Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio
âShe wonât. Trust Daddy,â said Lu Yi, rubbing his sonâs head. âMama loves you all the most. Even if Mama doesnât come back, itâs only because she has work to do. She will be back when sheâs done. Adults all have something to do, you see. Daddy canât spend all day with you either, right?â
âBut Leileiâs Mama is always at home!â said Lu Qi. He was very envious of Little Lei, who had already grown into a proper elementary student. He was tall and tough and could take a beating. Still, he was his motherâs baby boy. He DID get beaten once in a while, but his mother was there to prevent it from being a frequent occurrence.
Lu Yiâs children had always been envious of the fact that Little Lei had a mother.
Lu Yi hugged him tightly. âBe good and go to sleep.â
âWill Mama come back if I sleep?â asked Xiao Qi, looking up at him.
Lu Yi didnât have any answers to that. Will she be back by that time? Maybe, maybe not. He himself didnât know, and he didnât want to give empty promises.
âGo to sleep,â said Lu Yi, tucking him in. Xiao Qi sniffed. Soon enough, he fell asleep. He was too young to have the stamina to stay up late, after all.
Just as Lu Yi stepped out of the room, Ye Shuyun arrived.
âWhatâs going on here?â asked Ye Shuyun. She felt something off as soon as she stepped in. It was almost eight. Why were the lights off?
âMom,â said Lu Yi. âHuanhuan has not come back yetâ¦â
âWhat?â cried Ye Shuyun loudly. She quickly lowered her volume when she remembered her grandchildrenâs presence.
âWhat happened? Why isnât she back at this hour?â she asked. âWhere did she go before this?â
Lu Yi shook his head. He didnât know. He had to find her.
âTake care of the kids, Mom. Iâm heading out,â said Lu Yi. He picked up his car keys and headed for the door. As he stepped out of the house, it began to snow.
This was the first snow in Sea City this year. It came a little too soon, and made the weather a little chilly.
It wasnât snowing heavily, perhaps due to the overly-high temperature, so there werenât heaps of snow on the ground. Occasionally, he could see a snowflake or two fluttering down before him. Where the snowflakes passed, the grass was still mostly green, but many trees have already lost their signs of vitality.
A car zoomed past his, limning his face with its glaring headlights. He turned away instinctively. When the ray of light disappeared, Lu Yi opened his eyes again. They were unbearably sore.
It was his fault. Without thinking things through, he assumed that the danger was behind them. He never found out about the person who made Yan Huan disappear.
Yan Huan might have her own reasons for not telling him, but he should never have forgotten about the existing threats. He hadnât taken the necessary precautions, and because of that, she was once again in peril.
She could have gone missing again.
He vowed to himself that he would never let her out before clearing out the lurking threats. If he could find her, that is.
His car screeched to a sudden halt. He covered his face in his hands.
How could he hope to find her in such a huge city? Where should he start? What should he do? Someone tell him, please.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
There werenât many places Yan Huan could have gone to; home, the Lu Estates, Lin Lang, or Yi Lingâs home. She hadnât even been in contact with Liang Chen for a long time.
He had gone to every place he could think of, even Madam Yanâs grave.
Still, he couldnât find her.
âWhat? Sheâs missing again?â Lei Qingyi sprung to a sitting position. âHow and when did that happen?â
âWait for me. Iâll be there in a minute,â said Lei Qingyi. He put down the phone and got out of bed to get his clothes. Every trace of sleepiness had left him.
âWhere are you going?â asked Yi Ling groggily, grasping his arm.
âItâs nothing. Go back to sleep. Iâll be right back,â said Lei Qingyi, stuffing Yi Lingâs arm back under the blanket.
Yi Ling had been sound asleep, but Lei Qingyiâs call had roused her. What he said had not escaped her either. She pinched his arm.
âWhat were you saying just now? Someone going missing? Donât tell me itâs my Huanhuan again,â she said offhandedly with a yawn. Of course, she didnât really think that was the case, or she would have sprung up and gone hunting for her already.
Lei Qingyi broke into a cold sweat and quickly shoved her arm back beneath the sheets. âItâs work stuff. Nothing to do with the two of you. Now go back to sleep.â
âFine,â said Yi Ling sleepily. She had stayed up late to review the script the night before, and she didnât have work today, so the plan had been to sleep in. She and Lei Qingyi often slept in till around 11.
But now, Lei Qingyi had to go out before it even hit six.
âHowâs the situation?â asked Lei Qingyi as soon as he met up with Lu Yi. Lu Yi had not had a wink of sleep. His eyes were bloodshot and his hair was disheveled. The stubble above his lips added to his ragged look.
Since last night, he hadnât had a single bite of food or a single drop of water, driving through the metropolis in search of Yan Huan. He hadnât found her, or any leads. Yan Huan had not magically gone home by herself either.
She wasnât the type to stay out late. Lu Yi knew that.
Something must have happened to her. She wouldnât play such a nasty joke on him. She wouldnât make him worry and wait, or make the children starve and cry, unless she couldnât help it.
âThis spells trouble,â said Lei Qingyi, scratching his head. How could she have gone missing again? Things seemed fine before this. How many enemies does Yan Huan have for such things to happen one after the other?
Previously, she had come back looking like a half person. After all that effort of fattening her up to look like a proper human being, she was gone again.
If this was meant to happen, she should never have come back. That way, Lu Yi and the children would have gotten used to living without her.
But she did. And everything seemed to have been alright.. So calm and peaceful. Just who on earth was responsible for this?