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墨書 Inktalez
On the morning of the twenty-first, while Autumn Wind was still asleep, Yu quietly tiptoed out of her room.
She sat quietly in the living room, waiting for Sister Liu to return from grocery shopping.
Sister Liu and the driver, Old Liu, were a couple married for zero years. Qiu Ruolan allowed Old Liu to drive her to pick up Sister Liu when she went to a farther market.
Hearing the sound of a car stopping outside, Yu sat up from the sofa. She hurried to the door and opened it to greet Sister Liu.
Sister Liu was holding a basket of vegetables in her left hand and a stack of newspapers in her right. She was startled to see Yu at the door. "Sister Jiang, you’re up so early!"
Yu took the newspaper from Sister Liu's hand and quickly walked to the sofa, flipping through it rapidly. "Yeah, I have a lot to do today, so I had to get up early... Huh? Why is there no entertainment section in the newspaper?"
Yu flipped through the newspaper but couldn’t find Qiu Ruolan’s advertisement looking for Liu Jian.
"Oh, they must have taken it out because they were afraid Sister Qiu would see it!"
Yu sighed deeply. "That's good. For this month, if there are any reports about Sister Qiu in the newspaper, they should be hidden away so Autumn Wind doesn’t see them!"
Sister Liu agreed and quickly walked toward the kitchen to start making breakfast.
Another maid, Sister Li, had already cleaned up the courtyard and entered the kitchen to help Sister Liu prepare breakfast.
Yu glanced through the newspaper on the sofa. She looked at the time and realized it was almost time for Oke to wake up, so she stood up and slowly walked toward the stairs.
Just as she stepped onto the stairs, driver Old Liu cautiously pushed open the door and bowed to Yu. "Sister Jiang, good morning!"
"Good morning... Old Liu, today you will take Sister Sally's car and drive me to the office, specifically Wang Shaowu's office..." This was Qiu Ruolan's instruction, meant to prevent Liu Jian from catching wind of it.
At this moment, Liu Jian was more detestable in Qiu Ruolan's mind than a robber.
"Understood..." Old Liu replied with his head down.
...
After finishing breakfast, Yu handed Oke over to Autumn Wind, saying, "I'll head out to take care of some things... please watch over my son!"
Autumn Wind smiled wryly, "Don't worry... are you going by yourself? Ahe, go with Yu!"
Autumn Wind held Oke and pointed at Ahe.
"Alright!" Yu accepted Autumn Wind's kindness.
Oke was already quite heavy, and Autumn Wind could hardly carry him. He took Oke's hand and walked to the door to see Yu off.
Oke did not cry or fuss; holding Autumn Wind's hand, he sweetly said to Yu, "Mommy, bring me back a gift!"
"Sure!" Yu replied, feeling a bit anxious as she climbed into Qiu Ruolan's car, with Ahe sitting in the passenger seat.
Old Liu started the car and drove away.
The sunlight today was very nice, generously and quietly spreading across the garden. Oke couldn't stay inside the house any longer and kept pulling on Autumn Wind to go play in the garden.
Autumn Wind opened the door, and the scent of sunshine rushed in. In the densely populated Taipei, having a private garden is truly a symbol of luxury.
Autumn Wind held Oke's hand and slowly walked into the garden.
Ah Wei brought a rattan chair for Autumn Wind, who lay back on it, her eyes half-closed as she watched Oke joyfully weaving through the flowers and plants.
It was such a warm scene; her hand rested lightly on her flat abdomen, showing no signs of life.
A cloud drifted over her previously serene smile, and Autumn Wind turned her face away, not wanting to see Oke's playful antics.
This was simply a torment for Autumn Wind. She decided to shift her focus. "Sister Liu, bring me today's Newspaper!"
Sister Liu ran out from the villa, respectfully handing over the organized Newspaper to Autumn Wind. She dared not look directly at Autumn Wind, fearing that she might inadvertently reveal the secret of how the Newspaper was organized.
There was no change in Autumn Wind's expression as she took the Newspaper but noticed that Sister Liu was still standing in front of her. "Do you need something?"
Sister Liu replied with a soft "Hmm," then glanced at Ah Wei. "Sister Qiu, could you ask Ah Wei to help me? There's a little problem with my kitchen hood!"
Autumn Wind nodded, tacitly agreeing with Sister Liu, so Ah Wei followed Sister Liu toward the kitchen.
Although the Newspaper had been checked repeatedly by Fish and others, they only filtered out information about Autumn Wind. The pages still contained news about other people Autumn Wind knew, such as Qiu Feng.
It didn't take long for Autumn Wind to find the news about Qiu Feng. It was a report regarding the compensation for Yusha's death.
After reading through the content, her eyes fixated on the accompanying image.
The family photo of Qiu Feng radiated warmth, igniting Autumn Wind with a burning heat, while Yusha's brilliant smile pierced Autumn Wind's heart.
Unable to endure the torment, Autumn Wind suddenly became irritable and waved her arms, throwing the Newspaper to the ground.
The Newspaper spread out like a flower, and Oke, who had been playing in the dirt, looked at Autumn Wind with curiosity.
With her bright, big eyes, Oke made Autumn Wind realize her own blunder. She tidied her slightly messy hair and smiled at Oke, saying, "Auntie is just playing a game!"
As Autumn Wind bent down to pick up the Newspaper one by one, she sat on a rattan chair and slowly organized them.
A silver-gray Maserati appeared in front of Autumn Wind.
The car slowly drove past the garden gate, and due to the refraction of light on the window glass, a refined male figure could be seen inside.
In the Villa Area, where only the wealthy reside, Autumn Wind continued to sort through the Newspaper, but her gaze followed the movement of the car.
The car finally stopped in front of the private garden of the neighboring villa. As soon as it came to a halt, a Maid rushed out in a uniform that looked quite impressive.
A man resembling a butler stepped forward to open the car door. The man inside extended his long legs, and as his polished shoes touched the ground, a handsome man exuding dominance emerged from the vehicle.
Autumn Wind paused her actions, tucked the Newspaper under her bottom, and straightened her back slightly in the rattan chair.
Ah, how could it be that Umbrella Man!
That strange feeling returned instantly, and Autumn Wind immediately thought of escaping. But just then, Oke tripped over a stone and cried out loudly.
Autumn Wind hurriedly got up and rushed to Oke, picking Oke up from the ground and gently comforting him.
However, Oke's cries grew louder, like a muffled thunder echoing in the originally tranquil space, which naturally reached Umbrella Man's ears.
His previously relaxed face suddenly furrowed in concern as he turned to search for the source of the child's cries.
As he turned, his gaze met Autumn Wind's, and his frown deepened. His mouth formed an expression of surprise, and the corners of his lips slowly curled into a sinister smile.
"Young Master, Mr. James is waiting for you in the study..." came the butler's voice.
Umbrella Man retracted his smile and turned to follow the butler's guidance toward the villa.
The smile of Umbrella Man made Autumn Wind feel uneasy. Sister Liu and Ah Wei heard Oke's cries and ran out.
Autumn Wind handed Oke to Sister Liu, softly saying, "Let's go back to the room; I'm a bit tired!"
The crying Oke, under Sister Liu's soothing, gradually quieted down. Exhausted, he leaned his head against Sister Liu's embrace and fell asleep.
Autumn Wind went straight upstairs. She stretched out her body and lay flat on the bed. Sunlight streamed in through the window, casting a brilliant glow on Autumn Wind.
Autumn Wind had never lived the life of an elder sister; not only did she not have it, but also privately, neither did Qiu Ruolan nor Qiu Mowen.
Even though they were surrounded by people at work, once back in reality, everyone was alone. Despite having so many houses, Qiu Ruolan rarely hired a Maid, except for occasionally asking a Part-time Worker to come clean.
Like Qiu Mowen, she enjoyed curling up in her apartment, quietly living a peaceful life.
These are all the reminders that Grandma gave them at that time: "Be diligent in checking the household, and do not be overly particular about food and clothing." One should manage the household frugally and not be too picky about food and clothing.
However, now Qiu Ruolan has arranged for so many Maids, which has long violated the Qiu Family's principles of managing a household. The only explanation is that Qiu Ruolan is trying to compensate for her guilt towards Autumn Wind in this way.
This made Autumn Wind involuntarily think of that old woman's phone call. The frail voice put pressure on her, and she jumped out of bed, holding her head to stop her wandering thoughts.
Ah, no, that voice was becoming increasingly strong, echoing in Autumn Wind's ears. She released her hands, reached for her bag, and wanted to take out her iPad to watch a movie to distract herself.
As she opened her bag, a light blue piece of paper slipped out and floated gently to the ground.
Autumn Wind was filled with anger and suspicion as she bent down to pick it up, not remembering that this paper was in her bag.
Slowly opening it, she exclaimed! It was actually the compensation form from the Umbrella Man—the form that he had pressed onto the hospital bed when he left. Autumn Wind had always thought she had left it at the hospital, but it somehow ended up in her bag.
Her gaze shifted downward, landing on the compensation amount at the bottom: fifty thousand yuan.
Thinking about it, that Umbrella Man was right next door now. Autumn Wind crumpled the paper into a ball.
"Sister Liu! Sister Liu..." She opened the door and shouted for the maid.
However, standing at the door was Sister Li. Since Sister Li did not live in the villa and returned home at a regular time after work each day, Autumn Wind was not very familiar with her.
"Sister Qiu, is there something you need?" Sister Li's voice had a slight hoarseness to it, with a hint of a rural accent.
"Nothing much..." For some reason, compared to Sister Liu, Autumn Wind felt a bit of distrust towards Sister Li.
She returned to the bedside, stuffed the crumpled compensation form back into her bag, and brushed her hair aside. "I just want to know, what kind of people live around this villa!"
Sister Li's eyes suddenly sparkled with excitement. Since everyone got off work at regular hours, she sometimes exchanged outings with the maids from the neighboring houses. She was most familiar with the gossip about the Zhangs and the Lis.
Clearing her throat, she put on a knowledgeable expression. "In front of us is Liu Mansion, the one from the television station. It used to be for acting, singing, and hosting. Now that they’ve retired from the spotlight, the second sister of Liu Mansion is the agent for Madam!"
Madam—using such a formal term to refer to Qiu Ruolan made Autumn Wind feel somewhat uncomfortable.
So it turns out that’s Liu Qingyuan in front of us. Autumn Wind nodded, signaling Sister Li to continue.
"To the east of our house, it's been vacant for a while. The owner is abroad and is planning to sell it. There have been people coming to view it recently..."
"What about to the west?" Autumn Wind asked about Umbrella Man.
"Well..." Sister Li hesitated. Although she had interacted with their maid, those people were very tight-lipped and had never mentioned anything about their master.
"What? Aren't you clear about it..."
Sister Li didn't want Autumn Wind to think she was useless, so she racked her brain and finally said, "I heard he just returned from America; he used to be involved in finance over there..."
Returning from America—this must have caused Liu Jian a loss of several tens of millions, Autumn Wind thought, looking at Sister Li with eager eyes, urging her to continue.
"Um, also, I heard he is now a shareholder in hk and holds the largest share..."
Hk—upon hearing those three letters, Autumn Wind's eyes widened in surprise. Sister Li noticed Autumn Wind's reaction and looked up at her.
"Get out! I'll call you if I need anything!" Autumn Wind said, calming herself and gesturing for Sister Li to leave.
Sister Li left with a hint of reluctance; she hadn't yet shown all her talents to Autumn Wind. She glanced at Autumn Wind's face, noticed her displeasure, and lowered her head as she walked out of Autumn Wind's room.
Autumn Wind was still lost in thought about hk. Fish had told her last night that hk had been continuously notifying her to attend the Shareholders Meeting. Would that mean she would have to meet that Umbrella Man frequently?
The face of Umbrella Man, with his eerie smile, suddenly floated before Autumn Wind.
No, she needed to pay that guy back quickly.
Autumn Wind stood up and walked to the window. The bedroom window faced the villa across the street. She pulled back the curtains and stared at the white roof of the villa opposite.
Tears inexplicably streamed down her face.
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