Though she tried her best to control herself and spoke calmly.
After hanging up, Ning Zuoyu was dispatched immediately and arrived within half an hour.
Lin Zhishui had changed into a simple long dress and stood in front of the villa, quietly watching the car stop at the foot of the steps.
Unaccountably, the dependence she had developed on Ning Shangyu through daily proximity grew stronger, and a strange new feeling blossomed in her heart.
But she couldn’t calm herself to analyze it—all her thoughts were focused on Cui Daiyun’s safety.
Ning Zuoyu was clearly still drunk from a night of heavy drinking, the strong smell of alcohol lingering as he glanced at Lin Zhishui and led her toward the private jet, deliberately not staying close for too long:
“My brother said you need to hurry back to Hong Kong to look for the missing researcher from the Lin family. Any leads yet?”
Lin Zhishui’s cheeks, colored faintly by the morning mist, were as smooth and pale as porcelain, her expression calm: “Cui Daiyun has no parents, no wife or children. He has devoted most of his life to scientific research. He’s either at home or at the institute…”
Inside the jet, with the temperature controlled, Ning Zuoyu took off his suit jacket and casually rolled up his sleeves.
He glanced at Lin Zhishui, who was slowly thinking as she sat on the sofa, and said casually, “Such a person is honest but rigid. No wonder the Qin family couldn’t lure him away with benefits.”
Lin Zhishui didn’t argue but pressed her lips and said, “Qin Yi’an couldn’t persuade him with benefits before. Cui Daiyun has minimal material desires and is frugal. He insists on living alone in an old apartment building, saying it was arranged by my father back then.”
Her words suddenly broke off.
Ning Zuoyu scrolled through his phone, checking if anyone from the Ning family in Hong Kong had news, then noticed Lin Zhishui had paused and asked, “He what?”
Snapping out of her daze, Lin Zhishui suddenly remembered what she hadn’t finished saying earlier: “My father’s cemetery. Besides the institute and home, it’s where Cui Daiyun goes most often.”
“If Cui Daiyun wasn’t kidnapped and is just normally out of contact, there’s a good chance we’ll find him there.”
Upon arrival in Hong Kong.
The sky was covered with dark clouds.
Thunder rolled, and rain fell intermittently, drizzling steadily as Lin Zhishui led Ning Zuoyu to a quiet yet solemn cemetery.
It was close to the coast, planted with tall, lush green trees.
The memorial hall was exquisitely built like a piece of art.
Everywhere around were marble sculptures, regularly cleaned and maintained by staff.
The atmosphere was not oppressive but carried a sacred aura.
Lin Zhishui walked calmly past one tombstone after another, finally stopping at a coral-sculpted grave marker.
The rain traced unfinished rivulets down her line of sight like a beaded curtain.
Ning Zuoyu stood behind her on the left, holding a black umbrella.
Following her gaze, he saw the clearly engraved name on the tombstone: Lin Yantang.
The vermilion red inscription remained vivid, as if proclaiming to the world:
The Lin family patriarch rested here.
The group of bodyguards around the cemetery was conducting a carpet search, not neglecting the street cameras.
Lin Zhishui’s face was pale in the morning rain and mist.
Her eyes lowered, hiding the deep thoughts beneath.
Her curled lashes were slightly moist.
Like silent tears.
Ning Zuoyu remained silent and handed her a clean tissue, unusually empathetic: “I know coming to see your father after so many years must be heartbreaking. If you want to cry, don’t hold back.”
Lin Zhishui’s lashes trembled, but when she looked up at him, there were no tears.
Her voice was so soft it was almost drowned out by the rain, as if about to vanish completely: “I’m not holding back tears.”
Ning Zuoyu’s deep, handsome gaze saw her calm demeanor, but offering the tissue felt slightly awkward.
Lin Zhishui then told him: “My father’s remains aren’t buried here. He died on a cruise ship that exploded, his body lost at sea. This is just a cenotaph the Lin family built for others to pay their respects.”
“Normally, my mother, sister, and I never come here.”
Lin Zhishui’s gaze returned to the tombstone.
The transparent raindrops blurred the scarlet name Lin Yantang, like a veil between her and the father she never really knew after being born posthumously.
After a moment of silence, she whispered—not really to Ning Zuoyu but more to herself: “For eighteen years, Cui Daiyun has never been able to accept that my father died. If he’s not here in this memory of youth, I would rather believe Qin’s family took him.”
At least then she could find Qin family and negotiate, as Qin Wanyin also had an interest in Cui Daiyun’s value.
Unlike her sister, Lin Zhishui was only beginning to face the reality of Lin Yantang’s death at a mature age. She was born without her father and had yet to learn how to confront the death of close ones and sudden tragedies.
Her emotional awareness was slow, and she clenched her fingers white with tension.
The rain grew heavier, almost drowning her delicate, beautiful back.
She looked like she was far away from the mundane world.
The bodyguards had found no trace.
Her stubbornness, ingrained deep in her bones, refused to leave.
No one called her.
The Lin family had found nothing.
More than twenty-four hours had passed since the disappearance.
Lin Zhishui let the rain pour down on her.
She gradually realized Ning Zuoyu had been silent for a long time.
She stiffened slightly and turned her delicate, pale face.
Then she was stunned.
Shangyu.
He had replaced Ning Zuoyu’s position, holding the black umbrella over her, shielding her from the wind and rain.
Half of his high-quality suit shoulder was soaked but he didn’t care.
The tears she hadn’t held back before welled up, making her eyes redden.
In the silence where only the sound of rain falling could be heard, Lin Zhishui softly inhaled through her teeth, still looking up at him:
“I’m very afraid.”
She unreservedly confided in Ning Shangyu, who had abandoned his business trip to come here, revealing the deep fear she couldn’t soothe.
Then she asked hesitantly: “Will Cui Daiyun die?”
Next moment, Ning Shangyu raised his finger and gently rubbed the mole at the corner of her eye, as if wiping away the tears she was about to shed.
His thin lips exhaled a soothing calm voice: “No.”
Lin Zhishui wasn’t clueless.
“Before, when my mother negotiated business, she often faced overt and covert threats. They didn’t know me, so they threatened Lin Xiguang’s life to stab at her lifeline and force the Lin family out… But my mother never yielded. She always paid back with interest. So she had to face a lot of darkness.”
She had often overheard bits and pieces when she was young…
In this brutal survival environment, though Lin Zhishui was deliberately hidden by the Lin family, she didn’t naïvely believe Cui Daiyun had just forgotten to pick up the phone.
At the coral-sculpted, holy tombstone, she reached out to lean into Ning Shangyu’s chest, filled with a sense of security.
The scent of rain faded, replaced by the familiar smell of fir.
She closed her eyes: “I hope Cui Daiyun is okay…”
Okay.
Lin Zhishui thought, no matter who was behind this or what their scheme was, she would emulate her mother and pay back in full, principal plus interest.
The sky darkened.
They had searched the cemetery three times, finding no clues.
This time Lin Zhishui obediently followed Ning Shangyu back to the car, sitting quietly like a pristine statue.
He gently lifted her face with two long fingers and slowly wiped the rain droplets from her chin with a tissue.
When clean, Ning Shangyu stared at her under the lights for a while, then said flatly: “Ning Zuoyu has personally gone to handle it. They will find him before dawn. For now, come back with me to Taiping Mountain Peak.”
With the Ning family’s power involved, if they couldn’t find one researcher, then Ning Zuoyu was close to being useless.
Xi Yan, sitting silently in the passenger seat, dared not speak.
He even thought Ning Shangyu was being tactful.
He remembered the order Ning Zuoyu received was: Must see the body.
It was past eight in the evening.
Ning Shangyu personally brought Lin Zhishui back to the private residence, then carried her upstairs to the master bedroom to soak in a hot bath, driving away the chill the rain had seeped into her pale skin.
Her constitution was weak.
Without timely care, she was prone to falling ill, which would upset him.
After bathing, wrapped in a large towel from head to toe, Lin Zhishui still felt uneasy.
She quietly rested her head on his comfortable shirted shoulder, blinking her eyelashes softly a couple of times.
Ning Shangyu sensed she was still thinking about the day’s events and deliberately tried to help her relax: “If you want a big, hard bed, why not take the time now to pick one?”
Lin Zhishui’s attention immediately shifted, looking up at him in confusion.
He sat on the sofa near the floor-to-ceiling window, back to the rain but facing the still dazzling night view of Hong Kong.
He slowly took out his phone, opened a folder, and lowered his head, his warm breath caressing her forehead: “Zhishui, if none of these styles satisfy you, do you still prefer the old one?”
“I stopped sleeping on shaking beds when I was four years old. I definitely don’t want the old one!”
Lin Zhishui tilted her head slightly, feeling a flush from his warmth.
Her fingertips touched the cold screen in his palm, initially refusing to pick, but he insisted.
Gradually, her expression grew focused. She wasn’t rejecting the mattress thickness—worried about Ning Shangyu’s force jolting her fragile frame—or finding them less pleasing than before.
Under the warm yellow indoor light, the night grew especially quiet.
At 9:15 PM.
As Lin Zhishui snuggled softly in his arms, her fingers sliding down the screen to select a bed, Ning Zuoyu’s incoming call suddenly popped up.
She didn’t stop the motion and accidentally answered.
Her pale shoulder tensed slightly, then she heard from the phone:
“Someone’s been found.”