The safe house was a modest cabin nestled deep in a bamboo forest in a remote province, miles from the nearest town. It was equipped with a satellite internet connection, a generator, and enough supplies to last for months. It was a world away from the penthouses and boardrooms Ye Xia had become accustomed to.
For the first 24 hours, she was in crisis mode. The story broke exactly as Silas had predicted. "THE HEIRESS AND THE HACK" screamed the headlines. News channels featured "cyber-security experts" dissecting the fabricated evidence. Lin Wanwan gave a tearful interview, claiming Ye Xia had confessed to her about the "theft" in a moment of guilt.
Ye Xia worked with Silas and her legal team to craft a response. They issued vehement denials and threatened libel lawsuits. But the damage was done. The cloud of suspicion was now hanging over her. Her bank accounts were temporarily frozen pending an "investigation," just as Mo had predicted. Thankfully, her mother's legacy assets in Switzerland were harder for the Mo family to touch, and her Visa stock was safe in a US brokerage account. She wasn't broke, but her operational funds were crippled.
On the second day, exhaustion overwhelmed her. She sat on the porch of the cabin, watching the sunlight filter through the bamboo. The silence was profound, broken only by the chirping of birds. The constant pressure of the last few months—the revenge, the financial battles, the system's demands—had been relentless. Now, in forced exile, she felt a strange sense of calm.
Mo contacted her through an encrypted channel. [The first wave has crested. My grandmother believes she has won. She will now wait for you to make a desperate move.]
[What move does she expect?] Ye Xia asked.
[For you to try to access your frozen funds illegally. Or to reach out to your enemies for help. She has traps set on all paths.]
[Then I won't take any of those paths,] Ye Xia replied. [I'll stay here.]
[Patience is a weapon she doesn't respect,] Mo said. [Use it.]
He was right. The matriarch was a master of aggressive strategy. A passive defense would frustrate her. It would force her to overreach.
Ye Xia spent the days that followed in a state of suspended animation. She studied for the Gaokao out of habit. She practiced meditation, learning to quiet the storm in her mind. She took long walks through the forest with Silas as a silent guardian. It was a detox from the chaos of her life.
One evening, as she was watching the sunset paint the bamboo grove in shades of orange and purple, she had a realization. The Mo matriarch's attack, while devastating, had also liberated her. It had stripped away the non-essentials. She was no longer the "Ugly Heiress" or the "Mysterious Financier." She was just Ye Xia, in a forest, fighting to survive. It was a purer, simpler state of being.
She also thought about Mo. His betrayal of his grandmother was a seismic shift in his life. He had chosen her over his family, over the system that had defined him since childhood. The weight of that choice was immense. She felt a responsibility towards it, and a growing, undeniable connection to the man behind the heir.
The safe house wasn't just a hiding place; it was a crucible. And she was being forged into something new.