Chapter 178
Chapter 178
Chapter 178
Yu Shu and Shen Youlin stood guard outside Shen Youfei's door. The moment they saw each other, they began to question her, but Shen Youfei warded them off. After dinner, the two surrounded Shen Youfei and tried to coax her with wheedling, but even until late at night, they returned to their lodgings empty-handed.
Shen Youfei let out a sigh of relief, marveling at how she had truly grown old, unable to keep up with the energy and thought processes of the younger generation.
After showering, sitting in front of the vanity mirror, Shen Youfei opened the packaging of a brand new set of skincare products, applying and massaging each one onto her face, lowering her eyelids, not wanting to look at the fine lines at the corners of her eyes for even a moment.
The beauty of youth, in these eighteen years, had faded entirely.
The ringing of the phone interrupted her melancholy. Upon answering, Yan Xingnan immediately began to wheedle, "Sister, when are you coming back? I miss you so much~"
Shen Youfei couldn't help but smile. "If you want to apologize, you can just say you're sorry."
"I'm sorry."
"Mm-hmm."
"When are you coming back? I really miss you."
Shen Youfei didn't answer. "Did you take your medicine after dinner?"
"I took it. When are you coming back?" Yan Xingnan rolled over, wrapping himself in the blanket and burying his face deep into the pillow.
Shen Youfei's voice, transmitted through the electric current, sounded to him as if it were tickling his heart, making him miss her even more, the tickling sensation spreading from his heart to every bone in his body.
"If you've taken it, go to sleep early."
Yan Xingnan's index finger twiddled with the corner of the blanket. "Are you angry with me?"
"No."
"You're lying."
"A little bit."
Just a little bit.
Shen Youfei let out a silent sigh. She was angry that Yan Xingnan refused to reveal his true identity to her, and even tried to guess about her life over the past eighteen years.
Yan Xingnan wanted to say sorry, but at that moment, those three words seemed pale and powerless. In the end, he stubbornly asked, "When are you coming back?"
"Tomorrow."
"Tomorrow morning or afternoon?"
"Tomorrow evening."
"Oh, okay, then try to come back as early as you can."
"Mm-hmm, you go to sleep early too. Good night."
"Good night."
After hanging up the phone, both of them felt a sense of melancholy.
Ambiguous yet distant, loving yet unfamiliar, between them stood eighteen years of time that was difficult to cross and fill.
The next morning, Yan Xingnan received a call from the police station. His DNA comparison had come back.
So soon?!
He had prepared himself to wait for a year or more, or even for there to be no results at all.
Yan Xingnan went online to do some research and was astonished by the current high technology.
After breakfast, he told the housekeeper, "I'm going out for a bit. If Ms. Shen comes back early, call me right away."
He went to the garage to get a car, and saw the two cars he had "sold himself" to get - an Audi RS7 and a Mercedes-Benz G-Class.
He circled around the G-Class twice, his mind filled with the memory of the first time he saw Shen Youfei driving a G-Class, ramming into the drug dealer's car.
How nostalgic.
Yan Xingnan took the G-Class to the police station. After getting out of the car, he habitually looked towards the office building of the anti-drug squad. People were bustling back and forth in the corridors, hurriedly walking between the various offices, and most of them were wearing uniforms.
It seemed there was an important mission.
The chief of the anti-human trafficking department greeted Yan Xingnan in person, pouring him a cup of instant coffee. "Little Zhao, please have a seat."
Yan Xingnan accepted it politely. "Thank you."
The chief didn't beat around the bush and got straight to the point. "We compared your DNA and found that you were likely the child who was abducted and sold twenty-three years ago. Your birth name is Shen Xingnan."
Yan Xingnan spat out a mouthful of coffee, coughing violently after being choked. "You said I... What's my surname?"
The chief reacted quickly and dodged it, not getting sprayed. "Shen, the Shen from Shenyang."
Yan Xingnan: "..."
This person really shouldn't make casual oaths.
The chief went on to tell him about the situation of his birth parents. He was their first child. His parents used to run a small business in Yang City. They weren't wealthy, but their family was harmonious until he was abducted at over three years old. His parents blamed each other, and over time, they grew resentful and divorced within a couple of years, each remarrying and starting new families.
Shen Xingnan... or should he now be called Shen Xingnan, nodded and asked, "Has a time been set for the family reunion?"
The chief's expression became slightly stiff. "About that, since the New Year is coming up, they can't get away. We're hoping you can go to Yang City to meet them."
Shen Xingnan felt a bit numb. "Then we'll talk about it again after the New Year."
The chief also gave him his birth parents' contact information. Shen Xingnan accepted it politely, chatted with the chief for a while longer, and then left.
As he exited the reception area, he ran into Jiang Han, who was wearing a police uniform. The moment he saw the badge number on her shoulder, his pupils constricted sharply.
Jiang Han lifted her head from the documents in her hands and followed his gaze to her badge number. "Is there a problem?"
"No." Shen Xingnan averted his gaze. "No problem at all."
Jiang Han didn't say anything else and hurriedly walked away with a stack of documents.
Shen Xingnan went to the parking lot and saw Yang Zhao in the corner, talking on the phone with a cigarette pinched between his fingers, smoothly and slickly using official language. It sounded like he was trying to get something from the precinct.
Shen Xingnan wanted to go over and chat with him, or at least say hello. He missed the people he knew so much.
But reason held him back, and he got into his car and left.
Yang Zhao squinted as he watched Shen Xingnan's car drive farther and farther away, taking a deep drag of his cigarette.
On the way back, there was some traffic congestion. Bored, Shen Xingnan stared at the rear end of the car in front of him. Suddenly, the sound of police sirens rang out on the street. For a moment, he thought he was hallucinating.
One police car after another roared past. The congested flow of traffic automatically opened up a passageway. Shen Xingnan reacted a bit slowly and was yelled at by the guy behind him, "Can't you see?"
"People these days, their standards are so high." Shen Xingnan said as he moved his vehicle.
A police car passed by, its window half open. He saw Jiang Han's short hair disheveled by the wind. Her expression was stern, vastly different from her usual demeanor.
From the direction, it seemed they were heading to the Jinse Club.
Since he was just idling anyway, Shen Xingnan turned his steering wheel and followed behind the last police car.
Behind the line of blue and white police cars was an out-of-place Mercedes-Benz G-Class.