Chapter 37 Disheveled

Geng Jiali reacted quickly, taking a few steps up the stairs and looking up to find the person's back. But the other person was faster than her and disappeared without a trace, without making a sound. She had no idea which floor the other person had left from.

Reaching the last floor, she calmed down, her chest burning with pain, and a metallic taste filling her throat.

After a while, Geng Jiali, her legs weak, slowly walked down.

Zhuo Qiyun and Zhuang Yexue stood panting on the next floor. One was holding onto the iron railing, and the other was leaning against the wall looking up. They both looked exhausted, with sweat sticking to their foreheads.

"How was it?" Zhuo Qiyun asked as she came downstairs, "Did you see anything?"

Geng Jiali shook her head, too weak to speak. The steps were too dirty, so she didn't sit down. Instead, she leaned against the wall and after a long while, she slowly guessed, "We can only rule out Liang Kongxiang."

After all, she was lying in a hospital bed, how could she run away with her injuries like that?

Thinking of Liang Kongxiang, Zhuo Qiyun suddenly had a terrible intuition, and she processed it alone for two seconds without daring to say it aloud. Just as she was about to ask what to do, Zhuang Yexue spoke up.

"It might be Jiang Jiaoming."

Upon hearing this, Zhuo Qiyun's heart pounded again, and she immediately pressed for an answer, her gaze intense: "What do you mean?" If it really was Jiang Jiaoming, then their lives were truly in grave danger.

“Footsteps,” Zhuang Yexue said.

Geng Jiali sneered again, looking at her: "Enough already, stop scaring yourself. You might as well find a solution."

"Teacher Geng, this matter has nothing to do with me. You know the truth perfectly well." Zhuang Yexue distanced herself from the situation and ignored her attempt to blackmail her.

"Really?" Geng Jiali reverted to her usual sharp tongue. "Then why did you chase after me like a lapdog? Did you switch careers halfway to the hospital to practice track and field?"

The stairwell was quiet for a few seconds. Zhuo Qiyun frowned and hesitated before speaking to Geng Jiali, "...But you can run faster than Teacher Zhuang."

“Yes,” Zhuang Yexue smiled, “Teacher Geng excels at everything he does, even if he’s a dog, he’s the best of all the pugs.”

Zhuo Qiyun shook her head and clicked her tongue twice, secretly giving Zhuang Yexue a thumbs up. What a brave soul.

Geng Jiali glanced down at it, stormed downstairs, and accidentally bumped into Zhuo Qiyun's arm as she passed by.

Zhuo Qiyun's arm, which was pressed against the outside of her thigh, was jolted back for a second by the impact. She was stunned and stared at Geng Jiali's back in disbelief.

Why am I always the one who gets hurt?!

“Let’s go,” Zhuang Yexue followed her downstairs. “Let’s first find out who in the hospital can understand Chinese. Maybe they’re not in the entertainment industry…” She turned back to Zhuo Qiyun and asked, “Do you know anyone in the area?”

"What's wrong?"

“Check the surveillance footage,” Zhuang Yexue glanced at the time on her phone. “There aren’t many people around at this time, so it’s easy to pinpoint the target.”

Zhuo Qiyun thought it was unlikely. "I'm not familiar with this at all. Asking Jiali might be a little more feasible."

Zhuang Yexue nodded and quickened her pace.

To be honest, she could have chosen not to get involved in today's events, but if it really was Jiang Jiaoming who came...

She wasn't sure how much he had overheard. If he easily took away her last bit of leverage, how could she negotiate with him? Furthermore, what if he only heard some misleading conversations and mistakenly thought she was in cahoots with Geng Jiali?

This was a completely unexpected disaster.

Zhuang Yexue pushed the door open with too much force, and the door opened and closed heavily.

Geng Jiali heard footsteps behind her and slowed down. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of Zhuang Yexue's calves.

She didn't say anything and walked to the end of the empty corridor, and Zhuang Yexue followed her.

"What is it?" Geng Jiali asked, turning around with a calm expression.

“Arguing is pointless and won’t solve anything.” Zhuang Yexue’s purpose was clear. “The current approach is twofold: first, have someone find out who is eavesdropping; second, immediately return to the ward and test Jiang Jiaoming’s attitude.”

Anyway, the entire floor is only two floors away from Liang Kongxiang's ward, so these two methods can be used together.

They temporarily stopped their infighting and discussed how to probe each other.

"Maybe I should go back first." Zhuo Qiyun felt a pang of conscience and didn't want to get involved any further, especially since she was close to Liang Kongxiang. On one side was her childhood sweetheart, a venomous devil she'd practically grown up with, and on the other was her beautiful and kind-hearted best friend... She sighed.

"Be careful not to drown if you get off the boat halfway through the journey." Seeing Zhuo Qiyun's cowardly appearance, Geng Jiali sneered and reminded her, "Even if you try to distance yourself from us, do you think she'll believe you?"

"Then how are you going to explain to her that you have nothing to do with what happened today?" Zhuo Qiyun was also a little angry. It was one thing for Geng Jiali's team to smear other artists, but she really couldn't tolerate it when it came to matters involving life and safety. If Geng Jiali didn't turn back, she was really afraid that one day Geng Jiali would be trending on social media again with news of her going to jail.

Geng Jiali's face was pale. She wanted to say something but held back, frowning slightly. "Alright, stop criticizing me." She pushed Zhuo Qiyun, causing her to stumble forward, but then pulled her back in time. "Let's go to the ward."

Zhuo Qiyun: "..."

She led the way, with Geng Jiali and Zhuang Yexue following behind her.

The three of them silently made their way up two floors, stopping in unison a few steps from the ward. They were all actors; this time they had to give it their all to deal with the person in the ward.

Zhuo Qiyun shook her head, adjusted her state, and immediately switched back to her brainless persona, trying to forget the information she had just received.

Bang!

"Oh my God!" She quickly closed the door, turned around, turned her back to the ward, covered her eyes, her eyes wide open through her fingers, her face full of terror.

Geng Jiali frowned: "What's wrong with you?" She pushed aside the useless thing standing in front of her and pushed open the door herself.

Jiang Jiaoming had just stood up from in front of Liang Kongxiang, his collar disheveled, and glanced back with a cold look in his eyes.

Liang Kongxiang's pale face flushed slightly as she turned her head to look out the window, unusually rudely failing to greet them.

A man and a woman, one disheveled, the other blushing shyly.

It goes without saying what just happened here.

Geng Jiali stood at the doorway and looked for two seconds.

"What is it?" Jiang Jiaoming's tone was not pleasant, showing annoyance at being interrupted.

"Excuse me, Mr. Jiang." Geng Jiali walked over, meeting his sharp gaze. "I ran into Teacher Zhuang downstairs, chatted for a bit, and was planning to come up here to see Teacher Liang together." After she finished speaking, she turned around, and Zhuo Qiyun and the others also came over.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I should have knocked first. My bad, my bad." Zhuo Qiyun blushed deeply, clasped her hands together and kept begging, looking quite pitiful.

Liang Kongxiang smiled helplessly, "Why are you the one who's embarrassed first?"

Zhuo Qiyun twitched the corners of her mouth, chuckled awkwardly twice, rubbed her face, and said somewhat dejectedly, "It's just that I haven't seen many people dating in front of me."

Her eyes darted around, unsure of where to look, hiding her guilt in her embarrassment, so no one could tell that something was wrong with her.

“You two chat,” Jiang Jiaoming suddenly said. He pinched Liang Kongxiang’s cheek. “I’ll go buy you breakfast.”

The door closed, and Zhuang Yexue and Geng Jiali exchanged a knowing glance and began to think of a solution.

With Jiang Jiaoming, this key figure, gone, how can they possibly probe further? Liang Kongxiang seems to know...

However, Zhuang Yexue wasn't in such a hurry; it was Geng Jiali who was panicking. She glanced at Geng Jiali's expression without making a sound, and noticed that she was in a daze. She frowned slightly and was about to say something when Liang Kongxiang called out, "Teacher Zhuang."

She was taken aback. She stared at her.

Liang Kongxiang said gently, "Thank you for reminding me this morning that there was something dirty. I didn't look carefully before." She pointed to the crumpled toilet paper on the table, "I just wiped it clean."

Almost instantly, Zhuang Yexue keenly sensed Liang Kongxiang's unspoken meaning. Even the usually calm and rational person couldn't help but show a hint of panic, like an arrow piercing her throat, a dull pain, her upper head went numb, her thoughts froze for two seconds, and she still stared at her.

Liang Kongxiang found out? How did she suddenly realize that? Could it be that the person just now really was Jiang Jiaoming?

Before she could speak, Geng Jiali suddenly rummaged through her bag, frowned, and asked Zhuo Qiyun, "Have you seen my phone?"

"Huh?" Zhuo Qiyun knelt on the leather sofa and opened the window. A breeze carrying the smell of grass wafted in, making the ward much more ventilated.

Hearing Geng Jiali's question, she turned around, and immediately, realizing what she meant, crossed her arms and glared at her warily, afraid that she would turn the tables on her: "Let me tell you! Don't try to pin this on me, I don't care about your phone!"

Liang Kongxiang tapped the mattress rhythmically with her hand hanging by the hospital bed.

The real show is about to begin.

She frowned slightly, joining in and guiding the conversation: "Could it have been left at the hotel?"

"No." Geng Jiali said, emptying her bag of everything: data cables, earphones, lipstick, cushion foundation, and a small mirror, but she couldn't find her phone. "I even texted my manager when I went downstairs just now."

"Don't worry," Liang Kongxiang said gently. "They're both in the hospital, they can't be lost anywhere. If you don't find them within 24 hours, report the important items as lost."

Geng Jiali stuffed all the things she had found back into the zipper, pulled it up tightly. Losing the phone was a small matter; "the cardholder is magnetically attached to the back of the phone."

"Really!" Zhuo Qiyun also got anxious and stood up from the sofa. "Then hurry up and look for her. I'll call you and see if I can hear her!" After she finished speaking, she immediately took out her phone and found Geng Jiali's number and dialed it.

“It’s no use,” Geng Jiali said. “I’m used to being on silent.”

"You..." Zhuo Qiyun said with exasperation, "Why do you always mess things up at crucial moments? What are we going to do now?"

“Think about when you last saw your phone,” Liang Kongxiang suggested. “Think about where you’ve been and where you might have put it down while talking.”

The door was suddenly pushed open again with a creak, and the four people looked in the direction of the sound.

Jiang Jiaoming walked in, one hand holding a brown paper bag against the door, the other holding a hot dog. He glanced at Geng Jiali's serious expression and then asked unhurriedly, "What happened?"

He placed the paper bag on the small round table, naturally handed the hot dog to Liang Kongxiang, took out some bread for himself, lowered his head to bite into it, and sat down in the chair.

“Jiali lost her phone,” Liang Kongxiang said, putting the hot dog in a box. She didn’t have an appetite for the time being.

"Lost your phone?" Jiang Jiaoming turned to look at Geng Jiali and commented casually, "That's quite troublesome."

Geng Jiali rolled her eyes inwardly. Nonsense. She then began to consider Jiang Jiaoming's suspicions and possibilities. His reaction was so cold, showing no sign of guilt, and he had just been flirting with Liang Kongxiang. Geng Jiali figured it was unlikely to be him. But even if there was only a one in ten thousand chance, she had to confirm it. After all, if it were true, she would basically be doomed.

“We need to act quickly,” Zhuang Yexue continued her theatrical performance: “This isn’t China, we might have been stolen… otherwise, we would have heard it falling to the ground.”

“It should be the path from the stairwell to the corridor, most likely the corridor.” Following Zhuo Qiyun’s words, Geng Jiali asked Jiang Jiaoming, “Mr. Jiang, can we check the surveillance footage here?”

“How would I know?” Jiang Jiaoming smiled. “I only manage the film crew, I’m not an official in Xisa Port.”

Under Jiang Jiaoming's gaze, Geng Jiali slowly frowned, as if recalling and confirming, and then hummed in agreement.

She looked at Jiang Jiaoming and said, "Let's start the investigation from the stairwell."

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Author's Note: I'll be giving out red envelopes in the comments section today and tomorrow! Be there on time! (o^^o)

One more chapter of the story, and tomorrow will be all sweetness and joy!