Mu Linjing responded quickly, agreeing to his invitation.
The next day, he tidied himself up before picking Mu Linjing up from work. Seeing that he had changed cars, Mu Linjing teased, "Your taste has improved recently. Finally, you're not driving such an ostentatious car?"
He smiled, opened the car door, and gestured, "I know you don't like to be too flashy, so I changed it on purpose. What do you think?"
This truly flattered Mu Linjing. Young Master Zhan actually knew her preferences.
Wei Yumeng hadn't told her that Zhan Yichen had inquired about her tastes. He simply wanted her to feel it herself. Feelings, after all, should arise unconsciously to be discovered. The more deliberate the effort, the more counterproductive it would be.
"Where are we going?"
After buckling her seatbelt, she asked Zhan Yichen about his arrangements.
"Of course, we're going to eat first. I know a restaurant you like, and the owner is familiar with me, so we won't have to queue."
The place he took Mu Linjing to was the same restaurant where they had encountered Wei Jin, and their meal had been interrupted. Learning from Wei Yumeng that they hadn't enjoyed their meal last time, Zhan Yichen immediately decided to cater to her preferences and make up for their previous unsatisfactory dining experience.
Sitting in the VIP room, if her stomach weren't so small, Mu Linjing would have wanted to order all the signature dishes. Of course, considering that Zhan Yichen was paying, she didn't hold back and chose several dishes she usually couldn't bear to order.
What Zhan Yichen ordered, however, were precisely all her favorites.
She didn't overthink it, merely assuming their tastes were similar. After the dishes were served, she began to eat heartily.
During the meal, she still remembered to ask about the company's current situation. However, regarding Zhan Mohan's scheme against Jiang Siyu, Zhan Yichen was unaware. He only spoke a few words before shifting the topic to his own project.
"I have a business trip next week. Do you want to come with me?"
Mu Linjing looked up at him. "You have assistants, why should I go with you? Besides, I'm not in your department and know nothing about your project."
Zhan Yichen hadn't thought that far ahead. He purely wanted to take Mu Linjing abroad under the guise of business to increase their time alone with a legitimate reason. Clearly, Mu Linjing hadn't grasped his intention.
But it didn't matter; as long as the goal was achieved, the process was irrelevant.
"My assistant is on leave. I don't trust anyone else to follow this project. If you're willing, I can ask my elder brother to transfer you to me for a few days."
This was the art of speaking. What was clearly a private indulgence was presented as immense trust to Mu Linjing, who immediately agreed.
And so, his little assistant was forcibly put on leave by her boss, and the opportunity for a few days' trip abroad directly changed hands.
Mu Linjing was completely unaware. After a satisfying meal, she left the restaurant with him. As they were about to head home, they spotted a woman dressed provocatively across the street, who seemed very familiar.
She pulled Zhan Yichen to look with her. "Does she look familiar to you?"
Zhan Yichen nodded vaguely, not feeling a strong sense of familiarity. However, after glancing at the KTV the woman entered, he smiled, "If you think she looks familiar, go and take a look. I know the owner of that place too."
Mu Linjing actually followed him. Using Zhan Yichen's gold card, they chose the private room next to the one the woman had entered and called the owner over.
The owner was not an honest man. He readily admitted that every regular private room had a hidden camera. Besides satisfying his own perverted desires, he would also upload the videos to vulgar websites to earn dirty money.
Mu Linjing felt like swearing internally upon hearing this but managed to suppress her temper and asked, "Do you know the woman who just entered that room?"
Mentioning this, the owner sneered mockingly and somewhat obsequiously, "Of course. She's our new princess, very popular."
Mu Linjing grew impatient. "I asked for her name."
The owner smiled instead. "Who uses their real name for this kind of work? If you want to see who she is, I can directly pull up the surveillance footage for you."
Without waiting for Mu Linjing's refusal, he had already retrieved the surveillance feed from the adjacent room. Before she could even look, lewd noises from the phone made her skin crawl.
The owner, clearly experienced, placed the phone on the table. "You two take your time watching. Call me if you need anything."
The situation became awkward. Mu Linjing felt as if she and Zhan Yichen were hiding there watching something indecent. In fact, it was quite similar.
Zhan Yichen himself felt a bit uncomfortable but still took the phone. "Do you want to watch?"
Mu Linjing wrestled with herself internally. Of course, she refused. However, this was related to Wei Yumeng's near-abortion incident. After much deliberation, she took the phone and brought it in front of her.
With the mindset of going through fire and water for a friend, she took a cursory glance. In the high-definition video, Wei Jin's face showed a look of satisfaction. The figures of several men overlapped in the room, creating a scene that was quite stimulating.
Once she confirmed it was Wei Jin, she quickly turned off the phone, her face burning.
Seeing her like this, Zhan Yichen almost laughed. "How was it? Confirmed?"
Covering her flushed and burning face, she nodded. "It's Wei Jin."
At the hospital, Wei Jin had been wearing a white coat. At the entrance, she was in a nurse's uniform. It was likely a cosplay performance that accounted for her attire. However, Mu Linjing had checked the hospital's surveillance footage at the time and was therefore quite familiar with this figure. A quick glance from afar at the entrance had aroused her suspicion.
To alleviate the awkwardness, she took the initiative to explain the whole story to Zhan Yichen so that they could both recover from the embarrassment of watching the surveillance footage.
Upon learning the reason, Zhan Yichen also felt that the matter should be thoroughly investigated. That incident couldn't just be left unresolved.
"In that case, let's wait. After they're done next door, we'll go talk to her."
The waiting period was awkward and long, especially waiting for such an activity to conclude. Mu Linjing felt like she was suffering from advanced awkwardness.
Fortunately, Zhan Yichen didn't say anything frivolous, or she would have wanted to find a hole to crawl into.
It was unclear how much time passed before the men from the adjacent private room finally emerged, looking refreshed. They walked past their room and left the KTV.
Only then did Zhan Yichen pull Mu Linjing to the next room. As they pushed the door open, a lingering scent of intimacy almost made Mu Linjing retreat. The room was a mess, with fragments of Wei Jin's nurse uniform scattered on the floor.
On the soft sofa, a woman was curled up, panting lightly, seemingly not yet recovered.