“Young Master, Miss Rong has already left.”

Fu Bozhong pushed open Shen Yi’s bedroom door. The room was unlit, plunged in darkness.

Fu Bozhong switched on the light and saw Shen Yi standing with his back turned, facing the window. His lean silhouette looked profoundly desolate.

Shen Yi remained silent, saying nothing.

Fu Bozhong hesitated for a moment before speaking. “Young Master, did Miss Rong really have to be sent back so urgently?”

“I can’t keep her here much longer.”

“But here, at least you can still protect her. Once she returns to her side of things, even if you want to—” Fu Bozhong stopped himself, and in the end, the words that had risen to his lips dissolved into a quiet sigh.

Fu Bozhong knew there was no point in saying these things. After all, Shen Yi understood better than anyone that in Rong Qian’s era, there was no place for him.

“You want to say that once she goes back, I won’t be able to protect her anymore?” Shen Yi turned to look at him.

Fu Bozhong met his gaze. Shen Yi’s eyes carried a layer of dark light, yet the rims of his eyes were faintly red. He looked fragile — amid the disheveled, fractured feeling surrounding him was a carefully restrained composure.

Even from a distance, one could feel the near-heartbreaking sorrow emanating from him.

Fu Bozhong couldn’t help but let out a sigh. The Young Master’s life had been far too bitter.

“Young Master, there’s something I don’t know whether I should say.” Fu Bozhong left the choice to him.

Shen Yi walked over and sat down on the sofa. “Go ahead.”

“Since you already know that Shen Fengren will harm Miss Rong, why not find a way to deal with him right now?” Fu Bozhong’s thinking was simple: if Shen Fengren were dead, wouldn’t Rong Qian be safe?

That way, even if the Young Master wasn’t by Miss Rong’s side, her safety could still be guaranteed.

“How do you know I haven’t thought of that?” Shen Yi leaned back against the sofa, furrowed his brows, closed his eyes, and pinched the bridge of his nose.

After a long while, Shen Yi finally opened his eyes. The emotion in those eyes had already gone cold — utterly devoid of feeling.

He said, “I plan to send him to prison. Life imprisonment.”

Hearing this, Fu Bozhong nodded in agreement. Still, sending someone to prison required sufficient charges, and without them, it would be difficult to accomplish.

Just as Fu Bozhong was thinking this, the charges came knocking on their door very soon.

The next day, Xu Mo came rushing over in a panic early in the morning and told Shen Yi some news: Sheng Wanqing and Ke Wenguang had died under mysterious circumstances the previous night!

In the early hours of that morning, they had been found inside an abandoned vehicle. It appeared they had offended someone — both had been shot in the forehead. After death, the pupils of both victims were wide open in a frozen stare, and it was said that the sanitation worker who discovered them had been frightened into fainting on the spot.

Sheng Wanqing had already been fired by Shen Yi just a few days prior.

She had dared to join forces with Meng Yuxin to go after Rong Qian, and Shen Yi had made her pay a considerable price.

Word was that Sheng Wanqing had then gone to seek refuge with Shen Fengren.

Yet, no one knew exactly what had happened — she had barely come under his protection before she was shot dead, and had dragged the innocent Ke Wenguang down with her.

“Boss, do you think it was Shen Fengren who did this?” Xu Mo’s face had gone pale. He was terrified, his hands still trembling.

Shen Yi took a sip of his coffee and asked him, “Xu Mo, are you afraid of dying?”

“Of course I am!” Any person would fear death, and Xu Mo was certainly no exception.

Shen Yi stood up and said to him, “Then you shouldn’t be staying by my side.”

“You’ve worked hard all these years. I won’t treat you poorly.” Shen Yi took out a bank card and held it out to him. Xu Mo looked utterly bewildered. “Boss, what do you mean? You don’t want me anymore?”

Shen Yi pressed the bank card into his hand. “If you leave now, you might just live a good deal longer.”

Xu Mo lowered his head. The bank card in his palm felt heavy.

Xu Mo tightened his grip around it. He closed his eyes and drew a deep breath, then looked up. He flashed Shen Yi a wide grin. “Boss, I’ll take this card — consider it my bonus. I’ll keep working hard!”

“Xu Mo.” Shen Yi’s brow creased.

But Xu Mo slipped away with a laugh, playful and carefree. “Boss, whoever heard of taking back a bonus once it’s given? I’ve got things to get to!”

Shen Yi exhaled a quiet sigh. Xu Mo would never know — he had just missed the one chance he had to survive.

And that chance had been pushed away by his own hands.

“Rong-jie, your voice sounds strange. Don’t tell me you were crying last night?”

Rong Qian hadn’t even opened her eyes yet when Zhang Hao’s voice reached her. Her eyes snapped open, and she saw Zhang Hao sitting at the dining table — along with Lu Huaiyi and Xu Yang, both watching her.

Rong Qian felt momentarily dazed. She pulled off the sunglasses blocking her vision, tossed them onto the table, and began scanning the room.

“Rong-jie, why are your eyes red? Were you really crying last night?” Zhang Hao, worried, quickly stood up.

But Rong Qian paid him no attention, her eyes sweeping the room in all directions — it was unclear what she was looking for.

“Miss Rong, what’s wrong?” Xu Yang noticed that her expression was off.

“I’m fine.” Rong Qian brushed off their concern with a vague reply. Just then, she caught sight of an elderly man in a traditional Chinese robe walking out of the elevator, leaning on a cane, striding briskly toward the hotel entrance.

This time, Rong Qian was prepared. She immediately called out at the top of her voice: “Mu Chaoxue! Stop right there!”

Mu Chaoxue heard her. He paused mid-step and turned around. The morning tea restaurant was packed with customers, and Mu Chaoxue swept his gaze around but couldn’t make out who had called his name.

Just then, he saw a woman brace herself with one hand on the partition railing used to section off the restaurant — and in one swift leap, vault clean over the railing, which stood more than a meter high!

The movement was clean and decisive, drawing a chorus of startled gasps from those around her.

Watching the woman charge toward him, Mu Chaoxue hesitated for a few seconds. When he made out her face clearly, he jolted in alarm and immediately set off with his cane, fleeing toward the exit in a frantic rush.

His legs weren’t in the best shape, but when he quickened his pace, he was still far from slow.

Rong Qian had almost caught up with him when, without warning, a group of waiters carrying dishes came walking toward her from the opposite direction. She swerved to avoid them, losing precious seconds.

By the time she sprinted out through the hotel entrance, a rapid succession of urgent horn blasts filled the air!

The truck driver was honking frantically, but the elderly man, fleeing in a desperate rush, did not slow down.

And so, accompanied by the screech of emergency brakes and the horrified screams of bystanders, the frail, slender old man was sent flying by the speeding truck — hurled more than a dozen meters through the air.