The Paranoid Film Queen Hooked Me, and I Fell in Love - Chapter 64

Shen Buhui was the first to sense something was wrong.

At the time, Xie Ye had already left for some business, and Shen Buhui was being pulled aside by the director to discuss the script. As her eyes wandered, she happened to notice the cold shrimp sitting untouched on Xu Zhiyan’s plate — and suddenly, something felt off.

Given Xu Zhiyan’s usual habits, she should have returned by now, even if she had only gone to the restroom.

Her phone was lying quietly on the table.

When Shen Buhui noticed this, her brows furrowed deeply.

Without warning, she stood up and interrupted the director mid-sentence.
“Director, I need to step out for a moment.”

She was worried that Xu Zhiyan might have gotten tipsy and passed out somewhere.

Zeng Yue, who had been quietly sipping her drink with her head down, glanced up at Shen Buhui’s sudden movement, then lowered her gaze again and continued drinking without expression.

Murmuring a quick excuse, Shen Buhui grabbed both her own and Xu Zhiyan’s phones. She pulled a waiter aside to ask for directions, then quickly made her way toward the restrooms.

No one was there.

Her expression tense, Shen Buhui yanked open one stall door after another — the restroom was completely empty.

Xu Zhiyan was nowhere to be found.

Shen Buhui recalled how Xu Zhiyan had looked before she left — her expression had been clear, her cheeks only slightly flushed. She hadn’t seemed the least bit drunk.

But now was not the time to dwell on that.

“Xu Zhiyan, Yanyan?” Shen Buhui called out, her brows knit tightly, hoping someone would answer.

More and more people had begun emerging from their private rooms, and noticing Shen Buhui’s anxious state, someone approached with concern.

“What’s going on?”

“Xu Zhiyan is missing,” Shen Buhui replied, her voice tight with worry. The chill in her tone was nearly sharp enough to freeze the air around her.

The woman who had asked froze in surprise. She had worked with Shen Buhui on the same production team for quite some time, but had never seen her like this — her presence now so cold and severe that it made people instinctively take a step back.

“Maybe she drank too much and found a place to sit and rest,” the woman offered. “Let’s help look for her.”

Knowing the two were close — and considering most of them had had a few drinks earlier — the others quickly joined in the search.

Zeng Yue trailed behind the group. Watching Shen Buhui’s anxious figure amidst the crowd, a faint, inexplicable smile curled at the corners of her lips.

She casually shook out her long sleeves, and the fine powder clinging to the white fabric scattered silently into the air, vanishing without a trace.

They scoured the entire floor but found no trace of Xu Zhiyan. Sweat glistened at Shen Buhui’s temples from all the rushing about, yet her heart felt like it had been plunged into ice.

Searching like this was far too inefficient.

Bracing herself against the railing, she took a steadying breath, then turned and ran downstairs.

She needed to request the hotel’s surveillance footage for that floor.

After some back-and-forth, the hotel’s front desk manager finally stepped in. Once he heard Shen Buhui’s request, he didn’t hesitate — he immediately led her to the surveillance room.

“Miss Shen, due to guest privacy concerns, we can only allow you to view footage from the public hallway areas,” the manager said politely.

Shen Buhui nodded, her lips pressed into a sharp, thin line. She followed him into the surveillance room.

They fast-forwarded the footage to the approximate time Xu Zhiyan had left.

Staring at the screen, Shen Buhui’s hand unconsciously clenched into a fist by her side. Her nails dug into her palm, but she barely noticed the pain.

She watched as Xu Zhiyan’s expression began to shift — something clearly wasn’t right. A sense of dread settled in Shen Buhui’s chest.

The camera near the restroom only captured Xu Zhiyan’s back as she entered. Nothing beyond that could be seen.

They continued scrubbing through the footage. Despite watching for a long time, Shen Buhui never saw Xu Zhiyan exit the restroom. Instead, a woman wearing a baseball cap walked straight in. Not long after, she came out again, glancing around as if searching for something.

The woman lingered near the restroom area for a while before finally walking away.

A cold heaviness settled in Shen Buhui’s chest.

She stared intently at the footage, rewinding and reviewing it again and again. Still, there was no sign of Xu Zhiyan.

“Thank you,” she said simply, then headed back up to the fifth floor.

“Did you find her?” someone asked.

But before Shen Buhui could answer, she dashed past like a gust of wind and rushed back into the restroom — this time, the men’s room.

A drunken man had just exited when he suddenly saw a woman in a white dress flash past him. Startled, he bolted without even flushing the toilet.

G-Ghost!?

Shen Buhui didn’t care if anyone else was inside. Lips pressed tight, her expression was tense as she went stall to stall, knocking and yanking doors open.

No one.

She pressed her lips together, anxiety surging.

By the time she reached the last stall, there was still no response.

Shen Buhui gripped the handle and tried to pull the door — it wouldn’t budge.

Her shoulders suddenly tensed.
“Xu Zhiyan, are you in there?”

No response.

But Shen Buhui was already certain that someone was inside. She kicked at the door twice, but it didn’t open.

Just then, a maintenance worker happened to be passing by to repair a faulty faucet outside the restroom. Shen Buhui rushed over and pulled him in, not even bothering to explain as she panted,
“Please help me, my friend is trapped inside!”

It took ten minutes before the maintenance worker managed to unlock the jammed door.

Shen Buhui yanked the door open — and immediately saw Xu Zhiyan collapsed on the toilet seat!

Her pupils contracted. Xu Zhiyan’s face was flushed, and she was completely unconscious.

Shen Buhui quickly moved to support her, pulling her into her arms. She immediately opened her phone and called Zhao Yue, then lifted Xu Zhiyan’s arm over her own shoulder, preparing to help her out.

Feeling herself being moved, Xu Zhiyan struggled to open her eyes. Her vision blurred, but she caught a glimpse of a familiar profile — and the tension in her body finally eased.

She shifted slightly, resisting weakly.

“Easy,” Shen Buhui soothed, suppressing the fear in her chest and speaking gently, “You’re not feeling well. I’m taking you to the hospital.”

Xu Zhiyan gave a small shake of her head. Biting her dry lips, she mumbled in a weak, embarrassed voice,
“Wait a second… can you find me a sanitary pad first? And… a clean set of clothes?”

Shen Buhui: “…”

The air stilled for a beat.

Shen Buhui tilted her head back slightly — and immediately saw a bright red stain.

Xu Zhiyan noticed her reaction. Regaining a hint of clarity, her gaze turned awkward and shy.

Well… being this disheveled in front of her girlfriend — it was a bit mortifying.

Once Xu Zhiyan received the items she needed, she quickly changed behind the closed stall door. Only then did Shen Buhui help her out of the restroom.

Outside, the crowd still waiting for news let out a collective sigh of relief the moment the two emerged unharmed.

At the very back, Zeng Yue, who had been watching and waiting for the drama to unfold, froze. Her expression darkened as she viciously crushed the flower in her hand.

She stormed off, pulling out her phone and growling into it furiously,
“Are you stupid? You didn’t think to check both restrooms?!”

“…Embarrassed? You ‘didn’t think of it’?” she hissed, taking a deep breath, barely stopping herself from hurling the phone across the hall.

After that chaotic and panicked night, Xu Zhiyan woke up the next morning in the hospital.

Shen Buhui had just finished setting out the breakfast that Zhao Yue had brought over. When she saw Xu Zhiyan stir awake, she quickly helped her adjust the pillows and asked,
“How are you feeling?”

Xu Zhiyan shook her head. “I’m okay. Honestly, it wasn’t that serious.”

Shen Buhui didn’t buy it. She waited until Xu Zhiyan had washed up and finished her breakfast — her complexion now looking noticeably better — before she finally asked,
“What happened last night?”

Just thinking about the scene she had walked into when she opened that stall door made her heart clench all over again.

Xu Zhiyan squinted, trying to recall.
“I was fine when I left the private room, but the further I walked, the hotter I felt. By the time I got to the restroom, my body felt like it was about to give out. I splashed some cold water on my face to wake myself up, but not long after that… I passed out.”

“I think I was shocked awake by the cold water. My stomach was cramping badly, so I managed to drag myself back to the stall and lock the door.”

She had already realized something was wrong by then, but she couldn’t fight it — she passed out again. She must have somehow turned the faucet on before collapsing, because the overflowing water ended up waking her.

She hadn’t had time to think. Instinctively, she’d locked herself in.

Sighing, Xu Zhiyan muttered,
“When it rains, it pours. As if food poisoning wasn’t enough — my period started too.”

Shen Buhui’s expression darkened.
“This was intentional,” she said grimly.

She brought up the woman in the surveillance footage — the one wearing the cap, sneaking around suspiciously.

Xu Zhiyan paused.
“I thought the same thing.”

Both of them were reminded of the results from the doctor’s exam the night before.

Xu Zhiyan had accidentally ingested something with aphrodisiac properties. The substance wasn’t particularly potent — at first, it only made the body feel weak, accompanied by a subtle heat. In small doses, it was often used to enhance intimacy between consenting partners. However, in higher quantities, it could cause full-body weakness and drowsiness.

Though not illegal to sell, this kind of product was heavily regulated, with strict limits on quantity and limited distribution channels.

The reason Xu Zhiyan hadn’t experienced heightened arousal but had instead felt dizzy and hot was because she happened to be on her period. The drug had little to no effect on someone in that state.

As Shen Buhui processed this, she sank into deep thought.

Xu Zhiyan, noticing her furrowed brow, reached up to gently stroke her face and offered comfort.
“We’ll find out who did it. Think about it — whoever it was, they clearly had a goal, but they probably didn’t expect me to stumble into the men’s restroom instead. Their whole plan fell apart.”

Shen Buhui managed a faint smile and pressed her face against Xu Zhiyan’s hand.

Suddenly, a phone rang.

Shen Buhui looked at the screen, hesitated for a moment, then stood up to take the call.

Xu Zhiyan’s sharp eyes caught a single character on the caller ID — “Xie.” It instantly reminded her of the dinner from the night before.

Before Xu Zhiyan could say anything, Shen Buhui had already begun speaking.

“I know what you want to ask,” she said. “Xie Ye and I…”

She paused briefly, then composed herself and continued with a serious tone.
“Xie Ye is my uncle — by blood.”

Xu Zhiyan’s eyes widened in surprise. She had guessed there was some connection between them, but she hadn’t expected that kind of relationship.

Shen Buhui gave a brief summary of their complicated history: a Cinderella and a young master in love, torn apart by disapproval, tragedy, and a fatal car crash that took her parents’ lives. At a young age, she was left to live with relatives, surviving under someone else’s roof.

“He contacted me because he heard about what happened last night,” she said. Her tone became slightly more conflicted. “The restaurant where we had dinner was owned by the Xie Corporation. He offered to help us investigate who was behind it.”

Xu Zhiyan was quiet for a moment before saying softly,
“Actually… I have someone in mind.”

She met Shen Buhui’s eyes and recalled the small details from the previous night.
“Everything was normal until I drank the glass of wine Zeng Yue poured me. Not long after that, I started feeling flushed. Plus, I’d had a lot of soup and drinks, so I went to the restroom… and everything that happened after began there.”

Now that she thought about it, Zeng Yue’s strange behavior also seemed suspicious.

Shen Buhui frowned.
“Xie Ye just told me that one of his hotel key cards has gone missing.”

At a time like this — with someone being drugged and a room key mysteriously disappearing — it was hard not to feel uneasy.

The two women exchanged a look.

Xu Zhiyan added,
“Yesterday, Zeng Yue even randomly asked me if Xie Ye was handsome…”

Shen Buhui’s expression shifted abruptly. She suddenly stood up.

Xu Zhiyan watched her move to the window, lowering her head to make a phone call. Her brows were drawn tight — sharp and cold, like a sword poised to strike — replacing the usually calm and gentle look on her face with something fierce and dangerous.

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