When Yu He woke up, her head felt like it was about to explode, and her whole body ached.
She tried to get up, only to find her hands and feet were bound. She was lying on straw, and the walls around her were made of mud bricks, the kind used for building houses in the last century. The sky was already bright, and sunlight streamed in through a barred window. The wooden door was shut tight, with traces of prying around the edges.
To her left was a pile of firewood covered in cobwebs.
To her right was a "bed" made of straw, called a bed because the straw surface was flattened. A pile of blackened blankets lay in a corner, and next to the blankets were two dirty stainless steel plates.
Someone had lived here for a while.
Yu He deduced she was in a woodshed in the countryside. She struggled to sit up, her head feeling so muddled it was like it was filled with paste. Her body temperature was high, and she felt feverish.
She remembered what happened last night. She wondered how Chen Hao and Yang Lin were doing. She also recalled seeing Zhang Mosheng's face just before she fainted.
Her head was pounding so hard now that she couldn't figure out if she had walked into a trap from the moment she received the email, or if the killer had gotten to her first.
She had to get out of here.
Yu He's hands were tied behind her back, and the ropes were tight. Fortunately, she had learned a few knot-tying techniques from watching gangster movies, thinking they looked cool. Her grandmother had given her a strange look then, asking if she was planning to do something bad.
Now, it came in handy.
It was just that she wasn't in top form today, and it took her quite a while to untie the ropes binding her hands. Just as she was about to untie her feet, she suddenly heard a commotion outside.
Someone was talking, and it wasn't just one person. They were approaching.
Yu He immediately stopped what she was doing.
"Miss, the person is inside," a gruff male voice said.
"Open the door," a woman's voice commanded.
The voice sounded vaguely familiar to Yu He, as if she had heard it somewhere before.
Then came the sound of a lock being opened.
Yu He quickly lay down, holding the untied rope in her hand, her hands hidden behind her, pretending to still be asleep.
She had a fever and felt unwell; a direct confrontation was not advisable.
With a "bang," the wooden door was pushed open roughly, hitting the wall and stirring up a cloud of dust.
Gu Yan covered her nose with one hand, fanning the dust away with the other, her expression one of disgust. After a moment, she walked in, her high heels clicking.
"Why are you so still? Don't tell me you're dead?" she asked the man beside her, glancing at Yu He lying on the floor.
The man had a hideous scar running from his nose to his left cheek, which was somewhat unsettling.
"Still breathing. Not dead. I checked this morning," the scarred man replied. He then told one of his subordinates, "Go get a basin of water and wake her up."
Yu He, who was pretending to be dead: "..."
She already had a fever. In the middle of winter, a basin of cold water would only worsen her condition.
She had no choice but to feign just waking up and open her eyes.
"You woke up just in time," Gu Yan sneered.
Yu He pretended to struggle to sit up, her face a mask of panic. Her voice was still hoarse as she asked, "Why did you tie me up!"
Her hands, hidden behind her back, gripped the rope tightly as she subtly observed the situation outside the door.
Besides Gu Yan and the scarred man, there were three other men outside. Judging by their faces and attire, they were typical ne'er-do-wells.
Given her current condition, she was not in a position to force her way out. She would have to play it by ear.
"Oh, scared now? Weren't you quite arrogant when you caused trouble at my house? Why are you so timid now!" Gu Yan looked down at Yu He from above.
Straw was stuck in her disheveled hair, her face and body were dirty, and coupled with her panicked expression, she looked truly pathetic.
Could she, looking like this, still win over Shao Chen?
Could she, looking like this, earn the favor of the entire Ye family?
Could she, looking like this, still be a match for her?
Gu Yan was actually consumed by jealousy of Yu He. They were both daughters, but she had been born nobler than Yu He, received a better education, and was more gentle, obedient, and well-behaved.
So why was it that Yu He was more beautiful, caught Shao Chen's eye, achieved better grades, and was sought after by over a dozen international prestigious universities? Even after being found in the mountains by the Ye family when she was older, she was still doted upon at home.
And herself? As the eldest daughter of the Gu family, her existence was a target for Qin Meimei's attacks, a sparring partner for her brother, and a daughter her father could take or leave...
"Shouldn't I pretend a little? That way, your kidnapping will feel more accomplished?" Yu He said calmly, the panic on her face receding slightly.
Gu Yan felt like she was punching cotton, "Just keep up the act! Let's see how long you can keep it up. In this desolate wilderness, even if Lord Shao wanted to find you, it would take him a year or two!"
Desolate wilderness. Yu He seized on this keyword.
She remembered a map she had seen before. East of the Lin County reservoir, there was a stretch of wild mountains.
She had a rough idea of her location. Her face remained impassive as she replied, "Oh. So this is where you imprisoned Luo Xiaoyao and her mother back then?"
Gu Yan's brows furrowed. She thought, so she really was after Luo Xiaoyao and her mother.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Gu Yan denied.
"Let me guess," Yu He continued.
"You started by claiming to help Luo Xiaoyao's mother with her illness, sending them abroad under the guise of treatment, cutting off their contact with the outside world, and then secretly bringing them here and keeping them locked up for a period.
"You thought they would behave themselves, but they escaped. However, they didn't get far and were recaptured by your people.
"Unsure if they had reported you after escaping, you decided to go all the way and drown them in the reservoir. Even if the police investigated you, you could claim they escaped on their own and accidentally drowned.
"Did I guess correctly?"
Yu He looked at Gu Yan with a calm gaze, but in reality, cold sweat was breaking out on her forehead and back. Her mouth was dry, and her headache was starting to blur her vision, but she forced herself to continue.
Gu Yan's expression turned to shock.
Luo Xiaoyao and her mother were dead?!
When did that happen?
How did she not know?
Qin Meimei had clearly told her that the mother and daughter had escaped, but the accomplice who helped them escape had been caught, and she was told to come and see.
She turned her head to look at the scarred man, intending to ask him what was going on, but saw him staring grimly at Yu He, his eyes filled with murderous intent.
This look, as if the truth had been exposed and he wanted to silence her, meant that what Yu He said was true?!
Gu Yan clenched her fists.
Seeing Gu Yan's silence, Yu He coolly added, "No wonder Qin Meimei was so audacious. The killer of Luo Xiaoyao and her mother wasn't her, but you."