Joining A Dating Show With Five Exes - Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Her Surveillance

Changing out of the gown used for the photoshoot, Cheng Shiyuan looked at herself in the mirror—

She could still feel the temperature and wet heat of a tongue licking her fingertip.

Because of the assault and injury incident, the studio was in chaos, and the commercial shoot was naturally suspended. Cheng Shiyuan accompanied Wang Shu to the nearest hospital to treat the wound.

Leaning by the door while waiting for someone, the continuous stimuli from last night until now, combined with the tranquil scent of disinfectant in the VIP wing, allowed her mind to relax, and she dozed off.

Her hat-covered head slid down slightly, about to lurch forward.

A hand precisely caught her.

Cheng Shiyuan startled awake but instinctively showed a concerned look: “How’s the wound? Why didn’t you wake…”

Before the word “me” could fully leave her mouth.

In an opulent perfume that was wrapped in a sweet coat yet still conveyed a fierce dominance, she met a pair of narrowed phoenix eyes.

The moment she saw who it was, her scalp suddenly tingled.

Xia Ziran’s tongue tapped her inner cheek, a smile that wasn’t quite a smile on her face, as she looked at this incorrigible, bad little bird who was always keen on mistaking her for someone else.

She happened to have plenty of ways to tame a bird into recognizing its master.

The palm resting on her delicate cheek dangerously increased its pressure. Cheng Shiyuan, quick as a flash, grabbed her wrist before she could make any more moves.

“Why are you here?”

Xia Ziran sneered, glancing at her self-deceiving, futile resistance.

However, she wasn’t in a hurry to flare up at this moment. After quickly scanning and confirming she was unharmed, she said in a cool tone:

“The endlessly charming celebrity Cheng is so popular that someone rushed to be a hero and save her even during a commercial shoot. As the ‘hero’s’ guardian, can’t I come and see what’s going on?”

Being reminded, Cheng Shiyuan thought of Wang Shu’s injury, let go of her, and turned to leave.

The collar of her dress was suddenly hooked by a force, accompanied by a light threat:

“Try being so dismissive again?”

As if to confirm this statement, the collar tightened around her neck, like a collar deliberately pulled taut to warn a disobedient pet.

Cheng Shiyuan had to raise a hand to shield herself. When she turned sideways, she deliberately revealed a tit-for-tat smile:

“I just wanted to check on your niece’s injury, is that not allowed, Auntie?”

Xia Ziran’s face darkened.

She hated hearing Cheng Shiyuan call her that.

That form of address, borrowed from Wang Shu’s relation, made her think of a very bad development—for instance, an inappropriate emotional entanglement forming between the two of them behind her back.

Xia Ziran instinctively did not want to imagine such a thing, so, uncharacteristically, she voluntarily eased her grip, intending to use a gentler approach to lure her back:

“She’s fine. The police just notified her to go and cooperate with the on-site report.”

She paused, then couldn’t resist: “Not long ago, I saw news headlines about someone following you into a hotel, and today, it’s an extreme fan acting out of frustrated love.”

“Cheng Shiyuan, why don’t you reflect on why you always attract this kind of pervert?”

Hearing the word “pervert,” Cheng Shiyuan gave her a meaningful glance, staying silent.

Xia Ziran: “?”

But upon hearing about the assault incident again, Cheng Shiyuan inevitably replayed the scene in her mind, then frowned: “An extreme fan acting out of frustrated love? Have the investigation results already been released?”

She had been the center of attention since childhood, most accustomed to being surrounded by various gazes, and most skilled at discerning the emotions in others’ eyes.

Cheng Shiyuan clearly remembered that when that person rushed over—

The eyes were particularly calm.

There was no sign of obsession or fanaticism in them.

After being stopped by Wang Shu, the person simply started fighting her.

Cheng Shiyuan would sooner believe he was a hired assassin than an extreme stalker fan.

Xia Ziran didn’t miss the change in her expression, but regarding this matter, by the time she received the news and rushed over, the entire building had already been cordoned off by people from the Xie Group.

The filming location was in the core business district, and that building, unfortunately, happened to be a property under the Xie Group.

Back then, Xie family’s parents, in order to get closer to the Cheng family, liked to buy adjacent assets when procuring property for their child. It is said that even now, in many high-end residential areas in this city, if the ‘Building King’ is under Cheng Shiyuan’s name, the building next to it must belong to Xie Zhiqing.

—Like a dog guarding a bone, unable to tear its eyes away.

Xia Ziran was inwardly scornful, and her words became even cooler: “You’ll have to ask your good ‘Zhiqing.’ How is it that after letting the police investigate for half a day, they could only find this sort of thing?”

If it weren’t for the fact that the Xia family’s focus had been abroad in recent years, leading to their current difficulty in suppressing the local titan, the Xie Group, and even having to use the excuse of Wang Shu being implicated to barely follow the case’s progress…

Cheng Shiyuan was long accustomed to her mercurial temper. Amidst her dark expression, she was also reminded that the incident occurred directly opposite the Cheng Group’s headquarters.

Could this matter be related to Ji Sheng?

She reviewed her memory, a plan for probing already forming in her mind, and using the reason Xia Ziran had provided, she prepared to go look for someone.

“Stop right there.”

“What’s that on your waist?”

Due to the previous tugging on her collar, a sliver of fair waist was inadvertently exposed.

On it were tiny, dark red marks, like fingerprints.

Cheng Shiyuan wiped a hand across it, picked up a few dark red, dry fragments, and her body inevitably recalled the heat and tingling caused by the friction and close contact with another tall body.

Under Xia Ziran’s faint gaze, Cheng Shiyuan remembered that this person was very sensitive to color changes.

She must have realized it was blood, and the only person injured at the scene was Wang Shu.

Seeing Cheng Shiyuan’s eyes darting away, clearly exposed but starting to desperately try to wipe away the guilty evidence on her back, Xia Ziran let out a cold laugh, raised her hand, and was about to pull her back to settle both new and old scores:

“Cheng Shiyuan—”

“Shh. Stop.”

And Cheng Shiyuan, the one who had committed the embarrassing act, actually tried to silence her urgently, forbidding her from raising her voice.

“Okay, okay, you know I’m on my period. Keep your voice down. Is this embarrassing thing something to boast about? I’m a celebrity, you know!”

Xia Ziran: “…?”

The brewing storm of anger froze in that instant.

Cheng Shiyuan was still whispering warnings in her ear, telling her to remind her quietly next time and not to blurt it out.

Xia Ziran found herself feeling both annoyed and amused, but her shoulders relaxed because of this. Whatever the case, as long as the mark wasn’t what she thought it was—related to Wang Shu…

“Wang Shu.”

Her gaze froze, staring at the tall figure who had returned unnoticed and was standing at the door of the patient room: “Why are you back?”

Wang Shu saw their blatant intimacy. She thought of how her aunt could stand so openly by Cheng Shiyuan’s side, while all she had was the narrow, crowded dressing room at the studio.

The damp air of the dressing room reappeared at her nose, but a simple smile was on her face: “I left something very important here.”

Xia Ziran said flatly: “Oh?”

She raised an eyebrow, watching her niece intently, seemingly judging whether the “important thing” she spoke of would, by any chance, be the beautiful little bird she had already decided to keep.

However, enduring her substantial, dark gaze, Wang Shu merely concentrated on searching for something in the cleansing room, even crouching on the floor to look under the operating table.

She seemed to find nothing.

Just as Wang Shu’s face showed disappointment, unable to find any more excuses to stay, Xia Ziran leisurely extended her hand, seemingly with consideration, offering an excuse to her junior:

“Is this what you’re looking for?”

Spread open in her palm was a teardrop-shaped crystal.

The moment she saw it, Cheng Shiyuan imperceptibly stiffened.

And Wang Shu’s light-colored eyes couldn’t help but fixate on the crystal.

Xia Ziran toyed with the crystal between her fingers, her expression seemingly casual: “When I came just now, the nurse said the patient held onto this even when injured. It seems quite important, so I helped put it away for her—”

She narrowed her eyes, and, recalling the scene from the surveillance footage, she remotely held the crystal up to Cheng Shiyuan’s lips.

How could it be such a coincidence that it perfectly fit her lower lip?

Xia Ziran gave a brief laugh, suddenly clenched the crystal in her palm, allowing it to painfully dig into the skin of her hand. Then, as if nothing happened, she lowered her tone and asked again:

“Wang Shu. Is this object you’re looking for yours?”

If it were only this, she could still argue on their behalf, but the alluring red mark on Cheng Shiyuan’s waist still remained.

Xia Ziran had never so detested her proud brain, which was now clearly and uncontrollably presenting another possibility.

About how her good niece had been seduced by Cheng Shiyuan right under her nose, mistaking a succubus for an angel, and willingly bowing her head.

Wang Shu’s throat constricted, her lips moved, and she instinctively looked toward Cheng Shiyuan, seemingly at a loss.

The ferocity she showed when facing the attacker was gone. At this moment, she was merely a helpless junior being overly interrogated by a guardian. But if Cheng Shiyuan gave her a look, a sign of permission, having gained status, she could immediately muster the courage to oppose the powerful.

However, Cheng Shiyuan didn’t hesitate and interrupted her confession.

Then, with a natural movement, she took the crystal back from Xia Ziran’s hand:

“The makeup artist told me this was hard to find for the styling. The commercial isn’t finished yet, and I was afraid of losing it while removing makeup, so I asked Wang Shu to hold it for me temporarily. Why? Is something wrong?”

Xia Ziran heard her still daring to make such a desperate excuse at this moment. Her face completely darkened, her gaze maliciously locked onto her, and she gave a mirthless twitch of her mouth.

Her hand gripped her chin, not allowing her any further evasion:

“Have I not punished you for so long that you’ve forgotten my methods?”

A fact she had decided upon was never going to be shaken by those irrelevant excuses.

“Auntie, you’ll scare Cheng Cheng like that!”

Wang Shu immediately looked anxious, grabbing her arm.

Though she was still feeling a profound sadness that Cheng Shiyuan was indeed unwilling to openly admit any association with her, she was more worried now that her beloved person would be criticized by her aunt because of this.

Just as the entire floor was enveloped by Xia Ziran’s oppressive atmosphere, several distinct footsteps suddenly stopped outside the door.

Xie Zhiqing, standing at the front, had changed from her usual loose, comfortable athletic wear. She was now in a dark red suit, her long, straight black hair smoothly pulled back. She looked as though she had just finished some serious and formal meeting.

As she pushed the door open, her calm black eyes took in everything inside the room.

Seeing that Cheng Shiyuan still had the energy to be up and about, dealing with the Xia family, Xie Zhiqing’s heart, which had been pounding anxiously since receiving the news of the attack, finally calmed down.

Although she didn’t know what Xia Ziran was acting up about this time, Xie Zhiqing also had her own way of handling things.

Appearing to be completely oblivious to the scene, she said in a calm tone:

“The case is still under investigation. Currently, the suspect insists he ‘acted out because he fantasized about dating the celebrity and was unable to attain her after long-term admiration.'”

Ignoring the derision in Xia Ziran’s eyes, Xie Zhiqing changed the subject, addressing Cheng Shiyuan:

“No matter what, this incident happened in a Xie Group building. Until the truth comes to light, I have an obligation to ensure your safety.”

After speaking, four burly, sunglasses-wearing bodyguards in suits stepped forward, lining up in the medical room.

“These are bodyguards I personally selected from the security company that has cooperated with the Xie family for many years. They can ensure your safety even if you travel to areas with poor public safety.”

“From now on, except in special circumstances, they will follow you closely to protect your safety.”

Unlike Xia Ziran’s suspicious and sensitive nature, Xie Zhiqing’s actions were always decisive. Her style of action, too, was either to not strike at all, or to strike precisely at the vitals—

Although Cheng Shiyuan didn’t know how Xie Zhiqing managed to go to the police station, hear the interrogation, and still find time to arrange her own security in such a short period, there was one thing she was absolutely certain of.

That these four bodyguards, who were already walking toward her, even separating her from Xia Ziran, and whose presence was intimidating and physiques were massive.

They were not merely a demonstration of Xie Zhiqing’s concern for her safety.

Behind those pairs of sunglasses…

Was Xie Zhiqing’s surveillance of her.

From this moment on, her every move, and every interaction with anyone, would inevitably fall into Xie Zhiqing’s eyes, down to the last detail.

Wow.

Cheng Shiyuan thought expressionlessly.

Is she now supposed to perform for Xie Zhiqing, under the monitoring of these four moving cameras, how to cuckold her?