WAM CH22

With this, the shooting had entirely concluded.

Shao Si lingered in place for a few seconds, but ultimately didn’t walk forward.

There was no need for him to interact with Gu Yanzhou right now. He had approached him initially to obtain crucial information about Yang Yinyin. However, judging from his observations during this period and Captain Wang’s words, it could be confirmed that the phone call wasn’t very relevant to the case.

He glanced at Gu Yanzhou from a distance, then walked towards the makeup room, taking a dry towel from Li Guangzong to dry his hair as he walked.

Shao Si lowered his neck slightly. Because the cuffs of his shirt were designed to be very loose, they naturally slipped down when he raised his hands, revealing a section of his wrists.

“Today’s work is all finished, we’ll head straight back in a bit.” Li Guangzong checked the itinerary, carefully combing through it from top to bottom without missing a detail. Then, he remembered something else. “The company is having a dinner gathering tonight, are you going? If not, I’ll cancel for you, so you don’t have to look at those passive-aggressive psychos.”

“Cancel it. Just seeing them is annoying.”

Shao Si rubbed his hair a couple more times before putting the towel down. He took his own clothes and ducked into the changing cubicle.

When Gu Yanzhou walked into the makeup room holding Gu Sheng’s hand, Li Guangzong happened to be stepping out to take a call. The three of them met face-to-face.

“B-Best Actor Gu, hello.” Li Guangzong absentmindedly extended a hand. “Can we shake hands?”

Gu Yanzhou reached out and shook it back: “Hello.”

Li Guangzong felt like he was in a dream. He only put his hand down after Gu Yanzhou released him: “What a coincidence, I didn’t expect Shengsheng to be your niece.”

Gu Sheng blinked and copied their handshake gesture, her chubby little paws reaching forward eagerly: “Shake, shake hands!”

Li Guangzong bent down and shook hands with her too: “Hello there.”

Gu Sheng giggled.

Gu Yanzhou had brought Gu Sheng to the makeup room because she was crying and complaining that the little braids on her head were tied too tightly and uncomfortable.

So he lifted Gu Sheng onto a chair, took a comb, and started combing her hair.

However, a few minutes later, a certain shirtless person carelessly walked out of the cubicle, clutching a ball of clothes in his hands. “Li Guangzong, what the hell is this? Did you grab the wrong…”

The second half of the sentence automatically silenced itself.

“Why are you here?” Shao Si shook open the clothes in his hands to cover his upper body. Although his face was calm, he still felt a bit awkward. “…Why are you staring at me!”

Shao Si’s skin was very pale, so it was especially striking when he wore black clothes. Showing a bit of his neck and a bit of his ankles, he dazzled the eyes when he walked.

The hand Gu Yanzhou was using to comb Gu Sheng’s hair paused. He said politely, “Your manager is outside.”

Just as he was about to turn around and return to the cubicle to grab his phone and call Li Guangzong, Gu Sheng pointed at him and shouted, “No clothes on, so shameful!”

Shao Si: “…”

Shao Si returned to the cubicle and fished his phone out of his jacket pocket. Just as he was about to dial, his phone rang on its own.

Caller: Liu Qi.

Leaning against the door of the cubicle, Shao Si raised an eyebrow.

Why would Liu Qi be looking for him?

He answered the call, but before he had time to say anything, rapid and suppressed breathing came from Liu Qi’s end—one deep, one shallow—accompanied by other noises, as if the earpiece was being rubbed against something.

Hearing this, Shao Si’s heart suddenly tightened. He called out, “Hello.”

At this moment, Liu Qi was disheveled, the hem of her white cotton dress showing signs of being torn. She ran a distance down a corridor, turned a corner, and ducked into a utility room.

The earpiece was filled with the muffled, chaotic sounds of clothes and the phone rubbing against each other as she ran. Liu Qi didn’t dare speak too loudly. Her voice was thin, carrying a heavy tremble that threw her words off-key, making them hard to hear clearly.

“Shao-ge…” Liu Qi reached behind her to lock the door, then slid down against the door panel as if she had lost all her strength. Hugging her knees, trembling all over, she kept repeating, “Shao-ge.”

Shao Si suspected he could almost hear the sound of her heart beating violently. Or perhaps it was just an illusion brought on by Liu Qi’s tone, making anyone listening feel just as tense as she was.

At this point, Shao Si couldn’t care less about his undershirt. Skipping the inner layer entirely, he quickly put his jacket on first.

While putting on his clothes, he tilted his head, pinning the phone between his ear and shoulder. Struggling to push his arm through the sleeve, he asked, “Liu Qi? What happened to you?”

Liu Qi wanted to speak too, but her voice was trembling so badly it didn’t form words; her upper and lower lips could barely even touch each other.

“Why aren’t you speaking? What happened?” Shao Si finished putting on his jacket and pushed the door open. “Where are you right now?”

“Hello?”

“Don’t be afraid. Tell me, I’ll come over right now.”

When Gu Yanzhou heard the words ‘Liu Qi’ from Shao Si as he opened the door, he stopped what he was doing and looked towards the cubicle.

Shao Si hurried out. As they brushed past each other, Gu Yanzhou grabbed his wrist.

One in front, one behind.

Gu Yanzhou said, “Give me the phone, let me try.”

Shao Si was quite impatient by nature, far from as calm as he appeared. He often kept his face incredibly unperturbed and even a bit aloof, but was actually burning with anxiety on the inside.

So when Gu Yanzhou said this, Shao Si didn’t refuse.

“Miss Liu, don’t be nervous. Shao Si and I are going to ask you a few questions. If we guess correctly, tap your phone once.” Gu Yanzhou released Shao Si’s wrist, turned on the speakerphone, and continued, “Is Lu Jiahui with you right now?”

Liu Qi tapped once.

“Are you at home right now?”

This time, Liu Qi didn’t tap the phone.

Shao Si didn’t quite understand. He cracked his knuckles and said, “Do you have to tap back and forth? Can’t she just say what she wants to say?”

“The acting department’s psychology course is a mandatory subject, didn’t you take it? Under extreme fear, people are very likely to experience aphasia—temporary loss of voice.” Gu Yanzhou raised a hand to unbutton his collar, switched the phone to his left hand, then reached his freed hand into his coat pocket and pulled out his own phone: “Call Captain Wang. The passcode is 0116.”

Shao Si took the phone, unlocked it, and scrolled through the contacts for Captain Wang’s number.

Even though he scrolled very quickly, he spotted two words in the contacts at a glance—’Yang Ze’.

In his eyes, this “astronomical salary” young idol was bundled together with Qi Ming. Every time he saw the name, he couldn’t help but feel a physical revulsion.

They actually knew each other?

Shao Si’s gaze didn’t linger. He found Captain Wang and dialed. Captain Wang picked up very quickly, answering before it even rang twice: “Yanzhou, what’s the matter?”

“…Captain Wang, it’s Shao Si.”

“Oh,” Captain Wang’s reaction time was also very fast. Combined with Gu Yanzhou having the speakerphone on, he also heard some noises and hurriedly asked, “What happened? Is someone in trouble?”

“Yes, there’s a situation… Have you found Lu Jiahui?” As Shao Si spoke, he divided his attention to keep an eye on Gu Yanzhou and Liu Qi’s side.

Liu Qi had recovered somewhat and could produce a few single-syllable words.

Gu Yanzhou’s tone was gentle, unhurried, and calm. Just listening to his voice made people feel reassured. “Don’t panic, take your time speaking.”

“I’m at… Panshan Road…” Liu Qi seemed as if she had forgotten how to speak, struggling with every word. “Panshan Road, Green…”

Before she could finish, Gu Yanzhou heard several heavy banging sounds, and then Liu Qi screamed: “Ah!!!”

That scream was truly ear-piercing, making Captain Wang’s heart clench.

He hurriedly stood up, strode to the office door, and took his police jacket off the drying rack. “We haven’t found any news of Lu Jiahui on our end yet. Is that girl Liu Qi? Is Lu Jiahui with her?” Actually, the police had sent people to watch Liu Qi, but they hadn’t noticed anything abnormal about her whereabouts at all.

The situation was urgent. Shao Si concisely summarized the events, especially the half-address Liu Qi had provided.

“I’ll have someone check immediately.” Captain Wang’s voice was upright and authoritative. “Keep the line open as much as possible.”

Then Captain Wang contacted the team members responsible for watching Liu Qi. The person in charge of the stakeout was a young male officer whose car was parked downstairs from Liu Qi’s apartment. Hearing what Captain Wang said, he looked a bit surprised: “That’s impossible. She came back from the set this afternoon and hasn’t gone out since. The lights in her house are still on.”

The male officer tilted his head, stuck it out the car window, took a few looks, and confirmed: “She’s still on the balcony hanging clothes right now.”

Captain Wang had decades of police experience. His face darkened, and he said, “Look closely. Is that Liu Qi?”

The male officer instantly broke out in a cold sweat.

“No need to watch that place anymore. Bring her in for interrogation.”

After Captain Wang hung up, Shao Si casually shoved the phone back into Gu Yanzhou’s coat pocket and then took his own phone back.

“What are you going to do?”

Gu Yanzhou’s voice was naturally deep, and now that he lowered his tone even further, it actually sounded a bit intimate.

“Going to Panshan Road.”

Shao Si spoke resolutely, but Gu Yanzhou’s face was full of disapproval.

Sitting on the chair, Gu Sheng looked at one, then looked at the other. Hearing that they were talking about something important, she had been very good and quiet the whole time.

Sure enough, Gu Yanzhou furrowed his brows and analyzed: “Let’s not mention that we don’t know the specific situation yet, but even if you go over there, what then? Barge in and fight Lu Jiahui single-handedly? Acting impulsively won’t help the current situation at all.”

“Standing here doing nothing won’t help the situation either.” Shao Si turned around and looked straight into Gu Yanzhou’s eyes. “About half a month ago, we were still filming together. She told me something, and I didn’t pay attention. When she said it, she was standing under a tree, capable of running and jumping.”

With things having progressed to this point, it had nothing to do with missions anymore.

The system, which hadn’t been online for a long time: [I knew our Daddy Shao was a kind, good kid.]

[…] Always dropping the ball at critical moments, what are you popping out for now?

[Here to lend you a helping hand,] the system said confidently. [With me around, absolutely nothing will go wrong.]

Shao Si didn’t have time to shoot the breeze with the system, nor did he have time to crush the system’s baffling confidence under his foot. Just as he was about to walk out, Gu Yanzhou spoke from behind him: “I’ll go with you.”

Shao Si’s footsteps halted. “Weren’t you quite unwilling just now?”

“I don’t trust your IQ very much, so it’s to prevent you from causing more trouble for the police.” After speaking, Gu Yanzhou bent down to rub Gu Sheng’s head, then straightened up again. His height was half a head taller than Shao Si’s.

As a result, as soon as Li Guangzong returned, an exquisite and adorable toddler was shoved into his arms.

“Take her home? Where is her home? Ah?! Where are you two going?!” Holding Gu Sheng, Li Guangzong looked completely bewildered. Out of a manager’s instinct, he shouted out a warning, “The situation outside is tense, your scandal just died down, don’t do anything stupid—”