While listening to the analysis, Xu Tingyu managed to stay on her feet. But the moment the word "kidnapping" came out, her legs gave way.
Qi Shifeng helped her onto the sofa and clasped her hand tightly. "If it is really a kidnapping, they must be after money. We have money. Don't be afraid."
If it was just about money, it wouldn't be a problem.
But what if it wasn't about money?
Xu Tingyu wasn't some naive girl who had never experienced anything. When she was abroad, she had heard about many such cases.
If the kidnappers were just after money, it would be okay. They could pay the ransom and find someone to mediate. Usually, the kidnappers wouldn't go too far.
They would release the victim after getting the money.
But if there was some kind of grudge involved, it wouldn't be that simple.
In the worst - case scenario, the kidnappers might not even want money. They just wanted to see the victim suffer.
In such cases, the outcome was hard to predict.
The lucky ones might survive, while the unlucky ones would end up being returned as a corpse.
In a split - second, countless possibilities flashed through Xu Tingyu's mind.
She remembered the first lesson her parents taught her when she was a child: don't interact with strangers outside and don't talk about family matters casually.
It was even more chaotic in the past. There were people who would abduct children near the school gate.
But she was smart as a child. She had many extracurricular tutoring classes. By the time she left school, the driver would always pick her up and take her to the tutoring class.
She had encountered one or two strangers trying to strike up a conversation, but she had managed to get out of those situations safely.
So she hadn't given Youyou any relevant education. She thought that with so many bodyguards around, nothing would happen.
But now, this...
Youyou's identity as Qi Shifeng's child had never been made public.
Combined with the fact that Youyou had walked out on his own, it meant that the kidnapper was someone they were familiar with.
At least, Youyou knew this person.
So now they had to investigate everyone who had come into contact with Youyou.
"School teachers, the nannies and drivers at home, and their family members are all suspects," Chen Yan interjected.
His face was also extremely grim. He had made many phone calls and pulled countless strings to start looking for Youyou.
They had also reported the case to the police, and now all checkpoints were conducting inspections.
However, after two days, there was still no useful information.
Xu Tingyu stubbornly refused to go back to her room to rest.
She curled up on the sofa, the corners of her eyes drooping. From the corner of her eye, she watched the people around her bustling about, while her ears were filled with the familiar and shrill tinnitus.
Her thin body was hunched against the corner of the sofa, as if her spine had been removed.
During the toughest times in her life, even when she was on the verge of death from illness, she would drag her tired body up and go to work.
At that time, she felt like a bull in the arena. Facing injustice and suffering, she would get up no matter how badly she was hurt.
But now, she was slumped there, too weak to even speak.
The words "Youyou is missing" had completely shattered the toughness she had always pretended to have.
In the tinnitus, she remembered.
Four years ago, the old man had said that her fate had changed. She was no longer lucky for her husband, and she was no longer lucky herself. Those who got close to her would become unlucky.
At that time, she had scoffed in her heart.
He just wanted to get rid of her without any psychological burden and didn't want to pay a single cent, so he came up with such a ridiculous reason.
She was who she was. From beginning to end, she was the precious young lady of the Xu family, and she was also the one who worried about money after the family went bankrupt.
But the essence inside her had never changed.
But now, she suddenly wasn't so sure.
Was there really some kind of disaster in her fate?
She was too stubborn to accept her fate and unwilling to yield, so all this was being taken out on the people around her.
Qi Shifeng had hardly slept in the past two days.
He didn't go to the company anymore. He stayed at the Xu residence, like a commander.
Most of the time, he was silent. His anger and anxiety didn't show on his face. He just stared intently at everyone.
This must have been done by someone close to them.
But so far, they didn't know what the kidnapper wanted.
Because after taking Youyou away, the kidnapper hadn't contacted them yet.
He observed everyone's reactions repeatedly. He even wondered if this was a play staged by Xu Tingyu and Chen Yan to take the child away.
It wasn't that he didn't trust Xu Tingyu.
It was just that this woman never really trusted him.
Her love for the child was obvious, and her entanglement with him was all because of Youyou.
So was it her?
After realizing that she couldn't take Youyou away legally, did she come up with such a stupid idea?
He stood in front of the floor - to - ceiling window. Through the bloodshot in his eyes, he looked at the woman on the sofa.
She always held her back straight, like a tree that wouldn't easily bend even in the fiercest storm.
When you angered her, even if she cried, she would still be sharp - tongued and bite back desperately.
Back then, before she was sent abroad, didn't she collect a lot of evidence of the Qi family's crimes? It had taken him a long time to cooperate with the investigation after he woke up, and he had suffered a lot of losses.
She loved to look good. Even in the most embarrassing situations, she would always make herself look clean and tidy, saying that this way she could maintain her spirit.
But now, she was curled up in the corner of the sofa, her hair in a mess, her eyes blank and unfocused, looking a bit dull.
Two days had seemed to drain her spirit.
But she was still so beautiful. Her porcelain - smooth white skin intertwined with her black hair, catching everyone's eyes.
The people bustling around to collect clues couldn't help but steal glances at her.
She was completely oblivious, lost in thought, as if she was slowly falling apart.
Qi Shifeng stubbed out the cigarette in his hand - he would light one to refresh himself when he was extremely irritated, so he had stood a bit far from her.
Then, he strode over, picked her up in his arms, and went straight upstairs.
Xu Tingyu looked up groggily and smelled the fresh scent on him, which was now mixed with the rare smell of tobacco.
When she was tucked into the quilt, she seemed to come back to her senses. "Any news about Youyou?"
She had been sitting downstairs, watching everyone bustling about and answering phone calls.
But she couldn't listen to a single word. Her ears were filled with only the shrill tinnitus.
Qi Shifeng touched her face, trying to warm it up a bit. "Not yet. Go to sleep now. Have something to eat when you wake up."
She hadn't slept for two days and nights and had hardly eaten anything. Even a person made of iron couldn't take it.
Moreover, she had been exhausted from dealing with Xie Shu's matter and hadn't had a good rest.
By now, she was on the verge of a breakdown.
But she was stubborn and refused to rest. "I have to stay here. If Youyou comes back, he has to see me first."
She struggled to get out of bed.
Even though she could do nothing just sitting there, she felt at ease only when she was there.
"Go to sleep. When he comes back, I'll bring him to see you right away."
"Otherwise, when Youyou comes back and sees you like this, he'll definitely feel heart - broken. He'll ask me why Mom is so haggard and will blame me for not taking good care of you."
Qi Shifeng held her hand and spoke in a low, calm voice.
The man who had been full of hostility downstairs just now would only relax when he was close to her.