"Miss Changyu... Please eat something"
Hani entered inside her room with a tray in hand.
It was already past two in the afternoon, yet she had been locked inside her room while crying since last night.
She had made up her mind to use a spare key Miss Changyu did not come out by noon and that was exactly what she had done.
She placed the tray on top of a little stool by the bed and looked at Changyu who remained cruled in a ball.
Ever since she entered, the woman had not moved a bit. All she could hear was her sobs.
She was also still dressed in the same outfits she wore the past night— Even up to her shoes, she was still fully clothed.
"Miss Changyu"
After repeatedly calling her name for over a minute, Changyu finally s.h.i.+fted and turned her head to look at Hani.
Hani was shocked when she saw her face. She looked horrible!
Her entire face and eyes were burning red. Her eyes were not just swollen, she had dark circles under her eyes and her mascara which trailed down her face as a result of her tears, were already dried and stuck, down to her cheeks.
"What are you doing in here?" She asked with a very hoa.r.s.e and crooked voice.
"Miss....miss Changyu.. I brought you brunch since you already missed breakfast." Hani explained with a stutter.
"How could you come in when I locked the door? You now break in people"s houses? Are you a thief?"
Hani was stupefied by her accusations. When did she break in? She was only trying to feed her.
"Miss Chang—" She was trying to get her attention but Changyu did not let her and cut in again.
"If you do not call this breaking in then what is?" She sat up with her fierce gaze still on Hani. "Is this because I gave you a lot of freedom, so now you can even barge in the way and manner you like?"
Hani realised she was simply looking for someone to transfer her aggression to. But nonetheless, she felt the need to apologize and so she did.
"I am really sorry for entering without your permission. It was wrong of me to do so."
"Get out! Next time this happens, I won"t think twice before getting you fired." All the while she spoke, there were still tears in her eyes.
Changyu crashed back on the bed and blinked back tears a couple of times. She missed breakfast? She had totally lost track of time.
"Miss Changyu —"
"I said get out" She roared then turned and threw a pillow at her but thankfully, it missed and did not hit Hani.
Hani still remained there, determined to tell Changyu because she believed it was going to pull her out from this state.
"We were able to receive a bit of information last night."
Changyu was about to yell at her again but she paused.
Information? From where?
Seeing her confused look, Hani could only guess that Changyu had forgotten. But how could something like that skip her mind?
"Mr Qin. The man who mentioned he knew what happened to your child." Hani reminded her.
She stood up when it finally registered. How could she have forgotten about that? Her mind had been so preoccupied with all the incidents that had happened in the past that she totally forgot Hani and her driver had gone to help her run an important errand.
"Yes...yes...yes... Where is she? Where did he say she was?"
Hani narrated everything to her. She remembered how uncomfortable she had felt waiting outside for close to five minutes before a man in his fifties, who appeared half drunk opened the door and ushered them in after confirming they were the people he was waiting for. He had tanned skin, was really short and plumpy.
If the outside was an eyesore, the inside was even worse.
His place was located in a small village where most of the villagers fished for a living. Seeing hooks and lines littered about his house, they guessed he probably survived through fis.h.i.+ng also.
As they entered his tiny apartment that looked like one of those wretched homes in the olden days, the only thing on Hani"s mind was —If "third world countries" was a person, it would have been this man.
The place was really cold. With the help of an almost dim lamp, they noticed that there were no chairs inside so they had to sit on the dirty ground. Because they did not want to seem rude, they sat down on the ground and waited for him to start speaking.
"Are you with the money?" He asked with twinkling eyes.
"The money is here" She pointed at the briefcase on Driver Yen"s hand.
They were not scared of anything happening to them or someone stealing it. Everyone who worked for Changyu were all skilled people in martial arts—including her maids.
It was the reason why she did not go out with many guards. Driver Yen and Hani were good enough to handle reckless hoodlums— with hands, knives or guns.
"Let me see." He said excitedly while rubbing both hands together.
Hani signalled for Yen to show him.
When Mr Qin saw the pile of clean money arranged in the briefcase, his smile even widened.
"Let me have it" He demanded.
Hani smirked at him before turning to Driver Yen. "Seems he is not willing to cooperate. Let us leave"
She stood up from the ground and Driver Yen followed suit.
In a panic, Mr Qin hurriedly stood in front of them. "Where are you going to? Who says I am not willing to cooperate?"
"I say so. This is business. We have nothing to lose, but you do. All you have to do is to give us an information that does not even concern you and in return, you will become rich overnight. But if you think we are ready to play with you, then you should continue living in this slum. It suits you if you ask me."
Hani said smoothly before pus.h.i.+ng past him with Driver Yen walking behind her.
Mr Qin frowned before calling them back. "Fine. I will say something."
Without Mr Qin seeing, Hani and driver Yen both smiled when they heard him. He called the bluff!
After they all sat back down, he began to tell them what he knew.
"First of all, I would like to know why you are looking for that child?"
"Are you kidding me?" Hani answered in displeasure.
"Fine fine fine.. You can"t just act a bit. Geez.." Mr Qim exclaimed before he began to narrate.
"At that time, I had just turned thirty and there were a lot of pressure for me to get married by my sick mother. I actually thought about getting married but I did not have the fund for it and I really did not want to—"
"Can you just cut to the chase already. We are not here to listen to your stupid life story" Hani hissed in annoyance.
Driver Yen tried to suppress a chuckle. He had actually expected her to react when he saw her frown immediately he started his "life story". Hani was one very patient person with a bad temper.
Mr Qin was not offended by her outburst. Why on earth would he when there was momey involved?
"There was this place I usually go to, but unfortunately, on that particular night, the police came to raid the place and we all took off. I ran my a.s.s out until I got lost. And while wandering about the isolated street that night, I saw something strange." His eyes dimmed like he was reliving that moment.
"I saw three women in front of a large gate arguing."
Hani closed her eyes in frustration. Why was he always saying unnecessary things? She was about to blow up again but then he added.
"I remember the older woman was cradling a crying child. I was a bit far from them so I could not see or hear them clearly."
"Really? Go on." Hani urged him on when he was finally saying something that made sense. Even driver Yen sat up.
"The older woman said something to the two ladies before placing the child in one of the younger ladies hands and hurried away. After she left, the two younger ladies began to have a quarrel. I can"t remember so much because it has been a really long time. But I think one wanted to leave the child there but the other one refused and at the end, the one with the baby won the argument and took the child with her."
"What?" Changyu"s eyes widened as Hani finished narrating it to her.
"Three women? The first was obviously Anna. But who are the other two women that she left the baby for?"
Changyu asked Hani like the younger woman had an answer for her.
"Did he say anything else? Anything at all?"
Hani shook her head. "Apparently, that is all he knows."
"So my girl is alive?" A sad smile appeared on her face before she began to pace around.
"Did you ask him what the young ladies looked like? I should go meet him. I should talk to him. He is probably going to have a different answer for me" She began to frantically search around for her phone and purse.
"Miss Changyu. That is all he had to say. He said both ladies looked like teenagers while the other woman was matured."
"Teenagers? Two teenagers took my baby?"
She sat back down on the bed in frustration.
Where was she going to start from now?