Jianghai, the top floor of the Feitian Group Building.
In addition to a reception room, conference room, and lounge, there's also a spacious, brightly lit office. This is the office of the chairman and CEO of Feitian Group, also known as Liu Xiangli's office!
Liu Xiangli has been missing for half a month. Although the office is cleaned every day, it has become eerily desolate.
Liu Xiangli's secretary, also her close childhood friend, Xuan Bingbing, stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window for a long time.
Her pretty face slightly adorned with makeup, yet it could not conceal her pallor; her eyes were filled with bloodshot veins, clearly caused by a lack of sleep.
It was evident that she was anxious and worried about Liu Xiangli.
The year Xuan Bingbing turned four, her parents died in a car accident, and she became an orphan.
Later, she was sent to an orphanage. During that time, some people proposed to adopt her, yet her aloof nature discouraged them, and they all eventually gave up.
It wasn't until she turned eight that Liu Tianfei appeared.
Liu Tianfei, the former chairman of Feitian Group!
He was also Liu Xiangli's grandfather!
The parents of Liu Xiangli had also died in a car accident.
Essentially an active and lovely child, Liu Xiangli became quiet after the accident, which worried Liu Tianfei. Fearing that her character would become even more withdrawn and would affect her growth, he visited the orphanage intending to adopt a child of similar age to keep his granddaughter company; hence he chose Xuan Bingbing.
The two kids, connected by shared fate, became inseparable, like sisters. They grew up together, comforted each other, and managed to move on from the loss of their parents with mutual love.
Liu Tianfei treated Xuan Bingbing like his own. Without the Liu Family, there would be no Xuan Bingbing as she is now. Thus, the depth of Xuan Bingbing's affection for the Liu Family and for Liu Xiangli can be imagined.
Three years ago, Liu Tianfei suddenly fell ill and became bedridden, with no consciousness to date – a state referred to as vegetative.
Meanwhile, Liu Xiangli's younger sister, residing abroad, remains unaware of her sister's disappearance. Thus, the person most worried about Liu Xiangli now is Xuan Bingbing.
Ever since Liu Xiangli disappeared, the Feitian Group has been in chaos. In addition to constantly worrying about Liu Xiangli, losing her appetite, and suffering from insomnia, Xuan Bingbing also had to manage the Group on behalf of Liu Xiangli, a task that was both literally and figuratively hair-raising. Her hair loss was so severe that she had to hide it with a hat for the time being. If this continues, she might even go bald.
However, at this point, Xuan Bingbing could hardly care about her own hair; finding Liu Xiangli was what mattered.
The police, despite their repeated efforts to increase forces, have so far found no clue.
The thought of this made Xuan Bingbing burned with impatience, causing her vision to blur and she almost faints.
Leaning against the wall, she called Liu Xiangli's mobile number once again, clinging onto a glimmer of hope.
Over the past several days, she had called countless times. Yet every time, all she received was the infuriating shutdown prompt.
Suddenly, a strange number called her!
This was Xuan Bingbing's private number, known to only a handful of close friends.
In the past, she would have ignored such unknown numbers. But now, what if it was Liu Xiangli calling?
Although the chances were slim, there was always a what if.
Xuan Bingbing hurriedly answered the call, only to be extremely disappointed that it was a man on the other end, not Liu Xiangli. If it wasn't Liu Xiangli, could it be the kidnapper? Was he calling now to demand a ransom?
"Who are you looking for?" Xuan Bingbing tried to remain calm and composed.
"Are you Xuan Bingbing?"
"Yes, I am Xuan Bingbing. Who might you be?"
If a strange man could call her by name, perhaps he truly could be the kidnapper!
Was it merely a ransom he wanted? No matter how much he wanted, she would give it to him as long as he ensured Liu Xiangli's safety!
"My name is Li Huai, you should call me brother-in-law."
That's right, the one currently on the phone with Xuan Bingbing is Li Huai!
For safety's sake, after Liu Xiangli dialed Xuan Bingbing's number, she handed the phone to Li Huai.
It wasn't that Liu Xiangli didn't trust Xuan Bingbing, but she was afraid that if Xuan Bingbing's phone fell into someone else's hands or was monitored, how would they handle it.
After all, these are extraordinary times, anything bad could happen.
But did Liu Xiangli ask Li Huai to introduce himself in this way? Brother-in-law? If she and Li Huai were indeed husband and wife, Xuan Bingbing should indeed call him brother-in-law. The point is, she and Li Huai are not married!
Forget it, in extraordinary times, there's no time to worry about such things.
"Brother-in-law?" Xuan Bingbing got a shock, where did this brother-in-law pop out from? "Do you need anything?"
"Sister-in-law, are there other people around you right now? Are you sure your phone is safe?" Li Huai asked, all according to Liu Xiangli's briefing.
However, Li Huai's pet name for her made Liu Xiangli suppress another bout of exasperation.
Although the door was closed, Xuan Bingbing still went to check. There was no one in the hallway either. As for whether her phone had problems, she wasn't an agent, how was she supposed to check? However, this was her private phone known only by a handful of people, so she didn't think there would be any problems.
"There's no one around me, and my phone is fine too, please speak!"
Xuan Bingbing held her breath, at this moment, she didn't even wish to hear Liu Xiangli's voice anymore, as long as the other party declares they are kidnappers will do.
However, to Xuan Bingbing's surprise, after the other side kept silent for several seconds, Liu Xiangli's voice came over the phone.
"Bing Bing, it's me!"
Even though it was through the phone, with more than a decade of living and working with each other, how could Xuan Bingbing not recognize Liu Xiangli's voice?
"Miss, is...is that really you?"
Xuan Bingbing was so excited she choked up. She didn't burst into tears not because her emotions didn't reach that level. It was that she hadn't cried once ever since her parents died in a car crash, regardless of what had happened around her.
Sometimes, she even wondered if there was something wrong with her tear ducts.
'Miss' was the way Xuan Bingbing privately addressed Liu Xiangli. Regardless of how many times Liu Xiangli had stopped her, she couldn't convince Xuan Bingbing, so she had to let Bingbing continue to call her by that name.
"Yes, it's me. Don't worry, I am safe now. I will send you a bank account number soon, the account owner's name is He Nanqing. Please transfer fifty thousand yuan, I need it urgently, that's it!"
"Miss..."
Liu Xiangli had already hung up the phone. Even though Xuan Bingbing claimed there was no one around and her phone was safe, Liu Xiangli still felt restless.
Xuan Bingbing hesitated for a moment, in the end deciding to keep it a secret for now.
Once she received the account information from Liu Xiangli, she quickly made the transfer from her phone and sent over fifty thousand yuan.
Fifty thousand yuan?
This small amount couldn't possibly be the ransom, and if Liu Xiangli were in the kidnapper's hands, they would at most allow Xuan Bingbing to hear Liu Xiangli's voice, never letting Liu Xiangli say so much.
"It seems like Miss might have escaped the danger!"
Thinking of this, Xuan Bingbing felt the heart that had hung for half a month finally fell back into place. However, she still must not let her guard down. Not only did she have to keep her phone on standby, she also had to keep an eye on everyone around her.
In the past few days, Xuan Bingbing always felt something was not quite right, but she couldn't pinpoint exactly what was wrong.
After being reminded by Liu Xiangli, Xuan Bingbing finally realized the problem. Could someone really be secretly monitoring her?
For safety's sake, Xuan Bingbing hurriedly called in a few high-end bodyguards previously hired by Liu Xiangli. They were all professionals. If there was any problem, such as surveillance devices, they should be able to detect it.
Something terrible happened. Xuan Bingbing's phone was really being monitored!
"Quick, we must find Miss and ensure her safety before them!" Xuan Bingbing immediately ordered.
At the same time, in a luxurious villa in Jianghai, a woman who looked like a fairy was yelling at the person on the other end of the phone like a lunatic, "Damn it! You can't even handle such a small task, what are you guys being paid for? I don't care what method you use, Liu Xiangli must not return to Jianghai, even if it means she disappears from this world forever!"