The CEO’s Substitute Wife Is A Genius
Chapter 313: Extremely Urgent, A Plea for Help from the Expert

Chapter 313: Chapter 313: Extremely Urgent, A Plea for Help from the Expert

The next day.

Jiang Man and Lu Xingzhou were awakened by the knocking of the servants.

"What’s the matter?"

Lu Xingzhou got up to open the door in his robe, his face stern.

The servants usually knew their place and would not be so forward unless there was an emergency.

"Your aunt has arrived..."

The servant said softly.

"I see," Lu Xingzhou responded indifferently. "Please take care of my aunt; we’ll be down shortly."

After closing the door, Jiang Man also got up in turn.

It was a stroke of luck that Lu Yingxue had come to the house two days prior, and the two of them had ended up sharing a room.

Having discussed matters about the aunt, Ye Xiangling, and Li Jin until late, she simply stayed to sleep here and did not return to her small room on the first floor.

Otherwise, if the aunt had caught them sleeping in separate rooms, there would have been an unavoidable fuss.

Quickly, they both got up to wash, got dressed together, and went downstairs.

Two by two, their routines converging more and more.

Lu Xuemei was sitting in the dining room, drinking milk one cup after another, as if she was drinking wine.

Hearing the commotion from upstairs, she hurriedly stood up.

"Zhou’er, Manman."

Jiang Man glanced at her; her eyes were bloodshot, with heavy dark circles, her appearance haggard, looking as though she hadn’t slept all night.

"Aunt, have you had breakfast?"

"No," Lu Xuemei pouted.

"Then let’s eat together. Sit down and we can talk slowly."

During breakfast, Jiang Man did not express any opinions, focusing on her meal as a quiet listener.

"It’s like this." Lu Xuemei did not touch her chopsticks; she had no appetite: "Xingzhou, doesn’t your company have a skilled hacker? Could you have him investigate someone for me?"

"Li Jin?" Lu Xingzhou raised an eyebrow, probing.

Lu Xuemei was startled, "You all know already? Your grandmother mentioned it, didn’t she?"

Lu Xingzhou was noncommittal.

Lu Xuemei gave a bitter smile, "Well, if it’s been said, it’s been said. It’s not like it’s something shameful."

After a pause, she continued, "Xingzhou, right now I just want to know if Li Jin is dead or alive. It would be a resolution for the twenty years I’ve been alone."

"If it’s inconvenient to use the company’s resources, do you have a way to find an organization called ’Red League’ on the dark web? I’ve heard this alliance operates on a job-taking model, willing to do anything as long as the price is right."

Hearing ’Red League’, Jiang Man’s eyebrows twitched.

Do anything? It wasn’t so mysterious.

At least with regards to committing murder and arson, the alliance would not be involved.

"Don’t worry, Aunt. I’ll have Zhang Neng look into it," Lu Xingzhou assured her.

"Good, good, good!" Lu Xuemei said thrice in agreement, her heart finally settling down a bit.

"Eat first," Lu Xingzhou’s tone was soothing.

Because Jiang Man had to go to school and Lu Xingzhou to work, they did not linger long over breakfast.

"Aunt, you should go back first. I’ll call you as soon as we get any news."

"Okay."

After sending Lu Xuemei off, the couple looked at each other.

Jiang Man pulled out her phone to call Lady Lan Xiang’s assistant and cancel the dinner engagement that evening.

Soon, a call from an unfamiliar number came in.

"Is this Jiang Man? This is Lan Xiang."

Jiang Man paused.

"If you have something tonight and can’t make it, it’s fine. We can meet up another time when you’re free."

"Mhm," Jiang Man didn’t say much.

The two, as if sharing a telepathy-like sense, remained silent even though the conversation had ended, neither hanging up the phone first.

After an awkward silence, Lady Lan Xiang finally said, "Then that’s it for now. Goodbye."

"Goodbye."

After hanging up, Jiang Man felt a fleeting emptiness within her heart.

"What’s wrong?" Lu Xingzhou noticed her unusual demeanor.

Jiang Man shook her head, "Nothing, I’m going to school."

"Got it."

Both of them opened their own cars.

One black Maybach and one red G-Wagon left Rong Mansion side by side and then split off in opposite directions.

...

There were four consecutive classes in the morning, and the two afternoon classes had been rescheduled to the morning.

This was because Barrett was coming to the school for a fan meeting in the afternoon, and many students wanted to go.

Not just the students, quite a few teachers were his fans as well.

"Manman, are you going to the fan meeting?"

Jiang Man was twirling a pen while reading her textbook.

Mao Lili lay beside her, tilting her little face towards Jiang Man to ask.

"No," Jiang Man’s voice was faint, but it carried an intimidating coldness.

"Oh," Mao Lili pouted her lips and didn’t dare to nag further.

If it had been before, her persistent whining would have surely gotten Manman to agree.

But today was different; the moment Manman stepped into the classroom, Mao Lili could tell the atmosphere was off.

Manman’s keep-away aura was strong, silently warning others—almost saying: Don’t mess with me.

Mao Lili: Does Manman seem unhappy today?

She immediately sent a message to her deskmate, Zhang Ziqi.

Zhang Ziqi glanced at his phone and then at Jiang Man: Indeed, she looks like she could stab someone.

Mao Lili: Then let’s just go to the meeting ourselves.

...

After the four morning classes ended, Jiang Man, Mao Lili, and Zhang Ziqi went to the cafeteria for lunch.

After lunch, she planned to go home for a nap.

Because the great Barrett was coming, many roads in the school were blocked.

Normally, it was a hundred meters walk to Cafeteria No.1.

Due to the road closure, they had to detour a long way, walking hundreds of meters more.

Many additional security guards suddenly appeared in the school, maintaining order on the streets and even limiting the flow of people.

It was already the peak time for students leaving classes, coupled with many students from other schools pouring in.

Suddenly, the entire Bei University of Music turned into a giant ’vegetable market,’ bustling and so crowded you couldn’t even walk.

"Seriously? Is Barrett’s popularity even higher than Dr. M’s? The last time we went to Tsinghua and Peking, it wasn’t this crowded!"

"What do you mean no? There were queues just to eat in the cafeteria!"

"Oh man, it’s not the same. Singers have so many fans. Have you ever seen a scientist with fans?"

"I can’t stand it anymore, it’s so crowded."

All around were voices of discussion, mixed with complaints.

The weather outside was already cold, and the snail’s pace progress made many students impatient.

Jiang Man, who disliked getting squeezed by the crowd, glanced at the endless line of people.

"Let’s go, we’ll eat outside."

"Let’s go, let’s go!"

The three of them agreed and turned to walk back.

They hadn’t gotten far when Jiang Man’s phone rang.

It was an unfamiliar number, the IP address indicated Beicheng.

"Hello?"

"Is this student Jiang Man?" The person on the other end sounded urgent: "I’m the president of the student council. There’s an emergency. One of Mr. Barrett’s band members suddenly had acute gastroenteritis and was taken to the hospital. Could you come help us out in a pinch?"

"Me?" Jiang Man raised her eyebrows: "There are so many students at Bei University of Music, find someone else."

"Wait, student Jiang! Your guqin performance at the club festival was sensational, plus you’re Wildrose... please, please... could you help out in this emergency..."

"Sorry, I can’t."

After saying that, Jiang Man hung up the phone.

"Manman, what’s wrong?" Mao Lili was asking.

At this moment, a group of people rushed over, led by the president of the student council, with quite a few council members following.

"Jiang Man, it’s really an emergency!"