"I'm not leaving tonight, there's no rush. Go and wait for me obediently."
Xiang Wan was extremely cooperative, acting coy and charming, which delighted Director Qian.
"Alright then, I'll go to the room and wait for you. Hurry!"
After watching him enter the room and close the door, Xiang Wan immediately turned and ran towards the exit.
As she ran, she sent a message to Lu Mingzhe.
"I've entered the room with him. He seems very abnormal. Did you do something to him? Where are you now?"
Before she could send the message, her wrist was grasped by a strong palm.
Lu Mingzhe had come up through the fire escape.
"I've been waiting for you here all along. Don't be afraid."
Honestly, just moments ago in the room, seeing the old man's state, her heart had been pounding so hard it felt like it would jump out.
What if Lu Mingzhe didn't keep his word and something went wrong? She couldn't even bear to think about it...
"I'm not scared."
Confirming she was out of danger, she couldn't help but retort, wanting to distance herself from Lu Mingzhe.
She constantly remembered that he was someone else's husband now, and pulled her hand out of his.
"So what do we do next?"
Lu Mingzhe gazed at her with longing, savoring the touch of her hand.
"I've called someone to impersonate you. Once that person goes in, we'll follow. You'll understand the rest when you see it."
After saying that, he shamelessly took her hand again and led her towards the fire escape.
They stood in the empty and quiet stairwell, leaning against the wall, looking at his clean and sharp profile, savoring the lingering warmth on her wrist.
Xiang Wan involuntarily thought of the past again.
She thought of countless scenes of being held in his arms and sleeping together.
Pah, pah, pah! Why was she thinking about that? Have some backbone, Xiang Wan!
To prevent herself from overthinking, she took out her phone and started playing a game to distract herself.
Lu Mingzhe had wanted to talk to her, but seeing her engrossed in the game, appearing to ignore him, and knowing he still had a pile of unfinished business, he felt he had no right to say more, so he held back again.
After two rounds of the game, Lu Mingzhe's phone rang. The caller told him, "I'm in."
Lu Mingzhe replied, "Okay. Let's begin."
Xiang Wan played another game, preparing to start the next round. Lu Mingzhe placed his hand on hers, "Let's go, time to watch the show."
The room door was unlocked, with a slight gap. As they entered, they heard exaggerated mixed male and female voices.
Lu Mingzhe turned on his phone's video recording mode and pulled Xiang Wan towards the bedroom.
The room was not lit, but it wasn't completely dark yet, so everything could be seen clearly.
They were so engrossed that they didn't even realize they had arrived at the bedside.
Lu Mingzhe recorded for over a minute before turning on the light.
With a "click," the bright light shone down, and Director Qian finally realized something was wrong.
"Who?"
"Ah—"
The woman Lu Mingzhe had hired covered herself, pretending to be surprised, and sat up.
Director Qian's shirt was gone, revealing his flabby, loose upper body.
He turned around, looked at Lu Mingzhe and Xiang Wan, then at the woman beside him. He was stunned for a moment, then quickly understood.
"You... the two of you conspired to set me up? So he was your arrangement? Good for you, Xiang Wan! You have quite the audacity!"
Lu Mingzhe turned off his phone and gave him a bright smile.
"That's right. Xiang Wan does have a lot of audacity, and she deliberately set you up. How about that?"
"You... didn't you say you were enemies with her? The last time you met, you clearly hated her to the point of gritting your teeth. What did they give you to betray me now?"
Lu Mingzhe smirked, "You don't need to worry about my affairs with her. Take care of yourself."
"Do you know this lady next to me? If you don't, and you do this, what if I make an anonymous call to report you..."
Director Qian's face turned pale with fear. "What do you want to do?"
"What do you think? Don't you know what Xiang Wan wants to do?"
Director Qian was extremely unwilling.
He glared fiercely at Xiang Wan.
At his age, to be outmaneuvered by a young girl more than a decade his junior!
"Don't push it! Even if you report me, so what? The police aren't stupid. The room wasn't opened by me, the person wasn't called by me, I have no transaction records. Moreover, you drugged me, and a simple examination would reveal it. This is such an obvious setup, it can be seen through at a glance. You can't do anything to me!"
Xiang Wan remained silent. Lu Mingzhe tutted and shook his head.
"Are you perhaps too confident, Director Qian? If I really couldn't do anything to you, would I be foolish enough to waste half a day with you?"
"After we leave here, find someone to inquire properly about who Lu Mingzhe is."
"You're old, and I don't want to see you in too much trouble. Today is just a lesson. That's enough."
"If you do as I say, we'll resolve this peacefully, and life will go on as usual. But if you insist on challenging me..."
He shrugged his shoulders, "Try it. I can make your family fall apart, your wife and children scatter, and your reputation be ruined. Isn't that easy?"
Although Director Qian didn't know Lu Mingzhe's background, he was genuinely intimidated by his arrogant tone and outstanding demeanor.
He had a small position in the hospital, so he didn't dare to cause real trouble there and could only grit his teeth and accept his fate.
"Tell me, what do you want?"
Lu Mingzhe turned to look at Xiang Wan.
Xiang Wan handed him the project acceptance form she had prepared in her bag.
"Sign your name on this. Settle the remaining payment within a week."
Lu Mingzhe recorded the video, watched him sign, and guarantee to transfer the funds to her within a week before letting him go.
After he left, looking at the hard-won project acceptance form, although it felt awkward, Xiang Wan sincerely thanked Lu Mingzhe.
"If you really think I did something worthwhile and want to thank me, let me see Niannian tomorrow."
"Take a leave of absence, and we'll go together to buy a house for the child."
Two days ago, he had offered to compensate her with a house, car, and career, and today he was buying a house. Wealthy people really did things with such authority.
Her pride wouldn't allow Xiang Wan to accept anything more from him, but thinking of Niannian living in a small rented room every day, she was anxious for her...
After all, his money wouldn't be spent by him anyway, so why overthink it?
"Okay, I'll make time tomorrow. You wait for my call."
Lu Mingzhe was very happy to be able to do something for the mother and daughter.
Seeing that it was still early and they hadn't had dinner, he was reluctant to let her go home so soon.
"Are you hungry? The Western food at this hotel is quite authentic. Would you like..."
As he was speaking, Xiang Wan's phone rang.
She picked it up and saw it was her neighbor, Aunt Zhang.
"Xiang Wan, what's going on? Are you still working overtime and haven't come back? Something seems to have happened at your house!"
"The child has been crying non-stop. I haven't heard your grandmother coaxing her, so I went to knock on the door, but no one opened it after knocking for a long time."
"You're getting old, you say, could it be... you should come back quickly!"