I hurriedly rushed over and hugged her limp body, fearing that she would not be able to hold on and something bad would happen again.
Her cold fingers suddenly grabbed my wrist, like the last straw, and begged in a broken and urgent voice: "Guan Hongjun... forget... forget everything between us, okay? Be good to Xiao Min... please... marry her... okay?"
I was shocked and looked at her in amazement: "Xiao Hui?! Things are already a mess, you have to calm down! I know you care about your sister, and I... I also have a good impression of her. But I won't lie to you, let alone her! I can't marry her!"
A trace of cold hatred flashed across her eyes: "So you plan to... just let it go?! Let her be confused..."
I took a deep breath, suppressed my surging emotions, and tried to keep my voice steady: "Now is not the time to talk about this! What I mean is, wait until we find Xiao Min and listen to what she has to say. Maybe... she doesn't want to marry me at all? We can't make the decision for her. The most important thing right now is to go find her together! If something really happens to her... that would be a disaster!"
She listened in a daze, and the anger in her eyes was gradually replaced by a kind of bewildered fatigue. Perhaps it was the truth in my words, or perhaps it was the fear of "no return" that struck her. She stopped arguing, but just sat up straight with a wooden force. She walked to the mirror, mechanically combed her messy hair, and then silently picked up a pair of sunglasses and put them on - the dark lenses tightly covered her red and swollen eyes full of despair.
In the underground garage, the Audi A4 was parked alone, unmoved. Xiao Min's luggage had all been taken away - it was clear that she was determined to cut off all ties with me and not leave any connection at all.
I drove the car, shuttling through the streets and alleys of the county town like a headless fly. The street scenes outside the car window passed by blurry, but I couldn't find any trace of Xiao Min at all.
Xiaohui, who was sitting in the passenger seat, was in a deep depression, and her whole body was emitting a chill. Seeing her distraught look, my heart ached, and I subconsciously wanted to reach out and hold her hand, but as soon as my fingertips touched a hint of coldness, she suddenly and resolutely shook it away.
My throat tightened, and I tried to break the suffocating silence: "You...think carefully, where could she have gone? Could she have... gone back to the Dragon Court Club?"
"No!" She said firmly, "That's what she hates the most!"
I took a deep breath and continued to ask, "Then...does she have any close friends? Or classmates..."
“No!” She interrupted me almost screaming, with an irritation on the verge of collapse, “Please… don’t ask! Let me… be quiet for a while, okay?!”
The last glimmer of hope was extinguished. I fell silent, swerved the steering wheel, and the car roared onto the highway. Ahead, there was only the gray, cold road stretching endlessly.
She remained silent for a long time, her face behind her sunglasses was silent, as if she had fallen into a deep sleep. I had no way of seeing her expression, but I could feel the depression in the car.
The car drove along the provincial ring road for a distance, and I turned off the highway. At the toll booth, the mechanical reminder sounded and the barrier clicked, and she seemed to be disturbed. Her body trembled slightly, and then she sat up straight, looking around blankly.
I turned around and drove onto the provincial road leading to the orphanage where the sisters grew up.
She finally spoke, her voice unexpectedly calm, even a little hoarse from exhaustion: "Don't go... She won't go back to that place."
I slowly parked the car on the side of the road. She raised her hand, gently took off her sunglasses, turned around, and looked straight at my face, with a frankness that was almost resigned to her fate: "I'm sorry... I was too impatient before and shouldn't have gotten angry at you. Those things... in the end, it was all consensual. It's not all your fault."
My heart ached and I avoided her overly direct gaze: "Now is not the time to divide responsibilities. I just want to make sure Xiaomin is safe, and then I can let go of this worry."
She lowered her eyelids, her fingers unconsciously rubbing the legs of her sunglasses: "It's already past midnight... I'm... a little hungry."
"Then let's find a place to eat something?" I suggested immediately.
She shook her head, her face expressionless, and her voice flat: "Let's go to the market and buy some vegetables... I'll cook for you. My cooking skills are not as good as Xiao Min's, so it's just a makeshift meal."
I was stunned for a moment, and asked, "Buying groceries? Where do we go?"
"You'll know when you get there." She put on her sunglasses again, hiding all her emotions, leaving only a vague outline pointing to the car window, "Let's go, there's a vegetable market in the town ahead."
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