Volume 1, Chapter 183: It's Getting Dark, Watch Out!

In front of the bright floor-to-ceiling windows, Sang Wan, He Lan, Qin Miao, and Jiang Huai were playing mahjong.

On the nearby sofa, Lou Ye and Qin Bochuan were exchanging parenting experiences.

A group of familiar faces were scattered around, some playing pool, others chatting and laughing.

Just like on the night of New Year's Eve.

"Sister Qing, why did you get here so late?"

"Sister Qing is here!"

Someone greeted her.

At the mahjong table, Jiang Huai acted as if a savior had arrived, eagerly standing up to cede his seat to Ming Qing.

His gaze swept over Sang Wan's stunning face, which bore no trace of injury and was, on the contrary, glowing with radiant health.

Ming Qing felt as dead inside as stagnant water, yet she maintained a calm expression as she stepped forward to take over Jiang Huai's place.

Only her hands and feet remained icy cold the entire evening.

The room was filled with warmth and pleasant fragrance.

Yet Ming Qing felt as though she were sitting on an ice sculpture.

The chill seeped in from the soles of her feet, crawled all the way up her spine, and soaked through her entire body for the rest of the night.

Right at midnight, when He Lan tossed the tiles down and announced it was too late to continue, Ming Qing timely stood up.

"Ming Qing..."

When Lou Ye's lazy yet chilling voice sounded from behind her.

Ming Qing instinctively turned around, and the cold air lingering on her back rushed straight up through the crown of her head. "What is it?"

Ever since they were children, Lou Ye had always called her Sister Qing.

Occasionally, when joking around, he would lazily draw out the title "Eldest Miss Ming."

Calling her directly by her full name like today was a first in her entire life.

Lou Ye was leaning casually against the sofa armrest, lifting his eyes lazily to look at her. "Do you know Lin Zhaozhao?"

Her heartbeat skipped a beat, and Ming Qing frowned. "Who?"

"Never mind..."

Lou Ye shook his head, smiling deliberately. "It's late, be careful walking home in the dark!"

!!!

Was this a reminder?

Or... a threat?

Her hair practically standing on end, Ming Qing gripped her clutch bag with all her might to keep from losing her composure, then turned and hurried out of the clubhouse.

As the heavy wooden door closed, Jiang Huai asked Lou Ye with a puzzled expression, "Bro, what was that about?"

"Nothing."

Lou Ye shook his head. "Just reminding her to watch her step."

Jiang Huai: ...

The scene of the car crash that night had been tragic, and the aftermath even more so.

The large cargo truck had rushed out of control. If Sang Wan had hesitated for even a single second to hit the brakes, she would have been ruthlessly and precisely crushed beneath its wheels.

No one could predict what the ultimate outcome would have been.

Fortunately, Sang Wan was decisive enough.

With a press of the accelerator, her Ferrari crashed into the roadside greenery, stopped by a few crooked trees.

The airbags deployed, and apart from a mild concussion that night, Sang Wan suffered no other injuries.

As for the red supercar that had provoked Sang Wan, it wasn't so lucky.

The front of the supercar had been forcefully crushed by the cargo truck. The yellow-haired owner and the person in the passenger seat sustained severe injuries on the spot and were still in the intensive care unit.

The two people in the black van were caught red-handed and claimed they were debt collectors.

They stated that the debtor drove a luxury sports car yet refused to repay her debts, so they were hired to scare her, teach her a lesson, and make her pay back the money as soon as possible.

Following the clues layer by layer, the investigation soon led straight to Lin Zhaozhao.

Almost the exact moment the clues pointed to Lin Zhaozhao, Sang Wan had already guessed what was going on.

Feigning that Lu Xiaomu was unwell to have Lu Jinnian pick him up early, and then setting her up to be blocked on the road.

As long as the timing was right, with snowy, slippery roads and darkness, staging a car crash was effortless.

However, Lin Zhaozhao had vanished.

Before the crash, the last place Lin Zhaozhao was seen was the supermarket near her apartment. She had even bought a bottle of red wine, though it remained unknown what she intended to celebrate.

By the time the crash occurred, three days had passed, and Lin Zhaozhao seemed to have vanished into thin air.

It wasn't until this moment that Jiang Huai learned what had happened.

After a brief moment of daze, he looked back at Sang Wan. "Sister-in-law, they say escaping a major disaster brings subsequent blessings. Congratulations, the blessings of the second half of your life officially begin from this moment on!"

Sang Wan laughed through her tears. "Thank you!"

By the time the group dispersed, it was close to one in the morning. Sitting in her car, Sang Wan received a call from He Lan. "Xiaowu, you and Young Master Lou really know how to keep a secret! If Jiang Huai hadn't told us, we wouldn't have known at all! ...Come over for dinner tomorrow after you're done with things, to wash away the bad luck."

"Okay! Thank you, Sister Lan!"

After hanging up, Sang Wan turned back to look at Lou Ye. "Was it related to Ming Qing?"

Lou Ye shook his head. "I don't know."

"Then why did you ask if she knows Lin Zhaozhao?"

Sang Wan asked with an amused expression.

Lou Ye curled the corner of his lips. "To test her."

All the evidence pointed to Lin Zhaozhao, and Lin Zhaozhao was missing.

The moment Ming Qing pushed open the door of the private room, an inexplicable and eerie intuition had welled up in the depths of Lou Ye's heart.

That was why he left her with those parting words.

Lou Ye had never studied psychology.

Yet at that moment, Ming Qing hadn't even questioned why he hadn't called her Sister Qing.

Her entire demeanor had shifted into a state of alert and defense.

That was fascinating!

"I will find Lin Zhaozhao... Sang Wan, I must get to the bottom of this matter!"

Until this very moment, he could not forget the heart-stopping terror he felt when watching the surveillance footage, seeing the out-of-control cargo truck hurtling toward the Ferrari.

Lou Ye tightly gripped Sang Wan's hand, his expression cold and dark.

...

The taxi sped forward. Seeing the driver frequently glancing at the rearview mirror, Ming Qing felt goosebumps erupt across her skin.

Looking back, several cars were trailing close behind the taxi.

It was the middle of the night; why were there so many cars?

On one hand, she told herself it was normal—this was downtown Imperial City, after all, and no amount of cold weather could extinguish the younger generation's passion for nightlife.

On the other hand, she suspected someone was following her, just like they had followed Sang Wan that day.

"Driver, please hurry up!"

Ming Qing urged.

The driver accelerated.

When her phone suddenly rang with a sharp chime, Ming Qing felt a thrill of horror so intense it felt as though her soul had flown out of her body. "Fled? ...Where did they run to?"

Her voice rose in panic, but catching the driver's sideways glance in her peripheral vision, she forcibly suppressed it and snapped angrily, "A bunch of idiots!!! Go look for them immediately!"

Hanging up the phone, Ming Qing's heart hammered wildly against her ribs.

Over and over again, Lou Ye's gloomy and icy question echoed in her mind: Do you know Lin Zhaozhao?

Ten minutes later, the car stopped at the entrance of the Lin family's villa district.

Looking back once more, there were no cars, and no people.

Ming Qing exhaled a long breath of relief.

...

Lin Zhaozhao ran stumbling through the snow.

She only knew that the car crash had happened, and immediately afterward, she had been seized by men who broke down her door.

She had no idea whether Sang Wan had died as she wished.

Nor did she know who her captors were.

During the few days she had been locked in a dark room, Lin Zhaozhao regretted it to her very bones.

Nothing was more important than staying alive.

If Lu Jinnian wouldn't marry her, so be it. With those ten million and that luxury apartment worth tens of millions, her starting point was already several times higher than that of her peers.

Why on earth had she courted death by competing with Sang Wan?

Did she really think Lu Jinnian would look at her just because Sang Wan died?

Such an obvious truth had previously seemed obscured from her mind, and it was only these past few days that she felt as though she had finally woken up.

Lin Zhaozhao regretted her actions with every fiber of her being.

It was entirely thanks to the survival instincts she had picked up growing up in her village that she had managed to escape.

At that moment, Lin Zhaozhao had only one thought in mind: leave Imperial City.

Her designer bags, jewelry.

Her apartment...

She wanted nothing of it anymore.

She had to flee Imperial City before she was caught again.

Go abroad?

She didn't know where to go, and she had no idea how long that bank card would sustain her overseas.

Her parents?

Heh, the only person in their eyes was Lin Qiyue; they didn't care whether she lived or died.

Mysteriously, that picturesque little village surfaced in her mind—a place she once detested and refused to mention, yet at this moment, it seemed as idyllic as a peach blossom spring.

Lin Zhaozhao was instantly invigorated.

She was going home.

Yes, going home!!!

In the pitch-black night, Lin Zhaozhao oriented herself and, just before freezing to death, managed to flag down a taxi. She handed over her bracelets, necklaces, and even the diamond studs from her ears all at once to the driver.

When she stepped out of the taxi at the entrance of her apartment building, tears almost streamed down Lin Zhaozhao's face.

The elevator stopped at the top floor, and the apartment door was half-open, remaining just as it had been the day intruders broke in and dragged her away.

Lin Zhaozhao let out a low gasp and strode into the apartment.

"Lin Zhaozhao..."

A chilling voice rang out from the darkness behind her.

Lin Zhaozhao screamed in panic.

A cold wind swept over her.