Chapter 43 She's Really Gone
sat upright. He had never told Jean the password to his computer. And her cell phone was not working either.
Dejected, Zed returned to the sofa. Lost in thoughts of Jean and the Weibo incident, he squeezed and unsqueezed the empty bottle in his hand. All of a sudden, he looked at the computer on the desk. When he noticed the page was prompting him for the password, Zed "Was Jean set up? Did someone else send the message?' Zed wondered.
He thought over their confrontation and all of Jean's arguments, right from the clothing store till Zed had asked her to leave. Not once had Jean brought up Ethan. Instead, the whole time, she had seemed very confused as though she didn't know what Zed was talking about at all. "Is it possible that I accused her of something she didn't do?" Zed said to himself.
He kept circling back to the fact that the Weibo had been sent and verified through Jean's account. 'Could it be that she went to an internet café?' Zed thought.
A sense of foreboding filled Zed. To verify all the facts, he called his secretary.
"Check where Jean sent that message from. Be quick!" Zed ordered.
Till then, the secretary had no idea why Zed had stormed out of the meeting earlier that morning. Now, he realized that Zed had been upset about something related to Jean. He quickly scribbled the details Zed provided during the call and then looked into the IP address of that message.
A few minutes later, Zed received a call from his secretary. The address showed that the message originated at the Wen family house. This left Zed even more confused. Jean had disowned her father, so she would not return there. Moreover, he had found her in the department store. There was no way for her to update her Weibo at the Wen family house and then reach the department store before Zed. The times just didn't add up.
"Oh my god! I blamed Jean for something she didn't do." Zed muttered.
In a hurry, he dropped the bottle and rushed out to look for Jean. But unfortunately, he didn't see her.
Zed thought, 'She left only a little while ago. She couldn't have gone far! Maybe I can catch up with her if I drive.' Zed rushed back into the driveway and got into his car. Despite driving around for a long time, Zed saw no sign of Jean anywhere near his villa. "Jean, are you a rabbit? How did you disappear so fast?" Zed cried in frustration. He frowned and regretted what he had said to Jean. He was so angry that his thoughts became a jumbled mess. It took a few minutes for Zed to think of what he should do next. Zed took out his mobile phone and started the GPS. Then he face-palmed himself. Zed sighed as he cursed himself, "You're such a fool. Do you have no brains in your head?" he mumbled to himself.
Jean's mobile phone was not working and she had thrown the credit card onto the ground before she left the villa. How was he going to track her with the GPS? What was worse, she had disowned her family, so she couldn't go home. This made it more challenging for Zed to figure out where she could have gone. And far as Zed knew, she had very few friends in the city. 'Where are you, Jean?' Zed wondered.
"Ethan Lei..."
After thinking for a few seconds, Ethan appeared in Zed's mind. Dread filled Zed. Jean was hurt by what he had said and done. That would make it easier for Ethan to woo her.
An image of Jean crying in Ethan's arms flashed through Zed's mind. Just the thought made Zed's blood boil.
After considering all possibilities, Zed's shoulders sagged when he realized that Ethan's mention was the only reason he'd lost control when he saw the Weibo tweet.
"Maybe he knows where Jean is, "Zed muttered.
Although there was no way to track Jean, it was easy for him to get Ethan's address. But the moment Zed learned that Ethan lived close to the Wen family house, Zed gave up his intention of confronting Ethan.
After destroying all her relations with the Wen family, Jean would not go to that neighborhood, not even for Ethan.
Zed picked up his mobile phone to call Zack.
"Zack, please do me a favor. I need to find a person." Zed said.
Zack replied, "Do you want to find the person in the photo? How about coming here to have a drink with me? Don't waste your time with this nonsense. You know you can have any woman you want. And they are all happy to flock to you." "It's urgent. I'll explain later. Please help me to find Jean first." Zed insisted.
...
At that moment, Jean was sitting on a cold stone chair in the park. Her eyes were filled with tears. She felt so lonely and mistreated.
The more she thought about it, the sadder she became. Zed was just a time bomb waiting to explode at any time.
Up to now, she still couldn't figure out why he had been so angry at that time. She bought two clothes. Yes, it would have cost him thousands of dollars. But everyone knew that thousands of dollars would not be a major expense for Zed. So Jean thought there was no need for Zed to get so nasty. But the fact was that Zed had become very angry and he had even dragged Ethan into their dispute.
As night fell and the temperature dropped, there were fewer and fewer people in the park. Jean thought she would freeze to death if she continued to stay in the park. Although she had no idea where she was going to go, she knew she had to get up and start walking. Perhaps she'll think of something as she roamed the streets.
But when raised her foot to take a step, a sharp pain made Jean cry out and sit down.
"During the day, my foot didn't hurt at all. Why is it hurting so much now? Come on, please stay strong, okay? I have no money to buy any medicines. This is not the right time." Jean muttered as she gritted her teeth and coaxed herself to stand. Once she had her balance, she slowly moved out of the park.
After limping around for about ten minutes, Jean's stomach began rumbling from hunger. She opened her handbag and found that she wasn't carrying any money.
"I returned the credit card to Zed before I left, and my mobile phone... Well, my mobile phone is supposed to have been fixed by now." Suddenly, it occurred to Jean that her mobile phone was still at the repair shop near the department store she had visited in the morning. So she immediately set out for the repair store. Since her injured foot was troubling her, she walked slowly along the road.
When she arrived at the phone store an hour later, Jean was faint with hunger. So the moment she got her mobile phone, she decided to sell it to the owner for some cash. Her phone was almost brand new. The owner of the phone store noticed that Jean was out of money. So he offered a very low price.
Jean was starving. Therefore, without second thought, she sold her phone for only five hundred dollars.
Happily, she ran straight to a hot pot restaurant for a meal. When she went to the check out, she was surprised to learn that the meal cost her three hundred dollars.
With only two hundred dollars left, she returned to the phone store.
"Sir, can we make a deal?"
Jean smiled in embarrassment as she placed the two hundred dollars on the counter.
Seeing that Jean had returned, the owner quickly slid her mobile phone in the drawer and closed it.
Jean cleared her throat and looked around before speaking, "Well, I know the mobile phone belongs to you now. But can I rent it for a few days? I'll pay you two hundred dollars for it. After I find a job, I will return it to you. Will you consider my offer, please?"
As she ate, Jean had wondered what she would do now that Zed had thrown her out. Homeless and penniless, she was in a rather difficult situation. She knew she couldn't survive if she didn't get a job. Alas, she had exchanged her phone for money with which to eat. Unfortunately, the cost of the meal was so high that she didn't have enough for more. And so, she needed a better solution.
"I have sold your cell phone to another customer. If you really want to rent one, you can ask somewhere else. I don't have a rental business." The owner waved his hand to refuse her. He didn't understand her plight and refused to show compassion.
"You have sold it? How could you sell it so quickly? I just went to have a meal!" Jean cried out. She found that hard to believe.
"Of course, business is great. Don't stay here and dissuade other customers from coming to my shop. That will cost me. Just get out of my sight." The owner was becoming impatient because he was afraid that Jean would regret selling the phone for such a low cost and negotiate with him for more.
Depressed, Jean left the mobile shop. As she stepped out of the store, she shivered when a cold gust hit her. She sighed helplessly.
"Jean?" Hearing a familiar voice, Jean turned around and saw Ethan.
When Jean made eye contact with Ethan, her face suddenly became hot. She lowered her head and hurriedly reached out to wipe her burning lips. She felt embarrassed to meet Ethan in this condition.
"Why aren't you dressed warmly?" With these words, Ethan took off his coat and put it over Jean's shoulders.
Bundled in Ethan's coat, Jean sighed in relief. Then she looked at him gratefully and said, "Thank you very much!"
"It is cold here. Let's talk in the car." Ethan said as he stretched out his hand to hold Jean's. Just as he was about to touch her cold fingers, she moved her hand to refuse.
Nervously, she tugged at the coat and looked at Ethan awkwardly.
"Get in the car, please." Seeing that she was uncomfortable, Ethan didn't insist on holding her hand. Instead, he opened the passenger door for her.
Jean knew she had no choice but to get into Ethan's car.
On the other side of the road, Zed watched as Jean climbed into Ethan's car. With the help of the GPS, he had tracked Ethan to the store. Just as he was about to open the car door and step out, Zed saw Ethan and Jean speaking. Zed wanted to stop Jean from getting into Ethan's car but he felt as though his legs were made of lead. 000