Imagining all the malicious incidents from social news reports, Yin Shuyao was terrified the whole way, her tears had run dry.
Suddenly, the car jolted violently, and her body tilted, with her head hitting the car window hard, causing her to see stars in pain.
It was unclear how much time had passed before the car finally came to a slow stop.
Yin Shuyao shook her head in resistance, but it was useless. A rough hand roughly pulled her out of the car. She wore a pair of high heels, unable to see clearly, and when she got out, she sprained her ankle, causing sharp, stabbing pain.
Footsteps echoed slightly from the ground, allowing her to judge she was in an empty place. Yin Shuyao made muffled noises, but no one understood what she was saying.
The next second, the cloth in her mouth was yanked out, air rushed into her mouth, she took a deep breath, and cried, "Please let me go, I'll give you whatever money you want. I'm the eldest daughter of the Yin Family, I'm not short of money, please don't hurt me."
She had thought of many threats against the kidnappers on the way, but when she could finally speak, she didn't dare to utter a word. She was afraid of provoking these vicious people and causing even worse outcomes.
"I... I have five thousand in cash in my bag, take it; I can call my family to send more money. I won't call the police, you have to believe me... Ah! No!"
Before she finished begging, someone pulled open her trench coat, and she immediately smelled a nauseating stench, the smell emanating from the vulgar, uncultured men.
After that, screams echoed repeatedly in the shabby, abandoned factory.
*
After ten o'clock in the evening, under the dark night sky with sparse stars and a bright moon, Yin Shuyao stepped off the taxi, trembling, with eyes swollen red from crying, hugging her arms tightly.
Not far away was the brightly lit Yin Family villa.
The taxi driver rolled down the window and kindly asked the passenger who had just gotten off, "Need to call the police, miss?"
"No need!" Yin Shuyao didn't look back and walked towards her home, limping.
The wind in Yicheng's late autumn night was like icy needles on her face.
With each step, unbearable pain radiated from her ankle, bringing tears to Yin Shuyao's eyes.
What kind of person had she offended to bring about such calamity?
Those people had taken her to an unknown place, with her eyes blindfolded from start to finish, never seeing their faces. They weren't after money, and certainly not for lust; they had not physically harmed her, but had humiliated her with words and actions for an entire hour.
They released her when she was on the verge of a breakdown.
Yin Shuyao was unwilling to recall what she had experienced in the past hour, but whenever she closed her eyes, those disgusting scenes would replay in her mind, haunting her continuously.
Was it Shen Jianian retaliating against her?
According to the information leaked by Li Wu, that night, Shen Jianian was rescued by a man driving a luxury car worth tens of millions, and no news had come since then.
Could it be that she nurtured resentment, waiting to strike back in revenge...
Yet, Li Wu took her money, a whole half a million! He had promised to keep the secret and not betray her. Besides, if Li Wu were to leak the information, he wouldn't benefit from it either.
Yin Shuyao, filled with humiliation and anger, entered the house.
The maid was startled at the sight of her, exclaiming, "Miss, what happened to you?"
The eldest daughter has always cared about her appearance, whether at home or in front of others; now, her hair was a mess, her usually powdered face smeared with dirt, her forehead swollen, her neatly ironed white trench coat crumpled like wilted cabbage leaves, and her knitted dress underneath out of shape.
"Don't let my mom know; I accidentally fell when getting out of the car."
Yin Shuyao wanted to save face and didn't want anyone to know about such an embarrassing matter, including her mother.
The maid looked at her with a strange expression; in the past, if the eldest daughter had a small ailment, she would have made sure everyone in the family was aware, but now, with such serious injuries, she was keeping it from the lady, which made the maid suspicious.
"Did you hear me?!"
The maid's wooden expression annoyed Yin Shuyao, prompting her to snap impatiently.
"I heard, I heard." The maid responded repeatedly.
Yin Shuyao, in a severely irritable mood, waved the maid away with a frown and moved, dragging her feet in pain.
Before entering the kitchen, the maid glanced back worriedly; it seemed the eldest daughter's leg was also injured, making it hard for her to walk. The maid wondered if a doctor should be called to the house.
She shook her head, taking a breath quietly.
Passing by her parents' room, she heard low conversations inside. Yin Shuyao pursed her lips, held her breath, and lightened her steps, not wanting to alert them.
"What should we do? President Qin clearly wants to ruin our family; if we can't find a new business partner soon, the company's capital chain will collapse!" Hu Yuzhi's voice suddenly rose, penetrating through the door panel. "I suggested sending that little Shen wench to make amends, but you disagreed. Now look what happened, we can't even find her!"
In the room, Yin Chengde sat hunched over on the sofa, silently smoking, one cigarette after another, with a pile of cigarette butts gathering in the ashtray on the coffee table.
"Smoke, smoke, all you do is smoke. Why don't you think of a solution?" Hu Yuzhi was already agitated; the smell of smoke made her even more irritable. She seized the cigarette between her husband's fingers and extinguished it fiercely in the ashtray. "We certainly can't send your own daughter for apologies!"
Yin Shuyao stopped; her fingers tightened on the stair railing.
Yin Chengde wiped his face, frowning slightly, "What kind of talk is that."
"Do you think someone like Qin Zhongtian is easy to handle?" Hu Yuzhi snorted coldly, "If he doesn't give us a way out, we'll have nothing left!"
"But we can't let Yaoyao do it."
"Yaoyao is like the flesh that fell from my body, how could I harm her?" Hu Yuzhi realized her husband's mind was as rigid as wood and wouldn't bend, "Qin Zhongtian has a son, five years older than Yaoyao. At Old Mrs. Qin's birthday banquet, I saw him and he is handsome and talented. If there's a way to match him with Yaoyao, our current crisis would be easily resolved. If Yaoyao could marry into such a prestigious family as the Qin's, she wouldn't have any worries for the rest of her life."
"You make it sound easy; would the Qin Family even consider us?" Yin Chengde didn't have the heart to dampen her spirits.
"Where there's a will, there's a way; how would you know if you don't try?" Hu Yuzhi grew increasingly convinced it was possible, already envisioning her daughter marrying the Qin heir in a wedding dress, saying happily, "The relationship between men and women isn't as complicated as you think."
Outside the door, every word of her parents' conversation reached Yin Shuyao's ears.
She had also seen President Qin's son in the banquet hall that day; he might have inherited his mother's looks, as he didn't look like his father. He had a pair of dazzling eyes, making his appearance exceptionally attractive, with a noble demeanor nurtured by his privileged family background, akin to an ancient royal Crown Prince.
Just thinking about it made Yin Shuyao's heart race.
As her mother said, if she could successfully marry into the Qin Family, it didn't matter which wealthy manager Shen Jianian was clinging to; she would overshadow her for the rest of her life.
*
The following day, Lu Yanzhi visited and saw Shen Jianian in the Rose Manor, looking utterly dejected.
For good reason, he had wagered with Fu Jichen that day, and now the result was clear; he had lost. As per the agreement, he had to work unconditionally for Fu Jichen for a month, becoming one of his subordinates.
With this, how could Lu Yanzhi not feel down?
Shen Jianian returned from a walk in the garden, nodded slightly upon seeing him, and went upstairs to rest; she hadn't taken her noon medicine yet today.
Lu Yanzhi lifted his chin, pointed at her retreating figure, and asked Fu Jichen, who was leisurely seated on a wooden chair, "What do you think about this fallen Shen's daughter?"
Their conversation today didn't take place in the living room but in the tea room adjacent to it. Fu Jichen fingered a wrist piece he had been holding and smiled without speaking.
Lu Yanzhi couldn't figure him out, only guessing, "You don't want to keep her as a canary because she seems like a fallen angel without support, do you?"
In his understanding, Fu Jichen wasn't so vulgar.
Who knew, Fu Jichen slightly raised an eyebrow, speaking ambiguously, "So what if I am, and what if I'm not?"
Lu Yanzhi was taken aback, his gaze sweeping over the smooth, lustrous jade in Fu Jichen's hand, recalling the phrase from the Book of Rites: 'The ancient gentleman must wear jade, and without reason, jade should not leave one's side.'
Fu Jichen should be considered a gentleman, but now he wasn't sure.
Amidst their talk and laughter, Maid Zhou Rongzhen approached and said, "Secretary Zhu has arrived."