Chapter 152

Listening to the dead tone on the other end of the line, Gu Feiquan: “……”

He went to the restroom, checked himself in the mirror, and fixed his hair again. After straightening his clothes, he walked straight out of the Tianrui Group building.

Gu Feiquan had been in a bad place at work and acting out in the office for a long time; he openly skipped work during office hours more often than not, and everyone was used to it. He entered the building across the street, took the elevator, and followed the attendant to knock on the door of Liuyue Residence.

The attendant withdrew. Gu Feiquan pushed the door open and sat down across from Lin Yuewei, who had been waiting for quite a while, doing his best to keep his expression from looking too tense.

Lin Yuewei was very polite. She called him, “Big Brother.”

Gu Feiquan was actually a little dazed hearing that.

Was the person who had been icy in the phone call just now the same person as the one sitting here now?

He froze for a second. Lin Yuewei set the cup of tea she had poured in front of him and said impatiently, frowning, “Talk. What are you spacing out for?”

Gu Feiquan came back to himself and silently admitted that yes, it was the same person.

He was still wondering whether Lin Yuewei was bluffing him, whether she was just like him, putting on a show; he hadn’t planned to lay his cards on the table yet. He asked, “You said I was lying. Where did I lie?”

Lin Yuewei sneered. “How would I know? Maybe some of it was true and some of it false; maybe all of it was fake.”

“Then you—”

“Anyway, it wasn’t all true.” Lin Yuewei cut him off again before he could finish, her gaze steady and cool. “What else are you trying to test? If you keep dragging your feet like this, Gu Yanqiu will already have finished checking everything out. Do you really think something that happened thirty years ago can stay hidden? If Gu Yanqiu catches on, it’ll be too late. Can you stop dragging us down?”

Gu Feiquan was left speechless by her barrage.

Lin Yuewei said, “If you really don’t want to talk, I’ll investigate it myself. I’m not close to your mother, but I know a little about the situation. I can still stab her right where it hurts. Maybe she’ll let something slip to me.”

Gu Feiquan knew she was talking nonsense, but he still choked on it. “How can you guarantee you won’t tell Gu Yanqiu?”

Lin Yuewei said, “I can’t guarantee that.”

Gu Feiquan’s expression changed. “You—”

Lin Yuewei’s face stayed calm. She raised a hand and pressed downward, signaling him to calm down. “I’m only here to find the truth. Whether I say anything or not, I’ll judge that myself. Even if neither of us says anything, can you guarantee she’ll never find out? I just want to find a way to minimize the harm.”

She looked at him sincerely. “For this matter, we want the same thing. Why not discuss it with me?”

Gu Feiquan fell silent.

After a long while, he nodded. “Fine. I’ll tell you.”

……

Lin Yuewei had already gone through more than half a pot of tea, her brows and eyes grave. She had long suspected that the Gu family’s affairs were not simple, but she hadn’t expected them to be this complicated. Gu Yanqiu’s background… no wonder Gu Huai had wanted to keep it hidden; no wonder Gu Feiquan, after learning the truth, would rather lie than reveal a single word.

Gu Feiquan asked, “Have you thought of a way yet?”

Lin Yuewei lowered her eyes to the bottom of the cup. “What way?”

Gu Feiquan said anxiously, “A way to lie and fool her, of course.”

Lin Yuewei said, “Are you sure you know the whole truth?”

Gu Feiquan said, “It’s probably close enough.”

Lin Yuewei frowned. “Then there’s still a little you don’t know. What if that little bit is the key part?”

Gu Feiquan lowered his voice. “No matter how key it is, it can’t be more key than the coercion part, right? You said it yourself, she’ll react sooner or later. By the time she reacts, it’ll be too late.”

“Let me think.” Lin Yuewei pinched the bridge of her nose.

When she heard the truth from Gu Feiquan, she had actually considered telling Gu Yanqiu everything. Gu Yanqiu had the right to know the truth; there was no reason everyone else should know while she alone was kept in the dark. But there was an old saying about “white lies.” Logic aside, emotionally speaking, it was definitely better for Gu Yanqiu not to know than to know.

Lin Yuewei picked up the teapot, intending to refill her empty cup, only to realize it was suddenly light in her hand; the pot was already empty. Gu Feiquan sat across from her, looking at her eagerly, waiting for her decision.

Lin Yuewei felt a little embarrassed and set the pot down. “Go back to work first.”

“But…”

“I’ll tell you when I think of something.”

“Alright.”

Gu Feiquan had also spent a long time coming up with a lie, and it had been so clumsy that Lin Yuewei saw through it. Before leaving, he asked, “How did you know I was lying?”

At that, Lin Yuewei let out an “oh” and lifted her gaze lazily. “I didn’t know. I was just bluffing you at the start.”

Gu Feiquan: “……”

Lin Yuewei smiled sweetly. “Goodbye, Big Brother.”

Fine.

Gu Feiquan forced a smile back. “Goodbye.”

Afterward, Lin Yuewei also left the private room and went to class. After a full day of lessons, she went home as usual, and no one knew she had met Gu Feiquan. Her acting skills had improved recently; putting on an act in front of Gu Yanqiu was, at any rate, much easier than dealing with Gu Feiquan.

Besides, Gu Yanqiu was busy with work and had no time to pay attention to private matters. She usually only brought it up every few days, and Lin Yuewei had managed to smooth it over each time with her excellent skills. If she really couldn’t get past it, she would sell her looks; once that was over, Gu Yanqiu would forget whatever she had been about to say.

The closer it got to the start of filming, the more Lin Yuewei still couldn’t think of a safe solution. She could only stall for time; or rather, she had thought of one, but one lie would require countless other lies to cover it. More than that, she didn’t want to deprive Gu Yanqiu of her right to know the truth. So she seized every opportunity to pressure Gu Feiquan, telling him to pry information out of He Songjun; maybe they could find a breakthrough that way.

***

“Mom, do you want an apple?” Gu Feiquan peeled one for Gu Huai, then turned to ask He Songjun in the outer room.

“No.” He Songjun lifted the electric kettle, planning to go fill it with water and bring it back to boil.

Gu Feiquan lunged over in a flash, took the kettle from her hands, and said, “I’ll do it. You rest here.”

He had already snatched chores from her more than once. At first He Songjun had thought he was being filial and felt comforted by it, but now she sensed something was off. “No favor is free of charge. What are you up to?”

“Nothing. There’s a concert tonight; a foreign orchestra. I have two tickets. Do you want to go?” Gu Feiquan held up the tickets.

“Do I look like the kind of person who goes to concerts?” He Songjun asked him in exasperation.

“So you should go see it and broaden your horizons.”

“No.” He Songjun refused quickly.

“Come on, it’d be so boring for me to go alone.”

“You can find that Miss Yin to go with you. Why do you have to torment your old mother?” He Songjun said helplessly.

“She’s not in Yanning right now.” Gu Feiquan couldn’t explain his relationship with Yin Lingxi to He Songjun anyway, so he simply let his mother misunderstand. In any case, He Songjun was never going to meet the other woman.

He Songjun was still looking for reasons to refuse, but Gu Feiquan wore her down with soft, persistent persuasion. In the end, he even wrapped an arm around her and swayed it left and right. He Songjun was so grossed out by his clinginess that she finally gave in. “Stop it; I said I’d go, didn’t I? You’re making my eyes go dizzy.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

Gu Feiquan left satisfied. He Songjun thought that was the end of it, but it wasn’t. Gu Feiquan talked her into going home first, picked out a proper outfit for her, and only then did they head to the concert.

Music could help people relax. Gu Feiquan hadn’t brought He Songjun out solely to pry information from her; another major reason was to get her attention onto something else, so she wouldn’t spend all day staring at Gu Huai’s little patch of land and end up sick from bottling herself up. Besides, He Songjun already had some health issues.

She truly had no musical sensibility at all; sitting in the chair, she looked like she had nails in her backside, unable to settle no matter how she moved. The moment Gu Feiquan saw her expression, he knew the plan had failed.

After the concert, Gu Feiquan apologized solemnly to He Songjun, saying he shouldn’t have taken her there.

Gu Feiquan was He Songjun’s own son; how could she blame him? At most, he had been filial in the wrong direction. Instead, He Songjun comforted him. “It’s Mom who doesn’t know how to appreciate this kind of thing.”

Gu Feiquan suggested, “Then I’ll take you to see something else next time?”

He Songjun didn’t want to go. She wasn’t in the mood, but Gu Feiquan was so enthusiastic that she reluctantly agreed. “Let’s talk about it later. I’m a little tired.”

“Then I’ll take you back home.”

“What home? Go to the hospital.”

“Mom, staying at the hospital all the time isn’t a good idea. Dad has enough people around him. Why don’t you enjoy yourself a little? Use the card and go shopping; wouldn’t that be great?”

He Songjun shot him a glare. “And what would people think? My husband’s still lying in a hospital bed, and you’re out here spending money like water?”

Gu Feiquan: “……”

He Songjun smacked his arm. “Let’s go.”

“Mom.” The road they had to walk to the parking spot was quite long. Gu Feiquan had deliberately scoped out the terrain and parked the car far away, planning to use the walk to probe her for answers. “Were you really badly nauseous when you were pregnant with me?”

“Why are you suddenly asking that?” He Songjun said.

“Isn’t it because I’m planning to date someone recently? I looked it up. In case my future wife gets pregnant someday, I wanted to prepare in advance.” Thanks to all the recent misunderstandings, Gu Feiquan sounded extremely credible when he said it.

“That’s early enough,” He Songjun said, not suspecting a thing. “My morning sickness wasn’t too bad, but it lasted almost the entire pregnancy. It was exhausting. Some people have it worse; it depends on their constitution, the pregnant woman’s mental state, and so on. Nutrition and everything else have to be kept up too.”

Gu Feiquan said casually, “Then I’ll go buy some books and read up on it.”

At a spot where Gu Feiquan couldn’t see her, He Songjun let out a bitter smile.

She didn’t know whether Shen Huaiyu had once told stories to Gu Feiquan while he was still a fetus, or whether she had accompanied him in his childhood; even though Gu Feiquan had no memory of those days because he was too young, he always gave her a feeling strikingly similar to Shen Huaiyu.

During her pregnancy, Shen Huaiyu had approached the subject as if conducting scholarly research, borrowing from the library or buying piles of books on pregnancy and prenatal education from bookstores, then burying herself in them.

All these years, Gu Feiquan had never been anything like her, his mother. Every time He Songjun saw him, especially when he disagreed with her, she would think of Shen Huaiyu from back then. That only deepened her hatred; it had sunk into her bones and become a morbid obsession. She knew where the illness in her came from, but there was no cure for it, and she didn’t want to be cured anyway.

Shen Huaiyu was dead; she would never even get an explanation.

A flash of watery light passed through He Songjun’s pupils, and the ruthlessness settled back down.

She didn’t need an explanation.

Gu Feiquan noticed nothing, and in a tone full of righteous indignation as he recalled the past, he said, “Mom, you really have the best temper. If I were you, I’d make sure those two never got married and turn the whole thing into complete chaos.”

He Songjun shot him a cold glance.

Gu Feiquan shivered. By then, He Songjun had already withdrawn her gaze and was striding ahead.

“Mom—” Gu Feiquan hurried after her, not knowing what he had said wrong. His mother had suddenly changed her face without warning.

Come to think of it, He Songjun had been becoming more and more moody lately.

Gu Feiquan looked at his mother’s back and thought that it gave him a bad feeling.

***

“Tell me everything you said, and everything your mother did in response,” Lin Yuewei said over the phone that evening. Gu Yanqiu was out socializing; Lin Yuewei was sitting on the sofa in the living room at home, one hand holding a cup of water, the other holding her phone, speaking with Gu Feiquan.

“I told you everything already. I only said those two lines. When I was probing her earlier, she could still be patient and talk to me about the details, even if they were all trivial little things. But whenever I brought up anything important, she’d change expression. Now I don’t even know which sentence of mine stepped on a landmine! I even made a point of speaking to her in a way that would suit her mood today!” Gu Feiquan was almost at the point of losing it. On one hand, he worried that Gu Yanqiu would notice something; on the other, he had to dig for clues from his mother. Day after day, time felt like the sword of Damocles hanging over his head, ready to fall at any moment and keep him from sleeping at night.

“Why are you yelling at me?” Lin Yuewei said, her brow creasing slightly. “Did I throw a fit at you?”

Gu Feiquan opened his mouth and said, “...Sorry.”

Lin Yuewei hummed. “It’s fine.”

Gu Feiquan: “……”

After a long time, he still didn’t hear any sound from Lin Yuewei’s end and called, “Hello?” Lin Yuewei made a nasal sound to show she was still there. “I’m thinking.”

“Then keep thinking.”

A few more minutes passed before Gu Feiquan couldn’t help asking, “Have you thought of anything?”

“No.” The more Lin Yuewei interacted with Gu Feiquan, the more she realized he truly wasn’t threatening at all; he was as dumb as a mascot. She sighed. “Can’t you think too?”

“I’ve been thinking all day.”

“Then let’s hang up first. I’ll tell you when I come up with something.”

“……” Gu Feiquan said, “Even if we hang up, I can’t do anything else. Leave it open; I’ll keep thinking… I mentioned books. Could it have something to do with books?”

“Maybe. Does your mother usually read?”

“Not really, I don’t think.”

“I think…” A vague idea flashed through Lin Yuewei’s mind, and intuition pushed her to say it aloud. “It’s not about books. It’s about you, right?”

“What does that have to do with me?” Gu Feiquan let his imagination run wild. “Don’t tell me I’m not her biological son?”

He had been through so many awful things lately that he could really accept anything now. Even if someone said he had been abducted and ended up being raised as He Songjun’s son, he could accept that.

Lin Yuewei said, “Why don’t you just say you’re Shen Huaiyu’s son?”

Gu Feiquan analyzed it in all seriousness. “The timing doesn’t fit. I’m too old.”

Lin Yuewei wanted to pull him out of the phone and give him a couple of knocks on the head.

Fortunately, Gu Feiquan stopped joking at once and said seriously, “Now that you mention it, my mom has been a little abnormal lately. She keeps changing her face; she’s been very moody.”

“Moody?”

“Yes,” Gu Feiquan said. “It gives me the creeps. I feel like something’s going to happen.”

The first person Lin Yuewei thought of was Gu Yanqiu. She had already had that premonition outside the hospital ward before, and now Gu Feiquan was saying the same thing…

She glanced at the wall clock; it was already ten-thirty at night, and Gu Yanqiu still wasn’t back. In the past, even if she didn’t come home, she would at least send a message to let her know.

Her eyelid suddenly twitched. She said to Gu Feiquan on the other end of the line, “I have something to do. We’ll talk next time.” Then she hurriedly hung up.

Lin Yuewei called Gu Yanqiu, pressing the phone tightly to her ear, but it rang until it automatically disconnected and no one answered.

Lin Yuewei felt an uncontrollable surge of panic.

She forced herself to stay calm. Since Gu Yanqiu’s phone couldn’t get through, she called her assistant, Lin Zhi. Gu Yanqiu usually took Lin Zhi with her whenever she went out to socialize; if she drank too much, Lin Zhi would drive her home.

Lin Zhi had Lin Yuewei’s number, just as Wang Yuanyuan had Gu Yanqiu’s contact information. It was all a precaution in case they couldn’t find the person they needed, and neither had ever taken the initiative to contact the other.

Seeing the caller ID, Lin Zhi instinctively tensed up for a moment. He managed to fish out a usable form of address from the confusion in his head before answering respectfully, “Madam.”

Ignoring the title, Lin Yuewei asked urgently, “Where is Gu Yanqiu?”

Lin Zhi thought her voice sounded a little familiar, but he couldn’t remember where he had heard it. Her tone was anxious. Through the half-open door, Lin Zhi glanced at the private room and quickly said, “President Gu is inside having dinner.”

“Get her to answer the phone.”

“This—”

“Now!”

Lin Zhi considered it. He couldn’t afford to offend this mysterious girlfriend of theirs. He pushed open the door and bent down to whisper a few words by Gu Yanqiu’s ear.

Lin Yuewei could hear the surrounding noise shift back from chaos into the original quiet. Then Gu Yanqiu’s gentle voice reached her ear. “What’s wrong?”

Only then did the heart that had been hanging in Lin Yuewei’s throat finally drop back down. Her worry turned into anger. “Why didn’t you answer my call?!”

“My phone was in my bag. It was too noisy just now, so I probably didn’t hear it.” Gu Yanqiu explained patiently, her voice growing softer still. “You called me; was there something you needed?”

“No.” Lin Yuewei couldn’t say it over the phone, so she only said, “Come back quickly.”

Gu Yanqiu heard the faint fear in her voice.

Gu Yanqiu said, “Okay. I’ll tell them and come back right now.”

Lin Zhi kept his eyes on his nose and his nose on his heart. After Gu Yanqiu finished and handed the phone back to him, he returned to the private room.

“Everyone, something urgent came up at home, so I have to excuse myself first. Please continue eating.” Gu Yanqiu drank three glasses to apologize. Amid the others’ teasing and attempts to keep her, she picked up the coat hanging nearby, draped it over her arm, and strode out.

Lin Zhi had only just parked the car when Gu Yanqiu pulled the door open and got out. The brightly lit villa had its front door wide open; a figure rushed out from inside and collided into Gu Yanqiu, who had just reached the doorway.

Lin Zhi couldn’t make out the person’s face. He could only see that they were about the same height as Gu Yanqiu, with their hair hanging loose to around the middle of their back. After that, the two went inside and closed the door.

Still no idea who it was.

Lin Zhi sighed regretfully and drove away.

Gu Yanqiu was startled by Lin Yuewei suddenly rushing out, and then she was frightened half to death by the expression on her face. Lin Yuewei’s eyes were red, looking as if she was about to cry.

Gu Yanqiu hurriedly patted her back, anxious and afraid to speak too loudly. “What happened?”

“Nothing.” Lin Yuewei tightened her arms, nearly making it impossible for Gu Yanqiu to breathe.

Gu Yanqiu maintained that position and struggled forward two steps into the entryway, then shut the door behind them with one hand.

Only after a while did Lin Yuewei gradually calm down. In a hoarse voice, she said, “I was worried about you.”

Gu Yanqiu laughed. “What’s there to worry about? Don’t worry.”

Lin Yuewei lowered her head and suddenly wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

Gu Yanqiu was immediately thrown into disarray. “Wh-what exactly happened?”

If this went on, she was going to cry too.

“Nothing happened.” Lin Yuewei pulled her to sit on the sofa, took a tissue, and gently dabbed at the corners of her eyes. After taking a few breaths, she forced herself to speak evenly. “I scared myself with my own imagination.”

“Nothing’s going to happen.” Gu Yanqiu comforted her.

She held Lin Yuewei and coaxed her softly for a while before asking, “Did you hear some kind of news?”

They couldn’t talk about He Songjun’s matter; otherwise, it would be like pulling up a radish and bringing out mud. Lin Yuewei shook her head. “I just dozed off on the sofa and had a nightmare. It was really terrifying.”

She looked shaken as she said it.

After hearing that, Gu Yanqiu couldn’t help smiling. But seeing her pitiful expression, she also felt tenderness and kissed Lin Yuewei on the forehead, coaxing softly, “Dreams are the opposite of reality. Don’t take them seriously.”

“Mm.” Lin Yuewei’s fingers clenched the sofa fabric, her gaze deep.

“Hungry? Should I make you a midnight snack?” Gu Yanqiu asked when she saw that Lin Yuewei had calmed down.

“No need. I’m about to start filming soon, and you want me to eat a midnight snack?”

“Is your flight the day after tomorrow? I’ll take you to the airport.”

“Okay.”

Gu Yanqiu rubbed her neck against Lin Yuewei’s shoulder, her mood sinking all at once. “I don’t want to part with you.”

“You can come visit me on set. We agreed on that.”

“Mm…”

She was still sulky, pouting unconsciously. Lin Yuewei kissed her face several times in quick succession, smacking loudly with each kiss. Only then did Gu Yanqiu finally smile. Lin Yuewei took her hand and led her upstairs. “Come on. Let’s go shower and sleep.”

Gu Yanqiu suddenly turned her head and looked at her, lowering her voice. “Can we shower together tonight?”

Lin Yuewei pretended to think about it. Just as Gu Yanqiu was about to give up on the idea on her own, Lin Yuewei broke into a bright smile. “Sure.”

A night of indulgence.

Lin Yuewei hadn’t slept well at night. After lying and saying she had a nightmare, she truly did have one. In the dream, she and Gu Yanqiu were crossing the street properly when her hand suddenly slipped. She watched helplessly as Gu Yanqiu was sent flying by a speeding car, like a butterfly with its wings broken, lying in a pool of blood.

Lin Yuewei woke up in a cold sweat and hurriedly felt for the real, solid warmth of the person beside her pillow. Trembling all over, she pulled Gu Yanqiu into a tight embrace.

Gu Yanqiu, in her sleep, was held so tightly she could hardly breathe. She woke up and turned on the bedside lamp.

Lin Yuewei’s face was deathly pale, her breathing ragged, looking utterly startled.

“Had a nightmare? Don’t be afraid.” Gu Yanqiu coaxed her for a long time before Lin Yuewei finally fell asleep again.

Once Lin Yuewei was asleep, Gu Yanqiu herself could no longer sleep. Lin Yuewei was too abnormal; she had to find a chance to ask clearly. Thinking about it, Gu Yanqiu tossed and turned until the second half of the night before drifting into a hazy sleep.

The next morning at breakfast, Gu Yanqiu brought it up again. “Weiwei, do you know something?”

“Hm?” Lin Yuewei looked up from her bowl of congee. “Know what?”

“Why do you keep having nightmares? And dreaming about things that are bad for me?”

“Maybe it’s because I love you too much and I’m anxious over gains and losses.” Lin Yuewei said, “Didn’t you say you hired bodyguards for yourself before? Did you hire them?”

“I did. They followed me for a while around New Year. I thought it was too much trouble, so they aren’t following me now.”

“Hire a few more.”

Gu Yanqiu frowned.

Lin Yuewei looked at her pitifully. “I’m worried about you.”

Gu Yanqiu: “...Okay. I’ll have Lin Zhi take care of it later.”

Lin Yuewei smiled, though the smile still couldn’t hide the heaviness beneath it.

Gu Yanqiu’s brow furrowed even more.

News had come from Mr. Liu’s side about Shen Huaiyu and He Songjun. Some things were thirty years old, but that didn’t necessarily mean they couldn’t be found out. After Gu Yanqiu got in touch with Yin Lingxi, she had Mr. Liu focus on the relationship among the three of them from thirty years ago.

He could trace He Songjun’s residence from thirty years ago. Following the trail, Mr. Liu visited many households and learned from an old man that Shen Huaiyu had once taken walks in the residential compound with the pregnant He Songjun. Two young girls, one of them so beautiful; the old man had some impression of it. Once the details were matched against the photos, everything lined up.

That meant Shen Huaiyu had known He Songjun even before she got married, and their relationship had been quite good. This differed greatly from what Gu Feiquan had told her, and because of Lin Yuewei’s recent unusual behavior, Gu Yanqiu had sensed something was off. So this time, she did not tell Lin Yuewei what Mr. Liu had found.

The two of them each carried their own secret, and the air was thick with a storm about to break.

Two days later, Lin Yuewei was set to join the new production. Her heart was in complete disarray, uneasy and restless. Besides the bodyguards Gu Yanqiu had hired herself, she had also hired two for Gu Yanqiu, and she still couldn’t relax.

When they parted at the airport, Lin Yuewei adjusted Gu Yanqiu’s collar as she kept nagging, “Don’t eat anything strangers give you; don’t drink anything strangers give you.”

“When you cross the street, stay farther away from cars. Look where you’re walking.”

“If any suspicious person comes near you, have the bodyguards stand right next to you and keep watch at all times.”

“And one more thing; be careful around He Songjun. It’s best not to talk to her. If you do, keep as far away from her as possible.”

Gu Yanqiu agreed to everything.

“Call me once you get home.” Lin Yuewei kept looking back every few steps. “When you go back, bring all the bodyguards with you, got it? They should be standing guard at the door even when you go to work.”

“Got it.” Gu Yanqiu smiled and waved at her.

She also said to her assistant, who was waiting nearby, “Take good care of her.”

Lin Yuewei went through security and then turned a corner, disappearing from sight. Only then did Gu Yanqiu turn and head back.

The drive from the airport was long. After leaving the elevated road and entering a secluded street, Gu Yanqiu suddenly felt a slight warmth between her neck and collarbone. Keeping one hand on the wheel, she reached inside with the other and drew out a jade Buddha from her neckline. It had no warmth in her palm now; it was just the temperature of her own skin.

She was just about to tuck it back in when the red cord holding the jade Buddha suddenly snapped. The weight at the back of her neck loosened, and the cord slipped down onto her forearm.

This jade Buddha had been specially requested from a temple by Ran Qingqing and Lin Yuewei during the New Year. They said a great monk had blessed it. Ran Qingqing had told her to wear it around her neck; jade nurtures people, and people nurture jade, bringing peace and safety. Because her mother believed in Buddhism, Gu Yanqiu had always held the attitude that it was better to believe in it than not, so once she put it on, she never took it off.

She drove this road often and was familiar with it. Glancing at the snapped red cord, Gu Yanqiu narrowed her eyes and, as expected, spotted a jade shop along the street.

She drove a little farther, parked by the roadside, opened the door and got out, planning to have the jade shop replace the cord for her.

She had only taken a few steps along the street when a deafening boom came from behind her, as though thunder had suddenly exploded right beside her ear.

The shock wave from nearby sent Gu Yanqiu stumbling forward a few steps. The sounds around her sharply collapsed into a single thread, becoming a thin, drawn-out ringing——

She braced herself against a tree by the roadside and turned back in stunned disbelief. A green freight truck loaded to the brim was parked just a few steps away. The white Maserati she had just left behind had been smashed and twisted out of shape by the truck, beyond recognition.

The truck reversed, backing up several meters, then the heavy vehicle lurched forward again, crushing over once more; only when the white sedan had been reduced to a pile of scrap metal did the truck, swaying as though drunk, drive off at an angle and disappear down the end of the road.

Gu Yanqiu raised her phone to photograph the truck’s license plate, then calmly called the police. Her hands would not stop trembling. She rubbed a hand over her face and leaned against the tree, waiting for the police to arrive.