“Useless…”
Si Yina, having been rescued by the bodyguards, stood by the sofa fuming with rage.
Looking at the bodyguards who had failed to catch anyone, she was suffocating with anger.
She couldn’t understand how, with so many bodyguards stationed in the villa, they could let two grown women escape.
Si Yina was so angry she was struggling to breathe.
She wanted to sit down and vent her frustration, but her bottom was still throbbing with pain.
She didn’t know what kind of thoughts Jiang Lai had been harboring to actually use so much force to slap her.
She could feel that her bottom was definitely swollen.
Once she finished giving her orders, Si Yina planned to go to the bathroom to check the condition of her backside.
With that in mind, she quickly arranged the next tasks.
“From now on, I will not allow anyone to leave this place. Divide the men into ten groups. Have four groups patrol around the main gate, and the remaining six groups search for them without interruption. I want you to bring them to me by tomorrow morning.”
Si Yina didn’t believe that Jiang Lai and the other woman could survive a night outside without any protection from the cold.
Although the weather was warming up lately, the temperature difference between day and night was still very severe.
It might be very warm during the day, enough to just wear long sleeves, but by nightfall, even wearing a feather down jacket would feel freezing.
Si Yina recalled what the two of them were wearing and felt certain in her heart that Jiang Lai and her companion wouldn’t be able to hold out for long.
At this thought, Si Yina felt a bit more at ease.
She went to the first-floor bathroom, locked the door, and took off her clothes in front of the mirror.
In the reflection, Si Yina’s slender yet curvaceous body was fully revealed.
She didn’t understand at all why the current Jiang Lai hated intimate contact with her.
‘Is it because this face of mine is frightening, or is my figure not good enough…?’
Facing herself, Si Yina was narcissistic, but she also had the capital to be so.
Looking at herself in the mirror, she turned her body slightly.
Si Yina saw a very clear red handprint on her fair skin, which had even become swollen because it hadn’t been treated in time.
It was much larger than she had initially imagined.
Jiang Lai had truly left a remarkable mark on her.
Once Jiang Lai was caught, Si Yina would definitely leave such obvious marks on her body as well.
‘Maybe I should give her a tattoo… that way it would stay for a long, long time.’
***
“There’s no movement outside right now. We can sit here and rest for a bit.”
Jiang Lai and Shen Ruxue had no idea how long they had been running.
Only after making sure no one was following them did they sit down to rest in a clearing within a small forest.
The area was surrounded by dense bushes.
As long as they sat here and hid, even if someone passed by, they wouldn’t be seen.
“Can I see your feet?”
Having run for so long just now, and with Jiang Lai not wearing any shoes, Shen Ruxue was worried her feet might have been pierced by something sharp on the ground.
She bent down and reached out, intending to hold Jiang Lai’s foot.
“It’s okay, I think they’re fine.”
Jiang Lai shyly retracted her feet.
She was well aware of how dirty her feet were from being in constant contact with the ground.
They were covered in mud and dust to the point that even Jiang Lai herself was repulsed.
Fortunately, the forests within the estate were all man-made, and the surrounding environment was regularly maintained by dedicated staff.
There were no messy thickets or sharp weeds on the soil, otherwise, Jiang Lai’s feet would have been injured by now.
Moreover, Jiang Lai was even more afraid that since her feet were so dirty, if she infected the wound on Shen Ruxue’s hand, it would be a problem.
Jiang Lai and Shen Ruxue sat by a large tree, their shoulders touching as they leaned against each other, enjoying a moment of peace.
“There’s still no signal here…”
Beside Jiang Lai, Shen Ruxue took out Jiang Lai’s phone, thinking of sending their location to her sister, but the sent message still showed an exclamation mark.
Jiang Lai sighed at the sight.
She didn’t know exactly how large this estate was; they had been running for a full half an hour, and they still hadn’t seen the perimeter wall, let alone reached a place with a signal.
Seeing Jiang Lai’s dejected expression, Shen Ruxue whispered, “I believe they will find us soon.”
“I also believe her…”
Jiang Lai knew very well that her disappearance would make Chi Yingyu extremely anxious.
She had been missing for almost a day now.
Rather than worrying about whether they could successfully escape, Jiang Lai actually began to worry about her sister-in-law.
She understood her sister-in-law’s personality very well.
Perhaps because of her wife’s passing, her sister-in-law, like her, placed much more importance on the people around her than before.
For a time, Chi Yingyu had a stress response to family members going out.
Especially during the period when the sister-in-law had just moved in, she was filled with a sense of unease.
This sense of unease wasn’t for herself, but for Jiang Lai.
Jiang Lai still remembered back when her sister-in-law was still in school; she would worry about Jiang Lai every day.
Even if Jiang Lai was just normally commuting to and from work, she would worry about whether she would encounter something dangerous.
Whenever she returned home, Jiang Lai would receive a full-body inspection from her sister-in-law, who was exceptionally worried that she might have encountered some danger outside.
Sometimes, if Jiang Lai didn’t reply to messages for a long time, the sister-in-law would be so worried she couldn’t even swallow her own saliva.
Jiang Lai knew very well that her sister-in-law was a child who lacked a sense of security.
She also understood very well why the girl would feel this way, because she also worried about all of it.
It was just that back then, she was already an adult and the one others relied on, so those strange emotions could only be suppressed in her heart.
The sister-in-law’s condition of excessive worry didn’t ease until several years later.
But now, with her disappearance—whether it was the time on the holiday island or the current situation of being completely out of touch—Jiang Lai was very worried that it would cause her sister-in-law a repeat of that psychological trauma.
Jiang Lai looked at the yellowing sky.
The weather was gradually turning colder at night.
Even though she was wearing a jacket that could keep her warm, that little bit was not enough in a cold environment.
Jiang Lai could already feel that her feet were very cold, even a bit stiff.
If she could feel such a chilling sensation, what about Shen Ruxue beside her?
She was dressed even more lightly than Jiang Lai.
At this thought, Jiang Lai glanced at her hand, and after making sure it was clean and free of any dust or dirt, she finally boldly took Shen Ruxue’s hand.
But as soon as she held Shen Ruxue’s hand, Jiang Lai felt a strong chill.
She finally reacted and looked at Shen Ruxue’s face, only to see that her lips were purplish-blue.