The afternoon sun was bright. After lunch, Ye Fei went to the second-floor balcony to bask in the sunlight.
Her room faced north—the one she had lived in as a child.
But after all these years, the room had long been renovated, its contents cleared out, and it was now an unused guest room.
Sunlight flooded the entire balcony, warming the woolen blanket. She squinted comfortably, raising the sapphire in her hand toward the sunlight. After admiring its dazzling brilliance, she lowered it.
Downstairs, the Ye family was still immersed in the joy of Ye Yanqiu’s promotion as Kopi’s regional spokesperson.
A noise came from the doorway as Ye Yanqiu stepped inside. She glanced around, her gaze settling on the person seated on the balcony.
“I thought that young man was sleeping with you,” she said, her tone laced with sarcasm.
Ye Fei withdrew the gemstone and glanced sideways at her. “With that tone, anyone would think you’re jealous of me.”
“So obedient in front of Grandma, yet so sharp-tongued in front of me.”
With no outsiders around, Ye Yanqiu couldn’t be bothered to pretend to be sisterly.
She had disliked Ye Fei since childhood—intensely so. Even after Ye Fei’s fifteen-year absence and return, she still couldn’t bring herself to like her.
“You’ve seen it clearly enough. Since we were little, she’s always favored me the most. Even though I was gone for fifteen years, you never managed to take my place. How pitiful,” Ye Fei said leisurely.
Strike the snake at its head, strike the heart to kill—she knew exactly which words would sting the most.
Ye Yanqiu restrained her emotions. Having been in the entertainment industry for so long, her acting skills were genuinely not bad.
“Do you like the necklace? I wore it while shooting an advertisement and thought it suited you, so I brought it back for you.”
Ye Yanqiu leaned forward, staring at the person in the wheelchair and laughing. “After all, you’re not exactly from a high-class background out there. The gemstones on this piece are quite nice—worth a few hundred thousand, I’d say.”
Ye Fei glanced sideways at her, then lifted the blanket covering her right leg.
“See, I’m wearing it. But it’s a bit uncomfortable against my foot, so I don’t really like it.”
In the sunlight, the girl’s exposed ankle was pale and slender. Most striking was the diamond necklace wrapped several times around her ankle, shimmering brightly.
“You’re wearing it on your foot!” Ye Yanqiu’s voice was sharp and shrill.
How dare this lowly woman, only fit for secondhand goods, insult her like this.
“Once you gave it to me, it’s mine. If I weren’t temporarily unable to wear shoes, next time I’d tie it to my shoelaces.”
In the end, Ye Yanqiu stormed off in a rage, the slamming door drawing curious glances from the servants downstairs.
“Round five, total victory.”
Jing Chu, sunbathing on the nearby roof, squinted and snorted.
He had to admire the woman’s persistence. Every time she came to chat with the boss, she’d leave half-dead with anger, only to return again. Her tenacity made him wonder if she was a masochist.
“Boss, Kopi is urging you for this summer’s design drafts. Are you going to deal with it?” Jing Chu followed up with a question.
Ye Fei leaned back comfortably in her wheelchair, squinting. “Tell them I’m still on vacation.”
Right now, design drafts were not the most important thing.
“Found anything yet?”
Hearing Ye Fei’s inquiry, the young man sitting askew flipped down onto the balcony.
“Boss, that forensic examiner passed away the year before last.”
Ye Fei’s fingers holding the sapphire twitched slightly. The clues she had managed to track down couldn’t just end here.
“The Jiangcheng Police Department claims to have the most advanced information system in the entire Eastern Province. Five years ago, all archives were converted to electronic data storage. I tried but couldn’t access it—I’ll have to ask Sister Xi.”
Ye Fei knew Jing Chu’s capabilities. If even he needed time to crack it, the system must have been designed by no ordinary person.
Jiangcheng, as the capital of the Eastern Province, was indeed a gathering place for influential figures.
Those favored by the Ministry of Justice were certainly not ordinary individuals.
“Go check the original archives office. Paper records from too long ago might not have been destroyed.”
Following Ye Fei’s instructions, Jing Chu nodded in acknowledgment and turned to leave the balcony.
Staring at the sparse few pages of information in her hands, Ye Fei fell into deep thought.
She had returned to Jiangcheng because her injuries required rest, but it was also time to investigate the events of the past.
Fifteen years ago, her father had died in a collision with an oncoming truck during a heavy rainstorm while returning from an inspection at a branch company.
At the time, the body was unrecognizable, but her mother had insisted on an autopsy. The autopsy report, however, indicated the cause of death was the car accident.
Her mother then disappeared, vanishing from Jiangcheng after taking Ye Fei to an amusement park.
Silently, without a trace. Before leaving, she had only told Ye Fei one thing: “Live well.”
What could a five-year-old child understand? She simply held her cotton candy and watched her mother’s retreating figure.
Only when everyone around had left and the amusement park lights began to dim did she realize she had been abandoned.
A five-year-old might not fully comprehend things, but she could still sense warmth and coldness.
When Ye Fei stumbled back to the old mansion, she overheard Gu Zhi’s words at the entrance.
Old Mrs. Huo held Ye Yanqiu in her arms, her hands—which had soothed Ye Fei countless times—pinched her granddaughter’s little face as she uttered those chilling words.
“If she’s gone, she’s gone. We couldn’t keep her anyway. As for Ye Fei, I did raise her, but if she really can’t be found, there’s no need to spend too much time searching. A five-year-old who goes missing is rarely found again.”
At that moment, she knew Old Mrs. Huo didn’t truly want her to return.
Regarding Ye Qingcheng’s death, many rumors had spread throughout Jiangcheng, but without evidence, they all faded away.
The prime suspect among them was Ye Qingyuan.
In wealthy families, familial bonds were never worth much. Driven by the immense interests of the Ye family, it was hard to say what anyone might do.
Thinking of all this, her agitation grew more turbulent.
“Let’s go out.”
The young man beside her, who had been about to eat a snack, looked up. “To Nanhuang again?”
The boss really did go to Nanhuang to watch fights whenever she was in a bad mood.
…
Downstairs, Ye Yanqiu was still upset over the earlier incident involving Ye Fei.
She sat sulking in the living room. After Old Mrs. Huo had coaxed Ye Wen to sleep for his nap, she came out and saw her granddaughter’s displeased expression.
“Aren’t you usually very busy? How do you have time to stay here today?”
Normally, this big celebrity was always flying around, either on set or shooting commercials. Yet today, she had been here the entire morning.
“Grandma, you’ve always favored Ye Fei since we were little,” Ye Yanqiu said bluntly.
Old Mrs. Huo knew the two children didn’t get along. After all, they had fought every time they met since childhood, and Ye Yanqiu was always the one left in tears.
“Yaoyao has been missing for so many years. Compared to you growing up with your parents, she has already suffered too much hardship. In this regard, you shouldn’t argue with your sister.”
Ye Yanqiu snorted. She was born just five hours earlier than Ye Fei, but she really didn’t want this sister.
“In the future, you should protect your sister more when you’re outside. She just came back, so don’t let anyone bully her.”
Ye Yanqiu listened to Old Mrs. Huo’s words, her sneer growing increasingly pronounced. Grandma was truly a master of balancing things.
Who didn’t know that because Ye Fei returned, the second round of financing Ye Corporation was originally supposed to negotiate had been suspended?
The other party was now adopting a wait-and-see attitude, fearing that Ye Corporation’s board might undergo changes at this critical moment.
Just these few days of delay had caused Ye Corporation’s market value to drop visibly. She really was a lucky star.
“Old Mrs. Huo.”
Just as they were talking, a servant walked in and handed over an invitation with a golden cover.
Gu Zhi took it and glanced at it, quickly forming an idea.
“This is the golden wedding celebration of Mr. and Mrs. Chi. They invited me to attend. I’ll take Yaoyao out to see the world.”
“As you please.”
After hearing Gu Zhi’s words, Ye Yanqiu picked up her bag and turned to leave.
“Did the second young lady get angry?” the steward nearby remarked.
Gu Zhi put down what she was holding and glanced toward the staircase.
“Don’t bother with her.”
The steward nearby reminded, “Old Mrs. Huo, will the Zhi family attend this banquet?”
Gu Zhi paused and looked upstairs.
Since Ye Fei has already returned, what is sown will be harvested. This is her fate.