aching to be with her daughter, sister, and husband, she received a piece of news during the day. Her sister had arrived nearby, and she was with another woman. If nothing was amiss, that woman should be the girl she had met at the agency before.
Shen Ruxue truly wanted to spend the Lunar New Year with her family, but such things could only be a dream for now. Putting aside how she should reveal herself to Jiang Lai, Shen Ruxue didn’t even know what to do about her own daughter.
School was about to start, and she had no plan at all. Just then, her sister arrived. Although she wasn’t on this small island, it was only an hour’s journey from this resort to Haicheng.
Shen Ruxue’s plan was simple: if she could contact her sister, she could stay with her during the day. That way, she could learn more about home and Jiang Lai’s current situation from her sister’s mouth.
Hadn’t he said he would be back for the Lunar New Year? But according to what Shen Ruxue knew, her husband seemed to have vanished. She was desperate to learn something about Jiang Lai’s current state from her sister.
Shen Ruxue watched the chat window where her sister had yet to reply. This lack of contact made her feel very uneasy. She cared deeply about what her sister was doing in this city and why she had come so far from home during the Lunar New Year.
Unable to learn the specifics from her sister, Shen Ruxue could only resort to some darker ideas. Shen Ruxue could feel herself becoming increasingly restless, her heart filled with deep fear whenever she thought of her family.
Under these circumstances, Shen Ruxue made a completely irrational decision. She chose to find people to watch her sister and her daughter. Only by knowing their daily routines could she feel her restless heart find some relief.