Don't Go, Wife

Between work tasks, Jiang Wenzhe habitually opened the surveillance feed. But after scanning, he couldn't find her anywhere—not in the bedroom, not in the kitchen, not in the living room... no room at all.

For some reason, a sudden wave of panic rose in his chest. He quickly grabbed his phone; Lin Sangyu still hadn't replied to his last message.

Where did she go?

Jiang Wenzhe immediately called the bodyguards outside the villa. "Did Miss Lin go out? Why didn't you notify me?"

A hesitant voice came through the receiver. "Huh? No, Boss Jiang, Miss Lin never left the house."

"Are you sure she didn't go out?" Jiang Wenzhe gripped the phone so hard his fingertips turned white.

"No, she didn't."

Jiang Wenzhe's voice turned harsh, laced with ice. "Go check the courtyard right now and see if Miss Lin is there."

The two bodyguards received the order and immediately split up, swiftly circling the villa to search.

Every second of the search stretched interminably. Jiang Wenzhe sat rigidly in his office chair, chest heaving violently.

Lin Sangyu, you'd better be in the courtyard right now, obediently waiting for me to come home.

But every corner of the courtyard was empty. There was no trace of her anywhere.

His heart tightened. One of the bodyguards reported guiltily, "B-Boss, we didn't see Miss Lin, but we did spot a ladder. She probably climbed over the wall and escaped."

The line went dead silent. Veins bulged on his forehead. Jiang Wenzhe hung up without another word and rewound the surveillance footage on his computer by two hours.

At 3:52 PM, the footage showed Lin Sangyu changing out of her pajamas in the bedroom.

At 4:01 PM, Lin Sangyu flexed her fingers slightly, staring at her ring for a long moment. The next second, she removed it without a trace of reluctance and casually placed it on the vanity.

At 4:02 PM, Lin Sangyu descended the mahogany stairs to the first floor, walked straight through the long living room corridor, and exited the front door.

No surveillance cameras were installed outside the villa. The feed cut off completely at the front gate. When Jiang Wenzhe had set up the cameras, he'd covered every corner inside the villa, but deliberately left the outside blank.

Now, that blank space had become her only exit—a way to vanish without being watched.

Jiang Wenzhe's fingers trembled as he dialed Lin Sangyu's number.

The first call went unanswered. The second, unanswered. The third, unanswered...

Tracking. He still had tracking on her.

He switched screens on his phone. Cold sweat began to creep down his back, soaking his shirt until it was slightly translucent. Jiang Wenzhe swiped across the screen frantically again and again.

Nothing. Still nothing.

Where was his tracking app?

Jiang Wenzhe leaned over the desk, moving the mouse, and clicked into the office communication system. His voice was low and rough as he said to Jiang Xiao, "Why is my tracking app gone?"

Jiang Xiao said, puzzled, "Boss Jiang, didn't you tell me to turn it off a few days ago?"

Jiang Wenzhe raised his voice. "I told you to turn it off?"

"Yeah, three days before your birthday, right? We even have chat records. Check them if you want."

While Jiang Xiao placated Jiang Wenzhe, he was frantically scrolling through the chat history. When he found the record he wanted, he let out a huge sigh of relief.

Keeping work records really pays off, sob sob.

Vague memories flashed back through his mind. Jiang Wenzhe pressed his fingers to his brow, saying wearily, "Alright, it's nothing. I appreciate your help this month. I'll notify them to give you a raise."

Jiang Xiao immediately brightened. "Hey hey, no trouble at all, no pain no gain. This is just what I should do."

After hanging up, Jiang Wenzhe sent messages to Lin Sangyu:

[Where are you?]

[Did you go out?]

[Why didn't you tell me?]

[Why didn't you report in?]

[What did you mean by that surprise?]

[Is disappearing the surprise?]

The room was cold and still. Jiang Wenzhe stared hard at the screen, but the messages remained unanswered.

He shouldn't have been soft. He shouldn't have turned back. The tracker should have stayed on.

Since they were already engaged, shouldn't they be bound even tighter?

All that talk about boundaries, about breathing room, about respect—it was all bullshit.

She climbed over the wall without a word. Was she trying to leave him?

But I have many ways to find you.

His dark brows furrowed deeply, creases forming above them, and undisguised fury churned in Jiang Wenzhe's eyes. A terrifying menace sliced through the air. He rose from his seat and strode straight out of the office.

Passing Jiang Xiao's desk, he left a single cold sentence behind: "Push back the rest of the day's work." Then he went straight to the underground parking garage.

In the car, the air conditioning was set extremely low. Jiang Wenzhe held onto his last shred of rationality and made a call. "Zhao Zhe, help me track someone down."

"Who?" Zhao Zhe answered casually.

Jiang Wenzhe said each word distinctly. "Lin Sangyu. She's gone missing."

"Damn, your fiancée? What happened? I'll look into it right now," the weight crashed down on him and Zhao Zhe immediately turned serious. "So where are you now?"

"In the car, ready to go catch her."

*

Lin Sangyu stepped out of the villa's main door and stood there for a moment, observing quietly. The bodyguard at the front gate stood with his back to the villa, completely unaware of her standing in the courtyard.

Taking a turn, she circled around to the back of the compound. Clusters of blue hydrangeas filled the flower beds, century-old rose bushes bloomed luxuriantly, and delicate agapanthus drooped with light blue blossoms. The summer shade carried a rich floral fragrance, every corner exuding elegance.

Lin Sangyu fetched a gardener's ladder from the storage shed and propped it against the wall with a sharp clack, its base firmly wedged into the soil of the flower bed.

Bold as brass, she rolled up her pant legs and started climbing. Sugar gliders were excellent climbers; within moments, she was at the top of the wall, then with one stylish flip, she landed cleanly on the other side.

Dusting the dirt off her hands, Lin Sangyu strode forward with long, confident steps.

Hmph, you little Jiang Wenzhe, think you can cage me in?

It was the end of June, the sun was brutal, and thick waves of heat shimmered in the air. The whole earth seemed scorched.

Without an umbrella, Lin Sangyu baked under the sun, sticky sweat streaming down her forehead, feeling like she was being refined in a furnace.

Once she exited the villa area, she couldn't wait to duck into a small dessert shop by the roadside.

The shop had a light beige interior. The moment she stepped in, a pleasant coolness washed over her, instantly dispelling the heat.

Having worked so hard, Lin Sangyu glanced at her four-digit savings and decided to treat herself properly. With a grand wave of her hand, she ordered a guava shaved ice and a bowl of osmanthus fermented rice with iced tofu pudding.

One bite and the fiery heat inside her body was completely replaced by chill.

While she was eating with great relish, an old man of about seventy or eighty walked in, his hair white, his back slightly hunched, and carrying an old-fashioned radio in his right hand. It blasted its own flashy background music.

[The East is red, the sun rises, China brings forth a Mao Zedong.]

[He works for the people's happiness, hurray heyo.]

"Dad, can you turn that off? There are customers in the shop," the shop owner's wife, seated at the front counter, immediately stood up and said, looking at him with a mix of frustration and helplessness.

"Oh come on, you young people just don't appreciate it. Aren't you playing music in your shop too?"

The owner's wife glanced at Lin Sangyu, who was eating, and grew more anxious. "Mine is calming music. How is that the same as yours? Dad, it's really noisy."

"What's different? I don't see any difference," the old man argued stubbornly.

Lin Sangyu looked around the shop; it seemed she was the only customer. So she timidly raised her hand and said to the bickering pair, "It's fine. I actually think it sounds nice. Let Grandpa play it."

The old man's cloudy eyes suddenly lit up, and he said in surprise, "Young lady, you really think it sounds nice?"

"Really. It sounds full of righteousness to me."

Even though she had no idea what the lyrics meant.

"Then do you want to see a performance?" the old man said with hopeful anticipation.

Lin Sangyu asked, "A singing performance?"

The old man stroked his beard. "More than that."

Under Lin Sangyu's gaze, he switched the song to instrumental mode, and a deep, resonant voice flowed out slowly accompanied by the melody.

At the same time, his body began to move. He stepped to the slow, steady rhythm of old-school square dancing, his feet rising and falling with relaxed force, his arms moving through various gestures in time with the tune. His turns were a bit stiff, but still landed on every beat.

Lin Sangyu's eyes curved in a smile. She made no extra moves, just sat on the stool, head lifted, quietly watching this old man who might not be understood by modern youth but was still thoroughly enjoying himself.

When the song ended, Lin Sangyu clapped loudly and enthusiastically.

"Amazing."

Lines of wrinkles gathered at the corners of his eyes. The old man said, "Of course I'm amazing. I'm a big influencer. I stream dancing every day. If you want to watch, young lady, you can wait for me in my live stream."

Lin Sangyu grew interested. "You stream dancing?"

"That's right, I even have ten thousand followers!" the old man proclaimed proudly, like a child.

A sudden idea struck.

Recently, Lin Sangyu had been agonizing over her streaming content. Her original plan was to do an eating show, but her stomach was only so big, and in her sugar glider form she couldn't eat more than a few bites. If she just did an eating stream, she'd have to wrap up after ten-odd minutes.

So she'd been wrestling with what to add to her stream to both lengthen the broadcast and attract viewers.

And here it was, presented on a silver platter.

A sugar glider streaming dance moves—that would definitely catch people's eyes.

"Really? Then I have to follow you right now!"

The old man pulled out his phone, secretly thrilled.

Yesss, got another follower.

"Grandpa, can you teach me to dance?" Lin Sangyu said sweetly, "You were just fantastic out there. I want to learn a few moves too."

"Sure, young lady. Do you have any dance background?"

Lin Sangyu shook her head. "No."

The old man thought for a moment. "Then how about you learn a set of calisthenics first? Let me see what you've got."

"Sure, sure!" Lin Sangyu agreed immediately.

After all, in her sugar glider form, she couldn't make any big moves anyway.

The setting sun hung low at the end of the dessert shop's street, and the sky was spread with soft golden-red light. Beneath the orange canopy, the shadows of an old man and a young woman stretched long.

The two of them smiled as Lin Sangyu followed the old man, clumsily yet earnestly mimicking poses that weren't quite accurate.

In the corner, a forgotten phone on the table lit up and went dark, lit up and went dark, but no one paid it any mind.