Chapter 14 His Private Space
It was past ten o'clock at night, and the dinner party had ended.
Li Zishen was just about to take a hot bath when someone knocked urgently on the door.
It sounded very urgent, as if something major had happened.
Indeed, Nanny Chen's face was streaked with tears.
"Young Master, I have failed you; I didn't keep an eye on Xiao Wan."
"What are you saying?"
"Just now, when I went to bring Xiao Wan some sobering soup, I discovered... there was no one there, Xiao Wan is gone, what should we do? Could she have..."
Without waiting for Nanny Chen to finish her sentence, Li Zishen dashed upstairs in one breath, not even taking the elevator.
How could there be no one there?
After the dinner, I personally escorted Xiao Wan to the door, and only after seeing her enter did I leave.
And yet, there was indeed no one in the bedroom.
"Xiao Wan!"
Li Zishen quickly moved up the staircase to the fourth-floor study.
Chen Xin had gone to take Li Zihan back to Bie Yuan, and only Bai Long could arrive at the scene immediately.
Soon after, Li Garden was put on high-security alert.
The security personnel immediately started reviewing the surveillance footage of the garden, and the bodyguards returned to their positions, commencing a thorough search of each room.
On the ground floor, in the large guest room.
Li Weilian was discussing Tang Xiaowan's condition with his secretary, Su Luoyi, when a bodyguard in black burst in.
He moved so quickly that there was no time to react.
"Sorry for the intrusion."
Su Luoyi put down the diagnostic report she was holding and stood up from the sofa.
Her face, devoid of expression, was adorned with delicate features.
She pursed her lips and crossed her arms, moving behind Li Weilian, and watched everything with cold eyes.
The bodyguard searched every possible hiding place, not sparing even Li Weilian's two rolling suitcases.
His movements were crisp and decisive as if he had undergone military training.
Li Weilian stroked his chin, a flicker of unease crossing his mind.
He was very familiar with Li Zishen's character.
If it weren't for some major incident, such a room search would never be happening at this time.
Two minutes later, the bodyguard finished the inspection and bowed deeply to Li Weilian and Su Luoyi: "Mr. Li, Miss Su, I am very sorry for the disturbance."
Li Weilian shook his head, his eyes filled with anxiety: "What happened?"
"Lady Tang is missing."
Li Weilian: "…"
Su Luoyi: "…"
"Would you need help opening my room?" Su Luoyi immediately prepared to go get her key card.
"We've already checked it."
These words genuinely startled Su Luoyi.
Her small guest room was just next door, and it had clearly been locked when she left. Yet, he had a key and she hadn't heard a single sound.
The soundproofing was indeed excellent!
The security guard quickly departed after responding.
Su Luoyi looked around her unchanged guest room and fell into deep thought.
There was no sign of disarray from the search.
In the fourth-floor study.
Li Zishen had just logged into a system.
With the commands typed in, he could see everything clearly—every entrance and exit, the front and back gardens, the garage, and even the surroundings of Li Garden.
But in the end, Tang Xiaowan's figure was nowhere to be found.
Tonight, everyone staying in Li Garden was someone he trusted the most; it was indeed impossible for anyone to be interfering. Moreover, Tang Xiaowan knew some tricks, and an ordinary person wouldn't be able to detain her.
Even Su Luoyi, whom he had never met, had been thoroughly investigated by him.
Did she leave on her own?
It's impossible. If she truly wanted to leave, today's trip to the mall was the perfect opportunity, yet she didn't take it.
At night, eating hotpot together, she laughed so joyfully!
At a certain moment, he even felt as though his Little Angel had regained her memory, recalling all of their sweet moments from the past.
Li Zishen began to grow irritable, grabbing the notebook and violently throwing it away.
A man-tall vase nearby cracked.
"Get to Wuyou Pavilion immediately!"
Anger and murderous intent intermixed within the man's voice.
As he spoke, Li Zishen strode purposefully towards the exit.
Bai Long hurriedly followed.
"Brother Shen, we've always had people watching Li Wanshan. It's not him. Besides, if he really took Lady Tang, we would have been bombarded with calls by now."
These words shocked the dreamer awake.
Indeed, Li Zishen was frantically worried, and his uncle was truly someone who couldn't keep things to himself.
Like today's trending topic about secretly taken photos, Li Zishen hadn't even returned to Li Garden when the questioning phone calls came in, one after another.
They criticized how, a few days ago, he'd disrupted such an important international meeting to go save a damsel, and now, he was parading around with her at Yishen Mall.
That was the largest shopping mall in Jin City.
Normally, he wouldn't go there even once a month, but this afternoon he accompanied Tang Xiaowan, shopping and eating ice cream, utterly ostentatious.
Shareholders were grumbling left and right, claiming Tang Xiaowan was a vixen, bound to ruin Yishen Group one day.
The instigator behind the scenes was Li Wanshan.
He'd been stirring up the emotions of the shareholders to pressure Li Zishen into relinquishing control of the mall.
Li Zishen stopped in his tracks, turning to Bai Long.
"You're right, but..."
"Brother Shen, I've just thought of a place."
"Speak."
"Your children's play area."
After these words came out, Bai Long saw that Li Zishen's brow only furrowed slightly, without much resistance, so he carefully added, "Brother Shen, Lady Tang likes to use the stairs. Could it be possible that... while walking, she made her way down?"
Indeed, Tang Xiaowan did like using the stairs and had never been seen riding the elevator, at least not in Li Garden.
The second-floor corridor originally had surveillance.
But a few days ago, Tang Xiaowan had dismantled it, and to avoid angering her, Li Zishen dared not order it reinstalled.
Yet, the second floor's west side had a staircase leading straight down to the sub-second level, without passing the sub-first level in between.
In reality, there was more than one way to get to the children's play area, including a direct elevator in a second-floor room. However, Tang Xiaowan, new as she was, had no clue.
The entire sub-second floor lacked partitions.
The children's play area was where Li Zishen played as a child. It was a private space that all surveillance failed to capture and a place no one dared intrude.
Even during the carpet-style search that had just occurred, the sub-second floor was automatically skipped.
Within Li Garden, the children's play area was off-limits.
Li Zishen sprinted forth, Bai Long following close behind.
...
The door stood open, the fingerprint lock intact.
Overcome with urgency, Li Zishen couldn't spare a thought on how Tang Xiaowan had located this place or how she could have opened the password-secured double doors; he simply charged in like a madman.
Two minutes later, at the entrance to the maze, he indeed found a slender figure.
It was a winding passageway about 10 meters long, limited in space, allowing only one person at a time.
However, once through, one would find a rather spacious area, large enough for four adults to comfortably play mahjong.
Tang Xiaowan was barefoot, wearing a long dress with a floral pattern.
Her cheeks were flushed with a reddish hue, still emanating the scent of alcohol, sleeping soundly.
Li Zishen gestured for Bai Long to leave, then sat down cross-legged on the wooden floor, quietly watching her.
His thoughts drifted back to their day at Mei Garden.
Time ticked by, and suddenly, Tang Xiaowan's lips seemed to move slightly, as if she were speaking.
Li Zishen coughed softly, leaning in closer.