Chapter 75: Scheme 7—Everyone Has Their Own Little Calculations…

When Ming Jiayao learned that Bai Yuanzhi had been kidnapped, his mind went completely blank.

His first reaction was—he had been so careful to conceal Bai Yuanzhi’s existence, so why had she still met with misfortune?

Who on earth wanted to harm her?

Ming Jiayao had three suspects in mind:

The first was Liu Rong, because Ming Jiayao and Liu Rong were uncle and nephew by blood, and also competitors for the Ming Family’s legacy;

The second was Ming Jingxing. Based on Ming Jiayao’s understanding of the old man—since he was capable of “using neglect to temper Ming Jiayao’s will,” he was certainly capable of something as absurd as “killing the girl Ming Jiayao liked most so he would never have any constraints”;

The third was Xu Wenrui, because Bai Yuanzhi was also the girl Chen Shuojie liked. Given Xu Wenrui’s madness, she probably couldn’t tolerate her own son valuing another woman.

Soon, Ming Jiayao ruled out Ming Jingxing as a suspect.

Not because he believed Ming Jingxing had turned kind,

but because Ming Jingxing was currently tacitly allowing the transfer of power within the Ming Family. Whether in the company or in Ming Jingxing’s personal relationships, everyone was well aware of the power shift between the Ming Family’s grandfather and grandson.

Not to mention that Ming Jiayao had always kept Bai Yuanzhi deeply hidden,

even if the Ming Family’s subordinates knew of Bai Yuanzhi’s existence,

they would absolutely not dare to harm her.

Thus, Ming Jiayao’s remaining suspects were only Liu Rong and Xu Wenrui.

Ming Jiayao also felt it couldn’t be Xu Wenrui.

Although Xu Wenrui was mad, she wasn’t a particularly clever or scheming person.

She would definitely target Bai Yuanzhi.

But Xu Wenrui would likely use more straightforward methods, such as directly confronting her or personally beating her up.

So, after ruling out Ming Jingxing and Xu Wenrui,

the only suspect left in Ming Jiayao’s mind was Liu Rong.

Digging deeper—

Liu Rong had accepted Ming Jingxing’s task to take revenge on Chen Shen.

Now that Chen Shen and his family of three had finally returned from the United States, Liu Rong was bound to act.

The timing made sense.

But why would Liu Rong start with Bai Yuanzhi?

Lost in thought, Ming Jiayao began to analyze the relationships between Liu Rong, Chen Shen, and Xu Wenrui.

Although Liu Rong was an imposter,

he hadn’t been exposed in public over the years, thanks to the cover provided by Xu Wenrui and Chen Shen.

In other words,

Liu, Chen, and Xu were actually allies.

The previous generation of the Chen Family had origins in the underworld, and it was only in Chen Shen’s generation that they gradually went legitimate. However, Chen Shen undoubtedly still controlled some gray-area businesses.

Now that Liu Rong could no longer openly move around using the identity of “Ming Zhixuan,”

Liu Rong, who had started out as a small-time thug, would inevitably return to his old circles…

He certainly wouldn’t want to offend Chen Shen!

At this point in time,

Liu Rong suddenly targeting Bai Yuanzhi…

After pondering for a moment,

a bold idea surfaced in Ming Jiayao’s mind—Liu Rong hadn’t given up on Ming Jingxing’s one million, but he also didn’t dare to openly confront Chen Shen.

So, was Liu Rong kidnapping Bai Yuanzhi because… she was the girl Chen Shuojie liked?

Ming Jiayao continued to follow this line of thought:

Since Liu Rong wants to deal with Chen Shen, why would he kidnap Bai Yuanzhi?

Wait!

Xu Wenrui has an almost pathological possessiveness toward the Chen father and son,

So???

Actually, Liu Rong wants to use Xu Wenrui…

An answer comes to mind:

Liu Rong’s greatest hobby in life is toying with women.

He kidnapped Bai Yuanzhi, surely with that in mind.

However, it’s unlikely he would send Bai Yuanzhi to Chen Shuojie’s bed—that would be meaningless and wouldn’t harm Chen Shen at all.

But what if his idea is to send Bai Yuanzhi to Chen Shen’s bed?

That way, the girl Chen Shuojie likes would be defiled by his father,

Wouldn’t Chen Shuojie go mad?

Xu Wenrui… would go even crazier!

If, while Xu Wenrui is going berserk on the scene, Liu Rong arranges for someone to “accidentally” cause some mishap…

Then Chen Shen’s death could be squarely pinned on Xu Wenrui or Bai Yuanzhi.

Even if Chen Shen doesn’t die but is only injured or something,

Liu Rong could still report back to Ming Jingxing, since Ming Jingxing’s vague instructions were only for Liu Rong to retaliate against Chen Shen, without specifying exactly what should happen to him.

The more Ming Jiayao thought about it, the more convinced he became.

As calm as his thought process was,

After thinking it through, he felt even more panicked!

Ming Jiayao hurriedly issued a series of orders:

He first called Sui Xi.

Sui Xi is Ah Jiu’s aunt. Because she is older, Ming Jiayao, who is not yet an adult but wants to do business and earn money, has registered many assets under her name.

Previously, when Bai Yuanzhi went to work as a waitress at Bilanting, Ming Jiayao, afraid she would be bullied, urgently invested in Bilanting and sent Sui Xi to work there as a personnel specialist, secretly acting as Bai Yuanzhi’s protector.

Now that Bai Yuanzhi has resigned from Bilanting, Sui Xi has also left Bilanting to manage Ming Jiayao’s other business ventures.

“Sister A Xi, I need to ask you for a favor.” Ming Jiayao explained the situation to Sui Xi in detail.

Sui Xi listened and solemnly agreed.

Only then did Ming Jiayao feel slightly relieved.

Next, Ming Jiayao had Ah Wu drive to support Ah Bin,

Had Ah Qi keep an eye on Chen Shuojie’s movements,

Had Ah Jiu monitor Chen Shen’s whereabouts…

After arranging everything, Ming Jiayao still couldn’t calm down.

He was worried about Bai Yuanzhi’s situation.

After all, before getting accurate information about her whereabouts, Ming Jiayao was only guessing that she had been kidnapped by Liu Rong.

What if she wasn’t?

Ming Jiayao’s mind was in turmoil; he simply couldn’t stay indoors.

So, holding a motorcycle helmet in one hand and stuffing the motorcycle keys into his pocket with the other, he prepared to wait in the underground garage—as soon as there was any news about Bai Yuanzhi, he would rush over immediately!

Then, at the exit of the underground garage, Ming Jiayao saw a slender woman arguing with the security guard.

“Miss, you don’t have an access pass, and you look unfamiliar. I can’t possibly let you in! Everyone living in this building is wealthy. If everyone like you could just barge in without an access pass, wouldn’t I lose my job?”

“Ah, I’ve already told you many times, I’m here to see my friend!”

“Then have your friend come down to get you.”

“But he… he’s not home!”

“Miss, do you even hear what you’re saying? Since you’re here to visit a friend, shouldn’t you come when your friend is actually home? Since they’re not here, what are you doing trying to go upstairs?”

“I can wait for him right outside his door!”

The security guard was firm. “Sorry, that’s not allowed!”

“Hey, don’t be so arrogant! Do you even know how powerful my friend is? If you offend me, I’ll… I’ll tell my friend, and then you’ll be in big trouble!” the woman shouted angrily, flustered.

The security guard remained unmoved. “Please wait outside the lobby on the first floor. This is the underground garage entrance; there’s no pedestrian walkway here.”

For some reason,

Ming Jiayao thought the woman looked very familiar, so he kept staring at her.

She was young and pretty, dressed lightly, with big wavy permed hair and fiery red lips—she looked quite spicy.

After a moment, Ming Jiayao finally remembered—this woman was Bai Yuanzhi’s distant cousin, Li Yongzhen!

Li Yongzhen had undergone plastic surgery, signed with Wanmei Film Industry, and debuted.

However,

there were just too many aspiring young artists these days, and Li Yongzhen’s qualifications weren’t particularly outstanding. Currently, she could only play minor roles in film crews.

What was she doing here?

At this moment, Li Yongzhen, who was arguing with the security guard, seemed to have lost her temper out of embarrassment and started shouting recklessly, “Are you bullying others because of your position or just putting on airs? Are you sure you want to provoke my… friend?”

“Fine! Then I’ll make you give up!!”

“I’m telling you, my friend is Chen Shen, the chairman of Wanmei Film Industry!”

“Do you understand now? Are you still going to stop me? Do you—want to die?” Li Yongzhen screamed furiously.

Ming Jiayao, straddling his motorcycle: ???

This was the most sensitive time for him.

As soon as he heard Chen Shen’s name,

Ming Jiayao instinctively wondered if Li Yongzhen’s appearance here was yet another scheme.

Did Liu Rong send Li Yongzhen?

Or was Chen Shen going to show up here soon?

But Chen Shen didn’t live here…

Ming Jiayao stayed silent, quietly watching Li Yongzhen and the security guard argue heatedly not far away.

Soon, Ming Jiayao remembered something—although Chen Shen didn’t live here, he did own an apartment in this building.

Nowadays, it was trendy for the wealthy in Hong Kong City to have “multiple hideouts.”

There was no other choice—the paparazzi from various newspapers and magazines were just too invasive.

Ming Jiayao thought for a moment, then called the domestic helper at his apartment upstairs and gave her some instructions.

The domestic helper agreed immediately.

Ming Jiayao put away his cell phone, leaned against his motorcycle while waiting for news from Bai Yuanzhi, and watched Li Yongzhen make a fool of herself.

About ten minutes later, an unfamiliar Filipina domestic helper appeared.

The Filipina domestic helper had a clear goal.

She walked straight up to Li Yongzhen and asked her in English, “Are you here to see Mr. Chen?”

Li Yongzhen froze, her face flushed as she turned to the security guard. “What did she say?”

Although the security guard found the Filipina domestic helper unfamiliar, she was wearing an access pass on her chest. He figured she must be a newly hired domestic helper for one of the wealthy residents.

So, the security guard kindly translated for Li Yongzhen.

Li Yongzhen was overjoyed and immediately said to the security guard with an air of superiority, “See! I told you earlier… I’m Mr. Chen’s friend. You just didn’t believe me!”

The doorman frowned and glanced at Li Yongzhen, ignoring her, but asked the Filipina domestic helper, “Which household do you work for?”

The Filipina domestic helper accurately stated Chen Shen’s house number and added, “The master called back and said he isn’t home, so it’s inconvenient to entertain guests. He also said this young lady is being too noisy, and it wouldn’t look good if other residents saw. So he asked me to take her to a nearby café to wait. He’ll come back once he finishes his work.”

The doorman didn’t suspect anything.

After all, since the resident hadn’t agreed to let Li Yongzhen enter the building, he was simply doing his duty.

To get rid of Li Yongzhen, the doorman helped translate.

Li Yongzhen didn’t suspect anything either and happily followed the Filipina domestic helper away.

Ming Jiayao, watching from not far away, smiled.

Yes,

That unfamiliar Filipina domestic helper was actually a friend of his family’s helper.

Ming Jiayao had paid her a hundred dollars to come and put on a show, luring Li Yongzhen away.

As for why he did this, Ming Jiayao hadn’t really thought it through.

He just instinctively felt that Li Yongzhen could be a useful pawn.

= =

At that moment, Bai Yuanzhi finally groggily woke up.

After her mind went blank for a few seconds, her thoughts gradually cleared.

Bai Yuanzhi suddenly sat up, first looking down at her clothes.

Good, she was still wearing her own clothes.

Even the sneakers on her feet were intact.

Bai Yuanzhi then looked around.

It was a spacious, bright room.

The furnishings in the room were simple—in the center was a large bed.

She was lying on the large bed.

On one side of the bed stood a softbox umbrella, likely for photography or filming;

On the other side of the bed was a tripod, and mounted on it was unmistakably a camera???

Bai Yuanzhi stared at the camera for a few seconds, then without hesitation kicked it over.

The good news was that after she kicked the camera to the ground, it not only made a loud “bang” but also emitted the crisp sound of shattering lens glass.

The bad news was that with that movement, she realized her heart was racing, her legs were weak, and she had little strength…

Bai Yuanzhi lay back down on the bed.

But she began to move her hands and feet slightly.

She had once asked Zhou Sier what it felt like to be drugged.

Zhou Sier had suffered from it before, and with a researcher’s curiosity—once a question arose, she had to figure it out…

So Zhou Sier gathered all sorts of research materials and quickly became thoroughly knowledgeable on the subject.

Bai Yuanzhi had thus received a scientific explanation.

Simply put, external hallucinogens are either mixed into drinks or inhaled.

The dosage depends on the amount used.

Generally, the larger the dose, the longer the unconsciousness, and the more severe the aftereffects.

Conversely, a shorter period of unconsciousness means milder side effects.

After resting for a while, Bai Yuanzhi felt her heartbeat slow down. She then raised her wrist to check her watch—it was now 11:05 at night.

She had left night school at 10:30 p.m.

That meant she had been unconscious for thirty-five minutes.

Bai Yuanzhi recalled her elder sister Zhou Sier’s analysis:

“I was probably unconscious for a full day and night… Honestly, I was incredibly lucky. With such a large dose of hallucinogens, I should have died. But surprisingly, after being unconscious for a day and night, I still woke up.”

“This is probably because Song Junshu lacks experience and administered the wrong medication recklessly.”

“My first mistake at the time was getting up and moving immediately after regaining consciousness. This accelerated my blood circulation, causing the residual drugs in my bloodstream to take effect again…”

“My second mistake was failing to stay calm. If I hadn’t been so panicked back then, I might have been able to negotiate properly with that person…”

Thus, Bai Yuanzhi did her best to remain calm.

She lay on the bed, only daring to clench and relax her fists slightly, while also performing small muscle-strengthening movements with her feet—tightening and relaxing her toes.

To her relief,

she had been unconscious for only a short time, which indicated that the amount of drugs she had inhaled through her mouth and nose wasn’t too high.

After about ten minutes, her breathing had completely returned to normal, her heartbeat was steady, and her hands and legs were filled with strength.

During this process, Bai Yuanzhi also pondered: Who would do this to her?

Her suspicion fell on Xu Wenrui.

After all, today Xu Wenrui and Chen Shen had accompanied Chen Shuojie back from the United States,

and Chen Shuojie had even called Bai Yuanzhi, saying something about having a very important matter to discuss tonight…

What important matter could it be?

Could it be that he wanted to confess his feelings to her?

But this was likely something Chen Shen didn’t want to see.

Presumably, Xu Wenrui didn’t want to see it either.

Thus, Xu Wenrui, who harbored a strange possessiveness toward Chen Shuojie, wanted to “fundamentally” eliminate Bai Yuanzhi…

The more Bai Yuanzhi thought about it, the more reasonable her speculation seemed.

Given Xu Wenrui’s deranged personality, doing something like this didn’t seem too far-fetched.

So—

How could she save herself now?

After resting, Bai Yuanzhi slowly sat up on the bed.

She even tried getting up and walking around.

Good—the solid feeling of her feet on the ground calmed her considerably.

Bai Yuanzhi continued to examine the room.

The room was quite large, about twenty square meters, with no windows.

Indeed, there was only a bed in the room,

along with the camera she had kicked over…

and a softbox umbrella nearby.

Bai Yuanzhi felt

that this place resembled… a location for filming adult videos.

Bai Yuanzhi frowned.

Then—

she noticed that the floor was littered with all sorts of things.

There were extension cords with wires, screwdrivers, oddly shaped metal pipes, and even a utility knife!

Bai Yuanzhi stared at the scattered items on the floor, growing more and more bewildered.

Who on earth had abducted her?

If they intended to harm her,

why leave all these things lying around?

After all, these items on the floor could easily be used as self-defense weapons!

(Liu Rong: You guessed right! That’s exactly what they’re for—to be used as weapons! When Chen Shen arrives later, it’d be best if you, in your nervousness and fear, pick up a knife or something from the floor and finish him off with one strike!)

Bai Yuanzhi stared at the items on the floor for a while before finally deciding to return to the bedside. She crouched down and picked up a few shards of glass—the remains of the camera lens she had kicked over earlier.

Then, she walked toward the door.

Just as she was about to turn the doorknob and try to leave,

Bai Yuanzhi’s hand froze mid-air.

After a moment’s thought, she suddenly took off her jacket, removed the sweatshirt she was wearing underneath, and put the jacket back on. She then wrapped the sweatshirt around her hand and attempted to turn the doorknob.

It wouldn’t budge.

Just as she had expected!

Bai Yuanzhi began to inspect the room again.

Unfortunately,

the only exit in this room was likely that main door.

Bai Yuanzhi had no choice but to return to the door.

To conserve her strength,

she sat on the floor to rest, occasionally getting up to move around, stretch a little, and build up her stamina for the upcoming opportunity…

Time passed minute by minute.

It felt like a long time had gone by,

but Bai Yuanzhi kept glancing at her watch and knew it was just past midnight.

The sound of high heels stomping echoed from outside the door.

Bai Yuanzhi’s heart suddenly tightened with tension.

Perhaps due to the heightened stress—

Bai Yuanzhi focused all her attention on listening to the commotion outside.

Soon, the woman stopped right outside the door, separated from Bai Yuanzhi by just a single barrier.

“Right here?” a familiar female voice rang out.

This was clearly a question.

Which meant there were at least two people outside the door at that moment.

Sure enough, another voice chimed in.

Also a woman.

But her voice was soft and her words were mumbled.

Bai Yuanzhi couldn’t make them out.

What surprised Bai Yuanzhi was—although the voice of the woman who had spoken earlier sounded quite familiar, she was certain it wasn’t Xu Wenrui!

Then who could it be?

The people outside had already started turning the doorknob.

Bai Yuanzhi’s heart leaped into her throat!

She quickly hid behind the door.

With a soft click—

The woman standing outside exclaimed in surprise, “It’s locked?”

The other woman mumbled something indistinct about “don’t linger too long,” “might be a mistake,” and “we’ll be discovered”…

The woman with the particularly familiar voice snorted, “Today, I’m determined to wait for him right here! You get lost!”

And then—

With a loud thud,

the person outside began kicking the door.

Bai Yuanzhi was terrified.

Because she vaguely guessed that the woman with the particularly familiar voice was—Li Yongzhen?

But why would Li Yongzhen come here?

Was she the one who had Bai Yuanzhi kidnapped?

Or was she here to rescue Bai Yuanzhi… No, that was absolutely impossible! Bai Yuanzhi and Li Yongzhen weren’t on such good terms.

Then—

What on earth was going on?

After a few frantic kicks from the person outside, the door lock began to wobble.

Seeing that the lock was about to be forcibly broken,

Bai Yuanzhi, in her panic, pulled the sweatshirt she had just taken off over her head, leaving one of the short sleeves’ cuffs open as an eye slit.

Thus, she had donned a hood that revealed only her eyes.

With a loud bang, the door finally swung open.

Li Yongzhen’s puzzled voice rang out clearly, “…Huh? Is this place really that bad? Are you sure about what you said? There’s no one here…”

Hiding behind the door, Bai Yuanzhi quickly calculated her chances of taking on two opponents alone.

Soon, another familiar female voice spoke up, “Miss Li, please step outside. This shooting room has already been reserved…”

Hearing this, Bai Yuanzhi froze again.

—This woman’s voice was also familiar! It was just that when she was outside the door, her voice had been too soft for Bai Yuanzhi to make out clearly.

This voice…

Why did it sound so much like that Miss Sui from the Bilanting Hotel’s HR department back in the day?!

For a moment, Bai Yuanzhi was filled with shock and suspicion.

And then, an even more explosive scene unfolded!

Li Yongzhen snorted again and said, “Then tell me, is Mr. Chen going to come here soon?”

The woman who appeared to be Miss Sui replied, “Sorry, I can’t reveal Mr. Chen’s whereabouts! And here…”

At that moment, Li Yongzhen pulled the door open.

Bai Yuanzhi, who had been hiding behind the door, was now spectacularly exposed in front of Li Yongzhen and the other woman.

 

“Ah!!!” Li Yongzhen was startled!

The other woman was also startled, but after clearly seeing Bai Yuanzhi, her eyes lit up with pleasant surprise.

“Who are you?” Li Yongzhen shouted at Bai Yuanzhi. “What are you doing hiding here alone without saying a word? You even locked the door from the inside!”

Yes, Bai Yuanzhi had a short-sleeved shirt pulled over her head, causing Li Yongzhen to completely fail to recognize her.

But Li Yongzhen tried to grab the clothing on Bai Yuanzhi’s head, pulling at it while cursing, “You’re Lanlan (Li Yongzhen’s rival), aren’t you? Aren’t you? Take this off… let me see your true face!”

“Hah, don’t think I won’t recognize you just because you’re covering your head!”

“So you knew Mr. Chen would be here filming tonight, and you deliberately hid here waiting for him… You want to climb into his bed, don’t you? Don’t you!”

“You shameless bitch!” The angrier Li Yongzhen got, the more she raised her arm toward “Lanlan.”

Bai Yuanzhi remained silent but deftly twisted away, escaping Li Yongzhen.

She looked at the woman who had come with Li Yongzhen—it was indeed Miss Sui!

Only,

Back at Bilanting, Miss Sui didn’t care much for dressing up, often appearing bare-faced, wearing simple clothes and slightly plump.

Now, Miss Sui had her hair pulled back into a bun, wearing a delicate professional woman’s makeup. She was slender, dressed in a business suit and skirt with flat shoes, looking every bit the elite assistant.

Miss Sui had already positioned herself to protect Bai Yuanzhi.

She said seriously to Li Yongzhen, “Miss Li, you can’t do this. Today’s shooting room belongs to Lanlan. Please leave…”

Li Yongzhen ignored Miss Sui’s words.

She scrutinized the head-covered Bai Yuanzhi and said angrily, “Pah! Today’s shooting room belongs to me! Lanlan, we agreed we’re all good sisters, sharing fortune and hardship together. How come today you want to monopolize Mr. Chen alone? Hmph, fine then. If you take off that head covering and remove your makeup now, I’ll let you stay…”

Bai Yuanzhi didn’t want to delay any longer.

And she wanted to take a gamble!

—Back at Bilanting, Miss Sui had shown her inexplicable kindness.

So now, Bai Yuanzhi wanted to bet—Miss Sui would still help her!

So Bai Yuanzhi left the room without looking back.

Li Yongzhen shouted angrily, “Hey, Lanlan! Stop right there! What do you mean? Are you going to complain to Mr. Chen? I’m telling you, don’t even think about it!”

Bai Yuanzhi paid no attention at all, choosing a direction at random and walking away.

The commotion behind her made it clear to Bai Yuanzhi:

Li Yongzhen must have tried to chase after her but was stopped by Miss Sui.

“Miss Li, I advise you to be more civilized!” Miss Sui said coldly. “Mr. Chen hates rude and unreasonable girls the most. Since Lanlan is willing to give you tonight’s opportunity, you should be secretly delighted! If you take Lanlan’s chance and still try to bully her, I’ll tell Brother Qing (Li Yongzhen’s agent’s superior) exactly what happened today!”

Li Yongzhen paused, forced to give up resentfully.

She returned to the room, closing the door behind her.

Bai Yuanzhi left without looking back,

and Miss Sui seemed to quicken her pace as well.

She caught up with Bai Yuanzhi and grabbed her hand again, pulling her into the adjacent room.

This was also an empty room.

Similar to the previous one, this room was equally bare, though not completely devoid of contents—scattered on the floor were some miscellaneous items, and in the corner stood softboxes and some lighting equipment.

It also felt like a separate shooting room on a film set.

At that moment, Miss Sui quickly closed the door.

She even took a mobile phone from her bag, pressed a few buttons, and connected the call. “This is Miss Sui… Yes! No, no… Okay, I’m currently in Room 302… Miss Li insisted on going to Room 307, and I couldn’t stop her… Alright… Good, I’ll wait for your instructions.”

After finishing the call, Miss Sui put away her phone.

Then she looked up and saw Bai Yuanzhi, who had taken off her “wig.”

“Huh?” Miss Sui put on a perfectly timed expression of surprise. “You… you’re not Lanlan? You’re… Miss Ah Zhi?”

Bai Yuanzhi stared at Miss Sui,

wondering for a moment whether she should praise Miss Sui’s acting skills.

Miss Sui warmly took Bai Yuanzhi’s hand. “Miss Ah Zhi, why are you here?”

“I’d like to know that too,” Bai Yuanzhi replied.

Seeing Miss Sui play dumb, Bai Yuanzhi asked again, “Miss Sui, what about you? Why are you here? Aren’t you supposed to be working at Bilanting?”

Miss Sui replied matter-of-factly, “As a worker, it doesn’t matter where I work! The film set pays well, so I came here.”

Bai Yuanzhi: …

That made perfect sense!

And it was hard to argue against.

“Miss Sui, who were you calling just now?” Bai Yuanzhi asked again.

Miss Sui answered without batting an eye, “Miss Ah Zhi, here’s the thing… I have a friend who wanted to borrow a venue to practice dancing. She’s competing for Miss Hong Kong and wants to improve her personal talents. You know how it is—film sets have plenty of empty rooms. That’s why I came here to help her… I didn’t expect to run into you.”

Bai Yuanzhi remained silent, continuing to admire Miss Sui’s performance.

Miss Sui went on, “I didn’t expect to run into Miss Li halfway, and I certainly didn’t expect… to run into you too. So, I just called my friend and told her not to come anymore.”

“Honestly, I don’t know what kind of day this is—I bet more people will show up soon!”

“Miss Ah Zhi, please wait here with me! Let’s wait until later when everyone’s gone before we leave.”

“Otherwise, if this gets exposed, I’ll probably get fired…”

“Miss Ah Zhi, please, please!” As she spoke, Miss Sui clasped her hands together and even bowed slightly in Bai Yuanzhi’s direction.

Actually—

Miss Sui had just called Ming Jiayao.

Ming Jiayao asked Miss Sui a few questions over the phone:

“Did you see her?”

—Yes!

“Is she okay?”

—Yes!

“She wasn’t hurt or bullied, was she?”

—No!

“She wasn’t scared, was she?”

—No!

“Both of you stay put. You’ve already missed the timing.”

—Okay.

“You’re with her, right?”

—Yes (we’re both in Room 302).

“Did you send that woman to the old man (Chen Shen)?”

—Miss Li insisted on going to Room 307, and I couldn’t stop her.

“Is the old man there?”

—No.

“You and her stay in room 302. I’ve already sent someone to meet you both.”

—Okay.

“Don’t come out unless you get the signal.”

—Okay.

“Set your pager to silent. I’ll notify you at any time.”

—Alright, I’ll wait for your notification.

After receiving the message from Miss Sui that “Bai Yuanzhi is safe and sound,” Ming Jiayao finally relaxed completely.

Yes, ever since learning that Bai Yuanzhi was in trouble,

Ming Jiayao had immediately placed Chen Shen, Chen Shuojie, and Xu Wenrui under surveillance.

At the same time, he discovered Li Yongzhen in the underground garage of his residence, trying to force her way into Chen Shen’s home.

Ming Jiayao wasn’t concerned about Li Yongzhen’s intentions for seeking out Chen Shen,

but he felt that

Li Yongzhen was like a chess piece delivered right to his doorstep!

So, Ming Jiayao arranged for someone to lure Li Yongzhen to a coffee shop.

Soon, the person monitoring Chen Shen sent a message:

—Chen Shen was originally having a meal with Chen Shuojie and Xu Wenrui at Jiahong Seafood Restaurant. But after receiving a phone call, Chen Shen hurriedly left.

At the same time, Chen Shen’s personal driver suddenly went to a convenience store to buy condoms.

Because Ming Jiayao had started laying the groundwork over half a year ago,

not only had people around Chen Shuojie been turned,

but even those around Chen Shen… had been swayed by Ming Jiayao’s financial influence.

Thus, Ming Jiayao quickly received information from Chen Shen’s driver—Chen Shen would soon be heading to shooting room 307 at the Wanmei film set.

Ming Jiayao was certain—Bai Yuanzhi was probably there!

So, he immediately arranged for Miss Sui to rush to the film set ahead of time,

and had the maid sister, under the pretense of “going to a coffee shop for coffee,” coincidentally meet her friend there, then “accidentally” leak the false information to Li Yongzhen: “Lanlan has caught Mr. Chen’s favor. Mr. Chen said he would personally audition Lanlan tonight in shooting room 307 at the film set. I heard that if Lanlan performs well, she’ll be the female lead in the next drama!”

And so, the jealous Li Yongzhen rushed to the film set in a frenzy, just as Miss Sui arrived in haste.

With the unwitting “cooperation” of Li Yongzhen, Miss Sui finally successfully completed her mission—she tricked Li Yongzhen into willingly staying in room 307, waiting for Chen Shen’s arrival, while she took Bai Yuanzhi away.

But by then, it was already five minutes past the agreed-upon safe withdrawal time.

Miss Sui knew that if she insisted on taking Bai Yuanzhi away—

they would likely run into Chen Shen and Xu Wenrui on the way!

So Miss Sui took Bai Yuanzhi and hid in shooting room 302, immediately calling Ming Jiayao for instructions.

Coincidentally, just before this, the person Ming Jiayao had sent to monitor Xu Wenrui also reported back—Xu Wenrui was currently rushing toward the film set at high speed!

So Ming Jiayao told Miss Sui to hide nearby.

At this point, Ming Jiayao finally dared to confirm—Bai Yuanzhi was temporarily safe.

He breathed a slight sigh of relief, fastened his helmet, mounted his motorcycle, and sped toward the film set like the wind.