Chapter 32: Got Caught
After sleeping for less than four hours at a highway service area and quickly filling her stomach with some food, Cheng Fei saw that home was only forty kilometers away. She could no longer hold back her excitement. Who cared whether she was tired or not? She directly jumped into the car.
She had lived in Yunzhou for many years, and every year she only returned home twice, during the Spring Festival and Qingming Festival (Tomb-Sweeping Day).
One trip was to visit living family members, the other was to visit deceased relatives.
The trip was about four hundred kilometers. Not very far, but work usually kept her too busy to come back often.
After getting off the highway, Cheng Fei noticed that the surroundings had changed a little again.
Now that home was right in front of her, she strangely did not feel as anxious anymore. Just like every time she returned to Fuxian town, she slowly walked along the road, carefully looking at every scene and every object by the street, comparing them with last year, the year before, and even her student days.
She looked at so many things that her eyes almost felt full.
Finally, she arrived at that familiar intersection. She got out of the car and looked at the uneven, slightly messy small street.
Anyone could describe it as a mess of illegal, makeshift structures, but to her, it was the most beautiful scene from her childhood memories.
The fried cakes, fried dough sticks, giant meat buns, lotus-leaf pancakes with chicken slices at the street entrance…
Uncle from the toy shop, who looked fierce but was actually gentle…
Big Sister from the cold drink shop, who always loved talking and laughing…
Back in Yunzhou City, whenever she heard the familiar hometown accent, she could not help but think of these warm memories.
Cheng Fei lightly lifted her foot.
But instead of moving forward, her body suddenly leaned backward.
Something had grabbed her shoulder, forcing her to step back again and again.
When she turned around, fear instantly rose inside her. Her sunglasses slid down her nose bridge, and the fear in her eyes could no longer be hidden.
“You!”
Those slightly tired eyes stared at her, while the hand gripping her shoulder tightened even more.
The pain made Cheng Fei try to slap the hand away, but the difference in strength reminded her how useless that was.
“How did you… Let go! Can’t we just talk properly?”
Gao Ming completely ignored her.
Cheng Fei was dragged straight to the small park by the roadside and pushed down onto some exercise equipment.
He looked down at her from above. But the expression on his face was teasing, like a cat that had finally caught a mouse. Not in a hurry to eat it, but wanting to play with it first.
After all, she really had left without saying goodbye. Mouse Cheng Fei felt guilty and did not dare look directly at the cat, so she lowered her head.
“How… did you find me?”
“Observation.”
Cheng Fei thought she had heard wrong and immediately looked up at him.
Not by hacking databases? He found her just by looking? Was he joking?
“I’m dressed like this already. How exactly did you recognize me?”
Gao Ming suddenly pulled off Cheng Fei’s wig, watching her strands of black hair fall down slowly…
He looked a little crazy. The corners of his mouth rose slightly.
“You wore a wig, changed clothes, and even wore height-increasing shoes. Not bad. Your disguise was pretty good. There are two women in Building Seven with body shapes similar to yours, though they’re a bit taller. You copied them pretty well.”
He paused, then smiled.
“But your luck was really bad. Did you know you have two moles near your collarbone?”
Cheng Fei honestly had never paid attention to that before. She lowered her head and looked carefully. Sure enough, there were two tiny moles there.
But just because of that, he could confirm it was her?
Impossible, right?!
If she did not lower her head, the collarbone area could not even be seen through her shirt.
And what did he mean by saying her luck was bad?
Seeing her confusion, Gao Ming explained further.
“The place where you climbed over the wall was near Building Three. On the first floor, there’s an elderly woman who has been bedridden for years after a stroke. Her daughter leaves a phone video call running all day while she’s at work so she can take care of her remotely. The camera just happened to face outside the window…”
He smiled slightly.
“I don’t need to explain the rest, right?”
No need at all.
The camera must have captured the moment when she climbed over the railing and flipped herself across the top. Otherwise, there was no way it could have seen her collarbone area!
Cheng Fei tightly pressed her lips together. Her teeth ground loudly against each other, truly deserving the nickname “Mouse Cheng.”
But this was way too unlucky, wasn’t it?!
How could life bully her this badly?!
Cheng Fei was almost collapsing mentally at this point. Ever since this whole trip started, nothing had gone smoothly for her at all.
“Big brother, that was recorded on a phone camera. You could still see it clearly?”
“Even though it belongs to an old person, the camera quality is surprisingly good. After zooming in several times, you could even clearly see the brand tag on your bra.”
He calmly continued,
“Based on the time you left, I only spent around ten minutes checking before I locked onto you… that’s all.”
At that moment, Cheng Fei seriously wanted to smash herself on the head.
When your skills are worse than someone else’s, you can only admit defeat. One small mistake can ruin everything. Success or failure really does depend on the details.
Cheng Fei looked like a deflated balloon, her shoulders drooping weakly.
“Fine! I admit I lost.”
Gao Ming stepped aside and pointed toward the car parked by the road. He was smiling proudly, clearly showing off on purpose.
He knew Cheng Fei still had another reason for returning home this time, but since she did not say it, he deliberately pretended not to know.
As expected, Cheng Fei still did not stand up.
“I can go back with you, but I’ve already reached my hometown. At least let me go home and take a look first.”
“Fine. How many days?”
Cheng Fei glared at him, instantly getting angry.
What was wrong with staying a few days after finally returning home? Why did he have to put a time limit on it? Besides, she already agreed to go back with him, so why keep making demands?
“Until my parents accept things.”
Gao Ming deliberately acted mysterious. He held his chin, smiling without giving a clear answer. That only made Cheng Fei feel even more uncertain.
She stood up and gathered her courage to look directly at him.
“If you don’t agree, then forget it. At worst, I’ll just keep running away. You can stop me for a while, but you can’t watch me forever.”
“Heh. Do you really think that just because other people could disappear overseas without any news, I have no way left to find you. Tracking you through private computers is indeed troublesome. But using public security cameras to find you? That’s incredibly easy. Those cameras are everywhere, on every street and alley, spread out like a spider web.”
“So what?”
“Tell me, do you really think I wouldn’t dare hack into government databases? Or do you think my ability to go in and out without leaving any trace is just an empty bluff?”
Cheng Fei immediately lost her courage.
“Big brother, let’s talk nicely!”
Gao Ming could not hold it anymore and burst out laughing.
Cheng Fei’s face darkened with frustration. If she had a brick right now, she seriously wanted to smash it into his face.
Gao Ming took Cheng Fei’s bag off her shoulder and carried it for her. Holding the bag in one hand, he patted her shoulder with the other.
“Come on. Let’s go see father-in-law and mother-in-law.”
The moment Cheng Fei stood up, she almost stumbled and fell flat on the ground.
“What does that even mean?!”
“We can tell them the truth, and we can explain specific things clearly too. But some parts should still be limited or changed a little. For example… the fake marriage part.”
“I don’t really understand.”
Gao Ming lowered his head and whispered into Cheng Fei’s ear. To outsiders, they looked like a young couple playing around, so people wisely avoided staring at them.
But after hearing those words, Cheng Fei felt like a centipede had crawled into her brain and was wildly stirring everything around inside.
“What?!”
“The biggest worry for people of your parents’ generation is whether their children settle down properly. You’re different from before now, so this has become a huge problem.”
He calmly continued,
“If you look for a man, you’ll feel uncomfortable. If you look for a woman, society won’t accept it. And if you stay single… hmph.”
He looked at her.
“If we honestly tell them everything that happened between us, do you really think your parents would just let it go peacefully? So saying it this way solves everything smoothly.”
“Thanks a lot! At least you know forcing people is bad.”
But when she met Gao Ming’s eyes, her tone suddenly changed.
“And… thank you for thinking so much for me. But that still doesn’t mean we can say we used to… used to… mmph!”
“Shh!”
Hearing footsteps nearby, Gao Ming quickly covered Cheng Fei’s mouth and gestured for silence.
Cheng Fei breathed heavily, her face full of unwillingness and anger.
“If you agree, nod your head. Just like what I said back at the morgue, I’ll give you another reward later. If you don’t agree… hmph!”
If she refused, he probably would not kill her to silence her… but who knew what strange ideas this guy might come up with.
Forget it.
A wise person does not fight when clearly at a disadvantage. Since the enemy was stronger and she was weaker, it was better to give in for now.
Anyway, her legs belonged to her. This time she had learned her lesson. There would still be plenty of chances in the future.
Thinking that, Cheng Fei nodded her head.
Gao Ming could tell she still felt unwilling deep inside, but right now was not the time to argue over that.
The most important thing was stabilizing the situation so that their friends and relatives in Yunzhou would not notice anything strange, and so Cheng Fei would not create even more trouble for him because of this matter.