Chapter 358: Who Needs Cars When You Can Do Cardio?
Translator: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97
Ye Shuang held onto her end of the bargain. After she left, she did not reveal the man’s real identity to anyone, including Luo Mingxin and the plainclothes. The member of staff hurried to leave, and about half an hour later, Ye Shuang saw someone similar leave the set in a completely different set of clothes.
“I’ve truly learned a lot from your film crew.” Ye Shuang could not help but lament to Luo Mingxin. “I thought that, with make-up, women would be the best, but now I realize that you men might be even better at it.”
Luo Mingxin felt confused by the sudden topic, but he continued the conversation regardless. “Is that really that strange? Designers, make-up artists, stylists—the best in these fields are actually males. The reign of homosexuals overseas aside, even the top stylists in our country are males.”
At this point, Luo Mingxin looked around and then lowered his voice. “I hear you took an old windbreaker. Is it one that is made from black leather with lapels and a zipper around the chest?”
Ye Shuang noticed that Luo Mingxin’s eyes kept wandering behind her, so she decided to openly move her backpack to the front and let the man peer inside. “Here, take a look for yourself.”
Luo Mingxin bit on his lips, and his mouth twitched. With a complicated expression, he quickly pulled the zipper shut and lowered his voice even more. “If anyone asks you about it, tell them that you’re taking this on my orders. And leave now, don’t let the director discover that you’re leaving with this.”
“Why are you asking me to act like a thief?” Ye Shuang grumbled as she shrugged the backpack onto her back. “Wait, is this windbreaker a very expensive one?”
“Not really, after all, the fabric and cutting aren’t that high-end, but unlike the other props, this item wasn’t mass-produced. Since this windbreaker was specially designed for this film, the director’s plan is to put it up for auction. Depending on the occasion, it might not be worth much if it’s for a fan, but if it’s a charity auction, the number hanging on this windbreaker can go up to six digits.” Luo Mingxin sighed, but even so, he could not help raising his thumb to say, “You sure have a good eye.”
“I think you have misunderstood me. It’s not that I want to take this windbreaker, but someone has hidden something important inside it!” Ye Shuang was speechless. The more she heard about this director, the more she was confused by this individual’s demeanor. “Plus, why did the film crew leave such an important prop in the storeroom? Shouldn’t it be taken better care of, like hanging it in the dressing room or having someone to take it back to the company?”
Luo Mingxin choked. “I have no idea what other people think, but for me, since we are unable to know for sure whether we’re going to use these things or not, and since most of them cannot be easily categorized, they are just dumped there. Unless the shoot is over, who dares take the props that the director might need back to the company?”
Ye Shuang thought about it and agreed with Luo Mingxin. Most likely, the prop manager sensed that something was wrong before he was detained, and unable to find a safer spot to transfer all his stuff, he found a relatively safe looking object to hide the information and tossed it into an isolated location. It did not matter if people would deal with the windbreaker in his absence. After all, the crew normally would not dispose of such important props. No matter which crew member or actor ended up with the windbreaker, after he was released from jail, he would have the chance to ask for the thing back.
“I’ll go back to look through this thing. If the clothes are not ruined in the process, I’ll bring it back and return it to you tomorrow.” Ye Shuang pulled on the strap of her backpack and waved wish Luo Mingxin farewell. “Alright, I’m going to leave now. I believe it won’t take long for the loss of this windbreaker to get exposed. Therefore, I’m not going to stay to create more trouble for you… Focus on your shoot. Don’t miss me, goodbye!”
“…Bye.”
After leaving the set, Ye Shuang did not get into her car. She walked around the location where the reporters were waiting for stars and walked around the fans who were there to see their idols. She reached the parking lot and stopped.
The two men who were called over by that member of staff to salvage the situation looked at each other. Based on their plan, they were supposed to follow Ye Shuang in their car and provide updates along the way. Not only had they scratched Ye Shuang’s car tires to ensure that she would be trapped on the road, they had even placed traps like fake police checks, fake roadblocks, and so on to stop Ye Shuang’s journey home. They would come up with plans to get back the thing inside the backpack to stop Ye Shuang from taking the sensitive information home.
They only needed to wait for Ye Shuang to get into her car to proceed with their plan, but the girl did not look like she was going to get into her car. Was she waiting for someone to come fetch her? They hoped not. If she wandered back to that big celebrity, things would become much larger than anticipated, and the mess would only get bigger.
The two men sat inside their cat and waited patiently. They saw the girl make a call on her phone, pull on her backpack, and start to move again. The two men recovered. They held their phones at the ready, preparing to give their boss the latest update.
But all the girl did was jog where she was as if warming up for several seconds, and with the two men’s mouth gaping open, she started to run down the street.
Jog… Run… Down the street…
Half a second later, Man A swallowed his saliva and asked in disbelief, “Has she decided to run the way home?”
“I believe so.” Man B could not believe it either, but after a pause, he added, “And not using her car.”
If she did not drive, it meant that all the fake roadblocks and the slashing of the car tires would have been completely useless. In fact, all the traps that they had prepared assuming that she was going to drive had become completely useless!
A pedestrian had a much higher degree of freedom in terms of mobility compared to drivers. As long as there was path… no, even if there was not a path, one could find their own path. This was a direct slap to the two men’s faces.
Man A had started to lose it. Thankfully, Man B was there to help. The words of consolation were meant for both himself and his partner. “Don’t panic. This place is at least ten kilometers away from Feng Yuan City. She must have another appointment nearby, or she will need to call a taxi somewhere down the street.”
Then, the two readjusted their emotions and started the car to tail her.
The car maintained a safe distance between them and the girl, driving slowly down the roads, driving past the fake police that looked at them with widened eyes of disbelief, driving past the partner who was fanning herself under the sun with a pillow stuffed under her dress as demanded of her disguise of a pregnant woman, driving past many other traps… Along the way, they even needed to get out of the car to deal with the roadblock that they had set up for Ye Shuang. They gathered their strength to move the large wooden block off the road.
And five minutes before that, the girl who had already been running for half an hour did not even slow down. When she encountered the log, she leaped over it easily like a mountain gazelle. When the two men restarted the car, they almost lost sight of the girl on account of the mess that they had made for themselves.
The longer they followed, the more shocked they became. From noisy market streets to empty deserted lanes, from city to countryside, the two men who finally lost their target due to a traffic jam finally had to admit to one unbelievable truth—this mad woman really ran all the way back to Feng Yuan City! That was too unscientific!
…
“What’s wrong with my car this time?” When Han Chu opened the door for Sister Shuang, the first thing that he asked was about his ride. “Why did you call me to arrange a tow car? Have you used my car in an illegal race or something like that?”
“Do I look like such a person to you‽” Ye Shuang exclaimed indignantly. “I’ve never broken a traffic law in my life, okay?”
Han Chu chuckled, and the condescension was written clear on his face. “Well, I wonder who it was that managed to match Yao Zhixing’s interest back at San Lin City.”
“A man should not bring up long-forgotten history. Plus, how can you not speed during a race?” Ye Shuang was stumped. “In any case, I merely thought that the elasticity of the tires did not feel right. The air pressure was a bit low, and I was afraid of the tires bursting on the way home.”
As Ye Shuang walked into the room, she removed the windbreaker from inside her backpack. “The information is probably inside this windbreaker. A traitor of the group told me that.”
Why would they trust the information given by a traitor? The answer was too simple. The information did not leak, and the traitor’s identity was not exposed—that was the best outcome for the traitor. Otherwise, whether Ye Shuang planned to hunt him down in the future or directly expose his identity to the police, the traitor would have plenty of trouble to face in the future. To put it simply, it was the choice of saving the organization’s accounts or saving himself? The choice was clear for any bad guy worth his salt.
Han Chu accepted the windbreaker and looked at Ye Shuang suspiciously. Then, he moved to the living room to clear out a large space on the floor and placed the windbreaker flat on it. He searched through the apparel inch by inch, inspecting each of its buttons, lapels, and decorations. In the end, Han Chu found one of the buttons to be twistable. He opened it and pulled out a chip that was about the size of one’s fingernail.
“I don’t have the necessary card reader.” Han Chu held the chip and studied it for a while. Then he placed it inside a pill box for safekeeping, “You’d better return this. I’ll have Tony finish his work as soon as possible and come over.”
Ye Shuang was busy sewing back the button that Han Chu had removed. She nodded and said, “Does this mean that I don’t need to return to the film set anymore?”
Han Chu answered with a nod. “There’s no reason to return since the item has been found. Even if this is a fake, your identity has already been exposed. I don’t think you’ll come up with anything even if you return… But I advise to watch over Su Zheng. She’s been wandering around for the past few days. Feng Yuan City is still not that safe, so it’s better for you to keep her next to you.”
After sewing back the button, she called Su Zheng. The latter was finding entertainment for herself daily while wandering around the streets of Feng Yuan City. She stole stuff from random people and then slipped it back…This was repeated endlessly, and she could not have been more bored.
“You have nothing else to do?” When Ye Shuang heard about the girl’s situation on the phone, she asked in disbelief, “If you’re so bored, why don’t you go and earn some money? If not, go travel. What’s the point of stealing stuff and then returning it later?”
“How am I supposed to work if you don’t arrange any task for me?” Su Zheng complained weakly. “You, Brother Han, and Brother Shuang are all busy dealing with the organization, and none of you have given me a mission. So, naturally, I’m bored.”
Ye Shuang accepted her point. She glanced at Han Chu, who was on the phone with Anthony, and closed her hand over the receiver. “Brother Han, Xiao Su wants to find something to do. What do you think is a suitable mission for her?”
Han Chu heard that and lifted his head. Then he chuckled coldly. “Her teacher is quite famous in the field, isn’t it? Other thieves have already wandered into our territory, why don’t you tell her to go and find the head of the local goons?”
You can do something like that? Ye Shuang was shocked and then delegated the task as she was told.