She only found it strange and walked to the kitchen again, calling out, "Xiao Mei, are you in the kitchen? Is Chen Ma upstairs?"
But there was still no response. It seemed she was the only one left in the villa. Where had everyone else gone?
As she wondered, she heard some noise from the second floor again. She thought perhaps their home had been burglarized.
However, as far as she knew, the villa was equipped with a security system. Normally, besides Chen Ma and Xiao Mei, the driver Xiao Lin would also stay at the villa when not driving Qin Tianyi. Xiao Lin knew some martial arts and was capable enough to act as a bodyguard.
Gu Susu, limping on one foot, slowly went upstairs, intending to see what was happening on the second floor.
As she ascended, she called Qin Tianyi, but after the call connected, the phone rang for a long time with no answer. Thinking he must be busy and unable to take the call, she didn't try again.
Finally reaching the second floor, she called out for Chen Ma and Xiao Mei again, but still received no response. Yet, she could clearly sense that someone was on the second floor.
She had no choice but to check room by room. She had been here for a month, and this was her first time going to the second floor.
There weren't many rooms on the second floor. Looking down the corridor, she saw only three doors.
She pushed open one door and found it was a study. It was neat and tidy, completely empty.
Next, she pushed open the second door. It was a child's room. The four walls were painted a sky blue. The children's bed had a slide and a small desk. Children's toys and supplies were all present, though the walls looked a bit old.
She walked into the child's room and opened a wardrobe that was as large as one entire wall. It was filled with boys' clothes. Some she recognized as Xiao Xingxing's, but others were clearly not his size, and their styles were old-fashioned.
These were styles rarely seen in children's clothing nowadays. She picked up one of the garments and touched it, suddenly realizing these must be clothes Qin Tianyi wore as a child. The fabric was quite good.
This child's room must have originally been Qin Tianyi's room when he was little. It was likely renovated and then given to Xiao Xingxing to live in.
Looking at Qin Tianyi's childhood clothes, she could almost imagine what he was like as a child – a fair-skinned, gentle, and well-behaved little boy?
Gu Susu couldn't help but smile, then placed his childhood clothes back in their original spot.
The last room, she assumed without needing to think, must be Qin Tianyi's current bedroom. Could Chen Ma have had an accident while cleaning his room?
Gu Susu quickly left the child's room and went to the room at the very end of the corridor.
She practically rushed over, forcefully pushed open the door, and exclaimed, "Chen Ma, are you in there? Are you alright?"
But as she entered, limping, she froze. Chen Ma was indeed in the room, but her mouth was gagged, her limbs were bound, and she was sitting on the floor, shaking her head at Gu Susu. She wanted to speak but couldn't, only letting out muffled sounds.
Gu Susu immediately realized something was wrong. It was too late to escape. Three burly men rushed out. One grabbed her, and another quickly shut the door.
The third one, with an air of impunity, walked up to her, looked her over, and sneered, "Beauty, long time no see. So you're here. Tianyi kept you hidden so well. Made everyone think you were missing."
Hearing the voice, Gu Susu trembled all over. The person standing before her was none other than Qin Tianlang, who always caused her trouble.
"You... how did you get in? Why did you tie up Chen Ma..." Before she could finish her question, she noticed that it wasn't just Chen Ma who was bound in the room, but also Xiao Mei and Xiao Lin. Everyone in the villa had been brought here and tied up!
"Why?" Qin Tianlang smiled at her. "You should ask your foolish husband. Oh, my good brother isn't foolish at all. He's been pretending to be crazy and foolish all these years, deceiving everyone, just to get his hands on the entire Qin family!"
Gu Susu tried to break free from the person holding her and said, "I don't know anything about what you're saying. Since you all share the surname Qin, you could have come here openly. Why did you sneak in with people and tie them all up? Can't we talk things through properly? Besides, Tianyi isn't home now, can't we wait until he returns to discuss this?"
Qin Tianlang couldn't help but laugh. "I wanted to see what kind of mansion he's living in and who is here while he's away. I didn't expect you to be here. It's perfect to capture you; he'll agree to any demands I make."
"You're trespassing and kidnapping for ransom? All of this is illegal. Do you want to end up in jail like your mother?" Gu Susu had seen the news online. After the Qin family's downfall, Qin Yangye and Jin Meiyao were found to have committed accounting fraud, siphoning huge bank loans to speculate in futures, losing everything. This caused several projects of the Qin Corporation to halt, leading to a liquidity crisis.
Before the Qin Corporation went bankrupt, someone had reported Jin Meiyao's actions. It was later discovered that Qin Yangye was also involved. They were both arrested and sentenced to prison.
Qin Tianlang immediately became enraged and pulled Gu Susu over. "It's all Qin Tianyi's fault! You belong to him, so you can pay for what he's done!"
Gu Susu saw Qin Tianlang's eyes turn bloodshot, a terrifying feeling coursing through her.
She hadn't seen him for two years, and she felt Qin Tianlang had become even more terrifying. If he was once a carefree young master, he now lacked that air of idleness. His eyes were sinister, like a cornered wolf, ferocious and capable of anything.
...
Qin Tianyi was in a meeting with several senior executives and designers at Míshàng Company, leaving his phone in his office.
When he returned to his office after the meeting, he noticed a missed call from Gu Susu on his phone.
This was rather unusual. Although he had given Gu Susu his phone number long ago, she hadn't called his mobile once in the past month, maintaining a distant, almost deliberate, distance from him.
He stared at her caller ID for a few seconds before calling back, wanting to know why she was looking for him.
...
Gu Susu desperately tried to shake off Qin Tianlang, wanting only to run out and call for help.
However, her left ankle was still not fully recovered. After running only a few steps, she was blocked by two other burly men. Qin Tianlang easily grabbed her arm again and tried to drag her onto the large bed in the room. "Beauty, I've thought about you for a long time. No one can help you today."
As he spoke, he contemptuously glanced at Chen Ma, Xiao Mei, and Xiao Lin, who were already tied up and gagged, and then mockingly added, "Tianyi is too confident. He thought a simple security system and a couple of useless servants could stop me."
Gu Susu couldn't break free from Qin Tianlang's vice-like grip and instead tried to kick him in a vulnerable spot, but he anticipated it and dodged.
Qin Tianlang, enraged, dragged her to the bedside, threw her onto the bed, and held her down, asking, "What's wrong with your leg? When did you become a cripple?"