Chapter 16
"Huo Junyan, why aren't you answering my calls?" Chu Ci pushed open the door to the Huo Group's executive conference room.
The buzzing conference room suddenly fell silent, with only the numbers on the huge screen still active.
Huo Junyan looked surprised, suddenly stood up, and quickly walked to her. "What's wrong?"
“The star is gone,” he looked up, trembling all over. “The star was your son.”
-
Let's go back a week.
After retrieving her identity information, Chu Ci quickly found her family information. Her parents were alive, and she had an older sister and a younger brother, but no one had contacted her, not even a police report.
Oh.
Emotionally, they subconsciously avoid the issue, yet their actions constantly seek to verify it.
Compared to the solid historical materials provided by Zhou Yubai, which could never be fully verified or completely refuted, never evoked any emotional resonance, and contained logical flaws.
Chu Ci's identity seems even more absurd, yet it inescapably stirs her emotions.
She intentionally avoided the treatment plan arranged by Huo Junyan.
Go to familiar places, see people you've met before, or recreate scenes from the past.
She had tried all of these treatment options.
The difference is that Zhou Yubai used to arrange Shen Que's life trajectory, but now Huo Junyan is going to accompany her to find the past of Chu Ci.
She only deduced from logical details that Zhou Yubai was deceiving her, thus finding some suspicious points that his identity might have been tampered with, rather than recalling the past, and without any conclusive evidence.
How can one be 100% certain of their current identity?
Chu Ci refused to meet with Huo Junyan and even refused to answer his phone; she needed time to think independently.
They didn't want to blindly choose the Huo family right after severing ties with the Zhou family.
The treatment plan she arranged was actually from other people's perspectives; she wanted to first follow the trajectory of Chu Ci's past to find the answers.
Chu Ci was born in a small county town in the southern mountains.
After getting off the high-speed train, I transferred to a bus. The road was paved all the way, with distant mountains shrouded in clouds and rice paddies and rapeseed fields lining the roadside, a mix of yellow and green.
Xingxing pointed out the window, "Mommy, the mountains are in the sky."
She looked in the direction the finger was pointing and was stunned into a daze—she saw a huge stone mountain in the distance, with a hollowed-out passage in the middle, about thirty stories high, with clouds and mist swirling in the stone arch.
This scene had appeared in her mind more than once.
Since there's no way to pinpoint the exact cause, we can only interpret this familiar visual sensation as the hippocampal effect.
Unexpectedly, she saw the scene that had appeared in her mind in reality, and for a moment she could not distinguish between dream and memory.
The bus passed through the stone arch, and the village came into view.
The destination was the next stop, so Chu Ci got off the train ahead of time.
As soon as Xingxing got out of the car, she went to pick wild Sichuan peppercorns growing on the ridges of the rapeseed field. She looked around, trying to find a dirt path.
There was a clearing about a meter high made of piled stones on the path, with a fence made of thorny branches. It looked like farm tools were piled up inside, and the fence wall seemed to be covered with moss.
This image always flashes through my mind along with the image of the stone arch in the clouds.
I walked along the ridge of the field for a while, but the Chu Ci did not evoke any memories.
I ate a bowl of noodles at a noodle shop in the small town and asked the owner if there were any such small roads nearby. The owner said that the area had been planned as a tourist development zone a few years ago and that the small roads she was talking about had long been demolished.
Chu Ci wasn't particularly disappointed, but she boarded the bus to the county town with the stars in her eyes.
Unexpectedly, someone boarded the bus along the way—their former nanny, Aunt Liu.
Aunt Liu also saw Chu Ci. When their eyes met, she instinctively looked away, then tilted her head back and glared at her, her nostrils flaring.
Another middle-aged woman who got on the bus with her stared at Chu Ci.
Chu Ci pulled out the WeChat messages with the housekeeping company to look for Aunt Liu's information. She had only left the information before, but hadn't looked at it in detail.
I heard murmurs and whispers behind me.
"That looks like Xu Yunhua's daughter, is she the eldest or the second oldest? When did she get married? Her child is so big already..."
Aunt Liu: "You mean Chen Que? You know her? Let me tell you, she doesn't live with her husband, they might be divorced, and the child has her surname."
"Surname Chen? No, no, surname Chu. I forgot what his name was, but it's definitely surnamed Chu."
The mother of Chu Ci was named Xu Yunhua.
Chu Ci scrolled through the chat history and discovered that Aunt Liu was from the same city but a different county as her.
She glanced back, and the two immediately stopped talking. Another woman looked at her with great curiosity, seemingly wanting to strike up a conversation with her.
Aunt Liu shoved her hard, glaring and pursing her lips. The two of them faced each other, lowering their voices and pointing at each other.
When the bus arrived at the station, Chu Ci got off with Xingxing and stood aside waiting for everyone else to get off. When Aunt Liu and the others saw her, they went around to the other side of the platform.
Chu Ci stepped forward to stop her, "Auntie, do you know me?"
Another woman glanced at Aunt Liu, curled her lip, and left with Aunt Liu with a look of disdain.
"Mommy, are we here to pick her up?" Xingxing pointed at Aunt Liu's back, looking resistant.
Chu Ci quickly reassured her son, "Of course not, we're here for tourism."
She wandered around the county town with her son, and many times she felt that a certain alley was familiar, but no matter how hard she tried to remember, it was like looking at flowers through a fog.
Familiar yet unfamiliar.
Since waking up five years ago, no place has ever felt so familiar to her.
It seems there's no need to prove that this small town with its humid climate and moss growing in the cracks between the bricks is where she grew up.
She wondered if she might run into a relative as she walked.
If we meet,
"Chu Ci" (Songs of Chu)
It seemed like someone was calling her from behind. Chu Ci turned around and looked at the few pedestrians on the sidewalk. No one stopped in front of her.
I turned around, and the stars were gone.
Her mind went blank for a moment. "Stars? Stars..."
She searched in all directions, up and down, across a two- or three-meter-wide sidewalk, curious passersby eyeing her, along a gentle slope, amidst tangled overhead wires and vendors pushing carts.
No, none at all.
In the time it takes to turn around.
The stars disappeared.
She took out her phone and instinctively called Huo Junyan, but her fingers were stiff and trembling, and she dropped the phone.
After searching for half an hour, someone finally reminded her to call the police.
The police officers were taking notes; Chu Ci had never been so chaotic and incoherent before.
"...My name is Chu Ci. My son is four years old. His name is Shen Xinghui, no, Chu Xinghui. His name was just changed. His registered residence is in Beicheng, no, Shancheng, not..."
She broke down in tears. The police officers comforted her and checked the intersection's surveillance footage, but unfortunately, the area where she was located was on a gentle slope with no surveillance cameras. They had no choice but to continue visiting the surrounding shops.
At this moment, Lin Muchen sent her a message, reminding her to take good care of Xingxing.
When Chu Ci called, the phone was already switched off.
She suddenly calmed down, and her confused mind cleared up instantly: Zhou Yubai, or Yao Shengjie.
Huo Zixi revealed to her that the Huo family had obtained the qualifications and that the AI medical software would be launched tomorrow. Those in the industry with good connections should have heard about it, and the Zhou family would not be completely unaware.
Who could it be?
Or have they temporarily formed an alliance?
Taking Xingxing away poses no threat to the Huo family, let alone getting the project back.
Was it just to get revenge on her?
After guarding for so long, it all came down to a single mistake... Chu Ci forced herself to calm down.
These two people are beyond the jurisdiction of the county police. It's getting dark, and the earliest flight is at 6:15 tomorrow morning.
Chu Ci sat at the airport until dawn, then boarded the plane.
She didn't receive any calls, threats, or return calls all night.
After getting off the plane, we went directly to the Huo Group.
"Xingxing is your son."
Huo Junyan's tall body trembled for a moment, his eyes narrowed, and he stared at her intently.
Suddenly, he grabbed her arm, dragged her forcefully to his office, and threw her onto the sofa.
Secretary Wu was startled, "President Huo?"
"Get out!" Huo Junyan roared, violently ripping off his tie, picking up the landline, his sinister, bloodshot eyes fixed on Chu Ci.
His aura was gloomy and intimidating; the veins on the back of his hand gripping the landline phone were bulging, and the plastic receiver was cracking so hard it seemed about to break.
Chu Ci clenched her lips tightly, afraid of losing her voice, and grabbed his arm with both hands, looking up at him stubbornly.
He tried to shake it off but couldn't. His facial muscles were tense. He pressed the landline numbers twice with one hand, "Connect to the Huo family's inside line."
He instructed them to investigate the whereabouts of Zhou Yubai and Yao Shengjie, as well as the location where Xingxing disappeared.
She tried to speak several times, but his intimidating aura forced her to remain silent.
Watching him hang up the landline and dial several numbers on his mobile phone to put pressure on both the Zhou and Yao families, Chu Ci finally let go, tears falling onto the brown floor, but she still bit her lip tightly, not daring to make a sound.
For several minutes, Huo Junyan kept answering the phone. Chu Ci stood beside him with her head down, listening to him mobilize the Huo family's resources to find the missing person, and... it seemed that Mr. and Mrs. Huo were questioning the child.
Chu Ci intentionally stepped back to avoid it, but his legs suddenly went weak and he instinctively reached out to grab the edge of the table, only to fall to the ground with empty air.
It doesn't hurt much, but I just feel weak.
Reaching out to steady the bookshelf behind her, Huo Junyan knelt down on one knee, slipped his hand under her knee, and lifted her up, carrying her around the large desk to the chocolate-colored vintage sofa.
Without warning, they abandoned her without any pity.
Although the sofa is soft and has no impact.
Chu Ci flicked her wrist, and he leaned in close, his eyes bloodshot, his sinister gaze filled with bloodthirsty hatred, gritting his teeth, "You've been lying to me all along."
“Me,” he said, his eyes darting away.
He grabbed her chin, forcing her to look him in the eye, their noses almost touching. "If this hadn't happened, were you planning to keep it from me forever?"
Chu Ci raised her chin, tears sliding down her cheeks to his fingertips, and the grip on her hand loosened slightly.
"I don't remember."
I really don't remember anything.
"Hehe, hahaha..." Huo Junyan's low, hoarse laughter carried a morbid madness. "Don't you remember he's my son, or don't you remember me?"
The Chu Ci (Songs of Chu) left me speechless, unable to explain it.
He abruptly released her grip and stood up abruptly. Chu Ci, thinking he was abandoning her, hurriedly grabbed his arm, "I... Xingxing is... I..."
Huo Junyan pried her hand open, then suddenly noticed a tiny scar on her fingertip. He stopped abruptly, made a phone call to have someone prepare clothes for her, and summoned a doctor.
Chu Ci looked down and saw mud stains on her skirt, as if she had tripped and fallen a few times on that slope, but she didn't feel any pain.
She suddenly felt very wronged and even wanted to question him about why he hadn't come to save her five years ago.
"I'm fine. I lied to you. I deserve it."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
