The inside of the private room was not very large.
As soon as Bai Xia entered, there were already several people sitting inside, and it looked quite lively.
Not only was Zhou Peng, who had contacted him, there, but there was also someone he had never seen before sitting in the main seat.
That person had a broad build, with an especially fat belly, and his expression was slightly obscene. The moment Bai Xia entered, he stared straight at him, making Bai Xia feel a wave of inexplicable disgust.
Unexpectedly, Liu Fengyu and Han Zichen were also sitting beside him.
When Zhou Peng saw Bai Xia, he immediately stood up warmly to welcome him.
“Xiao Bai, you’re finally here. Come, come, come in quickly.”
“This is Boss Shen. He’s a famous investor. Variety shows, films, dramas—he invests in them casually just for fun. These past few days, he happened to see you in that variety show of yours and liked you very much. He even became your fan.”
“Look, after hearing about your recent matter, he specifically brought the two people involved here. If there’s anything, everyone can sit down and slowly discuss it.”
As soon as Bai Xia saw these people, he felt that something was wrong.
But Zhou Peng had already quickly come over and pulled him in. When Bai Xia entered, he had also vaguely seen two people in the corridor who looked like bodyguards.
So, subconsciously, he secretly turned on the hidden recording device he carried with him.
When Liu Fengyu and Han Zichen saw him, they were also very enthusiastic, without the slightest trace of the ruthlessness they had shown when confronting him in private.
It was as if the public opinion outside had nothing to do with them at all.
“Brother Bai Xia, why is everyone outside saying you bullied me? There’s absolutely no such thing. Don’t worry, I’ll go clarify it right away.”
As Han Zichen spoke, he lifted a glass of wine and walked over.
Bai Xia rarely drank alcohol in ordinary times. Hearing Han Zichen’s deliberately affected tone made him slightly uncomfortable.
Especially when Han Zichen placed a hand on his shoulder, that discomfort reached its peak.
Bai Xia subtly avoided his touch. He did not answer, nor did he touch the wine glass on the table.
Seeing this, Liu Fengyu also gathered around and advised him.
“Brother Bai Xia, perhaps there were some misunderstandings between us usually. But everyone rehearsed together for so many days. You should at least give us some face. Besides, President Shen came specially today because of your matter. He said he would definitely stand up for you.”
Bai Xia’s doubts did not fade.
He realised this was a carefully planned trap.
Shen Wenbin sat in the main seat without moving. A malicious smile hung on his lips. He held a cup and swirled it in his hand, always smiling as he stared at Bai Xia without speaking.
Zhou Peng glanced at him and said, “That’s right, Xiao Bai. President Shen is usually busy with countless affairs. Today, he came specially. Don’t worry. If you’ve suffered any grievances usually, say them right away. He’ll definitely stand up for you.”
The three of them spoke one after another, and Han Zichen even brought the wine glass to Bai Xia’s lips.
For a moment, Bai Xia could not handle it. Unable to refuse, he could only take a tiny sip.
The three people beside him immediately seemed to relax. They enthusiastically pulled him to sit down and chat.
The three joked and chatted aimlessly for a long time without getting to the main matter.
But Bai Xia gradually felt that something was wrong with his body.
He did not know whether it was because the room was too stuffy, but he gradually felt a heat spreading through his body. His head suddenly became heavy and dizzy. He even felt that the figures of the people around him were somewhat dazzling.
Suddenly, Bai Xia’s phone rang.
It was an unknown number, but his intuition told him it was important and that he could not miss it. So he said he needed to go out and answer the call.
Han Zichen was sitting not far from him. His eyes swept over Bai Xia’s phone and saw that there was no contact name. Thinking that there were bodyguards outside the room anyway, and that Bai Xia definitely could not leave today, he gave a look, indicating that Bai Xia could go out.
Bai Xia walked into the corridor.
When the breeze blew over him, the discomfort scattered slightly.
As soon as Bai Xia answered the call, Lin Pei’s anxious voice came through.
“Bai Xia, hurry and leave. Those people teamed up to force unspoken rules on you. They want to hand you over to a big boss. How are you right now?”
Bai Xia’s muddled mind instantly cleared completely.
His whole body immediately became alert.
He lowered his voice, covered the receiver, quickly observed the surrounding environment, and spoke while walking outward.
“I’ve only been at the hotel for a short while. The address is the one I sent you. But when I came in just now, there seemed to be bodyguards.”
“Those bastards are actually playing dirty. They confiscated my phone. I only just managed to run out and call you. Don’t panic first. Look around and see if there’s any exit. I’ll think of a way on my side too.”
Bai Xia looked through the window for a while.
They were on the ninth floor. Jumping out the window was absolutely impossible.
Outside the room was a rather long corridor. There were several rooms, but their doors were tightly shut. Bai Xia carefully tried them, but none could be opened.
When Bai Xia came upstairs, he had felt that there were very few people on this floor. There were no service staff nearby either.
At the front of the corridor stood two bodyguards, blocking the only exit. When the two saw Bai Xia come out, they looked at him vigilantly.
Bai Xia quickly pretended he was making a phone call.
But his heart was pounding wildly, blood rushing upward, as he anxiously thought about how to slip out.
Lin Pei’s call had not yet ended.
Bai Xia bit his tongue to make himself more alert. Thinking of something, he immediately said, “In two minutes, use an outside phone to call Zhou Peng, or Liu Fengyu and Han Zichen. Call whoever you can reach. Say that I’ve already run out. Remember to disguise your voice.”
Lin Pei immediately agreed.
After turning off his phone, Bai Xia checked the surroundings again. There really was no exit.
Gritting his teeth, he carefully climbed out of the ninth-floor window.
Outside, there was a very narrow ledge with almost nothing to hold on to.
He could only focus all his attention, carefully moving his body and trying to find a stable support point. His hands used all their strength to grip the wall tightly.
Bai Xia moved forward with difficulty on the narrow surface. When the wind blew over, he felt his body sway slightly and sensed the muscles in his legs trembling from tension.
But there was not much time left for him.
He could only steady his mind and force himself not to look at the scene below.
The corridor was too long. It did not seem possible to bypass the guards from outside the window.
He could only first make the people inside believe that he had run out so they would go looking for him.
Sure enough, Lin Pei must have made the call, because a burst of noisy voices soon came from the quiet corridor.
“You actually let him leave? What are the two of you good for?” That was Zhou Peng’s voice.
“He probably hasn’t gone far. I’ll go check over there,” Liu Fengyu said.
The two bodyguards looked at each other.
Clearly, just one minute ago, they had still seen Bai Xia standing there making a phone call. There was only one exit here, and they were guarding it.
Both of them found it very strange.
Several people, including Shen Wenbin, came out. They split up and carefully checked the other room doors, then ran to the windows to check.
Han Zichen happened to arrive at the window where Bai Xia was standing.
Bai Xia held his breath nervously and carefully moved as far to one side as possible, using the protruding wall to shield himself.
On the other side, Zhou Peng was noisily making a phone call, saying he wanted the hotel manager to pull up the surveillance footage.
Han Zichen looked briefly before leaving the window. He had never imagined that Bai Xia would be so desperate.
The others also scattered, but they did not go too far.
Bai Xia listened hard to the movements in the corridor. Seizing the right moment, he quickly jumped from outside the window into the corridor, then rushed desperately toward the nearby exit.
Perhaps because of the alcohol, he felt his heart pounding violently, with a buzzing sound in his ears.
The elevator was too slow. He quickly locked onto the emergency stairwell on one side.
Moreover, just now, Bai Xia had vaguely heard them calling to ask the manager for surveillance footage. That meant they had most likely already coordinated with the hotel staff. If he appeared in the lobby, he would definitely be caught.
Thinking of this, Bai Xia gritted his teeth and ran up the stairs.
He thought that the higher the floor, the higher the status of the guests should be.
In the current situation, even if Lin Pei came, he would not be able to save him. Bai Xia could only gamble.
Behind him, other people who had discovered him were still chasing.
Bai Xia’s legs were somewhat weak, but the instinct to survive made him quicken his pace and keep running upward.
After running for a while, Bai Xia did not know where he had reached. He vaguely remembered that he had gone up about five or six floors.
Suddenly, he heard some movement on the floor outside.
There was no time to think too much. He opened the safety door and rushed out.
At this moment, the drug had already taken effect.
Bai Xia had only been focused on running wildly and avoiding the people behind him. He had not noticed that his face was already flushed. He was still gasping heavily.
Then he crashed straight into a warm embrace.
The person in the corridor was Shen Mingjin.
His current condition was not much better than Bai Xia’s.
From Old Master Shen’s generation onward, the Shen family had been crooked from the top down. All kinds of direct branches and collateral branches, legitimate children and illegitimate children, fought endlessly both openly and secretly.
Combined with enormous wealth, the internal struggles of the family had even cost lives before.
This hotel had always been under Shen Mingjin’s name. Today, he had been trapped by people from the Shen family.
Originally, he had thought that since this was his own territory, those people would not dare act too recklessly.
Unexpectedly, that madman from the Shen family could not be judged by normal logic at all. He had actually dared to use such despicable methods against him.
This hotel had eighteen floors in total.
Nominally, the top floor was his private area, but Shen Mingjin had always been cautious. He had merely released that rumour outward and did not actually stay there often.
Instead, the sixteenth floor appeared to the outside world as normal guest accommodation, but in reality, it was where he would stay.
The security here was even tighter than on the eighteenth floor. It was just that most of it was arranged very discreetly. Aside from Shen Mingjin’s trusted aides, very few people knew.
What happened today had exceeded everyone’s expectations. For a time, everyone was caught off guard. Most of the people around him had been drawn away.
After realising he had been drugged, he shook off everyone and walked alone toward his room.
When he passed by the emergency exit, he suddenly heard a sound.
Before he could think carefully, he saw a thin young man crash through the door and rush over.
This door should originally have been closed. Perhaps because everything today had suddenly become too chaotic, someone had overlooked it.
Shen Mingjin subconsciously wanted to push the person away.
Unexpectedly, this young man’s face was flushed, his eyes wet, his long eyelashes damp with tears. His gaze was somewhat dazed as he looked at him.
As if compelled by some unseen force, or perhaps because of the drug in the alcohol, Shen Mingjin felt as though time suddenly stopped.
The surrounding scene became somewhat blurred. Everything around them seemed excessively quiet, while the sound of his own heartbeat became especially clear.
In his eyes, there was only the young man’s exquisite face, his reddened eyes, his head tilted up, brows slightly furrowed, looking at him as if asking for help.
Shen Mingjin was stunned for an instant, then immediately reacted and brought him back to his room.
