Lin Mo wasn't the only one struggling to fall asleep that night.
Li Huanyu also tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep.
She had seen Shen Yihan's trending search.
She had assumed that when Shen Yihan said he had something to do, it was a major issue at the company.
But she never expected that "having something to do" meant going shopping with another woman!
No wonder she hadn't accepted that 100,000 yuan, and he hadn't transferred more money since.
So he had a new love!
But how could that be? He had clearly liked her so much!
Finally, she couldn't resist and sent Shen Yihan a WeChat message.
[Brother Yihan, were you shopping with someone else today?]
Shen Yihan didn't reply when he received this message.
Because he was already asleep.
Shen Yihan usually had excellent sleep quality and could fall asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
However, the phone ringing at 4 a.m. still woke him up!
He turned over in bed and reached out his long arm to grab the phone from the nightstand.
A strange number was displayed on the screen.
Shen Yihan had a habit of answering any strange calls that came through, as his number was initially used in the missing person notices he had posted.
Later, with too many harassing calls, he had switched to Jiang Tang's number.
Jiang Tang had also received too many harassing calls, so in the past two years, it had been changed to several secretaries' numbers.
Useful information would be verified, reported to Jiang Tang, and then relayed to him.
But his own number had never changed.
It was possible that someone had seen an old missing person notice and was calling.
Shen Yihan sat up halfway in bed, clicked to answer the phone, and said in a hoarse voice, "Hello!"
After a second of silence, a low male voice without any discernible emotion said, "I'm looking for Lin Mo. Is she there?"
Shen Yihan frowned. "Who are you? What do you want with Lin Mo?"
His sister had just returned. Who would be looking for her in the middle of the night?
Beep, beep, beep - the other side hung up without another word.
Shen Yihan was confused and called back, but there was no answer.
In the dark, Shen Yihan's face grew serious, and most of his drowsiness vanished.
He opened WeChat to check his messages and saw the one from Li Huanyu.
He frowned again.
Had Huanyu seen him shopping with his sister?
That didn't seem right.
If she had seen them, she would have messaged to ask right away, not at midnight.
Shen Yihan had another thought. He opened the trending searches and understood.
So paparazzi had taken photos!
He didn't usually browse Weibo or watch short videos; Jiang Tang would summarize any public opinion about him.
Why hadn't Jiang Tang mentioned this today? Had she not seen it either?
It was too late to ask her now.
Shen Yihan thought back to the earlier phone call.
He twirled the black Buddhist beads on his wrist.
Could it be an old acquaintance of his sister's who recognized her from the trending search and called?
But why call at 4 a.m.?
And why not answer when he called back?
Could it be Gu Jingchuan?
Gu Jingchuan had chased his sister for three years and could easily recognize her from just a side profile or back view.
This guy was not only Flirtatious but also used Huanyu to hype CP for fame - definitely not a good person.
His sister probably still liked him, so he couldn't let Gu Jingchuan contact her again!
Shen Yihan's brows twitched, and he immediately blocked the number that had just called.
He wanted to reply to Li Huanyu but thought she might be asleep, and messaging so late would disturb her.
So he didn't reply, put down his phone, and fell asleep again.
Although Lin Mo was curious about who had called her second brother in the middle of the night, she had no habit of eavesdropping on others' calls.
She went to the living room for a drink of water and didn't go back to her room.
Since she couldn't sleep anyway, she went to the second - floor balcony and leaned on her chin, gazing at the sky.
Beijing North at 4 a.m. was deadly quiet, like a sleeping giant dragon.
The sky was hazy,with very low visibility.
This meant she didn't see the car parked on the roadside outside the villa.
Inside the car, a sticky gaze was fixed on her.
The air was chilly, with a faint smell of blood, and there was a throbbing pain in his palm.
But the handsome man's eyes were filled with excitement.
A few stood out on his forehead, but they didn't look ugly; instead, they gave him a strange, ghostly beauty.
Lin Mo was really back. This wasn't a dream!
After seeing that side - profile photo, Xie Guanyan had immediately told his assistant to get out of the car and driven to Shen Yihan's house himself.
As Shen Yihan's investor, it wasn't hard for him to find the address.
The villa gate was closed, and he couldn't see inside, which made him extremely anxious!
Reason and emotion were at war within him.
Reason told him he was mistaken - Lin Mo had been dead for eleven years.
But his heart and instincts told him the person in the photo was her.
It was perfectly reasonable for Shen Yihan, as Lin Mo's brother, to go shopping with her.
But how could a person who had been dead for eleven years suddenly appear?
This internal conflict was excruciating, making him feel as if he were dying.
He wanted to confirm but didn't know how.
He couldn't just barge into Shen Yihan's villa.
He was afraid of scaring Lin Mo and also afraid of being disappointed again if he was wrong.
Over the past eleven years, he had mistaken countless people for Lin Mo, traveling far and wide just to check anyone who slightly resembled her.
Since her body had never been found, there was always a chance she was alive somewhere in the world!
He had been disappointed and heartbroken too many times.
He had hesitated at the gate until just now, when he found Shen Yihan's number and called.
The call had confirmed it.
Lin Mo was there.
If she wasn't, Shen Yihan would have called him a lunatic or said Lin Mo was long dead when he asked.
Instead, he had instinctively asked who he was and what he wanted with Lin Mo.
This realization made Xie Guanyan extremely excited.
But after hanging up, he looked at the villa again.
A small, blurred figure appeared on the second - floor balcony.
His chest felt as if it were being squeezed, almost making him explode.
The face that had haunted his dreams for years was now just meters away.
The straight - line distance was less than fifty meters.
A wave of overwhelming excitement washed over him, nearly drowning him!
It wasn't until he cut his palm with a knife from the car that the pain brought him back to his senses, confirming that this was real.
It was real!
The gentle - looking man with silver - framed glasses hidden in the darkness stared obsessively at the second - floor balcony, tracing the girl's silhouette bit by bit.
Even after her figure disappeared from view, his eyes remained fixed on the villa.
Maybe she would come out again, he thought.
Suddenly, he frowned.
Was her sleep disorder acting up?
Poor Shanshan.
Another thought crossed his mind, and he adjusted his glasses with one finger, a 俊美 smile curving his lips.
——
"Sis, why do you have such dark circles under your eyes?"
Shen Yihan was almost startled by Lin Mo's appearance early in the morning.
Lin Mo sat at the dining table, eating the breakfast Jiang Tang had brought, and said wearily, "I couldn't sleep last night. I only managed to doze off for a while at 5 a.m. and then woke up again."
Shen Yihan remembered her sleep problems and sat down at the table. "Should we buy a bed like the one we had before?"
Lin Mo shook her head. "It's not the bed. I'm just used to the place. Do you know who bought our old villa? Contact the buyer and ask if they want to sell it back!"
Shen Yihan said, "I'm not sure. It might have changed hands several times."
There were too many memories associated with that villa, so Shen Yihan had avoided looking into it.
Jiang Tang chimed in, "I'll look into it today."
Lin Mo leaned affectionately on Jiang Tang's shoulder. "Thanks, Jiang Tang!"
Jiang Tang's cheeks turned slightly red.
At first, she had thought that a school beauty and top student like Lin Mo would be distant and unapproachable.
But Lin Mo was bright and lively, making her very likeable.
She peeled an egg for Lin Mo before starting to report Shen Yihan's schedule for the day.
After listening, Shen Yihan asked her, "Did you know about what happened on Weibo yesterday?"
Jiang Tang glanced at Lin Mo.
Lin Mo raised an eyebrow and said coldly to Shen Yihan, "I told Sister Jiang Tang not to interfere with the Weibo stuff."
This translation maintains the narrative flow while emphasizing character emotions and relationships, such as Shen Yihan's protectiveness, Lin Mo's straightforwardness, and the mysterious tension surrounding Xie Guanyan's actions.