Her mother's indulgence only emboldened her stepfather's depravity.
Deep within, He Meiwei harbored a lingering shadow toward men. Even during her year-long relationship with Long Yubei abroad, they had never once been intimate—and this was the true reason why.
Long Yubei had believed her to be reserved, but that was far from the truth.
By the time she finally began to overcome her fear, she was met with a cruel revelation—she had fallen ill.
Reflecting on her life, He Meiwei felt a profound and bitter sense of misfortune.
Loss seemed to be the only constant.
Always losing.
Forever losing.
A message alert chimed. She opened it. It was from her mother, brief and cold:
[No matter what, get me a hundred thousand. Consider it repayment for raising you and putting you through school.]
Reading the message, she trembled with fury.
[Did I ask to be born? Everything I ever spent came from my father—not from you!]
The moment she hit send, her hands wouldn't stop shaking.
She flung her phone aside and broke down in uncontrollable sobs.
The following evening, Gu Lili arrived at the Yeyan residence.
Yeyan's mother was indeed waiting for her.
Under Gu Lili's careful persuasion, the woman finally agreed to speak to her son. The moment Yeyan heard his mother's voice, he wept as though a dam had broken.
As expected, all matters regarding Yeyan's mother were resolved smoothly.
A ritual was held before her grave that night, guiding her spirit to the underworld.
It was nearly past ten by the time everything concluded.
Yeyan handed her two million in payment.
She accepted the money with a casual wave. "Thanks."
"It's I who should be thanking you, Madam Long. I've heard so much about you from Xi Chen. Truly, seeing is believing—you're incredible. Long Yubei is a fortunate man."
Gu Lili gave a soft smile. "You flatter me. But… aren't you going to tell your father?"
He shook his head. "What would it change? He's long gone."
"True. Your mother has passed—don't let sorrow consume you. I won't disturb you further, Mr. Ye."
Yeyan rose to see her off. "Take care, Madam Long."
"Will do."
As she stepped out of the villa, night had fallen like ink, and a wild wind swept through the air.
On the way back, rain poured in torrents—as if the heavens themselves wept.
She had long since grown familiar with the damned, fickle temperament of summer weather.
While idling at a red light, her phone lit up.
It was an unfamiliar local number.
She tapped to answer, fitting her Bluetooth in place. "Who's this?"
Silence.
"Speak, or I'm hanging up."
Still no reply. She hung up.
Moments later, the phone rang again.
Gu Lili frowned. Maybe the caller's phone had glitched earlier?
She answered once more.
This time, a man's voice came through.
"Is this Gu Lili?"
"If you don't even know who I am, where did you get my number? Who are you?"
"Gu Lili, our master wishes to see you."
"Who is your master?"
"You'll know when you meet him. Let's arrange a time—"
"Not interested."
She cut him off coldly. Her instincts warned her—people who refused to reveal their identity yet made vague overtures were rarely up to any good.
The phone rang for the third time.
She blocked the number without hesitation.
Then restarted the car and drove home.
Back at Qinyuan, the first thing she did was have Tang Qingli run a trace on the number.
The result left her stunned.
"Young Madam, that number doesn't exist. It's a void entry."
"What?" She showed him her call log. "Look—I answered it. How could it be a non-existent number?"