Zong Yanxi did not sleep, neither did she talk. She just lay there in Lin Xinyan’s arms while Zong Yanchen sat across from them on the sofa, pursing his lips and watching Zong Yanxi. Suddenly, he got down from the sofa and walked toward Lin Xinyan, patted on his sister’s head lightly, and asked, “Are you hungry?”
Zong Yanxi did not respond.
He heaved a sigh. Yanxi is really terrified this time; she doesn’t even talk.
It was nighttime already. Lin Xinyan asked Aunt Yu to take Zong Yanchen to sleep but he refused. “What about you?”
“I’ll wait for your Daddy to come home.” Lin Xinyan looked at her son. “Good boy, listen to Mommy and go to sleep.”
Zong Yanchen sat beside her and said, “I want to accompany you.”
Lin Xinyan patted his head and held him in her arms. It was with them around that the waiting didn’t seem so tormenting.
They did not sleep the entire night. When the early morning light shone in, Aunt Yu said, “Let me prepare some food for you. You haven’t eaten anything since last night. You can’t keep skipping your meals. With your current condition, your body can’t handle it.”
“You prepare some then.”
Zong Jinghao had not come back. This showed that Shen Peichuan was still not found. How could she have the appetite to eat?
Nonetheless, even if she did not eat, the children needed to. With some food ready, Zong Qifeng and Cheng Yuwen would also have something to eat when they returned home later.
Therefore, it was a good idea to have some food prepared.
Despite that, the food prepared ended up for nothing. An entire day had passed and they had not come back.
The children could not hold it anymore and fell asleep on the sofa. Lin Xinyan carried Zong Yanxi upstairs while Aunt Yu carried Zong Yanchen to the room downstairs to sleep.
Lin Xinyan sat on the bedside with her daughter in her arms and pulled the blanket over to cover her. She was reluctant to put her down because she might awaken abruptly and looked for her even if she was asleep.
She had been clearly frightened.
In the meantime, Aunt Yu put Zong Yanchen down on the bed and made sure that there was no trace or possibility of him waking up. She then left for the kitchen, served a bowl of soup, and brought it up to Lin Xinyan. “Drink the soup.”
Lin Xinyan shook her head. “I have no appetite for it.”
“You have to drink it even if you don’t feel like it. You’re not drinking it just for yourself now.” Aunt Yu placed it in front of her and scooped up a spoonful. “Here, let me help you.”
“There’s no need. Put it on the table; I’ll drink it later.” How could Lin Xinyan let Aunt Yu feed her? She really did not want to drink but she did not want to make Aunt Yu worry either.
Just then, the sound of the door clicking open came from downstairs. Lin Xinyan went uptight immediately. “Have they come back?”
Aunt Yu replied, “Let me go check out.”
After a while, there were sounds of footsteps coming upstairs. They were not Aunt Yu’s. She quickly turned around and saw Zong Jinghao coming into the room.
“How’s it going? Did you find him?” Lin Xinyan asked anxiously.
Zong Jinghao remained silent but jerked at his collar. His face was exceedingly gloomy.
Lin Xinyan went quiet following that. They have not found him. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been so moody.
Zong Jinghao saw the bowl on the table which was still filled with soup. He frowned and asked, “You didn’t eat anything?”
“I lost my appetite.” Lin Xinyan lowered her head.
Zong Jinghao sat down at the bedside and looked at their daughter. “It’s Gu Bei. It was still unknown how he got out but he was arranged to be sent abroad initially. It was the day of Old Master Gu’s execution and he was seeking revenge on me.”
During these two nights when he was searching for Shen Peichuan, he had also started investigating the accident. There was a CCTV on the bridge which had captured everything that happened.
Gu Bei knew that it was Zong Jinghao’s car but he had no idea that it was not driven by Zong Jinghao. He was in a four-wheel drive which kept crashing madly toward the car Shen Peichuan was in. It was a peak period with a lot of vehicles on the bridge and Shen Peichuan did not manage to ditch him. In addition, there was a child in the car which made his situation even more pregnable.
When the car was forced against the railing of the bridge, he dropped Zong Yanxi off from the car window, who was later rescued by others on the road. But he and Aunt Wang didn’t manage to get off and fell off the bridge together in the car.
There was a dam underneath Xixin Creek Bridge with a raging torrent. Falling into it was severely hazardous.
When the car was found. All the doors were closed and windows were intact without any trace of being broken. There was no sight of Shen Peichuan, only Aunt Wang who was dead from drowning inside the car.
Lin Xinyan was trembling a little. “Then where is Gu Bei now? Did he escape?”
“No, he tried to get away after that but missed the boarding time. We found him at a nearby motel and he has been sent to the police station.”
He took the bowl of soup from the table and fed Lin Xinyan while he comforted her. “It’s a good thing he was not found yet. That means he might be safe. Su Zhan and Captain Song are still searching for him. I’ve come back to check on you and I’ll be going out again later.”
Lin Xinyan was still worried. The bank on both sides of the river was full of abraded stones that formed the embankment. Without any help, he could hardly be rescued.
“How did Gu Bei escape?” Lin Xinyan could not get her head around it. His dad was already on the brink of death; who else was capable of helping him out?
Realization suddenly dawned on Zong Jinghao. Gu Huiyuan, the youngest daughter in the Gu family suddenly showed up in front of Lin Xinyan and had exposed her identity for easy investigation by Shen Peichuan. What is her motive?
Was it really to sabotage the relationship between Lin Xinyan and me?
It is still not evident by now but if it were really to instigate conflicts between us, she couldn’t have disappeared after showing up only twice without causing any actual damage. She must have done that to distract me. Even though the Gu Sisters are dissatisfied with the Gu family, Gu Bei is after all the only son in the family. Now that Old Master Gu has been sentenced to death, it is reasonable for them to save Gu Bei from imprisonment to preserve the only bloodline of the family.
“Alright, let’s eat something first.” Zong Jinghao brought the spoon to her mouth and added, “Listen to me, be good, alright? What will become of our child if you’re ill?”
Lin Xinyan could not resist so she opened her mouth.
It was unsettled in the Song family these two days as well. Captain Song had been in constant search of Shen Peichuan. Meanwhile, Mrs. Song was sitting on the sofa at home. “How could something like this happen? You just got together with him and now he has met with such an accident.”
“Enough with that, Mom. Don’t say anything inauspicious.” Song Yaxin was still very jittery and did not want to listen to her mother nagging.
“I’m just worried about you. Now when you’ve just got together with Shen Peichuan, he went missing. Why are there so many hardships in your life?”
Fumed upon hearing that, Song Yaxin got up from the sofa and walked toward the door.
Mrs. Song called out in concern, “Where are you going at this hour?”
“I’m going to find Dad and see if there’s any trace of him.” With that, she left the house, escaping from Mrs. Song’s babbling.
She made a call to Captain Song. “Dad, where are you?”
Captain Song was at the downstream of the river, searching for Shen Peichuan together with other police officers.
Knowing that his daughter wanted to come, he sent his location to her, thinking that she should come since she had got into a relationship with Shen Peichuan.
Now that Shen Peichuan has disappeared, she should be concerned and come looking for him.
Su Zhan was standing in the boat with his entire body still completely soaked. It was dark at night and their search depended fully on laser lighting to avoid any delay in progress. However, after searching for so long, there was still no trace of Shen Peichuan. It was exceedingly perturbing.
After an hour, Song Yaxin arrived and with the help of Captain Song, she got on the boat.
“Is there still no clue about his whereabouts?” The expression on her face was panicky.
Although it was in hindsight that she realized how good Shen Peichuan was, the few days’ time she spent with him made her appreciate this fine man a lot.
Hence, what happened to Shen Peichuan made her anxious and genuinely distressful.
Su Zhan looked at her without saying a word.
Song Yaxin’s impression of Su Zhan was equally bad so she did not greet him either.
“Dad, can’t you arrange for more people?” Song Yaxin asked.
“I’ve sent everyone available here.” He was as tensed as they were but there was nothing else he could do.
They were already out of the city and this stream was so long. He was very downhearted at the slim chance of Shen Peichuan staying alive.
