Chapter 25: Navigation

At the end of February, the sun had not yet fully brightened.

When Qiong Cang left the office, the sky outside was already a hazy grey. The dim yellow streetlights turned on, stretching people’s shadows into two faint silhouettes alongside the fading glow of the setting sun.

She walked on the pedestrian path inside the green belt. Watching the hurried figures passing by, a growing sense of incongruity welled up in her heart, and she couldn’t help but slow her pace.

Sanyao’s settings were very thorough, with many clues hidden in the details.

When she left just now, the employees in the office showed no surprise, and quite a few even followed right behind her to leave work. This indicated that Wu Ming was not someone who liked to work unnecessary overtime.

However, judging by the clues found in the villa, Wu Ming was not a good partner who returned home on time after work either. There were too few traces of his daily life in the villa, and there weren’t even many usage records on the study’s computer. This suggested that he likely only returned home for a brief rest without staying long. He was actively trying to avoid meeting Li Yujia.

So where exactly did he go during this blank window of time?

Was it to socialize and collaborate with other MCN companies, or did he go out to gather material and find inspiration for character personas?

With a solemn expression, Qiong Cang glanced back.

The sky darkened rapidly. Once the sun sank below the horizon, even the last trace of orange-red disappeared.

The blinding glare of headlights flashed across the road, and the sound of honking horns rose from time to time amidst the din. The traffic on the street had reached the evening rush hour.

Wu Ming knew how to drive; he wasn’t like her, needing to walk home after work. In that case, where did the stalker start tailing him?

Traffic conditions in the city center during rush hour were not suitable for tailing someone. A single traffic light or a reckless lane change could cause them to lose each other in the vast sea of cars.

Qiong Cang took out her phone again.

The GPS location on Wu Ming’s phone had not been authorized for the relevant apps, making it impossible to easily obtain his daily driving routes.

Qiong Cang scrolled through it but found nothing. She turned to open the map navigation app instead, and in the route dropdown menu, she saw a row of search history that hadn’t been cleared in time.

The corners of Qiong Cang’s lips curled up slightly.

As expected, no matter how cautious a person was, they wouldn’t go so far as to leave absolutely no trace on their private phone. Otherwise, their life would be far too tense.

Wu Ming was someone who frequently traveled for business. After all, as the boss, he occasionally had to help supervise shoots, select advertisements, and recruit newcomers. In the route history, under “My Location -> [Destination]”, out-of-province and in-province addresses were interspersed, revealing his usual business operations.

Even if he was familiar enough with the routes within the province and didn’t need navigation to travel back and forth, when he drove back from out of town, he would always need to set the destination to a place he frequently visited.

Qiong Cang tried every in-province location. She found that in one record at the bottom, the destination was neither the company nor a commercial district, but rather a residential community.

Qiong Cang hailed a car by the roadside, gave the location, and headed to the destination.

·

The taxi driver successfully dropped Qiong Cang off at the entrance of the residential community.

Carrying her briefcase, Qiong Cang put one hand in her pocket, adopting the posture of an overbearing CEO, and stepped out of the car.

She couldn’t find any keys related to this community on her, nor did she know where Wu Ming’s property was located. Sanyao hadn’t given her any prompts this time, which meant there should be key hidden evidence here. Or perhaps, it was a clue that wasn’t meant for her character at all.

Qiong Cang strode toward the security booth. The gate at the entrance was tightly shut, requiring a key card to enter.

A security guard in a red uniform was on duty. Seeing her approach, he smiled and greeted her warmly, “Mr. Wu? Why aren’t you driving today?”

“I lost my wallet today, and all my keys are gone. I haven’t found them yet,” Qiong Cang said. “By the way, do you have the contact info for a locksmith? Could you help me call one over? I’ll wait here.”

The guard said enthusiastically, “Sure, please wait a moment. I’ll have him come over right away.”

Qiong Cang maintained a distance of about a meter from him, watching him enter the security booth, fish out a card from a messy pile of business cards on the desk, and dial the number on it.

“Hello, locksmith?” The guard was clearly quite familiar with Wu Ming. Without even asking for the apartment number, he said directly, “The owner of Unit 2, Building 3, Bamboo Garden, Room 602 needs a lock opened. Can you come over now? Great, great. He’s waiting at the community entrance, so please hurry. Thanks.”

He gave a few instructions, quickly hung up, and smiled at Wu Ming again, saying, “Please wait here for a moment. He’ll be here soon.”

Qiong Cang gave a gentlemanly smile. “Thank you.”

Before long, a middle-aged man carrying a toolbox walked in. The guard opened the gate for them and let them in.

When Wu Ming left last time, he hadn’t double-locked the door, so the unlocking process was very simple. The locksmith only fiddled with the door for a short while before successfully opening it. After collecting the money, he left quickly and cleanly, leaving Qiong Cang alone in the house to observe the environment inside.

The apartment was cleaned very neatly. As soon as she entered, she could smell a faint fragrance. Qiong Cang’s nose twitched, and she followed the scent to look at the nearby dining table.

On the table sat a vase of dried flowers, beautifully color-coordinated. She didn’t know what perfume had been sprayed on them, but the scent, similar to real flowers, was so natural that Qiong Cang had mistaken them for fresh flowers at first glance.

Qiong Cang casually pulled open the shoe cabinet to the side and saw a few pairs of black leather shoes inside, placed side-by-side with various types of high heels.

She held the shoes in her hand.

At a rough glance, the high heels didn’t show their size clearly, but the numbers marked on the soles showed they were all size 39, 40¹, or larger. A few styles were even size 44 or larger, which must have been custom-made.

The soles were all very clean. It was clear that the owner took great care of them, or simply never wore them outside.

Qiong Cang closed the cabinet door behind her and continued walking inside.

The decor style of this apartment was completely different from the villa, yet it felt somewhat cut from the same cloth. While the villa was resplendent and ostentatious to the point of being an eyesore, this apartment was equally luxurious, but with colors so vibrant they were jarring.

It was obvious the owner liked blue, purple, and red. The three colors did not blend harmoniously together, and it was not a decorating style Qiong Cang liked.

The room was also filled with various handmade crafts, packing the wooden shelves in a dazzling array.

It was only because the apartment was too small that it hindered Wu Ming’s aesthetic expression.

Qiong Cang followed the hallway to the bedroom.

On the dressing table sat quite a bit of jewelry, including an amethyst bracelet and necklace. The large amount of women’s accessories Wu Ming had purchased were likely all here. They were not gifts for his wife, but for himself.

Qiong Cang turned around and looked at the wardrobe against the wall, which was filled with various styles of bold, flowing dresses.

She took down a dress to compare the length and size, finding that some would fit her, while others were too small. On several dresses of the right size, there were creases from being tried on.

Qiong Cang walked through the entire apartment. To be honest, although she had been prepared, she still felt a shock in her heart. She kept her face expressionless, but her feelings were highly complex.

Even if she didn’t want to admit it, the truth was already laid out before her.

The reason why there were no communication records with a “mistress” on Wu Ming’s phone was not because he was overly cautious, but because one never existed in the first place.

He also wasn’t enjoying the excitement and thrill of having an affair; his own hobby was thrilling enough.

He was a cross-dresser, and his only fear was that this would be discovered.

Qiong Cang sighed with emotion.

When she had first entered this room, she had naively thought it was just a golden cage used by a domineering CEO to hide his mistress. It turned out her reasoning had gone fundamentally wrong from the start, because she simply did not understand the lives of the wealthy.

Rich people could buy an entire apartment just to play dress-up and hide their hobby. As for her, she couldn’t do that. She couldn’t buy an apartment just to store draft paper, because one apartment wouldn’t be enough to hold it all anyway.

·

The netizens in the Live Stream Room were no less shocked than Qiong Cang. The male netizens were temporarily speechless, afraid that speaking up at this moment would expose something.

“Fuck… it’s my lack of life experience that limited my reasoning.”

“I just… for a moment, I don’t know whether to marvel at the boss’s search abilities or the wonders of this dazzling world. I can accept and understand it, it’s just that the turn was so sharp I couldn’t stop in time.”

“The steering wheel has flown right off…”

“Quite a few men have a cross-dressing fetish, they just haven’t tried it. Because women’s clothes are really beautiful.”

“I couldn’t tell, I really couldn’t tell. To think Wu Ming is actually this kind of person.”

“Can the boss give us a voiceover explanation? She’s been silent, and I still don’t know how she thought of coming to this place.”

“The plot exploration progress of this Live Stream Room is really flying. Following the boss is an easy win.”

Translator’s Notes