Chapter 127: Autumn

The damaged yacht from yesterday had already been salvaged. It had been blown apart too severely and was completely beyond repair.

Duan Liming boarded a new vessel and arrived at the location marked by the red dot on the screen.

The ankle ring Liu Qiu had worn contained a locator. According to the signal, it was now here—about twenty kilometers from where the ship had sunk yesterday.

“Search below,” Duan Liming said.

Her face showed neither grief nor joy. No one could guess what she was thinking.

“Yes.”

From morning until night, someone finally found the ankle ring.

But it was only the portion containing the locator. The white metal surface had a deep indentation, as if it had been bitten by teeth. The full ring that had once encircled her ankle had clearly been shattered.

Duan Liming closed her hand around the fragment and slowly tightened her grip.

The sharp metal cut into the soft flesh of her palm.

Bright red blood seeped through the gaps between her fingers.

Duan Liming gently closed her eyes and said calmly,

“Call everyone back. Stop searching.”

The probability that Liu Qiu had survived a shark attack was almost zero.

“Do you think I killed her?” Duan Liming’s voice scattered in the sea breeze.

The bodyguard didn’t dare respond and simply stood silently.

“I just didn’t want her to leave me.”

Drip.

Blood fell from her knuckles onto the deck, blooming into a red flower.

The faint smell of blood mixed with the salty sea wind, instantly filling the bodyguard’s nose.

“Boss… your hand,” the bodyguard said nervously.

Duan Liming’s voice was low.

“She hated me.”

She slowly opened her eyes and looked toward the dark ocean, calm yet dangerous beneath the night sky.

“It’s time to go back.”

Trending Headlines

#Newlywed wife dies at sea, Duan Group president devastated

#Shock! Eldest daughter of the Liu family dies mysteriously! What is the truth?

#Top financial dynasties unite in a century wedding

The internet exploded with trending topics.

Since the Duan family’s reproductive technology had been announced, they had remained in the spotlight. Even the smallest disturbance attracted paparazzi attention.

The recent marriage alliance with the Liu family had been the same.

That wedding was still being reposted everywhere.

Death and a wedding appearing together—

What cruel irony.

Liu Yaoming never imagined things would end like this.

Her only daughter was dead.

Watching the surveillance footage of Liu Qiu jumping into the sea without hesitation, Liu Yaoming could no longer maintain her stern composure.

She covered her face and began to cry.

Why do people only regret things after they lose them?

Her body trembled and her back hunched.

If she hadn’t forced Liu Qiu…

Would Liu Qiu still have chosen death?

“Ah…” she sighed deeply.

Lowering her hands, bitterness and grief filled her face.

“Have you found who blew up the ship?”

Duan Liming slowly turned her eyes.

“No.”

Liu Yaoming stood up, wiping away her weakness as her expression hardened.

“President Duan, you should leave.”

“All contracts between the Liu family and the Duan family are now void.”

There would never again be friendly relations between the two families.

She blamed Duan Liming—

But she blamed herself even more.

At her age, she still couldn’t resist temptation. She had been seduced by profit.

And in the end she lost the person closest to her.

After Liu Yaoming left, Duan Liming remained sitting quietly on the sofa.

Her gaze rested on the monitor.

It was footage from the sinking ship.

It recorded the moment Liu Qiu jumped.

Duan Liming watched it again and again.

What had Liu Qiu been thinking at that moment?

Was she happy to finally escape that “lunatic” Duan Liming?

Or was she happy to finally reunite with her ex-wife?

Suddenly—

“Damn it, Duan Liming! Give Liu Qiu back to me!”

Duan Fan stormed into the villa like a madwoman.

Seeing Duan Liming calmly sitting on the sofa, she immediately punched her.

The fist landed squarely on Duan Liming’s face.

Duan Liming didn’t resist.

Pain spread from her cheek to her brain.

Her lip split open and blood seeped from the corner of her mouth.

Duan Fan grabbed her collar, her expression twisted with rage, as if she wanted to eat her flesh and drink her blood.

“Tell me the news is fake!”

“You hid her, didn’t you? You hid Liu Qiu somewhere!”

“Tell me! I promise I won’t look for her anymore!”

Duan Fan’s body trembled violently, her face pale.

Then suddenly she heard a voice in the room:

“Liu Qiu, come back!”

But it wasn’t Duan Liming speaking.

Duan Fan stiffly turned her head.

On the desk sat a laptop.

The shaky footage seemed to foreshadow disaster.

In the video, Liu Qiu sat on the railing, looked back once—

It felt as if that gaze passed through the camera straight toward her.

Then she jumped decisively into the sea.

Duan Fan’s heart shook with the camera.

“Duan Liming… this is fake, right? It’s edited, isn’t it?”

She turned back, staring desperately at Duan Liming.

“Tell me where you hid Liu Qiu!”

Duan Liming’s eyes were dark and emotionless.

“You already know the answer.”

Duan Fan had become extremely gaunt. Her cheeks were hollow, her expression distorted like a complete madwoman.

“Big sister… tell me where Liu Qiu is.”

“I’ll die. I really will die.”

Duan Fan finally broke down crying.

“Please… stop lying to me.”

“This joke isn’t funny at all.”

Duan Liming looked quietly at her.

A chill spread through the air.

She looked up at the ceiling as a dull pain slowly spread through her heart.

A joke?

But it wasn’t a joke.

When someone dies, they’re truly gone.

Duan Fan stood unsteadily.

“I’ll find her myself.”

“You’re crazy anyway. You love doing this kind of thing.”

She staggered away.

Duan Liming silently watched her leave.

The dead were gone.

But the living had to continue.

Duan Liming entered the room she once shared with Liu Qiu.

The bedding was still bright red, tacky wedding colors. The character “囍” for double happiness still decorated the wall.

Symbols of a blessed marriage.

“Do you think I loved her?”

‘Who knows?’

“Yes… who knows.”

Duan Liming closed her eyes.

Emotion slowly rose inside her mind, growing larger and larger until it became like a towering tree, rooting deeply in her heart.

“I’m so tired.”

Elsewhere

“Mom, that big sister isn’t wearing shoes. Her feet are bleeding.”

A little girl pointed at a tall figure with messy hair.

The person looked thin and tall, with no clear gender features. Their clothes were filthy, stained with blood. Barefoot, each step left a red footprint behind.

The girl’s mother frowned, told the girl to stay put, and took a pair of newly bought shoes from her bag.

“Excuse me, do you need shoes?”

The tall person ignored her and continued walking.

“Excuse me, do you need shoes?” she repeated.

Still no response.

“Mom! Doesn’t she want them?” the girl shouted.

The woman returned and said,

“She seems to be deaf.”

“Forget it. Let’s go home.”

The girl nodded, but when she looked back once more, she thought she saw the person’s skin briefly turn purple.

“Home.”

112 didn’t remember why she had to go home.

But she had to.

There was something very important there.

Her name was 112.

She didn’t know why.

She couldn’t hear anything. The world around her was silent.

Her feet hurt terribly, but she had to keep walking.

Because someone was waiting at home.

Someone had once told her:

If she behaved well and listened obediently, they would come back to find her.

When that time came, she could ask—

Why was she called 112?

Why couldn’t she hear anything?

Why did she remember only her name?

No… she remembered another name.

Someone’s name.

Qiu.

It felt strange.

She had no memories, yet she still managed to find her home.

She even found the key under the doormat.

She really was clever.

Inside was a small, shabby living room.

112 slowly entered and looked around.

There were no photos.

She didn’t know what Qiu looked like.

After searching the whole house, she found no pictures.

But she found a sketchbook.

And a bank card with a note attached.

The note read:

“Just a little pocket money Jin-yin earned.
I’m not a big boss anymore, so I can only earn it bit by bit.
I hope you won’t dislike it.”

Jinyin?

112 didn’t know who that was.

But reading the note made her chest ache.

She covered the bank card and hugged the sketchbook tightly.

Somehow she knew—

The sketchbook belonged to her.

She sat on the sofa, unsure what to do next.

Her eyes landed on the television.

She fumbled with it and turned it on.

Though she had lost many memories, her body still remembered how to do things.

“Demon! Stop your evil!”

She changed the channel.

Not interesting.

“I love you, Xiaoya! Everyone else is just your substitute!”

Also not interesting.

She couldn’t hear sound—

But she could read subtitles.

Then another broadcast appeared.

“Eldest daughter of the Liu family, Liu Qiu, fell into the sea and died on…”

Liu Qiu.

Qiu—

Ah.

Dead.

Suddenly her heart hurt.

She pressed a hand to her chest.

It was uneven there.

Broken.

A tear slid down her cheek.

112 hugged the sketchbook tightly.

It felt strange.

She didn’t even remember this person.

So why was she crying?

She wiped away her tears slowly.

“I’m so stingy.”

“Why am I crying so much?”

“Someone said I should behave. Crying isn’t behaving.”

If she wasn’t obedient, that person wouldn’t come home.

Even though she didn’t know who that person was.

Curling up on the sofa, she whispered softly:

“Qiu… when will you come back to find me?”

“My heart hurts.”

She couldn’t hear her own voice.

But she knew she had asked Qiu to come back.

If she kept waiting here…

Maybe she would see Qiu again.

Because Qiu would come home.

So the Liu Qiu on the television—

Couldn’t be her Qiu.

Because Qiu had to come home.

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