Qiming Chapter 18

Chapter 18

---

Standing by the open window, with a glass ceiling tinted lightly, you could see clear skies and scattered clouds by day and a starry night by evening. Xu Chengyue leaned on the railing, looking down towards the revolving door in the lobby.

At that moment, he noticed a man by the reception desk constantly glancing in his direction. When their eyes met, the man quickly turned away and continued his patrol.

This was the security guard who had stopped them earlier. He seemed to be very dedicated to his job, dressed in a black uniform and smiling as he greeted other staff members.

"I forgot to charge my phone again, Shu Pan called you just now, was it to find me?" Gu Yunfeng walked over to him.

"Yes." Xu Chengyue handed Gu Yunfeng a power bank. "I borrowed this from a passer-by, quickly charge your phone."

"How thoughtful."

Xu Chengyue adjusted his collar and frowned slightly. "Director Zhao wants you to return to the team immediately."

"Director Zhao? What happened?" Plugging in the charger, the screen showed the charging icon. He knew he shouldn't have gone out today, he should have stayed at the team, ready for orders from the leader.

"It's something related to you. The Jinping Public Security Bureau received a report this morning, Cao Yan is dead."

"Cao Yan?" Gu Yunfeng's eyes widened, his face full of disbelief. "No way. I assigned five or six people to guard her place around the clock, when did this happen?"

"Two days ago, around two in the morning."

The day before yesterday was the day he had dreamt of his sister. In the dream, Gu Chunqiu walked towards him, telling him that the blood debt had been repaid and there were no more regrets in this world. Cao Yan's time of death was around two in the morning, roughly the same time his sister said goodbye.

It must have been her spirit in the heavens, settling the grudge.

Nearly twenty years of hatred ended just like that. At that moment, Gu Yunfeng stood by the window, with the wind from the lobby's gap blowing through and ruffling his hair.

He smiled, leaning back against the railing by the window. "So, Cao Yan was already dead before the police went to her place."

"No wonder they reported that they hadn't seen her." He had even scolded Shu Pan about this a few days ago.

"How did she die?" Gu Yunfeng asked.

"Her body was found by the river. For the details, you probably need to go to Shangnan District and find out, they've already started the autopsy," Xu Chengyue said. "Do you want to take Yuan Man with us?"

"No." Gu Yunfeng waved his hand. "She doesn't need to know about this. It's best if she remains an orphan with no family."

He bent slightly, clasping his hands together and leaning on the railing with his arms supporting his body, looking up at the blue sky through the glass. Cao Yan disappeared in a river on the eighteenth anniversary of his sister's death. He believed she would wash away the blood on her body, cleanse the resentment in her soul, and embark on a path of reincarnation without regrets.

"Shall we go back now, Captain Gu?" Xu Chengyue glanced at his watch. It was nearly four o'clock.

Gu Yunfeng nodded, charging his phone for two minutes before intending to call Director Zhao back. Just as he was about to press the dial button, he glanced towards the café. It was empty and quiet, with his hat still on the table, unclaimed.

"You go back first, I have something to do." He hesitated and pointed to the café not far away. "I think, I can try harder, maybe find out something from Yuan Man."

"It's possible, I noticed she seems quite fond of you," Xu Chengyue said. "This is the cycle of karma. Her parents did many evil deeds, and she can't escape it either. Show her some care, maybe she'll reveal everything."

Then he complained discontentedly, "But I feel like she has a lot of hostility towards me."

"Really?" Gu Yunfeng looked puzzled.

"She likes you, so why should she be hostile to me?"

"??? How would I know?"

The large screen on the right side of the lobby switched to the latest public service announcement by AIR. In the video, the girls visited an orphanage in a remote area, happily playing with the kids. Yuan Man, wearing a sweatshirt and T-shirt, sat in the centre, her eyes sparkling like summer flowers, strumming a guitar and teaching the children some simple songs.

At that moment, life presented itself in the simplest form. Yuan Man returned to the place she was most familiar with, laughing with the orphaned children in the orphanage, forgetting their grievances and the emotional voids they longed to fill but could never obtain.

—————

When Gu Yunfeng returned to the café, it was empty and his hat lay quietly in its original place, as if no one had ever been there. He looked around, bent down to peer under the table, and checked the gaps between the furniture, but there was no one.

"Where did the girl who came with me just now go?" he asked anxiously, putting on his hat and addressing the barista who was washing coffee beans. The barista shook his head blankly, saying he had been focused on his work and hadn't noticed the customers' movements.

"Are you looking for Miss Yuan?" a waiter carrying a tray of pastries and drinks called out to him.

"Did she leave?"

"Mhmm, about five minutes ago, she hurried out through the side door."

"Left? Did she receive a call or anything before leaving?" he asked, taking out a few bills from his wallet to pay. The waiter waved his hand. "I don't think so... Oh, Miss Yuan already paid."

"....." Gu Yunfeng stood there awkwardly, swallowing all the questions he wanted to ask under the waiter's gaze, which seemed to suggest he might have left to dodge the bill. He forced himself to pay a 10% service charge and pushed the door open to leave.

If Yuan Man left through the side door five minutes ago and wasn't called away... perhaps his earlier words had scared her off.

Standing outside the café, Gu Yunfeng leaned against the wall, wondering where she might have gone. If he had indeed scared her, would she be hiding somewhere, crying?

He had to find a place where no one could see her and where she felt safe enough... He suddenly remembered the lounge Yuan Man mentioned the first time she reported a threat. She had said she was resting in the lounge when she first received the threatening letter.

The lounge she mentioned was on the twenty-eighth floor. Like most company buildings, fewer people occupied the higher floors of the Tianyi building. The top floor, the thirtieth, housed the CEO's office, and each floor required a card swipe for access. Yuan Man had given him a visitor's card when she arrived. He tried swiping it for the twenty-eighth floor, and it worked.

As he stepped out of the elevator, he started peeking around nervously. The people passing by looked somewhat familiar, but he wasn't familiar with the entertainment industry and didn't recognise the stars, let alone their agents and various assistants.

"Hey, who are you looking for?" A rough-voiced but handsome man called out to him as he tiptoed around, checking office nameplates.

"I'm a reporter from Tomato Channel, I have an interview with Miss Yuan Man today. Where is her lounge?" Gu Yunfeng smiled politely, sheepishly shaking his police badge to obscure the key details. From a distance, the man wouldn't see the specifics.

"Room 2808. She might not be there now, shall I call her for you?" The man pointed in another direction.

"Thank you, thank you." Before the man finished speaking, Gu Yunfeng walked quickly towards room 2808, hearing the man mutter behind him, "Does Xiao Man have another interview today? Why didn't she mention it?"

Only when he was out of the man's sight did Gu Yunfeng breathe a sigh of relief. He was now almost certain that the person sending threatening letters to Yuan Man was an insider at Tianyi. Being able to access the twenty-eighth floor and coincidentally encountering broken surveillance meant that an ordinary person wouldn't go to such lengths just to slip a note through the door.

Unfortunately, without concrete evidence, he couldn't mobilise police resources to question Tianyi employees collectively.

After circling the twenty-eighth floor, he finally found Yuan Man's private lounge. He turned the handle and gently pushed open the slightly ajar door. The room appeared empty, but he could hear faint sobbing from the wardrobe in the corner. The lounge walls were lined with various dresses, and several European-style sofas and chairs sat in the centre, covered in dust, indicating they were rarely used.

The entire lounge was Yuan Man's personal dressing room, with neatly arranged clothes and shoes, and a row of makeup on the dressing table.

Gu Yunfeng hung his hat on the coat rack by the door and walked to the large, closed wardrobe. He gently opened the door. Inside, in the empty wardrobe, a petite girl sat in the corner, her head buried in her arms. Perhaps sensing the surrounding darkness filled with light, she looked up at him, her eyes still red.

He leaned forward slightly, bent down, and whispered softly in her ear, "Big Star, I finally found you."

As the girl reached out her pale arms to hug his neck, Gu Yunfeng instinctively took a step back, almost causing Yuan Man to fall out of the wardrobe.

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

Previous Chapter | TOC | Next Chapter

Translator Notes

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: July 1, 2024 by Angel

Edited: July 11, 2024 by Angel