Chapter 70

Ten minutes earlier, Yan He stepped out of the recording studio building. It was freezing outside, yet she wore only a simple hoodie, having deliberately left her down jacket draped over her seat inside as a diversion.

The wind howled softly, making her frame shiver in the dark, yet her heart was pounding so hard she barely noticed the chill.

Pulling her hood lower, Yan He walked briskly toward her destination. She estimated she had roughly ten to fifteen minutes—more than enough time.

The street a few hundred meters away from the studio building was entirely deserted. On such a freezing night at this late hour, residents had long since retired indoors, leaving only the streetlights to illuminate the lonely stretch of pavement. Tucked deep within the shadows at a corner stood a black sedan, resting silently in the night like a sleeping beast.

Spotting the vehicle, Yan He pulled her hood down even further and quickened her pace.

She opened the rear door. The driver had already been waiting for some time.

“No issues this time, right?” Wu Yu turned from the driver’s seat to look back at her. The heater was running inside the car, and her coat lay folded on the passenger seat. She wore only a form-fitting turtleneck sweater, with a thick scarf wrapped around her neck.

Feeling the warmth return to her body, Yan He looked up and offered a grateful smile: “Thank you, Xiao Yu.”

Long ago, when she first discussed this plan with Wu Yu, Yan He had deliberately memorized her phone number down to every digit just to be thorough. That was how she managed to reach Wu Yu immediately after getting her phone back. Luckily, Wu Yu was far more experienced in such matters, quickly putting together an exit strategy for her.

Wu Yu curved her lips into a light smile. Her sleek, shoulder-length hair tickled slightly inside the thick scarf, so she turned back around to look at Yan He through the rear-view mirror: “Don’t be so distant with me. Alright, let’s get moving—it’s too easy to be spotted if we stay parked here.”

She raised her foot to step on the gas, only to be stopped by Yan He ​read the original at bailiantales.com​from behind: “Wait a moment.”

Yan He pulled her phone from her hoodie pocket and typed out a short message. The screen’s light cast a glow across her furrowed brow, accentuating the gravity of her expression.

Setting the message to send at a scheduled time, Yan He pressed the power button to turn off the phone, then tossed it out the window with a firm throw. It landed on the lawn outside with a muted thud.

“Let’s go.” She lowered her gaze, staring absently at the verdant jade bracelet wrapped around her wrist. The dim cabin light fell onto her trembling eyelashes like a butterfly fluttering its wings, stirring the fallen snow of an entire winter.

Wu Yu cast a deep look at her through the mirror before pressing down on the accelerator. The hum of the engine quickly left the distant clamor of the studio building far behind.

Silence hung over the cabin throughout the drive. Having been in a state of high tension around Lu Youqing for so long, the sudden quiet made Yan He feel strangely unaccustomed. She watched the shifting shadows inside the car, her thoughts drifting erratically.

Would she run into Lu Youqing halfway through again, just like last time? Was Lu Youqing aware of her plan all along, simply waiting to trap her in the act? Was Lu Youqing frantically searching for her right now after learning she was gone? Question after question rushed through her mind like a surging tide. Her heart rose and fell; even though her mind was entirely clear, she felt as if she were trapped in an unending nightmare.

With her phone discarded, she had no answers to any of these doubts. She felt like a traveler stuck in quicksand, unable to discern which direction led to safety.

“Have you thought about where you want to go?” Wu Yu spoke up suddenly, cutting through Yan He’s wandering thoughts. Only then did Yan He realize they had been driving for a long time and were already on the highway leading toward the neighboring city.

“I’ll stay around here for a while. At least for now, I have no plans to go abroad.” Yan He crossed her legs and leaned back against the seat, trying to calm her racing pulse.

In the past, every time she rushed to leave the country, she ended up running straight into Lu Youqing. This time, she didn’t plan to flee overseas so quickly—though, in truth, she didn’t really know where she was heading either.

Looking back, no familiar cars were tailing them. Looking forward, an unfamiliar city awaited. unauthorized copyOnce the initial adrenaline faded, her primary feeling wasn’t relief, but an overwhelming sense of aimlessness. Utterly lost, she lowered her head in quiet desolation.

She had spent seven whole years alongside Lu Youqing. After her mother moved abroad, she and Lu Youqing had been virtually inseparable. She had genuinely believed they were deeply in love, but…

Lu Youqing had lied to her. She didn’t even know how many of Lu Youqing’s words held any truth. Lu Youqing claimed that only her graduation job and the house purchase were orchestrated, but Yan He couldn’t bring herself to believe it. Human greed was bottomless. She couldn’t believe that after obtaining what she wanted through such means, Lu Youqing would simply stop when faced with future obstacles—she would only grow more extreme.

Yan He had always wanted to ask Lu Youqing a single question: was the “love” Lu Youqing spoke of truly love, or was it merely a pathological dependency because Yan He was the only meaningful presence in her life?

Yan He had never voiced the question, because she knew Lu Youqing didn’t have the answer either.

Her thoughts felt submerged in a boundless ocean, negative emotions sweeping over her like a rising tide. Yan He pressed her lips together, forcing herself not to dwell on it any longer.

The car exited the highway and turned onto a bustling city street. The surroundings grew lively with traffic and noise, streetlights casting flickering beams into the cabin. Yan He slowly snapped back to reality.

“By the way, if you don’t know where to stay yet, I have a property here. You can stay there for now,” Wu Yu offered gently, looking at her through the mirror.

Yan He looked up, squeezing out a faint smile as she instinctively declined: “No need. You’ve already gone to so much trouble for me. If I take your house too, I won’t know how to repay you. I’ll find a place on my own.”

“Since when do we need to stand on ceremony? Truth be told, I still feel guilty toward you. Because I couldn’t return to the country in time last year, you ended up in that car accident and lost your memory. I’ve carried that guilt ever since, so you absolutely cannot refuse this—I won’t accept a no,” Wu Yu said with a gentle smile, though a subtle trace of lingering remorse showed in her eyes.

Yan He stared at her, her eyes welling with mist as a wave of deep gratitude washed over her: “Thank you.”

The car gradually left the city center behind. As they reached a quiet street corner in the suburbs, Wu Yu brought the car to a halt. Turning around, she spoke to Yan He with a serious expression: stolen content“Go straight down this road through three traffic lights, then make a left and pass two more lights to reach the villa. Here are the keys.” She handed the item over as she spoke.

The cool metal key landed in Yan He’s palm, feeling almost scalding to the touch. Clenching the key tightly, Yan He looked at Wu Yu in confusion.

“If you leave the car with me, how are you getting back?”

Wu Yu replied casually: “Li Wenqiu’s people are coming to pick me up.”

Li Wenqiu.

Yan He knit her brows slightly. She might not have remembered the name before, but now that her memories were back, the name Li Wenqiu left a distinct impression on her. Wu Yu had divorced her two years ago, yet the two remained entangled even now. Out of a shared sympathy between those enduring similar fates, Yan He pressed her lips together and spoke without hesitation:

“Why don’t you come with me to this house instead? Li Wenqiu shouldn’t know you have this property.” Staying away for even one more day is better than returning to face a lunatic every night, she thought to herself.

Hearing this, Wu Yu let out a soft, faint smile. The harsh white glare of a nearby streetlight spilled into the car, casting a hazy glow over the loose strands of her hair. Though her face was shadowed against the light, her eyes shone brightly. She reached up and gently unwrapped the thick scarf she had been wearing all this time.

Ever since entering the car, Yan He had sensed something off about her—the cabin was far from cold, yet Wu Yu had kept that heavy scarf wrapped tightly around her neck. Now, Yan He’s unspoken question received its answer.

Across her slender, pale neck, faint blue veins and red marks were visible. Yet cutting right across that delicate skin was a solid black choker. It was exquisitely crafted—so much so that Yan He was initially struck by its beauty before noticing a tiny, glowing red light along its side a few seconds later.

Yan He froze. Having spent so much time trapped around Lu Youqing, she recognized immediately what that device was. A cold sweat broke out across her back in an instant.

“You…” She opened stolen content her trembling lips to speak, but Wu Yu placed an index finger against her own lips, hushing her before she could say another word.

“The light turned red—she’s growing impatient. You need to leave now; someone will be picking me up very soon. There’s an extra phone in the car—use it to contact me if anything comes up,” Wu Yu said with a light smile, expertly rewrapping her scarf before slipping back into her heavy coat. As she tilted her head to pull her long hair out from under the collar, Yan He caught another fleeting glimpse of that tiny red light glowing against her neck. The sight sent a cold ache through Yan He’s chest, leaving her utterly speechless.

Wu Yu tapped lightly on the car window, snapping Yan He back to alertness. Hiding the moisture in her eyes, Yan He quickly moved into the driver’s seat and started the engine.

Yan He didn’t drive off immediately. Instead, she pulled into a shadowy corner down the street, parking the car to keep watch on Wu Yu by the curb.

It was dark out in the suburbs; no matter how eager she was to escape, she couldn’t leave her friend standing alone in the cold.

Within her field of vision, Wu Yu pulled out a phone and appeared to make a call. After hanging up, she squatted by the roadside, remaining completely motionless. The cold wind whipped past her frame, causing her scarf to flutter gently in the breeze.

A profound sense of sorrow surged within Yan He’s chest—sorrow for Wu Yu, and sorrow for herself. Those suffering similar fates always felt a deep, instinctive empathy for each other. She felt a heavy ache inside; after going through so much, all she and Wu Yu wanted was to reclaim their own lives. She covered her face with both hands, letting quiet tears slip past her fingers.

Less than ten minutes later, a car pulled up right beside Wu Yu. Wu Yu opened the door and stepped inside, and the vehicle sped away almost instantly, staying parked for less than thirty seconds.

Watching the car disappear into the distance, Yan He wiped her tears, pressed her lips together, and drove off toward Wu Yu’s address according to her instructions.

Using the key to unlock the front door after parking the car, Yan He pulled out the spare phone Wu Yu had left inside the glove compartment and powered it on. The glowing screen illuminated her face, reflecting the deep knot of anxiety lingering between her brows. She had managed to leave—so why couldn’t she feel happy? It felt as if all her joy had been drained away, left behind in Qingcheng.

Right now, she felt more like a walking corpse.

Once the phone booted up, Yan He opened the contacts list to find only Wu Yu’s number saved inside. A sudden wave of warmth touched her heart.

Curving her lips into a faint smile, she was about to lock the screen and walk inside when a breaking news notification popped up on her screen:

[EXPLOSIVE! Lu Youqing Suddenly Abandons Studio Recording Mid-Show]