The thunderstorms always came out of nowhere, but for one to hit at a time like this made my heart pound with unease.
I'd put the call on speakerphone. Guo Yujie had obviously heard Chen Yihan's words too, and she was just as stunned as I was.
I took a breath and asked Chen Yihan if she'd found Chen Xiaoqiu.
To my surprise, Chen Yihan had already pinpointed Chen Xiaoqiu's location.
"She looks perfectly normal, and she's behaving like anyone else. I'm guessing she's heading to the police station, but I don't know what she intends to do there," Chen Yihan said.
Chen Yihan seemed to have a plan and to be confident it would work.
I felt a little more at ease.
I couldn't stay at Guo Yujie's place forever. Now that she was safe, I said goodbye and left.
Guo Yujie looked troubled as she walked me downstairs.
"It'll be all right, won't it?" she asked.
A little surprised, I looked at Guo Yujie and said with certainty, "Of course it'll be all right."
Guo Yujie let out a breath and waved goodbye.
I took a cab home, but questions still lingered in my mind.
Zhang Xiaojia's reaction, what she'd said, and Chen Yihan's deductions all left me feeling stifled and deeply troubled.
The downpour battered the windows of the cab, blurring the glass.
The city lights outside looked like spots of paint bleeding into one another. Whenever lightning streaked across the sky, the effect grew even more pronounced.
This weather, on top of everything that had happened, only made me feel worse.
Another bolt of lightning cut across the sky, as if tearing open the heavens.
Its dazzling light made me squint.
For an instant, I thought I saw headlights. They were so bright that all I