The rain lasted from the day before till the next morning, without pausing or dwindling. It washed away the dust in the air and brought a cool, fresh breeze.
As the days got colder, people started wearing thicker clothes on their way to work. Some even donned cotton-padded clothes. More cars were appearing on the roads. Meanwhile, in the Lu Estate, Ye Shuyun was holding onto Lu Jin’s sleeves, so weary that she couldn’t get her fingers to work.
Lei Qingyi pulled Lu Jin closer and whispered,
“Uncle, we can’t let Aunt go on like this. Should we get Doctor He to give her a prescription?” Ye Shuyun was tense like a taut bowstring these days. If that string snaps, it won’t be long till her body collapse as well. That would be too much of a blow for any of them, in their current state.
“Forget it,” sighed Lu Jin. “I have even thought about knocking her out myself. But what good will that do? She will eventually wake up, and blame herself whether we find Yan Huan or not. The pressure is crushing her, but if we stop her now, she would drive others crazy before going crazy herself. Let her join the search and do something on her part. When we have done what we could, we can only leave the rest to fate.”
It was nearly morning, yet they found nothing so far. Lei Qingyi had even dispatched a few police units to aid the search. It was as though she had vanished from the surface of earth. Could she have jumped into the sea? Why weren’t they finding anything?
Just as everyone was at their wit’s end, the phone in his pocket rang. He quickly answered, hoping for good news.
“What is it? Did you all find her?” he asked in a tone of marked anxiety.
“No, sir,” said the man, before pausing to shout a warning to the hooligans before him. “But we found a few shady hooligans, and they are insisting that they’d witnessed a ghost. I find them pretty suspicious. Would you like to come down to the station and interrogate them?”
“These things can wait until I’m free,” said Lei Qingyi. He didn’t have time for such trivial cases before he finds Yan Huan.
“Wait,” said the policeman anxiously, “Don’t hang up yet. There’s more to this.”
“Go on,” said Lei Qingyi, walking to the side with his phone. “I’m listening.”
“You’ve to come down and interrogate them,” insisted the policeman. “They were loitering around this area yesterday. Men with criminal histories of harassing single woman.”
Lei Qingyi’s heart skipped a beat.
“I’m coming over. Keep them there.”
He hung up, grabbed his keys and rushed outside. What should he do? This was his worst fear. If Yan Huan had been violated…
How does he answer to Lu Yi?
He had no answers. Even death wouldn’t be enough to offer as an explanation. He drove the fastest his car could go, and arrived swiftly in ten minutes.
“Are these the ones?” asked Lei Qingyi. The young hooligans winced at the size of him, a two-meters tall man bear. Good lord, he’s not going to get rough, is he? How could their bony limbs endure the blows from such a brute?
“Yes, sir. These are the ones.”
The youngsters shuddered and cowered as Lei Qingyi’s eyes roved around them.
“You,” Lei Qingyi pointed at one of them at random. “Come here. The blonde one.”
“Me?” whimpered the hooligan as he pointed to himself. The others nodded along. He was the only one among them who had dyed his hair blonde.
The rest of the gang secretly rejoiced at not having dyed their hair yellow.
He’s gonna get beaten to a pulp, isn’t he?
They silently prayed for their fallen brother.
Good luck, brother. It’s not that we don’t want to help you, but as you can see, the enemy is too powerful to be opposed. Rest in peace.
The blonde hooligan walked before Lei Qingyi in shaky steps. He looked up, only to meet Lei Qingyi’s chest at eye level. Oh momma, how tall is this guy? And who is he? A basketball player?
“Follow me,” Lei Qingyi turned and walked towards the door. Behind him, the blondee hooligan dragged his steps reluctantly. By the time Lei Qingyi reached the door, the blondee hooligan was still far behind.
Lei Qingyi bristled when he turned and saw the blonde hooligan moving at turtle speed.
“You better get your ass over here before I hurt you real bad,” he warned.
Taken aback, cold sweat beaded and streamed down the blonde hooligan’s forehead.
After much effort, he finally made his way to the day, but balked at the thought of entering it.
He turned back and glanced at his buddies, who promptly turned away in planned coordination, paying him no heed at all. His eyes darted about, thinking of a way to save his own skin.
He still had some savings. He wondered if that would do him some good here.
What did the big pervert want from him? Could it be that he had fallen for his good looks and wants to…? No, no, please. He didn’t swing that way. Anything but that.
Impatient, Lei Qingyi gave him a hard kick in the ass, sending him reeling and plunging face-first into the ground.
“Get up,” he grunted as he held back the temptation to plant his boot in him again. “I’m not in a good mood right now, so you best behave.”
The blonde guy got up quickly, too scared to even breathe loudly.
Annoyed, Lei Qingyi picked him up by the collar, carried him into the room, and flung him onto the ground. There was no need for courtesy when dealing with scums like this. They won’t learn until they spend a few years rotting in jail.
He walked beside him and squatted down. His piercing eyes narrowed threateningly. Shivering, the blonde guy was only a step away from crying for his mommy.
