What a polite form of address.In addition, Meng Chi even knew her name.
The smile on Xiang Wan"s face froze slightly, she was now a little wary of him.
"CEO Meng."
"You don"t have to be so polite."
Meng Chi sat down before her and waved his hand.
His two a.s.sistants saw that and moved further away from them.
Meng Chi"s eyes stared at Xiang Wan and his expression was rather grim.
"I"m here for some matters."
"I"m all ears." Xiang Wan"s heart was burning with anxiety but remained calm on the face.
Meng Chi scrutinized her and appeared to be a little surprised. "Xie Wanwan looked you up earlier?"
Xiang Wan didn"t expect that he was actually here to ask about Xie Wanwan.
"Yes. She left after saying a few words."
Meng Chi asked, "What did she say?"
Probably he was someone who was at the top, he had the habit of being domineering. Meng Chi"s direct question and tone were as though taking it for granted that she would answer him.
Well.
"CEO Meng." Xiang Wan smiled. "This is a private matter between her and myself."
Meng Chi"s facial expression changed as he got turned down flatly.
That was only for an instant.
"May I take the liberty to ask you another question?" He smiled casually. "Did something happen to Captain Bai?"
Xiang Wan raised an eyebrow at his question.
"With regards to this… I do not know."
Meng Chi looked down at her mobile phone that she placed on the table. "You haven"t contacted him?"
Xiang Wan showed a polite smile. "I do not like to disturb him when he"s working. Such meaningless concern will only distract him."
She had said all she could before Bai Muchuan left for his mission. What was the use of telling him to be careful and protect himself 10,000 times?
It was of no use.
Totally of no use.
Therefore, Xiang Wan was more willing to stay quiet at this juncture.
At least, she wouldn"t let Bai Muchuan worry about her in return.
Meng Chi looked at the expression on her face and narrowed his eyes slightly.
He seemed to be mulling over her words, if what she said was true, yet it also felt like he was trying to find out how she was feeling inside…
The two of them looked at each other for almost half a minute long.
"Miss Xiang, do you have a special someone you care about?"
Xiang Wan: "…"
No matter her reply was yes, or no…
He was not someone she wanted to exchange such feelings with.
Xiang Wan smiled. "I don"t understand what CEO Meng is trying to say."
Meng Chi suddenly squinted his eyes. "Xie Wanwan"s in trouble!"
"?" Xiang Wan"s doubt in her heart immediately showed on her face.
Did this mean that the person he cared most about was… Xie Wanwan? No wonder she was the female lead for "The Grey List". On top of that, during recent years, Xie Wanwan had obviously gained more resources than other stars who started their career around the same time as her. Those who were sharp enough could tell that the company had spent a great deal of effort to make her rise to fame…
Thinking of the day when they were speculating the relations.h.i.+p between Meng Chi and Yu Ning, Xiang Wan"s line of gaze got a little deeper.
"CEO Meng, what are you trying to say?"
Meng Chi took a look at her.
"She did not go to the set for shooting today. She brought two a.s.sistants and two staff members of the film crew away with her to look for Captain Bai…"
He paused for a while and started to stare at Xiang Wan.
"Just a while ago, I received a call from the kidnapper that Xie Wanwan got kidnapped by the Dark Clan. They are asking for a ransom of… 50 million yuan."
Xiang Wan knew that Xie Wanwan had gone ahead to look for Bai Muchuan.
At that time, she wanted to dissuade her but Xie Wanwan was too obstinate; she was unable to stop her, and no right to stop her as well.
As for being kidnapped by the Dark Clan…
Xie Wanwan had been too rash. That news came as no surprise to Xiang Wan.
Xiang Wan took a deep breath and looked at Meng Chi. "Xie Wanwan is worth that sum."
Meng Chi was dazed for an instant. "…"
That reply made him seem deeper in thought.
The cold feeling in his eyes was as though about to come out anytime as he glanced at Xiang Wan"s cool and collected face.
"They told me that there"s a way to save her."
"Mm?" Xiang Wan ran her fingers through her hair as her eyes looked elsewhere. "What"s that?"
Meng Chi revealed a faint smile. "They said that you, Miss Xiang, can be used to exchange for her."
Hah! Xiang Wan pursed her lips lightly, she almost burst out laughing.
"So I"m worth 50 million yuan as well?" She raised an eyebrow. "But, CEO Meng, I"m not the police, I don"t have the obligation to do that. My personal ties with her have not arrived at a stage where we"ll risk our lives for each other… Of course, I"m unlike you, since she"s an actress with your company… So, if you have come to me because of such a request, you may go now. I"m selfish and I value my life—I"m not a self-sacrificing person!"
She rejected the request in a thorough and direct manner.
The coldness in her face was close to merciless…
Meng Chi"s lips moved and he suddenly gave a sneer.
"I know. I did not think of asking you to exchange for her."
"Why did you look for me then?" Xiang Wan asked.
For Meng Chi to appear at the restaurant, she did not think of it as a coincidence.
Since he had specially come to look for her, there must be something he wanted.
"We have chosen to report to the police!" Meng Chi rubbed both of his cheeks with a tinge of helplessness. "But it seemed that the Nanmu police station is short of manpower. The officers are all on a mission. Of course, they are working on a related case to Dark Clan as well…"
"So?" Xiang Wan raised an eyebrow.
"I"m preparing to bring some men over and hope that Miss Xiang can come with us…"
What a strange request!
Xiang Wan looked at the pair of eyes beyond the pair of shades. "I"ve said, I don"t have the obligation."
"You don"t have the obligation towards Xie Wanwan. You don"t have the obligation towards Captain Bai as well?"
"…" Xiang Wan looked at him without a word.
Meng Chi repeated in a cold voice, "After all, their target, is you—"
Bai Muchuan"s name was like a magic spell. Xiang Wan felt that every second of sitting there was akin to suffering.
When she was eating leisurely; when she was dealing with Meng Chi, she would think about the picture that showed a gun pointing at Bai Muchuan"s head.
Nevertheless…
Why were Xie Wanwan and Meng Chi so affirmative that their target was her?
"My apologies!" She heard her own calm voice, merciless and cold. "Bai Muchuan told me not to leave the hotel. I want to stay here and wait for him to come back!"
…
Rejecting Meng Chi was much easier than rejecting Xie Wanwan.
Xiang Wan had at least eaten the spicy hot crayfish Xie Wanwan bought last night but for this man called Meng Chi—
She had no ties with him. There was no need for her to be embarra.s.sed.
Fortunately, Meng Chi did not insist further.
He smiled disparagingly and left with his a.s.sistants.
Before leaving, he pulled his coat and took a glimpse at Xiang Wan.
"I hope Miss Xiang will not regret this decision."
That look of his was too complicated. After Xiang Wan ruminated on it, she could still not understand what that look meant…
…
Meng Chi left.
Xiang Wan was still sitting in the restaurant and looked at the cloudy sky outside, feeling as though she was trapped in an islet.
Time was as if came to a halt in Nanmu"s old streets.
Her figure remained motionless.
For a moment, she was as if a statue made of stone and blended in with the restaurant.
Just earlier on, she had called up Bai Muchuan, Tang Yuanchu, Tu Liang…
All of them returned the same message: "not in service area".
She tried all of the contact numbers, none of them connected.
The messages that she wanted to receive never came.
Fang Yuanyuan did not reply to her, Yuan Qianqian did not as well.
Waiting was as though one was in a frying pan, one second was like one year.
Xiang Wan felt she was on the verge of collapse.
"Meow!"
A cat came slowly from nowhere.
It stopped by the table and looked up at her.
The patterns on her coat seemed a little like Fang Yuanyuan"s pet cat—Bao Jie.
Xiang Wan"s eyes suddenly felt warm.
Bao Jie… Yuanyuan…
When Xiang Wan thought of this, she felt suffocated and immediately made a decision.
She took her mobile phone and noticed that her hands were trembling.
This time, she called up Quan Shaoteng.
"Captain Quan, where are you now?"
Quan Shaoteng did not reply to her directly but asked, "What"s up?"
Xiang Wan: Have you seen Bai Muchuan?"
Quan Shaoteng rubbed his forehead as he watched the boulder that appeared at the road.
"… Not yet."
"So is he… is everything alright?"
"No news is good news."
Huff! Xiang Wan tried to force herself to calm down as she held her chest to stop her fraying nerves.
"Captain Quan, Xie Wanwan got kidnapped. The Dark Clan kidnappers asked for a ransom of 50 million yuan… Meng Chi told me that their target is me. They even specifically told him that he could use me to exchange for her… I feel that I should go with you!"
"Such a thing actually happened?"
Quan Shaoteng was on the road and did not know of all these.
After hearing Xiang Wan gave an account of what happened, he deliberated for a moment. "You need not worry about anything! Just stay at the hotel—"
"Captain Quan!" Xiang Wan interrupted him.
Her shrill scream was filled with horror, when heard through the phone, it made the bones felt cold.
Quan Shaoteng was a little shocked. "What happened?"
Xiang Wan had just received a message on her phone. She screamed as she saw the message.
"My cousin… Fang Yuanyuan is in trouble! The Dark Clan has kidnapped her as well—"
The number that sent the message was those type of unfamiliar string of numbers that sent spam messages to people.
Besides receiving a picture of Fang Yuanyuan being tied up, there was also a message: "The Temptation of the Rich and Famous is such a mighty project! Why must you insist on spoiling it? This is a punishment for disrupting our plans!"
Quan Shaoteng gasped. "What did they want?"
"They wanted me!" Xiang Wan felt her scalp tightened. Her earlier calmness was now gone. "They wanted me to go to a place called "Vulture"s Mouth"… Otherwise, they"ll kill Yuanyuan…"
"…"
"Captain Quan, where is this "Vulture"s Mouth"?"
He paused for a moment and decided not to keep it from her. "This place is exactly where Little Bai went to—Brother Steel"s hideout!"
Everything had pointed at that place.
One by one, they seemed to be dragged into the same vortex.
Who is the manipulator behind all of this?
Xiang Wan closed her eyes slowly. "Captain Quan, come and pick me up!"
…