Mumu meant that even if Xu Youning didn’t want to sleep, she should let the baby have a rest.
However, what he really wanted was to let Xu Youning accompany him to sleep.
Xu Youning had to admit that although Mumu was young, he was a good hand at passing the buck.
But Mumu was right about one thing—even if she was not in the mood to sleep, she should go to bed for the sake of her child.
“Well,” Xu Youning compromised and took the little fellow’s hand, “let’s go upstairs to sleep.”
“Whoo!”
Mumu cheered and bounced into his room. He took out a lovely set of panda pajamas and put them on. While rolling on the bed, he acted cute to Xu Youning, saying, “Auntie Youning, you’re so beautiful today!”
Xu Youning was removing her makeup. Hearing that, she teased the little fellow, “Only today?”
“And tomorrow! And the day after tomorrow!” Mumu crawled to the end of the bed from his quilt like a little mole. With the quilt covering him, he raised his head and looked at Xu Youning with his chin in his hands, saying, “Auntie Youning is beautiful every day!”
Knowing that Mumu was still a child and his words couldn’t be taken seriously, Xu Youning still smiled.
She bet that Mumu would be a master at flirting when he grew up, and countless girls would be fascinated by him.
After removing her makeup, Xu Youning went to take a shower. When she came out, Mumu was already asleep—the little guy was lying on his stomach at the end of the bed with his hands hanging down. He slept quietly and contently like a little bear.
Xu Youning picked him up and let him lie on his back. Then she lay down beside him and closed her eyes. But unlike Mumu, she couldn’t reassure herself to fall asleep.
“Brother Sijue, don’t be like this…”
“Brother Sijue, you’re so bad…”
“Brother Sijue…”
Yang Shanshan’s voice looped around Xu Youning’s ears harshly, making Xu Youning unable to sleep at all.
Xu Youning tried several times to kick Yang Shanshan’s voice out of her mind but only ended with failure.
She scratched her head irritably and kept tossing and turning. But no sleeping position could calm her down.
After a while, the voice that pestered Xu Youning became Mu Sijue’s—
“Xu Youning, who do you think you are?”
“What can you offer?”
Xu Youning found it was sad that she clearly remembered how satirical and disdainful Mu Sijue was when saying those words. Thinking about them now, she felt that every word became a sharp knife, piercing into her heart.
The pain almost suffocated her in the dark.
In the end, Xu Youning lifted the quilt, sat up, and buried her face in her hands.
The night was like a monster opening its bloody mouth. It was howling with bared fangs in her mind, trying to swallow her.
Feeling miserable, Xu Youning inserted her fingers deep into her hair and slowly tightened them, attempting to squeeze all the complex emotions out of her mind. But she couldn’t.
The clutter kept torturing her. It was not until late last night when the storm in her mind slowly subsided and she finally cleared her head.
After calming down, the first thing that Xu Youning thought of was the safety of her and Doctor Liu.
Kang Ruicheng didn’t believe her completely. She knew certainly that Dongzi must have sent a lot of subordinates to guard the house now in order to prevent her from escaping.
Considering the child in her belly and her unstable condition, she could not run away rashly because if she failed, she would die.
But if she didn’t, Kang Ruicheng would be back tomorrow.
Once Kang Ruicheng found her investigating his money laundering business, he would definitely think that it was she who gave the evidence to Mu Sijue. At that time, what awaited her would be endless torture and death.
However, she might get out of trouble successfully. At least, Dongzi had slowly dispelled his doubts about her. After Kang Ruicheng came back, he might not be able to find her collecting evidence.
Be that as it may, she still needed to prepare for the worst.
Anyway, she had to ensure the safety of Doctor Liu first—Doctor Liu was innocent.
With that in mind, Xu Youning slowly calmed down. She lay back on the bed and soon fell asleep.
The next day when Xu Youning woke up, she saw Mumu lying on the pillow with one leg stretching out to press the quilt and the other opening widely. The little fellow was lying on his stomach like a frog, pouting—he looked very cute.
Xu Youning adjusted the little guy’s sleeping position and tucked him in the quilt. Then she got out of bed and called Doctor Liu, “Doctor Liu, I may be exposed soon.”
After a long silence, Doctor Liu asked in shock, “Ms. Xu, what did you just say?”
Xu Youning repeated her words while doing something on the computer. In the end, she said, “Doctor Liu, can you hide for some time in a concealed place so that no one can find you?”
Doctor Liu thought for a moment and said, “Yes. But what about you?”
“I’ll find a way. You just need to keep yourself safe,” Xu Youning looked at the computer which showed the remittance had been successful. She told Doctor Liu, “I transferred some money to your account. Thank you for your help during this period.”
“I got it.” Doctor Liu sighed, “I won’t use this money unless I have to. I hope I can give it back to you in the future.”
Xu Youning smiled—Doctor Liu’s hope may never come true.
She came to her sense and continued, “Doctor Liu, do you remember the phone number I gave to you last time?”
“I saved it,” Doctor Liu asked, “what’s wrong?”
“If you encounter an emergency, you can dial that number. Tell that person what happened to me, and ask him to help you.” then Xu Youning emphasized, “But don’t contact him unless you don’t have a second choice.”
Xu Youning was scared.
She was afraid that after Doctor Liu contacted Mu Sijue, but Mu Sijue would not believe what Doctor Liu said and just let her run her own course.
However, she was also afraid that Mu Sijue would believe Doctor Liu and manage to save her for her and their child. If so, Mu Sijue would definitely be threatened by Kang Ruicheng.
Once there was a chance, Kang Ruicheng would kill Mu Sijue, which meant that in the end, she still needed Mu Sijue to save her at risk to his own life.
She didn’t want Mu Sijue to run the risk nor to be threatened by anyone.
Mu Sijue was a born king of the dark. He should always seize the initiative.
“Sure.” Doctor Liu suddenly thought of something, “By the way, Ms. Xu, I want to ask you something.”
Doctor Liu wanted to ask what was the relationship between Xu Youning and Xiao Yunyun? Why did Xiao Yunyun suddenly find her? To help Xu Youning, or to sound her out under Kang Ruicheng’s order?
However, before Doctor Liu spoke, Mumu sat up with the quilt covering him and said in a drowsy way, “Auntie Youning, where are you?”
“Doctor Liu, I don’t have time. I’m gonna go.”
Xu Youning didn’t want Mumu to hear anything, so she quickly hung up the phone and carried Mumu out of the quilt. “Ready to get up?” Asked she.
Mumu rubbed his eyes and nodded. The hat of his one-piece pajamas swayed with his nod. He said in a childish voice, “I don’t want to sleep anymore.”
Xu Youning pinched the little guy’s nose and said, “Then get up.”
She walked to the bathroom with Mumu in her arms. A few steps later, Mumu lay on her shoulder.
She thought he was asleep, but heard him asking in a daze, “Auntie Youning, are you going to leave?”
Xu Youning’s heart did a flip. “Did Mumu hear something?”
She asked uncertainly, “Mumu, why did you ask that?”
Mumu rubbed his head against Xu Youning’s shoulder and answered, “I just have this feeling.”
The little guy felt that she would leave?
Xu Youning smiled helplessly. After entering the bathroom, she put him down and rubbed his head, saying, “You feel it wrong. I… won’t leave.”
Mumu finally opened his eyes and looked at Xu Youning seriously, asking, “What about the baby in your belly? He will miss his dad!”
“We can discuss this another time.” Xu Youning squeezed the toothpaste on the electric toothbrush and said, “Open your mouth. I’ll help you brush your teeth.”
Mumu obediently opened his mouth. After washing up, he went downstairs to have breakfast with Xu Youning.
After breakfast, Dongzi came over. Xu Youning asked him, “Have you contacted the lawyer? How’s Brother Cheng?”
“Yes, I have. The lawyer said that as long as the police can’t provide any new evidence, Brother Cheng can come back tonight.”
Xu Youning was right. The evidence that Mu Sijue collected was not enough to put Kang Ruicheng in jail.
However, in order to get Dongzi’s trust, she, against her will, breathed a sigh of relief and said, “It’s good to hear Brother Cheng will be fine.”
“And Brother Cheng told the lawyer to pass a message on to us,” said Dongzi.
Xu Youning had already guessed what Dongzi would say. So she asked directly, “Is it related to the business negotiation today?”
“Yes,” Dongzi nodded seriously. “Brother Cheng said that this cooperation is very important. We must get it.”
Xu Youning responded casually, “Okay. Who is our opponent?”
Even if they couldn’t get the business, they would be able to defeat their opponent. In this way, the cooperation would finally be theirs.
Dongzi shook his head awkwardly and said, “I don’t know yet. Brother Cheng said we won’t know it until we arrive there.”
“So arrogant?” Xu Youning smiled fearlessly. “Let’s meet them first. If we can’t get this cooperation opportunity, no one can!”
That was Xu Youning’s style. She had to get what she wanted.
If she couldn’t get it, no one could!
Kang Ruicheng once said that it was Xu Youning’s unreasonable possessiveness that attracted him to train her.
“Auntie Youning,” Mumu came over and looked at Xu Youning with eager eyes. “Where are you and Uncle Dongzi going?”
Xu Youning stroked the little fellow’s hair and said casually, “We have something to do and will be back at noon. You stay at home and I’ll bring you delicious food.”
Mumu pursed his lips, obviously unwilling to let Xu Youning go. But he compromised in the end. “Okay.” After a pause, he reminded her, “Auntie Youning, be careful. Don’t hurt the baby.”
Xu Youning was stunned and then smiled. “Don’t worry. I will,” said she.
She then left the old house of the Kang family and got in the car with Dongzi.
Not long after the car drove off, Doctor Liu sent a simple message which read:
“Ms. Xu, I’m leaving.”
In less than a minute, the text message disappeared from Xu Youning’s phone.
Xu Youning installed a program that could delete the message from designated people in no more than one minute. In this way, no one could find out what she had received.
Doctor Liu did not tell Xu Youning where she was going. But the less she said, the safer the place she headed for would be.
Xu Youning put away her phone and breathed a sigh of relief.
As long as there were no innocent people involved, she could carry out her plan step by step.