Abstinence Pei, don't be too sweet when chasing your wife

The light in the monitoring room of the Peninsula Hotel was pale, reflecting Pei Luonan's tense jawline.

On the screen, Gu Fanxing's lonely back was replayed over and over again. Her hands hanging by her side curled slightly when she turned around. The curve of the suitcase wheels rolling over the carpet trembled imperceptibly. The brokenness hidden in her dazed look when the elevator door closed was engraved into his mind frame by frame, like countless fine needles, densely piercing the softest part of his heart.

"Check! Keep checking!"

He yelled into the phone, the phone case he was clutching tightly was already soaked with cold sweat.

"Check every guesthouse, hotel, and even the small inns near the train station in Fengcheng! Even if I have to dig deep underground, I'll find him!"

Kong Haoyu responded repeatedly on the other end of the phone. In the background, one could hear the rapid sound of keyboard tapping, mixed with his brief instructions to his subordinates.

Pei Luonan felt that it was not enough. He hung up the phone, grabbed the coat on the back of the chair and rushed out. The hem of his black jacket swept across the surveillance equipment, bringing up a gust of wind, as if to blow away all the depression in the room.

The thirty seconds it took for the elevator to descend felt like a long century.

He closed his eyes, and all he could think of was Gu Fanxing standing at the door of the hotel room - the shock in her pupils, the pain in her lips trembling, and the wetness on her eyelashes when she turned around, which he didn't dare to investigate further.

He thought of the "OK" he had replied with. At that time, he just thought of it as a temporary separation due to work needs. He even thought of taking her to the newly opened Cantonese restaurant when she came back. But now it was like a blunt knife, repeatedly cutting his sanity that was on the verge of collapse.

"Long Weiwei!"

Pei Luonan suddenly opened his eyes, the red bloodshot in his eyes spread like a spider web, his voice was like ice, and every word was cold.

"I will never let you go, and you will bear all the consequences of your actions."

He started the car, the engine roared like a beast, the tires skidded on the icy road, and almost hit the guardrail on the side of the road.

He didn't care and drove towards the west of the city based on his memory - the surveillance footage showed that Gu Fanxing finally got on a taxi heading towards the west of the city.

The west side of Fengcheng is mostly old residential areas and scattered homestays. The streets are narrow and winding, and snow has covered the road signs. Finding them is like looking for a needle in a haystack without coordinates.

Pei Luonan opened the car window. The cold wind gave him a splitting headache, but he kept calling Gu Fanxing's name over and over again. His voice was hoarse as if it had been rubbed by sandpaper, and it echoed in the empty streets, only to be met with the rustling sound of falling snow, like a silent mockery.

He went to several B&Bs, but the owners all said they had never seen the girl.

Finally, he even stopped by the roadside, stopped every pedestrian who was hurriedly passing by wrapped in a coat, held up the photo of Gu Fanxing on his mobile phone, and asked incoherently, "Have you seen her? The girl wearing a beige down jacket, carrying a canvas suitcase, and with bright eyes."

The eyes of passersby changed from initial sympathy to vigilance. Some people quietly took out their mobile phones to take pictures of him. It was not until the patrol police drove over in a police car to ask questions that he vaguely explained that he was looking for someone. His fingers shook violently when he took out his ID card, and he took it out three times before handing it over.

"Sir, it's so cold, why don't you get in the car and warm up?" The young policeman looked at his red eyes and purple lips and couldn't help but persuade him, "Leave your detailed information with us and we'll keep an eye on it for you, so you can't find any way out on the street."

Pei Luonan acted as if he didn't hear it. He took the ID and put it in his pocket, started the car and continued driving forward.

The car navigation had long gone blank due to poor signal. He relied on brute force to shuttle through the alley, and he was completely unaware of the several scratches on the car body caused by the wall.

The phone vibrated in the passenger seat. It was a message from Kong Haoyu: "Mr. Pei, I found that Miss Gu's ID card was registered at the Xuemian B&B in the west of the city, but she checked out half an hour ago."

"Checked out?" Pei Luonan slammed on the brakes, the tires screeching against the ground and leaving two deep marks in the snow. "Where did she go? Didn't the B&B owner tell me?"

"I asked, and the boss said she left in a hurry. She just said she was going to the ruins, but didn't specify the exact location. She didn't even call a car, and she left on foot, dragging her suitcase."

At the ruins, Pei Luonan's heart sank suddenly, as if falling into an ice cellar.

He remembered the message sent by Gu Fanxing - "An emergency has occurred at the site and excavation will be closed for half a month."

At the time, I just thought it was a work requirement, but now I realize that it might be her excuse to deliberately keep her distance.

He immediately asked Kong Haoyu to check the locations of all the sites currently being excavated in Fengcheng. The response he received was like a bucket of cold water being poured over his head: "Mr. Pei, there's nothing. All the relevant information has been encrypted. Our friends at the Cultural Relics Bureau said this is a confidential project and the location is strictly confidential. No one except insiders knows where it is. It's like it's been wiped off the map."

Wiped off the map.

These words hit his heart like a heavy hammer, making him feel dizzy for a moment.

His hands gripping the steering wheel began to tremble, and for the first time he felt such a profound sense of powerlessness - he could mobilize tens of millions of funds, settle the most complicated business disputes, and scare the most difficult opponents, but he couldn't even find out the whereabouts of a girl.

At this time, at the excavation site, Gu Fanxing was wearing heavy work clothes, standing in a makeshift command shed, staring at the drawings in a daze.

The helmet pressed down her hair, covering most of her face. Only her exposed jawline was tense, giving off a sense of aloofness that kept strangers away.

"Fanxing, what are you daydreaming about?" A colleague patted her shoulder and handed her a cup of hot water. "The first batch of soil samples from the exploration area has come out. Do you want to take a look? There are some pottery fragments with very unique patterns."

Gu Fanxing came back to his senses, nodded, and locked his phone in the toolbox - this was the regulation of closed excavation, all electronic devices must be kept in a unified place to prevent any information leakage.

She followed her colleagues into the excavation area. The yellow soil beneath their feet creaked, as if counting down the days for this relationship.

Everything here is isolated from the outside world.

There was no news from Pei Luonan and no sign of Long Weiwei. There was only the dull thud of the shovel hitting the rocks and the whistling of the wind blowing through the tent.

She forced herself to focus on her work, measuring, recording, and marking, as if this was the only way to fill the ever-growing hole in her heart.

During the break, she sat by the campfire, looking at the dancing flames, and vaguely remembered last winter when Pei Luonan took her to the mountains for an investigation. It was also a campfire like this. He stuffed her red, frozen hands into his warm coat pockets, looked down at her and smiled, saying, "Archaeology is too hard. I will accompany you more often in the future and be your bodyguard and driver."

My heart ached sharply again.

She quickly pinched the back of her hand with her nails - Gu Fanxing, don't think about it anymore.

The agreement should have ended, and now is the perfect time to take advantage of this half-month closure to get everything back to normal.

Pei Luonan sat on the roadside all night.

At daybreak, he was almost unconscious from the cold, but he still struggled to start the car and drive back.

When he arrived at his destination, he sat in the car and suddenly felt that he had all the power and wealth, but had lost the only person he wanted to cherish.

He closed his eyes, and the image of Gu Fanxing's disappointed and heartbroken face appeared in his mind again, as well as the tears that fell on the suitcase when she turned around.

It felt like a big hole was torn in my heart.

He knew that this search might have just begun, but even if he had to search the entire Fengcheng, he would find her and tell her the truth.

But he didn't know that at this moment, Gu Fanxing was standing in the ruins that he couldn't find, facing a piece of freshly unearthed pottery fragment, and whispered in her heart: "Pei Luonan, goodbye."

The wind blew through the tent at the excavation site, making a humming sound, as if playing a song for this relationship that was separated by distance and misunderstanding.

A silent lament.