After the divorce, my ex-husband's cousin tricked me into getting a marriage certificate.

At this moment, Lin Mengchuan caught up with Qiao Ran at the hotel entrance and saw her get into Qi Muci's nanny car.

He hailed a taxi, scanned a thousand yuan into the driver's hand, and said, "Follow that car in front. If you can make sure we're not discovered and follow them to our destination, I'll give you another thousand."

The driver glanced at Lin Mengchuan, his eyes brimming with barely concealed excitement. "Sir, you're a reporter, right? Someone who specializes in taking candid photos of celebrities? You've come to the right place, get in my car."

"My tracking skills are so good that even the police would have to admit defeat. Don't worry, I guarantee I'll complete the mission."

Lin Mengchuan ignored the driver's enthusiasm, and the driver didn't care about his stern face; whoever paid him was the boss.

The nanny van first went to Heyuan Residential Area, where Zhao Mengmeng got out of the van alone at the entrance.

Then they turned around and headed towards the suburbs, eventually entering the Xiangheyuan villa area.

The driver parked the car on the roadside at the entrance of the residential area and said with difficulty, "Sir, you can't just come and go in this residential area. I can only take you this far. But they must live inside to be able to go in directly."

Lin Mengchuan knew that Qi Muci lived there. He didn't say anything, but simply took out his phone and scanned another thousand yuan for the driver.

Then open the door and get out of the car.

The taxi drove away, and Lin Mengchuan took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, lit one, and took one out.

He smoked a cigarette while gazing at the houses inside Xianghe Garden.

There's only one way to get in.

He bought one too.

Thinking of this, he took out his phone and dialed Xu Qing's number.

The call connected, and Xu Qing's anxious voice came through: "Brother Chuan, where did you go? I only went to the bathroom for a short while, how could you disappear? Lin Fei is looking for you everywhere."

Lin Mengchuan: "Don't mention this woman's name to me again. I'm at Xianghe Garden. Come and pick me up yourself. Don't tell Lin Fei. Tell her to go home and not bother me."

Xu Qing asked in bewilderment, "Xianghe Garden? Isn't that in the suburbs? Why did you go there?"

Lin Mengchuan: "I followed Qiao Ran's nanny van. Enough talk, get over here right now."

Xu Qing: "Okay, okay, I'll be right there, in half an hour."

Seeing that Xu Qing had hung up the phone, Lin Fei hurriedly asked, "What was Meng Chuan doing at Xianghe Garden?"

Xu Qing said impatiently, "Lin Fei, Brother Chuan said to go home and not bother him. If I were you, I would know better than to leave. Besides, are we that close? Why should I tell you?"

Xu Qing hates Lin Fei the most; she's such a scheming bitch, always pretending and treating everyone else like fools.

He frequented various nightclubs in Beijing and had seen all kinds of women.

He saw right through Lin Fei's scheme.

Watching Xu Qing swagger away, Lin Fei stomped his feet in anger.

Look down on her?

She will become the young mistress of the Lin family one day and give these people a good slap in the face.

Half an hour later, Xu Qing drove to Xianghe Garden and saw Lin Mengchuan standing by the roadside, smoking.

There was already a pile of cigarette butts at his feet.

Lin Mengchuan saw Xu Qing's car stop beside him, and he opened the passenger door and got in.

While fastening his seatbelt, he said, "Find a way to help me buy one of these houses, the sooner the better."

Xu Qing's mouth dropped open. "Brother Chuan, these houses aren't cheap. They'd cost at least fifty or sixty million. Could you tell me why you're buying them?"

Lin Mengchuan replied in a low voice, "Qiao Ran lives inside. She should be living in my cousin's house. They live together..."

When he said his last words, Lin Mengchuan felt as if his heart was being torn apart.

The pain was so intense that he felt like he was suffocating.

He didn't want to think about what kind of relationship Qiao Ran had with Qi Muci now.

Just staying here?

Are the two dating?

Xu Qing thought for a moment, "I see. If you just want to go in and monitor Qiao Ran, you don't need to buy a house. Buying a house is complicated. You might as well just rent one. As long as you pay the money, you can move in anytime."

Lin Mengchuan: "Then let's rent a place. I'll move in tomorrow."

Xu Qing: "Okay, I'll find an agency for you tonight and try to get you moving in tomorrow."

Lin Mengchuan was very satisfied with Xu Qing's reply. He needed someone as efficient as Xu Qing. "Regarding that college student startup game project you mentioned a few days ago, I'll approve one million for you. Let those college students work on it first."

Xu Qing was overjoyed. "Thank you, Brother Chuan. I guarantee this project will be a sure thing. If we lose money, it's on me."

The project Lin Mengchuan mentioned is a game development project that Xu Qing has always wanted to do.

However, Xu Qing's father was conservative and unwilling to invest in such projects.

Especially since the game was developed by a few college students, Xu's father felt it was very unreliable and accused Xu Qing of just messing around.

Xu Qing had no choice but to turn to Lin Mengchuan, hoping that he could invest in the project together.

Because Lin Mengchuan had lived abroad, his perspective was different.

Lin Mengchuan was still hesitant at first, because such a project only required an initial investment of a few million, and he wouldn't lose much money even if he did.

The key question is, why did he help Xu Qing?

Now that Xu Qing is so actively helping him pursue Qiao Ran, he has to give Xu Qing something in return for that reason alone.

It's fair to say that both of them got what they wanted.

Meanwhile, Qiao Ran and her brother Qi Muci returned home, and she urged Qi Muci to help her lock the necklace in the safe.

Qi Muci told her to relax, as the security here was very good and there were people at home, so there was no need to worry about thieves breaking into the house.

After removing their makeup and changing their clothes, the two took a bath together and spent some more time together.

The two, exhausted, quickly fell asleep.

The two were awakened by a sudden, urgent cell phone ring the next morning.

Qi Muci opened his eyes and glanced at the phone, discovering it was Qiao Ran's.

He picked up his phone, glanced at it, and handed it to Qiao Ran: "It's Ding Ding calling. It's so early. See if it's something urgent."

Qiao Ran swiped the screen groggily: "Ding Ding, what's up? It's so early, I'm not even up yet."

Ding Ding said urgently on the other end of the phone, "My dear aunt, Jiang Jingjing has stolen your hot news."

Qiao Ran asked in confusion, "What?"

Ding Ding: "Oh dear, didn't you go to a charity gala with Brother Qi yesterday? Mengmeng said you two gave an interview and announced your new collaboration, right?"

Qiao Ran: "Yes."

Ding Ding: "But now all the media outlets are filled with news about Jiang Jingjing and Brother Qi starring in a new drama together. There's no news about you at all, and the photos are all composite images of her and Brother Qi."

"Wait a minute, I've already taken screenshots of the news, I'll send them to you."

Ten minutes later, Qiao Ran, Qi Muci, and Qi Mu'an were sitting in the living room.

Qi Mu'an looked at the screenshots that Qiao Ran forwarded to him and analyzed, "These news articles are obviously press releases from Jiang Jingjing's side. Two-thirds of them are about her role."

Qi Muci glanced at his brother sideways, "So?"

Qi Mu'an: "Huh? We can't control that either. She has already signed a contract with us, and we didn't ask her to keep it a secret. She can indeed pay to release press releases herself."

Qi Muci interrupted, "She can indeed release her own press releases, but she's clearly the second female lead, yet she's portraying herself as the female lead and trying to use me for publicity. I can't tolerate that!"