Chapter 129: The Hotel

Seeing how resistant she was to the arrangement, Lu Qian did not insist on having his friend drive her. He simply reminded her to stay safe before hanging up.

By the time Qin Miaoyu got up from the sofa, the car outside the villa was already gone.

She hailed a ride on her phone, picked up her luggage, and left Dongshan Villas.

Because it was inconvenient for outside vehicles to enter the villa district, Qin Miaoyu walked toward the main entrance. Fortunately, the villa where Liang Siyuan and the others stayed was not too far from the gates, and it took her only five or six minutes to walk out.

However, her driver was stuck in traffic, so she had to wait for a while.

The sun was quite harsh, so she dragged her luggage under the shade of a tree to escape the heat.

A car slowly pulled up in front of her.

Qin Miaoyu initially thought it was her driver, but the rear window rolled down to reveal a foreign man sitting inside.

She checked her phone and saw that her driver was still stuck in the same spot, so she immediately took two steps back.

To her surprise, the man in the back seat spoke in fluent Chinese, asking where she was heading and offering her a ride.

Qin Miaoyu politely declined with a smile; she did not know this man.

Fortunately, he did not press the matter.

"Since you're unwilling, then never mind. I look forward to our next meeting."

*There won't be a next time,* Qin Miaoyu thought to herself, though she maintained a polite smile on her face.

As the car slowly drove into the villa district, she checked her phone again.

The traffic jam seemed to have cleared up, and the driver was now heading her way.

She kept her eyes glued to her phone, mindlessly dragging her luggage as she walked forward.

When Lu Qian learned from his assistant that Louis had moved into the Dongshan Villa District, his heart instantly leaped into his throat.

He didn't know if Miaoyu had left yet. If she ran into Louis...

At the thought of this, he could not help but try to contact her again.

But the phone rang several times, and no one answered.

Lu Qian checked the time. It was almost flight time; she might already be boarding or on the plane.

He opened their chat, only to find that she had not sent him any messages.

However, he had told her to let him know before she boarded, and even if he hadn't, it was a habit of hers.

Yet, there was not a single new message on his phone.

He thought he might just be overreacting out of concern, but he needed to be sure to put his mind at ease.

Lu Qian dialed Liang Siyuan's number.

"Miaoyu went back to Jingcheng?" Hearing this over the phone, Liang Siyuan immediately checked his messages and saw that Miaoyu did indeed plan to return to Jingcheng.

But she hadn't told him she was boarding either.

Liang Siyuan also knew that she always let them know before boarding a flight.

He grew a bit worried as well, but asked, "Could you have misheard the flight time? Maybe it's at one or two in the afternoon?"

Lu Qian replied gravely, "Second Brother, I definitely didn't hear it wrong. Besides, only a flight at this time would require Miaoyu to leave around eleven."

Knowing there might be traffic, she had set off a bit early.

Lu Qian added, "Second Brother, ask Sister-in-law if she received any messages from Miaoyu."

If no one had heard from her, it meant something was likely wrong.

Sure enough, Zheng Suning hadn't received any boarding messages from Qin Miaoyu either.

Before long, the three of them met up at the Dongshan Villa District.

They went to the security room to check the surveillance footage and saw that Qin Miaoyu had successfully walked out of the villa gates.

However, due to the limited camera coverage outside the villa district, they could only see her walking just past the entrance before she vanished from the footage.

When Qin Miaoyu woke up, her head throbbed with pain.

It made sense—how could it not hurt after being knocked unconscious?

She surveyed her surroundings. It looked like a high-end hotel room with luxurious decor, far from an ordinary room.

She tried to sit up, but she couldn't move at all. Only then did she realize that her hands and legs were bound tight with ropes.

She struggled with all her might, but the knots on her wrists didn't budge. They were not something she could easily undo.

With a click, the door opened.

Qin Miaoyu immediately closed her eyes, pretending to still be asleep.

The person who entered walked softly to the side of the bed and stopped.

A moment later, she felt someone touching her face!

She kept her face expressionless, suppressing the wave of disgust at the touch.

Fortunately, the person quickly withdrew their hand and muttered, "What a pity..."

The voice sounded somewhat familiar, but she didn't dare open her eyes to look.

Then, footsteps sounded, moving away before stopping after a few paces.

She heard the sound of a phone dialing, and then the person in the room asked, "Has the person arrived?"

"Good. Proceed as we discussed."

"Don't worry, she's still very useful. I won't touch her."

"Rest assured, I'll have someone guard this place. She won't escape."

After a few more brief exchanges, the person hung up.

Once again, the clicking of leather shoes echoed on the floor, growing faint until the door clicked shut, plunging the room back into silence.

Qin Miaoyu opened her eyes, staring at the ornate ceiling above.

She turned her head. Outside the window, the sun was shining brightly; it shouldn't be too late in the day.

She shuffled off the bed and took tiny steps to the window. Peering outside, she realized she had been to this area before. It was a bustling commercial street, and this building must be the Huaxuan Grand Hotel.

She groped around for her phone, but her pockets were empty.

She felt foolish for even looking. She had been kidnapped; how could they possibly leave her with a phone?

However, there was a landline phone in the room connected to the front desk.

She carefully shuffled toward it, but then stopped.

The fact that she could be brought into the hotel unconscious suggested that the staff were either in league with her captors or turned a blind eye to such things. If she rashly made a call, she might tip them off, making it even harder to escape.

With this in mind, she quietly sat back on the bed and lay down, returning to her previous posture.

Having failed to find any leads from the surveillance footage, the three split up. Liang Siyuan and Zheng Suning continued their search elsewhere, while Lu Qian headed back into the Dongshan Villa District.

Since Louis had already moved into the area, Lu Qian decided to confront him directly.

Hearing the doorbell, the butler of the villa Louis was staying in immediately went to open it.

"Where is Louis?" Lu Qian demanded as he pushed his way inside.

The butler tried to block him. "Sir, Mr. Louis has just gone to rest. If you have business with him, please allow me to go upstairs and ask if he is willing to see you!"

Noticing the butler's evasive expression, Lu Qian grew even more anxious.

He bypassed the butler, stormed deeper into the villa, and shouted for Louis.

"Louis! Louis! Get out here!"