The timing to meet Huo Jin at the airport was just right; Huo Jin had already handled her boarding procedures.
Huo Jin was right. It wasn't just him, Yang Sijie, who could play dirty and scheme. She could also do it, making him completely unaware and escaping perfectly.
"Susu, it's alright now. The plane has taken off, and you're safe." Huo Jin sat in the seat next to her. Seeing her still very nervous, he took her hand resting on the right armrest.
Gu Susu tried to relax, turned her face, and looked down at the city's night view from a hundred meters above. The traffic flowed like rivers, and skyscrapers stood tall.
As the buildings grew smaller and were swallowed by the night, she finally felt completely at ease.
Huo Jin felt her trembling stop. He handed her the passport and plane ticket he had been holding for her. "This is your new identity, Shen Xin. Orphaned, raised in an orphanage abroad. You came to Lancheng because a French company sent you here for work. Do you remember?"
Gu Susu nodded. Lancheng, a city name that felt familiar when she murmured it in her heart.
Although she still couldn't recall what happened in Lancheng, she was back now, back to reclaim her lost memories.
...
The early morning in Lancheng had a tranquil beauty.
Gu Susu wore a baseball cap, pulling the brim down low, and followed Huo Jin out of the airport.
A gray sedan was already waiting outside the airport. Huo Jin walked over and quickly opened the car door, letting Gu Susu get in first.
Chang Qingchuan, who was in the driver's seat, immediately turned his head to look at Gu Susu and said excitedly, "Susu, ever since you lost contact with me, I've been worried about you. It's good to see you back safe and sound."
Gu Susu looked up at him and asked, "Who are you? Are you also my friend here?"
Chang Qingchuan had already heard from Huo Jin about Gu Susu's amnesia. But seeing her now, looking at him with completely unfamiliar eyes, he still found it a bit hard to accept.
Just as he was about to answer Gu Susu, Huo Jin also got into the car, closed the door, and said to him, "Drive first. This isn't a place to talk. Yang Sijie probably knows she's gone by now and will be looking for her everywhere."
Chang Qingchuan stopped talking, started the car, and drove Gu Susu to the accommodation they had prepared.
He and Huo Jin had discussed it. After bringing Susu back to Lancheng, the best course of action was to let her hide for a while, preventing anyone who knew her in Lancheng from discovering her.
The fewer people who knew about this, the better, so Yang Sijie couldn't find her.
They believed that once Yang Sijie thought Susu had completely disappeared and could never be found, he would give up on her, and then Susu would be completely safe.
This was just a matter of time. Susu would have to hide for at least half a year, perhaps a year, and could not show herself in public.
...
When Wendy returned to their residence and tremblingly told Yang Sijie that Miss Gu was missing, Yang Sijie initially thought Susu had playfully ditched Wendy and gone for coffee with Sophie.
But he waited until late at night, and Susu still hadn't returned. Her phone was switched off, and only then did he feel something was amiss.
He quickly found Sophie's contact information and contacted her. Only then did he learn that Susu hadn't been with her.
Sophie was at a rock bar that night, and people around could testify that there were no other girls with her.
He suddenly felt a surge of panic, roared, and questioned Wendy again about how she lost Susu.
Wendy assured him that she had waited for Miss Gu in the studio's reception area as usual, never leaving her post, and hadn't seen Miss Gu leave the studio at all.
However, by the time the studio closed for the night, Miss Gu hadn't come out. Before others left, she had searched the studio thoroughly but still couldn't find Miss Gu.
Yang Sijie didn't believe that a living person could just disappear into thin air. He used every method he could think of to search everywhere Gu Susu might have gone in Paris, but he couldn't find any trace of her.
He also considered if she might have left Paris. He checked all departure records for the past few days, but there were no clues. Moreover, her passport was still in the safe in their apartment; without her passport, she couldn't go anywhere.
He even thought about checking Qin Tianyi's recent itinerary. Qin Tianyi had returned to Lancheng half a month ago and hadn't been to Paris recently.
Where had Gu Susu gone? He couldn't figure out how she could have disappeared.
They were supposed to return to New York for their wedding. Days passed, their flight tickets to New York had expired a week ago, and he still hadn't found Susu.
He opened the safe in their apartment and, as he took out Susu's passport, he noticed that the diamond ring he had given her was also quietly lying in the safe.
Holding her passport in one hand and the diamond ring in the other, he carefully recalled the days before her disappearance – her every smile, every word she spoke… it was all a pretense.
She had deceived him! She had planned to leave him long ago!
In a fit of rage, he threw her passport into the fireplace, thinking that without a passport, she must still be in Paris, and he would find her even if he had to tear the place apart!
The vibration of his phone sounded particularly jarring in the extremely quiet room. Yang Sijie didn't even look at it, lightly swiped his finger, and Mark's voice came through.
"Mr. Yang, tomorrow is the wedding day. When are you and Miss Gu returning? Should I go to the airport to wait?"
Yang Sijie said coldly, "The wedding is canceled."
Mark on the other end of the phone was very surprised, but even through the phone, he could feel Yang Sijie's terrifyingly low pressure. He didn't dare to ask why it was canceled.
"Okay, understood."
Yang Sijie's eyes were filled with sinister malice. He instructed, "Find a few people to come to the Paris apartment. I want to throw that useless woman into the Seine River."
Mark's voice trembled with fear. "Mr. Yang, what happened between you and Miss Gu? Please calm down, don't hurt Miss Gu… Can't anything be resolved properly…"
Yang Sijie curved his lips, finding it amusing. When did Mark dare to pity his woman?
"Do you need to teach me how to treat my own woman?"
"I didn't mean that, Mr. Yang, please, for the sake of Miss Gu being your childhood sweetheart…"
"Enough. The woman I want to throw into the Seine River is not her, it's Wendy." Yang Sijie hung up abruptly.
He got up and walked towards the servant's room where Wendy was. Wendy was already bruised and battered, curled up weakly in the corner of the room.
Yang Sijie walked over, grabbed her collar, and slapped her repeatedly. Each slap was crisp and loud, yet it couldn't quell the hatred in his heart.
"Stop hitting, stop hitting… I'm sorry, I was wrong, I'm useless…" Wendy, with a mouth full of blood, kept begging for mercy.
Yang Sijie ignored her pleas, his heart as hard as stone. He casually grabbed a pen from the table, intending to stab her eyes.