Chapter 43 Misunderstanding is not a misunderstanding
Qiao Zheng: ...
After Qiao Zheng hung up the phone, Xu Xunzhen asked in surprise, "Qiao Zheng, why is your face red?"
Qiao Zheng said expressionlessly, "Maybe it's too hot."
Xu Xunzhen glanced at the 22℃ displayed on the indoor thermometer and hygrometer, then looked at the goose bumps on his arms, his face full of confusion.
Qiao Zheng searched through her address book, found Li Tianyi's contact information, and called her. "Are you free recently? I have something important to discuss in person. Okay. The sooner the better, today is fine. Qiao Zhizheng isn't coming, so it'll just be you and me."
The two met in a private room in a City Garden Cafe. The environment was quiet, the room was soundproofed and private.
Compared to Qiao Zhizheng, the relationship between Qiao Zheng and Li Tianyi seemed ordinary. Apart from the necessary interactions within the crew, the two did not have much private interaction. Li Tianyi was obviously confused about Qiao Zheng asking her out.
What could be the important thing that Qiao Zheng mentioned?
When Li Tianyi opened the door of the box, Qiao Zheng had been sitting there for a while. There were several plates of exquisite small cakes and a pot of scented tea on the table. Everything was ready, and she looked like she was ready for a long talk.
Qiao Zheng asked Li Tianyi, "Did you go to the bathroom?"
Li Tianyi blinked, not reacting for a moment, then nodded, "I went before I came here."
"Do you want to go now?"
"No. Why are you asking?"
"You might not have a bathroom break next."
After hearing this, Li Tianyi became even more curious, "What exactly is going on?"
Qiao Zhizheng handed her a stack of information and said, "Take a look first."
Li Tianyi sat down, and the first piece of information that caught his eye was eight eye-catching characters: famous actress fell to her death naked.
Li Tianyi's originally relaxed attitude disappeared, and he stopped looking through the documents seriously.
This pile of information comes from various print media, spanning a long period of time, and involves all aspects of the entertainment industry and various glamorous professions, which appear to be unrelated on the surface.
Li Tianyi flipped through the documents and asked Qiao Zheng without even looking up, "You must have a purpose for putting these together. How do these things connect?"
Qiao Zheng explained to her, "Don't you find that these things have something in common?"
Amid the rustling of pages, Li Tianyi said with a hint of understanding, "It's always when you're at your peak that you fall to the bottom."
They may die or be injured, or they may quickly fade into obscurity due to a sudden scandal and regretfully retire from the entertainment industry.
The word "star", as the name suggests, means bright stars. The stars shine brightly, but some people can't stand it and want to pull them down from the sky and press them into the mud.
Li Tianyi speculated, "It was done by the same person or the same group of people."
"That's right," Qiao Zheng raised her wrist and checked the time on her watch. "Qiao Zhizheng should have discovered something."
As soon as Qiao Zheng finished speaking, her phone vibrated and the incoming call contact showed Qiao Zhizheng.
As soon as the call was connected, Qiao Zhizheng couldn't wait to share her discovery. "There was a camera live-streaming the entire audition. I asked the staff what was going on, and they said it was for the producer who wasn't there to see the actors' performance. The director's phone kept showing that he was busy."
"Another strange thing is that after I finished performing the part I was selected for, he said I had great hope. I secretly asked a few other actors who had finished the audition and found that the director had told them the same thing."
"It feels to me like..."
Qiao Zhizheng felt strange, but it was difficult to describe the feeling specifically.
Qiao Zheng refined and refined her uncertain description, saying, "The director doesn't have the final say; someone else decided on this role."
Qiao Zhizheng's eyes lit up, and he said with certainty, "Yes, that's it."
"Okay, I know where you are now."
"Where else can I go? I'm on the way back to the company in the nanny car. Both sides have to wait for the audition results. I'm going to go back and prepare for the variety show first."
"Let's have dinner together tonight."
Qiao Zhizheng cheered when she heard that. "Great! Where are you? I'll pick you up when the time comes."
Qiao Zheng guessed her thoughts in a second, "You don't want me to pick you up, because you think my car is too flashy?"
Qiao Zhizheng chuckled, "I'm a bit famous after all, so it's always good to keep a low profile."
Qiao Zheng: "Hmph! I'll send you the address later. I have something else to do, so I'll hang up first."
"Hmmmm."
Li Tianyi looked at Qiao Zheng in confusion, "Do you two usually get along like this?"
It felt like the moment Qiao Zheng answered the phone, the atmosphere between her and Qiao Zhizheng immediately changed, becoming incompatible with the outside world. Or rather, the two of them formed a world of their own, and everything outside of them became incompatible with them.
Qiao Zheng nodded calmly, "Yes. Let's get down to business first."
"This person's past deeds were suppressed, and he fled abroad. Recently, it seems that he is planning to return to China to continue harming people."
Li Tianyi listened attentively to Qiao Zheng's words as she narrated, "...his favorite thing was to humiliate people when they were at their peak, to pull them down from their high places and watch them fawn over him."
After Qiao Zheng finished speaking, she fell silent, staring at a corner of the smooth table, lost in thought and with a fixed gaze.
Li Tianyi was furious. "Is this guy a psychopath? Didn't anyone who was bullied by him report it to the police?"
Qiao Zheng came back to her senses and the breath she had been holding unconsciously suddenly relaxed. The lights in the box were turned off the moment Qiao Zheng entered. It was a cloudy day today, so the light was naturally dim. Li Tianyi did not notice that Qiao Zheng's face was particularly pale.
Qiao Zheng tried to keep her voice steady. "He has a physical disability that makes it difficult for him to react naturally. He rarely sexually assaults others, but usually resorts to physical abuse, verbal abuse, or character assassination. He plans ahead of time and uses threats to control the important people around his targets to force their compliance."
Li Tianyi looked at Qiao Zheng deeply, "How do you know so much?"
"I'm not in a position to reveal this. I called you here today mainly to tell you that there's a girl who has evidence of his crimes. He's currently unaware of this. She's trying to dissuade other actresses from falling for him, and she'll likely be in his sights soon. Finding and protecting her is our top priority."
Li Tianyi nodded, "Okay, I'll make the arrangements."
After saying that, he immediately reacted and looked at Qiao Zheng suspiciously, "Do you know that I am..."
Qiao Zheng pointed upwards and said, "I know you are the only one around me who has the ability and the idea to deal with this matter seriously."
"You know me well? I don't think we have much in common, do we?"
Qiao Zheng smiled and said nothing.
"Who is that person you are talking about?"
"His original name is Feng Chuanbai, his current name is Murong Bo, and his English name is Felix. He's in the UK and will probably return to China soon. He's the illegitimate son and only child of the owner of Huaxi Industrial."
Huaxi Industry is a large listed company in China, involved in multiple fields - biomedicine, entertainment, automobiles, new materials, etc. The company has many subsidiaries with a wide range of coverage and great influence.
Zhuo Dahai, the boss of Huaxi Industry, dotes on his only son very much, counting on him to carry on the family business and keep the ancestral business. Even though his son is willful and useless, Zhuo Dahai is still willing to work hard to clean up the evil deeds he has done. Because he has done so many evil things that it is almost impossible to hide them, Zhuo Dahai sent Murong Bo abroad to avoid the limelight.
Zhuo Dahai never imagined that his son was so evil to the core. He couldn't touch those famous stars in the foreign entertainment circle, so he always paid attention to the domestic entertainment circle. Once he was interested in someone, Murong Bo would be ready to take action. He remotely controlled the people to cooperate with his ideas and planned to return home early without telling Zhuo Dahai.
"Okay, I'll go back and discuss it with my family."
Qiao Zheng tried to eliminate all doubts between her and Li Tianyi and strengthen their trust. She took the initiative to ask Li Tianyi, "Do you trust me so directly? Aren't you afraid that I'm a trap set by your rivals to trick you into falling into? If that happens, you'll lose both the wife and the army."
Li Tianyi crossed his arms and smiled brightly. "Personally, we are friends. I wouldn't misjudge you. You're not the kind of person who would be tempted by fame and fortune to harm others. Publicly, it's fine if I didn't know about this. Now that I know, whether it's true or not, I'm going to investigate thoroughly, give an explanation to those who have suffered injustice, and prevent more people from suffering injustice."
Qiao Zheng handed this matter over to Li Tianyi after careful consideration. Qiao Zheng could not shake Zhuo Dahai behind Murong Bo, and it was even more difficult to shake the big tree behind Zhuo Dahai. Handing it over to Li Tianyi was the best choice after she thought about it. No matter whether it was Li Tianyi in Qiao Zheng's timeline or Li Tianyi in the current timeline, they were both Li Tianyi who was not afraid of hardships and strived to clean up the social atmosphere and fight injustice!
Qiao Zheng said sincerely, "I hope there will be more people like you, and that you will reach higher and higher positions."
Li Tianyi raised his glass, "Thank you for your good words, you are not bad."
Qiao Zheng raised her glass in response.
What was shaking in the cup was not clear wine, but rich and sweet coffee, but there was an invisible light flowing in the hearts of the two people.
Li Tianyi said goodbye to Qiao Zheng, "If there's any new developments, feel free to contact me."
Qiao Zheng agreed, "Okay. Don't tell Qiao Zhizheng about this."
"Isn't she already involved?"
"This time I had no choice, it won't happen again in the future. Just let her focus on filming."
Li Tianyi's brows twitched slightly, as if she was thinking about something. No one knew what she was thinking about. Qiao Zheng saw that she looked like she had suddenly understood something, "Okay, okay, I understand."
Li Tianyi patted Qiao Zheng on the shoulder with a meaningful look on his face. "With all your good intentions and loyal protection, I hope you'll finally see the moon when the clouds clear."
Qiao Zheng knew that Li Tianyi had misunderstood, but she didn't know where to start explaining.
Even when Qiao Zhizheng picked up Qiao Zheng and they were on their way to the restaurant, Qiao Zheng's brows were still tightly furrowed, and she looked a little distressed.
There is wind but no moon tonight, and the shadows of the trees are being shaken violently by the wind, ready to fall onto the car body at any moment.
Such a scene made people feel depressed, so Qiao Zheng simply closed her eyes and refused to look.
The lights in the dim carriage were not on, and Qiao Zheng's face looked soft and calm in the dim light.
While waiting for the traffic light, Qiao Zhizheng's fingers traced her eyebrows and eyes less than an inch away from her cheek, and the hot heat from his fingertips seemed to fall on Qiao Zheng's skin.
But this was Qiao Zheng's illusion. Qiao Zhizheng's fingers were always kept at a polite distance, and his eyes lingered on Qiao Zheng's face without any sense of distance as his fingertips moved.
Qiao Zheng didn't like this feeling of being neither up nor down, and thought to herself, if I want to touch it, I will touch it, if I don't want to touch it, I won't touch it. What's the point of almost touching it but not touching it at the same time?
Qiao Zhizheng's fingers didn't fall in the end.
The green light came on and the traffic moved forward. The moment Qiao Zhizheng withdrew her fingers, she still felt a little empty in her heart.
——Perhaps, Li Tianyi did not misunderstand.
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The author has something to say: Qiao Mei: [starry eyes][starry eyes][starry eyes]
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