Villa on the mountainside.
Lu Ming and Su Wanran happily returned home. Upon seeing their joyful expressions, Jiang Mengxin couldn't help but tease, "Hey, hey, hey, can you two be mindful of your personal space? Anyone seeing you would think you're a married couple."
The more she said, the more Su Wanran deliberately wrapped her arms around Lu Ming's, "Nyah nyah, I just want to be close, make you mad."
The matriarch of the Su family, acting like a child who hadn't grown up, was truly exasperating.
Jiang Mengxin rolled her eyes and asked, "What exactly did you two do? I heard you sent the Old Madam to the hospital? You two went too far."
Su Wanran chuckled, "Too far? We were already very polite, okay?"
Just then, Lu Ming's phone rang, receiving a text message.
He opened it and saw it was from Shen Ziyin, with just two words: Important!
Although it didn't explicitly state the matter, these two words indicated its gravity. After all, Shen Ziyin was Lu Ming's mole planted beside Fan Xiaoyun!
Anything Shen Ziyin deemed important must be related to the child.
Lu Ming's initial purpose for coming to Wudu was for the child!
He quietly put away his phone and said, "A friend has invited me for dinner, I need to go out for a bit. You two eat lunch yourselves."
Huh?
The two women exchanged glances and frowned simultaneously.
Su Wanran said, "Lu Ming, you're acting stranger and stranger. You've been going out quite frequently lately. You always talk about friends, but what kind of friends? Can we meet them too?"
Lu Ming spread his hands, "Just some childhood friends."
"Childhood friends? Male or female?" Jiang Mengxin pressed.
"Male!"
"Really? What are their names, what do they do, how old are they, where are you meeting, and what are you eating?" Jiang Mengxin's rapid-fire questions completely stumped Lu Ming.
At times like these, lying was the worst option.
The slightest slip-up would make them disbelieve everything he said in the future.
But he couldn't tell the whole truth either.
The best solution was to speak in halves.
Tell the truth, but don't reveal everything, so they couldn't find any evidence of deception, nor would they know his true intentions.
This was the art of conversation.
Lu Ming coughed and said, "My friend has a rather unique identity and profession. I actually didn't want to tell you."
The more he said this, the more curious they became.
Su Wanran asked with a smile, "What can't be said? Quickly, quickly, tell us, what does your friend do?"
Under the barrage of questions from the two women, Lu Ming finally revealed a name.
"Shen Ziyin, my friend's name is Shen Ziyin."
Shen Ziyin?
Jiang Mengxin had no reaction; she had never heard this name before.
But!
Su Wanran was different.
As a native of Wudu, she was aware of most of the city's affairs, let alone the widely known matter of Fan Xiaoyun keeping a gigolo.
And Shen Ziyin was one of Fan Xiaoyun's 'husbands'!
"Shen Ziyin? The Shen Ziyin who is with Fan Xiaoyun?" Su Wanran asked in disbelief.
Lu Ming nodded affirmatively, "Yes, it's him. Because of his unique profession, I usually don't tell anyone when I meet him. He hasn't had an easy life over the years, with no friends. Since I came to Wudu, he often reaches out to chat and confide in me."
Su Wanran nodded seriously and said, "His job is indeed not easy."
Jiang Mengxin was completely bewildered by their conversation.
"You've been talking for a while, but who exactly is Shen Ziyin? What does he do? And why does Wanran know Lu Ming's friend? What have you two been up to behind my back?" Jiang Mengxin asked.
Seeing Jiang Mengxin's anxious look, Su Wanran burst into laughter. Then, she walked over to Jiang Mengxin and whispered a few words in her ear, briefly introducing Shen Ziyin.
After listening, Jiang Mengxin's face turned slightly red.
"Uh..." Jiang Mengxin said somewhat awkwardly, "Lu Ming, I honestly didn't expect you to have a friend like that. No wonder you were embarrassed to tell us. Alright, you can go. Oh, by the way, do you want to bring him some goji berries, red dates, or ginseng to supplement his health? After all, his job isn't easy; it's physically demanding."
Lu Ming waved his hand, "No need, he has plenty of supplements over there."
Jiang Mengxin nodded repeatedly, "That's true, Fan Xiaoyun is so rich, she wouldn't mistreat him."
Afterward, Lu Ming changed into casual clothes and went out to meet Shen Ziyin.
Watching Lu Ming leave, Jiang Mengxin said with a sigh, "Alas, Wanran, you see, people really have it tough. A man selling his body for money, alas, it's tragic."
...
An hour later, KTV, SVIP room.
Lu Ming pushed open the door and walked in. Shen Ziyin had been waiting for a long time.
As soon as Lu Ming entered, Shen Ziyin immediately asked the hostesses in the room to leave and personally closed the door.
"Mr. Lu!" Shen Ziyin leaned in, "As you predicted, there is a child at Chenghong Tower!"
Upon hearing this, Lu Ming's heart trembled fiercely, and a golden light shot from his eyes. It's here, it's finally here!
After such a long time, Lu Ming had finally received a useful piece of information.
However, he suppressed his inner joy and asked, "How do you know there's a child?"
Shen Ziyin lowered his voice and whispered, "It's like this, after Fan Xiaoyun returned yesterday afternoon..."
He recounted the child's escape from the previous day.
Along with it, he also showed Lu Ming the secretly taken photos, in which a child was clearly visible, along with Professor Ren Jiang chasing the child.
Looking at the photos, Lu Ming identified them carefully.
The little girl in the photo was not his goddaughter Chen Xian, but her appearance bore some resemblance to Chen Xian, and her age seemed to be around five years old.
It seemed Fan Xiaoyun had a standard for looking for children.
Following this, Shen Ziyin continued, "The child looked very distressed. This person in the white coat must have done something very cruel to the child! Also, this man could use the exclusive elevator that only Fan Xiaoyun could use!"
This information was crucial.
Lu Ming asked, "Which floor does the elevator lead to?"
"The 6th floor, which is the top floor," Shen Ziyin said. "People like us can only move around on floors 1-4. The 5th floor is Fan Xiaoyun's private resting space, which we can occasionally access. But the 6th floor, no one has ever been there except Fan Xiaoyun. Yet the man in the white coat in the photo can go to the 6th floor!"
This suggested that the 6th floor held significant secrets.
The man in the white coat took the child into the exclusive elevator, which meant he took the child to the 6th floor. Therefore, the probability of other children, including Chen Xian, being on the 6th floor was 99.99999%!
Lu Ming narrowed his eyes and said, "We are very close to the truth."