Atlas Studios

  Atlas Studios

  The butler pulled a luggage in front of Xia Yanran.

  Xia Yanran was a woman who Xiao Yi doted on before, so the butler’s attitude towards her was still as respectful as ever. “Miss Xia, these are the things you left in the villa.”


  Xia Yanran glanced at the luggage, before she glanced towards the completely pale Xiao Xi. Her throat was a little tight. “Where’s Xiao Yi?”


  Xiao Xi’s long eyelashes fluttered, as a weak smile appeared on her pale lips. “Auntie Xia, how dare you still ask about my Uncle Xiao?”


  Xia Yanran clenched her hands into tight fists. She stopped looking at Xiao Xi, turning her eyes towards the butler sharply instead. “Where did Xiao Yi go?”


  The butler opened his mouth, “Sir, he……”


  “Butler, lead the guest out.” Xiao Xi coughed a few times, interrupting the butler.

  The butler made a gesture to ask Xia Yanran to leave. Xia Yanran’s expression darkened, as she pushed the butler away with all of her strength and walked towards where the smell of incense came from.

  When Xia Yanran saw the white and black deceased portrait hung on the wall, her body trembled terribly.

  She took a few steps back, both of her hands cupping her mouth as disbelief took over her expression.

  Impossible!

  Impossible!

  Her lips trembled slightly, as scorching hot liquid threatened to fall from her eyes. She looked up, stopping herself from crying.

  Xiao Yi couldn’t possibly have died!

  People like him had the strongest lives.

  Besides, didn’t he just call her a few days ago?

  Xiao Xi walked over, glancing at Xia Yanran’s red eyes before she turned to glanced at the deceased’s photo on the wall. Her weak voice was slightly hoarse. “Since you’ve seen it, you should light an incense for Uncle Xiao! Although I don’t like you, Uncle Xiao did like you a lot. Before everything happened to him, he still wanted to meet you, but you didn’t answer his call.”


  Xia Yanran stared at the handsome man in the photo. Her heart tightened in pain under his sharp and cold eyes.

  Her throat seemed to have been strangled ruthlessly by an invisible hand.

  She only found her voice after a long while. “What happened exactly?”


  Xiao Xi glanced at Xia Yanran, before her eyes landed on the handsome man in the photo. Her tears seemed to drop like the beads of a broken pearl necklace as she walked forward to light an incense before she turned back towards Xia Yanran again.

  “All of this was because of you.”


  Xia Yanran trembled ruthlessly.

  It…… was caused by her?

  Xiao Xi’s wet eyelashes fluttered as she walked in front of Xia Yanran with her thin and frail figure. “If you didn’t insist on reporting the news about the Entertainment Town abducting young girls from villages and forcing them into prostitution, nothing would have happened to Uncle Xiao!”


  Xia Yanran’s eyes constricted immediately at the news.

  The tips of her fingers sunk into her palm hard, almost breaking her skin.

  She was a news reporter. Her duty was to report the news as it was.

  “The secret boss behind the Entertainment Town is Second Master Qin from Hong Kong. Before Uncle Xiao came to Ning City, he was working under Second Master Qin. Second Master Qin was his big boss, and Uncle Xiao continued to give Second Master Qin benefits even after he came to Ning City.”


  “However, you should know that bosses of mafia triads like to keep the power with them. Second Master Qin had long been unhappy with Uncle Xiao after noting that Uncle Xiao’s business was getting better without any change to the benefits he received.”


  “Second Master Qin came to open the Entertainment Town in Ning City, wanting to find a way to balance out Uncle Xiao’s power. In the end, you put your foot right into the middle of it.”


  Xiao Xi walked in front of Xia Yanran, her tears falling drop by drop. Her expression was extremely pale. “After you’ve created the trouble, Second Master Qin kidnapped me with one of Uncle Xiao’s enemies that just finished his jail term. They raped me. Yes, that’s right, that was why I looked like that when you saw me in the No.1 private room that day.

  “If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have been ruined and lost my innocence! All this is because of you!”


  Xia Yanran’s mind buzz as she blanked out.

  She stared at Xiao Xi in disbelief, her body swaying unstably.

  Xiao Xi’s words created an explosion in Xia Yanran’s mind like a bolt of lighting.

  It was no wonder he still insisted on leaving when she tried her best to keep him that night!

  He said that Xiao Xi did not do anything wrong to her!

  When she was being stubborn and unreasonable, his eyes on her were deep and complicated.

  It was no wonder he said that he was very disappointed in her!

  Tears started to flow from her eyes, as they trailed down her face and down to her lips.

  She tasted the salty, but sad taste of tears.

  “Second Master Qin used me first, before he gave a notice again, saying that if Uncle Xiao didn’t give 70% of all of his earnings from his businesses, he would put an assassination order on you!”


  “Although Uncle Ning is doing very well in Ning City, all of his activities now are legal. However, Second Master Qin was still the big boss of a Hong Kong mafia triad. If he put an assassination order on you, Uncle Xiao would not be able to protect you completely, even if he never left your side.

  “Uncle Xiao agreed to Second Master Qin’s request and went to meet him to negotiate with him alone! In the end……

  “Second Master Qin was the one who taught him all of his skills. No matter how good he was, he was still someone taught by Second Master Qin. Second Master Qin did not let him live, and he…… really did not come back alive.”


  Xiao Xi’s face was covered in tears, as she fell to the floor in despair.

  Xia Yanran clenched down on her jaw tightly, tasting the metallic blood in her mouth. Things had happened too suddenly…… No, it might not have been sudden, it was just that she did not notice that changing and silent tension.

  She had never really thought that the news that she had reported to save countless numbers of young girls would have harmed Xiao Yi and Xiao Xi in the end so directly.

  Xia Yanran glanced at Xiao Xi with blurry vision as she asked with a trembling voice, “His body……”


  Xiao Xi wiped away her tears, her voice extremely hoarse. “He got shot several times, and was thrown into an unmarked common grave by Second Master Qin’s men. When I brought people along with me to look for him, all I saw was his leather shoes. His body had been long eaten by wild wolves.”


  Xia Yanran clenched at her chest, taking a few steps back ruthlessly.

  A person like Xiao Yi was always like a strong tiger. Their lives were strong and she had always thought that he would live longer than her.

  People like him should never have died in such a way.

  She seemed to see him hugging her shoulders again, as they stood in front of his subordinates and told them fiercely to call her ‘Sister-in-law’.

  Xia Yanran’s mind and emotions were in a mess, both her hands cupping her face as tears dripped from the gaps between her fingers one by one.

  Even at this moment, she still was not willing to believe that he had really left this world.

  “Xiao Xi, could it be that he’s still alive? Can I take a look at his shoes?” Xia Yanran’s fingernails had already cut into the skin on her palm, as sticky blood oozed out. However, she could not feel the pain of it as her mind felt like a heavy hammer had swung at her. The slow-to-come pain made her feel suffocated.

  All of the times they spent together in the past year flew past her eyes like an old movie.

  He was alive, strong and hard to destroy.

  Xiao Xi stood up, having already stopped her tears from falling. She pointed at the door with shaking fingers. “Please leave. No matter how much my Uncle Xiao liked you, I don’t want to see you again.”