Chapter 431: Secret Door
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Xia Ling became worried and anxiously walked out. “Give me the phone.”
Over the phone, she heard Chu Chen’s voice. “Miss Ye, do you know where the Boss is now? I have something important that requires his attention, but I can’t contact him at all. I have already checked the office and other possible places but can’t find him. I also asked many people, but they all do not know where he went.”
Xia Ling frowned. Actually, she also did not know where he was. Ever since he turned around and left the bedroom last night, she had not seen him. Worried that something might have happened to him, Xia Ling said to Chu Chen, “Don’t hang up.”
She hurriedly ran to another phone and called Pei Ziheng’s phone. They had an exclusive number, and he said before that it would always be available for her.
( ) A ringtone rang. It was “Perfect Dream,” a song Xia Ling wrote for him in the past.
However, no one picked up the phone even though it rang for a long time. Xia Ling became frantic. This sort of scenario had never happened before. Although she hated him, they had known each other for more than ten years, and when something happened, she could not help but worry about him. What exactly happened to Pei Ziheng? Was he really in trouble?
She quickly called for Nanny Zhou and asked her whether she knew where Pei Ziheng went.
However, even Nanny Zhou did not know. She said that she searched the entire house but could not find him.
At once, Xia Ling was lost her mind. She rushed to the phone and exclaimed to Chu Chen, “I can’t find him!”
“Calm down.” In contrast, Chu Chen was calm. “Can you think of any place he might be?”
“I don’t know…” Xia Ling was confused and flustered. She hurriedly thought about the places he frequently liked to go. “There’s Bamboo Villa in the suburbs, Funing Clubhouse in the north of the city, Moonlight Beach, Hongde Club, and Number 1 Dojo…” She reported a few places in succession.
However, unexpectedly, Chu Chen said that he had already searched those places and even a few other places that she did not know about, but he could not find Pei Ziheng.
He disappeared into thin air.
Xia Ling was apprehensive as she asked Chu Chen in confusion, “What should we do?”
“Boss’ phone should have GPS location tracking, but I don’t have permission to access it. Furthermore, I can’t do anything without Boss’ permission. Are you able to access his GPS location tracking?”
“How can I trace his location? I don’t even have a phone! He also never told me the password!” She was extremely anxious. “How about we call the police? I’m sure that the police will be able to find him!”
“Definitely not.” Chu Chen stopped her. “This situation will definitely blow up. This will cause shock waves in the entire entertainment industry— no, entire commercial world.”
“So what? I only want him to be safe!”
“Miss Ye, Imperial Entertainment is Boss’ lifeline! He spent so many years to obtain control over it, and many people in the Pei family are glaring covetously at his power! We cannot let a small mishap be an opportunity for them to exploit. Miss Ye, the most important thing now is to quickly look for Boss!”
Xia Ling stopped insisting on calling the police. Chu Chen was right. Imperial Entertainment was Pei Ziheng’s lifeline, and he put his blood, sweat, and tears into this company. She was afraid that he might choose Imperial Entertainment over her without hesitation. How could she reveal that Pei Ziheng was missing to the police and add trouble for him during this sort of situation?
( ) “Alright, I won’t call the police for now.” She said. “Let’s quickly think of another way.”
“If there’s no other way, we can only use his GPS location.” Chu Chen said. “If we still can’t contact him after a day, I will ask someone to hack the password.”
Xia Ling was enraged. “Why do we have to wait for a day?”
Chu Chen smiled bitterly. “You know that I don’t have the authority. If there isn’t a huge emergency, and I take the liberty to hack his password… Miss Ye, Boss will be furious.”
“I don’t care. You do it now!” Xia Ling yelled at him. “I’ll take the blame! Quickly do it!”
He hesitated for a moment. “But…”
“Are you afraid that I can’t handle it?” She reasoned logically and quickly said, “Look at how well he treats me, it’s no less than the way he treated the late Xia Ling. Is that shocking? I even know what happened between him and Xia Ling, and I know you know it too. Do you think if Xia Ling requested for you to hack the password today, Pei Ziheng would blame you?!”
“Yes, I understand.” Chu Chen said.
She sighed and hung up the phone. She slumped to the floor against the wall and weakly sat up. Pei Ziheng, where are you? Why won’t you answer your phone?
Her heart was beating anxiously as she asked Nanny Zhou to bring over a phone. She kept calling that exclusive number, and it continued to ring without anyone answering the call. She kept redialling ceaselessly…
An entire night passed until daybreak arrived.
Chu Chen finally called back. “Miss Ye, we hacked the password. The GPS shows that Boss’ phone is in the house.”
“That’s impossible. I’m in the house now, and I called him the entire night but did not hear a phone ring.” She was up the entire night, and her voice was slightly hoarse.
Chu Chen said, “There’s no mistake about the location. Can I trouble you to search for him again?”
She staggered as she got up. With unstable footsteps, she searched every room again. Sadly, she still could not find him.
Pei Ziheng, where exactly are you?
Chu Chen’s voice was heard from the phone again. “Have you checked every room? Think about it again. Are there any places that you left out?”
How could she have left out any places?! This was a house that she designed herself, how… Wait, she recalled that when she went to the study room, a bookcase was not like the way she placed it at the start.
She hung up the phone without explaining to Chu Chen and immediately dashed to the study room.
Sure enough, in the study room, the position of the bookcase was not right. It was cumbersomely placed behind a high back chair. Xia Ling pushed hard, but the bookcase was heavy and did not move. Her eyes scanned the vicinity, and suddenly, she saw a small raised decorative sculpture. Instinctively, she touched the sculpture.
The bookcase slowly moved away to reveal a secret door.
She did not understand why Pei Ziheng added a secret door here. The security measures were perfect in his study room, and all the secret documents about Imperial Entertainment could never be stolen. Did he have no faith in her design? Was there something more important that had to be protected?
Curiously, she pushed the secret door open.
Behind the secret door was a deep, dark, narrow, and spiral staircase. The air was dry and clean, with a hint of withered petals. There were rows of lights on both sides of the walls. The lights were quiet, soft and warm yellow, reminiscent of an old world that was lost and only existed in memories.
Xia Ling supported herself using the wall and placed one hand on her lower abdomen as she carefully walked down. She did not know what would happen at the end and only hoped that no matter what it was, Pei Ziheng was waiting for her there. In the past, she hoped to escape his side, but after he disappeared, it turned out that she was this worried about him.
Finally, she reached the end.