Zheng Ze Min was still in shock when Tang Yi disappeared.
He didn't know what had happened.
By the time Zheng Ze Min recovered, Tang Yi was already gone.
Zheng Ze Min was quite direct and wasn't good at sweet talk. He didn't know what he had said wrong to upset Tang Yi.
When Zheng Ze Min returned home, he repeatedly pondered the issue. During this time, he called Tang Yi several times, but Tang Yi's phone was always out of reach.
Zheng Ze Min couldn't help but frown. Perhaps Tang Yi was in a bad mood, so he decided to let her calm down for now.
It wasn't until three days later that Zheng Ze Min decided to gather his courage and confess his feelings to Tang Yi.
Their current situation, neither fighting nor breaking up, was a difficult limbo.
Zheng Ze Min prepared to find Tang Yi and clarify things.
As for how to choose, that would depend on Tang Yi herself.
With this thought, Zheng Ze Min went to find Tang Yi. He knocked on the door for a long time, but no one opened it.
When the next-door neighbor returned, Zheng Ze Min spoke, "Uncle, if the girl next door comes back, could you please relay a message for me? Tell her that Lawyer Zheng is waiting for her at the coffee shop downstairs and has something to tell her."
The man next door was a bachelor in his forties who earned some extra money by driving for ride-sharing services.
As he just got home from work, he saw the well-dressed young man standing at Tang Yi's door.
The neighbor teased, "Are you two lovebirds having a spat?"
Zheng Ze Min didn't reply, implicitly acknowledging it.
In reality, Zheng Ze Min and Tang Yi hadn't started dating yet, so they weren't considered a couple. However, since the neighbor had put it that way, Zheng Ze Min found it difficult to correct him.
Besides, this was his private matter, and he didn't need to explain himself to a stranger.
The neighbor, a chatterbox, earnestly advised Zheng Ze Min, "A true man must be able to endure hardship to achieve happiness. Look at me, I had a bad temper and couldn't endure hardship, and as a result, my wife divorced me and ran off with a younger man."
Even now, he still deeply regretted mentioning his runaway wife.
Zheng Ze Min, seeing how emotional he was, couldn't bear to correct him. His wife had cheated on him; even if he could endure hardship, she would have divorced him anyway.
The man paused and then added, "The young lady next door already checked out and moved. She left three days ago. Whether you can find her now depends on your fate."
Zheng Ze Min: ???
If she had moved, she could have just told me directly. I wouldn't have to listen to all this nonsense.
That's what he thought, but Zheng Ze Min didn't voice his thoughts.
Zheng Ze Min hadn't expected Tang Yi to disappear like this.
Initially, Tang Yi had seemed a bit off that day. Zheng Ze Min thought that if he let her calm down at home, she would contact him.
And he could use those two days to figure out his true feelings for Tang Yi.
In the end, Zheng Ze Min realized that he had developed feelings for Tang Yi.
He didn't see Tang Yi as a replacement for Yan Xi.
Nor was he just picking a girl to appease his family. He was genuinely moved by Tang Yi.
With this realization, Zheng Ze Min could no longer wait and set out to find Tang Yi.
But the neighbor told Zheng Ze Min that Tang Yi had already left.
Zheng Ze Min couldn't accept such a blow. It felt like a devastating blow, and he turned and left.
Actually, Zheng Ze Min couldn't understand why Tang Yi had left without a word.
Was it related to that phone call that day?
Tang Yi had been fine when she spoke to him that day, but after taking the call, she seemed like a different person, and her attitude towards Zheng Ze Min changed by 180 degrees.
At the time, Zheng Ze Min had sensed that something was wrong with Tang Yi, but he hadn't thought much of it. By the time Zheng Ze Min figured things out and came to find Tang Yi, she had already disappeared.
Zheng Ze Min didn't know what had happened to Tang Yi.
She was a girl with no one to rely on. For so many years, because her mother was hospitalized, all her earnings went to the hospital.
She didn't have much savings. Where could she go?
After Tang Yi's mother passed away, Tang Yi became very abnormal.
Zheng Ze Min worried that Tang Yi might do something rash.
But now, Zheng Ze Min didn't know where to find Tang Yi.
Tang Yi didn't know where she should go.
She suddenly realized that no matter how big the world was, she seemed to have no place to belong.
Tang Yi felt despair.
She had never been in love before. She had just met a boy she liked, but because of her circumstances, she had personally ended this relationship.
It would be a lie to say Tang Yi didn't regret it.
She randomly boarded a bus, not knowing where it was going. After getting on and buying a ticket, she sat quietly.
There were only a few people on the bus. The car drove to a remote area, and the driver suddenly stopped the car.
The doors remained tightly shut.
The driver suddenly pulled out a gun and pointed it directly at Tang Yi's forehead.
He menacingly said, "Hand over all your valuables."
Tang Yi then looked around the bus. Including her, there were only six people. The others were students, and although she wasn't a student, she was a girl.
No wonder the driver was so brazen.
Tang Yi had rarely left home since she was young.
Due to her mother's health, Tang Yi had to take care of her mother constantly and work part-time in her spare time to earn money for her mother's medical expenses.
She had no time to go out and play.
Thus, she had never encountered such a situation.
Now, facing this situation, Tang Yi felt a bit bewildered and didn't know what to do.
Tang Yi couldn't help but grumble inwardly, "When people are unlucky, even drinking cold water can get stuck in their teeth."
Seeing Tang Yi unmoved, the driver twirled the gun around her forehead to scare her.
Tang Yi, still possessing some reason, looked at the driver and said calmly, "My boyfriend is a famous lawyer. If you put down the gun now, I can pretend this never happened. Otherwise, I'll tell my boyfriend everything, and you'll be in big trouble."
"Boyfriend? Little girl, you think I've never seen the world, so you're trying to scare me? If you had a boyfriend, would you be on a car alone, and a private car at that? I've been watching you since you got on, you haven't even looked at your phone. If you really had a boyfriend, wouldn't you be texting and chatting constantly?"
Tang Yi thought this driver talked too much and even knew what "chatting" meant.
"If you know what's good for you, hurry up and hand over your valuables, your phone, your jewelry, your cash, otherwise..."