Chapter 36: The Most Familiar Stranger

Seeing that he was about to come up, Shi Youxuan quickly flashed from behind a pillar into the room. "Bang!" The door was slammed shut, and it was locked the very instant before Sheng Hanyu pushed against it.

Shi Youxuan leaned against the door, her heart pounding violently.

Sheng Hanyu stood guard outside the door, his voice anxious yet incomparably gentle: "Yixin, what do I have to do for you to believe me? Do you want me to cut out my heart and show it to you?"

"I am not the person you are looking for. How many times do I have to tell you?" Shi Youxuan was on the verge of a breakdown.

Sheng Hanyu insisted: "Come out and let me take a look. If you aren't the person I'm looking for, I'll leave immediately."

Although they could not see each other with one inside the door and one outside, the person inside gave him a very familiar feeling; she could not be a stranger.

"I won't see you. I look ugly, so I don't want to scare you. Your status is noble, and I can't afford to offend you." Originally, Shi Youxuan wanted to distance herself from Sheng Hanyu, but she did not expect to be caught in a loophole by him.

"You just said you didn't know me, so how do you know my status is noble?"

Shi Youxuan bluffed: "I've seen you on TV before. You are a big shot; I know you, but you don't know me."

Sheng Hanyu still insisted: "Open the door and come out; perhaps you will recognize me."

Shi Youxuan could no longer avoid it. She knew that if she didn't come out, Sheng Hanyu would absolutely never leave.

Moreover, she could now basically confirm that Sheng Hanyu was not a Xiazi. He had been looking around downstairs just now, and his gaze was as lively as any normal person's.

Sheng Hanyu was not a Xiazi, yet Shi Youxuan felt no joy; all she felt was the helplessness and anxiety of not knowing how to escape.

Shi Youxuan gritted her teeth and asked one last time: "As long as I come out and let you take a look, if you don't recognize me, you'll leave immediately, right?"

"Yes."

She slowly opened the door. Sheng Hanyu first saw a dark, dirty face; her short hair looked as if it had been gnawed on by a dog, uneven and patchy, and she was hunched over, appearing humpbacked.

This was a gym, containing treadmills and other fitness equipment, but it couldn't hide anyone; she was the only one there.

"Where is she?" Sheng Hanyu's face sank, filled with disappointment.

Shi Youxuan shook her head and said nothing.

"Who are you?"

She pointed to the servant's uniform she was wearing and still said nothing.

Sheng Hanyu asked again: "Are you the only one here? Have you seen any other woman come by?"

She shook her head and remained silent again, but this time she took action.

"Bang!" The door was slammed shut.

Shi Youxuan locked the door and let out a long, heavy sigh. Only then did she take out the voice changer again: "I am the only one in this house; there is no one else."

After a pause, she added: "I don't believe you."

Sheng Hanyu indeed began to open every room to search for people. As he searched, he kept calling out Jian Yixin's name, but after searching upstairs and downstairs carefully, the result left him deeply disappointed.

There was no one. He had searched every place that could hide a person. Not only did he fail to find Jian Yixin, but even that familiar feeling was fading further and further away.

Finally, he came to that door again and asked through it: "What is your name, and when did you come here?"

Shi Youxuan blurted out: "My name is Achou. I am a servant hired by Jian Xiansheng to look after the house. I came here a month ago."

The footsteps outside gradually faded away. Shi Youxuan pressed her ear against the door and listened carefully for a long time. Only after confirming there was no movement did she pull the door open a crack.

From her angle, she could look down at the living room downstairs. The living room was empty, and the front door was wide open; Sheng Hanyu must have left.

If she didn't leave now, she wouldn't be able to leave once he came back.

Shi Youxuan immediately went to the utility room, grabbed her suitcase, and hurried downstairs.

There was a pickup truck in the garage. On the first day Shi Youxuan moved in, Jian Yining had given her the car keys, telling her she could drive out for a spin when she felt stifled. Now, it came in handy.

Shi Youxuan ran to the front gate—and then turned around and ran back!

Sheng Hanyu hadn't gone far at all; he was standing outside the gate making a phone call, and there were small boats rowing toward this side on the lake!

Sheng Hanyu had sent several people to patrol around the Villa. In the Villa, let alone a person, even a fly couldn't fly out.

Shi Youxuan had been cooped up in the Villa for a day without finding a chance to leave. Sheng Hanyu had left, but the bodyguards guarding the gate refused to let her leave the gate under any circumstances, let alone drive away.

She called Jian Yining, wanting to ask if he could drive the bodyguards away.

The phone was turned off.

She sent a message on QQ, but the QQ message went unanswered.

What Shi Youxuan didn't know was that Jian Yining's situation was even worse than hers—as soon as he got home, his parents pressured him to ask if his sister was still alive!

Sheng Hanyu was not an impulsive person. Since he could be that crazy that day, even going so far as to propose opening the coffin to verify that he wasn't lying, the Jian Family parents also felt that their daughter might still be alive.

"Mom, Dad, how many times do I have to tell you before you'll believe me? That person really isn't my sister. I'm not stupid; if my sister were alive, how could I possibly hide it from you? I would have brought her home the first chance I got without you even asking..."

"Your son is right." Lady Jian wiped away her tears; the hope that had just risen was defeated by reality.

Jian Fu asked: "Since that woman isn't your sister, then who is she?"

Jian Yining was speechless, repeating only one thing: "You don't need to worry about who she is; in any case, it's definitely not my sister."

One refused to say, and two were digging to the bottom of it. The reason given by the Jian Family parents was basically irrefutable: "Tell Sheng Hanyu who that woman is, and he won't go crazy anymore. Otherwise, he will definitely do what he said about opening the coffin."

When Jian Yixin passed away back then, neither family had turned against the other or had a falling out. If Sheng Hanyu insisted on acting arbitrarily this time, then no one would be able to clean up the mess!

Digging up graves was a major taboo in Jiangzhou. If Sheng Hanyu dared to do such a thing, it would be even more humiliating than slapping them in the face in front of all the people of Jiangzhou.

The Jian Family parents presented facts and reasoned with their son, but nothing worked.

On the issue of opening the coffin, Jian Yining stood on the same side as his parents—firmly against it!

But when asked to say who that woman was and where she was hiding, he immediately acted like a Yaba, saying nothing at all.

In the end, Jian Yining was placed under house arrest by his parents in his room, and all his communication devices were confiscated. You won't talk, right?

Fine, then don't come out.

Sheng Hanyu came again. Shi Youxuan instinctively wanted to hide, but she was called out: "Don't go. Just stay here and do whatever."

Shi Youxuan had no choice but to stay, holding a rag and pretending to wipe here and there.

Sheng Hanyu had not dared to step inside here for five years, but once he entered, he felt it was not that terrifying after all; instead, it made his heart settle down.

He sat on the sofa, saying nothing.

Achou hunched her back, wiping here and there, appearing distracted.

He suddenly wanted to talk to someone, and it was even a servant.

"Achou, why are you called Achou?"

Shi Youxuan shook her head and did not speak.

In his presence, she could not use the voice changer, as she feared being recognized by Sheng Hanyu if she opened her mouth.

"Why don't you speak? You aren't a Yaba; keep me company and talk, anything will do... even the weather." After Sheng Hanyu finished speaking, he was startled himself; he did not understand why he was suddenly so patient with a servant.

Clearly this person was very ugly, with a face so dark and covered in acne, and hair that was unsightly, plus she was hunchbacked... but her features were not ugly, and they seemed somewhat familiar!

Shi Youxuan realized he was staring at her and hurriedly pretended to wash a rag, heading to the kitchen.