He curved his lips in mockery. “Call President Lin and President Gu, and ask them whether they’re willing to redeem you.”
Lin Jiujiu blinked. Tears clung to her long, thick eyelashes, and her voice was slightly hoarse. “What if they aren’t willing?”
“Aren’t willing?”
Shen Huan chuckled and said unhurriedly, “Then I’ll have no choice but to kill my beloved Jiujiu darling~”
Lin Jiujiu had only listened to the original story in passing, so she did not know the plot in that much detail. Besides, her character was merely a supporting role. She had no idea whether that bastard male lead would be willing to come save her, much less remember what kind of person her biological father, President Lin, was.
She trembled as she held the phone, squeezing out two more tears. Her gentle, soft face crumpled pitifully.
Her short legs moved at lightning speed as she scrambled beneath the surveillance camera. With tears and sobs, she cried, “Seventh Master, my admiration for you is witnessed by Heaven and Earth. I swear, I don’t have the slightest bit of affection for Gu Wenhe…”
Before she could finish, the cool male voice said with a smile, “Or I could just kill you right now.”
Lin Jiujiu instantly wiped away her tears and gripped the phone firmly. “I’ll call!”
She shakily opened her phone, froze for half a minute, then raised her head and asked with difficulty, “What’s the number?”
The person on the other end froze for half a minute as well.
Then a deep, viciously mocking voice came through. “You don’t know?”
He narrowed his eyes slightly and leaned halfway back in his office chair. His cuffs were rolled up, revealing his pale, prominent wrist bones, while his fingers tapped lightly against the armrest. “The information I have says that you can recite Gu Wenhe’s phone number backward.”
Lin Jiujiu: “…”
Information?
Boo-hoo.
Just as she had guessed when listening to the story before, how could such an intelligent and incredible villain let a scheming, fake-sweet second female lead approach him so casually?
He must have been prepared long ago, watching her make a fool of herself like some ridiculous clown.
Only now, she was the clown—and the story was no longer funny.
The problem was, she really didn’t know the phone number.
Lin Jiujiu earnestly blinked twice at the surveillance camera, trying to win his trust. “Then your information must be wrong.”
The moment she finished speaking, the bodyguard behind her chuckled and said honestly, “Don’t worry, Miss Lin. Our Seventh Master has the best sources of information. There’s no way they could be wrong!”
Lin Jiujiu: “…”
Her face hurt even more.
She slowly turned her head and glared fiercely at the bodyguard who had spoken.
If he wanted her gone so badly, he could just say so.
Why did he have to beat around the bush?
“I really am not lying to you.” The bodyguard completely failed to detect the meaning behind her expression. Seeing her turn to look at him, he immediately grinned foolishly. “The Seventh Master has a huge intelligence network under him.”
Lin Jiujiu: “Haha.”
She covered her face, feeling a little desperate.
Could someone tell her why such a crazed villain had two bodyguards with absolutely no sense of tact around him?
A nearly inaudible chuckle came through the surveillance system.
Shen Huan, for once, did not continue making things difficult for her. He said indifferently, “A-Zuo, tell Miss Lin Gu Wenhe’s and President Lin’s phone numbers.”
A-Zuo was the bodyguard who had just spoken.
He hurriedly answered, “Yes, Seventh Master,” then took out his phone and opened the notes app to show Lin Jiujiu.
Lin Jiujiu’s finger trembled again and again as she entered the number. Several times, she failed to press the call button.
A-Zuo kindly helped her press it and said respectfully, “You’re welcome.”
Lin Jiujiu: “…Thanks to your ancestors eighteen generations over.”
A-Zuo gave another foolish grin. “There’s no need to thank my ancestors eighteen generations over. A-You and I are orphans. The Seventh Master took us in, so you only need to thank the two of us.”
Lin Jiujiu: “…”
Forget it.
She would pretend she had never said anything.
Once she rose again, the first thing she would do was crack open A-Zuo’s head and see how much water was inside.
The phone began to emit the beeping sound of the call, pulling Lin Jiujiu’s thoughts back and making her heart clench in an instant.
After two rings, the call connected.
A faint voice came from the other end. “Hello?”
Unlike Shen Huan’s voice, which always carried a hint of amusement and had a warm, alluring quality, this voice was colder and more solemn.
Lin Jiujiu swallowed. After silently bowing twice to Gu Wenhe in her heart, she took a deep breath and said, “It’s me, Lin Jiujiu.”
There was a strange pause of two seconds on the other end. In almost an instant, a trace of barely perceptible impatience entered his voice. “What is it?”
“Do, do you remember…”
She tried hard to recall the plot of the original story. “I’m here with Shen Huan.”
The male lead knew that the original Lin Jiujiu had approached Shen Huan to deal with him. In fact, he had even helped push things along behind the scenes.
After all, readers these days liked male leads who were a little more calculating.
Gu Wenhe was exactly that kind of male lead.
The displeasure in his voice faded somewhat. He gave a quiet hum and asked, “How did it go?”
Lin Jiujiu glanced guiltily at the surveillance camera and said softly into the receiver, “I, I got caught.”
Gu Wenhe: “…”
He seemed somewhat speechless, and his tone turned several degrees colder. “Lin Jiujiu, apart from causing trouble, what else can you do?”
Lin Jiujiu immediately agreed with him. “That’s right, that’s right. I can’t do anything except cause trouble.”
Gu Wenhe fell silent again for a while, apparently never imagining that this proud young lady would one day put herself down so thoroughly.
He pressed his lips together, and his tone finally softened a little. “Forget it. I’m a little busy. If there’s nothing else, I’m hanging up.”
Lin Jiujiu hurriedly stopped him. “There is! There’s something else! You’re supposed to redeem me, aren’t you?!”
“Redeem you?”
Gu Wenhe’s brows twitched, and he said coldly, “You brought this trouble on yourself. What does it have to do with me? You did it all of your own accord.”
Lin Jiujiu: “…”
Wow.
So this was the kind of heartless character he was.
She was a little angry now, too. “Gu Wenhe, you were the one who said Shen Huan was always getting in your way! You were the one who said that it would be great if someone could get close to him and deal with him, and steal his business secrets!”
Gu Wenhe said nothing. After a moment, he slowly replied, “Did I say that? Lin Jiujiu, weren’t you simply imagining things because you wanted to attract my attention? The Gu and Shen families may be business rivals, but I’m not the kind of person who plays dirty tricks. I hope you won’t say anything reckless in front of President Shen.”
He hung up cleanly.
Lin Jiujiu pouted.
Boo-hoo.
What a scumbag.
With just a few sentences, he had completely washed his hands of everything. Clearly, he had no intention of taking responsibility for what he had said.
She angrily called him back.
The call gave a single beep before connecting again. “Lin Jiujiu, what exactly are you trying to do? Can you stop making a scene? Don’t you have any shame? I don’t want Chen Ran to misunderstand. That’s all.”
Lin Jiujiu had an extremely soft and gentle voice, but she knitted her brows and said seriously, “If you don’t transfer the money to me, I’ll send the recording of our conversation to Shen Huan.”
Gu Wenhe: “…”
He gave a derisive snort. “Lin Jiujiu, if you had that kind of brain, would you have recorded anything?”
Lin Jiujiu: “Hmph. You know perfectly well what you said.”
She had not actually recorded anything.
She was merely threatening Gu Wenhe in a fit of anger.
“Fine.” Gu Wenhe clearly did not believe her. His voice was full of contempt. “Send it to me and let me hear it. Then I’ll consider whether to redeem you.”