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墨書 Inktalez
Qiu Mowen is an eternal pain in the hearts of the mother and daughter.
Autumn Wind restrained her crumbling emotions and slowly walked into the bedroom with heavy steps. As soon as she closed the door, she felt like a fallen leaf sliding to the ground.
All the longing, all the affection, all the memories turned into tears that surged from her eyes at that moment.
What she once thought was calmness and forgetfulness transformed into an overwhelming sadness.
On the other side of the door, Qiu Ruolan stood with clenched fists in front of the door. She raised her hand several times, wanting to knock on the door, but ultimately succumbed to the torment of her heart.
She leaned against the door panel and slowly slid down to the floor.
The two of them cried back-to-back, separated by a thin wooden board, feeling each other's warmth yet unable to sense it.
Qiu Ruolan cried until she was exhausted, stood up, and unsteadily walked toward the study.
Autumn Wind, tired from crying, slowly climbed onto her bed. Her red eyes were slightly swollen, and she grabbed an ice pack to apply it to her eyes.
The cold temperature pressed against Autumn Wind's eyes suddenly calmed her heart. She reflected on her earlier attitude; confronting Qiu Ruolan in front of so many Maid made it difficult for her to save face.
With a determined heart, she decided to apologize to Qiu Ruolan.
She opened the bedroom door just as Sister Liu happened to walk by. Autumn Wind called out to Sister Liu, "Hey, Sister Liu, um...," she really didn't want to refer to Qiu Ruolan as "my mom." After hesitating for a while, she continued, "Where is that lady?"
Sister Liu did not look up at Autumn Wind, but guessed her hesitation from her tone and softly replied, "The lady is in the study. Do you want to go see her...?"
"Yeah, I got it..."
Autumn Wind turned her face toward the room located in the corner of the second floor. She knew that room was the darkest in the villa.
Turning on her heels, she slowly walked away, while Sister Liu behind her suddenly realized something and exclaimed "Ah!"
"What's wrong?" Autumn Wind asked curiously as she turned around.
"Well, the lady has been in there for a long time. She doesn't allow any disturbances in the study... Sister, you see..." Sister Liu had worked in a large household for over ten years, so terms of respect like "lady," "sister," and "madam" were as common to her as "hi" or "hello."
"Oh..." Autumn Wind nodded and gestured for Sister Liu to go about her business.
Sister Liu slightly bent her waist and stepped back. After watching Sister Liu's figure appear downstairs, Autumn Wind adjusted her breathing and decided to head toward the study.
Some matters are best resolved immediately, such as an "apology."
Even though she had been in this villa for over a month and had explored almost all the rooms while playing hide-and-seek with Oke, Autumn Wind had never actually entered the study.
She placed her hand on the doorknob and gently turned it; the door opened without her needing to unlock it. Qiu Ruolan was a woman who valued privacy highly, so it was quite rare for her to let down her guard like this.
As Autumn Wind pondered this, she leaned her head into the room.
The lighting in the room was dim, revealing scattered books everywhere. A suitcase that Qiu Ruolan had brought back from the mainland lay horizontally on the floor, its contents already taken out.
Autumn Wind scanned the room and finally focused on a neatly arranged photo directly across from her. The photo depicted a man who, though blurry, was not Qiu Mowen.
A low sobbing sound drifted in from afar. Autumn Wind frowned slightly, looking around until she finally noticed a figure lying on the ground beneath where the photo was placed.
The crying was coming from there. Autumn Wind pressed her hand against her chest and carefully observed that figure; she finally recognized it was Qiu Ruolan.
Autumn Wind's gaze moved upward, ultimately landing on the photo of the unfamiliar man.
A bolt of lightning struck down, hitting Autumn Wind; her empty heart was suddenly gripped tightly by a large hand, tearing at her. That man was Guan Xiu.
The man who had given life to Autumn Wind.
Autumn Wind's gaze fell upon Guan Xiu's photo, the dim light casting a soft blur over the image. It was a kind of French romantic charm that made Autumn Wind finally understand why all these years Qiu Ruolan still held onto Guan Xiu.
The low sobbing of Qiu Ruolan continued to echo in Autumn Wind's ears.
"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry!" The crying was mixed with intermittent trembling sounds.
Was she apologizing to Guan Xiu?
Autumn Wind held her breath in contemplation. Could it be that Guan Xiu's death was truly related to Qiu Ruolan?
She withdrew her gaze and turned her head back, leaning against the door, unwilling to believe that her suspicions were true.
Autumn Wind pressed hard on her chest, furrowing her brows as she staggered toward her room. She needed to return before this thought spread further.
It would be best to take some Sedative or something similar to help her fall asleep.
Before she could reach the door, the phone in the living room rang. Sister Liu quickly answered it. "Hello, this is Autumn Mansion. Who are you looking for? Oh, okay... please hold on..." Sister Liu placed the receiver down on the table.
As she turned around to go upstairs, she saw Autumn Wind. "Sister Qiu, your phone!"
Autumn Wind let her hand slide down from the door panel and asked in return, "Is it for me?"
Sister Liu nodded earnestly. "Yes, sister!"
Taking a deep breath, Autumn Wind stepped down the stairs. The emotions she had just suppressed made her feel almost unbearable, but in front of Sister Liu, she couldn't let her tears flow freely like before.
Gently picking up the shiny golden receiver from the table, she had to admit that she was immediately taken aback.
"Did you hear what she just said?" It was the voice of an elderly woman.
The old woman had just been beside me, Autumn Wind wide-eyed and panicking as she looked around.
Sister Liu stood behind Autumn Wind, inexplicably staring at her.
Autumn Wind suppressed her overwhelming fear and anger, lowering her voice to shout, "Who are you? How do you know this..."
Autumn Wind's words were only half-finished before she abruptly stopped. She noticed not far away, Qiu Ruolan, dressed in a black long dress, was slowly coming down the stairs.
A cold, mocking voice came through the microphone: "Don't worry about who I am. I told you she is the murderer of your parents. You must take revenge for them. I think you know what to do, right? Do you need more details?"
Autumn Wind stared at Qiu Ruolan with dark eyes, biting her lip tightly. She wanted to speak but didn't know what to say; in the end, she only made a "tch" sound.
"She’s coming down, right?" The aged voice came again, accurately describing what Qiu Ruolan was doing.
The mocking laughter from the microphone continued, "Don't tell me you don't believe me. The evidence is in her Safe. If you want to blindly follow her, there's nothing I can do... Look into her eyes; she will avoid your gaze out of guilt..."
After saying this, the call was disconnected.
Autumn Wind stood frozen in place, unable to move. From the corner of her vision, she knew Qiu Ruolan had walked up beside her.
Autumn Wind turned stiffly, and Qiu Ruolan smiled at her as she approached. She reached out her hand, preparing to embrace Autumn Wind.
But Autumn Wind recoiled as if electrocuted. At the same time, she stared blankly into Qiu Ruolan's eyes.
The aged voice was right; for a brief second, Qiu Ruolan's gaze met Autumn Wind's before quickly averting. "What’s wrong with you, Autumn Wind?"
Autumn Wind widened her eyes, but tears still rolled down uncontrollably. After gritting her teeth and saying "Don't mind me," she angrily got up and rushed out the door.
She ran wildly in the garden like a crazed lion, circling the villa again and again, wandering like a lost child.
But she couldn't find the person who should be hiding in some corner of the villa, watching her. "Come out! What are you hiding for?"
The empty night sky echoed with no response.
Autumn Wind squatted down in despair, tears streaming down her face and rolling into her collar.
A warm embrace wrapped around her from behind, and a familiar, gentle voice that could quickly calm Autumn Wind whispered in her ear, "I'm here, don't be afraid..."
But this voice, which lingered in Autumn Wind's ear for less than a second, struck her like a thunderbolt—Qiu Ruolan was holding her!!
She recoiled again, staring wide-eyed at Qiu Ruolan, a phrase echoing in her mind: "She is your enemy; why are you clinging to her?"
Tears continued to fall from her eyes, and her shoulders trembled with sobs, yet she stubbornly lifted her chin to look at Qiu Ruolan.
"What’s wrong?" Qiu Ruolan asked with concern, her voice soft and enveloping like clouds around Autumn Wind.
The woman who had just lashed out at Liu Jian seemed like a completely different person.
As Qiu Ruolan spoke, she slowly moved closer to Autumn Wind, embracing her again and softly soothing, "It's okay, it's okay. I won't mention that guy again!"
Autumn Wind didn't know whether Qiu Ruolan was referring to "Liu Jian" or "Qiu Mowen," but she simply nodded gently.
Qiu Ruolan took Autumn Wind into the villa and instructed Sister Liu to prepare hot water for Autumn Wind, so she could take a bath and rest quickly.
Then she called Old Liu and Ahe, along with Ah Wei, into the study.
Qiu Ruolan did not realize that the recent phone call hinted at the cause of Guan Xiu's death; she genuinely thought it was a nuisance call from Liu Jian.
So she ordered Old Liu to remove the phone from the house and instructed that Ahe and Ah Wei must stay close to Autumn Wind, preventing any further approach from Liu Jian.
"Did everyone understand?" Qiu Ruolan asked sternly.
"Yes!" everyone replied.
...
In the empty house on the east side of the villa, a shadow flashed by, bright eyes fixed intently on Qiu Ruolan's villa, white teeth stubbornly biting down on lips, and a chilling light flickered in the gaze.
Meanwhile, in the villa on the west side, Qiu Hai stood by the window, frowning slightly at the scene of mother and daughter embracing.
He clicked his tongue and then gently lit a cigar.
In the darkness, smoke rings rose slowly, and boundless loneliness enveloped Qiu Hai's heart.
Clearing his throat, he picked up the phone on the table, quickly pressed a number, and a hoarse, deep voice came through: "For next week's Board of Directors meeting, invite Sister Qiu and Mr. Liu to attend together!"
He quickly hung up the phone.
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