Secret Past (7)
Li Ming did not answer Jiang Yingying's question immediately, but changed the subject and asked her another question.
"Does your stomach still hurt?"
Jiang Yingying shook her head, and then she heard Li Ming sigh softly.
"This yard was rented, but the landlord suddenly wanted to take it back, so we found a new yard in the western suburbs."
"Uncle Li...Uncle Li has something to do, let's go first."
Jiang Yingying hummed in response and didn't continue the topic.
Because she knew in her heart that this was just an excuse made by Li Ming.
Seeing that they were moving out in such a hurry, and Uncle Li was not around, Jiang Yingying had a guess in her mind.
The affair between these three father and son is likely to be exposed, and the police may have come to their door, so Uncle Li has to stay in the original house and deal with the police.
The thought made her shudder, and she looked around secretly, thinking about how to escape.
Li Ming was beside Jiang Yingying and could see her expression clearly.
"What are you looking at?"
Jiang Yingying was startled and quickly lowered her head and continued, saying:
"nothing."
Li Ming was watching her too closely, and Jiang Yingying felt like she was being stabbed in the back the whole way, and ultimately she was unable to escape.
The journey was not far. Li Ying found this road from somewhere, and after turning left and right, he brought the group to the highway.
There was a constant flow of traffic on the highway, and the sudden appearance of ten people here seemed very strange, attracting the attention of many passing drivers.
Not long after, two silver-white vans drove towards them.
Li Ying opened the car door with ease and shouted to the few people:
"Quick! Get up there!"
Jiang Yingying pulled Qu Qing and Zhu Zhi to the corner of the team, Li Ying was urging them in front, and Li Ming followed closely behind them. There were only dense trees around and the highway in front of them. There was no possibility for the three of them to escape.
The three of them finally got into the car at Li Ming's urging.
In the crowded car, Jiang Yingying was squeezed against the window. After the car had been driving for about ten minutes, sirens were heard outside the window.
Jiang Yingying looked up and saw several police cars on the other side of the highway, driving in the opposite direction of them. Her intuition told her that these policemen were going to the orphanage.
It seems that Uncle Li's crime has really been exposed, so he is so anxious to let them move out.
Jiang Yingying was staring out the window in a daze when suddenly her palm was pinched. She turned around and found Qu Qing looking at her.
Qu Qing secretly tilted her head towards the driver's seat. Jiang Yingying followed her movement and looked towards the passenger seat, and saw Li Ming staring at her with a strange look through the rearview mirror.
Jiang Yingying was frightened by Li Ming's eyes and shrank her neck. She quickly retracted her gaze and lowered her head.
The journey was a bit long, but they never left the city. The silver van took them from one suburb to another, and then up a mountain whose name they could not remember.
After a rugged mountain road, the car stopped on the mountainside.
After getting off the bus, Jiang Yingying saw a rather old, low-rise building. It had three floors and showed no signs of life. Although it was a bit old, it looked better than the orphanage she had been staying at.
Where is this?
Jiang Yingying was wondering in her heart, when Li Ming and others arrived and asked one of the drivers to get into another car and leave the other car behind.
After Li Ming counted the number of people to confirm that no one was missing, Jiang Yingying and her group followed him into the small building.
The room was very dusty, but what surprised Jiang Yingying was that there was furniture inside. Although it was very old, it looked usable.
Jiang Yingying also discovered that this building actually had a basement, and it was locked.
Jiang Yingying thought that this place would become the new hideout of Li Ming and Li Ying in the future, and that she and Qu Qing and Zhu Zhi might very well die here again. While holding their hands tightly, she secretly observed the surroundings and the movements of the Li Ming brothers.
But in the dusty living room, Li Ming took out a thick wallet from the bag on his chest and took out several ID cards from it.
Li Ming held up the documents in his hand and said calmly, "Everyone, the orphanage has closed down. Li Ying and I can no longer afford to support you in the future."
"I've contacted the government. Someone from another welfare home will come to pick you up tomorrow. You'll just have to stay here for the night."
After saying that, Li Ming ignored everyone's reactions. After returning the documents, he and Li Ying opened the basement door with ease. The remaining people looked at each other in confusion in the dilapidated living room on the first floor.
Li Ming's action suddenly interrupted Jiang Yingying and the others' original plan. The sudden freedom made the three of them a little confused.
"this..."
In order to prevent the two brothers from regretting their decision, Qu Qing was the first to come out of his confusion, pulled Jiang Yingying and Zhu Zhi to the room on the first floor, and closed the door.
The three of them squatted in the corner, plotting their next move in voices that only the other party could hear.
Jiang Yingying originally thought that the three of them would discuss how to spend tonight and tomorrow, but when she looked up, she saw Qu Qing looking at her as if hesitant to speak.
Afterwards, Jiang Yingying heard Qu Qing ask in a strange tone:
"Yingying, did you really hear them talking last night?"
Turning her head again, Jiang Yingying found that Zhu Zhi was also staring at her with the same eyes, and echoed:
"Yes, Sister Yingying, you...you really weren't dreaming that night?"
"If... they really wanted to kill us, why did they let us go now?"
"And they gave us the documents. I don't think they are... like you said..."
When Jiang Yingying was asked this question, her face almost turned pale and she quickly waved her hand.
"I really heard it last night! I stayed awake until dawn, it couldn't be fake!"
"You must believe me!"
"And think about it, why didn't Uncle Li come with us? And why did he suddenly let us go at this point? Doesn't this prove that there's something wrong with these three people?"
"You have to believe me!"
Jiang Yingying was anxious. The friendship between the three people who grew up together suddenly broke down at this time, which made her feel uneasy.
Fortunately, after Qu Qing and Zhu Zhi looked at each other for a long time, they continued to hold Jiang Yingying's hand.
Qu Qing frowned and began to analyze the situation.
"If that's the case, then what they're doing today is probably just a smokescreen. They might kill us all tonight."
Qu Qing was too confident and his expression was too serious, which frightened Zhu Zhi so much that her voice began to tremble.
"So...what are we going to do tonight?!"
"Are we all going to die here?!"
Jiang Yingying lowered her head, thought for a moment, and said, "If we run tonight, they'll probably notice we know, and then our situation will be even more dangerous."
"I think we have to get through tonight."
Qu Qing nodded in agreement and continued:
"We'll take turns keeping watch tonight. Zhu Zhi will be first, then me, and finally Yingying. This way you can get some sleep longer."
"Qu Qing..."
Qu Qing patted Jiang Yingying and said nothing more. The three girls stayed in the room until late at night.
There was no food in the house, so Li Ming brought in some bread and water in the evening. Before leaving, he glanced in Jiang Yingying's direction twice.
Fortunately, everything was fine afterwards. In order to support the night watch, Jiang Yingying gave the mechanical watch in her bag to Zhu Zhi, and then she and Qu Qing went to bed first.
The room was dim, and Zhu Zhi was the only one left, huddled by the door, staring out the dark window, waiting for time to come.
It was a dark night, and from time to time the calls of unknown birds could be heard outside the dark window, which frightened the already timid Zhu Zhi so much that he quickly shrank into the corner.
Fortunately, the hands of the mechanical watch were luminous, and everything was fine at the agreed time. Zhu Zhi gently woke Qu Qing up.
Qu Qing rubbed his eyes and took over from Zhu Zhi. After Zhu Zhi told Qu Qing about what had just happened, he shrank to Jiang Yingying's side and closed his eyes.
While Qu Qing was on guard duty, the situation around him was similar to before, with nothing unusual. The only sounds were the occasional chirping of birds and the rustling of leaves in the wind.
In order to keep herself awake, Qu Qing hugged her arms and dug her nails into the flesh. The pain drove away her sleepiness.
However, like Qu Qing and Zhu Zhi, nothing happened during this period. The surroundings were very quiet and there was no movement outside the house.
When the hands of the mechanical watch reached 4 a.m., Qu Qing woke Jiang Yingying. After learning the general situation from Qu Qing, Jiang Yingying squatted by the door like the other two, starting a new round of vigil.
The first hour was as quiet as the previous one. Jiang Yingying thought she was overthinking it and that nothing would happen even if she didn't keep watch.
But when it was five in the morning, Jiang Yingying was touching the patterns on the mechanical watch bit by bit, thinking about where the three of them would go tomorrow, when a very subtle sound of a door opening came from outside the house.
The sound was faint, but particularly obvious in the quiet night.
Then, there was a sound of not-so-light footsteps.
Jiang Yingying's hair stood on end. She was about to quietly move between Qu Qing and Zhu Zhi to wake them up, but unexpectedly, the footsteps outside the door suddenly stopped.
Jiang Yingying recalled that when she first arrived at this place in the afternoon, she quietly glanced at the layout of the room. The room they were in was located on the left side of the living room. On the right side of the living room was the staircase leading upstairs, and behind the stairs was the door to the basement.
Through sound location analysis, the sound was most likely the basement door being opened, and the people standing outside their house were most likely Li Ming and Li Ying.
Thinking of this, Jiang Yingying's body became a little stiff. In order to avoid making any noise, she supported herself on the floor and crawled towards Qu Qing and Zhu Zhi little by little.
At this time, there was still no movement outside the door. The gap in the door was very thin and dark. Jiang Yingying didn't even know whether there was anyone standing outside the house.
Jiang Yingying woke the two girls up. When they opened their eyes, they saw Jiang Yingying shining the light of her watch on them. In the pale green light, Jiang Yingying's eyes widened and she raised a finger to her mouth.
"Shh!"
Qu Qing and Zhu Zhi woke up instantly and understood what was going on. They also covered their mouths tightly and did not make any sound.
The three girls walked lightly, moved slowly to the door and squatted down.
At this moment, the creaking sound of the door opening was heard again, followed by footsteps approaching their door little by little, and finally two voices that were extremely familiar to them.
"Brother, what are you doing?"
“…Nothing.”
"But, I wanted to ask you this afternoon, are you really willing to let Jiang Yingying go?"
"What's the point of being reluctant? Dad has already told me to stop immediately if I get caught. Do you really want to do this for the rest of your life?"
"Dad is gone. Although this makes money, it's not enough to make dirty money forever. We have to find another way."
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