A storm is brewing
"Click—" The interrogation room door opened again, and Jiang Chuan Gu sat calmly on the iron stool, raising his head with no emotion in his eyes.
Director Zhao maintained his stern expression. "So, you've made up your mind?"
"Heh." Jiang Chuan Gu chuckled self-deprecatingly and said, "What can't I figure out? Do I still have a way to go?" He stared coldly at the other party, expressionless. "I'm tired. I don't want to get involved in your affairs anymore. Anyway, I can't speak on public platforms now. So be it. Whether you convict me or let me go, as long as you promise not to bother me after I leave here, I can also promise not to get involved in your affairs again. After all, I'm not a superhuman."
Director Zhao nodded, said nothing, and turned to leave.
Jiang Chuan Gu gradually sat up straight, a hidden emotion flashing in his eyes, filled with disdain and resentment.
A few minutes later, two police officers came in and questioned him seriously about the reason for the violent entry. He cooperated by covering up the part about 12th Street, only saying that he was looking for the owner of the store and was worried about the situation inside.
Finally, because there was no property damage and no personal injury, Jiangchuan Valley was released from the police station the following afternoon.
Director Zhao personally escorted him out, patted him on the shoulder and said, "Actually, if your future life doesn't involve these things, you'll be in high demand no matter what you do."
"Director Zhao," Jiang Chuangu scrutinized him, asking, "Do you know how many fans I have?"
Director Zhao: "I remember it broke 100 million, right?"
Jiangchuan Valley asked again, "Are they all my fans?"
Director Zhao didn't understand. "Why are you suddenly bringing this up?"
Jiang Chuan Gu took a few steps forward, turned around and said meaningfully, "I entered HQ at the age of 13 and entered the entertainment industry at the age of 16. I haven't relaxed for a moment in 15 years. From millions to hundreds of millions, do you know how much effort I have put in behind the scenes, how much effort my fans have put in, and how much effort Lin Chaoying has put in for me?"
Director Zhao's expression grew increasingly puzzled. "What are you trying to say? What are you trying to explain?"
“All my efforts have been easily wiped out by you.” Jiang Chuan Gu’s eyes were filled with undisguised disgust as he spoke bluntly: “If it weren’t for Lin Chao Ying, I don’t know if I would have been able to pull myself together. If it weren’t for Li Chao, I would be a corpse now, with an untraceable crystal inside my body for some unknown time. Once I leave this door, I don’t know when I will be dragged to the underworld and disemboweled.”
He scoffed with despair, "So, Director Zhao, where is my future? Where is my way out? You've inexplicably silenced me, and I'll be nailed to the list of disgraced celebrities. And how long can the underworld let me stay outside?"
Director Zhao sighed, took out his phone, tapped it a few times, and said, "I didn't mean to force you. It's just that your situation is special. I asked around, and you can rest assured that we'll take over your Weibo account for now. Your influence on this platform is too great, but it won't interfere with your normal work activities such as participating in events, filming, and releasing songs. The industry won't blacklist you."
"Live stream?" A subtle glint flashed in Jiang Chuan Gu's eyes.
Director Zhao spread his hands and said magnanimously, "Of course it won't affect anything." Seeing that Jiang Chuangu's mood had calmed down, he patted him on the back reassuringly and turned to leave.
Jiang Chuangu took out his phone, opened the contact information, and a stiff smile instantly appeared on his lips. He held it to his ear, his eyes fixed on Director Zhao's back, and said, "Director Zhou, it's been a long time. I remember there's an investment promotion event these days, right? I want to invest in your movie. Please make sure to announce my participation online, the more the better."
He heard Director Zhou's excited voice in his ear, "Gu Zi? Really? That's great! It'll be the day after tomorrow. Are you thinking of moving behind the scenes and developing your career in investment?"
Jiangchuan Valley said, "Yes, we have this intention. Thank you for making the arrangements."
Director Zhou: "That's great! I'll arrange it right away! Your presence will inspire countless new directors and actors!" He then hesitated, "But is it alright if you're banned from Weibo? We haven't received any materials explaining the specific reasons, and I haven't seen any industry commentary on the trend of removing your work."
Jiangchuan Gu explained evasively, "It's because of the company."
Director Zhou was relieved and said easily, "That's good, it's not a problem!"
He exchanged a few polite words and hung up the phone, then quickly took a taxi to the guesthouse in Hoh Xil. Zhou Pei was still wearing an apron, busily cooking in the kitchen, while Linlin was squatting in the yard, sweeping up trash. The two were bickering through the window.
When Linlin looked up and saw Jiangchuan Valley by the door, she screamed, "Jiangchuan Valley!"
Hearing the commotion, Zhou Pei ran into the yard with a shovel in hand, shouting, "Jiangchuan Valley!"
Jiangchuan Valley discovered that the entire courtyard had been renovated. Although it had only been a month since he left, it felt like an eternity had passed, as if he had lived in another world.
Linlin immediately asked anxiously, "Where's Sister Lin? Didn't you all leave together?"
"Yes," Zhou Pei said, "We can't get through to Sister Lin on the phone, and we can't find her. Has something happened to you?"
Jiangchuan Valley didn't know how to explain, so he could only say, "I need your help."
The three sat around in the courtyard, and Linlin couldn't help but ask, "Jiang Chuangu, was your Weibo account banned because of the murder case? Or is it a conflict with the company? The internet is buzzing about it."
Before he could figure out what to say, his phone vibrated. People in the group were tagging him, asking what earth-shattering things he had been up to these past two days that had caused his account to be banned. Jiang Xu even asked in the group if he needed to use his connections.
Jiangchuan Valley: [No need, I'm fine.]
He continued to say to Zhou Pei and Linlin, "None of that matters. I want you to do me a favor."
Zhou Pei said somewhat reluctantly, "I just want to know, where is Sister Lin?"
Jiang Chuan Gu's words were stuck in his throat. How could he say it? How could he explain it? Everything he knew was like a death warrant, surrounding him, chasing him, controlling him, and restraining him. Even the method he had come up with now couldn't guarantee that it would save them.
After a long silence, he said in a strained voice, "I really have no other choice. Please, don't ask. I will use everything I have to save Lin Chaoying, Qin Ming, and Kong Yue..."
"What!" Linlin was timid to begin with, and her hands trembled when she heard this.
Zhou Pei grabbed his collar aggressively, yelling, "What the hell did you say! Where did Sister Lin go?!"
Linlin's first reaction was to quickly pull out her phone, muttering, "Call the police! Call the police!"
"I just got out of the police station!" Jiang Chuangu's voice was filled with helplessness and despair, and his tone was pleading. "I really, really want to save her. My Weibo account has been banned, and this is my last resort. Please help me, okay?"
Zhou Pei released his grip. "What are you going to do?"
Jiang Chuan Gu: "Send me your identity information, I'll buy the plane tickets. I'll buy one for Changjing with my ID card, and one for Yuzhou with yours. After you go through security, you'll board the plane to Changjing, and I'll go to Yuzhou."
Zhou Pei didn't understand. "What do you mean? We'll switch flights after we go through security?"
“Yes.” Jiang Chuan Gu said, “There’s a charity live stream in Yuzhou tomorrow night, and an investment conference in Changjing the day after tomorrow. I’ll deliberately spread the word that I’m going to the investment conference, but actually I’ll be going to the place where there’s a live stream, which is Yuzhou.”
Zhou Pei: "Then what can you do if you go?"
Jiang Chuan Gu shook his head. "Don't ask me anything else. Just send me the information. We're leaving early tomorrow morning. I'll give you my contact information after we get to Changjing. Stay at my friend's place for a couple of days and come back in a week."
Linlin looked around the yard and asked cautiously, "What about me?"
Jiang Chuangu: "It's not safe here. I'll buy you tickets to Yuzhou, book a hotel, and you can come back after a week of rest." He said seriously and earnestly, "If, I mean if the police come looking for you one day, you must tell us everything I've told you, how it was planned, how money and Lin Chaoying controlled you. You have to tell us all that so that we can clear up the fact that you're just confused because you care and don't know anything."
That night, none of the three slept.
Jiang Chuangu searched through his phone but couldn't find a group photo of the five of them together. His pillow was wet with sweat. He opened Qian Fei's chat window but received no reply. He then opened the group chat window, which contained a photo of the Wu family's genealogy. Scrolling up, he found messages about what everyone had for breakfast in Taoyuan Village. He opened Lin Chaoying's chat window and found a shopping list and cute emojis.
His hands trembled more and more as he tossed and turned, his head buried deeper and deeper in the pillow, and uncontrollable sobs escaped his lips.
Suddenly, his phone vibrated. Jiang Chuangu wiped away his tears, sat up, and saw that it was a message from Lin Chaoying's father, Lin Guan: "[Hello, Xiao Jiang, we haven't been able to contact our daughter. We don't know if she's busy. If she has time, we sincerely hope she can call her mother back. Please forgive us for disturbing you so late; her mother hasn't been feeling well lately and misses her daughter a lot.]"
After taking a deep breath, he paced back and forth in the room, struggling to find the right words to reassure him. Finally, he stood by the window and gazed at the distant mountains.
The phone vibrated again and again. Jiang Chuan Gu stared blankly at the caller ID: [Lin Chao Ying's Father]
He answered the phone with trembling hands. Lin Guan's cautious voice came from the other end: "Hello, Jiang, I'm Lin Chaoying's father. We saw you were typing in the chat box, so we took the liberty of calling you directly."
Jiangchuan Valley: "Uncle...."
A woman's urgent voice came from the other end of the line, "Hey! Hello, I'm Lin Chaoying's mother, Lin Yang. We met before, I'm... I haven't been sleeping well lately..." Her voice trailed off, "How is my daughter?"
"Okay." Jiang Chuangu tried to control his emotions and forced a relaxed tone. "Uncle and Aunt, the guesthouse is under renovation these days. Aying's phone was accidentally broken and she's asleep now. Our flight is tomorrow, so we probably won't be able to contact her. I'll definitely ask her to call you back as soon as we land the day after tomorrow or the day after that!"
After a moment of silence, Lin Guan spoke up: "Okay, okay, then I won't bother you anymore. It's so late, you should get some rest."
After hanging up the phone, Jiang Chuan Gu collapsed to the ground as if all his strength had been drained.
Lin Yang and Lin Guan sat in the car, looking out the window at the gate of Wu Family Manor. Dark clouds covered the entire sky, making it feel particularly oppressive.
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