CHAPTER 276: CHAPTER 262 MALICE

Li Yanan looked at the brass key in her small palm, his expression suddenly stern, as if something had crossed his mind.

"What did you think of?" Lin Zhenxin’s clear eyes fell on his face, evidently noticing something amiss.

"Come with me."

Lin Zhenxin followed behind Li Yanan, slowly ascending the stairs.

His pace was deliberate, clearly taking care of her, holding her hand tightly intertwined with his.

The two walked slowly up the spiral staircase of the Li Family.

Perhaps neither of them ever thought that in their lifetime, they would return here.

If they could find the remains or ashes of Li Yanan’s mother...

Just the thought made Lin Zhenxin’s heart race, but then she realized it couldn’t be that simple.

If Li Yanan hadn’t been able to find any information, how could she accidentally solve the mystery?

Soon, they arrived at the attic.

With a creak... the door was pushed open by Li Yanan.

Sunlight poured through the glass window, coating the dust with a golden hue.

No one had lived here for a long time, and there was a lot of dust. Li Yanan turned around and pulled Lin Zhenxin into his embrace.

Lin Zhenxin didn’t react for a moment, the dusty smell replaced by the familiar scent of wood.

She wrapped her arms around him in return, a trusting smile tugging at her lips.

Who knows how long they stood like this, until the dust finally settled.

The attic’s messy state was still the same in her eyes, yet it felt somewhat like a different era.

In just over a year, everything seemed to have changed.

If it were over a year ago, no one would have imagined that the ’infamous’ illegitimate son of the Li Family would actually turn out like this.

Li Yanan walked ahead, carefully kicking away anything on the floor that could trip Lin Zhenxin, not letting his guard down at all.

After a while...

Li Yanan moved the bedboard aside, and Lin Zhenxin was startled to find something wasn’t quite right.

"I discovered this place many years ago, but the size of the cut-out isn’t sufficient to hide remains or ashes. Moreover, the latch’s position is ingeniously designed such that it can’t be opened no matter what, and the key in your hand..."

Lin Zhenxin instinctively looked and indeed found that the head of the key was different from an ordinary key.

"Let’s open it and see!" Lin Zhenxin felt a bit nervous inside.

Li Yanan took the key from her hand, and shortly after, they heard a click as the lock opened...

When they finally saw the contents inside, Lin Zhenxin’s expression clearly froze...

Tu Wanzi sat in the room with the curtains tightly closed.

Unconsciously biting her nails.

Who knows how much time passed like this before she cried out in pain and looked down, realizing she had bitten off a piece of flesh from her finger.

Blood gushed out.

Staring blankly at the bleeding, madness shone in Tu Wanzi’s eyes.

Her mind was filled with images of Lin Zhenxin with a big belly and Haohao failing to recognize her.

Haohao called Lin Zhenxin ’sister’ repeatedly yet couldn’t call her ’mom’!

In Tu Wanzi’s view, all of this was Tu Xinya’s fault, Lin Zhenxin’s fault!

It was all their fault!

Suddenly, the urgent ringtone of a phone filled the air.

Tu Wanzi first dazedly turned her head to look at the phone and frowned when she saw it was an unknown caller.

She slowly answered the call.

But upon hearing the voice on the other end, she couldn’t help but let out a cold laugh.

"Why are you so sure I’ll join hands with you?" The blood on Tu Wanzi’s fingers had smeared on her face, making her appear even more deranged.

Whatever the person on the other end said, a glimmer of gloom crossed Tu Wanzi’s eyes...

In the hospital room.

Tu Haohao’s eyes were fixed on the view outside the floor-to-ceiling window, filled with longing for the world beyond.

When Li Chengze came in, he brought with him the heat of summer, and the cheek had a noticeable bruise from being hit by a cane.

This was left by Tu Shaohong when they encountered each other earlier.

It hurt a lot.

For a moment, Li Chengze thought his right eye might be blinded by that dragon head cane.

But afterward, he felt deeply relieved.

If enduring beatings and scoldings would allow him unrestricted access to see Haohao, he had no complaints!

Tu Haohao seemed to have heard the commotion at the door and turned her head to look at him...

Seeing Tu Haohao’s gaze, Li Chengze couldn’t help but break into a smile.

He couldn’t stay long; he still had a part-time job from six-thirty in the evening to one in the morning.

It took an hour and a half just to get from the hospital to the subway, so he could only stay ten more minutes, or else he would be late.

Now, all the burdens of the family had fallen on his shoulders.

Be it rent, living expenses, or Mia’s nurturing fees.

And Li Chengze also wanted to buy more nutritional supplements for Tu Haohao, even though... the Tu Family didn’t lack these things.

But he, still wanted to give her the best.

Tu Haohao didn’t speak, just focused on the bruise under his right eye.

Her clear amber eyes reflected puzzlement.

Li Chengze walked over and sat down, his handsome face bathed in the orange-red sunset, sharply defined.

In the past seven months, Li Chengze had lost nearly twenty pounds. His whole person appeared slender yet elegant, and without the anger from before, exuded an indescribable melancholy.

Online followers are often forgetful.

Even though the news of Li Chengze and Tu Haohao seven months ago caused a stir, now, few would mention it.

No one paid attention to how Tu Haohao had narrowly escaped death in the past seven months.

Nor did anyone care about the changes in Li Chengze.

Now, their gaze was focused on some idol drama prince’s secret marriage story.

But some things aren’t forgotten just because others choose to forget; you can’t truly forget yourself.

"Does it hurt...?" Tu Haohao asked with difficulty.

"It doesn’t hurt, truly." The simple white shirt accentuated Li Chengze’s charming smile.

Tu Haohao tilted her head, seemingly puzzled at how it didn’t hurt?

She slowly reached out to him, causing Li Chengze’s smile to freeze, anxiously approaching her hand.

As her finger pad landed on his eye socket, the long-lost touch filled Li Chengze with joy and trepidation.

Yet his heart grew even more sorrowful.

——I never asked you! Tu Haohao, from beginning to end, you were like a shadow trailing me, you said you liked me, you proposed to me, you said you’d help me... I never asked you!

——It was your own doing!

How could he utter such hurtful words without a second thought?

How foolish had he been?

To scoff at her sincere affection?

"I have to go, I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?"

Li Chengze said with a smile, the heat outside was intense, the back of his shirt completely soaked.

Tu Haohao naively stretched out her pinky.

Li Chengze, adeptly, ’sealed the deal’ with her...

Lin Zhenxin instinctively wanted to reach out, but midway, Li Yanan stopped her.

Soon, Li Yanan began to feel grateful for his caution, as his hand touched the objects inside the box and felt a prick of pain.

"What on earth is this?"

When Lin Zhenxin saw Li Yanan pause, she looked intently and saw that the two doll-like figures in the box were covered with needles as thin as hair.

"Voodoo." Li Yanan glanced at them, speaking coldly.

Hearing this, Lin Zhenxin instinctively widened her eyes, voodoo?

She’d only heard the term on TV, and looking closer, she saw slips of paper attached to the doll-like figures.

"Has Li Yingying gone mad?" Believing in such base tricks?

Lin Zhenxin meticulously checked Li Yanan’s large hand, ensuring no hair-thin needles were left on his fingers, only then did she breathe a slight sigh of relief.

"But why are there two dolls inside?"

"One is tied to my mother’s birth chart, the other... is mine."

Looking at the two doll figures, Lin Zhenxin shivered involuntarily at his words.

However, what caught Li Yanan’s attention was another item lying quietly beside the dolls.

It was an old-fashioned small folding DV camcorder, seldom used by anyone these days.

Li Yanan didn’t believe Li Yingying originally left this item here by ’forgetting’; on the contrary, knowing Li Yingying, what’s inside this device, must be...

Quite important!

Thinking this, Li Yanan reached out and took the DV in his hand.

Time had passed, and it long since ran out of battery.

To power it on again, they needed to find an appropriate power supply.

Lin Zhenxin was clearly disappointed.

She initially thought the key would unlock some enigma, but unexpectedly, seemed to have opened another mystery unwittingly...

Upon returning, Lin Zhenxin took a quick shower and lay down exhausted.

But, closing her eyes, all she could see were the scenes at the Li Mansion from earlier.

No matter how she tossed and turned, she couldn’t sleep, until her own calf cramped painfully, making her gasp for air.

Just after Li Yanan finished showering, he came in to see Lin Zhenxin in such a state.

He walked over shirtless and sat by the bed, taking Lin Zhenxin’s calf in his hand, massaging it with appropriate force.

His hair was still wet, and as he moved, crystal-clear droplets slid off his hair ends.

The chiseled features of his face showed no emotion, thin lips slightly pursed; from Lin Zhenxin’s angle, she could see the curve of his jaw and the hollow of his throat.

"It doesn’t hurt anymore." The spasm had quickly eased, and Lin Zhenxin pondered for a moment, motioning for him to come over.

"Come here."

Li Yanan raised an eyebrow slightly and sat down next to her.

Lin Zhenxin sat up, took the towel from his hand, and gently began to dry his hair.

"We’ll find it eventually." After holding it in for a while, Lin Zhenxin finally said this.

Beneath the towel, Li Yanan’s thin lips curled up as he pulled her little hand to his mouth and kissed it.

After all, they had searched for so many years, one more day or month wouldn’t hurt.

In truth, what Li Yanan liked was feeling valued by Lin Zhenxin.

Something just doesn’t feel... quite right." After thinking for a moment, Lin Zhenxin spoke up.

Li Yanan remained silent, pondering or awaiting further explanation.

Those two dolls, bothering Lin Zhenxin, she had decided to burn them before leaving.

But in retrospect, she only grew more unsettled, wondering what was really wrong.