Chapter 322: chapter 320
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
He raised his hand to examine it, and the petals had transformed from their original pale pink to a vivid shade, becoming even more realistic.
It felt like the petals might be taking root in his skin and growing from within, though he couldn’t be sure.
He had initially thought about finding Lu Miao, but it was quite late, and he knew that his sister-in-law was downstairs. So he decided to wait until the morning to search for Lu Miao.
After his shower, he closed the bathroom door behind him. Almost translucent pink petals floated gently to the bathroom floor, then disappeared without a trace.
The next morning, when Lu Miao woke up and went downstairs, Shen Qinghe and the old lady had given everyone a big red envelope. Gu Ziheng playfully reached out to her for a red envelope, and Lu Miao gave him one. Afterward, she looked around but didn’t see Gu Jinxi.
“Where’s Jinxi?” she asked.
“He probably hasn’t gotten up yet. This guy loves to sleep in on the first day of the New Year. Later, he’ll ask you to give him a red envelope,” Gu Ziheng said, handing her some food with his chopsticks.
Lu Miao still had the trace of the petal on her wrist in mind. After finishing her meal, she took out her phone and called Gu Jinxi. The phone rang for a while, but there was no answer on the other end.
She was about to go upstairs and knock on his door when her phone suddenly rang.
Looking at the screen, she saw that it was Fu Jingshen. She had a feeling that he wouldn’t be calling her on New Year’s Day with good news.
As expected, when she answered the call, Fu Jingshen got straight to the point. “I need your help to find someone.”
Who could be so important that Fu Jingshen would call her personally on New Year’s Day?
Lu Miao replied, “Send me the birthdate of the missing person.”
Five minutes later, after looking at the long list and birthdates sent by Fu
Jingshen on WeChat, Lu Miao furrowed her brow. She immediately messaged back to Fu Jingshen, “These are CEOs and directors of various companies and groups. How could they all go missing at the same time?”
On the other end of the phone, Fu Jingshen was equally troubled. “About half a month ago, there was a charity auction organized in Luo City. These people all attended the auction. A week after the auction ended, CEO Mr. Zhang of Yingda Group, was the first to go missing. Subsequently, two more disappeared.
With the year-end approaching, Luo City was afraid of causing panic among the public and potential disruptions to the economy, so they kept the news quiet while searching secretly.
Unexpectedly, more and more people went missing, and these were individuals who could potentially disrupt the economy of Luo City. They had no choice but to report it to Beijing.
The Special Affairs Management Bureau has already tried but found no leads, and I’m left with no choice but to reach out to you at this time.”
Lu Miao was aware of this auction; Lin Bufan was in charge of it. She had even been asked if she wanted to attend, but she declined. Gu Shiyan had received an invitation but opted to donate money instead due to other business commitments.
After a moment of contemplation, she asked, “What about Lin Bufan?”
In the past couple of years, Lin Bufan had been incredibly busy. Since his return from Cheng’s family, he hadn’t contacted her.
“This is another reason I needed to contact you. After discovering that all the missing people had attended the charity auction, Luo City suspected a connection to Lin Bufan and secretly took him in for questioning.
Just now, I received a call from the guards, and it turns out Lin Bufan has gone missing from the detention center.” Fu Jingshen’s voice was grave.
His slippers were by the bedside, suggesting he hadn’t left yet.
She opened the bathroom door and found it empty as well.
Returning to her own room, she quickly accessed the surveillance footage on her computer.
On the phone, Fu Jingshen heard her movements on the other end and asked,
“What’s going on?”
Lu Miao replied in a solemn tone, “Gu Jinxi is missing.”
“Could he have gone out for some fun? Maybe he didn’t attend the auction,” Fu Jingshen pondered.
“No, his shoes are still here, and based on the surveillance footage, he never left his room after going to bed last night.”
Both of them lapsed into silence. Gu Jinxi had vanished right under Lu Miao’s nose, and this was no ordinary disappearance case.
After ending the call, Lu Miao attempted to calculate using Gu Jinxi’s birthdate, but surprisingly, she couldn’t discern anything.
She tried the same with Lin Bufan’s birthdate, and it yielded the same result.
The birthdates that Fu Jingshen had sent didn’t seem to be working either.
Closing her eyes, Lu Miao tapped her fingertips on the table. Unless someone had concealed the celestial patterns, there was no reason she couldn’t calculate.
The sole anomaly on Gu Jinxi was the pink petal on his wrist.
If Gu Jinxi’s disappearance truly had something to do with that petal, it meant the same for the others. Apart from Gu Jinxi, their most significant commonality was their attendance at the auction.
In a moment of insight, Lu Miao recalled when Lin Bufan had shown her the auction roster back at the City God Temple. It had featured an ancient painting, a quick look at which had revealed a peach blossom forest.
Information about such charity auctions was typically public, and Lu Miao searched online. She found that the person who had successfully bid on the ancient painting was Mr. Zhang, the CEO of Yingda Group.
After the auction, they had gone to a club with several others.
Reviewing the list of names revealed in the news, all the missing individuals were among them.
However, there was no information available online about the donor of the ancient painting.
After checking Mr. Zhang’s address, she quickly turned and went downstairs.
She happened to run into Gu Shiyan, who was coming upstairs to find her. Seeing her in a hurry, he offered, “Where are you going? I can drive you.”
“No need.”
Lu Miao thought for a moment and said, “Can you help me check who donated the ancient painting at the charity auction Lin Bufan organized about half a month ago?”
“Is it related to the missing people?” Gu Shiyan asked directly.
Lu Miao nodded. Indeed, true top-level individuals had no real secrets.
As she walked past Gu Shiyan, a subtle floral fragrance wafted into her nose, and something flashed through her mind, causing her to halt in her tracks.
Wait a minute. The first time she encountered something related to peach blossoms wasn’t on the auction roster with the ancient painting, but at the party she attended with Gu Shiyan.
When she went to the balcony to take a call, she felt like someone was peeping in the corridor. When she came back inside, a pink petal fell to the ground at her feet and then disappeared.
At the time, she suspected it might have been directed at her or Gu Shiyan, so she placed a protective seal on Gu Shiyan.
Turning to Gu Shiyan, she said, “No, you’re coming with me.”
Given Gu Shiyan’s unique constitution, in the eyes of those special groups, he was like a modern-day Tang monk’s flesh, both humans and ghosts wanting a piece. In such peculiar times, it was safest to keep him close.
Gu Shiyan naturally had no objections. He grabbed the car keys and followed behind her.
Mr. Zhang’s residence was an opulent bayfront mansion, heavily guarded with security personnel stationed every hundred meters.
It had to be said that Gu Shiyan’s face was incredibly useful, practically a walking pass. There was no need for any nonsense with the security; lowering the car window, a single glance from Gu Shiyan made the guards readily let them through.
They smoothly entered Mr. Zhang’s home..