The Entertainment Industry's Famous Fraud Couple - Chapter 23

Chen Qinghe walked into the room carrying large bags and small parcels. Upon pushing the door open, she saw Qin Chaomu curled into a ball, hugging herself with her head buried in her knees.

“Mumu, what’s wrong?”

With over twenty years of friendship, Chen Qinghe immediately sensed that something was off with Qin Chaomu. She hurried to the bedside, tossing the snacks into a corner.

Qin Chaomu looked up, her eyes somewhat swollen. She shook her head with a smile and said, “It’s nothing, I’m just tired.”

“Did that Shen Guai bully you?” Chen Qinghe asked, pulling Qin Chaomu into a distressed embrace.

Qin Chaomu didn’t speak, but her lips trembled, and crystal tears began to well up in her eyes.

“Mumu…” Seeing Qin Chaomu cry, Chen Qinghe couldn’t help but start crying as well.

“She has a boyfriend, so why did she come to provoke me…”

Qin Chaomu buried her face in Chen Qinghe’s arm, acting as aggrieved as a child.

“That bastard!” Chen Qinghe rarely saw Qin Chaomu cry. Looking at Qin Chaomu’s face, which was as pale as paper, she let out a long, helpless sigh.

“Where is Shen Guai?”

3:00 AM.

Master Wang had been driving all day and was preparing to head home. This road was very remote, far from the city center, and it was nearly impossible to pick up passengers. Master Wang yawned, feeling exhausted.

Suddenly, he saw a tall, slender beauty standing by the roadside. She stood there quietly in a white dress, looking like a “White Moonlight” first love stepping out of a television drama.

Master Wang chuckled and immediately stopped the car.

“Where to, beautiful?” Master Wang looked at the woman in the rearview mirror, his mood suddenly improving.

To his surprise, the beauty simply replied expressionlessly, “Qingshan Cemetery.”

“Holy crap!” Master Wang broke into a cold sweat. Why on earth was this woman going there in the middle of the night? It was so ominous; he wondered if he had encountered a female ghost.

“Qingshan Cemetery, that… that…”

The beauty in the backseat pulled several red banknotes from her wallet and slapped them onto Master Wang’s shoulder, then said nothing more.

The drive wasn’t long, only half an hour but the driver felt it was more agonizing than the time his wife forced him to do housework.

“Thank you,” the woman said politely as she stepped out of the car, her movements crisp and decisive. Master Wang slammed on the gas and fled.

Shen Guai turned around, carrying a bottle of Erguotou liquor, and walked deep into the cemetery. Finally reaching two tombstones, she knelt. She opened the liquor, poured a small cup, and splashed it onto the yellow earth.

Shen Guai pressed her hands to the ground and kowtowed three times.

The bright moon hung high in the pitch-black sky. The night air was damp; the slight chill wasn’t bone-piercing, but it froze the heart.

“Little President Shen.”

The voice broke the silence. A man in his thirties walked up behind Shen Guai and knelt beside her.

“A-Ken.”

Shen Guai simply nodded to him.

“We found that old man. His name is Chen Bo. He was released from prison five years ago, and his wife divorced him. Now he lives alone, selling pets like cats and dogs at the flower and bird market,” A-Ken said, placing a bouquet before the tombstone.

Shen Guai looked coldly at the photo on her phone of the old man on the tricycle she had taken that night, smiling knowingly.

“Little President Shen… I’ve been exposed.”

Shen Guai was startled. She knew what being “exposed” meant for an undercover police officer.

A-Ken handed Shen Guai a black package with a troubled expression. “The day after tomorrow, Zhang Di has asked to meet me at the pier for a transaction. If I haven’t contacted you in three days, then I am likely dead.”

“Little President Shen, can I ask you… to help me hand this package over to the police?” After speaking, A-Ken kowtowed to her.

A-Ken knew this might put Shen Guai in danger, but he had no other way out. Shen Guai was his informant because she was protected by Mrs. Xu, she had helped him pass information for many years. This time might be the last.

Although A-Ken understood that going to the pier to trade with Zhang Di after being exposed was a death trap, he was a policeman. This was a necessary step to catch Zhang Di, even if it was a desperate gamble.

Shen Guai’s lips moved slightly. She said nothing, but she took the package.

It wasn’t until A-Ken rose to leave that Shen Guai sighed and mouthed the words: “Officer A-Ken, take care.”

Shen Guai raised the bottle and downed half of it in one go. She sat before the graves, staring at the photo of the young police officer on the tombstone, using her forearm to wipe away the frost and dew.

“Mother, Father, Shen Guai has come to see you.”

Shen Guai took a breath, licked her red lips, and looked ahead blankly. She poured another cup and splashed it on the ground. Finally, she drained the rest of the bottle.

She stood up and placed the empty bottle heavily in front of the tombstone. The past flashed before her eyes like a revolving lantern. She wiped the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand. Only at this moment, in this place, did she dare show her true emotions.

Despite the whole bottle of liquor, though her face was flushed, she remained sober. She performed her bows and left the place where her biological parents were buried just as the sky began to turn grey.

She took A-Ken’s package. Inside was evidence of Zhang Di’s drug trafficking over the years and the organizational structure of the criminal gang.

A-Ken was the third undercover officer Shen Guai had worked with. Of the previous two, one had been missing for years, and the other’s body had been recovered from the moat. A-Ken was the third. Before Zhang Di was caught, he wouldn’t be the last.

Taxis were scarce in the early morning, especially near Qingshan Cemetery. Shen Guai walked for over ten kilometers until the sun rose. She looked up as the faint sunlight hit her clean, beautiful face.

Light pierced the darkness, the dead could rest in peace.

When Shen Guai returned to the film set, it was already afternoon.

“Little Guai! Where did you go!” Jin Xi hugged Shen Guai and screamed frantically. “They said you ran away from the hospital!”

“Don’t even mention it!”

Shen Guai threw her handbag down in frustration. “It was all because of that damn woman, Qin Chaomu!”

Picking a cherry tomato from a fruit plate, Shen Guai bit into it, intentionally acting mysterious. “Clearly, she and I are the ‘business couple,’ but she keeps running off to Chen Qinghe every few days, getting all entangled with her…”

“So I followed her. I was at the hotel with her last night.”

Shen Guai patted Jin Xi’s shoulder. “Where’s Qin Chaomu? Is she back on set yet?”

Wu Tong shook her head with a mournful expression. “Teacher Shen, are you feeling better?”

Shen Guai pinched Wu Tong’s cheek with a sweet grin. “My medical insurance card is maxed out, but I’m fine~”

“Then why didn’t Teacher Qin come back with you?” Wu Tong asked while massaging Shen Guai’s shoulders.

“She had an event with Chen Qinghe…”

Shen Guai pondered for a moment. Qin Chaomu’s event was in the morning, and it was nearly evening now. She should be back. She was even scheduled to film this afternoon.

Trying to hide her irritation, Shen Guai opened the production group’s announcement chat on her phone. Qin Chaomu’s scenes for this afternoon had been temporarily canceled.

“That woman… so irresponsible? Is she just playing the big star card now?” Shen Guai handed the phone to Jin Xi to show her the message.

Jin Xi was puzzled. “Teacher Qin is usually so professional. This has never happened before. Maybe it’s an emergency?”

“How are things actually progressing between you and Teacher Qin, Little Guai?”

Shen Guai rested her chin on her hand and shook her head gloomily.

Qin Chaomu hadn’t just canceled today’s scenes, tomorrow’s and the day after’s were canceled too. Three days in a row. Despite her best efforts to stay calm, Shen Guai’s brow furrowed.

Three days. Qin Chaomu, what on earth are you doing?

“Wu Tong, tell Director Xin that if the schedule is open, he can film my scenes first. We shouldn’t let that bad woman waste everyone’s time.”

At Shen Guai’s request, Xin Shang scheduled her from 6:00 AM until 1:00 AM. Except for a few hours of sleep, Shen Guai was constantly filming. She didn’t want any downtime. She was afraid that if she stopped, she would think about A-Ken, about the people who had died… and she was afraid she would think about Qin Chaomu.

During her brief breaks, she would check for updates on Qin Chaomu. There was nothing silence, like a dead person. Aside from the news of her attending Chen Qinghe’s book launch yesterday morning, there was no news at all.

After another day of filming, Shen Guai returned to her hotel room. While changing her shoes, she searched for Qin Chaomu’s status again. There was nothing useful, just fans and marketing accounts.

Shen Guai laughed at herself, tossed her phone onto the bed, and went to take a weary shower. When she came out, she lay on the bed staring at the ceiling light, her mind a mess.

She rolled over and picked up her phone, wanting to message Qin Chaomu to ask what she was doing. But she felt she had no valid reason to ask.

Shen Guai touched her chest, perplexed. Why was she hesitating so much? Qin Chaomu was just a target, just another goal in her life. She just needed to keep going… so why the hesitation?

The chat interface had been stuck on their conversation for a long time. The last message was from a year ago when Qin Chaomu said: [I’ve accepted your friend request. We can start chatting now.]

Her fingers slid back and forth over the virtual keyboard. After much deliberation, she closed WeChat.

She switched to her “finsta” (alt account) and opened Weibo. She typed “Qin Chaomu” into the search bar. The first result was a set of nine photos. The headline was explosive:

[Top Star Qin Chaomu Meets Young Heartthrob Late at Night.]

The post was from two minutes ago.

Shen Guai’s face darkened. She clicked on one of the photos and zoomed in… then zoomed in more.

Although the paparazzi shots were blurry, she recognized Qin Chaomu instantly. She also recognized the place where Qin Chaomu was eating with the man.

It was a themed lovers’ hotel.

The beer can in her hand was crushed flat. Shen Guai glared at the face of the unfamiliar male star, gritting her teeth. “Fine. So this is where you’ve been running off to.”