The sun set in the west, painting the sky red.
The car left the clubhouse, and merged into the evening rush hour traffic after exiting the quiet suburbs, forcing it to slow down.
Lu Yu said, "I really didn't expect that Xiao Yan actually has a twin brother."
Jian Jing rummaged around in the backseat, found a mini fridge that came standard in luxury cars, and downed half a can of soda in one go.
Lu Yu continued, "His birth mother must have ulterior motives, keeping one child to herself and plotting to switch them. She wouldn't hurt Xiao Yan before reaching her goals, right?"
Jian Jing tore open a package of cookies and started eating.
Lu Yu sighed, "Are you always so disdainful of me?"
"I have to find a murderer, rescue the groom, and listen to your uncle's threats," Jian Jing said irritably, the spike in her blood sugar restoring her energy. "And now you want me to chat with you too. What, do I owe your family money or eat your family's food?"
Lu Yu was silenced.
"Quiet down," she said. "I hate men like you the most."
Lu Yu was shocked, not even finding the mind to get angry.
Hating men like him? Seriously? He had never been disliked by girls before!
He wanted to defend himself, but inexplicably swallowed the words back down.
Jian Jing's ears finally found peace and quiet.
By the time the sky had completely darkened, they arrived at the metro station near the school.
It was currently the time for students to switch classes, extremely noisy, with the streets crowded with students on both sides, clamorous in the extreme.
Jian Jing rolled down the car window and patiently waited half a day before calling the secretary: "Tell her the director ordered you to pick her up and ask when would be convenient for her."
The secretary was clever enough to become the director's confidant, naturally his intelligence was unmatched. "No problem."
Jian Jing plugged earphones into the phone and handed one to the secretary while wearing the other herself.
The call quickly connected.
The secretary respectfully but appropriately said, "Sister Wen, I'm Little Sun, the director's secretary. Uh, it's like this, the director ordered me to pick you up, but when I went to your shop I couldn't find you. Where are you?"
Wen Hui coldly said, "He wants me to go just because he said so? Tell him, I don't believe it at all. Xiao Yan is perfectly fine, today is supposed to be his wedding day, how could something possibly happen to him? Don't joke around so carelessly."
"Sister Wen, it's true, young master..." The secretary dragged it out as long as he could, "How could the director joke about young master Xiao's life? We still don't have a plan for the funeral, don't you think you should talk to the director face-to-face?"
The breathing on the other end of the phone abruptly grew hurried.
"Are you serious? Xiao Yan is really dead?" Wen Hui said.
"Yes."
Wen Hui was silent for a moment, then said, "I see, let me know when the funeral will be held and I'll come."
The secretary looked at Jian Jing and she gestured for him to continue.
He could only say, "The director ordered me to pick you up and let you see the young master one last time."
The other party hung up.
Jian Jing took off her earphones and said while trying not to look at the 6 courage points burned away, "She's probably not here. Let's go to the next place."
Just now, she had intentionally waited until the school next door played their bell music before letting the secretary make the call. But she didn't hear any music on the phone.
Clearly not nearby.
They could only try their luck at the place next to the amusement park.
Perhaps it was somewhere the mother and son had memories together.
The amusement park was relatively remote. After pushing through some traffic, the road opened up. Lu Yu pondered for a long time before finally speaking up, "By saying she'll attend the funeral, does that mean she has no intention of returning Xiao Yan?"
"Given your understanding of Master Fang, how do you think he would deal with her actions?" Jian Jing asked.
Lu Yu said, "He wouldn't give her a second chance."
"You know that, and she certainly knows that too," Jian Jing said. After all, Wen Hui was his pillow partner, Jian Jing didn't believe she was that stupid. "From what we can see, the most beneficial course of action is to take a lump sum of money and disappear into the wind."
She had already gained an inkling of Master Fang's fearsome capabilities from groom C. Wen Hui wouldn't sit around waiting to die. With her son who she was close to dead, and her plot to switch the children fallen through, keeping Xiao Yan was meaningless.
But killing Xiao Yan would not be the best choice, whether from emotional or practical standpoints.
Extortion would be.
Sure enough, ten minutes later Master Fang called: "Wen Hui told me that Xiao Yan is in her hands. For her to release him, I must give her 30 million."
"That works out nicely, money trades hands, the hostage is released," Jian Jing said with a smile.
Master Fang said, "I won't trust a woman who kidnapped my own son. Miss Jian, find her, and that 30 million is yours."
"Oh?" she said, "That bounty isn't cheap."
"My son is worth that money," Master Fang spoke very casually, clearly not caring about that sum of cash, and even said, "She seems determined to take the money and run. 30 million, humph, I thought she'd ask for 300 million."
Jian Jing was extremely straightforward, "When and where is the money exchange?"
"Two hours from now, at the BaiMao Plaza."
BaiMao Plaza was one of the busiest commercial complexes in Heping City, with multiple zones and complex layouts. First-time visitors would certainly get lost inside. But Wen Hui's clothing store was located there, so she must be extremely familiar with the layout.
Master Fang said, "I already told the guests that the young master's mother isn't feeling well and can't make an appearance tonight. This matter has barely been smoothed over and absolutely cannot be publicized. Miss Jian, I hope you can find the person in two hours."
There it was again, that condescending tone.
Jian Jing said, "I hear and obey."
She hung up and calmly said, "Drive faster."
The car sped up to 100 mph.
They arrived at the amusement park very quickly, and surprisingly, the gates were locked. The posters were faded, the ground covered in fallen leaves, seemingly already out of business.
The secretary quickly looked up information: "This amusement park closed down three months ago. The land was resold and will be redeveloped into an apartment hotel complex."
Jian Jing murmured in acknowledgement. She thought, this was actually a pretty good kidnapping location.
She got out of the car and walked around the gates, then suddenly climbed up and flipped over the iron fence, directly jumping inside. With her agility and strength increased, her body could accomplish these actions very easily without difficulty.
The two bodyguards looked at each other and asked, "Should we follow her in?"
The secretary calmly said, "Of course."
Lu Yu said, "I'll go too."
They also climbed over the iron fence.
The amusement park had already closed, so the streetlights were naturally not lit. A large area was pitch black without a hint of light, only the moonshine to illuminate their path.
Jian Jing painfully activated her sense of smell, 2 courage points per minute. It hurt to burn through money at this rate. Reluctant to keep it on the whole time, she could only turn it on for 3 seconds at a time to catch a whiff, then turn it back off. Even so, she still spent 4 courage points before catching a faint scent of food.
She had carefully considered before choosing smell over hearing.
After all, the amusement park was so big, there would definitely be animals making rustling noises. But tracking the smell of food would be much easier.
If Wen Hui and the others really were here, they certainly couldn't do without eating.
And there it was, she had already smelled the scent of pizza.
In the direction of the haunted house.
Clever.
The interior of the haunted house had built-in surveillance, if the equipment hadn't been dismantled, just turning on the power would allow monitoring every corner. Secondly, it had many traps and secret passages, newcomers would easily get disoriented. If they were lucky enough to run into someone afraid of ghosts, oooh how delightful.
Of course, this also made it convenient to hide hostages and flee.
Jian Jing stood amidst some bushes in the distance, considering what to do. With so much surveillance, sneaking in stealthily was clearly unfeasible. If discovered, the other side had the homeground advantage and could grab a weapon, which she wouldn't be able to overcome either.
She would have to use an overt plot.
Her gaze swept over the other people and finally landed on one of the bodyguards. "Play act in a skit with me."
That bodyguard wasn't very tall, but had a sturdy, muscular physique that was very visually impactful.
Lu Yu said, "I can help too."
"Yes, by staying quiet," Jian Jing said. She undid the sash around her cheongsam, causing the entire dress to unravel like a blooming flower.
She removed the hairpin and bracelets, stuffing them into her bag. She tossed it to the other bodyguard, "Watch this, don't lose anything."
Then to the bodyguard partnering with her, "I'll run in front later, you chase me. Remember, don't go easy, act fierce."
The bodyguard already understood her intention. "Miss Jian wants me to pretend to be a robber?"
She nodded, then said, "A murderer."
The bodyguard smiled wryly, "That's asking too much of my acting skills."
"It's so far away, they can't see clearly. Just play along with me," Jian Jing explained carefully. "When we get to the haunted house, I'll pretend to trip and fall. Then you come over and pretend to hit me before I can go inside."
The security guard understood: "Got it."
Lu Yu couldn't help but say: "Don't actually hit her."
"Don't worry Young Master Lu, I won't hurt Miss Jian," the security guard quickly assured.
Jian Jing ruffled her own hair and took a deep breath: "Let's start."
Then she activated her acting skill card. This was the first time she had used it since obtaining the card. In an instant, she was possessed by the preset character.
A girl out for a night run, stalked by bad men.
She was fearful, trembling, afraid, helpless. Her facial muscles didn't have a very rich range of expressions, because she was in shock. A person relies on instinct to survive when flooded with adrenaline.
No sounds, no screams. She stumbled and scrambled to run away.
Glancing back as she ran, oblivious to the scratches on her face and arms from the tree branches.
It was innate acting mastery, consummate acting skill, Xie Wei's acting skill.
Everyone present was shaken, even the cooperating security guard was stunned for a good while before he started chasing after her.
At that moment, inside the haunted house.
Wen Hui stood at the window, her heart filled with unease.
She would never have imagined Xiao Duo would actually die.
This was a child she had raised with her own hands. Unlike Xiao Yan who had grown up with his biological father, although Xiao Duo had never lacked for food and clothing, he had grown up like an ordinary child.
He had no father when he was little, and got bullied without her noticing because she was busy with work. By the time she realized, he had already developed his personality and she could no longer correct it.
But she doted on her own child.
Xiao Yan had been pampered since young, so she would tell him, your brother didn't have your good fortune to have rich parents. You need to yield more to him, to make up for what he lacked.
But before today, she had never considered such tit-for-tat retaliation.
She was purely angry.
She just wanted to attend her son's wedding, but her son didn't agree, saying it was "inappropriate" and "inconvenient." Wen Hui wasn't stupid. She understood clearly her son was worried about offending the main wife in the household.
Afraid she would think he was unfilial, and would not support him in the future.
Ungrateful.
Did he even think about how if not for her giving birth to him, he wouldn't have had the good fortune to be a rich family's young master? Even if she had given birth to him, if she had chosen to send him away, how could he have lived such a good life?
Wen Hui couldn't swallow this grievance.
She bought a basket of carnations and stuffed it full of White Rabbit milk candies she often gave him when he was small. Then she wrapped half a longevity lock she had specially asked someone to consecrate when he was little, that he had worn before, and put it inside as well.
Xiao Yan did call her to ask what she meant.
She said: "This lock I had consecrated especially for you when you were small, you used to wear it. Now I'm giving it to my future grandson."
He said: "Don't make trouble."
"Make trouble? What, I can't even give a gift to my own son now?" Wen Hui's anger was ignited. "You're saying I'm making trouble, is that it? Fine, I'll go ask the in-laws directly. Is there any reason under heaven that a birth mother can't attend her own son's wedding?!"
"Mom, don't, don't do this," Xiao Yan hesitated again and again, before finally deciding to placate his mother first. "Where are you, I'll come find you."