Chapter 140: A Secret Buried for Many Years

"Achoo!" Jiang Yao sat in front of her computer, her fingers flying across the keyboard while sneezing from time to time.

Ye Yiyi leaned over. "Yao, what are you writing?"

Jiang Yao hurriedly closed her laptop lid. "Just some wedding planning stuff, that's all."

Ye Yiyi clicked her tongue twice, clearly disbelieving. "If you don't want to say, fine. But you need to take medicine for this cold, just look at yourself."

As she spoke, she pointed a finger at the pile of used tissues Jiang Yao had thrown into the wastebasket.

"I know, I know," Jiang Yao said, gently pushing Ye Yiyi away.

However, Ye Yiyi showed no intention of leaving. "I truly admire you. The spittle of the internet is practically drowning you, yet you can still sit here and work with such a calm expression."

Jiang Yao turned her head back. "Aren't there plenty of people cursing at you online too?"

Ye Yiyi spread her hands. "The nature of my work is just like that. Some people like you, some people curse at you, unlike you..."

She thought for a moment and then asked, "Has Cheng Yanchi looked for you recently?"

Jiang Yao's fingers pausing slightly on the keyboard.

Cheng Yanchi hadn't contacted her in a while.

"Maybe Mother Cheng is too heartbroken, and he's busy staying by her side."

"Hmph." Ye Yiyi rolled her eyes. "Listen to yourself, do you even believe that? Even scumbags trying to fool innocent girls don't use that excuse anymore, okay? How on earth is this Cheng Yanchi so muddle-headed this time?"

Just as her voice trailed off, Jiang Yao's phone rang.

It was a call from the police station.

"Is this Miss Jiang? Regarding the report you filed earlier about being harassed, we have made some headway. Could we trouble you to come down for a moment?"

At the police station, Jiang Yao was shown a short piece of surveillance footage captured on the roadside.

"We have tentatively identified this person," the police officer said, pointing at the screen. "Furthermore, we suspect that this person is the same individual who swapped the Cheng family heirloom at your engagement ceremony. We originally wanted to contact Mr. Cheng directly, but his phone is unreachable. Do you have any impression of this person?"

Jiang Yao stared closely at the screen, her eyes widening instantly.

Although the surveillance footage was not very clear, she recognized the young figure at a single glance.

Aunt Qin's only surviving son, the younger brother Chen Zui once cherished, the person she owed so much to—Chen Chen...

"Miss Jiang, Miss Jiang..."

Seeing her stunned into silence, the police officer gently reminded her, "What is it? Do you know him?"

Jiang Yao snapped back to reality abruptly. "Oh, I think... I think this might be a misunderstanding."

"A misunderstanding?"

Jiang Yao nodded. "This person can be considered a friend of mine. May I please go see him first? Everything else can be discussed later."

Stepping out of the police station, the winter sunlight was blindingly harsh.

Only then did Jiang Yao confirm that everything she had seen and sensed about Chen Chen's abnormality that day was no hallucination at all.

Yet, it was Chen Chen.

Teacher Chen's flesh and blood, Aunt Qin's sole hope.

Standing outside Xu Anxin's psychological counseling clinic for a long time, Jiang Yao watched with her own eyes as Chen Chen slipped in quietly, and after a very long while, walked out cautiously and discreetly.

Jiang Yao finally remembered why she had always felt Xu Anxin looked so familiar.

As it turned out, she had met Xu Anxin long before.

At Huai'an Hospital, Xu Anxin had once walked out of Chen Chen's hospital room, brushing past Jiang Yao right at that moment...

Xu Anxin had been in contact with Chen Chen all along.

Yet, why Xu Anxin!

Filled with questions and rage, Jiang Yao strode resolutely toward that psychological counseling clinic.

Inside the consulting room, Xu Anxin was leaning back in her chair with her eyes closed to rest, looking utterly exhausted.

Hearing the sound of the door opening, she couldn't help frowning, calling out to her assistant, "Didn't I say to let the next patient wait in the lounge for half an hour?"

"It's me." Jiang Yao stood right before her.

Xu Anxin started violently, snapping to alertness instantly. She looked at Jiang Yao with a mixture of shock and surprise. "You—why are you here? I didn't receive an advance appointment from you."

"I just came to see you. Why are you so nervous?"

"I am very busy. If you don't have an appointment, you should go back." Xu Anxin spoke coldly, her attitude toward Jiang Yao drastically different from before.

"Let me guess why you're so nervous. Probably because you aren't sure whether I happened to run into someone you didn't want me to run into." Jiang Yao went straight to the point. "Who did you see before me?"

"That is patient privacy. I'm sorry, but I cannot tell you."

Xu Anxin maintained a stance of keeping people at a distance.

"You don't need to tell me, let me tell you instead. The person you saw is named Chen Chen. Is Chen Chen your patient? As far as I know, Aunt Qin had no idea Chen Chen came to see you, and the consultation fees here are hardly cheap; Chen Chen alone could never afford them. Did you see Chen Chen for free? Miss Xu Anxin, since when did you become such a great philanthropist? Of all the people you could choose for your charity, why did you have to pick Chen Chen?"

"This is none of your business."

"Matters concerning the Chen family are my business!" Jiang Yao slammed her hand down on the desk. "What on earth did you do to Chen Chen?!"

Xu Anxin's face turned pale as her trembling hand picked up the water cup on the desk, preparing to take a drink.

Jiang Yao snatched the cup away and hurled it fiercely onto the floor.

Glass shards and the water from the cup splashed everywhere instantly.

"If—if you cause trouble here again, I'm going to call the police!" Xu Anxin threatened her.

"Great, go ahead and call the police, try it out and let's bring everything completely to light," Jiang Yao said fearlessly. "Miss Xu, you should know me. When I go crazy, I'm crazier than anyone else. If you don't explain everything clearly to me today, don't even think about walking out of here!"

Xu Anxin knew Jiang Yao.

Jiang Yao had once trusted her deeply, sharing all those inner monologues she never dared to tell anyone else exclusively with Xu Anxin.

Xu Anxin knew that beneath Jiang Yao's calm exterior lay a fiercely unhinged heart.

It was a heart forged by the shadows of her past, always ready to drag the whole world down with her into destruction.

Xu Anxin looked at Jiang Yao, swallowed hard, and after a long moment, suddenly burst into bitter laughter.

"Fine! Since you want to listen, I'll tell you. I don't want to keep this secret anymore anyway. If I keep guarding it, I'll be driven mad by the torture myself!"

Jiang Yao pulled a chair over and sat down directly opposite Xu Anxin.

"Speak."

Xu Anxin took a deep breath. "This matter dates back over a dozen years. Don't look at me now as if I'm living quite well and seemingly have everything; only in my heart do I know that back then, I lost everything."

More than a dozen years ago—that was far too distant in the past.

"Back then, I was just a little girl from some impoverished countryside who came out to study," Xu Anxin recalled. "My family was already struggling, and right at that time, my mother fell ill—she was my only relative. Do you know how I managed to cure my mother's illness and finish my education later on?"