"What's wrong? Did something happen?" An Xunjie asked, puzzled.
He knew Pei Yu; she wasn't one for jokes. If she said it was important, it was important.
"I met someone today," Pei Yu looked up at him, her expression conflicted. "Someone who looks a lot like you."
"Tch! What's the big deal? Lots of people look alike in this world," An Xunjie said dismissively.
Seeing Pei Yu's furrowed brow, An Xunjie asked nervously, "What? Is this... is this a problem?"
"She's a woman, and she doesn't look very old. She seemed very concerned about you, I suspect..." Pei Yu stammered.
An Xunjie quickly caught on and said anxiously, "You mean, she might be my sister who was lost years ago?"
"Yes, there's a possibility," Pei Yu nodded, but then quickly added, "But it's just a possibility, not definite."
An Xunjie couldn't hide his excitement. He had heard his parents talk about his sister countless times since he was little. Yet, their love for him never wavered. They were always blaming themselves.
They always felt that if they hadn't been so busy with work back then and had left the child in someone else's care, the child might not have been lost.
So, he had grown up showered with his parents' affection. They compensated for their guilt towards his sister by showering him with love, but they never truly let go of what happened that year.
Even though they knew they might never find their daughter, they still showed their determination through their actions. Therefore, even though An Xunjie knew they were secretly searching for someone who might never return, he never got angry. He only felt heartache for them.
He believed that the time he was born was also the time his parents felt the most guilt towards his sister. That was why he was given this name. But he also knew that he received far more love than she did.
"Then, where is she? Did you take a picture of her? I want to see her."
"Calm down, listen to me," Pei Yu said loudly, trying to soothe him.
"It's like this, I asked her tentatively, but she didn't say she was. However, I felt her reaction was a bit unusual. So, I thought I'd tell you and then secretly do a paternity test or something to confirm," Pei Yu explained calmly.
"You're right," An Xunjie nodded. "Then give me her contact information. I'll ask her out for a meeting."
"She blocked me," Pei Yu said helplessly.
"Don't rush! I haven't finished yet!"
"Our school has surveillance cameras. We should be able to see her through the cameras. And she's not from our school. We don't know why she came to our school, but the gatekeeper must have a record. Don't worry."
"I can't help but worry right now! What if she really is? What if she leaves tomorrow? No matter what, we finally have a clue, even if it's fake, we have to verify it," An Xunjie said earnestly.
He arranged things methodically: "How about this! You go to the gatekeeper and note down any suspicious individuals. We'll call them one by one later. I'll go to the surveillance room to check the cameras."
Pei Yu rarely saw An Xunjie so serious. She nodded decisively, "Okay! Don't worry."
While they were collecting evidence, Xing Yuan was pouring out her heart to Ling Chenyue, seeking comfort.
When she returned home, she remembered that she should clear her traces. To her surprise, she discovered that the school's surveillance footage had been copied.
If she cleared her presence now, the person who copied the footage would find her suspicious by comparison.
Besides, she hadn't done anything wrong. No one knew her identity, so what was the harm in being seen?
However, Xing Yuan saved the link to this surveillance footage in a temporary folder. If her identity were ever exposed, she would immediately erase all traces of herself.
No one would spend time remembering a passerby. As long as she acted perfectly, very few people would know what she looked like.
Xing Yuan didn't expect that her whim today would lead to such a setback.
So, she continued to diligently cultivate her relationship with Ling Chenyue every day. Even though she had to send ten messages to get one reply, she was still content.
Then, behind the scenes, she started to subtly cause trouble, leaking as much information about the transaction as possible, hoping her sister would finish her work soon and leave.
After all, with such a large haul of goods, her sister's superiors would have to give her a bonus, right? It shouldn't be a problem for her to take some time off.
With her around, she was the boss. If anyone wanted to cause trouble, they wouldn't get their way without her consent, and her sister wouldn't have to work overtime.
Meanwhile, An Xunjie, having obtained the video, enlisted the help of a hacker friend to track Xing Yuan's movements.
But Xing Yuan was always cautious. A section of her path through an unmanned alley had been deleted by her. It was difficult to find her this way. In the end, they used the information about outsiders entering the school that day, which they obtained from the gatekeeper.
Most of them were parents of students. However, their school's security was always strict. Only teachers could bring parents in.
But to sneak into the school, and since no one recognized her, Xing Yuan naturally wouldn't use her real information.
So, after trying all the contact information left behind without success, they continued to check the surveillance footage and finally found the mentor who had brought Xing Yuan into the school.
After much pleading and secretly checking her phone, they finally found Xing Yuan's contact information.
In fact, they found it by trying one by one.
An Xunjie didn't know where he found the perseverance. He had never studied so hard. During this period, he was desperately trying to find Xing Yuan's contact information. If it turned out not to be her in the end, how disappointed would he be?
But after seeing Xing Yuan in the surveillance video, An Xunjie felt there was a high probability. This was because An Xunjie resembled his mother, and Xing Yuan looked exactly like his mother when she was young. Sometimes, genes were truly powerful.
When Xing Yuan received An Xunjie's call, her mind was a blur.
She had set her phone to reject unknown calls. However, she had added him as a friend at the bar, so the system automatically recognized him as someone she knew, and An Xunjie was able to get through.
"Hello, did you come to xx school yesterday?" An Xunjie repeated the question he had asked many times before.
At this moment, Xing Yuan hadn't realized the problem yet and calmly replied, "Yes!"
Hearing the young female voice, Pei Yu immediately snatched the phone. "Did you go to the sports field? I said some rude things yesterday and wanted to apologize to you."