BDB Chapter 29

“You only need to listen. I’ll say this just once—long-distance calls are expensive.”

“First, send me a text with the address so I can mail the phone to you with cash on delivery. Don’t let such an expensive item get mixed up and thrown away carelessly in the future.”

“Also, if you get in touch with that little lady, let her know that City C is tough. There are many people and many factions there. Oh, such a sweet and pretty girl—how could you all let her go off on her own like that?”

After the call had ended for quite some time, Li Jueyan finally moved the phone away from his ear.

He didn’t send any texts. Instead, after a while, he told Butler Gu, “Send all the forces to City C. The only task for everyone is to find her.”

…

By midday, Jiang Rao had already found a place to stay.

Although Province H was a populous province, its capital, City C, was still developing. The cost of living and renting there was low. Hence, Jiang Rao spent only 3,000 yuan to sign a rental contract for a room near the university town, with a one-month deposit and six months’ rent paid upfront.

Daily necessities were also cheap. With just two hundred yuan, she bought a new set of bedding and plenty of toiletries.

The work wasn’t too much, but after thoroughly cleaning the room, her body, which had rarely done physical labor, was completely exhausted.

Lying on the bed, she propped her eyes open, thinking about her future.

Although her departure had been sudden, it was not without plans.

She chose City C as her destination because, with its large population, even if the male lead realized she was there, it would take considerable effort to find her.

She rented near the university town because she knew staying in the country long-term was not feasible. According to the original author’s setting, the male lead’s influence was present in every city to some extent.

Thus, her ultimate goal was to go abroad!

However, staying in a country long-term required more than just overstaying a tourist visa. The only viable methods were through studying abroad, skilled immigration, or marriage for a green card.

She had no technical skills for immigration.

Although the original owner’s education reached the university level, it was in Chinese literature, and she didn’t even complete it. She chose to take a break midway to work as a substitute because of her mother’s gambling debts.

Marriage for a green card was not an option for her.

There were no free rides in this world. To get what she wanted, a price had to be paid.

She wasn’t a scam artist and couldn’t afford that price.

So, she chose the route of studying abroad.

Jiang Rao knew this route wasn’t simple. It required financial support and at least a year of preparation to get an admission notice from abroad.

But she wasn’t afraid.

For now, she didn’t plan to withdraw the balance from the backend of the real estate website.

After all, the male lead in the story was a typical domineering president, capable of easily freezing a bank card or credit card of someone unrelated to his life. However, that money would eventually be hers. She just needed to wait until everything was ready before withdrawing the funds for her trip abroad. The 30,000 yuan she had might not sound like much, but given the low cost of living in this era, it would definitely support her for at least a year and a half.

As for the risk of her identity being exposed during this year of preparation…

Not to mention that, due to her doubts and the worry that the phone might have been tampered with by Madam Bai and fitted with a tracker, she had already entrusted the phone to an old lady in the lower bunk, whose destination was City K, to throw away.

Even if the male lead did somehow manage to find out she was in City C, the city was so large. The urban village where she rented a room had dozens of units, if not a hundred. The landlord, after just a glance at her slightly darkened ID card, quickly accepted her money and rented the small room to her.

No ID registration, no rental contract signed.

She didn’t believe that, with her face painted dark, thick eyebrows, and no bank card or ID, the male lead could find her in such a vast city.

…

The next day, Jiang Rao went to a local study-abroad agency to inquire about studying abroad.

Fortunately, although this was a world in a book, apart from the lead characters’ exaggerated setups, everything else was quite similar to the real world.

Studying abroad required TOEFL or IELTS, and there was no better place for review than the university library.

So after leaving the study-abroad agency, she carried a bag full of materials and headed to City C’s university.

At that time, regulations were not as strict as they would be in the future. As long as you didn’t look too old, you could blend in at most campuses.

Although Jiang Rao had darkened her face, her distinct features still stood out, so she wasn’t stopped.

She spent several days at City C University reviewing materials and practicing English.

Fortunately, her recent experience with the CET-6 exam helped her. Although the content and style of TOEFL and IELTS differed from CET-6, the languages were still related, and she found practicing for these exams manageable.

But for some reason, her body had developed problems again.

For an entire week, she couldn’t stop sneezing.

Major hospitals required an ID card for network registration, so she had to go to several reputable community clinics for a checkup.

But after visiting multiple clinics, every doctor gave the same advice—“The young lady caught a cold. Drink more hot water and keep warm at night.”

Jiang Rao drank hot water for almost a week. She followed the doctor’s advice meticulously, as if someone were supervising her, regardless of morning or evening.

She wasn’t sure if it was the hot water or if her immune system finally kicked in, but by the time the weather warmed up enough to wear just a sweatshirt outside, she finally stopped sneezing.

By this time, about a month had passed since she had fled.

Since Jiang Tang had returned from receiving treatment at Country M, Jiang Rao’s study-abroad plans were now more inclined towards Country Y.

The agency advised her that if she wanted to apply to schools in Country M, she should take TOEFL, whereas for Country Y, she should take IELTS.

IELTS had multiple test dates each month, and her chosen test date happened to coincide with the time her sneezing stopped.

She took this as a good sign.

Sure enough, although the exam questions were challenging, many of them were similar to the sample questions she had studied.

Her knowledge was well in hand, and the four-hour exam didn’t leave her brain exhausted or dizzy. However, after entering the exam room at 8:30 a.m. and leaving around 1:30 p.m., skipping lunch, her body felt a bit uncomfortable.

It was fine when she stayed still, but as soon as she moved, her whole body seemed to scream, “I’m so hungry!”

Since arriving in City C, Jiang Rao had been cautious about her appearance, fearing that the male lead’s influence might extend to monitoring public facilities. Therefore, she always dressed inconspicuously when going out and wore a black mask on her face. Although the weather had warmed up, some people still wore masks due to the recent cold winter, so her outfit didn’t stand out much in the crowd.

She also avoided eating out, not because she couldn’t afford it, but because she couldn’t control the hygiene of outside restaurants. Given her body’s susceptibility to sickness, she was reluctant to take risks with her health.

But today, she was incredibly hungry.

When she entered the subway station, she immediately noticed the Burger King standing by the escalator.

Although fast-food chains were often criticized for hygiene issues, they were generally cleaner than small local eateries and food stalls. For someone like her, who was cautious about cleanliness, a chain restaurant was a better option.

She had always been someone who followed her whims. After frowning for five seconds, she made up her mind.

She decided to eat there.

Restaurant surveillance cameras weren’t part of public facilities. And although the fast-food place was close to the subway station with lots of people coming and going, the male lead was a wealthy president who wouldn’t likely run into her just while she was eating a burger.

She ordered a Whopper combo, replacing the cola with juice.

After receiving her meal, she initially intended to find a seat in the middle but ended up taking the only available seat near the window.

However, the window’s glass was largely obscured by the restaurant’s logo, so even if she sat there, people outside could only see a vague outline of her.

Therefore, she quickly took the last available spot.

Famished, she ate with great focus and attention.

What she didn’t realize was that while she was halfway through her meal with her cheeks full, a man coming down the escalator had been staring at her profile for a long time.

The man was dressed in a suit, with a serious expression.

Xiao Zhang kept mumbling, “President Li, we’re already three minutes and eighteen seconds late.”

“Mm.”

“President Li, does ‘Mm’ mean…?”

“Mm.”

Xiao Zhang didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, but he was genuinely anxious. “President Li, I have no objections if you want to experience taking the subway, but President Zhang from Huancheng International is still waiting for you.”

Li Jueyan really wanted to respond with: What’s more important, him or my heart?

However, despite the long search, he had seen several girls on the street who resembled her profile, but when they faced him, they were never her.

Let alone today, when this person only vaguely resembled her in outline, with no similarity in facial features or skin tone?

Fucking hell!

Where on earth was she?

——