The sun was setting. The golden rays created very long shadows as the cool air glided through.

Xi Xiaye sensed the heaviness in Inspector Zhang's tone, so she frowned slightly as she clenched her fists. Her eyes remained gazing at the sky as she just waited for Inspector Zhang to continue.

Inspector Zhang said quietly, "The conflict between the Gus and the Mus isn't really a secret. I'm sure everyone has somewhat heard about that incident although it was covered up later on."

Xi Xiaye's eyes darkened as she nodded. "Mmm, I know that much, and a lot of topics are considered a taboo in the Mu family. Mu Yuchen almost never mentions them to me. He also reminded me not to mention it in front of Grandfather and Grandmother, so..."

"Of course, while the Mu family is huge with Mu Yinan being the main pillar, there are a lot of complicated matters within the family. Mu Zi alone had a lot of mysteries shrouded around her. It's still unclear right now... I won't talk about this right now. Let's talk about the Qi family."

Inspector Zhang took a deep breath, seeming reluctant to mention Mu Zi. He lit a cigarette up as he looked downwards. "The Qi family is quite complicated. Qi Qiming has two sons, Qi Feng and Qi Lei. I've mentioned them before. Qi Feng is Qi Qiming's favorite son. He's talented and the Qi family loves him. Moreover, he's quite handsome, and many women were head over heels for him. Have you heard of the Gu family in City B?"

"The Gu family? City B?" Xi Xiaye frowned. She sifted through her memories and shook her head in the end.

She only heard Mu Yuchen briefly mention them. She only knew Gu Lingsha was not from City Z. Instead, she was from the Gu family in City B. However, Mu Yuchen was reluctant to talk about it to her. Every time it was mentioned, he would just reply half-heartedly. He probably still took that matter personally, so she could not get much out of him.

"That's a pretty huge family as well. They share a great relationship with the Qi family, and they are a long-time friend of the Mu family."

Inspector Zhang explained, "The car crash five years ago was indeed an accident. I only found out that Mu Lingtian died on the spot while Qi Feng and Gu Lingsha were rescued. Gu Lingsha is the treasure of the Gu family. No one has seen them ever since, thus many guess they were already dead, but I think the chances of them being alive is high. Someone seemed to have seen Gu Lingsha in New York."

"If it's an accident, then how do you explain the conflict between the Qi family and the Mu family?" Xi Xiaye voiced out her doubt as she stared at Inspector Zhang.

Inspector Zhang smiled, but his eyes seemed heavy. "I'm sure Mu Yuchen didn't tell you about it, but there's nothing much really. It might be better for you if you don't know."

"I want to know what happened." Xi Xiaye was determined.

Inspector Zhang nodded, but he hesitated for a moment. "Because Gu Lingsha was your husband's fiancèe, they were engaged when they were just babies. Mu Yuchen was pretty pitiful when it came to this. He had been in the military for quite some years and only knew about the engagement later. At that point in time, there was nothing he could do about the engagement. Gu Lingsha was already with Qi Feng, and Qi Feng is Mu Lingtian's good friend. Mu Yuchen wanted to cancel the engagement with the Gu family to let Gu Lingsha and Qi Feng be together, but the Gu family declined and wanted Gu Lingsha to break up with Qi Feng in order to fulfill the engagement."

He took a pause and released a puff of smoke. "This dragged on until Mu Yuchen's retirement from the army. I don't know what exactly happened, but three months later, the Mu family still went to the Gu family for a marriage proposal. Someone guessed that Mu Yuchen had really fallen in love with Gu Lingsha, but I don't think it's that simple. I found out the Gu family and the Qi family were working on an important project, so that might be the reason, but I still need to investigate to find out more details. If this hypothesis is correct, then it explains why Gu Lingsha and Qi Feng eloped before the wedding. Their plan probably got found out, and Mu Yuchen ordered to chase them down no matter the cost. When they tried to escape, the crash happened.

"Mu Yuchen is a proud man with high societal status. He glazed over the fact that Gu Lingsha was with another man despite their engagement and was even willing to marry her. In the end, she still chose to elope with someone else, so it wasn't unreasonable for him to get angry, but no matter what, he's responsible for the accident.

"And he probably never expected that the person who helped Qi Feng and Gu Lingsha elope would be his trusted brother, Mu Lingtian. As the final blow, this accident took Mu Lingtian's life. In a way, Mu Lingtian betrayed his brother, Mu Yuchen, and Mu Yuchen indirectly killed his own brother. Do you get it?"

Xi Xiaye listened quietly until Inspector Zhang finished. Her face had gotten pale as her grip on the pole tightened and her eyes darkened. It was unclear what emotions she was feeling at the moment.

After being quiet for some time, she mumbled, "Fiancèe, elopement, indirectly killed Mu Lingtian..."

"That's right. Ever since then, the Mu family had this barrier with the Gu family and the Qi family. They hardly contacted each other over the years, and it's exactly because of this that I assumed Qi Feng and Gu Lingsha are still alive. Otherwise, they wouldn't be so calm about it. However, the Qi family doesn't seem peaceful lately, so you'd better be careful," Inspector Zhang reminded.

"I'll continue to find out more details. By the way, I checked the immigration record and noticed Qi Qiming goes abroad periodically. I had a friend keep an eye on it. We might find something out."

Xi Xiaye was dazed while she was trapped in her vortex of thoughts as she felt pain in her chest.

She was not sure whether she should be angry at him for keeping quiet about this, or to pity him for this horrible past! No wonder he would be anxious whenever she mentioned Mu Lingtian. He had no idea how to express the horrible feeling within him.

Inspector Zhang observed Xi Xiaye and noticed that her face had turned pale, so he sighed. "Well, it's not exactly a big deal. Who doesn't have a past of their own? Just think of it as a tiny event in his life. Mu Yuchen is genuinely nice to you. Whether he truly loved Gu Lingsha before or not, you're the one he's married to now. Understand?" He threw Xi Xiaye a concerned glance.

Xi Xiaye took a deep breath as she raised her head, glancing up at the sky quietly as she blinked her eyes. Her expression calmed down. "I'm alright. Please continue."

Inspector Zhang nodded. "Qi Qiming is a sly fox. I probably would've missed it if I were any less observant, especially if it were people keeping an eye on him during this period of time, not just me. Your husband is probably doing the same thing as well."

Xi Xiaye went silent for a long while. "Thank you, Inspector Zhang. You don't have to investigate it anymore..."

In a surprise, Inspector Zhang asked, "You're going to stop? Don't you want to know the truth?"

Xi Xiaye took a deep breath as she closed her eyes to calm down. Control returned to her eyes once again when she reopened them. "I want to know, but I also hope that... I can know the truth from him. He's looking for some answers too and I can't do anything about it. The only thing I can do now is to have faith in him."

Inspector Zhang was stunned for a moment. He stared at Xi Xiaye for some time before he put a smile on. He nodded as he looked over in the same direction as Xi Xiaye.

"With a man like Mu Yuchen, he's not someone who'd marry a girl so easily. I'm not sure if you're the lucky one, or he's the lucky one. You're a smart person, Xi Xiaye. However, not everyone can see things through," Inspector Zhang suddenly said.

Xi Xiaye smiled. "Did you find out anything about Qi Lei, Inspector Zhang?"

From the words he said just now, Xi Xiaye noticed that the conflict between Qi Lei and Mu Yuchen...

"I was just about to mention it. Qi Lei, Gu Lingsha, and Mu Lingtian were very close. Although he's not on friendly terms with Qi Feng, they'd compromise for the sake of Mu Lingtian, and the siblings seem to have feelings for Gu Lingsha..."

Inspector Zhang did not continue since Xi Xiaye pretty much understood everything.

However, it pained her heart when she heard Gu Lingsha was once his fiancèe whom he had not told her about. Instead, he said she was just an unimportant person. She was heartbroken when she heard about Mu Lingtian's betrayal from Inspector Zhang.

Such a painful experience would surely leave a mark. A fiancèe eloping with someone else, the betrayal of a brother, which indirectly caused an accident and ended up with Mu Lingtian dead and Mu Lingshi disfigured... What else could be worse?

She suddenly felt that she could relate to the pain very well. While she felt horrible knowing he had had a fiancèe before, she bore the sharp pain out of concern for him too.

She did not want to admit that she was jealous right now.

Just who exactly was Gu Lingsha that he would agree to marry her? Even both Qi Feng and Qi Lei had fallen in love with her!

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...

The sun started moving west. It was 4 p.m. in the evening.

Inspector Zhang left swiftly whilst Xi Xiaye remained at the same spot for a long while. She stood facing the wind as the surrounding air was shrouded in a depressive vibe.

She sighed after a while and her expression clouded over.

Xi Xiaye wanted to go home when she got back into the car, but Ji Zitong insisted to go to the hospital. Of course, it was an order from Mu Yuchen. Xi Xiaye was pretty annoyed, but they arrived at Hospital T soon, so she went inside.

At Hospital T, Dr. Wang gave Xi Xiaye a thorough check-up. While Xi Xiaye was sitting on a bench waiting for her results, Ji Zitong went to fill in the forms for her.

It was late in the evening at the moment, so the normal office hours ended when they arrived at the hospital. After some time, even the hospital became empty and quiet.

She was sitting alone on the bench, and there was no one in the corridor. She looked out the window and noticed the night was falling. The sky was turning gray and eventually darker.

She had a lot of complications inside. For him to make a marriage proposal willingly and for the Mu family to accept that woman, she must be exceptional, maybe much better than her...

Then, Mu Lingtian...

She took a deep breath as a depressed feeling hit her. She bent over exhausted and covered her face with her cold hands as the stormy clouds in her heart covered her tiny body.

Should she ask him about it?

Why did he not tell her about this before?

Was there something between Gu Lingsha and him in the past?

He said he had only met her several times.

Many questions troubled her. She felt like she was in an endless dream as a black vortex stormed over her and she had issues dealing with it to the point that she did not even notice her phone vibrating.

Her phone continued to vibrate. It had been going on for some time when she finally came back to her senses and noticed it.

The phone showed that it was Mu Yuchen calling. She stared at the phone for quite a while before answering it. Mu Yuchen's low and gentle voice came through from the other end. "Why did it take you so long to pick up? Are you home yet?"

Upon hearing his sensitive voice of concern, she immediately felt a sourness in her heart. She sighed softly before answering with a raspy voice, "No."

Just with one word, he could already hear her unhappiness. "What's wrong? Who made you unhappy now?"

When he did not hear her answer, he continued, "Didn't Zitong bring you to the hospital?"

She did not answer him and just held onto the phone as her eyes flickered between darkness and light.

When she did not answer after a long while, he frowned and commanded, "Speak, Xiaye." He turned around in his chair to look out at the city ablaze with lights out his window, yet his heart started to feel uneasy for some reason.

"I don't want to talk to you right now," Xi Xiaye lowered her gaze and answered plainly, her tone clearly gloomy.

"Does that mean I'm the one who annoyed you?"

As Mu Yuchen listened, he suddenly chuckled softly. With one hand holding onto the slightly cool arm of the chair, his gentle voice was very sensitive. "Tell me. What horrible, wicked thing have I done this time to make you so unhappy? I need to see if I have to self-respect."

Xi Xiaye sighed, yet the more she heard such sensitive words, the sadder she felt. She even started to imagine if Gu Lingsha was some devastatingly beautiful woman. Was she a stunning girl with brimming talent?

Because humans cared, we would become sensitive and vulnerable. Although it was not a good thing, sometimes it was just inevitable.

After a long while, she complained, "Mu Yuchen, you've been dishonest with me..."

Mu Yuchen immediately raised his brows on the other end in surprise. He then smiled helplessly. "How have I been dishonest? I've been sitting around in the open waiting for you to get to know me, but I've never seen you take an interest in me."

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When she heard this, Xi Xiaye's eyes darkened slightly. She curled up on the bench, thought about it, and finally decided that she was too lazy to make guesses. Asking up front would probably be better.

"Do you still remember your fiancè, Gu Lingsha? Didn't you say that you barely knew her? You bastard, you even proposed marriage to her, didn't you? We've been married for so long, yet you never told me about this! What if that woman comes back?"

Her tone was a little distant, and the agitation was evident.

When Xi Xiaye finished, Mu Yuchen was stunned. His still eyes suddenly turned solemn as his handsome brows furrowed into a knot. He looked up at the dim light above him and tried hard to think for a very, very long time.

Gu Lingsha...

After a long while, that beautiful and bright face finally completely appeared in his mind.

The memory was distant, yet at the mention of this woman's name, the hostility that he suppressed in his heart suddenly surged out.

He has long blurred out this woman's face, but all the things that she had done revealed a bitterness in his eyes. Of course, there was that other person!

He had been searching for them for many years now, yet he could never find traces of them. It was only recently that some leads began to surface.

Mu Yuchen suddenly fell silent. Xi Xiaye could also suddenly feel an indescribable suffocating pain as if something was weighing on her chest. She could barely breathe properly. She thought it, then sighed deeply. Her voice remained calm as she dismissed the matter. "I'm tired. Forget it. We'll talk when I get back."

"Don't hang up, Xiaye! Let me explain."

Before she could finish, he suddenly stopped her. His usually calm voice was colored with anxiety now.

"What do you have to say? You've already silently admitted to it. Your beloved fiancè is much more excellent than I am, and you even proposed to her back then."

Seconds later, his low voice finally demanded calmly, "Who told you that?" One could vaguely hear the coldness in it.

"Who cares who told me as long as it's the truth? Didn't you get people to chase after them because she was eloping with Qi Feng back then, ruining your wedding? Do you dare say you've only met her a few times? Is there an unforgettable past between you and her?"

"Who says we have any past? I don't even remember how the hell Gu Lingsha looks like anymore. I only proposed marriage to the Gu family because back then I thought that it didn't matter who I married. In fact, I wanted to see what the Gu family was up to when they insisted on making that woman marry me."

Hostility crossed Mu Yuchen's handsome face as a stern light flashed through his dark eyes.

"Xiaye, there's nothing between me and Gu Lingsha. Apart from the invalid so-called arranged betrothal when we were younger, it's not what you think."

However, Xi Xiaye still had not heard Mu Yuchen's explanation. All of a sudden, there was no more sound from the phone. She then realized her phone was out of battery!

On the other end, Mu Yuchen called over a few times and thought her phone was switched off. Because he was too anxious, he could not sit still and quickly got up. Without packing anything from his desk, he rushed out.

"Master, the document..."

"Get them to bring it over tomorrow. Prepare the car. Go to Hospital T right away!"

How dare she hang up on him? He would have to teach her a lesson!

Mr. Mu was really annoyed right now. She should have given him a chance to explain no matter what. What did she mean, just hanging up like that?

...

After waiting for quite a while, Doctor Huang finally walked out from the consulting room with a smile and the lab test results in her hand. She looked at Xi Xiaye with her head lowered and silent on the bench before quickly going up and announcing very cheerfully, "Missus Mu, congratulations! You're pregnant. The fetus is about five weeks old and is very healthy. However, your body is a little weak and needs to be nursed. Here are the lab test results. Take a look."

As Doctor Huang spoke, she handed Xi Xiaye the lab test while beaming.

The moment Xi Xiaye heard her, she was stunned for a moment. The light in her eyes paused, and she almost could not hold back the surge of joy in her heart.

Really, it really was a positive pregnancy result!

She could not care less about how unhappy she had been earlier. A full smile lit up her pale face immediately as she quickly took over the lab report Doctor Huang handed and looked through it in detail.

Doctor Huang obviously took in all of Xi Xiaye's reactions grinning. "You can't do vigorous exercises in the first three months, and you must watch your food to have a balanced diet. I've just prescribed some medication for you and written down the things to take note of. Missus Mu, you must take care of yourself. Remain in a cheerful state of mind, and come for regular check-ups."