"Oh." Gu Mengyao did not give it much thought. If the call was from Chen Yutian, then Shen Yushu would likely be on the phone for quite a while, and it was only natural that she would take it in the bathroom rather than let it disturb her viewing.

"Hello?" Only once she was inside the bathroom did Shen Yushu cautiously answer the phone, lowering her voice to ask, "What is it? Are you giving me the antidote? It is not time yet, is it?"

"Xiaoshu, there is something I need to confirm with you. Where is Wei Zhao right now?" Yu Yi did not answer her question, but asked directly instead.

"Wei Zhao... he is at home, of course. Why? Do not tell me you want me to deal with him again?" Shen Yushu asked in return.

"At home? Are you certain?" Yu Yi asked.

"Yes, in his room. Do you want to speak with him?" Shen Yushu realized she had guessed wrong. Yu Yi's call was neither to give her the antidote nor to have her deal with Wei Zhao—he merely wanted to inquire about Wei Zhao's whereabouts.

"He has not left at any point before this?" Yu Yi asked, still not entirely certain.

"No, he has not left." Shen Yushu was all the more baffled, unable to guess what Yu Yi was up to.

"Then that is all." With that, Yu Yi hung up.

"??" How baffling! Shen Yushu put away her phone and stepped out of the bathroom, privately wondering what had gotten into Yu Yi to make him place such a strange call.

"Oh? Xiaoshu, are you done with your call already? That was fast?" Gu Mengyao was rather surprised to see Shen Yushu return so soon.

"Ah, my brother had only said a couple of words before something came up. You know what his work is like..." Shen Yushu shook her head helplessly.

"Oh." Gu Mengyao nodded, gave it no further thought, and went back to watching television.

Meanwhile, on Yu Yi's end, he relayed what Shen Yushu had said to the Rain family patriarch.

"You are certain Wei Zhao is at home and did not come here?" The Rain family patriarch frowned, and doubt began to stir in his heart once more regarding Yushan.

"Yes. There is no reason for her to lie to me," Yu Yi said. "She would not dare deceive me; she is afraid I will not give her the antidote next time."

"That is true enough." The Rain family patriarch nodded, yet he was still not reassured. Turning to Yu Xiaochen, he said, "Xiaochen, you have the number for You Panhu of the Hidden You family, do you not? Is he not in the same class as Wei Zhao? Ask him whether he saw Wei Zhao today! If Wei Zhao stayed until the end of the school day, then that proves it was not him who acted—there simply would not have been enough time. Even if he had rushed over the moment school let out, he still would not have made it in time."

"Very well, Father. I have You Zhentian's number, but not You Panhu's, though I can still make inquiries." Yu Xiaochen nodded and turned to make the call.

On this side, the Rain family patriarch and Yu Yi waited for word from Yu Xiaochen, and before long, Yu Xiaochen had a definite answer.

"Well?" The Rain family patriarch asked urgently the moment he saw Yu Xiaochen approaching. Given his temperament, it was rare for him to be so anxious, but where Yu Ning was concerned, he had somewhat lost his composure! If something truly happened to Yu Ning, the wrath of the Xuanchen patriarch was not something the Hidden Rain family could withstand!

"It is confirmed that Wei Zhao is not responsible. Xiaoshu was telling the truth—Wei Zhao is indeed at home. You Panhu has confirmed that Wei Zhao did not leave the classroom until school let out," Yu Xiaochen said.

"So long as it is not Wei Zhao..." The Rain family patriarch breathed a sigh of relief. If Wei Zhao had carried off Yu Ning, then two young people who already harbored feelings for one another would be meeting again, **, and the likelihood of something truly happening was simply too high. The Rain family patriarch could not help but worry!

But if it was not Wei Zhao, then matters were far different. Naturally, the Rain family patriarch had not considered Zhao Qibing as a factor. In his view, whoever could come and abduct Yu Ning, whoever could enter the Hidden Rain family as though it were an unguarded place, must surely be a ** of the Mystic rank or above, and their purpose in carrying off Xiaoning must be for wealth!

If it was only a matter of money, then it was easy to handle. The Hidden Rain family was not short of money—if money was wanted, it could be given. And if truly outrageous demands were made, that place could be used to exert some pressure. In recent years, the dread name of that place had ceased to be so low-key and had spread throughout the great sects and families; any ** with even a bit of ability had vaguely heard of "that place." Though they did not know exactly which place it was, that did nothing to diminish its deterrent force.

"Father, what should we do now?" Yu Xiaochen asked.

"On one hand, intensify the search. Yu Yi, you take charge of this personally," the Rain family patriarch said. "On the other hand, Xiaochen, go and have a talk with Yushan. Do not press him and do not alert him—approach it obliquely and see whether this matter has anything to do with him at all!"

"Understood! I will go at once." Yu Xiaochen and Yu Yi both answered.

As for the Rain family patriarch, anxious as he was, there was nothing he could do but wait here for news. Whoever had taken Yu Ning surely had a purpose; they could not have carried her off without a sound and then fallen silent. So for now, all the Rain family patriarch could do was wait.

Time slipped away, second by second, and Zhao Qibing drove to a hotel in a nearby city that he had booked in advance.

To conceal them from the eyes and ears of the hotel staff, Uncle Zhu used a long case that had been prepared beforehand and placed Yu Ning inside. Yu Ning was slender, and once she was packed into the case, from the outside it looked like nothing more than a large electronic keyboard or some musical instrument.

Carrying the case, Uncle Zhu and Zhao Qibing entered the hotel one after the other. Zhao Qibing had made the reservation online in advance, so it took no time at all to collect the key card, and he and Uncle Zhu went upstairs together.

Zhao Qibing had booked a deluxe presidential suite. In his view, Yu Ning was, after all, to be his future wife—not some girl ** picked up at random—so their first time ought to be handled with some ceremony, and a presidential suite in a five-star hotel would hardly be unworthy of their status.

Once inside the room, both Zhao Qibing and Uncle Zhu breathed a sigh of relief. Snatching someone from the Hidden Rain family—if the Hidden Rain family had caught them, there would have been no place to bury their corpses! Even if the Hidden Rain family, out of regard for the Hidden Zhao family's face, did not do anything to Zhao Qibing, Uncle Zhu would certainly have come to a tragic end.

And so Uncle Zhu's resentment toward Zhao Qibing deepened another layer! In his eyes, no wonder Zhao Qibing had refused to tell him the truth earlier and had kept putting him off, saying he would explain when the time came—only revealing the real situation at the final moment of execution.