“Young Master Yan, we will rely on you negotiating with Xia Family.” Seeing Shen Mo leave, other share-holders all turned to look at Shen Yan. If he gave a nod, they could leave, too.

Shen Mo was slightly stunned when he just came to the door. He felt terrible in his heart. Whether Shen Yan was in a relationship with Xia Yu or not, Xia Yu, in terms of her character, would hold justice in dealing with this matter with Shen Yan definitely if he really contacted her.

It meant that the cooperation with Xia Family would go smoothly. Shen Mo really couldn’t figure out why on earth his mother resolutely held this meeting with others. To give that lad a chance to show off?

Just as he expected, Shen Yan gave them an exact answer. “No problem. It’s my duty.”

“Shen Yan has promised. Any other problems? If not, let’s call it a day.” Yang Weiye looked around the meeting room and then said.

After a while, Yang Weiye declared that the meeting was over. Just at this time, Shen Yan’s phone rang. It was from Liu Sijie. “Young Master Yan, bad news! Madame Zeng’s assistant, Li Mei, is missing.”

Missing? Shen Yan jumped up from his chair out of astonishment at once. “Where did it happen?”

What Shen Yan said made those share-holders present feel stunned. Seeing Shen Yan look serious, they all wondered what happened to Tengfei on earth and whether it was related to Shen Mo.

Their suspicious eyes made First Madame feel unhappy, so she couldn’t help humming twice. Then everyone took back the eyes. They all listened to Shen Yan carefully and wanted to know more information.

But Shen Yan didn’t give them the chance. He just said to Liu Sijie, “Send me the address. I’ll come over to you at once.”

Shen Yan went out of the meeting room with strides. It was darker outside, and the gentle breeze could be felt.

He stood at the exit of the building in the wind for a while and then searched for Madame Zeng’s number in his phonebook. When he was about to dial, a call from Liu Sijie popped up on his screen. Shen Yan answered it after he gathered up his mind.

“There is a clue to Li Mei.”

“I have arrived as well. Let’s talk about it later.” Shen Yan looked up and walked over quickly. Liu Sijie stubbed out his cigarette and came forward.

Shen Yan asked directly, “Where’s she?”

Liu Sijie answered at once, “In the room.”

“Which room?”

“The innermost room on the second floor.”

Shen Yan headed for the hotel with strides. Liu Sijie hesitated for a second in situ and then followed up.

Though the sign at the door showed that it was a three-star one, its interior decoration looked a little old. It was a four-story building with no elevator. Shen Yan climbed up the stairs. He walked through a long corridor and found the innermost room, the door of which was closed.

He knocked at the door. There was no reply. He kept knocking, but no one answered.

“Li Mei, are you in the room?” Shen Yan began patting on the door.

No one answered after he waited for a while. Shen Yan’s heart jolted slightly. Then he turned around and went downstairs.

Liu Sijie did not dare to slight. He could only follow him all the way. “Where are you going?”

Shen Yan walked in haste. His action was swift and fierce. “Go to the front desk and get the room card.”

Small hotels did not have so many strict regulations, so he got the room card easily. These two people went upstairs again and opened the door, only to find that the room was cheerless and cold without a light on. The only light in the dark space came through the window. The curtains were open, and the wind outside blew in, which made the curtains whip the wall constantly.

Shen Yan looked around the dark room and finally saw a figure curling up on the floor near the bed, who did not seem to have any reaction to their entering as if she was lost in another world alone.

“Assistant Li!”

Liu Sijie wanted to approach her, but Shen Yan stopped him. “How did you find her?”

“You just asked me to protect their safety. I found that she didn’t live with Madame Zeng, so I reminded her that she should take care. But she said that she was just an assistant, and it was unnecessary to be cautious. Out of concern, I got some people to protect her around her residence. But she found it, and she secretly booked a room here to avoid us. Later, I got another two people to guard here. However, she disappeared at noon today, and we couldn’t find her anywhere. Later, a waitress at the hotel told me that she came back and stayed in the room all the time.” Liu Sijie told Shen Yan all he knew.

“When did she come back?”

“About five o’clock.”

“How did she come back?”

“She was sent here by car.” Liu Sijie heard it from the waitress, but those people sent by him to protect her didn’t see the car. “I did not believe it at first, but after I checked the monitoring record of the hotel, I found that it was true.”

Shen Yan frowned, and his face darkened. She was sent back secretly by someone, which meant that the person who picked her up was good at it. “Did you see what that person looked like?”

“I just saw a man wearing sunglasses and a cap. I couldn’t see his face clearly.”

“What’s the plate number?”

“There’s no license plate!”

There was some disappointment in Shen Yan’s eyes. He cast one more look at Li Mei who was curling up on the floor. It seemed that she was quite scared. Shen Yan looked very gloomy and took a seat on the side while Liu Sijie withdrew from the room silently and closed the door for him when he left.

The room became quiet again. Li Mei still sat there motionlessly, holding her curved knees with her arms and bending over with her head buried in her knees. Shen Yan could only see her black hair.

Ever since he entered the room, the woman had seemingly kept this posture there all the time. And he could hardly feel her breath.

At that moment, Shen Yan’s phone began ringing again. He took it out and glanced at it. The word “mother” flashed on the screen. Shen Yan left the meeting room hurriedly after answering a call, which made Second Madame feel worried.

However, Shen Yan was not in the mood to answer the call, so he directly hung it up and silenced the phone. Then he walked up to Li Mei. “What happened?”

The person on the floor gave no reply.

“What on earth happened to you?”

There was still no reply!

In fact, on the way here, Shen Yan felt anxious as well as indignant in his heart. Though he knew that Madame Zeng was very alert to him, he had never expected that she concealed so many things from him.

It was their choice, wasn’t it? Even though they were of no use to Shen Yan now and he actually could choose not to lend a hand to them, he was too kind to turn a blind eye to it.

Shen Yan snorted. Seeing that the person on the ground still gave no reply, he was really provoked. So, he directly squatted down on the ground to pull her arm to make her stand up, but once he touched the person on the ground, she retreated into the back corner.

Was he a dreadful monster? Or, she was too scared? But what scared her so much? What couldn’t she say? Or what couldn’t they solve?

Shen Yan dragged Li Mei and pulled open one of her arms with force. Lack of support from her arm, her head which was buried in her knees was lifted a little. Just within a second or two, Shen Yan finally saw half of her face dimly through the light coming in through the window. His heart jolted slightly, and he immediately turned on the light.

The whole room became bright at once, which dazzled Li Mei. She tried to bury her head into her knees again at once, but Shen Yan stopped her by dragging and pulling open her arm. His force was a little heavy. She frowned and lowered her head. Though she tried to pull back her arm, Shen Yan stopped her and held her arm tightly. “What’s wrong with your face?”

Li Mei buried her head lower.

Shen Yan impatiently caught her wrist with one hand and forcibly raised her chin with the other one. Under the bright light, nothing could be hidden, and the evil had nowhere to hide.

Her face in front of him was black and blue. Seeing her swollen cheeks and a large bruise on the corner of her mouth, Shen Yan’s heart tightened, and his throat was almost choked by his anger. “Who beat you?”

Li Mei kept silent. She frowned and wanted to withdraw her arm. Shen Yan was furious, so he could not help raising his voice. “Tell me! How did you get these injuries?”

Li Mei did not have any strength. Having sat here for over three hours, her mind was in chaos. However, as it became darker outside, those injuries on her body began aching clearly.

“It hurts!” Li Mei couldn’t help moaning. Shen Yan’s eyes became cold, and he suddenly rolled up her sleeve, only to find that some whip scars of varying lengths scattered on her fair skin, which was beyond what he could have imagined before. He leaned over to catch the other arm of Li Mei. He rolled up the sleeve. It was scattered with whip scars as well. The interlaced whip scars had turned from red and swollen to black and blue over the course of a few hours in the afternoon.

How could it be?

“What about your body? Let me see.”

Shen Yan reached out his hands, trying to undress her, but Li Mei stopped him with her hands. She finally spoke, with her eyelids lifted.

“Could you please leave me alone?”

Shen Yan was so angry that he punched heavily on the nightstand behind her. He had wanted to leave her alone, but he did not have the heart to do so. Shen Yan took a deep breath. Then he stood up and nodded to himself while gnashing his teeth.

“Fine, fine…”

He decided to leave her alone. He came here in vain. He finished his muttering with anger and turned around, walking to the door. But when he stood at the exit, he heard the wind outside the window blowing in and flapping the curtains. He stirred his fingers and clenched his fists.

At last, he still couldn’t walk out of the door. Instead, he turned around and came back again to directly drag Li Mei to go outside, who was sitting on the floor.

Li Mei almost stumbled after she was forcibly dragged to walk forward a few steps by him. She asked with a cold look, “What are you doing?”

“Take you to the hospital.”

“No, thanks!”

These two people were then looking at each other silently. There was no sound in the room except for the sound of the wind. Shen Yan still caught Li Mei’s wrist. He was a little out of breath while she was calm and cold. It lasted for about half a minute, and finally, Shen Yan was the first one to yield.

“Let’s go to the hospital first.”

“No, I don’t need.”

She repeated. Shen Yan was provoked, and he had wished that he could slap her, but the scars on her face and body were so shocking by the sight, which softened his heart.

But before he could say something, the woman in front of him collapsed and fell down suddenly. She just felt dizzy, and her feet became feeble. Shen Yan immediately held her to stop her from falling down.

“What’s wrong? Hey? Wake…”

She could only hear Shen Yan call her with anxiety in her ears and see his dark pupils. Then she lost consciousness completely and closed her eyes slowly, not knowing what happened after that.

“Don’t faint!” Shen Yan was so worried and kept calling her several times, but there was still no reply. He had no choice but to pick her up in his arms to go out first.

Liu Sijie was smoking at the gate of the hotel. But when the cigarette was half-finished, he saw Shen Yan come out from inside with Li Mei who had fainted in his arms. He was stunned, so he quickly threw his cigarette butt and followed up.

“Young Master Yan, what happened?”

“She fainted away suddenly. I have no idea what’s wrong with her as well.” Shen Yan had no time to explain to him, and he also didn’t know how to explain. The hotel was in an alley, so he looked out of the alley.