Old Ma sighed, feeling a pang of pity for Chong Lou. "What kind of people did he have to offend? He picked the most capable ones. Truly, ignorance breeds fearlessness. Now, his fearlessness has reached its peak, and his world is about to be turned upside down."
Although Old Ma muttered these thoughts to himself, he still passed the information to Xiao Zhou.
Upon receiving the news, Xiao Zhou’s mind raced. she quickly devised a plan to trap Chong Lou. Seizing an opportunity, she approached Chong Lou. "Boss, I heard some news. The Little Divine Doctor is going to a forest on the outskirts of the capital to gather herbs in two days. She won’t bring many people—maybe six or seven. Do you want to deal with her?"
"Yes." Chong Lou was already in a foul mood. Hearing this news, she naturally wanted to settle the score with Zhu Yanyi. To her, everything was Zhu Yanyi’s fault. If not for her, how would she be in this situation?
If Zhu Yanyi’s parents hadn’t leaked her information to Zhu Guifu and the others, they wouldn’t have come to the capital. She wouldn’t have disliked them, nor would she have attended that masquerade ball out of frustration. If she hadn’t attended the ball, she wouldn’t have reunited with Zhang Qiaolian. If she hadn’t reunited with her, she wouldn’t have fallen for her again. If she hadn’t fallen for her, Liu Peipei wouldn’t have discovered it. If Liu Peipei hadn’t discovered it, they wouldn’t have argued. She wouldn’t have said those hurtful words in anger, and she wouldn’t have taken her own life.
No matter how she looked at it, Chong Lou found a scapegoat for her failures. In her mind, all her misfortunes in life were caused by Zhu Yanyi. Therefore, she had to deal with her.
Zhu Yanyi heard of Chong Lou’s plan and was stunned for a moment before slowly saying, "This man is truly insane."
Only a mentally ill person would have such delusional thoughts.
"If he weren’t insane, he wouldn’t have fallen for it. If he hadn’t fallen for it, how could you have played with him?" Yan Aohan said with a grin.
Zhu Yanyi thought about it. Indeed, if she hadn’t taken the bait, she wouldn’t have been able to do anything to her. She shrugged and asked Yan Aohan, "So, what does she plan to do?"
"Since you’re going herb gathering the day after tomorrow, he plans to intercept you. Rumor has it, his idea is to kidnap you, torture you, and then hold you for ransom to extort money from Father. He also wants to threaten me, and ideally, threaten Great Uncle Seventh as well," Yan Aohan explained with a smile.
"The idea is very good," Zhu Yanyi praised. "But the problem is, it’s completely impossible to execute."
Yan Aohan nodded slightly. "Yes, it’s impossible. But he doesn’t think so. He probably believes it’s a surefire plan."
Zhu Yanyi pondered for a moment, then said, "In that case, I’ll use the strategy of Jiang Taigong fishing. I’ll wait for her to bite the hook." She smiled. "See? I called it the Fishing Plan, and it fits perfectly. I might as well catch all the wandering ghosts and monsters at once."
According to the intelligence Yan Aohan had gathered, several countries had recently sent agents with the goal of capturing Zhu Yanyi and taking her to their nations. She decided to use this opportunity to catch all the ill-intentioned people in one net.
"Exactly. My wife has the ability to foresee the future. Amazing," Yan Aohan praised Zhu Yanyi immediately.
Two days later, Zhu Yanyi set off with her team toward the outskirts of the capital. To cooperate with Chong Lou’s appearance, as soon as they entered the forest area, Zhu Yanyi dismissed Luo Gang and the others. In reality, these people had gone from open to covert. On the surface, it appeared that only Zhu Yanyi was alone, searching for herbs.
When Chong Lou saw Zhu Yanyi, she noticed she was alone. She had originally worried there were others nearby, but after scanning the area and finding no one, she believed heaven was helping her. She hurriedly revealed herself.
Zhu Yanyi saw Chong Lou and sighed deeply. "Really, I’ve waited long enough. If you’re going to rob me, you should have come earlier. I had to wait for you to appear."
Chong Lou was completely stunned. What did she mean? She was waiting for her? She knew she was going to kidnap her?
"You were waiting for me?" Chong Lou asked cautiously.
Unlike Chong Lou’s caution, Zhu Yanyi nodded generously. "Yes, I was waiting for you. Waiting for you to appear so we could have some fun. Don’t you know I’ve been bored lately? I needed someone to vent on. If you hadn’t come, who would I vent on?"
Chong Lou narrowed his eyes. "Ani, those aren’t nice words."
"Pah, pah. Don’t call me that so intimately. I have no relation to you," Zhu Yanyi rejected her nickname directly.
Chong Lou looked at Zhu Yanyi. At this moment, she realized she had truly grown up. In her mind, Zhu Yanyi was still that little child. But the graceful young woman before her, while retaining a hint of her past self, showed more capability and decisiveness.
"Ani, you’ve grown up," Chong Lou remarked with emotion.
"Don’t. Only my relatives can call me by my nickname. Please stop. Hearing you call me that gives me goosebumps," Zhu Yanyi said with disdain, showing both her contempt and disgust for her.
Chong Lou looked at Zhu Yanyi and said, "Ani, do you know why I am here?"
The two were talking past each other, especially with Chong Lou’s jumping logic.
Zhu Yanyi glanced at Chong Lou directly. "I am never interested in the comings and goings of irrelevant people."
Chong Lou’s expression was not good. He seemed not to have heard Zhu Yanyi’s words, speaking only to himself. "Ani, do you know? You were very cute when you were little. You used to call me Second Uncle. We were as close as family."
"Stop it. Don’t be delusional. Who is close to you like family? You once tried to kidnap me to the mountains to deliver your ex-wife’s baby. Fortunately, I had people with me, or who knows what you would have done to me," Zhu Yanyi sneered. "I never understood why you were so black-hearted. Now I think, it’s because the upper beam is crooked, so the lower beam is too. The fourth branch clearly didn’t teach you well, so you don’t want to be human, only an animal."
Chong Lou spoke her piece, and Zhu Yanyi spoke hers. They seemed to be talking to themselves, but only they knew that neither was willing to follow the other’s rhythm.
After this stalemate lasted for nearly half an hour, Chong Lou sighed. "Ani, why do you become less cute as you grow up?"
"I only need to be admired. The Little Divine Doctor is never described as 'cute,'" Zhu Yanyi said proudly, looking at Chong Lou. "Let me tell you, if you leave now, you still have a slim chance of survival. If that chance disappears, you’ll wish you were dead." Zhu Yanyi stared directly at Chong Lou.