THE sudden ring of her phone startled Su Manhua, causing her grip on the steering wheel to slip slightly. She signaled and cautiously pulled over to the roadside parking spot. As she answered the call, her eyes stayed fixed on the rearview mirror, watching the black SUV that was trying to pull over as well.

　　“Hello, who is this?” she asked. She had suspected it before, but now she was almost certain she was being followed.

　　“Where are you?” a familiar, strong voice came from the other end of the line.

　　“Mr. Ding?” asked Su Manhua. She hadn’t even looked at the caller ID.

　　“Yeah. It’s me, Ding Yi!”

　　“Oh, thank goodness!” she exclaimed, feeling as though she’d found a lifeline. “Help me! I think someone is following me!”

　　Seeing the SUV in the rearview mirror signaling and gradually closing in on her, she gritted her teeth and floored the gas pedal, pulling back onto the road. Swiftly, she put on her Bluetooth headset.

　　Ding Yi could hear her anxious breathing.

　　“Are you driving?”

　　“Yes. There’s an SUV that’s been following me, and I can’t shake it off. What should I do?”

　　“Listen, don’t panic! And drive slowly,” he advised, knowing her driving skills weren’t suited for high-speed chases—it would be too dangerous. “I’ve sent you a location share request. Accept it. Head towards crowded areas with lots of traffic. If you find a safe spot, try to pull over and park. I’ll come to you right away. If worse comes to worst, give them what they want. Your safety comes first, understand?”

　　“Okay, I understand!” she replied. The words “your safety comes first” warmed her heart. She hung up the phone and accepted Ding Yi’s location share.

　　She wasn’t far from the city center and remembered there was a shopping mall nearby. The mall had an outdoor parking lot, so she wouldn’t need to go into an underground garage. Following the route she remembered, she drove into the parking lot.

　　The black SUV relentlessly followed her. She deliberately chose a spot close to the entrance, parked quickly, and hurried into the shopping mall without hesitation.

　　At this time of day, the mall was starting to get busy. People bustled around, but Su Manhua’s heart was pounding like a drum. The dark figure shadowed her every step. If it weren’t for the crowd, they might have already made a move.

　　Without looking back, she could sense the shadow behind her getting closer. Panicked, she went up to the second floor and looked around. Not far away, she spotted a women's luxury boutique. She had an idea and quickly ran over, pushing the door open to enter the store.

　　A shop assistant immediately greeted her warmly. As she responded to the assistant, she glanced outside. A figure was loitering by the store. The person wore a black hoodie with the hood up, obscuring their face. From the build, it was undoubtedly a man.

　　To buy some time, Su Manhua walked around the store, pretending to browse. She positioned herself near a display cabinet where she could keep an eye on the outside.

　　“What could I help you, Miss? The sandals you’re holding are this season’s new arrivals. They would really complement your style. Would you like to try them on?” the assistant asked with a smile.

　　Su Manhua had picked up the shoes randomly. Hearing the assistant’s suggestion, she looked at the shoes and then at the price tag. The shoes were beautiful, but they cost more than her monthly salary!

　　The man at the entrance seemed determined to wait her out. Helpless, she turned to the assistant with a smile and said, “Could you please find me a size 240 to try on?”

　　In the brief moment she spoke with the assistant, the man outside had disappeared. Su Manhua breathed a sigh of relief, only to realize her palms were sweaty. She quickly called Ding Yi.

　　“You said he’s gone?” Ding Yi asked, puzzled, his brow furrowing.

　　“Could he have given up and left?”

　　“That’s impossible! They wouldn’t have killed Lin Chian to get that ledger only to give up now,” Ding Yi said and hit the gas pedal, speeding towards Su Manhua's location. “I guess he might trigger the mall’s fire alarm and use the chaos to get close to you.”

　　“Oh no, really?” Su Manhua said. She couldn’t imagine what she could do if this was true.

　　As if to confirm Ding Yi’s suspicion, a sharp alarm suddenly blared through the entire mall. Su Manhua’s heart sank, and her scalp tingled with fear.

　　“I’m here at the entrance! And I’ll be inside in a moment. If you can stay put, do so and wait for me. If you must leave, try to stick with the security personnel evacuating the crowd,” he suggested. Just as Ding Yi finished speaking, another call came in from Jhan Syudong. He quickly told Su Manhua and switched the call.

　　Jhan Syudong informed Ding Yi that the personnel requested from Hedong had arrived and sent him the contact details. As Ding Yi dialed the number, he sprinted towards the mall entrance, only to be stopped by a security, “Back up, sir! There’s a fire inside the mall. You can’t go in right now!”

　　Ding Yi’s eyes turned icy, and his gaze sharp as he shouted, “Get out of my way!”

　　The security guard, stunned by his commanding presence, hesitated. By the time he regained his composure, Ding Yi had already disappeared into the mall.

　　Inside, Su Manhua tried to stay calm despite her fear. The chaotic crowd outside the store was scrambling to escape. She wanted to stay inside, but the store was also evacuating its customers, and remaining behind would be even more dangerous once everyone was gone.

　　Following the store’s evacuation lead, she stepped out into the packed mall. She observed for a moment until she saw a security guard leading a group of people away from the congested area. Quickly, she jogged over and squeezed her way to the guard’s side, feeling slightly more secure.

　　They were on the second floor, and to exit the mall, they needed to go down the escalators. The guard led them through a secluded passage in a corner of the mall. The escalators had been shut off, and the group split into two lines to descend. Just a few steps down, Su Manhua felt someone pushing from behind, as if trying to force their way forward.

　　Su Manhua followed closely beside the security guard, who was leading the way at the front. The crowd’s jostling from behind almost made her lose her footing and fall down the escalator, but the security guard quickly steadied her.

　　Furious, the guard turned around and shouted, “Hey, stop pushing! If you’re in such a hurry, just fly down yourself!”

　　The guard stood in the middle of the escalator to maintain order. Su Manhua was not daring to linger so she continued down to the first floor, and her eyes scanning for Ding Yi. To her surprise, she spotted him. Thinking she might be mistaken, she hesitantly called out, “Mr. Ding! I am here!”

　　Ding Yi saw her and quickly made his way toward the escalator she was on. As he got closer, his expression changed dramatically, and he shouted, “Manhua, watch out!”

　　“Wait, what?” asked Su Manhua. She hadn’t fully grasped what was happening when the person behind her yanked her bag off her shoulder. Instinctively, she tightened her grip on the strap.

　　The thief acted swiftly, shoving her aside before jumping off the side of the escalator and sprinting toward the exit.

　　The group trailing Ding Yi immediately turned to pursue the thief.

　　There were still several steps from the bottom, Su Manhua was violently pushed from behind and tumbled down the escalator. For she wore shoes with heels today, she twisted her ankle.

　　“Ah!” she uttered a cry of pain. A sharp pain shot through her ankle as she lost control, pitching forward. Her mind went blank, and she didn’t even have time to feel scared.

　　Just in the nick of time, Ding Yi rushed up and caught Su Manhua in his arms. However, the momentum of her fall was too strong. Even though he caught her, they both ended up tumbling down the escalator.

　　To protect her from injury, Ding Yi cradled her head against his chest with one arm while shielding her with his other arm.

　　The dramatic scene left the onlookers in stunned silence. The once noisy shopping mall fell quiet.

　　Ding Yi sat up on the floor, still holding Su Manhua with one of his hand gently supported the back of her head. She clung tightly to his shirt, her forehead beaded with sweat, and her delicate brows knit in pain. Sensing her discomfort, Ding Yi’s heart tightened even more. His voice, however, was uncharacteristically soft.

　　“Are you okay?” he asked anxiously.

　　Su Manhua was in so much pain that she couldn’t speak. After a moment, she managed to point to her left ankle with trembling lips and replied, “My ankle... twisted, I guess.”

　　In the chaos, she had already lost her shoes.

　　Ding Yi carefully took hold of her foot. The moment he lightly touched her swollen ankle, she gasped in pain, “It hurts!”

　　Not daring to touch her ankle again, Ding Yi lifted her in his arms and said, “I will take you to the hospital now.”

　　As they exited the mall, Su Manhua suddenly remembered the ledger.

　　“Wait! The ledger—” she said.

　　“Is it in the bag? The police are already on the trail. Now we should get you to the hospital first,” Ding Yi said, a hint of irritation in his voice. What was this woman doing getting involved in Zhuan Xudong’s mess? Didn’t she realize how dangerous it was just now? If he had arrived a few minutes later, or if he hadn’t caught her—

　　The thought made him shudder. He held her tighter, not daring to contemplate the potential consequences. Realizing his emotional turmoil, he understood that something had broken free within him, something he could no longer suppress.

　　Su Manhua noticed the worry and frustration etched on his face. Despite the pain in her ankle, her heart felt a warm, sweet sensation. She smiled and said, “No, I hid the ledger in the car.”

　　Ding Yi hadn’t expected her to be so cunning. He finally broke into a smile for the first time that day. “Good job! So smart you’re!” he praised.

　　A few minutes later, as they looked at her car with the smashed window, Su Manhua sighed, “Isn’t this what they mean by ‘the cunning rabbit has three burrows’?”

　　Ding Yi carried her towards his own car, shrugging off the incident. “Could be. Leave this to Xudong and his team,” he replied.

　　After a series of tests confirmed that Su Manhua had only twisted her ankle and hadn’t suffered any other injuries, Ding Yi finally relaxed.

　　In the hospital’s inpatient department, Jhou Sinyan was being questioned by Zhuan Xudong’s colleagues. Ding Yi and Su Manhua were also present. After Zhuan Xudong explained the situation, Ding Yi finally understood the whole story.

　　Jhou Sinyan and Lin Chian were high school classmates. Over the May Day holiday, both of them returned to Linghai. On the night of May 2nd, Jhou Sinyan received a message from Lin Chian, asking for his help.

　　When Jhou Sinyan arrived as requested, Lin Chian instructed him to quietly go around to the back of her family’s villa. She tossed a ledger out of the window to him and sent him an address via a social app, asking him to mail it to her mother, who was abroad.

　　The courier company had already closed for the night, so Jhou Sinyan couldn’t send it immediately. The next day, he overslept and had to rush to catch his train back to Hedong. He took the ledger with him and missed the mailing deadline again when he returned.

　　The following day, Jhou Sinyan heard about Lin Chian’s disappearance. Terrified, he deleted Lin Chian from his social app contacts and, taking advantage of his job at the library, hid the ledger there.

　　Over three months passed. Jhou Sinyan found an internship and stayed in Hedong for the holiday. One evening, after returning to his dormitory from work, he suddenly thought of Lin Chian. Acting on impulse, he sent a friend request to the social app account he had previously deleted.

　　To his shock, the account accepted his friend request. He was scared out of his wits, realizing he had made a foolish mistake and exposed himself.

　　The next day, Jhou Sinyan went out with a senior colleague for a field survey. After getting separated, two men confronted him, demanding the ledger and telling him they had restored his chat history with Lin Chian.

　　Jhou Sinyan pretended to fetch the ledger, causing the men to lower their guard. He seized the opportunity to run, but during his escape, he got into a car accident. The two men didn’t catch up with him and have been keeping an eye on the hospital ever since.

　　Until this afternoon, when those two men learned that Jhou Sinyan had woken up, they brazenly stormed into his hospital room to threaten him. Desperate, Jhou Sinyan fabricated a location to get rid of them.

　　Lin Chian’s friend Liou Mongqi was also terrified and she immediately called Su Manhua, who was the only person she could think of to seek help from. Although Jhou Sinyan wasn’t in her class, since the matter involved Lin Chian, she believed Su Manhua wouldn’t turn a blind eye.

　　When Su Manhua arrived and learned what had happened, she called the police. She then remembered that the lending room where Jhou Sinyan had hidden the ledger was managed by a colleague she was on good terms with. Without informing Jhan Syudong, she rushed to the library to retrieve the ledger.

　　Once she had the ledger, she contacted Jhan Syudong, unaware that she had been under surveillance since she entered Jhou Sinyan’s hospital room.

　　While Jhou Sinyan was still giving his statement to the police, the officers who had been at the shopping mall earlier entered the room, carrying Su Manhua’s stolen bag.

　　“Miss Su, please check if anything is missing,” one of them said.

　　Su Manhua took the bag and looked through it, shaking her head and said, “No, nothing’s missing.”

　　“Did you catch the thief?” Jhan Syudong asked.

　　“The guy was very agile and got away, but our people are still searching the area. He won’t get far,” the officer replied.

　　“Thanks for your hard work, guys. You can go rest now,” Jhan Syudong said, seeing the officers out. After they left, he sighed, “Well, we’ve lost the lead on the ledger again.”

　　“This is something Lin Chian risked her life for. I won’t let it end here,” Su Manhua said resolutely, she felt a pang of determination.

　　Then she took her recovered phone from her bag, logged into her cloud storage, downloaded several files, and handed the phone to Jhan Syudong.

　　“Please take a look at these. They should be helpful, I guess,” she said.

　　Jhan Syudong glanced at the phone and saw photos of the ledger pages. He grinned and praised, “Seriously, I must say, I admire your composure. You even had the presence of mind to take photos. Most people would have been too scared to think straight.”

　　Ding Yi gave Su Manhua a deep look. He knew she was somewhat oblivious in certain aspects, but in others, she had a keen and perceptive mind.

　　Jhan Syudong transferred the photos to his phone and began to study them carefully. It was a bribery ledger, recording dates, amounts, and intermediaries. The entries spanned over a decade, and the total amount roughly calculated to over twenty million yuan.

　　“This is beyond my imagination!” he exclaimed.

　　Seeing Ding Yi’s questioning look, Jhan Syudong handed him the phone. The hospital room was too crowded for detailed discussion.

　　After looking at it for a while, Ding Yi asked, “Isn’t this Lee Lesi from Fonghan Real Estate?” The ledger clearly recorded the intermediaries. In earlier years, it was Lee Fonghan, and in recent years, it was Lee Lesi.

　　Honglin was suspected of transferring funds to Fonghan, and now Fonghan was linked to Lin Haichao’s ledger. What did all this mean?

　　“Fonghan? Lee Lesi?” she asked, and her eyes widened. Sounds like she’d stumbled into something bigger.

　　“We’ll have Ling Yueh check it out,” Jhan Syudong replied, then turned to Su Manhua. “What do you think? Do you know Lee Lesi?”

　　“Hard to tell,” Su Manhua replied and gave him a bitter smile. Could she say she didn’t? Honestly, she wished she didn’t know Lee Lesi at all!