Li Shaoling had gone missing.

 It was as if he had completely vanished and never existed in the first place.

 He was not answering his calls, no one had seen him. According to Jiang Cong, there had been an explosion in CBS’s headquarters in Europe with, masterminded by Li Shaogan who had been in league with the Qiao family.

 When Li Shaogan came to visit Ji Weixi after some time, she was a lot skinnier, with her face shrinking to the size of a palm.

 Ji Weixi glared at him coolly. “What are you doing here?”

 Li Shaogan’s lips slowly parted in a smile, and his voice was sinisterly vague. “Visiting my dear sister-in-law, of course.”

 Ji Weixi sneered. “I’m not your sister-in-law!”

 Of course, she never thought of him as her brother!

 Li Shaogan lifted a brow but kept smiling. “Oh, yes, you aren’t, because my brother’s dead.”

 “He’s not dead!” Ji Weixi exclaimed rather agitatedly.

 “He is.” Li Shaogan said carefreely, as if they were discussing the life and death of some animal. “I’ve just returned from Europe and saw his dead body with my own eyes…”

 Ji Weixi froze as a chill swept through her whole body, and she stared at Li Shaogan in disbelief.

 Meanwhile, Li Shaogan clicked his tongue and mused emotionally. “I even remember that body was burnt so terribly it was completely disfigured, and I probably would never have recognized him if he wasn’t my brother and that he was wearing a silver-gray suit on that day… Tsk, tsk. It’s lucky you weren’t there, or you would have been frightened and disgusted…”

 Ji Weixi could not help imagine images of Li Shaoling’s terrible death. Unable to stop herself, she pointed at the door and yelled, “Get out!”

 Li Shaogan looked wounded. “How could you bear having me leave? I came here specially to help you with your grief? Even if my brother’s dead, you will inherit his estate. You should be happy.”

 “Get out!” Ji Weixi roared again.

 Li Shaogan, however, had every intention to maintain his thick-skinned pretentious consoling to keep stabbing Ji Weixi in the heart.

 That was when Tian Miaomiao, rolling her sleeves walked up to him with the little one in tow.

 They stood just in front of Li Shaogan, with the little one clenching his fist fiercely. “Get out! You ogre!”

 With that, Tian Miaomiao pushed Li Shaogan out the door, not before the little one landed a kick on Li Shaogan’s crotch.

 1The man immediately held his pants and glared painfully.

 The door was closed in his face with a bang. He stared at it, a trace of hatred finally showing in his face.

 Damn it!

 Meanwhile, Ji Weixi stared blankly out the window and dialed Li Shaoling’s number once again.

 [I’m sorry, the person you’ve called is unavailable. Please try again later…]

 The machine-cold female voice repeated.

 However, Ji Weixi seemed to not hear it, and continue dialing stubbornly and determinedly.

 She will not believe it. She will not believe what Li Shaogan had told her!

 “Xixi…” Tian Miaomiao came to her, but eventually swallowed back what she was about to say.

 The little one walked up to her too, his dark expression identical to Li Shaoling’s. “Mommy, Daddy will definitely be alright! Believe me!”

 Be that as it may, Ji Weixi was now no different from a puppet drained of all vigor. Shaking, she continued calling Li Shaoling’s number even as tears streamed without stopping.

 Why wouldn’t he answer?

 Why?

 Ji Weixi suddenly felt her vision darkened as every bit of her strength slowly left her body.

 Her eyes closed and she fainted.

 ***

 Three days later.

 News of Li Shaoling’s death was heard throughout River Town.

 In the hospital, news of his demise was reported the moment anyone turned on the TV—even the news anchor was lamenting his early passing.

 Ji Weixi’s face looked dark and without luster in her loose blue patient gown. She never stopped hearing about the news of Li Shaoling’s death every day since losing contact with him, and her gaze had stayed empty through it all without any focus.

 She never spoke a word, either.

 Still, her little one was staying positive and had faith that his daddy would come back some day.

 Perhaps death was just an unfamiliar word that could not be understood.

 The private hospital Ji Weixi was staying at had been arranged by Jiang Cong, located on one of the remoter areas in River Town.

 It was said that Jiang Yigu worked here too.

 Even as Tian Miaomiao cared for Ji Weixi every day, she would quickly turn away whenever she caught sight of Jiang Yigu.

 ***

 Unwittingly, a month had already passed.

 There was infighting in CBS, although Li Shaogan now basically held the president’s seat in his bid for leadership. Despite many others having something to say, they could not do anything against him.

 He even played the role of the good brother in invoking the Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Piety to hold a funeral for Li Shaoling.

 And in that one month, Ji Weixi had not said more than three sentences. She would be sitting beside day after day, watching the sun rise apart from meals and sleep at night, as silent as a mute.

 It was a heartbreaking sight.

 And naturally, she wasn’t present at the funeral either.

 It was now late autumn in River Town. Ji Weixi’s bright, clean feet were showing beneath her cotton lotus-pink long skirt, her long hair which she just washed hanging tamely over her shoulders.

 Tian Miaomiao had intended to bring her to the hospital’s garden for a stroll, but had forgotten her phone.

 The little one had not been sleeping well later either, and Jiang Yigu was helping with some hypnotic treatment.

 “Xixi, wait for me here. I’ll be right back with my phone! Don’t go anywhere!”

 Tian Miaomiao dashed inside the moment she was finished, absolutely afraid of losing Ji Weixi.

 After all this time, Ji Weixi had firmly believed that Li Shaoling was alive.

 But everyone around her did not think so.

 She simply sat beneath a withering three, a golden leaf quietly falling on her shoulder as she took in the fresh scent.

 When she was about to turn and pick up the leaf, another person’s hand had suddenly appeared, gently sweeping it away.

 She froze.

 It was a slim, white but large hand.

 But no other person would have that gruesome scar on the back of his hand.

 Ji Weixi stared blankly, following the hand.

 The man was wearing a white jumper, a simple pair of jeans, smooth hair that tamely dangled before his forehead. His features had become even sharper, the bridge of his nose straight and his thin lips faintly white, curled in a faint smile beneath his gaze.

 The world became silent, and the air seemed to still.

 Ji Weixi simply watched him, her mind having gone blank and forgetting to react at once.

 He grinned. “Have you gone dumb?”

 His voice was melodious as ever.

 Ji Weixi stared at him, even as her tears started to roll drop by drop, the walls she had built over her heart was slowly crumbling.

 “Xixi!”

 Tian Miaomiao had been running as fast as she could to Ji Weixi but she stopped and gasped in disbelief the moment she saw Li Shaoling.

 After half a beat, she quickly and appropriately left, hurrying off to tell the little one and everyone else.

 Ji Weixi was crying even more fiercely, her breaths becoming choppy as Li Shaoling leaned forward in front of her, patiently and carefully wiped off her tears.

 Sniffling and choking, she said, “He… They said that you are d-dead.”

 Li Shaoling stared into her eyes. “Did you believe them?