185 — The Plan is Set In Motion (1)

After rounding up the meeting she had with the managers, she stood up to leave the conference room. All the mangers got up and bowed slightly in respect as she walked off.

"Ms. Pei, the people from Paradigm called. They said there is a slight change in plans and that they're very sorry for the short notice." Bei Fengxue said, walking fast to keep the distance between them to three paces.

"Really? What happened?"

"The head representative said he had an impromptu meeting this morning and so, he would probably not be able to make it in time if he had to come to the Li Conglomerate."

Pei Yueran frowned at the news. "So he's proposing a change of location?"

"Yes, to Tanlian & Suites. That is much closer to the location of his impromptu meeting."

Pei Yueran frowned even more. She had thought the meeting would be at the headquarters, so this news was very unexpected, not to mention unwelcome.

Still, Paradigm was one of their longtime partners, and they were usually reasonable people, so she figured she could do this for them.

"It's fine. I'll go there. Put a call through to Fang Bo to ready the car."

"Alright." Bei Fengxue replied.

As Bei Fengxue was walking behind her, Pei Yueran missed the flash of determination and malevolence that crossed her features.

She returned to her office and prepared to head out. Thinking of something, she logged into her email and scrolled a bit. When she saw an email from Zhan Weiyong, her furrowed brows relaxed. She quickly scanned the contents of the email.

Bei Fengxue didn't mishear then, they really changed the meeting location. She sent a quick reply and got up to leave.

Getting to the parking lot, Fang Bo was already waiting for her by the car. He bowed and greeted her, "Young Miss."

"Hello Fang Bo. We can go now." She responded cordially and got into the passenger seat at the back.

As he drove, he asked, "Ms. Bei said your meeting is taking place at Tanlian & Suites."

"Yes."

"Should I wait for you or go back first?"

"You should wait. I plan to finish the meeting in under 30 minutes, though we might spend some more time having lunch. But everything should be over in an hour, so I'll call you when I'm done."

"Yes Young Miss." Since Li Chuanmo made him her personal driver and not just one assigned by the company, he had changed his way of addressing her.

Like Gong Anwei, he had eyes to see long ago that things were no longer so simple between his bosses.

The meeting place was a twenty minute drive from the company, so they got there a quarter to noon.

Tanlian & Suites was a middle class establishment that had a restaurant section on the first and second floors, while the rest of the floors housed the hotel section.

After giving her name at the front desk, she was told that a reservation had been made under the name Paradigm, but the person that made it had not arrived yet, so she could go and wait for him.

At her nod, she was led to a private room on the second floor by one of the waiters. The room was warmly decorated and very spacious. The lightly and fixtures were also tastefully done, giving the room an elegant look.

While she looked around, someone knocked on the door. It turned out to be another waiter, carrying a tray.

"Hello. Mr Zhan ordered these for you if you arrived before he did." He said, setting down the contents. It was a glass of grape juice and a slice of cheesecake.

Pei Yueran nodded and thanked him. Looking at her wristwatch, five minutes had passed already, and the people from Paradigm had not arrived yet. She sent a message to Zhan Weiyong with her phone and set it down to wait.

She looked at the food on the table. She wasn't feeling hungry, but she was a bit thirsty, so she picked up the glass and drank from it.

The juice was slightly cold, suiting Pei Yueran's tastes. As she sipped it, she continued reading a story she found on Han Yichen's blog. She started reading it the day before, and she found it very interesting.

Still, she could not concentrate as she kept feeling like something seemed wrong. Her mind kept roaming.

After about fifteen minutes, she had drained the contents of her glass. She tried calling Zhan Weiyong, but there was no response. Feeling a bit angry, she decided to drop a message for him and leave.

As she stood up, her vision blurred, and she swayed. She put her hands out in order to avoid falling down. Alarm bells began to ring in her head. Something was terribly wrong.

Her first thought was to call Li Chuanmo, but she remembered that he had still not returned from his trip.

She had just manged to dial 119 when a hand stretched from behind her and collected the phone, canceling the call.

She was shocked. When did someone else come in? She managed to look back, but the figure she saw was so blurry that she couldn't make out the features. Nevertheless, she could feel the danger.

"Who are you?" Her words came out slurred, like those of a drunk. She was fast losing her balance, and although she tried pinching herself to stay awake, it wasn't working.

It was obvious she had fallen for a scheme.

Pei Yueran didn't consider herself a stupid person, but considering the fact that she had been falling into traps left and right since she arrived in City M, she began to doubt it at this moment.

At the very least, it proved that she wasn't very cautious.

Now due to her carelessness, she was well and truly caught.

The figure sounded ghostly as he said mockingly, "No rush Beauty. You're about to find out."

His clammy touch as he put his arm around her neck made her skin crawl, but she couldn't even push him away. She felt powerless and in despair.

"Leave me alone," she slurred out again. He only grinned lecherously at her, or at least that was what she thought. She could hardly see him as her world was spinning.

Opening the door to the private room, the man headed straight for the elevator that would lead to the hotel section, pulling the almost unconscious Pei Yueran along.