"I'm not leaving tonight, no need to rush. You go wait for me obediently."
Xiang Wan played along, her coy and娇媚 demeanor making Director Qian's heart bloom.
"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.
"We've entered the room. He seems very abnormal. Did you do something to him? Where are you now?"
Before the message could be sent, her wrist was firmly grasped by a strong palm.
Lu Mingzhe had come up through the fire escape.
"I've been waiting here for you all along. Don't be afraid."
To be honest, seeing the old man's state in the room just now, her heart had been pounding with panic.
What if Lu Mingzhe didn't keep his word and something went wrong? She couldn't even bear to think about it...
"I wasn't scared."
Confirming she was out of danger, she couldn't help but act tough again, 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 looked at her with longing, savoring the touch of her hand.
"I've called someone to impersonate you. Once they go in, we'll follow. You'll understand the rest when you see it."
After speaking, he shamelessly took her hand again and led her towards the fire escape.
The two stood in the spacious and quiet stairwell, leaning against the wall. Looking at his clean, tall profile, and recalling the lingering warmth on her wrist.
Xiang Wan unconsciously thought of the past again.
She thought of countless scenes of being held in his arms and sleeping together.
Pah! Pah! Pah! Why think about those things? Have some backbone, Xiang Wan!
To avoid her mind wandering, she took out her phone and started playing a game to distract herself.
Lu Mingzhe had wanted to chat with her, but seeing her engrossed in the game, acting as if she didn't want to talk to him, and considering he still had a pile of messy affairs to handle, he felt he had no right to say much more and suppressed himself.
After two rounds of the game, Lu Mingzhe's phone rang. The other party told him: "I'm in."
Lu Mingzhe said: "Okay. Let's start."
Xiang Wan played another round of the game, preparing to start the next one. Lu Mingzhe stopped her hand. "Let's go, time to watch the show."
The door was not locked, and a gap was left. 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 straight towards the bedroom.
The room was not lit, but it wasn't completely dark yet, so everything was visible.
The two were so engrossed that they didn't even realize they were standing by the bed.
Lu Mingzhe recorded for over a minute before turning on the light.
With a "click," the bright light shone down. Director Qian finally realized something was wrong.
"Who?"
"Ah—"
The girl Lu Mingzhe had hired covered herself, pretending to be surprised, and sat up.
Director Qian's shirt was gone, revealing his plump and flabby upper body.
He turned his head, looked at Lu Mingzhe and Xiang Wan, then at the woman beside them, and was stunned for a moment before quickly understanding.
"You... you two colluded to set me up? So he was your arrangement? Good for you, Xiang Wan! You're so bold!"
Lu Mingzhe turned off his phone and gave him a bright smile.
"That's right. Xiang Wan is indeed bold, and she deliberately set you up. How about that?"
"You... didn't you say you were enemies with her? The last time we met, you clearly hated her to the point of gritting your teeth. What did they give you to betray me like this?"
Lu Mingzhe smirked. "You don't need to worry about my business with her. Take care of yourself."
"Do you know the lady next to you? If you don't, and you still do this, what if I make a report call..."
Director Qian's face turned deathly pale. "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 outsmarted by a girl more than a decade younger than him!
"Don't push it! So what if you report me? The police aren't stupid. I didn't book the room, I didn't call the person, I have no transaction records. Moreover, you drugged me, and a simple test will reveal it. 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 clicked his tongue and shook his head.
"Are you perhaps too confident, Director Qian? If I couldn't do anything to you, would I be foolish enough to waste half a day with you?"
"When we leave here, find someone to properly inquire about who Lu Mingzhe is."
"You're old. I don't want to see you suffer too much. Today, consider it 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 trying to fight me."
He shrugged his shoulders. "Give it a try. 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, hearing his arrogant tone and extraordinary demeanor truly frightened him.
He did have a small position in the hospital, so he didn't dare to cause a scene there. He 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 it. Settle the remaining payment with finance within a week."
Lu Mingzhe recorded the video. Seeing him sign and promise to have finance transfer the payment within a week, he then let him go.
After the man left, looking at the hard-won project acceptance form, although it felt awkward, Xiang Wan sincerely thanked Lu Mingzhe.
"If you really think I've done something good and want to thank me, let me see Nian Nian tomorrow."
"Take a leave of absence, and we'll go together to buy a house for the child."
Two days ago, he had said he would compensate her with a house, car, and career, and today he was buying a house. Rich people were indeed domineering in their actions.
Her pride wouldn't allow Xiang Wan to accept more from him, but when she thought of Nian Nian staying in a tiny rental room every day, anxious about everything...
After all, his money wouldn't be wasted if she didn't spend it. Why overthink?
"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 eaten dinner, he was reluctant to let her go back so soon.
"Are you hungry? The Western food at this hotel is quite authentic. Would you like to..."
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? It seems like something has happened at your house!"
"The child has been crying, and I haven't heard your grandmother coaxing her, so I went to knock on the door, but after knocking for a long time, no one opened it."
"You're getting old, you say, could it be... you should come back quickly!"