Rich Woman, But Got Dumped By A Jerk Three Times. - Chapter 15

Chapter 15: How Much Are You Hiding From Me?

Yun Jiushu instinctively turned her head, looking at the deserted long street.

It was close to midnight; the asphalt road was empty of people and cars.

Concealed lamps in the park cast an eerie, dim light from the grass. The occasional gentle breeze made it seem as if something was hiding within.

Yun Jiushu realized almost instantly that she was being watched again.

She had experienced this sickening, uncomfortable feeling of being targeted once before, years ago in Yeyu, when someone was secretly selling ‘Three Waters’ in the Yun Ji restaurant.

Even though Yun Ji was full every day and its reputation was soaring, Yun Jiushu still unhesitatingly chose to close the restaurant.

No one in business dislikes money.

But Yun Jiushu understood even more clearly that greed for short-term profit inevitably leads to future disaster.

Events proved Yun Jiushu’s decision correct.

After Yun Ji closed, a competing restaurant, modeled after Yun Ji, took all of its customers. But two months later, that restaurant’s owner died in a car accident, plunging off a cliff. Coincidentally, his entire family was with him.

Five people, no survivors. The investigating police confiscated a lethal dose of ‘Three Waters’ from the restaurant. In the end, the business was ruined, and the people were dead.

Everyone was shocked, but only Yun Jiushu knew that the owner had been set up.

This uncomfortable feeling now resurfaced. The gaze seemed to emanate from the grass, along with the dim light, and also from the bottom of the artificial lake by the fence, ubiquitous and hidden in the air.

Her plan to stroll around Cuihu Lake was immediately abandoned.

Yun Jiushu quickly turned on her phone’s flashlight, sent her real-time location to her contact, Yun Xiao, and turned to walk towards the park exit.

The gaze on her back was unsettling, but thankfully the network here was unaffected.

Even though she realized she was in danger, Yun Jiushu didn’t panic. She pretended to be preoccupied with her phone, continuously refreshing her WeChat interface.

The location had been sent. She just didn’t know if Yun Xiao was busy at the restaurant, but for the first time, she didn’t get an immediate, enthusiastic reply.

Not putting all her hope in the location sharing, Yun Jiushu quickly typed 12110 (the police emergency text number in China) on her screen, composing a message with her current address and the unsettling feeling of being followed.

She completed the text message alert.

As the text message confirmed successful delivery, Yun Jiushu had also reached a wide road under bright streetlights.

But the discomfort that had been clinging to her was replaced by the sound of faint, subtle, hard-to-detect footsteps.

It seemed someone was approaching her.

It looked like the person in the shadows had come out. She couldn’t escape tonight.

Yun Jiushu calmly turned on the audio recording. She cranked the flashlight to its maximum brightness and suddenly swung it behind her.

The cold, white light of the flashlight scattered on the ground, mixing with the shadow of the street lamp.

The night wind suddenly picked up. Yun Jiushu got goosebumps all over her body. Her heart instantly leaped into her throat.

Because there was no one behind her.

“Damn it, this is ghostly.” Muttering a curse under her breath, Yun Jiushu unhesitatingly turned and ran.

As she ran, the gaze that had been hidden in the dark, the footsteps—they clung to her like a phantom.

The park exit was clearly visible in the distance, but the sounds trailing her grew closer and closer.

Just as Yun Jiushu’s heart was about to jump out of her throat, a hand reached out from behind, firmly covering her mouth and nose.

She was pulled by a great force, her back slammed against a rough wall.

The next second, the back of her head was caught by a hand. The broad palm became a human cushion, separating her vulnerable skull from the harsh stone.

Yun Jiushu, unable to react, was shoved into an embrace.

Her mind went blank almost instantly.

The phone tightly gripped in her palm dropped heavily to the ground. The weak flashlight beam went out.

Her mouth and nose were covered, but the force wasn’t brutally heavy, not intended to kill.

Separated by only thin fabric, the scalding skin pressing against her made Yun Jiushu momentarily lose her focus.

Even without light or sight, based solely on the contact, Yun Jiushu deduced that the person’s height was definitely greater than hers.

Because her forehead was not resting on a shoulder, but on a warm chest.

In the minimal distance, Yun Jiushu could clearly feel the other person’s heartbeat.

In the night, that heart was strong and vital, prompting Yun Jiushu to unconsciously adjust her breathing to its rhythm.

The broad frame became an invisible safeguard, standing like a mountain and blocking all danger.

With the danger separated, Yun Jiushu quickly calmed down and began to analyze.

She was five feet nine inches tall (1.75m). In Yuncheng, Yun Jiushu’s height was considered prominent among women.

To be significantly taller than her, as far as Yun Jiushu had encountered, there was only one person.

With this guess, Yun Jiushu raised her hand to feel the outline of the person before her.

The clothing fabric felt very tight. Her hand wrapped around, just managing to encircle the person’s waist.

The other person seemed sensitive. When embraced, their body involuntarily tensed, and even their heartbeat became erratic.

This reaction triggered a few past memories. Yun Jiushu swallowed lightly. The guess in her mind became clearer and clearer.

Using the darkness, she began to scrutinize the figure holding her.

The person’s head was turned, obscuring her face. A long, slender neck was exposed. Below, a woman’s broad shoulders. The familiar, faintly unidentifiable scent lingered in her nostrils, greatly easing the fear of the unknown.

Ye Ge?

The name unconsciously popped into her mind. The last shred of fear vanished.

A host of questions instantly sprang up in Yun Jiushu’s mind. Her steady breathing allowed her to retain her composure and shift her gaze to where she had been standing moments before.

The footsteps that had been hiding in the shadows were now in the open.

Three to five tall women emerged from different places. Seeing the empty park entrance, they shook their heads, scattered, and disappeared back into the night.

The moment all footsteps faded, the gaze that had been clinging to her like snot was finally shaken off.

Before Yun Jiushu could resist, the hand covering her mouth and nose was consciously removed.

The danger was averted. Yun Jiushu, relieved after the close call, let out a long, deep sigh.

She looked up again. The person before her had already squatted down to pick up her phone.

The location information sent to Yun Xiao still hadn’t synced, and there was no reply from Yun Xiao. It seemed she was still busy at the restaurant.

But at this moment, Yun Jiushu no longer needed that as a source of security.

With the flashlight back on, Yun Jiushu clearly saw her predicament and the person before her.

This was the decorative rock feature at the park entrance, engraved with the park’s name. It was something passing crowds usually ignored, but in the night, it became an excellent hiding spot.

Ye Ge (or perhaps A-Ci), wearing a light gray tracksuit and a ponytail, presented her physical imperfections without reserve in this clean, crisp hairstyle.

The faint pink scar winding across her left brow bone, and the gauze covering her right eye.

Her prominent nose bridge and amber eyes were unmistakable. In the night, the woman’s intensely aggressive, cold eyes surprisingly became a source of security.

Ye Ge—no, perhaps she should call her A-Ci.

Sensing Yun Jiushu’s scrutinizing gaze, the woman, who had just been as steady as a mountain, stepped back, anxiously lowering her head.

Her expression was evasive, strangely resembling a large, scolded dog.

The flashlight moved up. Yun Jiushu captured all the emotions of the person before her more clearly.

Her bronze skin made shyness less noticeable, but the flushed tips of her ears betrayed her discomfort.

“Why are you here?” Having calmed down, Yun Jiushu returned to her rational state.

Besides the footsteps, there had been a gaze following her in the park—a cold, serpent-like coil of vision.

“I was jogging, and I saw someone suspicious following you, so I changed my jogging route.” Feeling Yun Jiushu’s hostile scrutiny, Yi Chengsong anxiously began to sign her defense: “Until I saw you start running, that’s when I…”

The flurry of sign language slowly subsided. The only visible eye blinked, looking somewhat helpless and pitiful.

Perhaps she was too used to communicating with the band. Since she didn’t need to communicate with others often, she forgot that not everyone could understand sign language.

Her earnest explanation was no different from casting pearls before swine.

Yun Jiushu subtly scrutinized her, capturing every nuance of her emotion based on her expression.

But is that truly the case?

Yi Chengsong, under the intense gaze, swallowed almost inaudibly. A flicker of nervousness crossed her eyes. The hand hanging at her side unconsciously clenched, then relaxed.

This hand gesture was a switch.

The red dot that was monitoring her movement in real-time disappeared. The device strapped to her wrist instantly switched to a watch face, reverting to an ordinary sports bracelet.

Just as Yi Chengsong felt she was about to start sweating under the scrutiny, the beam of the flashlight shifted downwards. She heard Yun Jiushu’s voice.

“Does your hand hurt?”

With the reminder, Yi Chengsong quickly lowered her head, seeing the reason for Yun Jiushu’s question in the flashlight’s beam.

When she hugged Yun Jiushu to hide and dodge, her hand had cushioned the back of Yun Jiushu’s head against the stone wall.

The impact was heavy. The sharp edge of the stone had cut the back of her hand. Crimson bl00d was spreading, and tiny, fragmented bits of stone embedded in the flesh looked gruesome.

The light shining on the back of her hand moved away. Yi Chengsong immediately looked up, the harsh light reflecting in her amber pupils.

“Ye Ge,” Yun Jiushu’s voice was cold and serious: “How much are you hiding from me?”