The Beautiful Wife I Picked Up Is A Little Mute - Chapter 38

Chapter 38: Send Me the Address

Inside the car, the air was deathly still. The expressions of the only two occupants were equally grim.

“If you had just kept Tang Yingrui tied to your side, none of this would have happened!” Ji Hanyue’s chest felt tight with suppressed frustration.

Ten minutes ago, Kou Xingying finally answered the phone. Her voice through the receiver was cheerful, with a saccharine tone that was enough to make one’s skin crawl.

“Xingyu, why aren’t you here yet? Don’t tell me you really don’t care about him anymore?”

Kou Xingyu’s face was terrifyingly cold. He pushed the accelerator nearly to the floor, his voice deep and heavy. “Let him go. You can have half of the family estate.”

“Half isn’t enough,” Kou Xingying replied with a greedy laugh. “Did you forget what I said before? I want it all.”

Hearing just those few words, Ji Hanyue was able to piece together the history. Kou Xingying was a rare Enigma, making her the natural first choice for the family heir. However, since childhood, she had possessed an innate malice. Her rebellious and erratic nature had never been restrained. Out of a twisted sense of amusement, she loved to torment her half-brother, Kou Xingyu. None of her “pranks” were ever safe; several had left a young Kou Xingyu on the brink of death.

Back then, Kou Xingyu was too young and naive, thinking his sister was just playing with him. The incidents always went unresolved. That was until the day Kou Xingying pushed him into a river while they were playing. Perhaps it was an accident—she had looked frightened for a fleeting moment when she realized what she’d done. But as she watched five-year-old Kou Xingyu struggle in the water, his small hands splashing frantically and his face turning red as he gasped for air, a look of excitement flared in her eyes.

If an elder hadn’t been present to fish him out, that small figure would have been swallowed by the river long ago. Had he died then, he’d be twenty-odd years old in his next life by now.

Kou Xingying’s mother had originally been the father’s mistress kept on the outside. It was only because she gave birth to a rare Enigma daughter that she was able to rightfully enter the Kou household. Unfortunately for her, that incident gave Kou Xingyu’s mother an opening. She held her son’s cold hand, weeping and telling the father through tear-filled eyes that if Kou Xingying stayed, Kou Xingyu would never live to see adulthood.

Perhaps out of a surge of guilt, or the cumulative weight of ignoring previous incidents, Kou Xingying was sent abroad to be raised. Despite the ocean between them, the Kou family never deprived her of luxury—fine clothes, gourmet food, and elite education were all provided. But the distance made visits rare. Gradually, the father’s attention and effort poured entirely into Kou Xingyu.

It was only natural that Kou Xingyu inherited the family business. Over a decade without seeing her had made him almost forget he had a reckless sister living abroad. After years of dormancy, Kou Xingying had finally returned to the country. Her demand was absolute: she wanted Kou Xingyu to voluntarily transfer all company shares to her name.

Kou Xingyu actually had little interest in the family industry; he preferred running his own club. If Kou Xingying truly wanted to take over the business and treat it seriously, he might have handed it over. Unfortunately, her ambition was blatant and destructive. She had been moving in the “grey” zones abroad, and her smuggling business had run into trouble. She stated bluntly that she intended to liquidate all of the Kou family assets to cover a massive deficit from a shipment overseas.

As Kou Xingying finished speaking, Kou Xingyu remained silent. Just as he was about to speak, several suppressed groans came from the other end of the line. The familiar sound made Kou Xingyu’s heart tremble. He was about to agree on impulse, but a long arm reached from the back seat and decisively hung up the call. Kou Xingyu’s whispered “Okay” never reached his sister’s ears.

“You idiot,” Ji Hanyue hissed, inhaling deeply to suppress his irritation. “Are you going to give away the family business you worked so hard for just for a low-grade Alpha? Call her back. Stall for time until we get there before you give in.”

Kou Xingyu let out a low, cold laugh, his dark eyes swirling with frost. He turned his head to look directly at Ji Hanyue. “With just the two of us, do you really think we can get out of her hands in one piece?”

With a sudden lurch, Ji Hanyue vaulted from the back seat directly into the passenger side. He didn’t even grunt when his knee slammed into the center console. “Don’t you have a lot of friends in City Z? Won’t they help you in a crisis?”

Kou Xingyu said nothing, only flooring the gas to go faster. Finally, he said slowly, “It’s family business. I don’t want outsiders involved.”

Ji Hanyue pushed his tongue against his upper teeth and shook the phone in his hand—a call was already connected. “Too late. I already dialed.”

A deep voice with a slight upward lilt sounded from the phone: “So the reason you guys are absent is because of this?”

Though Ji Hanyue was young, his social circle was vast; in the upper class, almost everyone knew him. “Cui Yejin, I need a favor.”

“Send me the address.”

…

“Today is his birthday. We shouldn’t trouble him,” Kou Xingyu said, eyes fixed forward as he slowly began to decelerate.

“Then you can just wait to die on your own.”

The car entered a desolate suburban area. In the thick twilight, the deep forest spread out like ink. Among the tangled, crisscrossing branches, an abandoned building loomed—abandoned, yet the walls were tightly wrapped in vines that coiled like dragons, weaving a mottled green web over the peeling plaster.

Before getting out of the car, Ji Hanyue’s body stiffened for a second. Watching Kou Xingyu’s receding back, his voice turned heavy. “Are you sure Xie Mo isn’t in there?”

Kou Xingyu didn’t look back, his pace never faltering. “I’m not sure.”

In the silent darkness, traces of eeriness seeped out. The dangers lurking in the shadows were like a venomous snake flicking its tongue. Deep in the endless forest, only the sound of snapping twigs could be heard—frequent and dense—but in an instant, all returned to silence. Only the moan of the night wind through the treetops remained.

Meanwhile, a dozen kilometers away from the abandoned building, an off-road vehicle was racing madly under the moonlight. The Alpha in the driver’s seat looked more excited than he had been in a long time. He ignored his phone vibrating in his pocket, which was continuously displaying calls from someone named “Brother.”

The person in the back seat was curled into a ball, shivering with cold sweat. Only a young boy in the passenger seat remained calm, looking straight ahead. “Uncle Zhou, slow down a bit.”

Zhou Minghe let out a bold laugh and glanced at the boy beside him, eyes sparkling with anticipation. “There’s a spectacle to watch. Are you in or out?”

The boy’s expression was neutral, but his voice didn’t match his youth: “In.”

The pedal hit the metal even harder. “If you’re late to the show, you miss it! Also, you came of your own free will—you can’t go tilling your dad and the others on me later!”

As he spoke, his eyes caught the rearview mirror. He noticed the person in the back seat had their head pressed hard against the headrest, looking like they were about to vomit any second. He was forced to lower his speed. “Right, that Omega in the back said he’s looking for your dad. It’s fine if I bring him along, right?”

The boy finally couldn’t listen anymore and retorted with a frown, “Uncle Zhou, you’re the one who pulled him into the car halfway through.”

They had been driving on a pitch-black highway when they nearly hit an Omega crossing the road. The Omega’s head was wrapped in a bandage, and he was in a daze. The car hadn’t actually struck him, but perhaps due to a stress response, the Omega had collapsed on the ground, his legs too weak to stand. Zhou Minghe had gotten out to investigate and found a business card falling out of the Omega’s pocket.

It was gold-embossed, limited edition—Cui Yejin’s. When asked if he was looking for the person on the card, the Omega seemed dazed but actually nodded. With the mindset of “the more the merrier,” Zhou Minghe had simply brought the Omega along.