Chapter 79: Fright Night
Xia Ling collected her emotions and told Wei Shaoyin, “Well, we can appreciate our rival’s beautiful shots.” Only by adopting advice from people all around could one have a brighter future as a celebrity.
Wei Shaoyin scoffed. “This is a beautiful shot? If I did the shoot, I could’ve done it many times better. Xiao Ling, just you wait, in a while every board and billboard in the streets will be featuring you!”
Xia Ling was not in the mood to bicker with him and simply left him with the words, “All the best to you.”
Wei Shaoyin had been irritable recently. He had reached a bottleneck with the theme song to Meteor Wings, the better he wanted it to be, the worse it turned out. His inspiration seemed to have vaporized. Even the few songwriters that he had specially invited only handed in mediocre drafts, and after countless changes they were still not up to par. That made him even more agitated.
Hearing Xia Ling’s insincere “all the best”, Wei Shaoyin reacted like a cat who had its tail stepped on, exploding with fury about her lack of fight. Xia Ling acted like a confidante, bearing all his lashing emotions. On the third time, he went about saying “Xiao Ling, you’d better get more serious. You need to have faith in yourself, you’re able to beat Xia Yu,” her cell phone rang.
Thank goodness, this call was a savior, she could not wait to pick it up.
The caller was her appointed chauffeur — after artistes have made their debut, Skyart Entertainment would assign a car and chauffeur to them. Xia Ling’s chauffeur was a little different, hers was specially appointed by Li Lei. The chauffeur had bad news, “I’m so sorry, Miss Ye, my daughter is running a high fever and is in the hospital now. My wife is on a business trip, so I’ll have to go to the hospital to take care of her. I’m afraid I won’t be able to fetch you tonight. What do you say, do I get the company to arrange for another chauffeur?”
Xia Ling was not expecting such a situation, but his daughter was ill and that was understandable.
She tilted her head slightly and looked towards Wei Shaoyin. “There’s no need to arrange for another chauffeur, I’ll go back on my own.” Ah Wei was not in the right state today and she did not want to stay and hear him go on with the nagging and lecturing. If she got the company to look for a replacement, who knew when they could get it done, she simply could wait any longer — even one more minute of his gibberish might drive her mad.
The chauffeur was slightly worried. “If you’re returning on your own, safety-wise…”
“Somebody will be with me, don’t worry, it’ll be fine,” she told him. After finding out about Pei Ziheng taking interest in Xia Ling, Li Lei had not only got her to stay in the unit beside his, he had also arranged for bodyguards to shadow her. She had seen the bodyguards before, they were all well-trained men with looks of cold determination. She supposed they must have been through a lot in life, their stance itself said enough about how ready they were for a fight anytime.
The chauffeur knew she had bodyguards as well and decided not to persuade her any further. He left her a few words of advice and hung up.
Xia Ling happily told Wei Shaoyin, “Ah Wei, it’s eleven now. Nobody’s fetching me today, so I’ll have to leave earlier. Goodbye.”
With that, she disregarded his look of reluctance and hurried out of the door.
She took the elevator to the first floor and waited for the two bodyguards to keep up with her before they moved on.
Li Lei appointed four bodyguards to her. If she was in the recording studio, there would usually be two of them indoors and two outdoors.
This time, however, she did not see the two bodyguards outside.
It was close to midnight, and the entrance only accessible to staff and members was extremely quiet and the street lamps outside were dim. The two bodyguards reacted swiftly, one of them shielding her in the front while the other protected her from behind as they attempted to make their way back into the building.
It all happened in a flash.
The bodyguard before her limply fell to the ground without warning.
Behind her, she heard a sound, like something was knocked against the door handle. It was not loud, but it was enough for the bodyguard to decisively turn away and pull her along as they threw themselves into the bushes for cover.
The surrounding was silent again.
Xia Ling was catching short breaths as her heart pounded rapidly. Who arranged for this ambush? The number of people she had offended in this life could be counted on one hand — Li Bei’er? Their enmity was not to the point of life and death, and furthermore, she was too minor a celebrity for such a large-scale movement; Second Young Master Zhou? Impossible, he would not want to offend Li Lei. Otherwise, he would not have given in to her so much at the club; Xia Yu? Since they were already competing openly, and Xia Yu currently had the upper-hand, it did not seem like she would act against her this way…
Only one person would do this.
Pei Ziheng.
Only he had such an obsession and sufficient capability to send men after her.
He wanted to abduct her. In those short moments, Xia Ling had inferred the situation she was in. The thought of that ruthless, cold-blooded man sent a chill down her spine, causing her to tremble in fear.
She dared not think of her predicament if she were to be abducted by him.
“Gun silencers in ambush, three or more attackers.” The bodyguard beside her whispered hurriedly.
Xia Ling was extremely flustered with no idea how to act.
Nearby, a faint sound echoed, as if a branch had fallen after being hit. A few blurred silhouettes appeared in their line of vision and they seemed to be holding guns as they moved closer.
The bodyguard kept completely quiet, prudently leading her along as they took different positions for hiding.
“Stay here and don’t move.” During their last shift, he spoke to her at the lowest possible volume. “I’ll distract them and draw them away. When you hear my gun go off, run immediately, okay?”
Xia Ling bit her lip and nodded.
The bodyguard removed his bulletproof vest and placed it over her. “Looking at it, I believe the front and back entrances to the recording studio are guarded, so don’t run towards the building. Instead, run towards the streets where the crowds are and find a way to get people to notice that you’re a celebrity. The greater the commotion, the better. I’ve already sent an emergency signal to the headquarters, the backup will be here very soon. Boss has mentioned that there is a GPS device in your cell phone, the backup team will be able to find you easily.”
They were pressed for time, thus his speech was rapid, but his instructions were coherent and clear.
Xia Ling felt more settled with his last line and managed to get her voice back. “I got it.”
He nodded his head and hurried away stealthily, still using the bushes as cover.
She held her breath as she waited, her palms covered in cold sweat.
Finally, she heard a gunshot.
Without another thought, she dashed towards a bustling commercial street in her fastest possible speed. The wind brushed across her face as a few branches scratched her and her clothes. She could not be bothered with that, she just wanted so badly to go a little faster. She had no idea how long she had been running, but the dazzling lights from the streets were getting closer and closer…
She could already hear the bustle and feel the liveliness in the air.
Only ten more meters before she was in the crowd and under the neon signs. Yet, right as she was about to reach the entrance to her freedom, a figure suddenly appeared before her. The gun in his hand was pointed directly at her forehead.
He was Chu Chen.
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