At two in the afternoon, Qin He woke up.
She sat up, and after only three seconds, she remembered everything. She immediately got out of bed and tried to run out.
Qin Yun, sitting by the bed, held Qin He back.
"Calm down. If you want to hear Le Le's news while conscious, otherwise I'll knock you out again!"
Qin He clenched her fists and bit her lower lip to keep from crying. "Brother, where's Le Le?"
Qin Yun's expression was cold. "Le Le wasn't in the fire. The house was set on fire by someone, and Le Le was likely taken by the arsonist!"
Qin He bit her lip until it bled. "Where did they take Le Le?!"
"We haven't investigated that yet." Qin Yun placed his hands on Qin He's arms. "He'er, you're a doctor. You should have the strongest psychological resilience. Promise your brother, you must calm down. What will happen to Le Le if you go mad?!"
That's right, what about Le Le!
Qin He closed her eyes. After a long time, when she opened them again, she appeared to be suppressing her emotions.
Her voice was hoarse. "It's that group of people!"
Qin Yun nodded. "I think so too, but the fire was too big today. Aunt Zhao... has also passed away..."
"What they want is nothing more than that book," Qin He clenched her fists tightly.
Before, she had thought Wan Fang Lun was a treasure, even a heritage of traditional Chinese medicine culture.
But before she could figure out the secrets within, this group of people had abducted Le Le.
Qin He took a deep breath. "All we can do now is wait."
Waiting for those people to make their demands, Qin He felt her heart breaking as she said this.
Her Le Le was still so young. What if something happened to him—
What if those people hurt Le Le?
Just thinking about it made Qin He's heart feel like it was being clutched, a suffocating feeling surging through her.
But she didn't know where that group of people was. She had the strength to fight desperately but no one to use it on.
After Qin He calmed down, she glanced at her vibrating phone by the bed.
Qin Yun pursed his lips. "Take a look. Everyone is worried about you. I've already called the company's PR department and released a statement saying our whole family is safe. It's probably all over the internet by now."
Qin He picked up her phone and looked at it. There were various calls: from her master, from friends at Qing Yan Mansion, from Ming Xue and the others—
Tears streamed down Qin He's face. "I don't know how to reply to them now."
Le Le was missing. This could not be told to her grandmother, or they would panic in Hai Cheng.
Qin He suppressed her grief and reported that she was safe to her grandmother in Hai Cheng.
After replying to a few messages, Qin He scanned the news headlines. Most of them were discussing the Qin family's fire.
The experienced firefighters immediately discovered the cause was arson.
The police vowed to thoroughly investigate the arsonist.
Netizens had left comments on her Weibo wishing her safety, but Qin He's mood had plummeted to the depths.
She had appeased everyone who needed appeasing, but she herself didn't know what to do.
Just as she was about to put down her phone, the screen lit up again. Qin He glanced at it; it was a message from Gu Qi Chen.
"Yu Jing is investigating the whereabouts of the arsonist. Stay calm."
These few words made Qin He's tears flow uncontrollably.
She choked back a sob and typed: [Le Le is missing, please help me.]
In her most anxious moment, she chose to seek help from Gu Qi Chen.
In Qing Cheng, apart from the Qin family, only Gu Qi Chen had the most power to search for Le Le.
Gu Qi Chen quickly replied, brief but powerful: [I will find him.]
Qin He paced restlessly in the villa, clutching her phone and not replying to anyone else's messages, fearing she would miss a call.
...
Qing Cheng University.
Shen Yilin looked at Qin He's reply and finally felt some relief after a day of anxiety.
Shen Yizong sat beside him. "I told you, your sister has good fortune on her side. Naturally, she wouldn't be in any trouble."
If he hadn't held his brother back just now, his younger brother would have likely charged straight to the Qin family's home.
Shen Yilin nodded, then suddenly looked up at Shen Yizong. "Brother, with such a major incident, why aren't you at the company?"
"I'm not feeling well," Shen Yizong replied indifferently.
For the next three days, Qin He's heart felt like it was hanging by a thread, on the verge of falling into the abyss at any moment.
This anxious and tense emotion pushed her to an unprecedented breaking point.
At one in the morning, in the Qin family's villa.
Everyone had dealt with the day's affairs exhaustedly and had fallen asleep.
Qin He lay in bed, staring at the ceiling.
Three days. Those people still hadn't contacted her.
The phone beside her pillow vibrated lightly. Qin He immediately picked it up to look. It was a news push. She gritted her teeth and uninstalled all the news apps directly.
As soon as she put down her phone, it vibrated again.
Qin He picked it up and looked, her gaze suddenly fixed.
Crimson text slowly appeared on the phone screen.
[Can't sleep?]
This feeling sent a chill down her spine, as if someone was watching her. Qin He suddenly turned to look at the window that was not closed.
Not far from the window was a garden.
The screen displayed more text: [Since you've discovered it, come to the window. By yourself.]
Qin He tightened her grip on her phone. She was now certain that someone was hiding in the garden. If she went to the window now, she would be an exposed target with no cover.
Qin He got out of bed, put on her slippers, and walked to the window, standing still.
Her gaze swept over the dark grove of trees below the window. She had known all along that these people were hiding very discreetly.
But she hadn't expected them to be able to hack into her phone. Her phone had a security system set up!
Qin He pursed her lips and took out her phone to look.
New words appeared on the screen: [You should know our purpose. If you do, nod.]
Qin He nodded towards the dark grove of trees.
[If you want your son, come to Qing Yue Pier tomorrow night at 8 PM with that book. Nod if you agree.]
Qin He nodded again.
A line of text lit up on the screen: [If I find anyone else tomorrow, I'll throw your son to the vultures.]
Qin He's hand holding the phone tightened violently, causing cracks to spiderweb across the screen!
She quickly eased her grip and stared intently at the grove of trees.
A few birds flew out of the grove. That person was extremely arrogant, clearly not caring about revealing their presence.
Qin He took a deep breath. It seemed they knew that by capturing Le Le, they had captured her life's weakness.
She turned back into the room, closed the window, and pulled the curtains.
She walked to the bedside and opened her bag, taking out a notebook.
After returning from Jiang Cheng, she had been hiding Wan Fang Lun disguised as a notebook, carrying it with her all the time, and occasionally taking it out to write things down.
She had thought that the most obvious place is often the place people overlook the most.
But now, she had to go and rescue Le Le.
Thinking of going to save her son tomorrow night at 8 PM, Qin He walked out of the room in her white nightgown—