Rose Manor: Tycoon's Relentless Chase-Chapter 319 - 300: Caught

"Her whereabouts." Fu Jichen rubbed the cigarette pack in his pocket, trying to calm the agitation rising in his heart.

Qu Mo: "Still haven’t found her. Fu Yuling isn’t staying at her friend’s place."

The edges of the cigarette pack pricked Fu Jichen’s finger pads, and at last, he realized what important information he had missed—Fu Yuling had just escaped back to the country less than three days ago, and then Shen Jianian had this accident.

The two couldn’t possibly be unconnected. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Since we can’t find her, let’s make her come out herself," Fu Jichen calmly instructed, "Use her friend’s name to invite her, say there’s something important to discuss in person."

"I thought of this method too," Qu Mo said, "But Fu Yuling’s friend mentioned Fu Yuling borrowed a passerby’s phone to call her. She can’t contact Fu Yuling."

Fu Jichen was shrouded in hostility, desperately wanting to see that person.

Some things were like thorns embedded in his flesh; over time, they wouldn’t disappear, only burrow deeper. Only by removing them entirely could the pain cease.

Even over the phone, Qu Mo could sense the boss’s displeasure, and he assured him, "I’ll find a way to locate her as soon as possible."

Fu Jichen turned around with his phone and returned to the hospital room. Looking at the person on the bed, all hostility dissipated, but there was still a shadow in his eyes.

He sat silently by her bedside, waiting for her to wake, to take her home.

*

After Fu Yuling went abroad, the cards she routinely used were all frozen. The villa in Los Angeles was large, and she had someone to attend to her daily needs, but she felt it was a cage.

Any normal person would go insane if confined, especially someone like her who longed for freedom.

Due to a congenital heart condition, she had been undergoing treatment abroad since she could remember, her movements restricted. The thing she couldn’t tolerate the most after reaching adulthood was the lack of freedom.

She was truly going insane.

No matter how she cried and tried to appease the maids in the villa, they remained resolute, refusing to help her escape. Meals were cooked on schedule, and chores were done routinely, while they ignored her pleas.

Forced, she cut herself with a knife to secure a trip out of the villa to the hospital for rescue, but she hadn’t realized the doctors and nurses had all been instructed; no one would help her. Outside her hospital room, there were always several burly men, like phantoms, omnipresent, even invading her dreams when she slept.

The most perverse part was that those men stood outside even when she went to the bathroom, scaring the other female patients who went in and out.

At times, Fu Yuling truly wanted to jump out of the window, to end it all.

But she wasn’t willing. As long as Fu Jichen was in this world, she felt it was beautiful, worth clinging onto, and she didn’t want to die just like that.

Death meant having nothing at all, never seeing him again.

So, even though she lived in excruciating agony, she gritted her teeth and survived.

The second time, she scalded her thigh and was taken to the hospital again, knowing seeking a doctor’s or nurse’s help was futile, she aimed for the cleaners.

When she went to the bathroom, those bodyguards stayed outside as always. Before going in, she deliberately said loudly that her leg was injured, she was immobile, and it would take a long time.

They had no reaction whatsoever.

She had been hospitalized before, knew the cleaning time, and timed her entry accordingly. Sure enough, after a while, the cleaner came.

She took off the ring from her hand and gave it to the cleaner. It was a diamond ring she had worn for a long time, worth eight million. If not for being in dire straits, she wouldn’t have been willing to give it away.

The cleaner put her inside that large blue plastic bin and wheeled her out, giving her some cash. She was free.

At the moment she breathed the air of freedom, her tears streamed down uncontrollably.

The first thing was to return home; her ID documents were tucked against her stomach. The second thing was to deal with the woman who had taken over Fu Jichen.

None of the women who appeared around Fu Jichen had met a good end, whether Shen Jianian, Xu Jingyi, or this same-named Shen Jianian, she wouldn’t spare them either.

It took less than three days for the opportunity to arise.

In fact, it was the inspiration from her escape from the bathroom this time.

No longer possessing the privileges of the Fu family’s young lady, things had become inconvenient, so her plan wasn’t to kill Shen Jianian, but to first knock her out, take her to a deserted, abandoned auto repair shop, and have a few men teach her a lesson, making it so she’d never dare to appear beside Fu Jichen again.

The man she couldn’t have, no one else should either.

Fu Yuling lay in the cramped old house, staring at the mottled wallpaper as if looking at her own dismal life. An unwanted baby born with illness, brought back and raised by the Fu family, losing freedom for over a decade, loving but never having, and now a "fugitive" on the run.

Fu Jichen probably already knows she has disappeared and might be sending people to look for her.

Fu Yuling closed her eyes, the corners of her mouth curling into a mocking smile. By now, the people she sent to kidnap Shen Jianian should have succeeded.

Even if she is found by Fu Jichen and sent back to be imprisoned in Los Angeles, Shen Jianian won’t have a good outcome. Having lost her innocence, regardless of whether Fu Jichen despises her, she won’t be able to face living.

Just a mere substitute, and she thinks she’s worthy.

Fu Yuling sat up, her stomach growling with hunger. She dared not order takeout, so she put on a hat and mask and went out to buy food herself.

This was an old residential building. She had seen a rental notice on a utility pole and moved in. The furniture was terribly sparse, and the bed was so hard it made her whole body ache when she lay on it.

In her over thirty years of life, Fu Yuling had never felt so aggrieved. But what could she do? She dared not stay in a hotel, fearing her stay would be tracked. She didn’t dare stay in a homestay either, so she had to put up with a place like this.

Fu Yuling exited the building and walked on the uneven road of the community. The paving stones wobbled, and when stepping on them, the mud and accumulated water in the cracks would unexpectedly splash onto her pants.

Her face under the mask wrinkled as she endured and quickened her pace out, randomly finding a slightly cleaner-looking restaurant and ordering a few dishes.

After a few bites, Fu Yuling noticed eyes fixed on her. Her back tingled with a sense of foreboding; she quickly took a few more mouthfuls of food, paid, and left.

Returning to the residential building along the same path, she locked herself inside, leaning against the door and gasping for air.

As Fu Yuling slowly let her guard down, someone outside began pounding on the door, each bang striking her heart. Her heart raced, and a sense of impending doom came over her suddenly.

*

Fu Jichen called Cheng Jin to accompany Shen Jianian; he had work to attend to outside.

"Rest at home with peace of mind." Donning an overcoat, Fu Jichen rubbed Shen Jianian’s ear, "There’s an urgent company document to sign; I’ll be back soon."

Cheng Jin was cooking in the kitchen, while Shen Jianian, holding a cat in her arms, placed one hand on his back: "Go ahead with your work. I’m feeling much better now; my head isn’t as dizzy."

"Alright."

Once Fu Jichen left the house, his face turned cold and somber, his deep eyes like a bottomless pool in a dark forest, emitting a chilling aura.

Qu Mo drove, carrying him to a residential area.

Fu Yuling had been found and brought to a quiet, secluded place by their people. Fu Jichen had questions for her, leading to this encounter.

They arrived just as the sky was turning dark. Though spring had passed, the surrounding plants were sprouting new greens, appearing as gray-black shadows of budding branches in the dim light.

Fu Jichen pushed open the door, hearing a heart-wrenching sob. Looking up, he saw Fu Yuling in a disheveled state. Her sweater was rumpled, and she was tied to a wooden chair with her hands crossed behind the backrest, legs bound with rope, a cloth stuffed in her mouth. Her eyes, wide with terror, were incessantly tearing up.

The moment she saw Fu Jichen, she became quiet, staring at him dazedly.

She hadn’t seen him in such a long time. He seemed so unfamiliar, so cold, his gaze capable of freezing her from head to toe.

Fu Jichen raised an eyebrow, and Qu Mo understood, removing the cloth from Fu Yuling’s mouth.

Fu Yuling opened her mouth to cry for mercy: "Brother, why are you treating me this way? I don’t want to be all alone in the house in Los Angeles; I want to come home. Even if you want to punish me, it should be enough by now. I’ll listen to you obediently from now on and won’t misbehave. Can you please let me come home?"

Fu Jichen pulled up a chair and sat down, crossing his long legs. He removed his black leather gloves and lit a cigarette: "Is it really just because you don’t want to be in Los Angeles?"

Fu Yuling’s face was streaked with tears; her expression froze for a moment.

"I knew you were crazy before, but I underestimated your courage and tactics." Fu Jichen’s stern face was shrouded in pale blue smoke, making it impossible to discern his expression. It was this obscurity and indistinctness that were most terrifying. "What have you learned abroad over the years, hiring a killer?"

Fu Yuling’s body shook like a sieve, but she forced herself to appear calm.

Fu Jichen must be bluffing her. Her actions were flawless, involving only those living in dire straits and honest individuals. Such people, if promised benefits, would keep their mouths shut the tightest. The so-called benefits weren’t money; they were what they most needed.

They wouldn’t betray anyone. Fu Jichen had no evidence.

"Brother, what do you mean by hiring a killer? What are you talking about? I’m so scared." Fu Yuling said pitifully, "I’m very cold; my legs are numb. Can you please untie me? I won’t run away again."

"Fu Yuling." Fu Jichen tossed the cigarette butt to the ground, his thin lips slightly parted as icy words billowed out with the last puff of smoke, "The cleaner you hired was caught red-handed, unable to deny it. Guess how long a timid woman like her can hold out?"

Fu Yuling’s mind buzzed. That cleaner had failed?

Which meant Shen Jianian was safe and sound.

How could that be?