Having arrived safely at the destination, Jin Qingyan quickly alighted from his car and hollered while slightly quivering, “Where is she!?!”
Noticing his arrival, the patrol policeman quickly said, “Mr. Jin, could you verify if this is your wife’s car?”
Jin Qingyan recognized her car right away. It was hanging from the crane the police had used to retrieve it from the river.
He could even clearly recognize the back and the license plate of her car.
With bloodshot eyes, he roared, “It is her car, but where is she!?!” His veins were bulging from his forehead; his heart raced exceptionally vigorously, almost ricocheting out of his chest.
The policeman was startled by his sudden outrage and said, “We haven’t found her yet, but from the footage of the surveillance cameras, we’ve found out that her car had been parked at a blind spot and began moving towards the bridge before breaking through the barriers of the bridge. We’re still trying to deduce if she had been drunk-driving…”
Before the policeman could finish his words, Jin Qingyan interrupted coldly, “She never drinks and drives.”
“Okay… there’s a possibility that she did, but we can only come to a conclusion after we find her. To finish off what I was saying earlier, we’ve also found a suspicious car which had loitered around here…”
Once again, before the policeman could finish what he had to say, Jin Qingyan took a big stride and rushed towards the broken segment of the bridge.
“Mr. Jin, your umbrella…”
He was drenched in the rain. Under the minimal light, the river appeared to be rather peaceful and calm, as if nothing had happened. Before the policeman could shield him from the rain with the umbrella, Jin Qingyan jumped off the bridge and into the river, startling the surrounding policemen and news reporters.
The river was freezing in the cold November weather. Jin Qingyan’s heart dropped and palpitated as he began to imagine An Xiaoning, who had just learned how to swim recently, struggling to stay afloat in the deep waters.
Within minutes, news of An Xiaoning plunging into the river while driving in the middle of the night had spread quickly and made the headlines of media reports all across the country.
The members of the Gu family and the Jin family hurried to the accident site, one after another. Mrs. Jin, who had initially planned to stay home for the entire month of November, had no choice but to head down to the site since her daughter-in-law had met with an accident. At that point in time, when there was an emergency, she could not care less either.
Mei Yangyang had also put on her raincoat and rode a motorbike there, being unable to hail a cab in the wee hours of the night.
The pouring rain was akin to a million daggers piercing through the hearts of the members of both the Jin and the Gu families. Shivering from the cold, Mei Yangyang stood along the riverside and stared at the river, which was so deep that the riverbed could not be seen. Tears streamed down her face uncontrollably, and she stared in disbelief that An Xiaoning had met with a mishap just hours after she had called her to get her to go home earlier.
As soon as Jin Qingyan emerged from the surface of the river, his mother quickly removed her coat and draped it over him as she said, “Son.”
However, he again removed the coat and put it on his mother instead while remaining silent.
There were two distinct schools of thought across all online discussions.
The first being those who fervently prayed and wished that An Xiaoning was still alive. After all, many netizens thought she was rather fortunate to be genetically blessed with good looks and a great figure, as well as to have gotten remarried to such a great catch like Jin Qingyan. Moreover, she also had the support of the wealthy and powerful Gu family, which was her maiden family. Not to forget, she even managed her own fashion apparel store. Thus, she had become the object of envy to many females, who dreamed of being in the highly-coveted position An Xiaoning was in.
For example, a netizen whose username was ‘Shaofu40yiduohua’ <sup>1</sup> had commented: ”
An Xiaoning is a winner in life, I hope she pulls through this ordeal. Heaven, please don’t be that cruel to her!
” This had garnered a massive number of ‘likes.’
The other one, however, consisted of netizens full of grudge, who were extremely sarcastic and were gloating at her plight. They all seemed to have experienced failed relationships and were extremely bitter and malicious with their words as they aired their disdain and grievances online. For example, another netizen whose username was ‘Rileyigedongwuyuan’ <sup>2</sup> criticized: ”
An Xiaoning is a piece of trash who only got lucky to have gotten remarried to Jin Qingyan. Yanluowang <sup>3</sup>
must be enraged at that fact and found it unacceptable. Thus, he must’ve ordered for Heibai and Wuchang <sup>4</sup>
to take her away to hell, lest she continue to harm and taint Jin Qingyan. She deserves to die and free up her position as a young madam for potential female hopefuls! The sooner she dies, the less trouble there will be.
”
As soon as her comment was published, she was faced with heavy criticism and severe lashings from the majority of netizens. They thought she was far too outrageous and felt a need to call her out for her malicious words. Indeed, the power of the masses on the internet was not to be underestimated. Within just half an hour, all information about this female cyberbully had been exposed online, including photos of her, which had spread across all discussion platforms. The news and media even published an article about her entitled “
Female Netizen Curses An Xiaoning on a Forum: What an Evil Lady
.”
Seeing that things had been blown out of proportion, the female netizen was shocked out of her wits and hurriedly published a comment of apology, claiming her previous comment to be nothing but a frivolous, passing remark. She even pleaded for the other netizens to let her off the hook.
However, trying to get the matter resolved was far more difficult than blowing it up.
While the matter was going viral all over the internet, An Xiaoning was still nowhere to be found.
After several hours of searching non-stop, the police had still found nothing other than An Xiaoning’s pair of shoes.
Hence, the police deduced that she may have escaped and saved herself, though she was not exactly great at swimming.
They then carefully watched the footage of the surveillance camera near the river, frame by frame.
They tried to look out for clues from the footage.
However, to the disappointment of many, there were some areas that appeared blurry because of the heavy rain that night, while no one was seen lurking around those that could be seen clearly.
Remaining on the bridge was not a solution either.
The police were under immense stress too about An Xiaoning going missing. The media was also careful not to make any assumptions about her death, because though there was not a single trace of her being alive, there was no evidence of her corpse either.
Just when everyone had become immersed in a state of moroseness and worry, Jin Qingyan’s mobile phone began to ring.
He whipped out his wet and drenched mobile phone, which was surprisingly still intact, despite having been submerged in water.
However, he felt a sudden tinge of disappointment as he took a look at the caller display.
It was Chi Rui’er who had called.
Extremely upset and not in the mood to hear anything other than news about An Xiaoning, Jin Qingyan immediately dismissed the call without answering and put his mobile phone away into his pocket.
On the other end, Chi Rui’er was rather sensible and did not call again after that.
It was past 10 o’clock at night. Together, everyone from the Gu and Jin families headed to the villa An Xiaoning and Jin Qingyan were living in. Mei Yangyang’s scooter had run out of battery. Thus, she had no choice but to leave it in the trunk of the car and tag along.
The group made their way into the living room forlornly, only to be greeted by the sight of Chi Rui’er walking towards them.
“Chi Rui’er, what are you doing here?” Mrs. Jin immediately questioned.
“I… I heard that Qingyan’s wife had met with a mishap. I tried to call him but he didn’t pick up, so I decided to drop by for a look,” explained Chi Rui’er, a little jittery as she wearing An Xiaoning’s home slippers.
“What has that got to do with you? Get lost now!” seethed Mrs. Jin, growing into an uncontrollable rage at the sight of Chi Rui’er. Evidently, Mrs. Jin could not tolerate her presence at all.
Exhibiting her authority as Jin Qingyan’s Mother, Mrs. Jin glowered at Chi Rui’er and scowlingly said, “Look at you, all eager to take Xiaoning’s place as the Mistress of this house as soon as she had met with a mishap.”
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Tears welled up in Chi Rui’er’s eyes as she gazed at Jin Qingyan and said softly, “I shouldn’t have come. You don’t have to chase me out, I’ll leave right away.”
Noticing how she was crying but still trying to suppress her tears, Jin Qingyan gave an order to Fan Shixin, “Send her home.”
“Got it.”
Chi Rui’er made her way out from the entrance and hopped into the car with her head hung low throughout. A sinister smile formed on her face as she gazed out of the window at the brightly lit living room.