The richest man's parents were kidnapped, and his adorable son captivated the entire family.

Her hand rested on the doorknob, but she hesitated to push it open. The next second, her brow furrowed slightly, and she slowly turned her head.

The corridor should have been quiet, but at this moment it seemed to be filled with a strange atmosphere. She keenly caught a familiar, cold scent—Gu Yinshen's signature calm and cool aftershave smell, extremely faint, but impossible to ignore.

Her eyes unconsciously swept towards the end of the corridor, and she narrowed them slightly.

The fire escape door was closed too neatly, too deliberately. A faint, lingering warmth seemed to emanate from the crack in the door, as if someone had just passed by.

Xie Yumin's fingers tightened slightly, a sense of doubt and wariness rising in her heart. She took a half step forward, her gaze slowly turning towards the door.

Right now!

"Mother……"

A soft, gentle murmur drifted from the hospital room, tinged with a nasal tone and a hint of dependence. It was like a soft little hand capturing her entire attention.

Xie Yumin turned around abruptly, all her vigilance vanishing in an instant.

She took a deep breath, gently pushed open the ward door, and walked in slowly.

The moment the door closed, Gu Yinshen remained standing motionless inside the fire escape.

His back was pressed against the cold concrete wall, his chest heaving violently, as if the terrifying moment just now had exhausted all his strength. A fine bead of cold sweat slid down his forehead, dripping down his delicate chin and disappearing into the fabric of his hoodie.

At that moment, he almost thought Xie Yumin would push open that door and confront the secret he had kept hidden for so many years.

A mixture of emotions, both hot and cold, surged within him. Guilt, regret, reluctance, and unspeakable longing tore at his reason like sharp claws.

But his fleeting escape couldn't erase the impact of that small figure behind the glass door. Mengmeng's innocent sleeping face left an indelible mark on his heart.

In the following days, he seemed to return to the familiar yet unfamiliar Gu Yinshen, the impeccable, cold and restrained president of the Gu Group.

During the project meeting, Xie Yumin was giving a report. Her voice was clear, firm, and well-organized. He looked down at the documents, but unconsciously lingered for three seconds longer. Just as her tone paused slightly, as if she were a little short of breath, he suddenly looked up, his eyes sharp: "Secretary, milk, right away."

His tone remained stiff and rigid, saying, "Don't delay the schedule," but everyone could hear the underlying concern in his voice.

At 10 p.m., the company lights were sparse. Xie Yumin's workstation was still lit, and she rubbed her temples while organizing data.

Gu Yinshen "accidentally" passed by in the corridor, his gaze lingering on her slender back for a moment before turning away. Ten minutes later, the front desk received an anonymous takeout order: a nutritious light meal from the city's most upscale French restaurant.

She stared blankly at the lunchbox, then looked towards the door, her eyes filled with confusion.

On another occasion, she got off work too late and was harassed by drunk young men in the neighborhood at the entrance of her rented apartment. A few minutes later, an unmarked black car drove into the community, and the young men disappeared without her noticing. At two o'clock in the morning, the black car was still quietly parked not far away.

But whenever she showed a look of inquiry or asked him about the source of this "unusual care," Gu Yinshen's reaction was immediately as cold as ice.

"Assistant Xie, your risk calculation model is missing four sets of data. You don't have time to daydream, do you?"

"Company benefits are for ordinary employees, not a fig leaf to cover up your lack of personal ability."

He was aloof, harsh, and kept people at arm's length, as if the warmth of the milk delivered just a moment ago was merely an illusion.

This stark contrast between concern one second and coldness the next left Xie Yumin even more confused, while rumors began to circulate again in the company:

"President Gu is indeed completely under her control."

"Playing hard to get, this woman's methods are amazing."

The night was deep. Xie Yumin's rented room was completely silent.

She was curled up on the sofa near the window, an old laptop on her lap, its screen still running simulations of the remaining data from the merger. Her other hand was silently testing the live feed from a pinhole camera.

She had learned to stop placing her hopes on "systems" or "rules." She knew that Ruolan wouldn't give up so easily.

Miniature cameras and alarms were installed in several inconspicuous corners, behind the curtains, in the chandelier, and above the entryway. She hid the real evidence in the wadding of a discarded doll, and there was also an encrypted USB drive hidden in the floorboards of the living room. What her computer displayed was merely an empty shell of a substitute document.

All that remained around her were meticulous plans and constant vigilance.

In the early hours of the morning, the door lock clicked softly.

Xie Yumin was awakened almost immediately.

She opened her eyes abruptly, and the next second she sensed something was wrong. The vibration alarm by the bedside was emitting a slight vibration, indicating that someone was trying to break in!

Xie Yumin rolled out of bed, clutching the tactical pen and pepper spray she had prepared beforehand, and quietly walked towards the living room.

The lock on the living room door had been picked, and two dark figures slipped in like ghosts. They moved with practiced ease, splitting up to search, their targets being her desk and computer!

The instant the other party reached out and touched the USB drive

"Zi!"

Pepper spray is aimed directly at the other person's eyes!

A muffled groan rang out!

At the same time, Xie Yumin stabbed the second man's knee with a tactical pen. The move was fierce and fast, forcing the opponent to retreat step by step! But these two were clearly not ordinary thugs. They reacted extremely quickly and subdued her with a backhand, throwing her onto the coffee table with a thud!

Things on the coffee table were scattered everywhere.

Snapped!

Her phone was knocked away and landed on the ground.

The screen lit up the moment it hit the ground.

The screen should have been off, but the photo slideshow was unexpectedly activated due to a violent impact.

One high-definition photo after another began to play, and upon closer inspection, they turned out to be photos of Mengmeng from various periods of her life!

No scene can conceal the deep affection that binds them by blood; it's a bond that only exists between mother and daughter.

Outside the window, in the shadows of the fifth-floor hallway.

The bodyguard, codenamed "Hawkeye," could clearly see the screen that had lit up in the living room through the narrow crack in the window.

His eyes narrowed, and his fingers instinctively touched the headset, but he didn't speak immediately.

Because the image flashing on the screen was all too familiar.

As one of Gu Yinshen's most trusted bodyguards, he had been responsible for picking up and protecting Mengmeng on many occasions, and he remembered every expression of that child.

That cannot be explained by mere chance "liking" or "caring"!

His eyes suddenly turned cold, his pupils contracted sharply, and his expression became solemn.

"……What exactly is going on?"

As night fell, a military-grade black van came to an abrupt stop in front of an old residential building on the outskirts of the city.

"Boss! Miss Xie has been attacked! Location confirmed! Also... a major discovery!"

Eagle Eye's voice pierced through layers of encrypted communications, each word like a thunderclap.

"The target phone displays numerous photos of Miss Mengmeng over a very long period of time, suggesting an unusually close relationship! What's going on?"