Chapter 4 I Am Xue Zuining

That night, the lights blazed brilliantly.

At the Lu Residence, before the door could even be fully opened, Madam Lu anxiously hurried forward, craning her neck to look behind the group of adults, only to meet their exhausted faces shaking their heads in disappointment.

"We have already notified the police; there will be news soon," Su Yi said, finding it hard to believe that a living, breathing person could vanish without a trace right under their noses.

"Thud—" A muffled sound echoed from behind. Turning around, they saw Xue Zuining, who had been forcing herself to stay strong to keep from collapsing, suddenly pitching forward and crashing to the floor.

"Hey, hey, wake up," Su Yi said, supporting her and patting her face, but there was no sign of improvement. The housekeeper hurriedly called for a doctor to rush over.

Su Yi thought to himself that if the little one hadn't been found yet and the older one fell ill as well, that man would surely go completely out of his mind.

Disregarding all notions of propriety between men and women at that moment, he scooped her up in his arms and carried her toward the bedroom. After the doctor finally rushed over, measured her blood pressure, and hooked up an IV drip, they barely managed to confirm she would be all right before receiving a call from the police, presumably indicating some progress in the case.

"Madam, I'll have to leave her in your care..."

"I understand, go ahead. Notify me the moment there is any news." Madam Lu glanced at the unconscious figure on the bed and sighed. "Don't tell Huanning about her collapsing for now; let's not give him an extra burden to worry about. Everyone is exhausted, and you've had a hard time too."

Su Yi managed a faint smile, acknowledged her words, and hurried off to the police station.

Lu Huanning also arrived at the police station the moment he received the word. The two men met right at the entrance. Su Yi looked at the undisguised exhaustion on his face yet saw the resolute gaze in his eyes, and patted his shoulder in reassurance. "Everything will be fine."

Inside the surveillance room, police officers in uniform were hard at work, staying up late to track the information. Upon seeing the insignia on Su Yi's shoulders, the officer in charge immediately realized the extraordinary identity of the newcomer. His attitude instantly turned much more respectful, and without wasting any words, he had his men pull up the intercepted surveillance footage, pointing to a man circled in red as he began his analysis: "The man wearing the wide-brimmed hat in the surveillance footage was reconstructed based on the descriptions of witnesses at the square at that time. We had someone use high-tech sketching to outline the mysterious man's facial features. After confirming a ninety percent likeness, we began investigating this man nationwide, and we quickly got results. Ma Feilong, native of C City, occupation unknown, with a prior criminal record for robbery, released from prison just a year ago. Take a look." The police chief handed over the files. Lu Huanning took them, but his gaze was immediately drawn to a photograph beside the text. It was her.

"Isn't this your household housekeeper?" Su Yi asked, astonished. "Could these two be working hand in glove?"

The hand holding the files tightened instantly, the veins on the back of Lu Huanning's hand standing out like cords.

"According to the information we currently have, although Ma Feilong and the woman surnamed Yang are not legally registered as a married couple, the two do indeed cohabit. Furthermore, judging by how the incident unfolded, it would have been impossible for the suspect to abduct the child so swiftly without someone else's assistance."

"Damn it," Su Yi cursed bitterly.

"We notified you to come here because we now need to determine the suspect's motive for the kidnapping. Mr. Lu, may I ask if you have ever had any contact with Ma Feilong?"

"No, I am quite certain." Lu Huanning stared at the person in the photograph. The culprit had gone to great lengths to plot the kidnapping of his daughter more than a month in advance, even sparing no expense to plant an informant by his side. Yesterday's sudden situation had simply provided the perfect opportunity. If only he had managed to answer her call at that moment, none of this would have happened, and he wouldn't have plunged his daughter into unknown danger. Damn it all.

"If Mr. Lu can be so certain, then the suspect must have abducted the child for ransom or under someone else's instructions. Therefore, I hope Mr. Lu can assist us in screening anyone who has recently been in conflict with you—whether in business or in your personal life, please try to recall carefully."

Listening to the officer's analysis, Su Yi furrowed his thick brows. "If it's for ransom, why haven't we received any calls demanding money after more than twenty-four hours? That defies reason."

"Not receiving a call only shows that the perpetrator's criminal psychology is extremely sophisticated, or perhaps the employer has not yet issued instructions, and they haven't received the command for their next move." The chief recalled Ma Feilong's criminal record; the fact that he could impeccably select a kidnapping spot within a surveillance blind spot was indeed the result of meticulous planning.

"Besides, not receiving a call at least indicates that the child is still safe for now."

"Are you certain?"

"We speak only with facts." The chief's gaze was immensely resolute. Just as he was about to continue, the traffic department transmitted an exhilarating piece of news. He hung up the phone and said to the two men, "The taxi that carried them away has been found."

When he returned home from the outside, it was already the dawn of the next day. As Lu Huanning stepped through the front door, a servant happened to be coming out of Xue Zuining's room. Seeing him, the servant immediately offered a respectful greeting.

The person on the bed had yet to wake up, her brows deeply furrowed. He looked at her, feeling a piercing heartache and an even greater sorrow. The moment she learned their daughter was missing, he could feel her entire world collapse in ruin.

The woman in her deep sleep jolted awake from a nightmare, her eyes unfocused, until she made out the man's face and her gaze slowly regained its clarity. Her weak hands anxiously grabbed at him as she began to question, "How is it? How is it? Has Pengpeng been found? Tell me!"

With that, she kicked off the blanket and tried to get out of bed. Looking at her disheveled state, with her heart and mind filled solely with their daughter while completely ignoring him and herself, Lu Huanning was suddenly seized by a desperate thought: if their daughter couldn't return to them safely, what kind of consequences would follow? Would she become nothing more than a soulless, walking corpse?

"Speak to me!" Xue Zuining shook his arm with all her might, only to see him close his eyes for a moment, pull her into his arms, and answer, "She hasn't been found yet. The police have stepped up their efforts, and everyone with information will cooperate to the fullest." He had originally thought that finding the taxi would quickly bring this nightmare to an end, but who could have known that the taxi had already been deregistered years ago, and the driver was clearly an accomplice as well. They had meticulously laid out their scheme, racking their brains to vanish without a trace in a world monitored by electronic surveillance.

Xue Zuining said nothing more. With a vacant stare, she gazed at her own hands, sinking entirely into her own thoughts. Everything in the outside world seemed to be cut off; she could no longer hear any sounds or see any scenery, with only the image of her daughter toddling toward her like a little penguin when she had just learned to walk flashing before her eyes.

Clearly, the person was right in his arms, yet Lu Huanning felt an empty void within his embrace, as if he were holding not a living human being, but merely a wisp of air.

Tears gradually dampened the man's shoulder. Xue Zuining simply allowed herself to be held, but only she knew that her heart felt as though it were being sliced apart by a sharp blade with every passing second. She blamed herself, consumed by remorse. If she had been firm enough that day, if she hadn't let down her guard to trust an outsider, if she had truly loved that little life with her very existence, how could she have ever let her fall into danger?

It had already been two nights. Was her daughter suffering right now? Was she crying in the dark?

Why did everything feel so powerless?

At the same time, inside a demolition-bound apartment in the urban area, a man drank while watching a small television screen, occasionally tossing a few peanuts into his mouth. The television was replaying a news broadcast where an anchorwoman was breaking in with a report on a missing child, pleading with anyone with information to provide reliable leads, promising that the child's parents would offer a generous reward.

This was an area slated for government demolition and redevelopment. Striking Chinese characters meaning "Demolish" were painted across the walls. Even in the daytime, pedestrians were rare, and the buildings had long since been abandoned—there was no need even to rent a place. In this desolate neighborhood, a small room of a few dozen square meters happened to make a good hideout for holding someone.

Ma Jin glanced at the pink figure on the narrow wooden bed and sneered, "Little brat, sleeping quite soundly."

He resentfully tossed the peanuts in his hand back into a blackened dish and spat out a curse. If he had known this baby girl was worth so much, he wouldn't have agreed to that woman's simple demand for a mere kidnapping. If he could have extorted a fortune, he could have lived on the money for the rest of his life instead of having to skulk around in hiding. Still, this wasn't bad; he could see if he could seize the opportunity to raise his price with that woman—he certainly couldn't afford to take such a huge loss for nothing.

Three days had passed since the incident, and the other side had yet to make any move. The police confirmed that the suspect was acting under someone else's instructions. The Lu family finally could no longer bear such a passive stance; simply waiting passively for the rabbit to emerge was yielding no results. However, since the culprits were after money, they naturally had the best method to deal with them.

Media personnel were always adept at chasing shadows. When Xue Zuining appeared before the cameras, the camera flashes instantly erupted in a flurry of clicks. Four years had passed, and she had never imagined she would one day face the camera again under such an identity.

"Hello everyone, I am Xue Zuining. Today, Mr. Lu Huanning and I are holding this press conference simply in the hope that media professionals will bear the highest level of testimony to every word I am about to say, and that anyone who receives this news through television or print will believe me." Xue Zuining looked at the murmuring crowd beneath the stage, her gaze growing steadily firmer. "My daughter, Lu Pengpeng, and I returned to China this year, but now someone has taken my daughter away. No matter what your reasons may be, please do not harm my child. I swear here with my very life, as long as you are willing to send my daughter back safely, we will pay a reward of ten million on the spot."

"Miss Xue, are you the Miss Xue who went missing after falling off a cliff back then?" The reporters were as sensitive as hounds catching the scent of a bone. "May I ask if your daughter was born to you and Mr. Lu Huanning?"

"President Lu, the police merely classified the case as a disappearance back then. Does Miss Lu's return now mean there's a new breakthrough in the case? Could you please explain?"

Xue Zuining looked at the gloating expressions of the busybodies below, while the man beside her gently squeezed her hand beneath the table.

"Yes, I am the Xue Zuining who went missing back then," she answered calmly.

The moment she finished speaking, Lu Huanning embraced her and left the press hall, leaving only the public relations staff behind to handle the aftermath.

The reporters watched their blatant relationship, and the cameras in their hands never stopped clicking. It turned out Xue Zuining hadn't died; she had even secretly given birth to the Lu family's little princess abroad, and the reason for exposing her identity now was precisely to search for her kidnapped daughter.