Chapter 147 — The Long-Awaited...

Yang Ce was secretly reveling in his own lecherous thoughts when a brief blank suddenly flashed through his mind. And then a scene, like a film forced onto a projector, appeared in his head.

It was the scene of a fire—roaring flames painting the night sky red as day. And the place that was burning was none other than his jewelry company on the commercial street.

Yang Ce was still reeling in shock when the image suddenly shifted to another angle. In the manager's office on the second floor of the company, Lin Yanhe was quietly reading. She had just discovered the fire—but by then escape was already impossible; the staircase was completely engulfed in flames. Yang Ce could even see the terror and helplessness on Lin Yanhe's face.

Yang Ce's heart lurched violently. He was just about to look more closely when the image changed again.

To be continued.

966. A Moment of Crisis

966 A Moment of Crisis

A bald man in his thirties, his head freshly shaved, stood in a narrow alley not far from the fire, gripping a gasoline can and smirking, his eyes brimming with excitement, as though he were admiring a masterpiece.

A black mole stood out on the man's face, unmistakable, grotesque in the firelight.

The vision shifted again, and everything vanished. Yang Shuoxuan returned to reality. "Yang Ce"—Chen Shutang's voice came from beside him, calling his name.

"Ah." Yang Puqi started and came back to himself. He turned his head and saw Chen Shutang gazing at him with a worried expression.

"Yang Ce, what's wrong with you? Just now you looked like you'd turned to stone. I called you and you didn't respond." Seeing Yang Ce turn around, Chen Shutang finally breathed a sigh of relief, though she still asked anxiously.

"It's nothing." Yang Jincong shook his head with a smile. He could not make sense of what had happened to him—why, for no reason at all, he had seen such a harrowing scene, as though it were truly unfolding before his eyes.

What he had just seen was like a film reel forced into his field of vision, so that he could see nothing else.

Could Lin Yanhe really be in danger? At the thought, Yang Ce could sit still no longer. He hurriedly took out his phone and dialed Lin Yanhe's number.

From the phone came Shu Ya's new song, "Our Anniversary"—the theme song she had recorded for a jewelry company, which Lin Yanhe had set as her ringtone. It was a deeply moving song, and Yang Shuoxuan had only understood its inner meaning after he reached Macau and met Su Ya.

Perhaps the love of childhood was written for oneself. But Yang Ce was in no mood now to savor the meaning of Shu Ya's song, for from the other end came a cold female voice: "Sorry, the number you have dialed is temporarily unanswered. Please try again later."

Yang Juehuan's heart clenched violently. Lin Yanhe couldn't really be in trouble, could she? Frantic, Yang Ce dialed Lin Yanhe's number again, and again the song "Love of Childhood" came through. He sat as if on pins and needles, and the hand holding the phone trembled with his nervousness.

Unfortunately, in the end the cold female voice came through once more, telling Yang Ce that no one had answered.

Yang Ce gave a start and sprang to his feet. "Mengyan, I'm going out for a bit," he said to Chen Shutang.

"Where are you going?" Chen Shutang found Yang Ce's strange behavior utterly baffling, and she was worried too—Yang Ce had never been so flustered before.

"Zhiyun may be in danger. I have to get to the office right away and check." Yang Ce spoke as he ran toward the door.

"What? Sister Lin is in danger?" Chen Shutang was stunned. She was about to ask more when she saw Yang Ce already striding out of the house, leaving her completely bewildered.

Zhou Yanning was equally baffled. "What did Yang Ce go off to do?"

"I don't know either," Chen Shutang said with a wry smile. "But he said Sister Lin was in danger. I suppose it's urgent."

"Sister Lin?" Zhou Yanning asked.

"Lin Yanhe—Yang Juehuan's other close friend. I'll introduce you two in a few days," Chen Shutang said with a smile. "She has a lovely personality. Don't bully her."

"Of course I won't." Zhou Yanning blushed. She knew her place and her situation well; if she were to become jealous, then forget Yang Ce—even Chen Shutang would likely shut her out.

Yang Ce left the house, drove at breakneck speed toward the company on the commercial street, his heart in a frenzy of anxiety. Could what he had just seen be real? Yang Juehuan was startled. The ominous thought would not leave him.

No—Yang Ce suddenly recalled that the scene he had seen should have been at night, with flames leaping into the sky and turning the darkness as bright as day. But it was only afternoon now; the sky had not yet darkened, and there was at least an hour of daylight left. The timing did not match.

Could it be that everything before had been a hallucination? But then why hadn't Lin Yanhe answered her phone?

As Yang Ce was at his wit's end, the phone beside him rang. He picked it up and saw—it was Lin Yanhe calling.

Yang Ce answered at once and asked like a madman, "Zhiyun, where are you? What's happened to you?"

"Ah?" Lin Yanhe's voice came back, startled. "Yang Ce, I'm at the office. What's wrong?"

"You're at the office?" Hearing Lin Yanhe's voice, Yang Xutang felt much reassured. "Then why didn't you answer your phone just now?"

"I just went to the restroom and left the phone in the office," Lin Yanhe said, a little embarrassed.

Only then did Yang Cenbin breathe a sigh of relief. He shook his head with a wry smile. Was he being a bit too sensitive? "It's nothing. I saw you didn't pick up and thought something had happened to you. Scared me to death."

"I'm at the office—what could happen to me?" Lin Yanhe said. "Sorry. I'll keep my phone on me from now on."

"It's all right. I was probably just too nervous," Yang Hengye said.

"Okay. Well, if there's nothing else, I'll get back to work. We can talk tonight." Lin Yanhe felt that personal calls during work hours were not quite proper, even if she was the boss's wife and no one would say anything.

"All right. Get back to work, then," Yang Yanzhou said.

After hanging up, Lin Yanhe still felt a warm sweetness in her heart. Yang Cenbin had been so worried about her—proof that she still held an important place in Yang Juehuan's heart.

Though he now knew Lin Yanhe was fine, Yang Ce was still uneasy. Besides, he was almost at the company, so he decided to go and have a look.

After all, the vision he had seen was truly terrifying. Lin Yanhe's eyes, full of panic and despair, surfaced again and again in Yang Juehuan's mind. It was all too real—so real it felt like something he had lived through himself.

Yang Yongjin did not dare be careless. In matters like this, it was better to believe it might be true than to assume it was not. Since he had seen something, he must take precautions in advance. If something really did happen to Lin Yanhe, he would regret it for the rest of his life.

Yet he had not expected that as he approached the commercial district, he would run into a traffic jam—the road ahead was blocked. He glanced at his watch: it was exactly rush hour. Yang Ce sighed. Anxious as he was, there was nothing he could do.

It wasn't as if he could fly over. The traffic crept forward bit by bit, like a long dragon. Time slipped by, second by second, and the sky gradually darkened, which only made Yang Ce more frantic.

Suddenly the traffic slowed markedly. If it had been a turtle before, now it was a snail. Yang Lanxu was beside himself with worry. Using his ability, he looked ahead: there had been a two-car collision at the roundabout not far away, and from the look of it, they wouldn't be moving for a while.

Yang Lanxu was too anxious to have the patience or the time to wait any longer. Yang Ce parked the car in a temporary space at the side of the road, got out, and ran swiftly toward the company.