BXBX NOVEL Chapter 101 Nightmare (3)
Meng Renshu almost fell when he heard the news. His body staggered, and he would fall on his butt if it were not for his assistant holding him up in time. The phone in his hand slipped to the ground, and the person on the other side called out several times.
"President!" the assistant exclaimed with a panicked look on his face. He stood beside the President throughout the meeting and could hear almost the entire conversation, including the shocking news. If even he, a mere assistant, was shaken up so much by the news, he could not imagine how it must have felt for his boss.
The assistant helped Meng Renshu to sit on the chair before picking up the fallen phone.
"I'm sorry for the disturbance. My superior was too shaken up, so he could not continue the conversation. Can I ask you to tell me about the details so I can convey it to him later?"
"Yes. Please relay to Mr. Meng that we have transferred the body we suspected as Mrs. Meng to the hospital. We would like to ask Mr. Meng's cooperation to confirm her identity for us. We don't want to rush anyone here, but the victim's body is already not in good condition when we found it. Any further than this, he would probably could not even recognize her—"
The assistant glanced at his superior, whose face was drained of blood. He only looked at the floor listlessly, as though his soul had left his body. The assistant knew the President could hear every word the officer had told him through the phone, so he cut his words short before they could reach the President's ears.
"We understand the circumstances. We will immediately go to the hospital to confirm it. Is there anything else we should know?"
"There are one and two things we would like to ask Mr. Meng, but this can wait until he confirms the victim. We will contact you again after that. We truly are sorry for your loss."
"We appreciate it. Then, if you'll excuse us." The assistant quickly hung up the phone and glanced at the President, who seemed to age twenty years after hearing the news. His job required him to always prioritize his boss's needs, but he honestly did not know how to comfort the pitiful man in front of him.
However, as his subordinate, he could not let his emotions get the best of him and hindered him from doing what he must. He did not want to believe the news either, but considering how the Madam had been disappeared for a few days, he could not help but believe the notion.
He swallowed the big lump in his throat before he spoke. "President, I understand your feeling, but I think you need to go to the hospital right now."
Meng Renshu did not respond—no, he could not utter any response.
What kind of ridiculous things did he hear just now?
Li Caiyi was dead? His wife was no longer in this world? What kind of nonsense was that?
Meng Renshu was sure Li Caiyi was just angry because he had been ignoring her, so she went out to get some fresh air. She would come home when she had organized her feelings. That was what he believed.
Yes, the officer must have mistaken the victim as his wife. Everything was just a big misunderstanding.
"I'm… not going," Meng Renshu said in a weak and trembling voice.
"But President…"
Meng Renshu took a deep breath and rose from his seat. "This is stupid. I'm not going to the hospital, because my wife will be back soon. I'm going home now."
The assistant had been working for a long time with Meng Renshu, so he knew a bit about his relationship with the Madam and with the Madam's twin sister. He had always felt that the Madam was very pitiful, but as the President's assistant, there was a line he should never cross, and that was interfering with his superior's private life.
Although he knew that the President only deluded himself into thinking that the news was fake or some kind of misunderstanding, there was no way the police would drop a piece of serious information like that without doing some investigation first. The so-called confirmation was most likely just a subtle way to inform the family member to acknowledge the victim's death and retrieve their body.
If they had gone so far to inform the President directly, then there was a 98% chance that the Madam was no longer...
Meng Renshu ignored his assistant's advice and returned home using a taxi.
Although he did not believe the news at all, he had to admit that there was no way he could drive properly with how shaken he was. He urged the driver to speed up as he bit his lips anxiously throughout the trip.
When he finally arrived at his and Li Caiyi's wedding house, which he had not come back to for the past two weeks, he barged in with a large stride and dark face, alarming a few servants who were working.
Meng Renshu quickly spotted a female maid in her early thirties, who was Li Caiyi's closest servant, and asked her with a grave face, "Where is the Madam?"
Meng Renshu's tone, which was full of impatience, slightly intimidated the maid. In her fluster, her tongue got twisted. "M-master. T-the Madam—"
Meng Renshu gritted his teeth in anger and lashed out, "Speak properly, or I will kick you out of this house this instant!"
The maid got so frightened she quickly kneeled down to the floor and answered with tears in her eyes, "T-the Madam still has not come back yet, Master."
"Where is she now?"
"Yes? I… I don't know…."
"How can you not know when you were hired to take care of her?! I paid an enormous sum for you to fulfill each and every of her needs, so you should at least have some idea of where she goes. If not, then what's the use of you?!"
"M-master, I'm wrong! Please forgive me, but I really don't know. The Madam never told this servant anything!" The maid cried out, "Please don't fire me, Master! I still have a child I have to take care of!"
Meng Renshu still wanted to yell at this useless maid, but he held it back when he noticed this maid did not seem to lie. He clicked his tongue furiously and strode past the kneeling maid and went to Li Caiyi's room instead.
On the way here, he had already called Li Junjie and asked if Li Caiyi had gone back to her parent's house, but Li Junjie said that she never went to their place after the incident. Li Junjie had no reason to lie to him, but Meng Renshu wished his best friend was lying to him after listening to that news.
Meng Renshu hesitated for a moment in front of Li Caiyi's room before he entered with inexplicable emotion. When was the last time he entered her room? Was it a half year ago, or even longer than that?
A pang of guilt hit his chest for a moment, but he suppressed the feeling and looked around her room.
There was only one word to describe her room: desolate. It was a woman's room, but the things inside were even less than what he had in his room. Except for a few cosmetics on top of the vanity desk, there was nothing in this room. Not even a curtain.
Meng Renshu grew suspicious and checked on the wardrobe and chests in the room. Except for a few clothes he had bought for her, the rest were the clothes she brought when she came here.
"What.. is this?" Meng Renshu's pupils shook in confusion.
He had always showered Li Caiyi with gifts, so how come her room was so barren? There was no way his assistant would make a mistake on this.
In fluster, he opened every cabinet or drawer in the room. There was almost nothing in the room except for a few old pieces of jewelry and shoes. Meng Renshu started to have a bad feeling about this, but he frantically pushed down the anxiety he felt as he rummaged through his wife's things.
Was there a chance that Li Caiyi brought her things with her when she went out? That would explain why he could see none of the gifts and presents he had given to her in this room.
Meng Renshu did not even know why he was desperately trying to excuse the sad and lonesome ambiance this room gave him. Being here made him suffocate.
His face's complexion turned ashen when he pulled out the bottom-most drawer of her bedside table.
A massive quantity of medicine bottles was lined up inside.