He stole a glance at Fu Tingyu, who was still sitting behind his desk. His heartbeat couldn’t help speeding up.

  Although Fu Tingyu was physically here, Shi Yan knew that he was worried sick for Madam’s whereabout.

  Perhaps he too was hoping that Madam would come looking for him at North Star too.

  But the night had fallen, and Madam was still nowhere to be seen.

  Sir probably couldn’t keep still anymore.

  Fu Tingyu raised his head when he saw Shi Yan strode into his office. “Is she here?”


  “No, Sir. They sent words from Jiangcheng saying that they couldn’t find her.” Shi Yan carefully answered.

  She wasn’t in Jiangcheng, neither did she come to North Star. Where did she go?

  Fu Tingyu tightened his grip around his pen. His eyes went to his phone, which hadn’t rung even once today.

  He reached out for his phone and dialed a number familiar to him.

  After a few seconds, a voice message came to his ear.

  “It’s a big world out there. I wanted to go see the world.”


  Fu Tingyu immediately panicked after listening to the voice message.

  He finished work very late the night before. Afraid that he would be disturbing her sleep, he did not call her.

  He recalled the question she kept asking him. He immediately stood up.

  “Did she regain her memories? Is that why she left?”


  Qin Shu’s eyes searched for her seat in the bullet train. Once she found her seat by the window, she took off her backpack and sat down before placing it on her lap.

  Fu Tingyu should have known of her disappearance by now. He would be frantically looking for her, and it would be because of the Little Munchkin.

  Just maybe.

  She raised her hand and readjusted her cap, and pulled the visor lower. Not wanting to think about that anymore, she glanced out of the window of the bullet train, hoping that the sceneries would distract her.

  She just wanted to take a break away from everything. She did not want to end up being a resentful woman. Neither did she want to be the weak and pathetic one.

  If Fu Tingyu had only the Little Munchkin in his heart, what was she to him?

  The environment started to get noisy as passengers poured into the bullet train.

  She closed her eyes, trying to get some rest.

  From the rustling sound by her side, she could tell that someone had taken the seat beside her. But she did not bother to open her eyes to look.

  It did not take long before the bullet train took off from the station after onboarding the passengers.

  Qin Shu, who hadn’t slept a wink the night before, fell asleep soon after as the drowsiness hit her once the train took off.

  “I’ve just left Jiangcheng, coming to Hua Xia now. I’m going to travel around here for a bit.”


  Qin Shu found the sound of the male voice talking beside her familiar, although she was drowsy and still in a daze.

  Lifting the lid of her eyes open, she could see the man sitting beside her. Although she could only see the side of his face, she recognized him. He was Master Feng, a junior of Fu Tingyu.

  Once Master Feng hung up and kept his phone, he noticed a pair of half-opened eyes staring at him from the side.

  He looked pretty young and was good-looking.

  The aura and class exuded couldn’t go unnoticed, although he was casually dressed.

  Master Feng greeted him, “Are you alone, young man?”


  Qin Shu nodded, “Yes.”


  Master Feng crossed his legs. At ease and casual, he seemed to be in the mood for casual conversation. “You look young. Don’t you need to go to school?”


  “I’m temporarily deferring my study.” Qin Shu answered plainly.

  “I do not see school education as the only way out. I did not finish my tertiary education anyway.” Master Feng said with a smile as if he did not think much of it.

  “You’re right. Every field has its elites. So, I decided to come out to explore and look around.” Qin Shu too became interested in the conversation, especially when it was a conversation with Master Feng.

  “Why did you decide to drop out? Was it an argument with your family members?” Master Feng asked.

  Qin Shu paused at his question. There was no argument between her and Fu Tingyu, but the current situation was worse than an argument. She shook her head, “Nope, I just wanted to come out to explore and to gain more knowledge.”


  Master Feng smiled, convinced that the young man in front of him had an argument with his family and decided to run away from home.

  Exhausted from her lack of sleep, Qin Shu closed her eyes and continued sleeping for the rest of the journey after a short conversation with Master Feng.

  Master Feng, who was fully alert, was in the mood to chat a little longer with the young man sitting beside him. But when he glanced side-way at the young man, he was already fast asleep.

  Since the young man was already fast asleep, Master Feng could now take a good look at the young man. He was wearing a cap with the visor pulled low, so Master Feng could only see part of his face. He noticed that the young man’s complexion seemed pale.

  “Was he sick?”


  Since the young man seemed to be deep in his sleep, Master Feng decided to close his eyes and took a quick nap as the journey would last for another few hours.

  Qin Shu woke up after an hour plus of nap. The sun had risen when she opened her eyes, sending eye-dazzling rays through the window. She had to squint her eyes when she looked out the window of the bullet train.

  She then lowered her eyes to check her watch for her time. There was still an hour plus until the bullet train reached its destination.

  A train attendant was pushing a trolley of food, asking each passenger whether they wanted any food, drinks, or fruits.

  When Qin Shu turned her body side-way, she saw Master Feng was ordering food. She wanted a bottle of water and some fruits as well. Once she made her order, she scanned the given QR Code to make payment.

  “Better take the main course than just some fruits. Else, you’re sure to get hungry later.” Master Feng warned her after seeing that she only ordered some fruits and a bottle of water.

  “I don’t feel like having rice for now.” Qin Shu replied as she took the fruit platter and some strawberries.

  She took the strawberries as they appeared fresh.

  As for the rice and main course, she just had no appetite for them. He had spoiled her to the extend that she could no longer take packed meal served in a bullet train.

  Master Feng did not say another word. Not being a fussy eater, he opened the packed meal he ordered and dug in with his chopstick.

  Qin Shu leisurely picked at the fruits with her fork. The strawberries were both sweet and sourish but did not taste as good as freshly picked ones.

  After a few mouthfuls, Master Feng threw a side-way glance at the young man, “Are you going to North Lake Province for business or leisure?”


  Qin Shu raised her sight, “Not really for leisure. North Lake Province was well-known for the mountains and great sceneries. Since I’m free now, I just wanted to look around.”


  “That’s what I think too. I spent so much time outside the country that I’m not familiar with what’s in the country. Since I’ve heard of its well-known sceneries, I wanted to pay a visit too.”


  Master Feng realized that the portion of the packed meal he had was pretty small after he ate a few mouthfuls of it.

  Qin Shu smiled at Master Feng’s words and continued forking the strawberries into her mouth. It wasn’t long before she finished the entire plate of strawberries, and yet, her stomach still seemed empty.

  She twisted the cap on the water bottle and cocked her head a little to gulp the water.

  For the next hour or so, Qin Shu casually made some small talks with Master Feng.

  When they reached the North Lake Province, Qin Shu took her backpack and lowered the visor of her cap. With one hand in her coat’s pocket and the other carrying the portable pet kit, she slowly walked out from the train station.

  Taxis waiting for their passengers lined the entrance of the train station. Just as Qin Shu stepped out of the train station, one stopped in front of her. She opened the door and got into the taxi.

  “To North Lake Five Star Hotel.”


  The taxi driver was an experienced, skilled driver. Although he drove fast, Qin Shu did not feel uneasy from the ride.

  Master Feng was leaning against the pillar with both his hands in his pockets with no intention to leave as watching the young man get on the taxi.

  After a moment of thought, he pulled out his mobile phone and dialed Fu Tingyu’s number.

  Someone answered the call a few moments later.

  “Ling Yan, where are you?”