"Qin Mei, very good, you are very good." Lei Sanshao never imagined that the spy from the Lei family had been right under his nose, someone he had promoted himself.
There was no further speech from the other end of the phone, only a sound of a panicked intake of breath, and then the call was hung up.
Lei Sanshao's eyes were gloomy, and he finally understood what Mr. Gu had meant.
It had to be Qin Mei... a stray child who had almost frozen to death on the streets eight years ago, someone he had picked up and brought back to the Lei family, a trusted confidant who had been loyal in front of him since the age of ten.
He wanted to ask Qin Mei personally how she dared to betray him!
But by the time Lei Sanshao found Qin Mei, he only found a corpse.
"Third Young Master, it was suicide," the person who examined Qin Mei's cause of death returned to Lei Sanshao's side and said in a low voice.
Lei Sanshao looked at Qin Mei's pale face, his hands clenched into fists by his sides: "Investigate for me! Continue the investigation!"
As Lei Sanshao, full of anger, ordered a thorough investigation of the entire Lei family, Xia Qingtian was still in the hospital room, plagued by nightmares.
She seemed completely trapped in her dream.
The night of her escape.
The road was so long, she dared not stop.
She knew that if she stopped, she would die.
She didn't know how many people were after her, nor where she should escape to.
She was very unfamiliar with City C, and the place she was taken to was a secluded fjord.
Her X-ray vision had expired, and her adrenaline seemed to have been metabolized, leaving only the instinct for survival driving her to keep running.
She knew that her pursuers definitely had accomplices, so she didn't dare to escape into open spaces.
Xia Qingtian was grateful that she had been exercising with Xia Qingyu every day for so long, which allowed her to have the stamina to keep going.
But this stamina had its limits.
Just like now, she could run no further.
Stumbling, she leaned against a tree. Xia Qingtian looked around. The concealment here was good, and she should be able to rest for a bit.
As soon as this thought came to mind, Xia Qingtian's body weakly slid down, and the world before her eyes flickered in and out of focus.
Fatigue and hunger struck simultaneously. Her eyelids were heavy, but she dared not sleep.
"Rest, rest for a bit... then keep running..." Xia Qingtian thought to herself, breathing heavily.
However, the adrenaline had not only stimulated her potential but also exhausted all her physical strength.
With just a moment of relaxation, she closed her eyes. When she opened them again, Xia Qingtian vaguely realized that dawn was breaking!
She had no idea if she had truly slept, but the state of being defenseless made her fearful.
There seemed to be footsteps behind her, the sound of leather shoes breaking dry branches was so clear.
And it seemed there was more than one person!
Her heart leaped into her throat. Xia Qingtian got up, holding onto the tree trunk, and without daring to look back, she prepared to flee forward again.
Just then, a hand forcefully grabbed her arm.
Almost on instinct, Xia Qingtian shouted, "Don't touch me!" and simultaneously threw a punch at the person who grabbed her.
Her fist hit the person's eye socket, and Xia Qingtian also saw the person's face: "Lei... Sanshao..."
"You!" Lei Sanshao seemed stunned by Xia Qingtian's sudden punch. Before he could get angry, the woman who had delivered the heavy blow's eyes rolled back, and she fainted.
Lei Sanshao's belly full of anger, before it could be vented, was like a gunpowder fuse suddenly extinguished by a water gun, leaving only a wisp of smoke.
Gritting his teeth, Lei Sanshao deigned to pick up Xia Qingtian by the waist, his face gloomy, and said, "Notify Gu Yaoyang, his woman has been found. Search the rest of the area thoroughly and find those reckless kidnappers for me."
How dare they kidnap a guest of the Lei family on his territory, no matter who the kidnappers were, they deserved to die!
Xia Qingtian was thus sent to the hospital by Lei Sanshao. When Gu Yaoyang arrived, Xia Qingtian's wound was being disinfected and bandaged.
She was truly too tired. Even the sting of the disinfectant alcohol touching her wound only made her whine a few times in distress.
Gu Yaoyang's face was terrifyingly grim.
Even Lei Sanshao dared not speak lightly. It was only when Gu Yaoyang asked him what had happened to his face.
Lei Sanshao stammered, "It's nothing, I accidentally... bumped it."
Gu Yaoyang didn't ask further, shifting his attention back to Xia Qingtian.
...
Xia Qingtian woke up past noon.
With a startled scream, she suddenly sat up.
Was it a dream? Was it a dream or...
"Be careful," a hand pressed down on Xia Qingtian's arm.
Xia Qingtian flinched first, then noticed that the hand holding her still had an IV drip connected.
She looked up along her arm and met a familiar face, a pair of worried eyes: "Mobius?"
"Yes." Mobius nodded: "Your assistant came earlier, she..."
Her throat felt itchy, her nose was sore, and tears uncontrollably welled up.
Xia Qingtian had truly thought she might die.
That feeling was truly terrifying.
Burned alive, she almost experienced it again.
The burning sensation on her skin was still so clear, the smoke choked her throat, making it burn, and her eyes stung as if roasted.
Burned alive...
Mobius's words were interrupted by Xia Qingtian's crying. He fell silent for a moment, then stood up, placing one hand on the edge of the bed, and gently tapped the back of Xia Qingtian's head with the other, allowing her head to rest on his shoulder, and softly comforted her, "You must have been scared. Don't be afraid, it's all over."
Xia Qingtian cried in Mobius's embrace, her whole body trembling.
At the doorway, Ling Fenghan and Li Mengxiao were about to push the door open to see if Xia Qingtian had woken up. Ling Fenghan first saw the scene through the window on the door and immediately grabbed Li Mengxiao's hand that was about to push the door.
"?" Li Mengxiao turned her head and looked at Ling Fenghan curiously.
"I... I think this water is too cold. Mr. Gu would be better off drinking something hot right now." Making up a hasty excuse, Ling Fenghan pulled Li Mengxiao away without her consent: "Let's go buy some hot drinks. You should have something hot too, my treat."
"Eh?" Li Mengxiao was completely bewildered, but she focused her gaze on the large hand that Ling Fenghan was holding her with, her earlobes feeling a bit warm.
Ling Fenghan's mind was racing. He suddenly remembered Mr. Gu asking him why he came out of Xia Qingtian's room last night...
It turned out that Mr. Gu wasn't worried about his artists dating at all, he was just...
Ling Fenghan swallowed hard.
Fortunately, fortunately, he hadn't concealed anything or lied last night.
He felt a strong sense of having narrowly escaped a disaster.
At the same time, at the corner of the hospital corridor, a young girl held her phone, taking a photo of Ling Fenghan's retreating back. She then zoomed in on the photo, freezing the image on Li Mengxiao and Ling Fenghan's clasped hands. Beneath her bangs, her eyes glinted with jealous and frenzied light.