Chapter 985: Asking for Help

Jiang Ran’s impression of Huo Xiaoxiao was that she was beautiful, but also undeniably fiery.

And he always felt that Huo Xiaoxiao harbored some hostility toward him.

Although his high school classmate Hu Xiaofei had told him that Huo Xiaoxiao’s hatred had grown out of love.

Back in high school, she’d secretly had a crush on him. She would often come find him as soon as class ended to ask questions and discuss math, and the like. Even though Jiang Ran’s grades weren’t the best.

But Jiang Ran just couldn’t figure it out. If you liked him, then confess!

You didn’t confess in high school!

You could have added him as a contact and confessed in college, too!

But no, you just wouldn’t confess, and then somehow turned love into hate. It made no sense.

On top of what had happened with her younger sister, Jiang Ran didn’t feel much affection for either of them.

It wasn’t that he was hostile toward them, but he wasn’t exactly friendly, either.

Just then, Huo Xiaoxiao’s voice came through the phone. “Did you go to a tattoo shop called Ghost Face Tattoo Studio this morning?”

Jiang Ran took another bite of food and mumbled, “Yeah, I was there at around ten this morning. I went to pick something up. Once I got it, I left. Your sister was still there getting a tattoo!”

He thought it was perfectly normal that Huo Xiaoxiao knew he’d been to that shop.

He was sure Huo Yunyun had told her.

After all, Huo Yunyun hated him so much. She’d run into him at a tattoo shop, so of course she’d complain about him to her sister.

Especially since Huo Yunyun had been on her phone the whole time. It was entirely possible.

A note of urgency and a catch in her voice crept into Huo Xiaoxiao’s words on the other end of the call:

“Yes, my sister was there this morning, too. She told me she saw you.”

“So, you’ve already come back.”

“Normally, it’s noon by now, so my sister should be back, too. But she hasn’t come back to my place. I’ve messaged and called her, and she hasn’t answered.”

Jiang Ran was speechless. “Oh, your sister won’t answer your calls, so I will?”

He realized he’d said something stupid. He really had answered.

“Come on, I don’t know where your sister is. Calling me won’t help! And what time is it, anyway? It’s been barely two hours since I left, at most.”

“It’s only been two hours. Your sister hasn’t replied to your messages or answered your calls, and you’re already this worried? You’re way too strict with her! Besides, maybe her phone ran out of battery.”

Huo Xiaoxiao said, “My sister takes a power bank whenever she goes out. Her phone couldn’t have died.”

Jiang Ran said, “Oh, I see. Then your sister’s probably dating that new foreign guy she’s seeing, so she doesn’t have time to deal with you, her big sister!”

Huo Xiaoxiao’s voice grew hurried. “Impossible! Even if my sister were dating someone, she’d still reply to my messages! As long as she saw them!”

“Okay, okay, fine. Whatever you say.”

“Anything else? If not, I’m hanging up.”

Huo Xiaoxiao seemed to have more to say, but Jiang Ran hung up anyway.

“What a weird woman. Shouldn’t you be asking your sister’s boyfriend what’s going on?”

After finishing his dumplings for lunch and tossing the trash, Jiang Ran stretched out comfortably on his bed, turned on the air conditioner, and played on his phone.

Time flew by, and before long, it was one in the afternoon.

Huo Xiaoxiao called again.

Jiang Ran answered and asked, “What now?”

Huo Xiaoxiao said, “My sister still hasn’t replied to my messages or calls.”

Lying on the bed, Jiang Ran rolled over and said lazily, “No, seriously, what does your sister’s business have to do with me?”

“Why are you reporting all this to me?!”

“Am I family? A relative, your boyfriend, or your sister’s boyfriend?”

There was silence on Huo Xiaoxiao’s end for a few seconds. Then her voice came through, tinged with tears.

“Jiang Ran! You have no heart!”

Click.

She hung up.

Jiang Ran still thought the whole thing was bizarre.

Was that last line from Huo Xiaoxiao some sort of reading comprehension question?

Forget it. Jiang Ran was tired. He tossed his phone aside, wrapped himself in the covers, and went to sleep.

It was exactly two o’clock.

His “Good Luck” ringtone sounded again.

“Are you ever going to stop?”

He snatched up the phone, assuming it was that woman Huo Xiaoxiao again. But to his surprise, it wasn’t her number. It was another unfamiliar number.

A man’s voice came through after he answered.

“Jiang Ran, it’s Li Hu.”

“Li Hu?”

Jiang Ran thought for a moment. Oh, right, the sports committee member from his high school class.

He’d also been at the Castle treasure hunt last time.

He was pretty tall.

“Oh? Li Hu, what are you calling me for?”

The other man said, “I’m at the entrance to your apartment building. Come down and let us in. We need to talk to you.”

Jiang Ran froze.

He couldn’t believe it. “Wait, Li Hu, are you messing with me? You’re at my apartment building? How do you know where I live?”

He wasn’t surprised that Li Hu knew his phone number. Even Huo Xiaoxiao had managed to find it. But knowing his home address was downright strange. Sure, he had a high school class group chat on his phone, but he’d never shared his address there.

Li Hu said, “Class Monitor Gu Bei told us.”

“Gu Bei? Gu Bei, he…”

Jiang Ran thought that for a rich guy like Gu Bei, finding out his home address would be easy.

And it wasn’t just Gu Bei. He’d heard that for a little money, people could use certain overseas software and social-engineering databases to dig up the personal information of plenty of people in China.

That included, but wasn’t limited to, their phone numbers, home addresses, and ID numbers.

“Fine, fine. I’ll come let you in.”

Jiang Ran had no idea what Li Hu wanted with him.

From the original owner’s memories, the two of them hadn’t been particularly close in high school, and they hadn’t kept in touch afterward.

He’d just go see what was going on.

Jiang Ran soon reached the entrance.

When he got there, he’d expected to find only Li Hu, but there were three other people with him.

One was Xia Long, the other half of the Dragon and Tiger Twin Evils from high school. He was a big, burly man.

Another was an ordinary-looking guy, Vice Monitor Yu Xiaobo.

As for the last person, she was tall and beautiful.

She was the fiery beauty with the explosive temper, Huo Xiaoxiao.

Seeing all four of them, Jiang Ran’s mouth twitched. Especially when he saw Huo Xiaoxiao, he seemed to have guessed why they’d come looking for him.

Jiang Ran told Xiang Shanfeng, the security captain, that they were his friends, and brought them inside.

Once they were in,

Vice Monitor Yu Xiaobo looked around Alice Apartment.

Then he followed Jiang Ran to Jiang Ran’s place.

After entering, Vice Monitor Yu Xiaobo said, “Jiang Ran, it’s been years since graduation, and only now do I realize you’re doing really well. This place is amazing! And this apartment, I was bored outside just now, so I looked it up. It costs sixty thousand per square meter!”

Jiang Ran said, “Really? When I first moved in, this apartment was still fifty thousand per square meter.”

Since they were guests, Jiang Ran asked them to sit on the sofa and poured them some water. Once he was done, he asked, “So, what brings you all here?”

Li Hu spoke first. “Jiang Ran, we’ll get straight to the point. We came because we’re hoping you’ll come with us to look for Huo Yunyun.”