"Hello, hello!" Qin Tianyi heard a series of chaotic noises from Qin Tianyi's side, and then the signal was lost.
He immediately realized something was wrong. Gu Susu was not at the factory but seemed to be on a train.
Why was she taking a train? Was she planning to escape again by surprise?
He dialed again, but Gu Susu's phone still showed no signal. He called the kindergarten teacher's phone and asked if Xiao Xingxing was at kindergarten.
The teacher said, somewhat confused, "Mr. Qin, your son is in class drawing with his friends."
"Take a photo and send it to me immediately."
Qin Tianyi's tone sounded terrifying, and the teacher dared not delay, quickly taking a photo of Xiao Xingxing drawing and sending it to him.
Seeing the photo, his anger instantly dissipated. As long as Xiao Xingxing was still there, Gu Susu would not run away; he knew this better than anyone.
But he felt pathetic, wondering when he had fallen so low that he had to rely on a child to keep a woman.
After the high-speed train passed through the tunnel, Gu Susu knew that Qin Tianyi must now know she was not at the factory.
She didn't call Qin Tianyi immediately but worried about Guo Mei and called her.
"President Gu, did you find anything from those shipping orders? Do you need me to do anything else?" Guo Mei's voice sounded normal.
Gu Susu said, "The shipping orders are very useful. Don't investigate anything else for me. You, be careful yourself. I'm afraid it would be detrimental to you if people found out."
Guo Mei lowered her voice on the phone, "President Gu, don't worry, I'm very careful, and no one will notice me."
"That's good. You have children and elders to take care of at home. Don't let my affairs affect you," Gu Susu reminded her again.
"Okay, I understand."
Just as Gu Susu finished talking with Guo Mei, Qin Tianyi's call came again.
As soon as the call was connected, Qin Tianyi shouted angrily, "Gu Susu, you lied to me again! Where are you? Where are you going by train?"
Gu Susu held her phone, and after a few seconds of silence, she said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to lie to you. I'm on my way to Dechuan City. I just wanted to confirm if that batch of low-quality goods from Yimei was sent to... sent to Qin Yaxuan."
"Wait for me when you arrive at the station. I'll come to find you immediately," Qin Tianyi ordered her domineeringly.
Gu Susu took a deep breath and wanted to stop him, "I didn't want you to know. I just think it's best if you don't get involved. You and Qin Yaxuan are relatives. If you handle this, it will only deepen the resentment..."
"Stop talking nonsense. Who do you think you are! Can you handle this alone? Are you crazy!" Qin Tianyi said in an irrefutable tone. "Wait for me at the station. Don't go to Yaxuan's store until I get there!"
Gu Susu said "oh" and hung up. Her heart ached a little, and she felt a bit sour, not understanding why this man hated her one moment, trampled on her the next, and then cared about her... Was he worried she would run away like this?
When she arrived at Dechuan train station, it was past eleven in the morning. Qin Tianyi shouldn't be able to get there that quickly.
She had left in a bit of a hurry that morning and hadn't eaten much breakfast. She felt very hungry, so she decided to eat something near the train station.
She saw a relatively clean and tidy noodle shop, so she sat down inside and ordered a bowl of light noodles. While eating, she used her phone's map to research the location of Tongda Plaza and how far it was from the train station.
At this moment, she heard two women at the next table discussing clothes.
"The outfit you're wearing is really nice. Where did you buy it?"
The woman who was complimented sat up straighter and turned around, "Really? It's okay, I quite like it myself, and it wasn't expensive."
"Where exactly did you buy it? I want to buy one too. The more I look, the more I like it."
"It's on the second floor of Tongda Plaza, in that most high-end fashion store."
The woman who was asking about the outfit hesitated when she heard this and asked, "How much was it?"
The complimented woman said proudly, "Not expensive, only a little over a thousand."
"Ah, that's not expensive? That's almost a month's salary for me."
...
Gu Susu kept staring at the woman's coat. It was clearly a style from her spring collection, and it was already being sold here.
A little over a thousand yuan was indeed cheap for Mishang's brand pricing, only a tenth of the price.
However, the economic development of this small third- and fourth-tier city was far lower than that of big cities like Lancheng. A fashion item costing over a thousand yuan was already considered high-end for the people here.
The low-end versions of the series, which had not yet been launched in the high-end counters of major department stores, were already being sold. This would ruin Mishang's marketing in the high-end market, and Qin Yaxuan must be stopped from continuing to sell these goods immediately.
After she finished her noodles, she saw a message from Qin Tianyi saying he was driving and would take another two hours on the highway, asking her to wait.
But she didn't want to just wait at the train station. She still wanted to go to Tongda Plaza first. According to the map, Tongda Plaza was not far from the train station.
She took a taxi herself to Tongda Plaza and found that this area was the most prosperous part of Dechuan City, and this plaza was the best shopping mall here.
Gu Susu put on her sunglasses and went up to the second floor of the plaza as discreetly as possible, looking for fashion stores one by one.
Suddenly, a familiar voice made her stop.
"Are you buying or not? If you're not buying, don't touch the clothes. Can you afford to pay if you get them dirty!"
She followed the sound and saw a spacious and bright fashion store on her right. The person sitting at the cashier's desk and yelling fiercely at a customer was Huang Xiuli.
After more than two years, Huang Xiuli had lost the radiance of a wealthy socialite. Her short, bobbed hair was mixed with half white hair, she was wearing clothes that cost tens of yuan on the street, her un-made-up face was sallow, and she looked no different from the fifty or sixty-year-old women on the street.
Gu Susu didn't expect that without the halo of the Qin family, they were nothing. But their disrespectful nature hadn't changed at all.
The customer who was being yelled at also got angry and said, "You're doing business, and you're not letting people look at the clothes carefully? What are you so fierce about? Are your clothes made of gold? What's so great about them!"
Huang Xiuli casually picked up a feather duster from behind the counter and waved it at the customer, saying, "You clearly can't afford it. Get out! Don't be an eyesore in my store!"
Although the customer was angry, she was afraid that Huang Xiuli would actually hit her, so she quickly came out of the store and said, "Crazy woman! Anyone who buys clothes in your store is blind!"
After saying that, she ran away without waiting for Huang Xiuli to chase her with the feather duster. The onlookers at the entrance all burst into laughter.
Gu Susu cautiously looked into the store and found that Qin Yaxuan was not there, only Huang Xiuli was guarding the store alone.
After the small interlude, the store was deserted, with no customers. Gu Susu pretended to be someone browsing the mall, walking back and forth. Through the glass partition, she noticed a section in the store specifically displaying the fashion series she had designed.