GYAFT 31

Chapter 31

The next day, Aunt Zhu asked Wen Ran: “How did it go? Did you receive Mr. Xie’s reply?”

Wen Ran nodded, her face glowing with obvious happiness. “He praised me, said that my painting was very beautiful.”

Aunt Zhu smiled: “I told you so. How could anyone not appreciate your artwork, unless their eyes don’t work properly.”

“I also… dreamed about him, dreamed that he… was watching the starry sky with me at night.”

Aunt Zhu let out an “aiya” and laughed: “That dream is really… maybe one day it will become reality.”

Wen Ran was clearly very happy and got up to circle around Aunt Zhu. She hadn’t been this happy in a long time. When she was little, her way of expressing joy was to circle around people she was close to. This childlike way of expressing emotions had almost never happened since she grew up.

Before this, she had been worried sick, afraid that Xie Yunli might be dissatisfied or dislike the gift she sent. She never expected that not only did Xie Yunli like it very much, but he also praised her.

Aunt Zhu was watching her circle around with a smile when suddenly the doorbell rang downstairs.

Hearing the doorbell, Wen Ran froze for a moment and said: “Could it be… Xie Yunli?”

Aunt Zhu immediately said: “I’ll go take a look.”

However, Wen Ran waited at the top of the second-floor stairs for a while but didn’t hear the familiar footsteps, because the person downstairs was a stranger.

Aunt Zhu had originally thought it might be Zhou Wei or Xie Yunli who had suddenly come over, since those two had been showing up unannounced lately, either coming home for dinner or bringing gifts for Wen Ran.

But when she went downstairs, she saw it was security.

Aunt Zhu quickly opened the door. “What’s wrong? Is there something the matter?”

“It’s like this, ma’am. A few days ago we noticed a young man lingering around the main gate area, so we kept an eye on him. Today he came again and tried to slip in when a resident was entering. We caught him, and he said he knows someone in this household. Could you come take a look?”

“Knows someone in this household? Could it be someone who knows Mr. Xie?”

Aunt Zhu thought to herself that it couldn’t possibly be anyone she knew, and certainly not Wen Ran. People she knew wouldn’t come looking for her here, and it was even less likely for Wen Ran, since even her only friend Xiao Zhi didn’t know she lived here.

The security guard said: “We asked him but he wouldn’t say anything, just that he knows the owner of this house. I thought I should ask you to come take a look. If you don’t know him, we’ll just hand him over to the police.”

“Alright. Wait a moment, let me change my clothes and I’ll come with you to take a look.”

Aunt Zhu hurried into the house, went upstairs to tell Wen Ran she was going to the property management office, then followed the security guard.

This trip took nearly half an hour.

Wen Ran waited and waited but Aunt Zhu didn’t return, and when she went downstairs to check, she saw that Aunt Zhu hadn’t even taken her phone.

She had clearly said she was going to property management, so how could she be gone for so long? It had already been half an hour, and no matter what the issue was, she should have returned by now.

Aunt Zhu never left her alone for too long without reason. Even last time when Aunt Zhu suddenly got sick and was hospitalized, she had told Wen Ran she might come back late and had even called Xie Yunli to keep her company, because if she was alone for too long, she would become frightened and anxious.

Wen Ran waited anxiously in the living room. Kaka seemed to sense her emotions and came over to nuzzle her. Wen Ran picked up the little dog and ran to the yard to look around, but she couldn’t see anything.

There was still some distance from here to the entrance, and aside from some residents taking walks in the distance, she couldn’t see anything.

Some neighbors passed by and looked at Wen Ran with surprise, because they might have seen Aunt Zhu multiple times over these two years, but had never seen Wen Ran.

The villas here were spaced a little distance apart from each other, and the residents were all wealthy or noble, so privacy was extremely important. Even Aunt Zhu only occasionally ran into neighbors and exchanged greetings.

As for Wen Ran, who rarely even came out to the yard, the chances of seeing neighbors were even smaller, so the neighbors were probably surprised to see her, likely seeing Wen Ran’s appearance for the first time.

For the neighbors, it was just accidentally seeing a pretty girl, but for Wen Ran, suddenly being exposed to the strange gazes of strangers made her even more uneasy.

“Aunt Zhu… Aunt Zhu, why isn’t she… coming back yet?”

“Kaka. Where did Aunt Zhu go? Why… isn’t she coming back yet?”

Kaka couldn’t understand what she was saying and could only lie quietly in her arms, raising his little head to look at her.

Another ten minutes passed, making it more than half an hour.

Wen Ran paced back and forth in the living room, so anxious she was pulling at her hair. No matter what, Aunt Zhu should have returned by now. Her mind began to run wild with frightening thoughts.

“Aunt Zhu still hasn’t come back… Could she… could something have happened to her? Did she encounter bad people? What should… what should I do?”

Because she was too nervous and scared, she began biting her fingers continuously, her whole body trembling with tension.

She knew she should go out to look for Aunt Zhu. The property management office was not far from the main gate, and she knew where it was.

“I can’t wait anymore, I can’t wait anymore. Aunt Zhu… didn’t bring her phone, and didn’t bring… money either.”

She frantically went to find clothes, then dug out a pair of socks, hastily put them on and was about to go out. When she reached the door, she remembered something and went back to her room to get her phone.

After getting her phone, Wen Ran suddenly remembered that she had once promised Xie Yunli that no matter what she went out to do, she would tell him.

Should she tell Xie Yunli about this?

Since childhood, these kinds of decisions about going out were rarely made by herself. Most of the time she followed other people’s guidance. When she needed to make decisions herself, she would also seek opinions from people around her, but now there was no one around her, only a little dog who couldn’t give her advice.

Wen Ran took out her phone, found Xie Yunli’s chat window, thought for a moment, and decided to call him.

If she went out without telling Xie Yunli, he would probably… be angry, right? Since she had made a promise, she couldn’t go back on it, so Wen Ran decided to tell him.

She dialed his number, and in just two seconds, Xie Yunli answered.

Before he could speak, Wen Ran said frantically: “Hello? Is this Xie Yunli? I… I…”

Because she was too anxious, she almost couldn’t catch her breath, and her voice was trembling.

“It’s me, Ranran, don’t rush.” Xie Yunli said in a deep voice: “Take your time and tell me what happened. What’s wrong?”

Wen Ran took a breath and said stammering: “I’m… I’m calling to tell you… I need to go out, I need to… need to leave the house.”

After Wen Ran finished speaking in one breath, she heard hurried footsteps and the sound of a door closing from the phone, along with Xie Yunli’s still steady voice: “Alright, then tell me, where do you want to go?”

It seemed like he had hurriedly walked out of a room and closed the door.

“It’s Aunt Zhu… Aunt Zhu went out and hasn’t come back. It’s been… it’s been thirty-seven minutes already.”

Wen Ran took several breaths, her voice faintly carrying a trembling sob: “I’m scared… Xie Yunli, I’m so scared… I need to go out, go out to look for Aunt Zhu…”

The footsteps on the other end of the phone paused for a moment. “Aunt Zhu hasn’t come back? Don’t worry first, take a slow deep breath, then slowly tell me, did Aunt Zhu tell you what she went to do?”

Wen Ran followed his words and took another breath. “It seems like… someone came looking for her. She said… she said she was going to… go to property management… and didn’t bring her phone either!”

When she got anxious, her already unclear speech became even more fragmented and unclear, and even her breathing became rapid.

“Don’t worry first. Aunt Zhu might have been delayed by something. Some property management offices are very slow at handling things.” Xie Yunli said word by word: “Listen to me, Ranran, don’t go out first. I’ll be home in at most fifteen minutes. Stay home and wait for me, alright?”

Wen Ran hesitated for a moment. “But… but Aunt Zhu…”

“I’ll call property management right away. I’ll ask what’s going on and then call you back. You must answer my call when you’re at home.” After a pause, Xie Yunli added: “If strangers ring the doorbell, you must not answer. Stay in the room with Kaka, understand?”

Wen Ran nodded: “Okay, I understand.”

After hanging up, Xie Yunli shouted down the hallway: “Zhou Wei? Where is Zhou Wei?”

No employee had ever heard him shout for Zhou Wei so loudly, practically yelling, which scared them into quickly helping to call Zhou Wei, who had just come out of the restroom.

Zhou Wei hurriedly finished getting dressed and came out to see Xie Yunli’s face looking grim, his brows furrowed as if something serious had happened. Zhou Wei’s heart immediately tightened.

Xie Yunli was looking for the security office’s phone number while walking toward the elevator without looking up. “I’m going home. Give me the car keys.”

Zhou Wei quickly took out the car keys: “Mr. Xie, don’t you need me to drive you there?”

“No need. You stay at the company, don’t follow me!”

Xie Yunli walked quickly into the elevator without looking back, so fast that Zhou Wei couldn’t even catch up.

The technical supervisor who had just called Zhou Wei over asked him: “What big thing happened? I’ve never seen Mr. Xie look so terrifying. It was really scary.”

Zhou Wei thought to himself that there was a ninety percent chance something had happened with Wen Ran, and a ten percent chance the company was about to go under. After thinking about it more, it was definitely the former, because the latter wasn’t very likely since the company had been doing very well lately, and even his quarterly bonus had increased significantly.

Thinking this way, Zhou Wei became somewhat worried, wondering if something had happened to Wen Ran. That would be terrible. Although he had only met her a few times, Zhou Wei genuinely felt that Wen Ran was a good girl, kind and gentle. Even her autism symptoms made her seem like an innocent child, making people want to take care of her.

Moreover, based on his recent experience, Xie Yunli’s emotions were greatly affected by Wen Ran. Once something happened to Wen Ran, he would immediately put down company matters and go back to see her.

This would have been impossible before, because Zhou Wei, who had been working closely with Xie Yunli for two years, knew very well that Xie Yunli used to go home very rarely, pitifully rarely. Even for holidays and gift-giving, he would have Zhou Wei do it, which had made Zhou Wei think their marriage was just in name only.

Who could have expected it would suddenly become like this?

Xie Yunli called the property management office and learned that Aunt Zhu’s son had come.

It wasn’t vacation time yet, and Aunt Zhu’s son still had more than a year before graduation, so he shouldn’t have appeared here. Even if he had to return to the country midway, Aunt Zhu should at least have known about it.

But the current situation was that Aunt Zhu’s son, Qiao Ziheng, had already returned to the country and had been wandering around the villa complex’s main gate several times. When the security caught him and he said he knew the residents here, they brought Aunt Zhu over to look, and only then did they realize it was Aunt Zhu’s son.

Aunt Zhu was currently arguing with her son. He had run back secretly, not only abandoning his studies to run back, but also bringing a girlfriend who had similarly abandoned her overseas studies to run back with him.

They had probably spent most of their money and had nowhere to go, so they came to find Aunt Zhu.

Xie Yunli called Wen Ran from the car, and she answered immediately: “Hello?… Is this Xie Yunli?”

“It’s me. Are you at home?”

“Yes… I didn’t… didn’t go out. I’m at home… waiting for your call.”

Her voice sounded very obedient but with a trace of panic. She had really been worrying and frightening herself at home alone. Xie Yunli’s heart softened, and he said: “Don’t be afraid. Aunt Zhu’s son came, and Aunt Zhu is talking with her son, so she probably didn’t notice the time.”

It was probably because the mother and son had gotten into an argument, and the son had brought a girlfriend too, so Aunt Zhu couldn’t possibly have the security guard go tell Wen Ran. With this dispute, she lost track of time. People tend to overlook important things when they’re angry.

The reason he didn’t let Zhou Wei drive was because he was afraid Zhou Wei would dawdle and delay things. Xie Yunli drove much faster. Without violating traffic rules, he took many shortcuts and arrived in just over ten minutes, something Zhou Wei definitely couldn’t do. Even if Zhou Wei killed himself trying, it would take more than twenty minutes.

So one reason Xie Yunli rarely drove himself was that he hated wasting time on the road, so he drove very aggressively. Moreover, his route planning was different from any GPS navigation. He had a complex and clear automatic navigation system in his head, as if he remembered every road in the entire city clearly, from major highways to every hidden small road, just like when he was studying abroad.

Liang Zeqi, who had studied abroad with Xie Yunli, had told Zhou Wei to try to avoid letting Xie Yunli drive, otherwise when his temper flared up or he got anxious, he might end up speeding.

Just like this time.