CEO's Ugly Flash-Marriage Wife Hides So Many Identities
Chapter 253 Equal Treatment

Chapter 253: Chapter 253 Equal Treatment

"Master, do you need my help?" Huang Ying asked over the phone.

Qiao Rui thought briefly for a few seconds before speaking, "You can’t spirit someone away without anyone noticing, Pei Liyan’s people are everywhere outside."

Huang Ying hesitated, "I can try."

"Forget it, don’t take the risk," Qiao Rui said. "We don’t need her, at most she would just be a nuisance."

"What does the master suggest then?"

"Stand by, I’ll go have a look and keep in touch." Qiao Rui hung up the phone and went upstairs.

Although the fifth floor was an art studio, the stairwell door was locked when she arrived.

She continued up, and at the turn from the fifth to the sixth floor, she heard someone breathing.

There was someone guarding the emergency exit above.

It seemed they left someone upstairs to watch the door. They were being cautious but weren’t truly evil kidnappers. It was a spontaneous act; they couldn’t be detailed.

Locking the door downstairs, they thought no one would notice.

Qiao Rui didn’t proceed further up but silently retreated.

Facing the tightly locked door, Qiao Rui was not at all troubled.

Naturally, the lock wasn’t going to stop Qiao Rui. She pulled out a thin wire, inserted it into the keyhole, and in a matter of moments, unlocked it.

She walked in boldly.

At this time, the people upstairs hadn’t noticed a thing.

Once inside, Qiao Rui first checked the surveillance.

Her phone buzzed, and she checked it to find a message from Huang Ying: Master, I’ve sabotaged the surveillance; you can do as you please.

Qiao Rui’s lips curved into a smile. Huang Ying’s cooperation was impeccable.

Qiao Rui gave an "OK" gesture and then went straight to the studio where Huang Ying said He Lan was locked in.

Just by approaching the door, she smelled a strong odor of alcohol mixed with a sour rotten smell.

Apparently, there had been a lot of drinking and thus a lot of vomiting.

Qiao Rui frowned, unlocked the door, and sure enough, she saw He Lan sleeping soundly.

This girl did not sleep like a lady at all: she lay on a canvas, straddling a stuffed dog whose color was smeared by pencil foam beyond recognition.

Walking over, Qiao Rui patted her cheek.

The girl hummed "hum hum," turned over, and continued sleeping.

By the looks of it, she was still drunk, and her body was dirty. This was no lady of a reputable family but rather a mess.

Without hesitation, Qiao Rui picked her up. Then, she struck He Lan’s nape with a hand chop.

"Omph!" was the only sound He Lan made before lying motionless.

Qiao Rui hoisted her up and noticed He Lan’s bag on the floor. She kicked it into the air and caught it with her other hand as they headed out.

At the door, she looked up toward the stairs, lifted her leg, and kicked the door, making a loud "clang" sound.

The next second, a startled cry came from above, "What was that noise?"

Seeing her plan had worked, Qiao Rui carried He Lan and headed straight down.

She moved quickly, unburdened by the weight, almost flying down the stairs.

Soon, she had carried the person downstairs.

Upstairs, after one person came down, they spotted the wide-open door and felt suspicious.

"What’s going on here? Who opened the door? Liu, was it you? Speak up, will you?"

Shouting, the person walked down to the fifth floor and entered directly. When they saw that He Lan was missing from the studio below, they panicked immediately.

They quickly returned to the sixth floor, "Liu, Xu, He Lan is gone!"

"Gao Yan, what are you saying?" The two came out of the studio, looking bewildered. "The door was locked, how could she disappear?"

"I don’t know, could someone have rescued her?" Gao Yan was equally confused. "The lock isn’t broken, it was perfectly intact on top, I even thought you, Liu, had opened the door yourself!"

"I’ve been on the sixth floor the whole time, the smell that chick He was giving off on the fifth floor was too overwhelming, I couldn’t stay there. Besides, if I had left, wouldn’t you have seen it from your position at the door?" Liu Tang said, frowning.

"So what exactly happened?"

Xu Nuosheng walked over to the window, lifted the curtain, and glanced down. Seeing the crowd below, he couldn’t make out anything significant.

He let the curtain fall and walked back, saying, "It looks like someone took her away! I’m going to check the surveillance."

But, the surveillance footage was frozen, showing no sign of activity.

"Doesn’t that mean our billion is down the drain?" Seeing this, Gao Yan panicked too.

Xu Nuosheng, with some skills in his hands and a particularly tall stature, turned his head to look inside the studio. "Don’t we still have another one?"

"Do you mean Qiao Xiang?" Liu Tang asked.

"That one will suffice!" Xu Nuosheng said. "After all, she is also a young lady of the Qiao family."

Gao Yan shook his head. "The Qiao family’s young lady is not bad, but the Qiao family itself isn’t what it used to be. I’ve known her for years and am somewhat familiar with her family. Even her sister from the countryside just said to ignore her."

"She schemed against her sister, but her sister saw through it." Xu Nuosheng chuckled lightly, "Hah, we’ve really messed with someone formidable. Managing to rescue her from us without our noticing, indeed very impressive."

"Should we continue then?" Liu Tang was a bit uneasy. "What if we really end up in jail if we continue?"

"Do you think we aren’t on track for jail already?" Xu Nuosheng looked at them, "From the moment we made that phone call, we haven’t been able to back out!"

"Qiao Xiang isn’t easy to mess with either!" Gao Yan warned. "Don’t think that just because she’s cooperating with us, we have leverage over her. When she manipulates people, she’s usually very sneaky."

"Then let’s get our hands on more leverage first!" Xu Nuosheng said. "I’ll take on the role of the villain!"

After saying this, he turned and went back into the studio.

At that moment, Qiao Xiang was tied to a chair, deprived of her freedom.

As soon as she saw Xu Nuosheng enter, a flash of fear crossed her eyes; it was he who had suggested turning the fake kidnapping into a real one.

She had originally wanted to cooperate with these people to lure Qiao Rui here, and while at it, tie up Qiao Rui, undress her, and paint a portrait of her to have leverage over her.

But Qiao Rui didn’t show up.

She was furious.

And her friends, upon hearing about Qiao Rui’s eight hundred million in funds, had all their eyes shine, and the three of them murmured among themselves and changed the plan.

Initially, she was only supposed to lure Qiao Rui here, but the fake kidnapping had turned real.

And she, initially the chess player, had now become the chess piece, controlled by them.

All this had been suggested by Xu Nuosheng.

Now, as Xu Nuosheng walked in and looked at Qiao Xiang, a sharp glint flashed in his eyes: "Dear Miss Qiao, you earlier suggested that we bring your sister here, strip her, take photos, paint her—I thought it was a great idea. So now, you go first!"

Qiao Xiang’s eyes widened in terror: "Xu Nuosheng, Gao Yan and I have been classmates and painting buddies for many years, how could you bear to treat me this way?"

"Miss Qiao, if you can deal with your sister, what’s a painting buddy to us?" Xu Nuosheng smiled. "Besides, we’re doing this to protect ourselves!"