The young man's fingers flew over the keyboard, summoning a display – a three-dimensional map of Market, with a small green dot continuously blinking and emitting signals. Breathing a sigh of relief, he said pleasantly, "Boss, I've located Qianqian's position. Should we go rescue him right now?"
The others crowded around, their expressions changing as they saw the owner's information and the Fang Family's relation to the Qiu Family. A voluptuous woman with curly hair and a black tank top asked, "Could this be a trap? The Fang Family might be wealthy, but they're just ordinary merchants. Why would the Qiu Family hold Qianqian at the Fang Family's place?"
Bai Ye spoke with a heavy voice, "Check which places Qianqian has visited and, additionally, look into the Fang Family."
The young man, Hou San, acknowledged and began typing rapidly again, first plotting Bai Qianqian's traveled paths on the map. As the routes appeared, some locations clearly showed broken, indicating the signal had been disrupted and not recorded. Of the places Bai Qianqian had lingered at, once they eliminated airports, restaurants, and intersections, only four suspicious locations remained.
Of these four places, signals had been disrupted at two, clearly where Qiu Family's people had caught Bai Qianqian. The remaining two were a biological research institute and the Fang Family, where Bai Qianqian's signal transmitter currently was.
Digging into the Fang Family was relatively easy; they were in business, and all the deals they made were legitimate, earning so-called 'conscience money'. Moreover, they were no strangers to charity, enjoying a good reputation. The only concern was their deep ties to the Qiu Family – Fang Jintang was friends with the head of the Qiu Family, Qiu Hongsheng, and his daughter, Fang Yuxin, was even betrothed to Qiu Hongsheng's son, Qiu Yiming.
Logically, the Fang Family should be oblivious to the dealings of the Qiu Family, to say nothing of involvement. Hence, why Bai Qianqian's signal transmitter ended up at the Fang Family was baffling, making less sense if it was a deliberate deception by the Qiu Family.
The voluptuous woman, noting Bai Ye's stern demeanor, sat beside him to comfort him, "Qianqian is so smart; he must be fine. Don't worry…" She suddenly stopped and widened her eyes, her voice sharp and filled with hostility, "Who is she?"
In that moment, the atmosphere among the others shifted subtly, their eyes instinctively drawn to Bai Ye. Hou San pulled up a photo of Fang Yuxin, and her likeness to Bai Qianqian was striking, sharing an uncanny resemblance, especially around the eyes, mouth, and expressions – as if they were cast from the same mold.
Bai Ye's eyes narrowed slightly as he commanded, "Investigate her past." Initially, when Mi Qingzi's secrets were stolen, he had tracked them to an underground illegal organization. After destroying the organization, he found that its leadership had eradicated the database and all records. Later, he stumbled upon the two-year-old Bai Qianqian and decided to take him home to raise.
At first, his feelings for Bai Qianqian were complex. The child was an accident, not at all what he had been expecting. However, with the child already born, he couldn't simply snuff out such a young life and was unwilling to trust others to care for him; thus, he decided to bring him home for his ever-idle mother to raise.
As time passed, genuine paternal affection blossomed between them, and he could no longer let go of Bai Qianqian, treating him truly as his own son. The only trouble was that Bai Qianqian persistently wished for a mother.
Originally, he had no curiosity about Bai Qianqian's mother and had never intended to seek out this woman. But what he hadn't expected was that, while being here on a mission in Market, Bai Qianqian would take a flight here by himself, nearly falling into the Qiu Family's grasp, and now, they were entangled with a Fang Yuxin!
Although it was just a picture, Bai Ye instinctively felt that Fang Yuxin was Bai Qianqian's mother. What he couldn't figure out was how someone with Fang Yuxin's status could be related to that underground organization?
Hou San clicked and typed on the computer, and soon, Fang Yuxin's information appeared. In short, Fang Yuxin had been a straight-A student from childhood, not only excelling academically but also possessing impressive artistic talent, and she was also very beautiful. In other words, she belonged to the high-quality genetic stock, just like Bai Ye. That meant it was very likely that she had been chosen by the underground organization because of this.
Hou San suddenly exclaimed, "Found it! She volunteered at XX Pharmaceutical Company in her freshman year, participating in a research project." At this point, he turned to look at Bai Ye, "Boss, if we calculate the timing, she could very well be Qianqian's mother. But she didn't take any breaks during her freshman year and didn't gain any unusual weight. It's more likely that they just took her eggs and she didn't actually get pregnant. Also, I just checked, and Qianqian got into her car right here." He pointed out the location where the second signal had been interfered with.
Seeing that Bai Ye remained silent, Hou San couldn't help but ask, "Boss, what are you planning to do? This option... isn't bad, why don't you give it a try?"
No sooner had he finished speaking than the voluptuous beauty with big wavy curls gave him a fierce glare and said discontentedly, "Hou San! What nonsense are you spouting? Don't you know Qianqian's situation? Even if Fang Yuxin really is Qianqian's mother, she has no connection with the boss! And don't forget, she is Qiu Yiming's fiancée!"
After finishing, she took a deep breath and softened her voice as she turned to Bai Ye, "Ah Ye, since Fang Yuxin is Qiu Yiming's fiancée, it's better for us not to have any contact with her." She then looked anxiously at Bai Ye's expression, but unfortunately, nothing could be read from his face.
"Enough," his voice was light, but it imposed a sense of pressure on everyone present. Then he added, "Proceed with the original plan, and be careful not to alert the Qiu Family."
...
Fang Yuxin looked at Bai Qianqian, staring eagerly at her, and felt a headache coming on. Initially, she had no intention of bringing Bai Qianqian back home, but she was even less inclined to contact Bai Qianqian's family. And after Bai Qianqian told her that he had run away from home because his family didn't like him, her feelings became even more complicated. In the end, she reluctantly brought Bai Qianqian back with her. After all, she couldn't bear to leave such a young child alone in a hotel, nor was it safe.
Bai Qianqian wanted to sleep with her, and although Fang Yuxin felt awkward about it, she eventually compromised. As a result, Bai Qianqian was so excited he couldn't sleep, continuously talking about how miserable his years at home had been. Fang Yuxin looked at his excited little face and somehow found it difficult to believe.
Bai Qianqian didn't look like someone who had been abused as he grew up. He was confident and smart, and he had read quite a lot of books. He spoke logically with Fang Jintang and Qu Qianhe, and importantly, his chubby and fair face looked pampered. When he wore a tank top and shorts, Fang Yuxin had deliberately checked and found not a single scar on his body; his personality was also very lively, which all suggested that he was raised with affection.
Listening to Bai Qianqian's excited voice, Fang Yuxin didn't know when she fell asleep. After an unknown period, she suddenly felt a bit cold and sensed an unfamiliar presence in the room. Her body tensed instantly, and then she abruptly opened her eyes, pulled the knife from under her pillow, holding it in front of her as she flipped over and arose from the bed.
The window had been opened without her knowing when, and the night wind blew the curtains. A tall man stood at the window, his back to the light.