--------------------
Author's Note:
I originally planned to save up some drafts, but someone told me that not updating daily is soulless, so I'll just update today as soon as I have something to write.
Chapter 75 Are you crazy?
"You two get in the car first. I think I left my phone in the fortune-telling room." Just before getting in the car, Zhou wandered around his pockets but couldn't find his phone.
"I'll go back with you to get it!" Ji Anxi, who had already gotten into the car, was about to get off.
"No need, no need, I can run there and back in no time!" Zhou said, already running back.
Many rooms in Puhua Temple look the same, but Zhou Paihuai still recognized the room where he had his fortune told.
After going inside, she saw the phone still on the table. She breathed a sigh of relief, not because she regretted losing the phone, but because it contained the contact information of many colleagues, and losing it would have been quite a hassle.
Just as Zhou was about to grab his phone, an elderly woman in a wheelchair was suddenly pushed out, which startled him.
After a moment of stiffness, Zhou Paihuai finally picked up the phone and said, "Sorry to bother you, I left my phone behind and that's why I came in to get it."
As I turned to leave, I found the door behind me blocked. The person blocking the door was wearing a black suit and sunglasses, and he didn't look like a good person at all.
Zhou Paihuai had no choice but to turn around again and say, "It's just a phone, is it really necessary to go to such lengths? Kidnapping in broad daylight, my friend is still waiting outside!"
"Don't be afraid, no one is trying to kidnap you, I just want to talk to you."
This old lady couldn't even feign a kind and friendly demeanor; Zhou Huai would be crazy to even talk to her. So she refused with a look of refusal: "I'm sorry, I'm in a hurry to get home and don't have time to chat with you. If you're bored, you can find someone else to chat with."
With a single glance from the elderly woman in the wheelchair, Zhou Paihuai's phone was snatched away. No one knew what they did, but after fiddling with her phone for a while, they somehow cracked the lock screen password she had painstakingly set. Once on the phone, they naturally sent messages to Cheng Minxin and the others, making up an excuse for them to leave first.
After finishing her business, the old lady said, "Now you have time, right?"
"... ...Are you sick?" This was the only thing Zhou Paihuai wanted to say, but she was too cowardly to do it. This old woman looked truly terrifying. She was definitely not the same group that kidnapped her last time. Last time, those people were extremely cautious, afraid of being discovered. Unlike this old woman, who dared to lead such a group of people in broad daylight, a group that would stand out anywhere. She was absolutely capable of murder and robbery.
Her silence was interpreted by the old woman as a silent compromise, so the old woman continued, "You may not know me, so let me introduce myself first. My surname is Zhou."
Zhou hesitated, speechless. There are plenty of people in the world with the surname Zhou, even I am surnamed Zhou. So what if you are the King of Zhou or King Mu of Zhou? Do I have to get to know you?
"I know you may not know me, but you must have heard of the Zhou Group, right? I am the current chairman of the Zhou Group." Seeing the doubt in her eyes, Madam Zhou directly revealed her identity.
"..." Zhou Paihuai didn't know where this old lady got her confidence from. In fact, she had never heard of the Zhou Group. She asked directly, "Why don't you just tell me what you want?"
Madam Zhou gave her subordinates another wink, and they immediately handed Zhou Paihuai a photograph.
Zhou Paihuai recognized the face in the photo all too well; it was the face she saw every day when she looked in the mirror. She suddenly looked up at Old Madam Zhou and asked, "Who is she?"
Although familiar, the look in someone's eyes cannot be replicated, so Zhou Paihuai knew very well that the person in the photo was not herself, nor the original body, but simply someone who looked very much like her. Could it be that there was another person in this time and space who looked exactly like her? Zhou Paihuai reasonably suspected that her recent experiences were closely related to the person in the photo.
"I think you've made a mistake. This person does look very much like me, but she's not me. If you want to find the person in the photo, you should send your men to look for her again."
Looking at the photo in her hand, Old Madam Zhou's eyes were filled with longing: "I know you are not her. She was my daughter, but she has already left this world." Her tone was tinged with sadness.
However, Zhou Paihuai felt no sympathy. He saw that the old woman was quite old, and her daughter might not even be of the same generation as him. No matter how much she missed her daughter, she should let go. He couldn't force himself to talk to her just because he looked like her daughter.
"That's quite a pity. You're already so old, so please accept my condolences." Zhou Paihuai didn't dare to say what he was thinking, so he tried to persuade the old lady to think positively and not do anything really outrageous, otherwise he would be the one to suffer the consequences.
"..." Old Madam Zhou hadn't expected that after talking to Zhou Paihuai for so long, they still hadn't gotten to the point. Her patience was wearing thin, and she couldn't help but say, "You two are so alike, don't you have any thoughts about this?"
"Thoughts? People have similarities, and things have different appearances; it's all perfectly normal. So I can only say it's fate."
“When my daughter was your age, she was very rebellious. Without my consent, she eloped with a good-for-nothing man. It wasn't until she passed away that I learned she had left me with a granddaughter!”
"That's good, at least you have something to look forward to!" Zhou Paihuai said with a smile as she listened to the story. Only after saying that did she realize something was wrong. Could this old lady be mistaking her for her granddaughter? Although the original owner of this body was an orphan with an unknown background, the Zhou family seemed to be a powerful and influential family. Finding a granddaughter to take back wouldn't be difficult for them. It couldn't have taken so many years, especially since the original owner was an actress who had been in the industry for so many years, and they still hadn't found her. That was just too outrageous.
Old Madam Zhou seemed to have realized that she was pretending to be stupid and didn't want to waste any more time with her, so she directly said to the person next to her, "Let's do it."
Zhou Paihuai stared in disbelief. Was this the start of their attack? Were they going to kill her and turn her into a specimen so the old woman could truly remember her through her belongings? She instinctively picked up the nearest stool and said, "Let me tell you, I've studied Sanda (Chinese kickboxing). Don't do something you'll regret later." The words left her mouth immediately filled with regret. Wasn't Taekwondo more intimidating than Sanda?
But for these "criminals," even her 9th-dan Taekwondo skills were probably useless. Two men in black simply stepped forward, snatched the only weapon from her hand, and swiftly drew her blood. Although it didn't hurt too much, seeing her blood being drawn still made Zhou Paihuai's heart bleed. She wasn't some rare, precious bloodline; why did everyone covet it? In such a short time, she felt she had lost hundreds of milliliters of blood, which was very difficult to replenish.
"Alright, let her go." The first half of Madam Zhou's sentence was directed at the man in sunglasses who was drawing blood, while the second half was addressed to Zhou Huaihuai himself. "Don't worry, no one here wants to hurt you. You are very likely my daughter's child, that is, my own granddaughter. As her grandmother, I would never harm you. However, when you return to the Zhou family, you shouldn't do anything like this involving knives and guns. A girl should learn to be gentle."
It turned out that Zhou Paihuai's guess was correct. However, Zhou Paihuai was very puzzled. She had clearly come to recognize her relatives, but this person was so arrogant. First, he scared her, and now he acted like he was doing her a favor, even pointing fingers at other people's lives. Where did he get his confidence? Not to mention that she was not the original owner and had no expectations for such kinship, even if she were the original owner here, she would not recognize such a "relative" at all, right?
"I think you've got it wrong. Although my surname is Zhou, I'm not a member of your Zhou family. Taking my blood for any tests without my permission is illegal. If you dare to do it, I'll sue you!" Zhou Huaihuai was now convinced that they wouldn't really kill him, so he started to speak sharply.
"Since I say you are, I am absolutely certain."
"What a joke!" Zhou Paihuai stepped forward to retrieve his phone, but was stopped again as he turned to leave.
"Let her go. When the evidence is presented to her, she will naturally believe it."
Chapter 76 I don't want to lie to you, so I won't tell.
After getting the phone back, Zhou Paihuai saw what messages they had sent to Sister Cheng using his phone. He was glad they were smart enough not to make an excuse to let Sister Cheng and the others leave first. Otherwise, the two of them would definitely have noticed something was wrong and might have called the police. It would have been better if they had arrested these people directly.
Having just had her blood drawn again, suffering from low blood sugar and feeling very down, Zhou Paihuai was surrounded by a low-pressure atmosphere. After getting into the car, the two men also sensed that something was wrong with her.
"Zhou Zhou, what's wrong?" Cheng Minxin asked her.
Ji Anxi looked at her anxiously. Didn't she say she had diarrhea? Is she still feeling unwell? "Sister Cheng, why don't we take her to the hospital first? Could it be that she ate something bad here for lunch?"
"No need, let's go back first." Zhou Paihuai naturally declined their offer. She then took out her phone and began searching for information about the Zhou Group. Only by knowing yourself and your enemy can you win every battle. Although her strength alone might not be enough to fight against some unknown fates.
Seeing Zhou's hesitant and uncooperative attitude, Cheng Minxin remained silent. It was indeed getting late; she should go back first and try to find out what was going on.
Cheng Minxin needed to go back to the company. Originally, she planned to bring Ji Anxi back to the company first, hoping that Zhou Paihuai could calm down first. However, she did not expect that Ji Anxi insisted on getting off the bus with Zhou Paihuai.
"Alright, you two can get off here."
Zhou Paihuai did not stop Ji Anxi from accompanying her home. On the contrary, after getting off the bus, she seemed to have been rejuvenated, like she had been given a boost of energy, and became the optimistic Zhou Paihuai again, as if the low mood she had just experienced was just her imagination.
After entering the room, Ji Anxi finally couldn't help but grab her hand and ask, "What happened? Something must have happened to you, right?"
Zhou looked at her, blinked, and said, "Yes, something very serious did happen in less than an hour just now. But I can't tell you about it, and I don't want to lie to you, so I won't say. Can you stop asking?" She always spoke her mind and didn't treat her haters as outsiders.
"OK, I won't ask anymore." Ji Anxi gave her an OK sign. Everyone can have their own secrets, and since Zhou Paihuai doesn't want to talk about it now, she won't force her. She will wait, waiting for the day when Zhou Paihuai completely opens her heart to her.
After Ji Anxi left, Zhou Paihuai was finally able to calm down and start reviewing the unpleasant things that had happened to him that day. Earlier in the car, Zhou Paihuai had done a quick search on the Zhou family, and it was indeed quite powerful. Compared to them, the huge "Genesis" company was nothing more than a drop in the ocean.
Of course, besides information about the Zhou Group, the internet is also full of secrets of wealthy families. Based on what Old Madam Zhou said today and some rumors online, Zhou Paihuai roughly guessed what had happened back then. It was nothing more than the Zhou family's youngest daughter disliking her arranged marriage partner and eloping to pursue true love. However, a few years later, both the youngest daughter and her true love passed away from illness, leaving behind a child wandering far from home. It took the Zhou family a very, very long time to finally find that child.
But since the child was found a long time ago, what kind of hysteria is Madam Zhou having now? Is she just convinced that she made a mistake back then because of two identical faces?
As Zhou Paihuai pondered this, he found the information about the child who had been found before. Zhou Xueyao, currently the CEO of the Zhou Group, became the de facto head of the group after Old Madam Zhou semi-retired due to health reasons. Judging from her age, she was indeed the same age as the original owner of this body, and their birthdays were only a few days apart. If they had been switched at birth, it didn't seem impossible.
From the original owner's diary, Zhou Paihuai could sense her aversion to her life in the orphanage. Her time there was indeed quite miserable; she encountered many unpleasant people. Later, when she received financial aid to attend school, she was bullied a lot because she was a child from an orphanage. It's understandable that she didn't want to talk about those past events after becoming famous. Even so, the original owner didn't have much attachment or longing for family. In fact, from her words, Zhou Paihuai couldn't sense a single moment when she wanted to find her relatives.
Zhou Paihuai felt the same way. Rather than finding her family in reality or building a family with someone else, she preferred to be alone and find solace in other dimensions. Therefore, whatever the outcome, she would not have any connection with the Zhou family.
However, considering today's events and the previous incident, she couldn't help but suspect that Zhou Xueyao had orchestrated her kidnapping. Looking at it now, only Zhou Xueyao seemed to have the motive; the others simply didn't make sense. It seemed she now had a clear target to watch out for, and the situation was finally no longer one of the enemy being in the dark while she was in the light—a good thing, she thought.
... ...
The Zhou family's old residence.
After obtaining Zhou Paihuai's blood, Old Madam Zhou immediately sent it for testing and received the results as quickly as possible. The results were as she expected: Zhou Paihuai was related to her by blood. Therefore, Zhou Xueyao could not possibly be related to her. However, the previous test results confirmed that there was a mole within the family.
She never imagined that after a lifetime of scheming, she would be fooled like a idiot in her old age. Old Madam Zhou was unwilling, but she knew that she had to make some decisions now, otherwise, once Zhou Xueyao realized what was going on, not only would she lose her old life, but she wouldn't even be able to save Zhou Paihuai's life.
"Call Attorney Chen over here!" Old Madam Zhou summoned the housekeeper and gave him this instruction.
Attorney Chen arrived at the Zhou family's old residence quickly, entered Madam Zhou's study, and didn't come out for a very long time.
"What did you say to Xueyao just now?" After Attorney Chen left, Madam Zhou looked at the housekeeper and said, "Call her again now and tell her I want to see her."
The butler's face turned ashen. He said, "Madam, what are you talking about? How could I contact Miss Xueyao without your instructions?"
Madam Zhou said, "Although I am old, I am not senile yet. Do you really think I don't know anything?"
“I… ……” The butler’s face grew increasingly pale, but he resigned himself to his fate and went to the study to make a phone call.
Old Madam Zhou, leaning on her cane, stood rooted to the spot. She hadn't wanted to come to this, after all, Zhou Xueyao was the child she had raised herself and the one who resembled her the most.
Chapter 77 The Amazing Film Crew
The start date for filming of "King of Chaos" has been set. As a member of the cast who will soon be joining the crew, Zhou Paihuai is busy improving his acting skills. For a moment, he couldn't think about the troublesome things that happened in the Zhou family, and he became normal again, which put Cheng Minxin and Ji Anxi at ease.
But the day before Zhou Paihuai was to start filming, an uninvited guest arrived at his home—Zhou Xueyao. When Zhou Paihuai saw it was her through the door, he initially didn't want to open it, but after thinking about it, he opened it anyway. However, instead of welcoming Zhou Xueyao in, he blocked her at the doorway: "What do you want?"
Seeing her completely unsurprised expression, Zhou Xueyao said, "It seems you know who I am. That's perfect, I don't need to introduce myself."
Zhou Paihuai was speechless. It seemed that if he asked who she was, this person was planning to give him a self-introduction? How could her family be so confident, as if everyone had to know them after she gave a self-introduction?
"Introduce yourself? Introduce yourself as a kidnapper?" Zhou Paihuai smirked. "Then this is called turning yourself in, shouldn't you go to the police station?"
"What's wrong?" Zhou Xueyao's expression changed, but she quickly recovered. "What are you talking about? I don't understand at all."
Whether you understand it or not, only you know the answer in your heart.
Zhou Xueyao realized that Zhou Youhuai was truly arrogant and domineering in front of her. It was really good to have someone backing you up. She said, "It seems you really do know everything. I lost completely, while you won completely."
"Are you alright? If you're really in trouble, don't come to my house and act crazy!" Zhou Paihuai didn't want to say anything more to her and reached out to close the door.
Unexpectedly, Zhou Xueyao was even faster, blocking the door with her arm and saying, "Why are you in such a hurry to close the door? Don't you want to hear what your kind grandmother has done for you?"
Zhou Paihuai neither wanted to acknowledge any grandmother nor was interested in what the old woman was doing, but she couldn't resist Zhou Xueyao's insistence. And since she wasn't as strong as Zhou Xueyao, someone broke into her house.
Regardless of whether Zhou Hei Pai wanted to listen or not, Zhou Xueyao went inside and acted as if it were her own home, saying, "I originally thought that even if she found out something after raising me for so many years, she would never really kick me out. But I was wrong. She didn't care about our past relationship at all. The first time she saw you, she had someone make a will and even had it notarized early on."
"... ..." Zhou Paihuai thought this person was very capable. If she were an actress, she could easily win a Best Actress award. So what exactly did she come here for today? To complain? Or to perform?
"What, so happy you can't even speak?" Zhou Xueyao naturally didn't know what she was thinking. Seeing that she didn't respond for a long time, she mocked again, "But don't be too smug. Old Mrs. Zhou has paved the way for you, but the Zhou Group is not as simple as you think. It's impossible for you to walk smoothly on this road."
"Are you a troublemaker turned into a demon?" After being mocked repeatedly, even Zhou Paihuai, with her good temper, was about to lose her temper. Moreover, she was not one to be submissive, so she retorted directly, "You don't know if I have the ability to walk my own path well, but aren't you being completely fooled by an old lady right now? I've seen people say that you are a master strategist, but that's a huge exaggeration."
"You—" Zhou Xueyao was so choked up she couldn't speak, managing to utter two "you"s, "you—"
Zhou Paihuai was so angry he couldn't speak, but he showed no sympathy whatsoever. Instead, he said, "Speechless now? Since you have nothing to say, can you leave my house now?"
"You just wait!" Zhou Xueyao left these words behind and turned to leave Zhou Paihuai's apartment.
Zhou slammed the door shut. He would wait if he wanted to. She couldn't harm him in the dark before, but now that they were openly hostile, why should he be afraid of her?
... ...