When Lin Kerou arrived home, she sent Mu Xichen a text message.
The general content was to tell him that it was all his fault, and that the matter had been exposed.
The text was long and full of blame and complaints.
Apparently, he was busy.
She only received a reply after more than an hour: No one forced you.
Lin Kerou was speechless.
True, no one forced her.
She was the one who weighed the pros and cons, and made the decision to collaborate with Mu Xichen. That was all.
Mu Xichen went to Ming City for a day and returned.
Since Li Beinian was filming the shampoo advertisement, she had to wash her hair.
The shampoo commercial had to be delayed for a day because of her period. The first day was only for the rehearsal.
Hence when Mu Xichen returned, it was a busy time for Li Beinian.
Besides, Old Mr. Li seemed to have sensed something was going on, and insisted that Li Beinian came back to the old residence to stay.
Hence, Li Beinian filmed in the day, and returned to Qian Zhou at night to play the erhu or chess with her grandfather.
On the second day of her stay at home, Li Beinian casually mentioned that she might go to Tongzhou to meet Mu Xichen’s grandfather.
Unexpectedly, Old Master Li saw this as an important occasion.
That night, he pulled Li Beinian aside and warned her about many things, in preparation for the occasion.
Old Master Li had a few long-time friends of high position in the army.
Military families were different from outsiders. The more traditional the rules were, the more demanding they were with themselves and others.
Old Master Li had instructed her on many things and spoke with her at length. Not only was the information too much for Li Beinian to take in, it also made her panic.
That night, she lost sleep.
She woke up the next day with magnificent dark circles under her eyes.
It was normal for her to have dark circles, but it was never this serious.
Cheng Su got such a fright that she quickly put on makeup to conceal it.
For the next three days, work kept Li Beinian busy.
It had been four days since Mu Xichen went on a business trip to Ming City.
After filming completion was announced, Li Beinian finally stretched her back and relaxed a little.
It was a Saturday afternoon.
It would take only about two hours to get to Tongzhou. When she arrived, she’d get to see Mu Xichen’s other cousin besides Shengyun.
With that intent, she was about to call Mu Xichen when a call came in.
It was Chi Hailang.
Ever since Chi Hailang got into trouble, he had been too ashamed to call her.
Apart from Li Beinian occasionally sending him a few messages to check on things, the two of them had not been in contact.
Instead, she had been growing closer with Tang Xiaoge. Recently, she heard that Chi Hailang had brought Lin Yuxin home for a meal.
Li Beinian picked up the call and smiled lazily as she spoke, “Hello?”
“Hey, girl.” He spoke in fluent English with a strong New York accent. This was followed by crappy Chinese. “Let’s play a game.”
The familiar voice seemed to cause a sudden shift in her state of mind.
Another strangely familiar scene appeared in Li Beinian’s head.
She was fleeing in a panic in tattered clothes, and kept looking behind her.
However, she was surrounded by tall and strong mercenaries and had nowhere to run.
She was captured. A foreign man picked her up with ease, and threw her into the back of the car.
When she awoke, she found herself blindfolded and could only hear the noise of pounding.
She was in a dark world that reeked of mold. Rats were everywhere and there was a clamor.
The sound of alcohol bottles and steel pipes colliding, and women screaming in pleasure told her that it was an unconventional party.
However, she had no idea what it was exactly.
Then, her mouth was pried open and her tongue was pulled out.
Before she lost consciousness, this was the same voice that had said, “Pitiful.”