"Thank you."
Tears streamed down her face, but there was no sadness in them, only a faint longing.
Shen Qingqing asked softly, "Have you had it before?"
The girl nodded, "I want to ask you to do something for me."
"You say."
"Help me find someone."
"What's her name? Is it a boy or a girl?"
"He's a boy... His name is A Xu. We've been separated for three years. He should have been a year older than me back then..." The girl's voice was gentle and firm, her tone unwavering, but when she spoke his name, some emotion finally surfaced.
"Okay, I'll help you."
Shen Qingqing's easy agreement surprised the girl, but even confined here, she knew that nothing in this world came for free.
Like the guards at the door, who had promised to help her find someone, but demanded her body in return.
Although she hadn't agreed.
Because A Xu had told her that those who made such requests were bad people.
"What do you want?" she asked, then shook her head, whispering, "Never mind, I won't ask. Whatever you want, as long as I can afford it, I'll agree."
"This person is very important to you," Shen Qingqing stated with certainty.
For a girl to say such a thing was enough to prove that this person's importance to her surpassed her own.
The girl suddenly became nervous. A Xu had taught her not to reveal what she cherished to others, as it could easily incite greed. She clenched her hands tightly.
"Yes, he's very important to me. Please don't fight me for him, okay?"
The girl looked very protective, her hands clasped as if speaking these words had taken great courage. She looked at Shen Qingqing with pleading eyes.
Only at this moment did a hint of girlish charm and liveliness surface.
Shen Qingqing's lips twitched. She gently reassured her, "Don't worry, I won't fight you for him."
The girl breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you."
"I will help you find him. Eat this fried chicken first. After you finish, I have to leave. I can't let anyone find out I came to see you. Remember, if anyone asks you later, you still say nothing."
"Okay."
The girl ate the fried chicken quietly, exceedingly well-behaved.
After she finished, Shen Qingqing took out a wet wipe to clean her fingers, then collected the leftover bones and packaging paper, placing them in her bag. httpδ:/m.kuAisugg.nět
"Alright, I'm leaving now. Get some rest early."
As she left, she glanced at the guards downstairs. They were still in the same unconscious state. When they woke up, they would have no memory of before they fainted. Everything would be seamless.
This was all thanks to the pills Xixi had prepared for her, always saying they were for emergencies.
Who knew they would actually be used now.
She began investigating A Xu as soon as she returned. However, the clues the girl provided were too few. When King received such scant information, he couldn't help but twitch his lips.
"Male, A Xu, 21 years old, disappeared three years ago. With so little information, it's like searching for a needle in a haystack!"
Shen Qingqing was also helpless. "She doesn't have a photo, only knows this name, and doesn't even know his surname. I can't do anything. We can only try our best to investigate."
King sighed, "Alright, I'll try."
But it wasn't entirely hopeless. The girl had lived in the attic for seventeen years. Anyone who could approach her must have been someone from the Feng family.
First, they investigated people who had approached the Feng family in recent years.
They checked the Feng family's visitors in recent years. This wasn't difficult; a few inquiries with the servants would suffice.
However, the visitors were all prominent figures, and their ages didn't match.
So, Shen Qingqing's imagination ran wild, and she set her sights on the servants. The Feng family's manor was vast, with many servants. Most of the servants were girls, but there were also men.
The butler, gardener, and driver were all men.
"Investigate the gardeners."
King complied. This investigation did yield results. The Feng family had quite a few gardeners, but it wasn't difficult to find them by age and name.
The Feng family did indeed have a gardener before.
His name was A Xu.
He had worked there for over five years and then suddenly disappeared one day. He hadn't resigned; he simply vanished. The butler had complained for quite some time.
Because the work was all arranged, losing one person disrupted the schedule and required reassignments.
However, even after much grumbling, A Xu didn't return, and the butler had no choice but to hire someone new.
King also found a photograph.
"Here, this is that A Xu."
The man in the photo was handsome, around eighteen or nineteen years old, full of youthful vigor. When he smiled, he was like a little sun.
No wonder the girl, confined in the attic and out of the sun, would fall for him.
"Can you find out where he went?"
"Not yet," King said, sounding puzzled. "It's strange, really. I found his family, but they also said he's been missing for three years. They reported him to the police and tried every way to find him, but they couldn't."
Shen Qingqing thought for a moment, "I'll take it to the girl to see."
Seeing how much the girl missed him yesterday, she was sure she would be overjoyed to see the photo.
As expected, when Shen Qingqing returned to the attic and showed the girl the photograph, the girl held it as if it were a priceless treasure.
"Where did he go?"
After a long while, the girl calmed her emotions and finally asked.
Shen Qingqing pursed her lips, unsure how to respond. Her intuition told her that this person was likely beyond saving.
The girl looked down at the photo again and smiled. "He is my beloved. That North Star, he told me about it. He said he would give me a home one day, and that as long as I looked at the North Star, I would never be lost."
So, for the years A Xu had been missing, her greatest hope was for the night.
Because only at night could she see the North Star.
Shen Qingqing sat by the bed and watched her press the photo to her chest. Not wanting her to continue to be sad, she changed the subject, "What's your name?"
The girl hesitated. "My name is A Lang."
When she said her name, a gentle smile graced her face.
This was the name given to her by the person she loved the most.
Shen Qingqing was silent for a moment, "A Lang, do you want to leave here?"
A Lang was startled and slowly looked up at her. "Can I leave here?"
Before Shen Qingqing could answer, she lowered her head again, a sense of bewilderment and loss enveloping her.
"Even if I leave here, where can I go? A Xu used to tell me to wait for him, that he would come to pick me up, but he never came. I waited and waited, and I don't know until when. But if he wasn't coming, why didn't he tell me?"
Her voice was very soft, like a feather landing on a lake, causing ripples.
But it was merely a question, without any resentment.
Shen Qingqing didn't know how to answer. She hesitated and said, "Perhaps, he was delayed by something. If you're willing to leave, I can take you."