7
A black Cadillac stopped outside the set of Spy.
Luxury cars came and went here all the time, so this vehicle wasn’t particularly surprising. But soon, the car door opened, and a large man dressed clearly as a bodyguard stepped out first.
The bodyguard walked over to the passenger side and opened the door.
Just then, someone stared at the car and exclaimed in shock, “The license plate! Look at the license plate number!”
“…Yan Zhao’s car?”
“Holy shit!”
“Didn’t he go missing?”
The murmuring on set instantly grew noisy, and people couldn’t help but glance repeatedly at Jiang Meng, their eyes full of envy, jealousy, and hatred.
“Could it be that he’s here for Sister Jiang?”
“Probably.”
Hearing this, Jiang Meng felt not joy but a guilty unease.
No, impossible… Yan Zhao had been missing for so long without any news. How could he suddenly appear here?
The passenger door was soon opened, and a pair of straight, fair white legs first caught everyone’s attention.
Then the person in the passenger seat emerged.
She was wearing a white jacket, her hair tied up high, her beautiful facial features fully revealed.
Jiang Meng’s pupils contracted, and she breathed a sigh of relief.
It was Gu Xueyi.
No…
That breath caught in Jiang Meng’s throat once again.
Even if only Gu Xueyi had come, there was still nothing to be happy about.
Jiang Meng thought anxiously to herself that if her emotions kept swinging wildly like this, the baby in her womb might really be in danger of miscarrying.
Gu Xueyi didn’t notice Jiang Meng. She entered the set and asked, “Who is the director?”
Director Li vaguely heard a voice, put down his megaphone, and trotted over, hardly daring to believe it. “M-Mrs. Yan?”
Gu Xueyi: “Yes.”
The people nearby vaguely caught snippets of the conversation, and soon word spread from person to person. Before long, most of the set knew that Yan Zhao’s legitimate wife had arrived!
Initially, when they had first heard that Jiang Meng was Yan Zhao’s mistress, they couldn’t help but feel envy, jealousy, and hatred. After all, this was Yan Zhao! Even if Yan Zhao never came back, the Yan family was still a behemoth beyond ordinary people’s wildest dreams.
But now that the legitimate wife had shown up, they no longer felt envious. Instead, the looks they cast toward Jiang Meng became somewhat subtle, even hard to describe.
Jiang Meng, receiving glances from all directions, was silently cursing with rage.
She had never imagined that her moment of inspiration, far from solving her problem would only trap her in an even more difficult situation.
Now, whenever she saw Gu Xueyi, she could still vaguely hear in her ears the sound of a belt striking flesh.
Crack, crack.
“Mrs. Yan, this way, please.” Director Li respectfully ushered Gu Xueyi to the backstage rest area.
Only once Gu Xueyi had left did the crew dare to gossip openly.
“I remember seeing her in a magazine a few years ago, and she didn’t look like this…”
“Did she get plastic surgery?”
“Doesn’t seem like it. She looks very natural. If any doctor could achieve that level, please introduce me to them.”
“Mrs. Yan is actually this beautiful.”
…
As they spoke, they couldn’t help but turn back and size up Jiang Meng.
Of course, Jiang Meng was pretty, but compared to Gu Xueyi, she seemed rather insignificant.
One had an exotic, mixed-race look, delicate and alluring—the kind men might like. But the other had stronger facial features, a far more distinguished bearing, and eyebrows and eyes that suited Chinese aesthetic tastes perfectly. She was the epitome of an icy beauty, unforgettable at first sight.
Feeling the weight of their appraising looks, Jiang Meng felt even more humiliated beyond words.
How could someone as stupid as Gu Xueyi be mentioned in the same breath as her?
Outside, Jiang Meng was so furious she felt like throwing up.
Meanwhile, inside the rest area, Gu Xueyi watched a section of surveillance footage provided by the production crew.
The footage showed that three days ago, at 1 a.m. while the set was filming a night scene, Yan Wenjia had suddenly left the boundaries of the filming location.
“This wouldn’t normally be unusual. Young Master Yan seems to really like going to bars… I heard from his agent that he’s also into street racing. Sometimes, when the mood strikes him, he’ll even take a private jet overnight to go party in Las Vegas…”
“Second Young Master originally didn’t want to be in this drama. I went out of my way to invite him personally. He wasn’t very happy about filming. Everyone understands that he occasionally leaves the set to unwind.”
“But this time, he didn’t bring his agent, his assistant, or his bodyguards…”
The more Director Li spoke, the more anxious and agitated he became.
Some people firmly believed Yan Zhao wouldn’t return, while others firmly believed he would. Director Li was among the latter, and he was terrified that the Yan family would flay him alive.
But after finishing, Director Li looked at Gu Xueyi with a hint of suspicion.
Could Mrs. Yan really make decisions on behalf of the Yan family?
Could she find Second Young Master Yan?
“Alright, I understand,” Gu Xueyi said calmly.
Seeing that she seemed completely unaffected, without the slightest hint of urgency, Director Li felt deeply disappointed.
No wonder there were vague rumors circulating that after marrying into the Yan family, Gu Xueyi wasn’t well-regarded, didn’t get along with anyone in the Yan household, and that even Yan Zhao often ignored her.
With Yan Wenjia missing, Gu Xueyi’s visit here was probably just for show…
“Call his agent here.” Just as Director Li was lost in his thoughts, he heard the woman’s voice beside him.
“Huh? Ah, yes.” Director Li quickly sent someone to find Yan Wenjia’s agent.
Yan Wenjia.
Yan Zhao’s second younger brother.
Profession… a performer. No, in this era, they were called “actors.”
Although it was somewhat surprising that someone from such a background had chosen this profession, Gu Xueyi didn’t look down on him for it.
Gu Xueyi sat there, unhurried, even drinking a cup of hot tea.
Then she waited for Yan Wenjia’s agent to arrive.
“Mrs. Yan, I’m Xiao Fang.” The agent was a middle-aged man in his forties, wearing an ill-fitting suit. The sleeves were too short, and the pant legs were also too short. The man also had a small mustache and wore a round hat on his head… Perhaps it was some kind of fashion statement. There were always some fashion trends in this era that Gu Xueyi couldn’t understand.
Gu Xueyi didn’t stand on ceremony and called him by his name as if it were the most natural thing: “Xiao Fang.”
This middle-aged man named “Xiao Fang” was about to say something more when Gu Xueyi turned and instructed the bodyguard: “Bring the laptop. Bring him along too. We’re leaving now.”
The bodyguard hesitated for a moment, then did as Gu Xueyi said.
He had been hired by Yan Zhao.
But now Yan Zhao was gone, Yan Wenjia was missing, and Yan Wenbai wasn’t managing anything… That left only Gu Xueyi.
Jiang Meng couldn’t help but say to her agent, “She’s really something. The moment she arrives, she starts ordering everyone around. Quite the grand Mrs. Yan act…”
The agent couldn’t help but remark, “If you were Mrs. Yan, you could do the same.”
Not like now, hiding and skulking around, unable to see the light of day.
Just as they were speaking, they saw Gu Xueyi come out.
Jiang Meng immediately shut her mouth.
Gu Xueyi, halfway out, suddenly stopped in her tracks: “What does Yan Wenjia look like?”
“???”
“????”
The people behind Gu Xueyi had question marks practically exploding over their heads.
“You… don’t know?”
“No, I don’t.” Gu Xueyi answered with complete candor, without the slightest trace of embarrassment.
The original owner had almost no contact with Yan Wenjia, and since she had been living in this body, she hadn’t paid any attention to how many younger brothers Yan Zhao had or what they looked like…
Xiao Fang had no choice but to take out his phone and pull up some magazine editorial photos saved in it for Gu Xueyi to see.
The young man in the photos had the face of a quintessential aristocratic son—refined and exuding an air of luxury. Every downward glance and every upward lift of his eyes carried a sense of passion and melancholy.
He would surely be very suited to playing a ancient imperial prince.
Gu Xueyi thought casually to herself. Once he was dressed up, he would definitely look a lot like the Fifth Prince. Just as unruly and in need of discipline.
The bodyguard walked briskly with Gu Xueyi toward the car. As they walked, he couldn’t help but speak up: “If you want to mobilize a large number of the Yan family’s people to search for Second Young Master, you’ll need to contact Mr. Yan’s secretary. Only with his seal can you obtain certain mobilization rights…”
“No need,” Gu Xueyi said.
“No need?” The bodyguard was taken aback.
“Call the police.”
“Call… the police?” The bodyguard was stunned again. Families like theirs usually handled disappearances by mobilizing their own resources. Who called the police? That option had never even crossed their minds.
Gu Xueyi reviewed the surveillance footage one last time, then looked at the map again.
“Take this road,” Gu Xueyi said.
The driver, of course, didn’t question her. He obediently followed Gu Xueyi’s instructions.
After being bewildered for a moment, the bodyguard had no choice but to do as Gu Xueyi said and go call the police.
In truth, Gu Xueyi didn’t come across as domineering or ruthless. After giving her orders, she paid no further attention, leaving those who had received them agonizing over what to do. Eventually, after much difficult deliberation, they still chose to follow her instructions.
Soon, Jian Changming was no longer the only one who knew that Yan Wenjia had gone missing.
The Jiang family, the Song family, the Feng family… everyone knew.
Yan Zhao’s secretary was still hesitating, wondering whether he should affix the seal if he received a call.
Strictly speaking, he only took orders from Yan Zhao.
But in the end, after agonizing over it for ages, the secretary didn’t receive a single call at all.
“Yan Wenjia is missing?” Jiang Jing looked as if this was nothing new. “He’s probably found some other place to go die…”
Jiang Yue couldn’t have cared less whether Yan Wenjia lived or died, whether he had been kidnapped or was trying to kill himself.
But he thought of Gu Xueyi.
“Yan Zhao is pretty impressive, good-looking enough, and happens to be quite wealthy and powerful. Just a bit less than me…” Jiang Yue smacked his lips.
Jiang Jing: “…”
Second brother, doesn’t your conscience hurt when you say that?
His conscience completely unharmed, Jiang Yue lit a cigarette. “But being his wife must be so exhausting.”
Once again, Jiang Yue’s mind flashed back to Gu Xueyi’s appearance.
What a pity.
About thirty kilometers from the set, there was a small beach.
The wind on the beach whipped harshly across faces, billowing the man’s bathrobe and revealing his lean, toned chest.
The man turned his head, revealing a strikingly dazzling face.
He spread his arms wide.
And fell into the sea.
Like a beautiful sea spirit returning to the embrace of the ocean.
A young girl on a distant fishing boat let out a cry of surprise.
At that moment, the sound of rapidly spinning oars grew closer.
A slender figure suddenly leaped from a boat and plunged into the water. Her white jacket billowed in the wind, like giant butterfly wings.
Just as Yan Wenjia was falling, he sensed something was wrong.
A boat approached.
Its rapidly spinning propeller directly shredded the net he had laid out in the sea.
Then a figure of almost unreal beauty pounced down and forcefully shoved him underwater.
Yan Wenjia: ???
He suspected she was trying to kill him!
Yan Wenjia struggled to breathe in the water.
Just then, he heard the person on top of him receive a phone call.
Calmly and unhurriedly, with great leisure, she actually answered the call.
A very familiar voice came from the other end.
His foolish younger brother’s voice came through: “…You… sent me… food?”
Yan Wenjia’s vision went dark.
You send Yan Wenbai food, and you send me to my death?
**