Parking lot.
Gu Qiyou had been drinking and couldn’t drive. He tried calling the Gu family driver, but no one answered.
He staggered against a pillar when a green taxi pulled up beside him.
“Going somewhere?” a voice came from inside.
Gu Qiyou forced his eyes open and opened the back door. “To He Feng Villa.”
The moment he sat down, a heavy smell of cheap perfume flooded his nose. He frowned and opened his eyes, about to tell the driver to open the windows — when he suddenly realized:
There was no one in the driver’s seat.
“Fuck!”
Gu Qiyou collapsed against the back seat, trembling as he clutched the handle beside him. He ripped the handle off entirely, yet the door still wouldn’t open.
It felt as if an invisible hand were gripping his throat. His breathing grew heavier and heavier.
His eyes rolled back — he was almost suffocating.
Suddenly, a burst of golden light surrounded him. The taxi was torn apart from the inside out by a powerful force.
Gu Qiyou fell out of the car and landed on the ground. Gasping for breath, he stared in terror as the taxi slammed into a pillar and burned to ashes.
Bits of burned talisman drifted out of his pocket.
This was… the thing Jiang Lai had just slipped to him?
Jiang Lai stepped out from behind a pillar in the parking lot, watching like it was a show.
“Third brother.”
“You… it was your thing that saved me?” Gu Qiyou grabbed the ashes from the ground, his voice uncertain.
The moment he saw the empty driver’s seat, he was completely sober. At the brink of death, the golden light from his pocket had saved him.
He never kept anything in his suit pockets — the only possibility was what Jiang Lai had put there.
“Mm.” Jiang Lai replied flatly. “Next time, you won’t be so lucky.”
“Wait — how did you do that?” Gu Qiyou pushed himself up and hurried after her.
“So… you really know something supernatural?” he kept pressing.
Jiang Lai stopped and turned back. “Didn’t Third Brother used to say this was all nonsense? Why do you want to know now?”
“I…” Gu Qiyou fell silent awkwardly.
Before, he had always thought Jiang Lai was a fraud and treated her terribly. Yet she never fought back, always smiling at him.
Now her attitude was completely different — and he couldn’t read her at all.
He reached out, trying to grab her arm — when a lazy voice came from behind.
“Director Gu, didn’t you always say you hated Miss Jiang? Why are you clinging to her now?”
Gu Qiyou looked over. Zhuang Hao was walking over with Pei Jingchuan.
“Mr. Zhuang,” Gu Qiyou said through gritted teeth.
The Gu family currently needed cooperation from the Zhuang family, so he couldn’t offend him.
Zhuang Hao ignored him completely and went straight to Jiang Lai. “Miss Jiang, I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“Mr. Zhuang is too kind.” Jiang Lai lightly shook his hand.
Her gaze quickly shifted to Pei Jingchuan beside him, as if asking why he was here.
Pei Jingchuan noticed her look and extinguished his cigarette.
“We came to Qidu for dinner. Join us?”
“Sure.” Jiang Lai smiled.
With Pei Jingchuan beside her, her locating talisman would work perfectly.
Gu Qiyou panicked as she turned to leave. “Jiang Lai! You didn’t answer my question!”
“Just because you ask doesn’t mean I have to answer. Are you interrogating a criminal?” Jiang Lai replied coldly without stopping.
She owed him nothing.
Gu Qiyou stood frozen, furious as he watched them walk away together.
Jiang Lai wasn’t like this before — why did she suddenly stop caring about him?!
Once they were far enough that Gu Qiyou couldn’t hear, Jiang Lai said, “I came to Qidu to find someone, I won’t eat with you.”
“What are you looking for? We’ll come with you,” Zhuang Hao said casually. “Anyone who can enter Qidu isn’t simple — if you offend the wrong person, it’s trouble. Right, Jingchuan?”
He nudged Pei Jingchuan with his elbow.
“Mm.” Pei Jingchuan’s gaze deepened.
Jiang Lai’s smile grew brighter.
She had been wondering how to make her locating talisman more precise — now that she had Pei Jingchuan’s Purple Sky Destiny, everything became much easier.
She grabbed his hand. Warm spiritual energy flowed from the talisman through her palm and toward his fingertips.
In her mind, the locating talisman pointed her in a clear direction.
Pei Jingchuan glanced down at her tight grip — like she was arresting him — and gently pried her fingers open, intertwining their hands properly.
“That’s not how you hold hands, Miss Jiang.”
Jiang Lai laughed awkwardly. “I’ll pay attention next time.”
Zhuang Hao deliberately lagged behind them.
Being a third wheel? No thanks.
Following the talisman’s guidance, Jiang Lai stopped in front of a private room.
Just as she raised her hand to knock, the French double doors opened from inside.
A man in a silver-gray suit sat on a velvet sofa in the center. At his feet, a trembling figure knelt on the floor.
Jiang Lai looked closely — it was Xiao Teng.
“President Pei is looking for him?” the man asked, his peach-blossom eyes narrowing with a playful smile.
“President He is well-informed,” Pei Jingchuan replied coolly.
The largest shareholder behind Qidu was the He family — and the man before them was its head, He Yunting.
“I’m afraid I can’t give him to you,” He Yunting sighed theatrically. “I still have use for him.”
Xiao Teng trembled even harder, desperately trying to crawl backward, unable to speak.
Jiang Lai clicked her tongue. “Then keep him. A useless person isn’t worth it.”
Xiao Teng was clearly ruined — unable to speak or write. Saving him would serve no purpose.
Moreover, she had heard of He Yunting in her past life — ruthless, dangerous, and terrifying. Crossing him was like tying your head to your waistband.
“And who is this?” He Yunting looked at Jiang Lai with great interest.
“Jiang Lai.”
“The daughter the Gu family found a year ago?” He Yunting extended his hand. “He Yunting.”
Jiang Lai briefly touched his hand, then withdrew quickly.
His fate was strange — gold light and gray mist intertwined on his forehead, two incompatible destinies coexisting in eerie harmony.
“His destiny is very strange… let’s go,” she whispered to Pei Jingchuan.
He Yunting noticed the odd look in her eyes and smiled even more.
“Miss Jiang… are you afraid of me?”