"Jennifer Johnson." Fearing that she would arouse his suspicion, Yvonne added, "She was my mother's friend. I often heard my mom talking about her. I thought of paying her a visit since I'm here." Raymond nodded. "I see. I was wondering how you would know Jennifer considering your age." "Do you know her?" Yvonne sensed a shimmer of hope. "Yes. Everyone in this town knows her." Raymond let out a heavy sigh. "She was a renowned university student here. No one has managed to surpass her record for college entrance exam scores to this day. Unfortunately ... she went missing.""Missing?" Yvonne pretended to be shocked. "What happened? My mom also couldn't reach her. She thought Jennifer had involved herself in something important." "We're not sure either. She has been missing for over 20 years. Her mentally ill mother has never stopped looking for her. That's why everyone here knows Jennifer's name." He continued regretfully, "Jennifer came from a relatively fine family. Howe
Right after Yvonne finished saying that, the crazy woman surprisingly calmed down.She pushed Yvonne away abruptly and curled herself up once again. "No ... It's impossible for Jennifer to have a son. No ... It can't be ..." The woman shook her head as she spoke, denying it vehemently.Yvonne felt that she had found the right person. "Think about it properly. Has she ever mentioned this to you before? Or anything about dating someone?" "No, no!" The crazy woman went berserk all of a sudden and strangled Yvonne with her hands.Before Yvonne could react, the woman had pinned her to the ground. Her grip on Yvonne's neck tightened. The next second, the madwoman was kicked away. Yvonne immediately sat up and gasped for breath. When the madwoman saw Stephen standing beside Yvonne, she was scared out of her wits. She scrambled to her feet at once and fled the scene in panic. Yvonne tried stopping her, but to no avail. She turned around and shot a glare at Stephen. "She's almos
After a day of fun, Elvin quickly fell asleep at night. Yvonne tucked him in, turned off the lights, and quietly left the room.Stephen stood under the moonlight, waiting for her by the fence. Upon hearing the noise, he looked over and asked, "Is he asleep?" "Yes." Yvonne approached him and felt a little worried. "Where are you taking me? Is it far? Will it be safe to leave the two children here on their own?""They won't be alone." Stephen gestured for Yvonne to look down. Yvonne followed his line of sight and noticed that there were people dressed in black around the entrance and inside the house. She frowned. "When did you arrange for them to be there?""The night when we arrived at Guartique Town," he replied calmly. "Well, I didn't know what you were going to do. I figured it would be better to bring some men along." Then, he turned around and added, "Let's go.""Where are we going?"Stephen didn't reply to her. Although Yvonne was confused, she still left the hom
Since the madwoman didn't want to say anything, Yvonne and the rest had no choice but to stay in Guartique Town longer.Fortunately, the kids were more willing to have fun in town than go to school.That day, Yvonne finally received news that the madwoman wanted to meet her.Yvonne and Stephen immediately set off to look for her. The moment they entered and saw the madwoman sitting in the middle of the courtyard, they were stunned. The woman was no longer in a disheveled and crazy state. Last night, she had cleaned herself up and put on fresh clothes. Not only that, but she had also trimmed her messy hair. Although her hairstyle was slightly comical at the moment, she still looked neat. "Have a seat." She pointed at the two wicker chairs beside her. When Yvonne came to her senses, she slowly approached her. "Mrs. Johnson," she said after a moment of hesitation. Karen Johnson curled her lips into an amicable smile. "After years of pretending to be crazy, I've gotten used
"You're from Miller Jewels?" Karen squeezed out the words through gritted teeth. Yvonne was stunned. She wondered why Karen was being so hostile to her all of a sudden. The next second, Karen stood up abruptly and grabbed Yvonne's arm. She dragged her outside.Seeing that, Stephen caught Karen's shoulder at once and asked in a deep voice, "What's wrong?"Yvonne was also confused. "Weren't we chatting well just now? Why are you suddenly chasing me away?""If I had known that you were from Miller Jewels, I wouldn't even have let you into my house! Get out now! Or else don't blame me for using the broom to drive you out!" Karen reproached her sternly. "Buzz out! You are not welcome here!" Seeing how emotional Karen was, Yvonne could only give in. "Okay. We'll go back, but—""Out!"Karen had no intention of talking to them anymore. Her hand on Yvonne was trembling. She feared that Karen's health might be affected. So she gave Stephen a look, telling him to let Karen go. Step
The next morning, Yvonne was still asleep when she woke up to a series of knocks on the door. After tending to Elvin by her side, she draped a jacket over her body and opened the door. In her drowsy eyes, she saw the solemn expression on Stephen's face."What's wrong?""Mrs. Johnson is dead."Hearing that, Yvonne was instantly awake. "What?"She grabbed Stephen's arm, her gaze filled with incredulity. "It's impossible. Wasn't she fine yesterday?""Someone went to the river to fish this morning and found Mrs. Johnson's lifeless body. The riverside is now full of police personnel." "How ..." Yvonne found it hard to believe. She put on her jacket properly and stepped out of her room. "I'll go there and have a look!"The weather was gloomy, and even the air carried a sense of oppressiveness. At this moment, the old bridge was crowded with townspeople, and police had already cordoned off the area. It took Yvonne a while to get to the front of the crowd. Standing behind the p
Once she returned to Northerna City, Yvonne began investigating the records of Jennifer's employment at Miller Jewels. Yet, the HR department found no records of an employee named Jennifer Johnson despite scouring through all the records. It turned out that the HR supervisor reported that Miller Jewels had cleared out a batch of outdated files 20 years ago. Hence, Jennifer's information might have been inadvertently removed as well. Over the course of the past two decades, several batches of employees had worked at Miller Jewels. At this point, it was challenging to find anyone who could remember past employees. With all leads now cut off, Yvonne was frustrated for several days. On Friday morning, Rachel asked her to go to the hospital together. As soon as they met, Rachel noticed Yvonne wasn't in a good mood. "What's wrong? Has work not been going well lately?" Rachel asked. Yvonne shook her head and replied, "No, it's not that. I've been looking into someone, but the le
Ten minutes later, Rachel received some news that left her dumbfounded. "My goodness, can you believe it? Katie has been taking birth control pills, yet she's planning to conceive. Maybe she should consider having her brain checked rather than her uterus."Yvonne sensed something was amiss. "How come someone who's been taking contraceptives ended up at the hospital because of infertility?"Rachel processed Yvonne's words and asked thoughtfully, "Are you saying ... she didn't take the birth control pills voluntarily?""Yeah." Yvonne recalled Katie's expression when she left. It seemed highly likely that the diagnosis had greatly affected her. Yvonne guessed that Noah had resorted to such despicable measures without Katie's knowledge. He had chosen to slip the pills into her drinks rather than openly confront the issue. It was a choice that would inflict even deeper emotional wounds."Isn't it strange?"The wheels in Rachel's head were turning as she contemplated the issue. "Isn