CH 54

In a dark, damp rental house.

The unkempt Lin Na huddled on a cold, hard wooden bed. Her hands and feet were still bound, and there was a piece of cloth tape over her mouth so that she could only make muffled sounds.

She gazed at the small skylight that was her only source of illumination, her eyes full of despair.

Since she was exposed the night before, she had first lay paralyzed on the hotel carpet for several hours under Lin Zhong’s guard. Then the other party and the old driver took her to this ghastly place through the hotel’s back door in the dead of night.

At noon yesterday, the driver also asked a strange woman to bring her lunch.

But as soon as the tape over her mouth was removed, Lin Na quickly screamed for help, and within ten seconds, her mouth was sealed again.

Almost another day had passed.

At this moment, Lin Na hadn’t had a drop of water, she was hungry, and she wanted to sleep but didn’t dare to. Her fragile nerves were tense to the breaking point, and she was afraid that if she stayed like this any longer she might either go crazy or die!

Lin Na wearily closed her eyes, in a trance. The regrets of this day and night were about to swallow her completely—

She shouldn’t have been greedy for this money!

At least when she saw that the target of this business was Bo Yueming, she should have directly rejected it!

How could such a small person like her get involved in the struggles between the rich and powerful? She must have been possessed!

Lin Na’s intestines were about to turn green with regret. Her sore eyes misted over once more, but her sealed mouth couldn’t utter a single word.

Suddenly, there was the sound of footsteps outside the door.

Lin Na was like a drowning person who caught a rotten log floating in the sea. A strong sense of hope suddenly burst into her eyes, and she stared at the closed door without blinking.

At last, there was the sound of the door being unlocked and opened.

The light outside the door rushed in to illuminate this dark, dank room.

Lin Na squinted her eyes to adapt to the strong light, and when she saw the person at the door clearly, the burning hope in her heart was instantly extinguished, and she was even wrapped in a strong chill again.

“Mm! Mmmm!”

Lin Na violently twisted her bound hands and feet, and seeing that she was unable to struggle, she could only shrink back to the corner of the bed as much as possible. If possible, she would like to have a hole to drill straight down into!

“Meow~”

Inspector, neatly huddled in its cat bag, poked its head out and looked around curiously.

When Lin Na saw this familiar little black cat, a species she had always feared, the panic in her eyes became more apparent.

Pei Yi looked at Lin Na curled up on the bed—

The dark bags under her eyes were obvious, and it could be seen that she hadn’t slept well in the past two days. Tears had washed away the liquid foundation on her face, leaving behind trails of tear marks.

She looked unkempt and particularly disgraceful.

As the only person present who had seen Lin Na at the convalescent resort, Pei Yi remembered her harassment of Bo Yueming, and disgust appeared in his eyes.

He rubbed his little Inspector’s head and asked casually, “Inspector, do you remember her?”

With that simple sentence, Lin Na shrank back in fright.

Before they left, Pei Yi had the last minute thought to bring Inspector back again. After all, people were easily overwhelmed during interrogation when faced with things that they feared, and they would resort to anything.

Lao Fu and Lin Zhong brought two clean chairs inside, making it convenient for Bo Yueming and Pei Yi to sit.

Bo Yueming took off his guide glasses and didn’t bother to pretend in front of Lin Na, who already knew about his eyes. He asked directly, “How long has she been here? Untie the rope and duct tape for her.”

The rental house was an old building left by Lao Fu’s parents. It had been a while since he had lived here, and the person who delivered Lin Na’s meals the day before was Lao Fu’s wife.

Lao Fu was anxious. “Mr. Bo, my wife delivered food to this woman yesterday, but she started screaming as soon as she opened her mouth. Now it’s daylight, and I’m afraid that if she makes any noise again and alerts the neighbors…..”

Bo Yueming stared at Lin Na without blinking. “Is that so?”

Those three neutral words made Lin Na shake her head like a rattle.

She didn’t dare!

She absolutely didn’t dare!

Seeing this, Lao Fu followed Bo Yueming’s instructions.

Likely afraid of Bo Yueming’s oppression, when the rope and tape was removed from Lin Na, she didn’t dare to scream.

She swallowed her saliva nervously, and accused in a choked voice, “You, you can’t tie me up like this. It’s illegal to lock me up here!”

“Illegal?”

Lin Zhong glanced at Pei Yi beside him, responding, “You first broke in four or five months ago and plotted against our boss, then pretended to be a hotel attendant and poured drugs into Mr. Bo’s drink.”

“Mr. Bo was weak and uncomfortable because he mistakenly drank the water, and was forced to recuperate at home for a day, so there was no way to send you to the police station at the time.”

“Since you enjoy complying with the law so much, we can call the police and ask them to deal with this now!”

“……”

Lin Na was so frightened by this embellished rhetoric that she dared not speak again.

In the end, she was the guilty one. If a thorough investigation was conducted, she would be the one who must bear the brunt of the misfortune!

Seeing that she was silent, Lin Zhong covertly glanced at Pei Yi, who was quietly stroking the cat.

What he said just now was told to him by Little Sir in the car. The other party had already expected that with Lin Na’s character, she would definitely use words such as “illegal” and “police” to establish her image as a weak and innocent person.

But everyone knew that Lin Na was not innocent in this series of incidents.

As long as she was hit with these forceful remarks, it would make the subsequent conversation easier to continue.

Sure enough, Lin Na was silent for a while before giving in, “Mr. Bo, you can’t blame me for this, ah. Bo Guancheng, Bo Guancheng asked me to do it!”

Because she hadn’t drank water for a long time, her voice was like gravel run over by wheels, hoarse and slightly sharp.

Pei Yi glanced at Lin Zhong, putting on a show of benevolence. “Water.”

Lin Zhong took out the small bottle of mineral water and bread that had been prepared, and handed them to Lin Na. “If you want to suffer less, cooperate well!”

Follow the slap with a piece of candy.

It was a very old-fashioned and customary method to buy a person’s heart.

Hungry and thirsty, Lin Na received two of the most common but most precious things. Without saying a word, she snatched them away and promptly drank half the bottle of mineral water, then picked up the bread and took a huge bite.

Eating and eating, tears of regret burst out again.

Everything was presently under Pei Yi’s control. He stroked Inspector’s small head with one hand and pressed the recording button on his phone with the other.

At the same time, Bo Yueming tacitly said, “Lin Na, speak clearly.”

“It was Bo Guancheng who came to me. A month ago, I received a call from Sister Qiu……”

Lin Na swallowed this mouthful of bread, sobbing as she poured out all the facts, “He gave me a deposit and said that he would give me two million when the thing was done! He also gave me those drugs!”

A chill flashed through Pei Yi’s eyes, and he had a deeper understanding of Bo Guancheng’s tricks—

Two million?

Seeking out a woman of unknown origin?

Trying to drug Bo Yueming?

Lin Zhong on the side caught a key piece of information and double-checked, “Bo Guancheng sought you out to make preparations a month ago?”

Lin Na hastily nodded. “En! The hotel should have a record of my employment, it was arranged for me by his assistant.”

That was to say, even though Bo Yueming was “blind,” Bo Guancheng did not relax his vigilance against him, and was always on guard against his return to Bo Group’s general manager position.

Bo Yueming thought of all Bo Guancheng had done in the past, and the long-standing hatred spilled out.

Lin Na caught a glimpse of Bo Yueming’s gradually darkening face, and her heart trembled again. “Mr. Bo! I, I know I’m obsessed with money! Just let me go this time!”

“Obsessed with money?”

Pei Yi considered this soft excuse and released Inspector from the cat bag.

Under the care of its two masters, Inspector was not afraid at all when facing the new environment. It explored its surroundings with a burst of curiosity, and then jumped onto the wooden bed as if preferring the height.

Lin Na stared at the nearby Inspector, her breath suffocating her in her throat.

Bo Yueming looked directly at the terrified Lin Na and asked, “Was it worth it to lose yourself for money?”

Lin Na kept a wary eye on Inspector, who might approach at any time, and subconsciously shook her head. “Bo Guancheng said he would guide public opinion toward you, and I would just be the victim hiding behind.”

Bo Yueming seemed to have heard a big joke, and his voice sank, “It looks like you didn’t know he installed hidden surveillance in the suite? If I fell for it that night, do you really think you could have gotten away with it?”

“Surveillance?”

Lin Na had been in nightclubs before, so she naturally understood what hidden surveillance meant. “Im-Impossible, he didn’t tell me about that.”

“Who do you think you are?”

Pei Yi couldn’t put up with it anymore, and opened his mouth to say, “You’re just a bed tool he invited over, don’t think too highly of yourself.”

Lin Na’s face turned red.

“He said he’d give you two million, and it would be credited to your account afterwards? But if Er-ge was slandered and framed by you, he would call the police to deal with it. Do you think the police wouldn’t be able to discover such a large money transfer? That they wouldn’t have any suspicions?”

“Is it you who understands Bo Guancheng, or is it us who understand that piece of shit?”

When Bo Yueming heard Pei Yi’s cursing, the coldness in his eyes eased a little.

Pei Yi looked directly into Lin Na’s disbelieving eyes and told it to her straight, “Bo Guancheng lied to you from the very beginning. He used you to drug Bo Yueming, and when he got the indecent images, he would immediately expose them on the internet.”

“As for your identity as the victim?”

Pei Yi sneered with disdain and asked self-confidently, “For my Er-ge’s figure and face, would you show reluctance in the video, or would you throw yourself at him like you did at the convalescent resort?”

When Bo Yueming heard Pei Yi’s loud rhetorical question, he was helpless and indulgent, and his original dark expression disappeared. 

Lin Zhong and Lao Fu who remained to the side were even more dumbfounded—

Little Sir’s articulation was so sharp?

He was playing the fool some time ago, could they have wronged him?

Also, ah, taunting was taunting, but why did he have to exaggerate Mr. Bo’s personal experience?

Pei Yi paid no attention to the surprise of the people around him, and continued to bring things to light. “Lin Na, don’t forget that you administered the drugs yourself. Do you dare tell the police that you are an absolute victim?”

“Besides that tiny deposit, do you have any evidence to prove that Bo Guancheng instructed you?”

“……”

Lin Na didn’t have time to think about Pei Yi’s sudden “change” at the moment. Faced with this series of questions, not only could she not utter a word of rebuttal, but she also felt chills all over her body—

So she was just part of Bo Guancheng’s scheme? From beginning to end, the other party never thought of protecting her?

Right, ah, what was there to protect about a woman who frequented nightclubs, a woman who took money to do such business?

Lin Na could admit that she was greedy for money and profit. She went to nightclubs and resorts to find ways to get close to the rich and gain benefits.

But this didn’t mean that she could accept her pornographic images being spread widely on the internet to be judged by others!

Pei Yi was right, if everything happened as Bo Guancheng wished, and Bo Yueming’s reputation was damaged, her status as a “victim” would be totally untenable!

Someone like Bo Guancheng who hid behind the scenes? How could he be stupid enough to stir up the fire and get burned!

Bo Yueming watched Lin Na’s eyes change again and again, and they finally showed sufficient hatred. “Now you understand?”

Lin Na wiped away her tears indiscriminately, and nodded.

Bo Yueming indicated to Lin Zhong again with his eyes, and the latter took a small transparent bag from his pocket and handed it to Lin Na. “Does this look familiar? It was found in your pocket that night.”

Lin Na’s pupils trembled, and she hastily distanced herself from it. “No, this medicine was really given to me by Bo Guancheng!”

Bo Yueming lightly turned the watch on his wrist, and his calm tone concealed his coercion. “En, that bastard. You’re responsible for sending his things back to him.”

Lin Na didn’t dare to think deeply. “What?”

Pei Yi got up and approached, taking the small bag from Lin Zhong’s hand instead.

He rubbed the unremarkable white pill through the plastic and handed it over. “Haven’t you already done it once? Do you still need us to instruct you?”

Inspector, who was full of curiosity, thought its master had something delicious in his hand and immediately moved over. “Meow-wu!”

Lin Na’s scalp went numb at the sound of this meow.

Pei Yi seemed to see through Lin Na’s deep panic. “Don’t worry, we’re not as bad as Bo Guancheng. There are things that need to be done using your talents, but you don’t need to sell your body.”

Bo Yueming sat in his seat, but his eyes stayed on Pei Yi’s profile—

He said the word “use” so brightly. His own family’s kitten really stood out from the masses.

Pei Yi stuffed the pill back into Lin Na’s hand, and suddenly reached out to grasp her jaw. “As long as you return this pill to Bo Guancheng for us, we can forget about what you did.”

Seeing Pei Yi’s movements, Bo Yueming’s previously relaxed eyes suddenly changed.

Lin Na knew she had no other way out. Instead of being in a stalemate here, she might as well use this way out for herself. “W-what am I going to do?”

. . . . . .

Ten minutes later.

Bo Yueming and Pei Yi sat back in the car.

“Inspector, come on. Let me wipe your paws, the ground was too dirty just now.” Pei Yi took the pet wipes out of the cat bag, and before he could wipe Inspector, the wipes in his hand were taken away by Bo Yueming.

Pei Yi was startled. “What are you doing? I……”

Bo Yueming grasped Pei Yi’s right wrist and wiped his fingertips with the wet wipe. “Don’t touch things when you go out in the future, your kitten claws might also not be clean.”

“I !”

Pei Yi was dazed and at a loss.

It took him several seconds to pinpoint the sour tint to those words, and the corners of his mouth rose unconsciously.

Seeing that Pei Yi didn’t speak, Bo Yueming thought that he had crossed the line, so he silently held his breath and asked, “Pei Yi, are you afraid of me like this?”

“Like what?”

“Having Lin Na turn the drugs back on Bo Yueming.”

In the past, for Old Mrs. Bo’s sake, Bo Yueming could endure whatever happened to him, but now he didn’t want to endure it any longer.

The old grudges and the new, as long as the evidence was convincing, he would settle accounts with Bo Guancheng.

Bo Yueming didn’t deny that this way of fighting back was equally bad, but he still cared about Pei Yi’s opinion of him. “What about you? Do you also think I’m despicable?”

Pei Yi answered simply, “No, what’s wrong with treating others the way they treat you? And I think our means of fighting back are more clever.”

After all, he had added something to the method he told Lin Na.

Faced with this unexpected answer, Bo Yueming was stunned for a moment. “Really?”

Pei Yi met Bo Yueming’s gaze and said quietly, “Er-ge, let me tell you the truth. When I used to watch dramas, I didn’t like the good, pure protagonists at all. I only liked the vengeful villains.”

Bo Yueming’s eyes flickered slightly. He asked, “According to what you’ve said, I’ve become a ‘villain’ to you?”

Pei Yi said with certainty, “En, is that bad?”

In his opinion, Bo Yueming would never intentionally provoke innocent people. As for dealing with those like Bo Guancheng, it couldn’t be called a despicable counterattack, but a means of eliminating evil!

They had to do it, and also had to be villains with a “moral bottom line.”

Bo Yueming made a show of being very much in earnest. “Very well, at least you like villains.”

“…….”

Pei Yi belatedly came to a realization, and tried to play it off. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

Bo Yueming teased him, “Then what did you mean?”

He treated him as a villain, and said he liked villains? It was no different from an indirect confession, which he accepted.

Lao Fu in the front heard the flirting between the two and minimized his sense of existence as much as possible, suddenly missing his wife and children.

After a long time, he said cautiously, “Mr. Bo, where are we going?”

Lin Zhong didn’t follow them into the car, but received Bo Yueming’s instructions and took Lin Na privately to leave in another direction.

Bo Yueming glanced at the time, and offered the choice to Pei Yi. “Should we go straight home or eat out?”

Pei Yi thought for a moment. “Eat first and then go home.”

“All right.”

. . . . . .

Seven o’clock in the evening, Cloudtop Clubhouse.

In a hallway decorated with mainly silver film lenses, Bo Guancheng walked quickly to the room at the end under the assistance of Chen Biao. “Are you sure that woman is hiding here?”

On the night of the celebration banquet, Bo Yueming never returned, which aroused doubts and discussions among shareholders.

Bo Guancheng had originally thought the plan had succeeded, and asked his assistant Chen Biao to spend money to manage various online and offline media in advance. They would just wait for the big news on the day after the celebration banquet, and use public opinion to completely pull Bo Yueming down!

The results of it?

Bo Yueming really didn’t show up that night, and even Lin Na disappeared!

Bo Guancheng went to check the surveillance camera in the corridor and discovered that Bo Yueming was taken away by his driver first, and Lin Na was also forcibly taken away from the suite later.

Not only that, but the camera in the master bedroom had also vanished. It was obvious at a glance that the operation was unsuccessful!

Chen Biao nodded. “Sister Qiu called me in the afternoon, saying that Lin Na hid here and asked for protection.”

“Protection?”

Bo Guancheng gritted his teeth, his eyes full of cruelty under his glasses. “If she revealed half a word to Bo Yueming that night, I’ll make her regret it!”

As soon as he spoke, the two stopped at the box at the end of the hallway.

Bo Guancheng told his assistant, “You call Sister Qiu and tell her to come too. Lin Na is the person she hired. Now that the business failed, she must give me an explanation.”

Assistant Chen Biao heard this and did as he said. “Yes.”

Bo Guancheng pushed open the door of the box and found that there was no one there. Before his doubts could arise, he was hit on the back of the neck unexpectedly.

Lin Na, who was hiding behind the door, rushed out and hysterically smashed him with the small golf club that was prepared in advance in the box. “Bo Guancheng, you dare to come! I’ll beat you to death!”

But before the third swing, Chen Biao at the door realized something was wrong and rushed up to stop her. “Lin Na, are you crazy?”

“Fuck!”

Bo Guancheng’s glasses dropped to the ground. He pressed a hand to the dull pain at the back of his neck and looked at Lin Na with murderous intent in his eyes. “Do you want to die?”

Lin Na’s heart trembled for a moment. She thought of what Pei Yi had taught her in advance, and took a deep breath to strike preemptively. “Bo Guancheng! You are no fucking good!”

“It’s fine to ask me to do things for money, but you clearly cheated me!”

“A surveillance camera? If it hadn’t been exposed, I would have to count the money you got for selling me!”

Bo Guancheng finally understood the reason for Lin Na’s abnormal agitation, and sneered coldly. “Aren’t you just a thing for sale to others?”

“When you heard about the two million yuan at that time, you couldn’t move. What does it matter to you if a video was recorded or not? So what if I lied to you? Why the hell can’t you even handle a blind man?”

Lin Na trembled all over, but held back firmly.

In the next second, the sound of high heels stepping on the floor sounded.

Sister Qiu, the owner of the clubhouse, entered. She saw Lin Na being restrained by Chen Biao, and seeing Bo Guancheng’s cold face, there was a natural shift in her heart. “Mr. Cheng calm down.”

“Lin Na has already told me what happened. Bo Yueming took the medicine that day, but his assistant and driver made an unexpected detour at the last moment and took him away!”

“They suspected that Lin Na had drugged Bo Yueming, so they forcibly bound her hands and feet. Thanks to Lin Na’s cleverness, she found an opportunity to escape.”

Bo Guancheng’s eyes flickered when he heard this explanation. He had just found out yesterday—

Bo Yueming was taken back to the independent villa at Bo Manor by the driver Lao Fu, and didn’t come out for an entire day.

“Mr. Cheng, even if Bo Yueming has suspicions, there is no physical evidence, so how can he prove it was you?”

Sister Qiu “kindly” explained on Lin Na’s behalf while seating Bo Guancheng  on the sofa.

In fact, what she really valued was guests like him who paid a lot of money. As for Lin Na…..if she knew she was so useless, she wouldn’t have used her in the first place!

Now that the “business” had failed, her intermediary fee would be gone.

Sister Qiu picked up Bo Guancheng’s glasses, as well as a bottle of ice whiskey that was always kept in the box. “Come, Mr. Cheng, drink a glass to calm down. This time the ‘business’ failed, but that doesn’t mean there will be no ‘business’ to do next time.”

Lin Na’s eyes flickered slightly, and she pretended to struggle a few times to escape from Chen Biao’s grip.

Bo Guancheng was still willing to pay Sister Qiu some face. Plus, the back of his neck was splashed, and his blood was surging. He drank the whiskey without a second thought.

“Chen Biao, let her go, don’t keep that eyesore in front of me.”

A woman with a temperament like Lin Na didn’t have any brains at first glance, and didn’t pose a threat to him.

Although the matter had been exposed, fortunately, there was no evidence from beginning to end. Even if Bo Yueming could find some clues, so what?

They were cousins of opposite branches, putting on a show on the surface.

At this thought, Bo Guancheng poured himself another glass of alcohol. “For Sister Qiu’s sake, that deposit will be your hush money. Scram.”

Sister Qiu also said, “Lin Na, you leave first.”

. . . . . .

Three minutes later.

Lin Na took advantage of the night to hide in a readily available taxi, and made a call on the driver’s cell phone.

A familiar voice came from the other end of the line.

Lin Na took a deep breath. “I’ve done as you said!”

After she “escaped,” she sought refuge with Sister Qiu, and in order not to involve herself in misfortune, the latter disclosed Lin Na’s location to Bo Guancheng as soon as possible.

Lin Na took advantage of the “surveillance camera” to get angry at Bo Guancheng, and after she hit him, Sister Qiu rushed over and naturally poured a glass of alcohol to calm things down.

Of course, there were drugs in the liquor.

“I understand, we won’t hold the past against you, but there’s no guarantee that Bo Guancheng won’t. Our people have already withdrawn. Good luck to you.”

The call was hung up neatly.

Pei Yi set the phone aside and took another bite of dessert, looking at Bo Yueming beside him. “It was Lin Na’s number.”

“En, I know. Lin Zhong’s people are still watching the situation in the clubhouse.” Bo Yueming looked at Pei Yi’s milkshake, which was mostly empty. “It’s already this late in the season, so eat fewer cold things at night.”

Pei Yi pretended not to hear, and quickly took a few more mouthfuls.

Bo Yueming was helpless. “Pei Yi? Did you hear me?”

Pei Yi gave a perfunctory nod, and muttered in a low voice, “You agreed to leave me alone.”

By the time the milkshake was completely emptied, the people sent by Bo Yueming also sent more definite information.

“Damn!” 

Whe Pei Yi saw this, he excitedly picked up his cell phone and sent an incomparably righteous and upright phone call. “Hey, hello, I would like to anonymously report someone who is engaged in illegal prostitution at Cloudtop Clubhouse 8212.”