But she also keenly noticed the timing: "You just said three years, but what exactly is that year and month? Can you remember clearly?"

As a professional detective, Li Yanshen was naturally very familiar with this information. He confidently and calmly stated the time, even specifying the exact day.

Yu Lian patted her face. Even with just a moment of contact, she could feel the burning heat on her cheeks.

Having never seen Yu Lian so distraught, Li Yanshen regretted for a moment revealing the truth. He cautiously asked, "Are you alright?"

Yu Lian looked like something was wrong.

Why didn't you tell me immediately?

"I wanted to say, but I can't be the one to ruin your happiness. So do you remember what question I asked you back then?"

Yu Lian quickly searched her mind for recent events and soon remembered them.

That day, Li Yanshen asked her very suddenly, "Are you sure it's He Lin?" She answered firmly at the time, and she can still remember her feelings and tone at that moment.

"So when you asked me that question, if I had answered no, you would have told me the truth?"

"While it's not necessarily true," Li Yanshen nodded. "You know I like you. But more than that, I'd rather respect your choice, at least that way fewer people will get hurt."

Yu Lian thought she would remain calm and that she would no longer be hurt by external attacks.

But the truth is, she is a person with flesh and blood. As long as one is an emotional being, there will never be absolute indifference or isolation.

"No, no, I can't panic, I can't lose my composure. There's a very strange contradiction here—I've never heard this woman's name mentioned by anyone in the He family or by anyone close to them. If she really did, the servants who helped me back then would definitely have used her name to mock me, but they never did. Why is that?"

After asking the question, Yu Lian felt she was putting Li Yanshen in a difficult position. He was only there to investigate the events, not to help her resolve her confusion.

"Because they don't know, and someone wants them to not know."

Li Yanshen didn't say it explicitly, but it was obvious who it was. After all, he had invested genuine feelings, and as things changed, the name became a taboo.

"You still have something to say, Li Yanshen. Stop dawdling, I can handle it."

"Do you know what date you just mentioned was?"

Yu Lian's sudden question, coupled with a forced smile that seemed to come out of nowhere at the height of her inner turmoil, foreshadowed the terrifying things she was about to say.

"Tell me, I'm listening, and I promise I won't tell anyone. But if you don't want to tell me, don't force yourself. Remember, you're not thinking rationally right now, so think carefully about the consequences of revealing this secret."

Yu Lian tried to force a smile, but somehow choked. After coughing twice, she said self-deprecatingly, "Anyway, you already know all these secrets, so what do I have to be ashamed of? This day is the day I became pregnant with my second child."

"You probably found out by now that He Lin doesn't treat me well. So, we've only been intimate a handful of times. That day, he got completely drunk and suddenly came to the villa late at night, scaring An'an to tears. I still vividly remember that night. He was drunk, but he exuded a sense of pain and repression. I thought I was wrong. But looking at it now, I realize I was just a pitiful person kept in the dark. Do I count? I don't know, after all, I asked for it myself."

Hearing this, Li Yanshen couldn't take it anymore. He stood up and said, "Alright, stop talking. Go out and get some fresh air."

Yu Lian also felt she really needed to catch her breath. She stood up, holding onto the small table next to her, and walked towards the back of the car. Li Yanshen followed behind.

There were several male passengers smoking at the back of the bus. Li Yanshen talked for a long time, then paid them off and sent them away. The smell of smoke disappeared with the rapid airflow.

Li Yanshen considerately dismissed the others, gave them a few words of advice, and then left. However, he didn't go too far, quietly guarding her from a place where he could see her.

The train traveled through the mountains, carrying the scent of the mountainside mist. The damp wind swept through my hair, hitting my face firmly and carrying a slight chill.

As time went on, Yu Lian gradually regained her senses.

She used to think she didn't care, that her feelings weren't that intense.

But now it seems that it was actually buried deep in my heart, something I dared not reveal, because only in this way could I avoid being hurt.

But since she hadn't experienced it herself, her truest feelings now told her that she cared a lot, not just a little.

It is precisely because I care that I feel uncomfortable.

Trying to regulate her breathing, Yu Lian gently placed her hand on her chest, feeling the intense heartbeat in her chest gradually subside.

The weather in the mountains can change in an instant; a light drizzle started to fall in no time.

The coolness of the raindrops on her skin made Yu Lian instinctively retreat into the carriage.

Turning around, she saw Li Yanshen walking towards her. She nodded slightly to indicate that she should go back, and the two of them returned to their respective carriages one after the other.

"Why did you ask me to find Cai Guizhi?"

"Something that could overturn your understanding and lighten your burden. It's not that I don't want to tell you, but if you want to know more details, you should ask the person involved. I don't want this to come out of my mouth."

Compared to his earlier stammering, Li Yanshen's expression now held a hint of pity.

Even though she could sense that this was an extremely bad thing, no matter how hard she racked her brains, she couldn't think of anything worse than what was happening in front of her.

Throughout the rest of the journey, Yu Lian was in a very low mood. Li Yanshen tried his best to take care of her emotions, and even when they arrived at their destination, he didn't get out of the car but insisted on taking her to Yuncheng. He watched her step into her home before turning back to the filming location.

An'an arrived in Yuncheng in the morning, while she arrived four or five hours later.

When He Ning'an saw her mother, she thought she would be scolded, but she wasn't.

Yu Lian didn't say anything. After returning home, she simply greeted her parents and hurriedly left under the pretext of collecting debts.

As soon as she got home, she asked around to find out where Cai Guizhi was working. She learned that she was working as a saleswoman at the place where her sister and Jasmine sold shampoo products.

People are apprehensive when a secret is about to be revealed, especially when the secret might be something they cannot accept.

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