CHAPTER 554: CHAPTER 516: IT HAS BEEN TURNED OFF FOR A WHILE ALREADY

"Really young and fearless!"

Wang Jinhui saw Leng Lingxiao rush up the stairs, not even bothering to greet him.

This couldn’t help but remind him of 45 years ago when he too recklessly ran straight to Tang Mei to ask if she had missed him.

Meanwhile, Li Fugui, standing on the entry steps, gossiped eagerly to Zhao Renjie.

"Old Zhao, what’s up with Mr. Leng?"

"I don’t know."

"I knew you’d say that."

Indeed, Li Fugui had a clear guess in his mind about Leng Lingxiao’s behavior; it was nothing more than fear of something happening to Tang Xiaowan, coming over to have a look.

Sure enough, Leng Lingxiao went straight to the master bedroom at the eastern end after he got upstairs.

"Tangtang, Tangtang, Tang..."

Tang Xiaowan emerged from the bathroom, face full of shock, her long black hair soaking wet.

Clearly, she hadn’t expected him to come.

After locking eyes for a few seconds, Leng Lingxiao charged over, wrapping her in his arms with a tight embrace, almost as if he wished to melt her into his body.

"Ease up a bit, I can hardly breathe."

"I thought you were taking a bath?"

"I was afraid of falling asleep in there, so I just quickly rinsed off, luckily I didn’t soak... that was close."

"What? You thought I would barge in?"

Given what she knew about Leng Lingxiao, such an incident wouldn’t have happened before, but this evening was a different story.

The concern in his eyes was painfully obvious.

"Now that you’re here, I’ve got a task for you," Tang Xiaowan took a deep breath, a mischievous tone in her voice, "How about helping me dry my hair?"

Leng Lingxiao’s thin lips curved slightly: "Sure."

He finally felt relieved, his mind fraught with worry on his way over, fearing his Little Wife might lock herself in the bathroom crying out of guilt.

"Huahua, it feels a bit tight again," Tang Xiaowan’s lush eyelashes drooped as she smiled sweetly.

"Do you want me to let go?"

"I don’t."

"Then let’s hold each other for a while longer."

The air was filled with the scent of love.

How could he bear to let go? She was the person placed at the pinnacle of his heart, the person who meant more to him than his own life.

...

Tonight, it wasn’t just the blissful Tang Xiaowan who was stunned by Leng Lingxiao, but also Chen Xin, anxiously brooding on Li Zishen’s behalf in the Huangcheng Hotel.

"Brother Shen, Leng Lingxiao went to Nanfeng Mansion again, driving the same car he drove at noon!"

Chen Xin quietly reported Leng Lingxiao’s movements and placed a sandwich at the corner of the table, worried Li Zishen would be as angry as he was at noon.

Unexpectedly, Li Zishen just nodded his head.

Data related to genetic mutations were being downloaded one by one. Whether they were from authoritative sources or casually published online, he saved them all in his email.

He didn’t want to miss any possibilities.

Tang Mei’s words were deeply etched in Li Zishen’s heart; he could not stand idly by and watch Tang Xiaowan suffer from those so-called residuals.

"Brother Shen, why don’t you have something to eat first?" Chen Xin pushed the sandwich forward again.

"That won’t be necessary."

At that moment, the door to the room swiped open.

Li Weilian walked in.

"Why suddenly interested in genetic engineering? Planning to forge a new path in business?"

Before he finished speaking, he had already taken a seat at the table.

Although Li Weilian now worked for Li Zishen, the two were close friends, so he retained his casual nature around him.

Chen Xin: Genetic engineering drugs?

"As long as there’s money to be made... I’m interested," Li Zishen closed his notebook and looked determinedly at Li Weilian, "Business is business, after all."

"That’s true, the prospects do look quite promising!"

"Tell me your thoughts then."

"The sandwiches look pretty good!"

"Let’s go, I’ll treat you to some late-night snacks."

Chen Xin secretly breathed a sigh of relief: That’s more like it. The inanity of romance had nothing on the sweet smell of money!

...

On the other side, in Jin City.

The paths in Bie Yuan were slick with moisture.

Nanny Wu simply couldn’t calm down as she looked at the empty, echoing bedroom, worrying about Yuan Min.

"This rain just won’t stop!"

"She’s usually back by eight at the latest, now it’s almost nine. Could something have happened, where could she be?"

"Ah, it’s a good thing Master had a gathering tonight."

She suddenly remembered Yuan Min’s instructions before leaving: "Zihan has a party tonight, if he gets home first and asks about me... just say I was invited by friends to play cards and I’m not sure what time I’ll be back."

Just then, a servant hurried over: "Nanny Wu, you need to come downstairs quickly."

"Slow down, what happened?"

"It’s, it’s... Third Aunt Lai came with Miss Li Mingyue, both sobbing terribly, asking for the mistress... You better go see for yourself."

"They’re here for Lai Jingshan?"

The servant nodded reluctantly, finding the situation difficult to articulate.

To indeed articulate it was embarrassing; Third Aunt Lai’s demeanor was as if Madam Lai had stolen her husband, and out of desperation, she brought her daughter to find him.

Others might not understand, but Nanny Wu had a clear picture in her head, immediately guessing the reason.

"Go on with your work, I’ll go downstairs and see."

As expected, Third Aunt Lai cried pitifully, as if rain were falling from pear blossoms, while her daughter Li Mingyue kept crying for her daddy. Neither was making a scene, but rather, they were playing up their vulnerability.

"Look at the time, no sign of him. We agreed to pick up Ming Yue tonight."

"Daddy, daddy doesn’t love Ming Yue anymore!"

"Can you ask my sister-in-law if she has seen Jingshan, wondering if he got tied up with some company business again. His phone is off, it’s like he never charges it."

As soon as Nanny Wu heard that Lai Jingshan’s phone was off, she discreetly called Yuan Min.

She had sent only two messages that evening.

The first reminded Yuan Min to take her medication prepared in the hand luggage. The second told her the weather was changing and it might rain.

There wasn’t much more she could say, considering she was just a housekeeper and couldn’t make decisions for Yuan Min.

"Madam, what time did you realize you couldn’t get through on the phone?" Nanny Wu clutched her phone, growing visibly tense, "You couldn’t reach him all evening?"

Her intuition told her something might have happened.

Even if the phone batteries died, it was improbable that both would be dead; they could have charged them in the car.

"At six, I was thinking it was dinner time and wanted to ask if Jingshan was done with his work, Ming Yue said she wanted to go home, we had agreed to pick her up together."

"It was off since that time?"

Even a round trip to Jinyuan Mountain wouldn’t take this long, especially as they had left shortly after one.

"Ah, yes!"

"My mistress’s phone is also off."

Upon hearing this, Third Aunt Lai cried even harder, convinced that the pair had turned their phones off to have a clandestine rendezvous, utterly disregarding her feelings.

She had still been considering their marital bond and the family’s reputation, and had come to Bie Yuan only to vent.

"This is bad, something must have happened!"

"Hmph, something? I think they’re just too busy, too busy to remember coming home, unaware of how worried their families are, only caring about themselves..."

Suddenly, Third Aunt Lai’s phone rang.

A distressed voice from their driver came through after she answered: "Madam, sir has had an accident."

A sense of dread pounded in Third Aunt Lai’s heart.

"What’s happened to Jingshan?"

"He’s at the hospital, at Boxin Hospital."

Every ounce of resentment evaporated in that moment as Third Aunt Lai rushed out of the living room, straight into the car, and floored the accelerator as she drove away.

She had even forgotten her daughter, Li Mingyue.