Chapter 193 Maneuvering
Ying Yun gently patted her back to soothe the woman's depressed mood.
“It’s not your fault,” he said. “What’s done is done, and we shouldn’t keep fantasizing about what would have happened if things hadn’t gone wrong…”
"It's better to focus on the present."
Xin Que remained silent, which was taken as tacit agreement.
The man gently laid Xin Que down on the narrow sofa, holding her in his arms, and said softly, "Xin Que, you once taught me to plan ahead."
"If one day the Xu family finds us... it's better to prepare in advance."
Xin Que hummed in agreement, remaining silent.
"If..." Ying Yun's voice grew softer and softer, blending into the pattering rain outside the window, surprisingly calming.
"If only we had something to hold the Xu family hostage."
Xin Que's brain was working at lightning speed.
Ying Yun's ultimate goal was still to obtain the fabricated will and evidence in Xin Que's possession.
...
Ying Yun parked the car outside the mall and walked into the mall chatting and laughing with Xin Que.
“Two months have passed, we’re safe now.” He walked to the furniture section and observed which style of furniture Xin Que liked.
Xin Que didn't respond, but the smile on her lips betrayed her inner joy.
Over the past two months, the two of them have cultivated a small nursery in front of the cabin.
Xin Que returned to her old job as a temporary worker at a local auto repair shop; Ying Yun stayed home to clean the small house and took on some writing work online.
Life has returned to normal.
Freed from their tense situation, the two packed up their folding bed and put it in storage, then drove to a shopping mall to buy furniture for their long-term living needs.
The sofa needs to be replaced with a larger one, the bed needs to be carefully selected, and then there's the wardrobe, kitchenware...
“From an aesthetic point of view, perhaps black retro wrought iron would be more suitable for our home decor,” Ying Yun suggested.
He subtly blocked the public television broadcasting the news, while simultaneously revealing just enough blank space to attract Xin Que's attention.
Xin Que's gaze indeed passed over his shoulder and landed on the television screen.
The hysterical, ferocious faces of the Xu couple appeared on the left side of the host.
Xin Que immediately looked away, her emotions visibly tense.
"Whatever." She had lost interest in continuing her shopping trip.
Ying Yun wanted to comfort her, but seeing her furrowed brows, he didn't press her further.
As she left the furniture section, Xin Que paused.
She turned to look at the full-length mirror on a pillar not far away.
Is it just my imagination?
During the time that Xin Que was feigning compliance with Ying Yun, she always felt that besides Ying Yun, there was someone else watching her from behind.
The feeling of being spied on is very strange.
It wasn't the gaze of a single person in the crowd, but more like... a spying from outside the world.
Xin Que returned to the car before Ying Yun.
Ying Yun is confirming the address and time for the scheduled home delivery with the staff.
You have to choose a time when Xin Que is at home.
After removing her mask and glasses, Xin Que looked at her palm once again.
The tiny string of characters floated out again.
Occasionally, the string of characters would combine into simple words, giving her a hint.
for example----
Ying Yun, you must not kill him.
She recalled how she had managed to pull back the chef's knife that had been so close to Ying Yun's back.
This tip now seems very useful.
How many major events would she miss if she killed Ying Yun?
Occasionally, this little string of characters would piece together to form a name she had never seen before.
【Lin Ying】
Xin Que was completely baffled.
She felt as if her memory had been tampered with.
Perhaps it was deliberately edited, or perhaps it was covered up...
But she must remain highly vigilant in this unfamiliar world.
Having negotiated with Ying Yun until now, she was absolutely certain that killing Xu Yuan was a misstep, a misstep that played right into the other party's hands.
Ying Yun was likely an accomplice of the mastermind behind all of this. After Xu Yuan was killed, they immediately and meticulously pushed Xin Que into the perilous path of "escape."
Then, taking advantage of the Xu family's fury, they forced Xin Que to gradually drive her to the brink of despair, forcing her to reveal the will and all the evidence.
But what exactly are the will and the evidence?
All she knew was that whenever she thought deeply about those two things, she would have a strange sense of familiarity, followed by a splitting headache.
But there was absolutely no useful information in the brain.
When Ying Yun returned to the car, Xin Que had already returned to normal and showed no signs of weakness.
"I remember tomorrow is your day off, right?" Ying Yun smiled and leaned over to fasten Xin Que's seatbelt, his actions intimate.
Xin Que nodded. "Mm."
Ying Yun got back into the driver's seat, started the car, and left the parking lot. "I've booked a furniture delivery service for tomorrow afternoon. I need you to keep an eye out and open the door to pick it up tomorrow, is that alright?"
Xin Que's body visibly tensed up.
“The editor wants to talk to me about publishing tomorrow,” Ying Yun explained. “I’ll be back soon.”
"Don't worry, I'll only be away for two hours at most... If it really doesn't work, I can contact the staff to reschedule."
Xin Que was never the type to bother others.
She hesitated for a moment, but finally agreed, "It's okay, no need to change the time."
Ying Yun breathed a sigh of relief after confirming several times that Xin Que was capable. "I'm sorry, I'll go back and ask if we can have an online meeting. I'll try my best not to leave you alone."
...
The outcome of the communication was, as expected, a denial.
Ying Yun looked dejected. He lay down on the narrow sofa with Xin Que in his arms, tossing his phone aside. "I'm sorry, I..."
Xin Que shook her head, "It's alright, it's just picking up some furniture."
After the bedroom light was turned off, Xin Que gripped the folding knife in her sleeve and slowly closed her eyes.
She dreamed of that strange scene again.
Two months later, I dreamed of that ruin entangled in black thorns again.
This time, however, the scene was even stranger than the last.
She remained one of the dolls sitting among the pile of dolls.
A man's mangled body hung from the thorns not far away.
Firefly-like data danced across the severed limbs, reconstructing flesh and tendons thread by thread, stitching the man's body back to its original form.
It's that man again.
He fell from the thorns into the ruins, his eyes vacant, like a headless fly, not knowing where to go.
“…Xin…Que…”
As the man passed by Xin Que once again, the strong smell of blood wafted to her nose.
Xin Que was trapped inside the doll and couldn't move, watching the man pass by her again and again.
This person knows her.
Moreover, the two had a significant grudge against each other.
The thorns once again shredded the mountain of dolls into the darkness.
"I hate her."
Xin Que opened her eyes.
This dream was eerie from beginning to end.
Xin Que stared blankly at the ceiling shrouded in night.
She didn't believe in these supernatural things; she only tried to recall what she had seen and heard during the day, wondering if she had witnessed some strange scenes that her brain had captured as deep memories and projected into her dreams.
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