However, the next second, the ground beneath her feet turned into a swamp emitting a putrid odor.
The fragrant fresh flowers withered in an instant, turning into wilted blossoms.
The sun overhead was obscured by dense, dark clouds, and before long, a torrential downpour began.
She was drenched by the rain, and no one held an umbrella for her.
"Jian Mubai!"
She instinctively cried out his name, and receiving no response, she looked back.
Where her parents had been standing, only her mother remained, sitting in the rain and weeping.
Her father was nowhere to be found, not there to comfort her mother, nor to hold an umbrella for her.
Her brother and sister-in-law had also disappeared.
"Mom..."
As she was about to run to her mother's side, her ankle was suddenly grabbed. Startled, she looked down and saw Jian Mubai lying on the ground, his head, face, and body covered in blood.
"Miss Qinqin, you hit me so hard on the head! Am I dying? Why didn't you save me? Why didn't you look back at me?"
Immediately after, more blood flowed from Jian Mubai's head, staining the swamp beneath her feet red.
"Ah..."
Shen Keqin suddenly sat up. Seeing her surroundings, she realized she had just been sleeping and having a nightmare.
Her bangs were damp with sweat, and her forehead and the tip of her nose were covered in tiny beads of perspiration.
Still shaken, she gasped for breath.
Just then, she felt something around her neck. She looked down and saw a Guanyin pendant made of Hetian jade.
She remembered she didn't own such a necklace.
Where had it come from?
Upon hearing Shen Keqin's voice, Song Qinian rushed in.
Seeing Shen Keqin, Song Qinian instinctively hid the Guanyin necklace inside her clothes.
She didn't know why she did it; it was an automatic reaction.
Song Qinian took a tissue and gently wiped the sweat from Shen Keqin's face, then hugged her and patted her back to comfort her, "It was just a nightmare, it's okay, don't be scared."
"Sister-in-law."
Shen Keqin suddenly grabbed Song Qinian's hand, "Sister-in-law, have they found Jian Mubai?"
"Not yet, but don't worry, your brother is sending people to look for him, and they'll find him eventually."
Shen Keqin lowered her gaze slightly. Song Qinian, unsure of what she was thinking, worried about her.
"Qinqin, Jian Mubai kidnapped you. If you find him, what do you plan to do?"
Thinking of this, Shen Keqin felt a pang of heartache and her eyes welled up again, "I don't know. I should hate him, but... when I dreamed of him covered in blood just now, I was terrified."
Song Qinian sighed softly, this little girl probably didn't know yet that she had fallen in love with Jian Mubai.
As if remembering something, Shen Keqin anxiously asked, "Right, Sister-in-law, what exactly is going on with my father's matter? What is Lin Zhuyin and Jian Mubai's connection to my father?"
Song Qinian knew this matter couldn't be kept from Shen Keqin any longer, so it was better to tell her directly.
Song Qinian recounted Lin Zhuyin's background and the grievances between her and Shen Zhengcheng to Shen Keqin.
Shen Keqin seemed deeply struck, remaining silent for a long time.
Song Qinian put her arm around Shen Keqin's shoulder, "Qinqin, are you okay?"
Shen Keqin nodded, "My brother loved Sis... Lin Zhuyin so much, he must be heartbroken."
Song Qinian sighed, "They are already divorced."
Divorced!
Yes, after everything that had happened, what else could they do but divorce?
"What about Jian Mubai? What role did he play in all of this?"
"He... his father was the driver for Lin Zhuyin's family. He and Lin Zhuyin grew up together. After Lin Zhuyin's father died by suicide, her mother died in a car accident, and the driver of that car was Jian Mubai's father."
After Lin Zhuyin's parents died, all their relatives and friends, for their own benefit and out of fear of being associated with misfortune, immediately distanced themselves from the Lin family.
At that time, Lin Zhuyin was only eighteen years old. She not only lost everything after the immense family tragedy but was also heavily in debt.
Her only thought at the time was to avenge her parents.
Jian Mubai had lost his mother at a young age, and Lin Zhuyin's parents treated him like their own son, even intending to groom him as the successor to the Lin Group.
The elders also wanted to pair Jian Mubai and Lin Zhuyin together.
However, having grown up together, they had no feelings for each other beyond sibling affection.
When Jian Mubai learned that Lin Zhuyin wanted revenge, he did not hesitate and decided to help her.
But Lin Zhuyin did not want to involve him. By the time he approached Shen Liubai, Jian Mubai had already used his own capabilities to become the bodyguard of Shen Zhengcheng's daughter.
Fearing their identities would be discovered by Shen Zhengcheng, they pretended not to know each other, but on the path to revenge, they supported and relied on each other.
This truth was incredibly cruel to Shen Keqin.
She never could have imagined that things had turned out this way.
So, all the kindness and consideration Jian Mubai had shown her were built upon the foundation of destroying her family.
No wonder when they were together, he quit his job so readily, without any hesitation.
It turned out he had no feelings for them at all.
And also Lychees...
She thought he always peeled fresh lychees, chilled them in the refrigerator, and gave them to her because she liked them.
Ha...
Lin Zhuyin also liked lychees.
It turned out those lychees were peeled for Lin Zhuyin to eat.
She suddenly recalled an instance when she went to the refrigerator for lychees, and they were gone.
When she went to ask Jian Mubai about it, he was stunned for a moment before quickly saying he had forgotten to peel them.
That evening, when she offered lychees to Lin Zhuyin, Lin Zhuyin said she had eaten quite a few at noon and couldn't have any more.
At the time, she hadn't paid it any mind, but now she realized that Jian Mubai hadn't forgotten to peel them. Lin Zhuyin thought they were for her, ate them, but Jian Mubai, fearing their relationship might be suspected, had lied to her.
Also, when her brother and sister-in-law had just gotten married, her brother was busy developing a new project for two days and didn't come home.
Lin Zhuyin suddenly had appendicitis. It was raining heavily that day, and she and Jian Mubai took Lin Zhuyin to the hospital.
As they neared the hospital, they got into a car accident, and their car was blocked, unable to move.
Without a second thought, Jian Mubai decisively picked up Lin Zhuyin, got out of the car, and ran towards the hospital, leaving her alone in the car.
At that time, she had thought Jian Mubai was a very diligent bodyguard and had even praised him highly in private to their family.
Now she knew, it wasn't diligence at all; it was genuine affection.
Many things that hadn't seemed significant at the time now, upon careful recollection, had clear underlying causes.
It was just that they had all been deceived back then.
They were such good actors; the entertainment industry suffered a great loss without them.
Seeing Shen Keqin's pale face, Song Qinian was very worried, "Qinqin, are you alright?"
Shen Keqin shook her head and gave a self-deprecating laugh, "I'm fine. I just feel like my brother and I are so pathetic!"
It is those who are deeply in love who get hurt the most.
The more pain Shen Liubai and Shen Keqin experienced, the deeper their love.
"It's okay now, everything will pass. That Jian Mubai... what do you plan to do with him?"