CHAPTER 446: CHAPTER 446

Meanwhile, Ye Chen had been in Emperor City for a few days.

He hadn’t been idle for even a day.

No sooner had he driven Qin Xiangyang and Jiang Yan out of the original Qin Mansion, than he had them thrown in prison.

Just like that, the highly respected Qin Family in Emperor City fell.

And as Ye Chen had previously stated, he sent the video of the homeless man and Qin Shuang getting intimate, directly to Qin Xiangyang and Jiang Yan.

It’s said that Qin Xiangyang broke down on the spot, repeatedly slamming his head against the prison iron door.

Jiang Yan, unable to bear the shock, fainted, and even now after being revived, she remains in a daze.

Some might say that Ye Chen’s approach was incredibly cold-hearted, blaming it all on Qin Shuang as an individual, questioning why her parents should be implicated.

But Ye Chen felt that Qin Shuang’s unabashed bullying of Yu Dingding was fostered by her parents’ malicious indulgence.

Of course, he also felt partly responsible for the harm done to Yu Dingding.

Because he, Ye Chen, was once one of those who unconditionally indulged Qin Shuang.

Thus, these days, even though he missed Yu Dingding dearly, he dared not visit her.

This was his punishment to himself.

Love not reciprocated, a lifelong regret...

Yet, when he was alone in Emperor City, he couldn’t help but seek out traces of Yu Dingding.

So, he started looking for the former Yu Mansion.

But his assistant told him: "The Yu Mansion was auctioned off before and is currently under the Ji Family’s name."

"Then find the Ji Family’s steward, no matter the cost, I want to buy back the Yu Mansion."

The assistant had no choice but to comply and soon acquired the Yu Mansion at three times the market price.

Ye Chen also received the keys to the Yu Mansion in record time.

"The Ji Family bought this house intending it as a dowry for their young daughter. Since their daughter is only ten years old now, they weren’t in a hurry to refurbish this house. Everything here is left as it was when it belonged to Yu Family, even the belongings inside weren’t cleared in time."

The assistant knew that Ye Chen probably wanted to find traces of Yu Dingding’s past in this courtyard house to console his feelings, so he relayed the news as soon as he learnt of it.

Excited, Ye Chen immediately activated the navigation and headed to Yu Mansion.

But on the way to Yu Mansion, Ye Chen passed the lake where he and his cousins used to skate.

Since it wasn’t winter, the lake wasn’t frozen, and the sunlight made the water glint brilliantly.

As Ye Chen looked at the lake, his phone’s navigation reminded him that he was only fifty meters away from his destination.

He couldn’t help but think, when he accompanied his mother to her parental home during the summer and winter breaks and often played with his cousins by the lake, did he perhaps also meet Yu Dingding around here?

If back then, he had met Yu Dingding earlier, he would definitely have been captivated by Yu Dingding’s beautiful face.

If he had started dating Yu Dingding back then, would everything have turned out differently from now?

Amidst these regrets, Ye Chen arrived at Yu Mansion and used the key to open the gate of Yu Mansion.

Yu Mansion’s decor wasn’t as elaborate as the Qin Mansion, but its overall layout had an added touch of warmth.

Even now, this house, neglected for a long time and overgrown with wild grass, covered everywhere with a layer of dust, still faintly retains the warmth of the past.

Ye Chen first toured the Yu Family’s living room, then crossed the small courtyard and entered a room decorated with pink and lace.

From what Ye Chen knew about Yu Dingding, he guessed that this must have been her room.

Because Yu Dingding, she liked decorations with pink and lace.

Her previous apartment was also decorated by her with various soft furnishings in a similar style.

Ye Chen, looking at the familiar decorations in the room, couldn’t help but reach out to touch the dust-covered mattress, table...

Then, Ye Chen couldn’t resist opening the drawer on Yu Dingding’s desk, wanting to see her belongings from the past.

Inside the drawer were many small items, and also some large stickers of her and Mo Yifeng following the trend.

In the photos, Yu Dingding looked much more inexperienced than now, but her eyes and brows were still so captivating.

Next to her, Mo Yifeng was hugging her, his gaze not on the camera, but lingering on her stunning profile, his fondness and affection clearly visible, as if Mo Yifeng’s whole world consisted only of Yu Dingding.

It was also when seeing this photo that Ye Chen understood why Qin Shuang was insistent on having Mo Yifeng back then.

What Qin Shuang wanted was probably not Mo Yifeng himself, but the feeling of his undivided adoration for Yu Dingding.

However, Ye Chen still personally disliked the involvement between Yu Dingding and Mo Yifeng, so he cut out Mo Yifeng’s part from the sticker photo, only keeping Yu Dingding’s portion and then placed it in his wallet.

After looking through Yu Dingding’s small items, Ye Chen shifted his gaze to Yu Dingding’s notebook.

Surprisingly, where others’ notebooks were filled with writing, Yu Dingding’s notebook was filled with simple sketches.

Ye Chen leafed through those sketches, finding that Yu Dingding was using these sketchbooks to record events.

Like the day she fed a cat at her doorstep, and the next day the cat brought her a little mouse as a thank you gift.

Like her father promising to celebrate her birthday in a tea restaurant filled with fresh flowers.

Like the new dress she bought today, happily worn on her.

What most made Ye Chen’s scalp tingle was a sketch in Yu Dingding’s notebook depicting a young boy nearly drowning.

In that drawing, the lake had frozen over, a young boy lay on the ice, and beside him was a hole in the ice.

Regarding the young boy’s attire, it was also depicted by Yu Dingding, including a high-valued Patek Philippe watch he was wearing on his hand!

But if Ye Chen remembered correctly, when he fell into the water back then, he was also wearing a Patek Philippe watch like that.

Since he was a child, Ye Chen had a costly hobby of collecting various expensive watches.

But at that time, Ye Chen was still in school and didn’t have enough pocket money to splurge on watches.

So when he had his eye on this globally limited edition Patek Philippe watch, he had to pester his mother for a long time before she agreed to buy it for him.

Because the watch was hard to come by, Ye Chen even wore it to Emperor City, and the first thing he did after being rescued and waking up was to check if his beloved watch was still there.

But if Yu Dingding could clearly sketch him lying on the ice with the watch on, did that also mean she was at the scene?

As Ye Chen hurriedly flipped further down, he found the following words written behind the sketch:

"Saved you, got completely drenched, scolded by Dad when I got home. Being a good person is tough..."

Ye Chen stared intensely at the line, his eyes red, his voice hoarse with utter shock, "Dingding, was it you who saved me?"