After pouring the water, her heart skipped a beat. She put down the cup with trembling hands, recalling a sentence Yang Sijie had said earlier, telling her to kill him if she wanted to save Sophie and Kangxi.
Kangxi, he mentioned Kangxi. Had something happened to Kangxi already?
Heavens, her legs felt so weak she could barely stand. It seemed she had no choice but to continue playing along.
She absolutely could not kill Yang Sijie. If she killed someone, she would become no different from Yang Sijie.
After Yang Sijie was adopted and sent abroad, he must have experienced many misfortunes.
But everyone made different choices when faced with misfortune. Yang Sijie had made his choice, discarding the conscience that a person should have.
But she wouldn't. No matter what happened, she would not choose the same path as Yang Sijie.
She collected herself, thinking she couldn't delay any longer and needed to take the water upstairs quickly.
She took a deep breath, picked up the water cup, and went upstairs again.
...
Qin Tianyi had been lying in the hospital for nearly half a month. His superficial wounds had almost healed, with only a few fractures still recovering.
He had just learned from a friend abroad that Su Kangxi had found the evidence and identified the insiders who had been helping Yang Sijie. The foreign police now had sufficient evidence and had issued a global arrest warrant for Yang Sijie.
"Susu, do you know this news?" His heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally settled. He asked Xiao Anjing, who was peeling an apple for him by the hospital bed.
Xiao Anjing's apple-peeling motion paused. He said casually, "She probably doesn't know yet. Although Yang Sijie is ruined now, he's still on the run. For safety reasons, we can't let the young madam let her guard down."
"That's right. Let's not tell Susu for now, so she doesn't relax her vigilance. Besides, Yang Sijie is cunning and elusive; who knows where he's fled to now? You should send more bodyguards to Dechuan to protect them, mother and son."
"Okay, I understand." Xiao Anjing responded, not daring to meet his gaze.
No one dared to tell Qin Tianyi the truth: Yang Sijie was on the run with Gu Susu.
And Gu Susu had long since left Dechuan. The reason Qin Tianyi had returned safe and sound was entirely because Gu Susu had returned to Yang Sijie's side.
He couldn't imagine what Qin Tianyi would do if he knew all this.
He had learned these things from Su Kangxi. Su Kangxi had contacted him at the time, asking him to find a way to transfer the severely injured Qin Tianyi from the foreign hospital back to Lancheng, and had roughly explained the situation.
But recently, Su Kangxi had suddenly lost contact with him. He had inquired, and Su Kangxi had not returned safely. He didn't know what had happened on their end.
So, he could only keep it from Qin Tianyi on his end, for as long as possible.
Seeing Xiao Anjing distracted while peeling the apple, Qin Tianyi said, "What are you thinking about? You're about to cut your finger."
"Oh, oh." Xiao Anjing stopped and realized the fruit knife was only a millimeter away from his finger. "Nothing."
Qin Tianyi thought of something and said, "Before I'm fully recovered, you absolutely must not let Susu know that I'm injured."
"Don't worry, you've said that so many times, my ears are almost calloused." Xiao Anjing quickly finished peeling the apple and handed it to him.
"How is her and Wei Yanan's clothing store business? Is Little Star getting used to staying there?" Qin Tianyi asked, eating the apple, as if talking to himself, or perhaps to Xiao Anjing.
Xiao Anjing's heart fluttered. He tried his best to conceal it and said, "They are all doing well. You just focus on recovering, don't worry about these things."
"Yes, I'll go see her when I'm fully recovered. Then she won't see that I've been injured and won't blame me for leaving without saying goodbye."
"Right." Xiao Anjing had already stood up and turned his back to him, fiddling with the fresh flowers by the hospital window.
Qin Tianyi truly wished he could recover quickly so Susu wouldn't have to worry about him. He then remembered that someone at the group had privately told him that Xiao Anjing hadn't been at the group much lately. He asked, "Anjing, what have you been busy with lately? Are you still in frequent contact with that Shu Yan?"
Qin Tianyi knew that Xiao Anjing never wanted to be tied down by any woman. He was worried that Xiao Anjing was doing this for other reasons, and asked, "You're not doing this for the Aoxiang Group, are you?"
Xiao Anjing turned to look at him, smiling candidly, "Of course, the Aoxiang Group is the most important thing to me. Since you found me, and we joined forces, how much have we both contributed to the Aoxiang Group? You can abandon everything for your wife and children, but I can't."
Qin Tianyi reminded him, "Shu Yan is not as foolish as you think. She looks impulsive, but when she gets ruthless, she's not hesitant at all. You need to be careful."
Xiao Anjing dismissed it, saying, "I know. It's not as exaggerated as you say. Women are women after all. She's just a bit spoiled and pampered, and perhaps unbalanced emotionally due to setbacks in love. Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."
Qin Tianyi said, "I hope so."
Xiao Anjing recalled the first time he saw Shu Yan. She was just an arrogant yet cute woman with a touch of princess syndrome.
That day, outside Qin Tianyi's office, Shu Yan was wearing a sapphire blue dress embroidered with small goose-yellow flowers. Her skin was crystal clear, and she smiled as she asked, "Is Tianyi brother in?"
"Beautiful lady, may I ask who you are?" He looked at Shu Yan with sparkling eyes, wondering when Qin Tianyi had gained such a sister.
Shu Yan didn't respond. She pouted arrogantly and said disdainfully, "What's your name? Why are you blocking my way? Tianyi brother must be inside."
Xiao Anjing quickly introduced himself, "My name is Xiao Anjing."
"Xiao Anjing, I haven't heard of it," Shu Yan said impatiently.
"Tianyi's cousin, and also his partner." Xiao Anjing had always liked cold, elegant beauties; they were more challenging.
Shu Yan just said "oh" and then bypassed him to find Qin Tianyi.
At that moment, he looked at her retreating figure, feeling a sense of attraction.
But later, when he learned that Shu Yan liked Qin Tianyi, he didn't think about it further.
"What are you thinking about? Have you and Shu Yan become very sweet?" Qin Tianyi asked, returning to a playful tone.
"No, I'm just helping out purely," Xiao Anjing denied outright.
There was truly nothing between him and Shu Yan yet. What worried him most now was Qin Tianyi finding out about Gu Susu.
Qin Tianyi sensed something was off with his mood and asked, "What's wrong? Did something happen at the group again?"
"Nothing. The group is fine now, everything is going very well. You don't need to worry too much."
"That's not right. Is there something you're hiding from me?" Qin Tianyi had worked with Xiao Anjing for so many years; he understood his personality too well. He felt that Xiao Anjing was speaking unnaturally to him lately.
Xiao Anjing relaxed and joked, "No, you're just bored in the hospital and like to overthink things."
Qin Tianyi looked at him coldly, "How can you talk like that? Do you think I'm a woman, overthinking things! Get out, get out of here."
Seeing that he had returned to his normal self, Xiao Anjing felt as if he had been granted amnesty. He quickly obeyed and slipped away, afraid that if he stayed any longer, Qin Tianyi might see through him, or he might accidentally let something slip.
Qin Tianyi didn't expect him to actually run away when he told him to get out. He found it both exasperating and amusing.