The Counterattack of a Wealthy Family's Substitute

At six o'clock, Yao Yingxi's alarm clock rang. She smiled slightly, turned off the alarm on her phone, got up from the table, walked to the door, opened the door, and went out.

When Yao Yingxi finished cooking and came out of the kitchen, it was already seven o'clock. She frowned, wanting to call Xi Yuanchen, only to remember that her phone was on the table in the guest room.

"This sweet and sour fish is delicious, Yuanchen, you should have some too." Ye An'an put the fish into Xi Yuanchen's bowl. "Chinese food is still the best. I ate Western food every day during the years I was abroad, and now I'm afraid of it." She liked to stare at Xi Yuanchen as she spoke.

"I'm going to the restroom. You can eat slowly." Xi Yuanchen got up from the table and left the private room.

Not long after the door closed, the cell phone on the table rang.

Ye An'an looked down and saw the name Yingxi in the contact. A strange emotion flashed in her eyes. She smiled slightly and ate her meal as if she couldn't hear the phone ringing on the table.

The phone on the table rang for a full five minutes, then automatically hung up before ringing again.

The phone was still ringing when the door opened. Ye An'an got up from her chair, grabbed her phone, and prepared to leave the dining table.

The door was pushed open, and Ye An'an looked up: "You're back. Someone called you just now, it's been ringing for a long time. I guess that person has something urgent to tell you. I was just about to go to the bathroom."

Xi Yuanchen paused for a moment. The call had already ended. He picked it up and glanced at it. It was Yao Yingxi calling.

"You eat first, I'm going to make a phone call."

Before Ye An'an could speak, Xi Yuanchen walked out. She stared at his retreating figure, stood there for a long while, and then turned back.

Xi Yuanchen leaned against the wall, about to make a call back, when his phone rang again.

It was Yao Yingxi calling again. He swiped to answer: "Hello."

"Yuanchen, why haven't you come back yet?"

"I'm busy with something." Thinking of the photo of Yao Yingxi and Xiu Yan, Xi Yuanchen felt unhappy, and his tone turned cold.

Yao Yingxi paused for a moment, about to speak, when the phone was disconnected.

She sat at the dining table, looking at the dishes on it, and her heart sank to the bottom.

Yao Yingxi didn't know how long she sat there until all the dishes on the table had cooled down before she got up from the table. Looking at the table full of dishes, Yao Yingxi had no appetite at all.

She kept reassuring herself that Xi Yuanchen was just busy and hadn't had time to tell her he wasn't coming back, and had also forgotten what she had said.

After leaving the dining table, Yao Yingxi, still in a bad mood, took a shower and lay on the bed with her eyes closed.

Xi Yuanchen didn't return until 10 p.m. When he opened the apartment door, there was no one downstairs. He frowned, thinking that Yao Yingxi was in her workspace. He opened the door, but still no one was there. So he went upstairs and opened the bedroom door.

The dim bedside lamp illuminated the entire room. Yao Yingxi lay on her side, half of her face buried in the blanket. Xi Yuanchen frowned, glanced at the time, and realized it was only ten o'clock at night.

He hurriedly stepped forward, and just as his hand was about to touch Yao Yingxi's face, Yao Yingxi opened her eyes and whispered, "You're back." Her voice didn't reveal whether she was happy or not, but Yao Yingxi still felt uncomfortable.

Despite trying to comfort herself that Xi Yuanchen was busy, she realized that compared to previous times when Xi Yuanchen was busy, he wouldn't act like this, not even making a phone call and forgetting what she had said.

Yao Yingxi felt that Xi Yuanchen was hiding something from her.

Xi Yuanchen nodded: "Are you feeling unwell anywhere?"

Yao Yingxi shook her head: "No, I'm just a little tired. Have you eaten?"

"You've eaten, now go to sleep. I'm going to take a shower."

Yao Yingxi nodded, closed her eyes, and pretended to be very sleepy.

When Xi Yuanchen came out of the shower, he sat next to Yao Yingxi and stared at her for a while before leaving.

The moment the bedroom door closed, Yao Yingxi opened her eyes. She stared at the doorway and, for some reason, felt incredibly sad.

Xi Yuanchen sat in the study all night, and Yao Yingxi lay in the bedroom all night; neither of them slept a wink.

Yao Yingxi kept thinking about what difficulties Xi Yuanchen might encounter, and whether it was because she had been kidnapped and escaped that Xi Zhishen had done something to Xi Yuanchen.

……

Unable to sleep, Yao Yingxi got up at six o'clock in the morning and went to the dining room to clean up the food from last night.

As she washed the dishes, she leaned against the dishwasher, lost in thought, wondering if she should meet with Anan and ask him face-to-face.

Perhaps I'm being too sensitive. Xi Yuanchen is just busy. Anan also said yesterday that there's nothing going on at the company, so Xi Yuanchen should be able to handle it.

Around 7 a.m., Yao Yingxi prepared breakfast.

Meanwhile, in the study, Xi Yuanchen saw that it was already completely bright. He glanced at the time and saw that the clock had already pointed to 7:30. He then left the window to go to the bedroom to wake Yao Yingxi. When he opened the door, he found that there was no one on the bed, only the cups on the bed were neatly stacked.

Thinking that Yao Yingxi had gone somewhere, he turned around and went downstairs, just as Yao Yingxi came out of the kitchen.

Upon seeing Yao Yingxi, Xi Yuanchen breathed a sigh of relief, and a slight smile appeared on his lips: "Good morning."

Yao Yingxi nodded: "I just finished making breakfast." She didn't mention a word about Xi Yuanchen spending the whole night in the study, simply assuming that Xi Yuanchen had gotten up early and gone to work in the study.

Xi Yuanchen nodded and put his arm around her waist: "When did you get up?"

"It's past six o'clock. Didn't you go to bed early last night?" Yao Yingxi said casually.

After the two finished breakfast, there was a knock on the apartment door. Yao Yingxi went to open the door and saw Anan standing there with a document in his hand. She was stunned for a moment.

"Miss Yao."

Yao Yingxi snapped out of her daze and said, "Secretary Nan, please come in." As she spoke, she turned to the side.

Anan walked in, and before she could speak, Yao Yingxi said, "Yuanchen is in the study." She closed the apartment door.

"Okay, I need to talk to the boss, I'll go upstairs now."

Yao Yingxi nodded. She sat in the living room for a while, but Xi Yuanchen didn't seem to want to come down and take her to class. So she went to the changing room to change her clothes and went out on her own.

Yao Yingxi took a taxi. When the bodyguard saw her come out alone, he assumed she was unhappy and didn't want to ride in the same car as them, so he followed her from a distance.

“Boss.” Anan stood in front of the desk, while Xi Yuanchen leaned back in his chair, tilting his head slightly. “Boss, you asked me to investigate Miss Yao’s matter. She did go out to dinner with President Xiu yesterday. Miss Yao was at the school gate when President Xiu happened to be passing by.”

Xi Yuanchen sneered: "Passing by, were you really passing by, or just pretending?"

Anan remained silent.

"How's the investigation into Ye An'an going?"

"There's no progress yet, sorry, boss."

"Has the DNA been tested?" Xi Yuanchen asked, frowning.

"Not yet. During our investigation, we found no record of Ms. Ye having been examined. Ms. Ye said she was recovering at a hospital abroad. We checked and there is indeed a record of Ms. Ye being hospitalized there, but there is no record of blood tests. So we haven't been able to get Ms. Ye's hair or blood samples yet."

"No? Has it been investigated? Did you use an English name?" It's impossible for Ye An'an to be undergoing rehabilitation at a hospital; the doctor wouldn't examine her.