Chapter 85

Chapter 85

After arriving at Yun Li’s home, Xia Wanzhi felt her heart ache the moment she stepped through the door. She took Yun Li’s hand and asked what had happened.

“I still can’t reach her.” Yun Li had been searching since morning, but every number she called still showed the phone was turned off. The instant she saw Xia Wanzhi, she finally couldn’t hold back anymore, and tears spilled from her eyes. “Last night, I told her I didn’t like Liang Jing. She… she argued with me. I didn’t want to fight with her. I only said I needed some time to calm down, but she was gone first thing this morning.”

Mother Yun was an extreme person. The moment Yun Li slipped even slightly out of her control, she would do something to hurt herself in order to threaten Yun Li. That was also why Yun Li could never disobey her.

Xia Wanzhi wiped away her tears and comforted her. “It’s okay. Xie Qiyan has already sent people to look into it. Don’t overthink it.”

Yun Li looked gratefully toward Xie Qiyan, no longer caring how disheveled she looked right now.

“Have you checked the neighborhood surveillance?” Xie Qiyan asked.

“I have.” Yun Li tried hard to calm herself down. It was precisely because she had searched everywhere and still couldn’t find her mother that she had turned to Xia Wanzhi for help.

She had always had her pride. She didn’t want outsiders to know about these family matters. And with Mother Yun’s hatred of the rich, Yun Li especially didn’t dare let her know that she and Xia Wanzhi were friends.

“I checked the neighborhood cameras. She left the complex a little after eight this morning and didn’t take anything with her. But I can’t access the surveillance after she left the neighborhood. She hasn’t been missing long enough for the police to open a case, and I…” Yun Li was starting to lose coherence.

“Does Liang Jing know?” Xie Qiyan lowered his eyes and glanced at her. On the way here, after hearing what Xia Wanzhi had told him, he had already asked Yu Fei to look into Liang Jing first.

Only Yun Li would think Mother Yun had gone missing.

To them, this tactic was no different from before.

“He said he doesn’t know.” Yun Li raked a hand irritably through her hair. “I went to the Liang Family to look for her. Liang Jing’s parents said my mother hadn’t contacted them. I went to Liang Jing’s workplace too, and his colleagues said they hadn’t seen anyone come looking for him.”

Xie Qiyan was silent for a moment.

Xia Wanzhi seemed to have reached the same conclusion as him. She parted her lips and said, “If Liang Jing had even the slightest conscience, then after learning your mother was missing, he would help you look for her no matter what. For him to be this calm… unless he knows where your mother is.”

Not long after, Yu Fei called. After Xie Qiyan answered, he glanced at Yun Li, his voice slightly low. “I had someone look into Liang Jing. At 8:17 this morning, Liang Jing appeared at a park near your home and picked someone up.”

Yun Li’s lips went pale, and her palms unconsciously tightened.

“That person was likely your mother,” Xie Qiyan said, his expression complicated. He continued, “He took her to a hotel and got her settled, then went straight to work. Your mother may be at that hotel right now.”

Xia Wanzhi cursed, “That bastard!”

Yun Li’s mind went blank. While she was relieved that her mother was all right, she also felt a deep chill in her heart.

Last night, she had already told her mother very clearly that she didn’t like Liang Jing. She had even laid out, one by one, every grievance she had suffered while being with Liang Jing these past few days.

But her mother still didn’t understand her.

She had even said that going to take care of her boyfriend’s mother was filial piety, something Yun Li ought to do as a qualified girlfriend.

In that moment, Yun Li had felt all the strength drain from her body.

It was as if she no longer recognized the person in front of her.

This was her mother.

Yun Li didn’t want to argue, much less make her angry, so she had explained that she needed to calm down. She had thought that when they woke up this morning, she would talk things through with her mother calmly.

But first thing in the morning, her mother had actually colluded with Liang Jing, deliberately pretending to disappear in order to force her hand.

Steadying herself, Yun Li dialed Liang Jing’s number. After he picked up, she deliberately tested him. “My mother is missing. Do you know where she is?”
Liang Jing sounded a little impatient. “Didn’t you already ask me that? If your mother has disappeared, shouldn’t you be reflecting on yourself? I’m about to start a meeting. You can-”

Before he could finish, Yun Li hung up with a sharp beep.

She had made that call for no other reason than to make herself go completely cold.

“Where’s the hotel?” Yun Li looked up at Xie Qiyan.

“Central Road. Zhuoyue Hotel.”

Yun Li grabbed her car keys and forced down the emotions churning inside her. She patted Xia Wanzhi’s hand. “You don’t need to come with me. I can handle it myself.”

She was already in a sorry state. She might look even worse soon. She didn’t want anyone else to see her like this, and she didn’t want Xia Wanzhi to worry.

“Let us drive you. I won’t feel at ease if you drive yourself,” Xia Wanzhi said, holding her hand in return.

Yun Li shook her head. “I can do it. Once it’s settled, I’ll send you a message. Don’t worry.”

Xia Wanzhi still instinctively wanted to follow her, but Xie Qiyan caught her by the wrist.

“I…”

“Trust her.” Xie Qiyan gently wiped the dampness from Xia Wanzhi’s lashes. “It’s fine to want to help, but not right now. The timing isn’t right. You and I can’t help her. Jiang Baichuan can’t help her either. Right now, the only person who can help her is herself.”

He looked at the matter from the position of the best possible bystander and analyzed it with clear logic. “Yun Li needs to take this step on her own.”

What Mother Yun had done today was a heavy blow to her, but it was also the beginning of Yun Li finally making up her mind to take that step.

Inside Zhuoyue Hotel, Yun Li asked the front desk several times and got nowhere. In the end, she could only call Liang Jing.

“I’m in the lobby of Zhuoyue Hotel. Give me my mom’s room number.” Her voice carried a trace of coldness, her tone leaving no room for refusal.

On the other end, Liang Jing seemed momentarily intimidated. Then he grew displeased with the way Yun Li was speaking to him. “What kind of attitude is that?”

“You’re asking me about my attitude? I’m already at the hotel, and you’re still going to deny that you brought my mom here?” Yun Li shouted, nearly losing control. “Liang Jing, you’ve seen it yourself. I’m not someone without a temper. If you really push me too far, do you believe I’ll go make a scene at your workplace?”

“I’m going to say this one last time. Tell me my mom’s room number!”

Yun Li pressed him hard, striking right at Liang Jing’s weak point.

She knew what he cared about most.

“You’re being completely unreasonable!” Liang Jing slammed the table and stood up.

Yun Li spoke again. “I want the room number.”

After Liang Jing recited a string of numbers, Yun Li hung up and took the elevator straight to the eleventh floor of the hotel.

This time, without the slightest hesitation, she pressed the doorbell.

The person inside came to open the door with a kind, benevolent expression. The instant Mother Yun heard the bell, she thought the person coming to see her was Liang Jing. As she opened the door, she was already calling his name. “Liang Jing, you’re off work so early-”

The words she had yet to finish were swallowed back the moment she saw Yun Li. The smile on her face vanished in an instant. She was stunned for a second, then asked with a stern face, “Liang Jing told you I was here, didn’t he? Have you made up with Liang Jing?”

Seeing that Yun Li didn’t answer, she didn’t care. She turned and walked back into the room, saying as she went, “Yun Li, Mom is doing all this for your own good. Where else are you going to find a man as good as Liang Jing? Don’t fail to appreciate how lucky you are. Young couples quarrel all the time. Let this matter pass, and from now on, the two of you should get along properly. Do you understand?”

Yun Li didn’t move. She stood in the doorway with one hand blocking the door and said, word by word, “There is no possibility between me and him. If you insist on making me be with him, then only if I die.”

Only if I die.

She returned the exact same words to her.