"Alright," Lu Yanming said with a smile.
The two of them crouched and went through the backyard to the back door. Li Zhen took out a thin piece of iron wire and inserted it into the keyhole.
Lu Yanming's eyebrows quirked up slightly as he softly praised, "Zhen Zhen is indeed amazing, you can do anything."
"Click," the lock opened.
Li Zhen: ...
"Mr. Lu, these less-than-upstanding skills aren't really something you should praise so highly."
The two of them went inside.
The villa was quite quiet.
There was only the rustling sound of the wind blowing the curtains.
Li Zhen led Lu Yanming upstairs to the study door.
Li Zhen inserted the wire into the lock and gently fiddled with it.
She was taken aback.
"What's wrong?" Lu Yanming moved close to her ear and asked.
"This is a custom lock, I can't get it open." Li Zhen's brows furrowed.
Lu Yanming looked left and right, settling his gaze on the window at the end of the hallway. "Wait here for me, don't move."
As soon as he finished speaking, Lu Yanming had already taken large strides away.
"Hey..." Li Zhen whispered softly, but could only watch helplessly as he grabbed the window with one hand and jumped out.
Li Zhen covered her mouth just in time to stop herself from making a sound.
Within just over ten seconds, the study door in front of Li Zhen opened from the inside.
In the darkness of the study, only the moonlight coming in through the floor-to-ceiling windows provided illumination. As the door opened, Lu Yanming's tall, distinguished figure stood silhouetted against the light.
For a moment, Li Zhen's eyes dazzled.
Is Lu Yanming omnipotent?
"Why aren't you coming in?" Lu Yanming grasped her wrist and gently pulled her inside, softly closing the door.
Once inside the room, Li Zhen no longer had to keep her voice down. "Mr. Lu, I'm looking for a video. I already searched most of the room last time but didn't find any matching discs or tapes."
Lu Yanming gazed at her very attentively, indicating for her to continue.
Li Zhen said, "Now there are only two places I haven't searched - one is the safe, I brought tools."
Lu Yanming walked to the corner where the safe was located.
"But I'm just trying it with the mentality that it likely won't work." Li Zhen took out her phone and tools, and carefully studied the guide she had found today.
Lu Yanming crouched down, pressed his ear to the safe lock, and fiddled with it casually a couple times.
Li Zhen looked at the comments on her phone screen, her brows knitting together. "Online it says these tools will probably only work by chance, the odds aren't great..."
Just as the last word left her lips—
"Click," the safe opened under Lu Yanming's hands.
Li Zhen: ...
He can even crack a safe by listening?
Lu Yanming took out a USB drive from inside. Unhurriedly, he asked, "Is this what you wanted?"
"Yes." Li Zhen came to her senses and quickly took out an identical USB drive from the ten-odd ones she had brought, handing it to Lu Yanming.
Last time Li Zhen hadn't gotten a good look inside the safe, so she had prepared over a dozen different USB drives this time, planning to pull a bait and switch.
Lu Yanming understood her intention.
He put the USB drive he had brought into the safe, and pocketed the original one.
"You said there were two places you hadn't searched - what's the other one?" Lu Yanming closed the safe and stood up.
"The other one we don't need to bother with. I don't know the password for that computer so I can't get in." Li Zhen's tone was nonchalant.
Being able to open the safe already completely fulfilled her original goal.
She hadn't dared hope to be able to access this computer.
Lu Yanming gave the computer and CPU a once-over, then sat at the desk and pressed the power button. It prompted for a password.
He found a phone connector cable in the drawer, connected his phone to the computer.
Li Zhen stood to the side watching as Lu Yanming tapped at his phone a couple times, then randomly typed away at the computer keyboard.
The computer screen instantly showed a bunch of garbled text...
At least in Li Zhen's eyes it was garbled.
"Give me the one with the largest memory." Lu Yanming's gaze was calm as he looked at the scrolling code on the screen, reaching a hand out to her.
The dazed Li Zhen passed a USB drive over.
Lu Yanming plugged in the USB drive and the computer immediately showed a download progress bar.
1%
3%
5%
The progress bar inched forward slowly.
Li Zhen's perception of Lu Yanming was refreshed once again. "Mr. Lu, your college major wasn't some kind of spy training was it?"
"Just computer hacking, how hard can it be." Lu Yanming unhurriedly disconnected his phone, returning the connector cable to its original spot, simply waiting for the computer contents to finish copying over to the USB drive.
"I can't do it."
"Which is why you need me very much."
As soon as Lu Yanming finished speaking, footsteps suddenly sounded from the door.
Lu Yanming immediately turned off the computer screen. The USB transfer was still in progress. He pulled Li Zhen to hide behind a screen next to the chaise lounge.
The next second, the study door opened and Li Yinnan walked in wearing a robe.
Li Yinnan sat at the desk.
Li Zhen's heart instantly leaped to her throat, afraid he would discover the USB drive still transferring data.
Li Yinnan impatiently opened a drawer, took out a contract, flipped it open, and made a call. "Hello..."
"Yes, I've seen that contract, sign it."
"Yu Sheng? No."
"I've had him come over several times recently. If they insist on seeing Yu Sheng to sign then forget it."
"It's not because of Li Zhen. Why would I care what a bastard daughter like her thinks, let alone make decisions based on her wishes."
"I'm afraid of damaging my relationship with Yu Sheng."
Behind the screen, Li Zhen instinctively bit her lip, not even noticing her nails digging into her palms.
This was the first time she had heard Li Yinnan say this about her to her face.
As if her being a bastard was her fault.
And not her father's fault.
A father who wanted to imprison her just to prevent her getting company shares. A father who spoke of her in disgust, calling her a bastard who shouldn't see the light of day.
She had called him Dad for so many years, and now felt nauseated.
Li Zhen's heart and mind roiled. Suddenly, a pair of broad, dry hands gently pried her clenched fingers open one by one.
Lu Yanming slid his slender fingers between hers.
Holding her hand.
Li Zhen glanced at him.
What greeted her were a pair of gentle, refined eyes behind gold-rimmed glasses, looking at her with a faint smile.
Although always overflowing with tenderness, those eyes only ever held her. Li Zhen's sinking heart floated up again.
It seemed she wasn't so alone after all.
Li Yinnan put away the contract and left the room.
Lu Yanming pulled Li Zhen to her feet. "Earlier, didn't you say you wanted to do something thrilling with me?"
"Mr. Lu, don't tell me you're thinking of something indecent at a time like this?" Li Zhen looked at him doubtfully.
Lu Yanming smiled faintly, his tall figure exuding a cold aura in the darkness. "This study of the Li family is filthy. Let's burn it down."
Five minutes later.
The shouts from the Li house almost pierced the heavens.
"The study is on fire!"
"There's important stuff inside, hurry and put it out!"
"Call the fire department, quick!"
Li Zhen stood a street over in the villa district, the straight-backed Lu Yanming at her side.
The two of them watched the raging flames consuming the Li family study from afar.
If not for her grandfather being there, Li Zhen really wanted to burn the entire Li house down and be done with it.
