You're dumping me, huh? Fine, then I'll just pick up the school beauty and make her my wif

There were bushes below to cushion the impact, and she also used a cushioning motion when she landed, so she was unharmed.

After pausing for a moment, Su Qinghe cautiously observed the surrounding situation.

The street was deserted, and the security guard who had been pacing back and forth in front of the side gate during the day was nowhere to be seen, having changed shifts and gone somewhere. His post was now empty.

Ok?

A slight doubt flashed through Su Qinghe's mind, but then she thought that it was the time for shift changes, and a short gap was to be expected.

We can't hesitate any longer; every second we delay increases the risk of being discovered.

Su Qinghe lowered her body and moved quickly along the edge of the gravel path.

The cobblestone path was lined with low shrubs, just enough to cover half of her body.

She moved through the night like a wary cat, her steps quick and light.

Everything went smoothly until Su Qinghe rounded the pool area and suddenly heard footsteps coming from not far away.

She immediately crouched down, hiding behind a clump of bougainvillea, holding her breath, and cautiously peeked out with half her head out of the cover to assess the situation.

Two security guards in black uniforms walked straight past her.

The beam of the flashlight swept across the ground casually twice before gradually disappearing into the distance.

Su Qinghe waited in place for more than ten seconds, and only after confirming that they had gone far away did she get up again and continue to feel her way towards the exit.

Fortunately, crossing the flowerbed in the center of the garden went more smoothly than she had expected.

There are many gaps between the flowerbeds, and the vegetation is dense enough to completely block the view.

The only drawback was that the vegetation was messy and tangled, and Su Qinghe had to bend over as she walked through it, getting several scratches on her clothes from the branches.

There were even some scratches on my skin, which didn't hurt much, but they still looked quite shocking.

But Su Qinghe didn't care at all; she only had one thought in her mind at that moment.

Back to A-Che's side.

Along the way, she didn't know how many times she had silently repeated this sentence in her heart, so many that these seven words had become something like instinct, driving her legs to move forward step by step.

The hiking trail at the end of the flower bushes is right in front of you.

Su Qinghe could see the narrow dirt road stretching out from beneath her feet, winding its way into the deep woods of the night.

As long as she embarks on this path, she can leave this hellish place.

As long as she leaves this awful place, she can return to A-Che's side.

Su Qinghe's heart was pounding at its fastest.

ten meters.

five meters.

three meters.

It's just one step away.

However, just a second before her toes were about to step onto the pedestrian path—

"Click."

A blinding white light shone from her right side.

Then came the second, third, and fourth rounds...

Dozens of flashlight beams lit up almost simultaneously, converging on her from all directions and illuminating her completely.

Su Qinghe froze, her pupils shrinking sharply.

She instinctively raised her hand to shield her eyes, but the light was so bright that she couldn't see anything.

After her vision had barely adjusted to the bright light, Su Qinghe was able to see the scene before her clearly.

Security personnel in black uniforms stood behind the bushes, on both sides of the gravel road, and at the entrance to the pedestrian path.

There were at least thirty or forty people.

They held flashlights in their hands, staring at her expressionlessly, surrounding her completely.

Su Qinghe's mind went blank.

How could this be...?

How was it discovered?

She had meticulously planned every step. Timing, route, patrol gaps—everything went perfectly.

The only maid who knew her whereabouts was subdued by her before she could make a sound. Even if the maid who had been sent away returned and discovered the abnormality, it would take a lot of time to report it and organize people to arrest her.

Where exactly did the flaw appear?

Under Su Qinghe's terrified gaze, the crowd slowly parted to both sides, and then a figure slowly walked out from among them.

Ye Yunjin.

She slowly walked to a spot about five or six meters in front of Su Qinghe and stopped, her gaze sweeping over her daughter's disheveled appearance from top to bottom.

His clothes were torn in several places by tree branches, his arms and neck were covered with tiny bloodstains, his hair was disheveled, and his face was covered in mud.

Ye Yunjin's brows furrowed almost imperceptibly, but quickly relaxed, and the corners of her lips curved slightly. "Good boy, come to Mommy's side."

Upon hearing these words, Su Qinghe felt an indescribable chill run down her spine and to the top of her head.

She clenched her hands tightly at her sides, gritting her teeth as she asked, word by word, "I clearly didn't give anything away, how did you find out?"

Upon hearing this, Ye Yunjin chuckled softly.

"Silly child, don't you think your whole escape from the room went a little too smoothly?"

Too smoothly?

Upon hearing this, Su Qinghe immediately and quickly recalled her experiences along the way.

After Ye Yunjin poured a bucket of cold water over her head, her mind had already calmed down and become clear.

After reviewing the entire plan from beginning to end, she realized that the seemingly meticulous escape plan did indeed contain many illogical aspects.

For example, how could Ye Yunjin possibly have kept a letter opener and a manor tour map in the drawer of the room where she was being held, which would have helped her escape?

For example, after she went downstairs, the security guard who should have been patrolling in front of the side door was not on duty.

We did not encounter any substantial obstacles along the way.

At the time, she thought she was just lucky, but looking back now...

Isn't this luck a bit too good?

Su Qinghe's pupils dilated little by little, and the color drained from her face inch by inch.

"So... this was all planned by you from the very beginning?"

Ye Yunjin did not deny it.

Su Qinghe suddenly laughed.

She was laughing at herself.

He laughed at himself for having painstakingly planned an escape, only to find that he had been completely manipulated by Ye Yunjin from beginning to end.

Like a mouse caught in a cat's mouth, it thinks it can escape by struggling desperately, but little does it know that the cat is just toying with it.

Su Qinghe lowered her head and slowly loosened her grip on the letter opener.

The hilt of the knife slipped from between her fingers and fell with a thud onto the gravel ground.

It’s over.

It's really over.

She can't escape.

Ye Yunjin had calculated everything.

Su Qinghe suddenly felt as if all the strength had been drained from her body.

Her knees were weak and her eyes were uncontrollably stinging, but she stubbornly gritted her teeth and refused to shed a single tear in front of Ye Yunjin.

Just as Su Qinghe was in despair and Ye Yunjin was about to step forward and take her away—

"Wow, it's so lively here."

A lazy voice suddenly came from above everyone's heads.

Everyone looked up in unison.

A figure appeared atop the manor's wall, seemingly out of nowhere.