For over a month, I never saw Sister Ying again.
She had vanished as if evaporated from the earth!
During that time, I asked Uncle Hong about Sister Ying's past, and his reply was: "The eldest daughter grew up with her mother. After the master's health declined, I only then got to know the eldest daughter… According to the eldest daughter herself, she was studying abroad and rushed back upon receiving the news."
These were Uncle Hong's exact words.
Not only was Uncle Hong ignorant of Sister Ying, but Hong Yunpeng was also clueless.
It could be said that none of the people who seemed familiar with Sister Ying, who were by her side, truly understood her.
Even others thought that I was the one who understood Sister Ying the best.
For a moment, I felt it was all too unbelievable!
Thinking about it, a person who was by my side every day, yet no one understood her, nor did anyone know her past.
And such a person suddenly appeared and then suddenly disappeared?
I didn't tell anyone about Sister Ying's departure, after all, I wasn't sure if Sister Ying would return.
But I always had a feeling that Sister Ying wouldn't return.
And this feeling was particularly strong.
One day, I was in Anyuantang asking Hong Yunpeng about Sister Ying's father when suddenly a commotion erupted outside.
When we went out, we found a group of uninvited guests, and each of them looked hostile.
The leader was Bai Zhujing.
"Mr. Bai?" I asked him, looking puzzled.
"Little Brother Xiang, where is Boss An?"
"Sister Ying is not here."
"Oh? Then where did she go?"
I glanced at Bai Zhujing and his entourage and asked, "Mr. Bai, is there something important you need from Sister Ying?"
"Of course, it's important!" Bai Zhujing said sternly, his brows tightly furrowed.
"Mr. Bai, I'm truly sorry, but Sister Ying went on a business trip a month ago, so…"
Before I could finish speaking, Bai Zhujing suddenly started, "What did you say?! She left Guangling?"
Seeing his agitation, I had a premonition of something bad.
As expected, at that moment, a burly man among those who followed Bai Zhujing kicked over a cabinet nearby without a word.
The wooden cabinet was full of porcelain. The moment the large cabinet toppled, it let out a deafening crash!
Immediately, customers who didn't know what was happening fled the shop, and then several others shut the main door of Anyuantang.
"What are you doing?!" I asked, my brows knitted tightly.
Bai Zhujing took a deep breath, ignored me, and looked at a middle-aged man behind him: "Mr. Yan, at this point, shouldn't everything be clear?"
The man nodded, waved to the people behind him, and said, "Search for me."
"What exactly do you want to do?!" I shouted, stepping forward to block those people. "Is there no law anymore?"
Bai Zhujing looked at me with a complex expression. I didn't understand what he meant by "everything should be clear."
Hong Yunpeng also stood by my side, and the other people in the shop gathered around.
Just as I was thinking that if they dared to act recklessly again, I would fight them head-on…
Uncle Lin from Anyuantang came out. He walked up to the man named Yan and greeted him: "Patron…"
The man named Yan nodded and said, "Tell them all to leave."
"Yes."
Uncle Lin beckoned, and some of the shop assistants dispersed, leaving only me and Hong Yunpeng, both bewildered.
"Uncle Lin, what are you doing?" Hong Yunpeng couldn't help but ask.
I also wanted to ask this question.
As the person in charge of Anyuantang, Uncle Lin made all the decisions, big or small.
Although Sister Ying said she gave Anyuantang to me when she left, it was actually Uncle Lin who had been managing it.
It was unrealistic to expect me to manage such a large shop, let alone have the experience, I didn't even understand many things.
But Uncle Lin's attitude at this moment stunned me. He called the man named Yan "Patron"?
"Little Fei, Yunpeng…" Uncle Lin took a deep breath. "Mr. Yan is the patron of Anyuantang. You two hurry and move aside."
"Isn't Anyuantang Sister Ying's family's?" I couldn't help but ask.
"Sister Ying's family's? Miss's father, An Zhongyi, was merely the head shopkeeper of Anyuantang."
Upon hearing this, Hong Yunpeng and I exchanged glances, and we were both dumbfounded.
Anyuantang wasn't the An family's?
Sister Ying's father was actually just a shopkeeper at Anyuantang, and the man named Yan in front of us was the owner?
Thinking of this, I couldn't help but recall Sister Ying's serious expression when Bai Zhujing mentioned this man named Yan at Yipinzhai that day.
It was also on that day that Sister Ying left…
Too many questions swirled in my mind, but no matter how hard I thought, I couldn't figure anything out.
After Hong Yunpeng and I came out of Anyuantang, we sat on the stone steps nearby and started talking.
"Brother Hong, did you know about this before?" I asked.
Hong Yunpeng shook his head. "No, no one told me. I always thought Anyuantang belonged to Sister Ying. How could there be a big boss behind it?"
I suddenly thought of something and asked, "The logistics company you worked at, that belonged to Sister Ying, right?"
When I asked him that, Hong Yunpeng's eyes darted around and said, "Now I'm not entirely sure either…"
"What do you mean?"
"Sister Ying did arrange for me to go there, but there was always a man managing it, and I was mostly responsible for checking the goods there." Hong Yunpeng said.
"What kind of goods did the logistics company transport?" I asked.
"I really don't know. The goods that arrived were always packed in wooden crates, and I never opened them to check."
Hong Yunpeng asked me, "What's wrong? Do you think there's a problem?"
I shook my head. "I can't say for sure…"
The events unfolded very suddenly. After the man named Yan went to Anyuantang, Anyuantang suspended its business.
And Hong Yunpeng's logistics company also closed its doors the next day.
Uncle Hong returned to his hometown, and Hong Yunpeng and I had to move to the Zisha teaware shop in Hongyuan to live.
The drastic changes caught everyone off guard.
I called Sister Ying almost every day, but no matter how many times I called, I couldn't get through.
After about half a month like this, Hong Yunpeng suddenly disappeared as well.
That day, I was cleaning the Zisha teaware shop when Hong Yunpeng suddenly received a phone call, drove out, and never returned that day. I tried paging him, but there was no response.
He didn't show up for two consecutive days. I called Uncle Hong, but I couldn't get through.
Just as I was about to report to the police, someone arrived at the shop.
Bai Hanyan, dressed in casual clothes, browsed the shop for a while before finally speaking to me: "Xiang Fei, do you remember what I told you last time?"
I frowned and stared at her, asking, "What did you say?"
She looked at me and grinned.
The moment she smiled at me, I felt a sharp pain in the back of my neck, and the world spun as I lost consciousness…