His wife's pregnancy bump disappeared, and Mr. Huo was going crazy missing her.

Qiao Mian bit her lip.

He didn't know that for Qiao Mian, university was the most sensitive topic she didn't want to talk about.

She is also from Peking University.

I failed to graduate.

It's because of him, Huo Yanbei.

Back then, what truly chilled her heart was that Song Man, his white moonlight, was that Huo Yanbei abandoned her in the fire and chose to rescue her instead. What truly broke her heart was that Song Man returned to school once after surviving her ordeal.

However, it was learned that her identity information had been cancelled.

Huo Yanbei obtained her death certificate.

In less than seven days.

He was so impatient...

Thinking of these things, a piercing, bone-deep pain tore at her heart.

A hint of resentment lingered in her eyes as she looked at Huo Yanbei.

"I didn't do well on the college entrance exam and didn't get into a good university, so I enrolled in the self-study law program at Nanjing University, unlike you, who is a top student who graduated from the prestigious Peking University..."

Qiao Mian regretted saying those words as soon as they were spoken.

She shouldn't have let her emotions get the better of her, lost her composure, and said the wrong thing.

Sure enough, Huo Yanbei opened the car door and got out.

He leaned against the car door, tall and elegant, with his legs casually crossed, exuding a cool and noble air.

He took a cigarette out of his pocket, bent down, held the lighter to shield himself from the wind, lit it, and took a deep drag.

The smoke curled away, causing Qiao Mian to cough twice.

She covered her nose and took two steps back. The man's nonchalant voice came, "You know me so well? You even know which university I went to."

Qiao Mian: "With President Huo's distinguished status, you can easily find all sorts of information about him online."

"Oh?"

The man, holding a cigarette between his fingers, pinched the bridge of his nose: "Looks like you've been paying close attention to me, doing quite a bit of research on me?"

"..."

His words had a hidden meaning.

However, Qiao Mian didn't quite understand what he meant.

I don't want to understand either.

"Mr. Huo, thank you for bringing me back. It's too late, I need to go home now."

She didn't want to spend another fifteen minutes with him, and as she turned to leave, the man asked again, "Qiao Mian, have you had children?"

He hadn't forgotten what Xiao Shi had said.

Qiao Mian's face turned pale instantly.

Has he already found out about the child?

She clenched her fists tightly, trying her best to calm herself down.

Rather than lying and risking him finding fault later, it's better to admit it.

Fortunately, all he has found out so far is that she has given birth.

"Yes, I do have children, Mr. Huo. Does that mean it won't affect my work?"

"Your profile indicates you are unmarried."

Huo Yanbei tossed the remaining half of his cigarette on the ground, stubbed it out with his shiny, expensive leather shoes, and took a step closer to her. "Pregnant out of wedlock, with your boyfriend?"

【Yes. 】

She readily admitted it.

After saying that, Qiao Mian didn't want to talk to him anymore, so she turned around and walked away quickly.

Watching the woman walk into a dark alley, Huo Yanbei's face was colder than the night.

He leaned against the Rolls-Royce and surveyed the surrounding environment.

The surrounding area consists of old, dilapidated self-built buildings.

This street is next to a vegetable market, and there are piles of garbage on the roadside that have not yet been cleaned up.

The air was filled with the stench of decay.

Her useless boyfriend actually made her live in a place like this...

The man frowned, leaned back in the car, smoked another cigarette, and then got into the car.

After the Rolls-Royce drove away from the urban village, Chen Ke handed over a document: "Mr. Huo, this is all the information about Attorney Qiao from her time at the Shanghai Welfare Home..."

Huo Yanbei took the document, carefully looked through it, and his hand holding the document trembled slightly.

The records show that Qiao Mian was indeed an orphan from the Shanghai Welfare Institute.

She also included several photos of herself with the director, as well as some photos of her volunteering at a welfare home in Shanghai a few years ago.

Qiao Mian was not lying...

Could it be that she really isn't A-Wu?

He tossed the stack of documents onto the empty seat next to him and asked in a hoarse voice, "Are you sure you've investigated thoroughly?"

Chen Ke replied, "Yes, the director said it himself. Qiao Mian grew up in an orphanage in Shanghai. She learned sign language from the director because there are many hearing-impaired children in the orphanage. There's no mistake about that."

Huo Yanbei leaned back in his seat, feeling utterly exhausted.

If Qiao Mian grew up in a welfare home in Shanghai, she couldn't possibly be A Wu...

Because Awu's hometown is Jiaxian County, which is near Beijing.

The information doesn't match at all.

"Have you checked which university Qiao Mian enrolled in through self-study?"

"It has been verified that Attorney Qiao graduated from Shanghai South University through self-study and obtained her lawyer's license three years ago." Huo Yanbei irritably loosened his collar and pressed his throbbing temples.

So, he really mistook someone for someone else?

But Qiao Mian and A Wu clearly have so many things in common...

There aren't that many coincidences in this world.

Seeing Huo's gloomy expression, Chen Ke knew that Huo must be disappointed with the investigation results.

Despite the risk of being scolded, she couldn't help but advise, "Mr. Huo, although Attorney Qiao looks like Ms. Huo Wu, she can't possibly be Ms. Huo Wu, after all, Ms. Huo Wu is hearing impaired..."

Huo Yanbei lifted his heavy, reddened eyelids, his eyes bloodshot. "Awu once said that she wasn't born deaf and mute. Perhaps, over the years, her deafness and muteness have been cured, and she can speak again..."

This is not impossible.

This is also why he didn't use the deafness and muteness issue as a standard to verify whether Qiao Mian and A Wu were the same person.

He only believes his feelings.

The feeling of holding Qiao Mian, the feeling of kissing her—these familiar sensations were so much like those of A Wu.

but--

The information he found confirmed that his previous feeling was wrong.

It was like a resounding slap that completely woke him up.

Qiao Mian is really not A Wu...

His Ah Wu is really dead...

He searched for six years and finally thought he had found Ah Wu, but when he was closest to the truth, he was punched back to square one.

He couldn't accept it right away.

Chen Ke sighed, "Mr. Huo, if Attorney Qiao is really Miss Huo Wu, she will definitely acknowledge you and won't hide from you, right?"

Huo Yanbei's rough fingers scraped across the woman's handbag with a white rabbit keychain hanging on the seat, and he muttered to himself, "Even if A-Wu were still alive, she probably wouldn't want to see me..."

He abandoned her in the fire...

If Awu really is dead, then he is the one who killed her.

But he would rather she lived in this world, giving him a chance to atone for his sins...

After a long silence, Chen Ke changed the subject, "Are you going back to the Imperial View Villa tonight?"

Just as Huo Yanbei was about to speak, his phone rang.

Upon opening it, I found a WeChat message.

A voice message from Song Man.

He clicked on the text conversion option.

[Yanbei, it's already past midnight. Are you still working overtime at the company? I'm waiting for you at home. Don't forget, we promised Niannian we'd go to the aquarium together tomorrow.]

After reading the message, Huo Yanbei put away his phone expressionlessly and instructed Chen Ke, "Return to the Imperial View Villa."

"Yes."