Yun Huaizhu's Origins

At around six in the evening, a trending topic titled #JingCityYunFamilyOnceKilledSomeone# exploded.

Countless netizens flooded in.

Jing City Entertainment Gossip: “According to reliable sources, the Yun family mentioned in the news is the Yun family of Jing City. They once produced a hugely popular celebrity idol.”

@1475568196: Oh god, it's not the Yun I'm thinking of, is it?

@WhatMedicineCuresCopperPoisoning: yhz?

@MyGirlZhuzhuIsJustThisBeautiful: Don't spread rumors up there—you do know spreading rumors is illegal, right?

@Can'tSleepWithoutMusic: Who's spreading rumors? Isn't this a fact? If you've got the guts, call the police and have them arrest every one of these people.

@ExtraSpicyGrilledGluten: Are the three characters “Yun Huaizhu” too hot to handle? The marketing accounts don't dare say it, so I'll say it for you. Yun Huaizhu's fans, remember to save the evidence. If it really is a rumor, not a single one of them will get away.

@KilledSomeoneInPastLifeBarExamThisLife: Oh god, the Yun family killed someone? I searched the entire internet and there's no news about it. Does anyone know what happened?

About half an hour later, another hashtag appeared under the topic: #Victim'sRelativeSpeaksOutClaimingYunFamilyKilledSomeoneButEscapedLegalPunishment#.

At the bottom of this Weibo post was a recent interview.

An old woman who looked fifty or sixty—her face covered in fatty yellow spots—faced the camera with a sorrowful expression.

A reporter asked, “May I ask which Yun family you're referring to?”

The old woman replied, “It's Yun Jinyu. My daughter's death must be connected to her. Before my daughter disappeared, she said she was going to the Yun family to find her. Then she never came back. It must have been her who killed my daughter! All these years we've been trying to get answers from the Yun family, but every time we come to the Yun family, they beat us out. I'm almost seventy now. I'm afraid this old woman doesn't have many years left, and I truly have no other choice. To seek justice for my poor grandniece, I had the villagers hang this banner here, so that all you upright officials can give us justice! A Yun family that wantonly kills the innocent must be severely punished!”

The moment the video came out, several more hashtags exploded in quick succession: #WhoIsYunJinyu#, #DidYunJinyuReallyKillSomeone?#, #HasTheYunFamilyReallyCommittedIllegalActs?#, #SuggestPublicSecurityInvestigateJingCityYunFamilyEnterprises#.

After one trending topic after another blew up, someone quickly dug up that the “Yun Jinyu” the old woman mentioned in the video was Yun Huaizhu's mother—Yun Huaizhu, who had retired from the entertainment industry almost a year ago.

Yun Jinyu had been the head of the Yun family before Yun Huaizhu, but she died at thirty-five when Yun Huaizhu was twelve, due to a glandular defect. Very few photos of Yun Jinyu remained, but from what netizens dug up, the deceased woman's face was seven or eight parts similar to the current Yun Huaizhu—and even more graceful and elegant, like a noble white peony.

Eight or nine in the evening was when Weibo traffic peaked. After these trending topics exploded, countless gossip-hungry netizens flooded in instantly.

@PiggyIsSoCuteHaveAnotherPigTrotter: Judging by her face, this old lady looks fierce. She's been wailing for so long and not a single tear has fallen. She doesn't seem genuinely sad, does she? How are there still so many people blindly hating?

@Sumonxiao: Oh god, the person in the photo is Yun Huaizhu's mother! A peerless beauty, as beautiful as Yun Huaizhu. I don't believe she would kill someone, ahhhhh...

@LipActingSyndromeActivated: When will these illiterates understand that being a murderer has nothing to do with appearance?

@Don'tArgueIfYouArgueYou'reWrong: The person upstairs is still spreading rumors. When did she ever kill someone? Have the police issued a statement? You're just barking here. She's already passed away; show some respect for your ancestors.

GossipFrontlineSummarizer: “Basically, this old woman who came out of nowhere is clinging to someone long dead, insisting she must have killed her grandniece.”

@Yun'sOnlyPureWhiteJasmine: I remember Yun Huaizhu's mother was a low-grade omega, right? Omegas with glandular defects are generally frail and sickly from childhood. Without the comfort of high-quality alpha pheromones, they rarely live past thirty. Could such a delicate person kill someone?

@SusuIAmVerySu: Oh god, how pitiful. Dying in her thirties—truly, the heavens envy beauty. How could someone so beautiful be a low-grade omega?

@Don'tScareMeIfYouScareMeClimbFirst: So what if she was a low-grade omega? She still had the ability to inherit the family business and grow it even bigger. Without the glandular defect, she could have made the company a leading enterprise. I see that person keeps wailing dry-eyed, and the people beside her are like hired actors shouting slogans. Has anyone dug up who this missing grandniece she's talking about actually is?

...

“Beep beep—”

Four hours had passed since the incident. The moment Lin Meng opened her phone after work, her gaze was drawn to the trending lists dominating every platform.

She thought it was just another explosive entertainment story, but when she clicked in, she found it was about Yun Huaizhu.

What Yun Huaizhu cared about most was her mother. Losing her mother young was already the pain she least wanted to remember. Yet now these people were going to tear open that most painful scar of hers in front of the public, raw and exposed.

These people were truly detestable!

Lin Meng knew Yun Huaizhu must have seen it; that was why she couldn't help calling her so many times. But she had called over twenty times, and none went through.

If she had known something like this would happen, she wouldn't have been so shy when she saw Aunt Fang earlier; she should have at least gotten a contact number.

Yun Huaizhu had never ignored her like this before. That meant her current situation was very dangerous.

The more Lin Meng thought, the more afraid she became. So she kept sending messages: [Zhuzhu, I've seen everything online. Don't take them seriously; they're just trash! I believe you and your mother are innocent. I'll always be by your side. Are you busy dealing with this right now, so you don't have time to reply? I don't know if you're home. I'll go to your place to find you first, okay?]

After typing the message, Lin Meng stood up and headed outside. Just then, she ran into Tang Xiaoman, who was coming back from buying a drink.

Seeing Lin Meng's slightly pale face and hurried manner, Tang Xiaoman asked quickly, “What's wrong, Mengmeng? Where are you going so late?”

Lin Meng stopped. She looked at Tang Xiaoman, her tone anxious. “Um... something came up at home, so I need to go back. By the way, Xiaoman, if I don't come to the office tomorrow morning, could you help me request leave?”

Seeing how urgent she looked, Tang Xiaoman nodded quickly. “Okay.”

With that, Lin Meng hurried outside. It was almost nine-thirty at night. She jogged for a while before managing to hail a cab. After getting in, she kept staring at her phone screen, but the WeChat page was full of the long string of messages she had sent, and Yun Huaizhu still hadn't replied.

...

Meanwhile, online, another bombshell dropped in the “Yun family killed someone” matter—the grandniece of the old woman who had been crying for justice below the World Trade Financial Building.

Someone dug up that the grandniece the old woman mentioned was named Lu Wenxin, who had gone missing thirteen years ago. She was born in a small fishing village in the south. But what was unbelievable was that despite her ordinary origins, she was an S-rank alpha.

Because of her S-rank alpha identity, she left the small fishing village. At fifteen, she dropped out of school to work; at eighteen, she used the money she had saved to do business all over the country. Three more years passed, and she saved enough to come to the dazzling, luxurious Jing City, where she moved through various circles, trying to achieve complete class transcendence with her S-rank alpha identity.

But not long after, she was arrested on charges of intentional injury and imprisoned for eight years. After her release, no one ever saw her again.

@HowManyDrinksDidYouHaveToGetThisDrunk: If you only hear the first half, it sounds pretty inspiring. Didn't expect it to end with jail...

@IfILovedLife: Same... I thought it was another big shot who dropped out and built a business empire, but I still can't escape my stereotype of delinquent girls.

@GraduateStudent'sFantasyBeforeDeath: This Lu Wenxin going to prison was all her own doing, wasn't it? What does her disappearance have to do with the Yun family? Could the person she intentionally injured be Yun Jinyu?

Not long after Lu Wenxin's identity was dug up, an unknown marketing account posted an image filled with text:

“Legend has it that Lu Wenxin, relying on her S-rank alpha status, used her pheromones to suppress Yun Jinyu, a low-grade omega. Yun Huaizhu is Yun Jinyu's bastard daughter—which is why, all these years, only Yun Jinyu appeared in public with the child. When Yun Jinyu prosecuted Lu Wenxin for intentional injury to send her to prison, it was for the sake of her reputation.”

@LongtimeDogBloodNovelLover: ?????

@ThePriceOfAShirtIsNinePoundsFifteenPence: Am I seeing this right? How do I know all these characters, but when they're put together I can't understand them? Is it me who's crazy, or is this world crazy?

@an empty: As expected, art comes from reality, and art is still too conservative.

@WhiteLittleHeartNotBeating: So Yun Jinyu had every reason to kill Lu Wenxin. What that old woman said wasn't entirely false...

@IGoOnlineJustToSeeThis: Nani? How did this turn into a dog-blood prime-time drama? Is there any official statement to refute the rumors? This is disrespectful to the deceased too. And I heard there was a listing ribbon-cutting ceremony at the World Trade Financial Building today. It's hard not to suspect someone is deliberately using this to sabotage Yun Huaizhu...

...

Lin Meng watched one breaking news story after another the whole way, growing more and more anxious. She was terrified Yun Huaizhu might see the news and do something desperate.

Yun Huaizhu had worked so hard to get where she was today. How could she be destroyed by people like them?

No, absolutely not!

Lin Meng ran to the high-rise apartment complex where Yun Huaizhu had taken her before. Following her memory, she reached Yun Huaizhu's home and knocked on the door. “Zhuzhu, it's me... are you okay? I saw the news online and I'm worried about you. If you're okay, could you reply to my message or open the door? Zhuzhu...”

Lin Meng knocked like that for over twenty minutes. In the end, she was biting her fingers anxiously, and the corner of her mouth had been bitten open from her teeth unconsciously grinding at it.

Had Yun Huaizhu not come back yet? Was that why she hadn't replied? Or did Yun Huaizhu own several properties, and this wasn't where she was staying recently?

At that thought, Lin Meng took the elevator downstairs and ran to the security office to ask about Yun Huaizhu. This complex counted as a high-end one; the people living there were either rich or noble. So when the security guard saw Lin Meng in slippers with an anxious face, he couldn't help but grow suspicious. “What exactly are you to the owner of that floor?”

Lin Meng's racing thoughts seemed to cut off, going blank for a moment. She lowered her head, eyes darting back and forth, then raised her head and answered very seriously: “I'm her girlfriend. I can't reach her right now, so I came to check her entry and exit records. This is a matter of life and death—please help me!”

After saying this, she also wrote down Yun Huaizhu's phone number. “If that's not enough, you can verify it. I really am her girlfriend!”

The security guard only dropped his suspicion after verifying the number.

When Lin Meng got Yun Huaizhu's entry and exit records for the past half month, her heart sank another inch: Yun Huaizhu hadn't come here at all in the past half month!

At that, Lin Meng asked again: “Security guys, do you know if this owner has properties elsewhere besides here?”

Security: “?”

Seeing this, Lin Meng let out a heavy sigh. They were just gatekeepers for the complex; how would they know how many houses the owner had bought in Jing City?

After Lin Meng left the complex, the sky rumbled with lightning. She didn't know why, but her chest suddenly felt tight, as if she couldn't breathe. When she left home today, the weather forecast had said there would be rain soon, but no one knew when. Was the weather echoing her mood, pouring down the storm that had been holding back until now?

Lin Meng raised her head. Lightning flashed through the thick dark clouds, illuminating her utterly dejected face.

She didn't know why, but when Su Yutang and Yun Huaizhu scared her, she would cry from fear. Yet now, walking in stormy weather, she couldn't cry at all. She didn't know if it was because worry had smothered her old fear of thunder and lightning.

The thunder in the sky grew louder and louder. Lin Meng had no thought of sheltering from the rain.

She thought she should have asked for more contact information from the start, should have chatted more with Yun Huaizhu. That way she would know how many properties Yun Huaizhu had in Jing City.

If she knew these things, she wouldn't be wandering aimlessly on this street about to rain. She would search house by house until she found Yun Huaizhu.

The storm hadn't come yet, but her heart already felt chilled through.

Just as sorrow steeped her expression, the phone in her hand suddenly rang. At the sound, Lin Meng's nearly departed soul seemed to be jolted back to life. She hurriedly brought the phone to her face.

But when she saw the caller ID—Huo Yi—an inexplicable sense of disappointment welled up again. She answered and said weakly, “Hello, is something wrong?”

Hearing her voice, Huo Yi asked with slight impatience, “Mengmeng, where are you right now? I went to your place, but it seems no one's home.”

At Huo Yi's words, a thought suddenly flashed through Lin Meng's mind. As if grasping a lifesaving straw, she asked quickly, “Yiyi, do you know how many properties Yun Huaizhu has? Like old residences, places she stayed as a child, or assets her mother left her.”

Hearing that, Huo Yi's brows knitted tightly.

She had only been worried about Lin Meng because she saw the news online. After all, she could feel that Lin Meng currently had the deepest feelings for Yun Huaizhu.

Although she felt nothing for Yun Huaizhu, when she saw the news about Yun Huaizhu's mother online, even she couldn't help but feel it was absurd—let alone Lin Meng, who had special feelings for Yun Huaizhu.

She had hurried to Lin Meng's place because she was worried, but she hadn't expected Lin Meng's first words after picking up to be asking where Yun Huaizhu was.

If she said she wasn't sad at all, that would be a lie.

Huo Yi let out a deep sigh. “Mm, I know. Send me your current location; I'll come pick you up.”

At that, a spark of light instantly ignited in Lin Meng's eyes. She quickly sent her location.

Strangely enough, the moment Huo Yi arrived in her Maybach, the sky poured down torrential rain.

Lin Meng only got a bit of her hair wet. As soon as she got in the car, she thanked Huo Yi quickly. “Thank you so much, Yiyi!”

Hearing this, Huo Yi suddenly turned her head and gazed at Lin Meng for a few seconds, then let out a helpless sigh. “The sky should already have been darkening when you left. If I hadn't come to pick you up, you'd have been caught in the rain halfway there.”

At that, an inexplicable guilt welled up in Lin Meng's heart. “Sorry... it was an emergency, so I was in such a hurry that I forgot to bring an umbrella. Thank you for helping me this time. I'll definitely... repay you.”

Before she could finish, Huo Yi interrupted. “It's fine, we're good friends. Besides, with such a big thing happening to Yun Huaizhu, I'm worried about her too.”

Hearing this, Lin Meng suddenly felt the person before her was glowing. A warm sense of comfort rose in her previously restless heart.

As Huo Yi drove Lin Meng to the old residence where Yun Huaizhu had lived since childhood—the one Madam Yun left her—Huo Yi said with slightly furrowed brows, “I only know about a few of the Yun family's villas in Jing City. I'm not sure about properties newly acquired in recent years.”

Hearing this, Lin Meng lowered her head and fidgeted with her fingers uneasily. “It's okay.”

She had already done her best to get here...

Besides, without Huo Yi, she would have been drenched by the rain.

While Huo Yi drove, Lin Meng kept staring at the WeChat page. As long as Yun Huaizhu replied, she definitely wouldn't miss it.

Outside, bean-sized raindrops pattered against the car. The windshield wipers cleared the blurry rain ahead. Huo Yi didn't know what was wrong with her either; her chest felt tight, as if something was always unclear, like the rain blurring her vision back and forth on the car window.

If she, Su Yutang, and Yun Huaizhu stood before Lin Meng and Lin Meng had to choose, who would Lin Meng choose?

If both Su Yutang and Yun Huaizhu cried, maybe Lin Meng would split her gaze between them a little. But if she also showed a wronged, tearful expression, would Lin Meng feel as much heartache for her as she did for Yun Huaizhu now?

The car sped through the rainy night, proud and unruly, while the two people inside had completely different moods, yet were equally, strangely sad.

About half an hour later, Huo Yi brought Lin Meng to Yun Huaizhu's old residence. It was a five-story small villa. This villa was different from the houses of Su Yutang and Huo Yi that Lin Meng had visited; it was visibly somewhat old.

Some bricks and tiles were covered in moss. Rose vines had completely covered one wall of the villa. Magenta and white roses swayed in the storm, finally drooping helplessly.

When Huo Yi's car stopped at the villa entrance, she noticed the light at the gate was on, but the entire villa was pitch black, like the eerie little Western-style building described in novels.

Lin Meng was originally most afraid of places like this. But when the car stopped and the door opened, she rushed out. The villa's black-painted Western-style iron gate, its paint peeling, wasn't bolted. Her rain-wet hands pushed it open and she hurried toward the entrance.

Huo Yi watched from the car with a dark, somewhat sorrowful gaze as Lin Meng's figure gradually disappeared into the rain. She could have ignored this, let Lin Meng worry on the street, lose her soul... After all, she used to do exactly that. She should have trusted no one's feelings, meddled in no one's karma.

But she couldn't bear to see Lin Meng caught in the rain.

...

When Lin Meng stepped into the entrance hall, she was breathing hard. After gradually recovering some strength, she shouted inside, “Zhuzhu, are you here? I've come.”

It was really dark here, especially with the thunderstorm outside and constant lightning. Lin Meng's glasses were blurred by rain, and her vision in the dark became extremely poor. So every time lightning flashed, she would mistake normal objects for terrifying monsters.

Lin Meng stood in the entrance hall. The lightning repeatedly cast her silhouette onto the Persian rug at the door.

At that moment her heart was trembling, but she still kept walking inside. As if ignoring the objects around her, she walked in while shouting, “Zhuzhu, I saw what's online. Don't be afraid... I'll stand by your side. I've come to be with you. Please come out and see me.”

“Rumble—”

Just then, a huge bolt of lightning flashed across the sky, almost illuminating the entire villa. Lin Meng heard a thunderclap like the end of the world and instinctively covered her ears in fright.

Her scream was drowned out by the thunder.

But it was also because of that lightning that she saw the person curled into a ball behind the sofa not far away.

Seeing this, Lin Meng quickly ran over. She almost couldn't confirm that the person before her was Yun Huaizhu, because the aura around this curled-up, constantly trembling figure was really cold.

Like a ghost in this old villa, merged with it.

Yun Huaizhu didn't know how she had gotten back from the ribbon-cutting venue. She only knew her mind was completely blank, unable to function at all. She needed to find a quiet place to be alone.

Otherwise she would do things even she couldn't understand.

But it was so terrifying. This was the first time she had encountered something like this.

Yun Jinyu had given everything, thinking until her dying day about how to protect her. She had failed Yun Jinyu's expectations. Although she had already done her best, those wounds, those long-healed scars, had become old injuries branded on her chest.

No matter how intact the skin, she could still feel the stinging pain of the old wounds beneath her flesh.

So cold. So terribly cold. Her body temperature couldn't warm back up no matter what.

So suffocating. The air was filled with the smell of damp decay, like the breath of death. She had worked so hard to live; could she really not escape that vicious curse?

She didn't know how much time passed before a warm heat source approached her, then gently pulled her into an embrace.

She heard that person's choked voice above her. “Zhu... Zhuzhu, don't be afraid anymore. I'm here. I'll stay with you, okay?”

In Yun Huaizhu's cold, dark world, a sliver of light suddenly appeared. She gradually lowered her defenses, then raised her pale, tear-covered face to look at the person giving her warmth.

When she saw Lin Meng's compassionate yet gentle face, she finally couldn't hold back anymore. Her blank emotions seemed to all be pulled back in that instant.

Grievance, anger, unwillingness, and endless sorrow finally erupted at that moment.

Wave after wave of thunder covered her heart-rending sobs. She clutched Lin Meng tightly, as if grasping the only sliver of light in her life, weeping and pouring out her sorrow.