Chapter 50 I told you, if you leave me...
Mu Xin watched as Jiang Shiyuan ran back to her room and closed the door before going to the front desk to open the courtyard gate.
The person who knocked on the door was lean and wiry. Mu Xin recognized him; he was the antique market vendor Jiang Shiyuan was looking for, named Acheng.
Ah Cheng, panting heavily, rushed in before Mu Xin could speak and quickly bolted the courtyard gate shut.
"Sister Xin, hurry up and get me a room!"
Acheng ran over in the rain, his whole body soaked through, but he still looked warily at the entrance to the courtyard.
"No matter who comes later, don't open the door!"
As if he were in his own backyard, Acheng ran to the refrigerator in front of the cabinet, took out a bottle of ice water, unscrewed the cap, and gulped it down in two gulps.
Mu Xin frowned and shoved Acheng, trying to drive him out.
"Fully booked, fully booked! There's nowhere for you to stay! Consider this bottle of water a gift, now get out of here!"
Acheng ignored everything and sat down on the sofa at the front desk. The rainwater on his body soaked a large area of the sofa, making him look like a Buddha that couldn't be driven away.
"It's not tourist season now, and your rooms look very deserted. You're not going to refuse me a room, are you?"
Mu Xin already disliked the group of people in town, and their theft of Jiang Shiyuan's necklace only fueled her disgust.
"That's right, we won't let you stay. Everyone in town knows you guys are swindlers and cheaters, I wouldn't dare entertain you."
Mu Xin crossed her arms, looking somewhat impatient, and began to wonder why Acheng had come to stay so late at night.
"Your house is just two streets away, isn't it? Is there no room left in your house?"
Acheng frowned, his eyes flashing with malice. "Why are you asking so many questions? I told you to book a room, so I did. It's not like I'm not going to pay. If you say another word, I'll call a few of my buddies and wreck your inn!"
Mu Xin wasn't afraid of his threats. She sneered and was about to say something when she heard the faint sound of police sirens coming from outside the door. It must have been far away, and the sound was indistinct.
Acheng, as if his tail had been stepped on, sprang up from the sofa and ran towards the back of the yard.
Mu Xin hurriedly chased after him, but she was not as agile as him.
"Don't go inside, the guests are all resting!"
Ah Cheng pushed open doors one room at a time, searching for an empty room, like a hungry ghost pouncing on its prey without a clear purpose.
Although there weren't many people staying at the guesthouse, a few rooms were occupied. After the door was maliciously pushed open, the guests opened their doors and came out to look for the perpetrator.
Acheng cursed at the other party a few times, and when the other guests saw that he was not someone to be trifled with, they all started to ask Mu Xin to deal with him.
Jiang Shiyuan had already locked the door and turned on the warm yellow light in the room.
Seeing this, Ah Cheng assumed there was someone inside. Not wanting to cause any more trouble and waste time, he ignored her and went to push other doors.
After a long while, the chaotic commotion finally subsided.
Mu Xin had already calmed the guests down and sent them back to their rooms. It had rained heavily today, and only she and another girl were left on duty. There was simply no one else to come and kick Acheng out.
She could only swallow her anger and let him take up a room.
The sound of the sirens could only be faintly heard from afar, and then it was never heard again, so it must have already left.
Although Jiang Shiyuan didn't know what had happened, she could roughly guess the ins and outs of the matter from the scene before her.
Now that Huo Lan knew that she and Shen Yiyi had been swindled at the market, he must have already investigated the vendor at the antique market thoroughly.
He knew her too well. Jiang Shiyuan had lost her only source of income, so she would definitely try her best to get her things back, even if it meant risking her life.
He was now quite certain that she was hiding in the town.
The fact that people from the antique market were taken away by the police indicates that Huo Lan's people have almost completely surrounded the town.
Jiang Shiyuan dared not sit idly by any longer. If she did not leave the town, someone would soon come knocking on her door.
Jiang Shiyuan made up her mind to take a chance, and just as she was about to leave, she heard a commotion coming from the front yard, as if a group of people had broken in again.
Her heart pounded wildly, and she felt dizzy.
Mu Xin had just returned to the front desk when someone knocked on the door again, so she had no choice but to go over impatiently.
"We're fully booked for tonight, there's nowhere left to stay..."
As soon as Mu Xin looked up, she saw a large group of people holding umbrellas in the rain. They were all tall and dressed in black, which made her feel a little lost.
Jiang Chen led his men in several waves to search house to house, leaving no corner unchecked. Just then, they found Mu Xin's inn.
"Hello, boss, we're not staying here." Jiang Chen stood at the front, his tone gentle and calm, trying to ease the pressure they were putting on him. "My husband wants us to find someone. I don't know if you've met them?"
After Jiang Chen finished speaking, he began to gesture, "She was about this tall, a very fair-skinned and beautiful girl, around twenty-four or twenty-five years old, and used to work in the archaeological team in Bishui Village."
Mu Xin immediately realized who these people were and quickly shook her head.
"I really don't know that. There are just too many people coming and going at our inn."
Jiang Chen nodded, still not leaving. "Then can we go inside and rest for a bit?"
He looked up at the sky, frowned, and began to plead his case, "Boss, we're looking for people outside in the rain, it's so tiring, please let us come inside and take shelter from the rain."
Before Mu Xin could agree, the people behind Jiang Chen had already entered the courtyard and began checking each room one by one.
To calm Mu Xin down, Jiang Chen stayed at the front desk and took out a card from his pocket.
Those were used after receiving the mission to help the locals cooperate with the search; each one contained five hundred yuan.
He had already sent out several tickets tonight, but he still hadn't found any clues about Jiang Shiyuan.
"Oh, beautiful lady, my husband ordered us to find the person tonight." Jiang Chen pushed the card towards Mu Xin, continuing to feign pitifulness. "Consider this card as an apology. As long as we find no one after the search, we'll leave immediately!"
As the search party drew closer, Jiang Shiyuan became extremely nervous.
Her hands and feet trembled uncontrollably. Despite her efforts to calm herself down, she could barely take a step.
What would happen if she got caught? She didn't dare to think about it.
This wasn't the first time she had run away. If she went back, her thoughts, her every move, her entire being would be completely exposed to Huo Lan's eyes, every moment.
Jiang Shiyuan took a deep breath and looked at the window in the room facing out of the town.
Mu Xin runs a guesthouse with a classic and antique style, and the rooms are decorated in a retro style.
Each room is arranged side by side, with the entrance leading to a long corridor that faces the courtyard.
Because the inn only has two floors, for the privacy and safety of the guests, the windows on the first floor facing out of the inn were completely nailed shut, and could not be opened by hand.
Jiang Shiyuan was extremely anxious when she suddenly remembered the brand-new hand shovel that Shen Yiyi had given her.
She excitedly took off her backpack, tried to calm herself down, and then used the sharp edge of the shovel to repeatedly smash the blocked part of the wooden window.
Because it was a lattice-carved wooden window, the wood was relatively soft, and her hand shovel was brand new. Before long, she destroyed the parts of the window that had been sealed.
She pushed hard, and the window opened outwards.
The rain outside had changed from a downpour to a drizzle, and the bluestone slabs were wet and difficult to walk on. After Jiang Shiyuan jumped out of the window, she twisted her ankle and almost slipped and fell to the ground.
She instinctively cried out in pain, not having time to worry about her injuries, she quickly closed the window and then turned and stumbled towards the end of the long street.
But where exactly is she going?
She didn't know that the voice in her heart was just telling her to keep running and never let Huo Lan catch her.
She didn't bring an umbrella and was quickly soaked by the drizzle.
Despite it being the height of summer, a chilling coldness seemed to emanate from the very bones.
Jiang Shiyuan gradually found it difficult to run, and her ankles began to swell.
Just as she was about to find a place to rest and take shelter from the rain, she heard an angry voice behind her.
"Oh shit!"
Jiang Shiyuan turned around and saw that the person who came was the antique stall owner who had cheated them that day.
Raindrops lashed his face, making Acheng's sinister expression even more ferocious. His lean body was slightly hunched, and he held a fruit knife in his hand.
The knife was no longer very sharp, and it still had some wood shavings on it from when he pried open the window.
"I didn't expect to find you here. Did you call the police? Did you hire those bodyguards in black?"
Ah Cheng approached step by step, brandishing the fruit knife in his hand as if he were about to stab her.
After realizing what was happening, Jiang Shiyuan hurriedly ran forward, but due to her injured ankle and lack of strength, the distance between her and Acheng kept shrinking.
"It must be those necklaces of yours that caused this trouble! Did you steal them from someone else's house?!" Acheng roared, rain streaming down his hair and into his mouth, looking utterly deranged. "You've really ruined us!"
"Don't run away!"
The rain gradually blurred her vision, but Jiang Shiyuan still ran forward with all her might.
But as she turned the corner, she unexpectedly bumped into a warm and familiar embrace.
The cool, ebony scent instantly enveloped her. Before she could react, someone supported her lower back and pulled her closer.
The large umbrella blocked the drizzling rain, and Jiang Shiyuan's vision finally became clear.
She slowly raised her head and saw Huo Lan's tightly pursed lips and his dark, unfathomable eyes.
Just then, Jiang Chen arrived with his men and subdued Acheng on the ground.
The gleaming fruit knife fell into the puddle, and he was no longer able to resist.
More and more bodyguards in black gathered, gradually surrounding the entire street.
Huo Lan tilted the umbrella slightly to block the bodyguards' view.
The rain pattered against the umbrella, and the black umbrella seemed to shut out all the noise.
Huo Lanzai carefully examined her face, his gaze sweeping from her forehead across her eyebrows and eyes, past the tip of her nose to her lips, and finally settling on the side of her face.
Her thin lips, devoid of any curve, parted slightly, uttering only two brief words.
"You've lost weight."
The arms around her waist tightened suddenly, almost lifting her off the ground.
The two were pressed tightly together, their heartbeats pounding so hard.
"I told you, you won't be able to live well without me."
Jiang Shiyuan was soaked to the bone, her hair clung to her face from the rain, and her thin long clothes and trousers were completely drenched, causing her to tremble uncontrollably, like a disheveled rabbit.
Huo Lan used to hate getting his clothes dirty, but now he held her tightly, ignoring the dirt she had gotten from running in the rain.
She didn't know if her trembling was from the cold or from him.
The moment she saw Huo Lan, her heart sank into despair.
She can't escape now, she can never escape.
Huo Lan lowered his head and brought his face close to her neck, but did not kiss her as usual.
His warm breath brushed against my ear, but his words were icy cold, chilling me to the bone, even more so than the rain I'd been drenched that night.
"My baby will stay by my side forever, locked away."
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