Chapter 612: What A Messy Circle (35)

“The people that kidnapped you wanted to use you to threaten me. Did you see the mastermind?”

Lu Zhuo replied calmly, “No.”

His face was sincere and he faced Ming Shu’s gaze without faltering.

“Does this means that you implicated me?” Lu Zhuo raised his eyebrows. “This had nothing to do with me. As a victim that got implicated by you, shouldn’t you compensate me?”

Ming Shu thought for a while. “Is five million enough?”

Lu Zhuo’s mouth corners twitched. “I don’t want money.”

Ming Shu added on to the price. “Ten million?”

Lu Zhuo rolled his eyes in his heart. Do I look like a person that can be bought over by money?

“I don’t want money,” Lu Zhuo said seriously. “I want Boss Xu.”

Ming Shu looked at him and smiled. “I am not something that can be used in a transaction.”

“I almost died. Shouldn’t you use yourself as compensation?”

“But in reality, you didn’t die.” Ming Shu shrugged. “Why don’t you go and die then. I will reconsider my decision.”

Lu Zhuo: “…” Why don’t you go and die!

Why should I die!

My life is worthy too!

While Lu Zhuo was healing, he almost jumped up in anger a few times due to Ming Shu. He had already forgotten what a character profile was. He just wanted to curse at her.

Ming Shu asked him twice whether he saw the mastermind.

Lu Zhuo said that he didn’t see the mastermind at all.

It was not that he didn’t trust Ming Shu. He just felt that if he told her what happened, she might beat him.

Don’t ask him why he had that thought. It was an instinct.

Hence, in order to not get beaten, he would not admit it.

Even if Lu Zhuo didn’t say anything, Ming Shu had other ways of getting information. However, there was no concrete evidence found.

But, from the hints she got from Brother Duan, Ming Shu could somewhat guess who the mastermind was.

…

The police found a corpse at the scene and saved someone.

This person was none other than Xia Lian.

Xia Lian was lucky because she didn’t die. However, she was disfigured.

As a celebrity, one could only imagine the impact it would have on her.

Once Xia Lian woke up, her emotions were unstable. Even when Huo Ting came to find her, she was very agitated. She would either chase Huo Ting out of the ward or hide and refuse to see him.

Huo Ting’s patience was really something. He came to see her everyday.

“Don’t worry. Once your body has recovered, I will send you overseas. You would look the same as before.” Huo Ting consoled Xia Lian, who was hiding under the blanket.

Huo Ting tried to pull the blanket down. “Come out first. We will slowly heal your body.”

A bandaged hand slowly came out of the blanket and pushed the blanket down. A teary pair of eyes were revealed. “Will I really be fine?”

Huo Ting nodded. “Of course. Don’t worry. With the technology now, it won’t be a problem. You need to recover first.”

Xia Lian pushed the blanket down further. Her entire face was covered with bandages just like a mummy.

She asked cautiously and carefully again, “You won’t leave me, right?”

“Don’t think too much.”

Under Huo Ting’s care, Xia Lian started to recuperate obediently.

“Why were you there on that day?” Huo Ting waited for Xia Lian’s emotions to stabilize before asking this question.

Xia Lian was stunned for a moment before her heart started palpitating furiously. She shook her head fervently. “I don’t know. When I woke up, I was there already.”

This was what she told the police when they asked her.

When she went to Osmanthus Village, she didn’t let anyone know about it. The police thought that she had been kidnapped there. Although Huo Ting had his suspicions, Xia Lian didn’t say anything at all.

When he asked too much, she would even throw a tantrum.

Once Xia Lian recovered, Huo Ting sent her overseas to treat her face instantly.

However, the doctor said that the extent of the burns was too great. Even with plastic surgery, she could not recover her face fully.

Xia Lian underwent more than a year of treatment overseas. At that time, she just started getting popular and it was normal for an artist like her to disappear from the screen. Hence, there was not much of a commotion.

Xia Lian looked at the stranger in the mirror. She felt hatred and fear.

Before that explosion… she was almost killed by Lu Zhuo.

In other words, the explosion saved her.

This whole year, Xia Lian kept herself updated on the news in China. She knew that Lu Zhuo was a really famous person in China now and after a year of development, Ming Shu’s Ancient & Modern Entertainment had surpassed Zhishang Entertainment.

Those artists that didn’t leave Beichen Entertainment, although they were not as popular as Lu Zhuo, they were all A-list celebrities too.

On the other hand, those artists that broke their contracts were blacklisted by Ancient & Modern Entertainment. Most of them had faded from the entertainment industry.

As for the entertainment industry now, even though Ancient & Modern Entertainment couldn’t dominate the industry yet, if they wanted to blacklist an artist, the artist would have a hard life.

Xia Lian kept a low profile as she returned.

Her first thought was to go and find Huo Ting. However, when her car stopped outside Huo Ting’s apartment, she saw Huo Ting embracing a girl with a sweet smile as he walked out of his apartment.

She knew who the girl was. No, she didn’t know her. She remembered her clearly. She was the woman that every other woman was jealous of in her world. From a country bumpkin to a famous celebrity, she always had people helping her no matter what danger she faced.

If this were a story, this person would be the main lead.

Even Xu Bei couldn’t compare to her…

Why is Huo Ting with her? In this world, she had no relationship with Huo Ting!

Xia Lian felt her body turning cold. She watched as Huo Ting and the woman got in a car and left.

Xia Lian immediately remembered how Huo Ting used to visit her often, but slowly, it became twice a week, once a week, and then once a month.

She was frustrated with her looks and she didn’t want Huo Ting to see her in this manner so she didn’t notice it at that time.

Now that she thought about it, she hadn’t seen Huo Ting in two months.

The moment she came back, she saw this…

Xia Lian waited outside Huo Ting’s apartment for him to come back. But, she didn’t see his car even when it reached midnight.

The next morning, Huo Ting’s car finally appeared. Xia Lian stopped his car.

Huo Ting got down and didn’t recognize her at first. “You…”

“Huo Ting.”

Her voice hadn’t changed. Huo Ting changed his words. “When did you come back?”

“Huo Ting, I waited for an entire night.” Xia Lian’s eyes were red. Her face was a little stiff since she’d just recovered so it looked a bit weird.

“Let’s go inside first.” Huo Ting opened the door of the apartment and parked his car. He explained, “There were issues at the company so I had to work overtime and deal with it.”

Xia Lian didn’t say anything and followed Huo Ting into the apartment.

Xia Lian scanned the apartment. This was still the home that she was familiar with. She didn’t see anything strange. She heaved a sigh of relief. Maybe… they just met coincidentally.

Xia Lian went over and hugged Huo Ting. “You didn’t come to see me for two months.”

“The company was really busy these past two months. I didn’t have the time.” Huo Ting pulled Xia Lian’s hands away. Xia Lian’s heart turned cold and she started to feel anxious.