Chapter 352: Happy Birthday
Chapter 352: Happy Birthday
Lei Ziming’s eyes were filled with admiration and greed as he stared at Xiao Lin’s alluring body: "You look really beautiful today. I heard you went out for a fashion show, when did you come back?"
Xiao Lin tucked her long hair behind her ear and walked to the sofa with a glass of wine: "I just came back yesterday, Jia Hui insisted on celebrating my birthday, so she invited you all."
Xu Xiangbei grinned cheekily as he came over, picked up an orange from the coffee table, and leisurely started peeling it: "Of course, we must celebrate a birthday, and we should find more people to come, but Xiao Lin doesn’t have many friends."
Lei Ziming asked, a bit puzzled: "Why hold the birthday party here at Chongming Mountain? It’s at least an hour away from the city center. If it weren’t for the navigation, I wouldn’t even know how to get to the villa."
Xiao Lin glanced at Xu Xiangbei, her smile as sweet as honey: "I like the peace and elegance here. It just so happens that my friend’s villa has been vacant and no one will disturb us, so we used it for the birthday party."
Xu Xiangbei inwardly chuckled. This was exactly the effect he wanted, to keep Lei Ziming far away from his peculiar office, a round trip taking at least two hours.
Xiao Lin’s smile was graceful and noble as she pointed to the sofa: "Young Master Lei, please sit. Jia Hui will have the cake ready in a moment."
Just like a perfectly planned rehearsal, as soon as the birthday cake was mentioned, Ouyang Jiahui’s cheerful voice came from the back: "The cake is here."
Ouyang Jiahui and Dongfang Bai were holding glow sticks, singing the birthday song as they wheeled a small cart slowly from the kitchen.
A big three-tiered fruit chocolate cake was placed on the cart, with colorful candles flickering against the wind.
Xu Xiangbei began playing the Happy Birthday song on the piano, but in the vast villa, the sharp piano sound echoed, not only failing to create a happy birthday atmosphere but, with its low, spiraling tones, inadvertently giving a sensation of a ghostly midnight ballad.
Ouyang Jiahui playfully punched Xu Xiangbei on the shoulder, signaling him not to play the piano and ruin the mood. Xu Xiangbei shrugged, stopped playing, and cheerfully stood beside the cake.
Xiao Lin’s beautiful face bore an awkward smile. She forced a couple of laughs, her arms moving mechanically like a student caught off guard, punished by a teacher to give a speech.
"I don’t have many friends, only Jia Hui and you guys. Today is my birthday, thank you all for celebrating with me."
Ouyang Jiahui, shaking her explosive pomelo head, laughed: "The birthday girl needs to close her eyes, make a wish, and then blow the candles."
Poof, before Ouyang Jiahui finished speaking, Xu Xiangbei had already blown out the candles.
Faced with the nearly lethal glares of Ouyang Jiahui and Xiao Lin, Xu Xiangbei shrank his neck: "Sorry, I was too hasty. Shall I relight the candles and blow them out again?"
Suddenly, Lei Ziming’s phone emitted a beeping sound. Ouyang Jiahui awkwardly laughed: "Young Master Lei, what a strange ringtone your phone has."
Lei Ziming’s eyes suddenly turned fierce as he took out his phone: "That’s not a ringtone; it’s an alarm. Someone’s broken into my office."
The four of them exchanged glances. Lei Ziming was truly meticulous, having linked the alarm system to his phone.
Lei Ziming’s fierce look quickly faded, returning to his usual indifferent demeanor. He pressed on the phone, and a series of surveillance videos appeared on the screen.
Xu Xiangbei, feeling somewhat guilty, said: "What should we do? Someone broke into your office. Should we call the police?"
Lei Ziming was not worried and sneered coldly: "No need to call the police. You don’t have to worry about me; worry about this little thief instead. He dared to break into my office, he’s in for a tough time."
Xu Xiangbei knew the person who broke into Lei Ziming’s office and triggered the alarm was Jenny. Today’s birthday party was a setup by Xu Xiangbei and Jenny to give Jenny a chance to infiltrate Lei Ziming’s secret room and find those military-grade missile chips.
Seeing Lei Ziming’s confident demeanor, Xu Xiangbei truly began to worry for Jenny.
He craned his neck to look at the phone in Lei Ziming’s hand, but with so many video feeds on the small screen, he couldn’t see anything.
He reached out his hand: "Young Master Lei, may I have a look?"
Lei Ziming, generously, handed the phone to Xu Xiangbei with a proud look: "Go ahead, you’ll soon see how miserable this little thief will be."
The video showed the scene in Lei Ziming’s office, with the colors dim and scattered with jagged rocks like the surface of Mars, adorned with game creatures everywhere.
The first camera showed the office door being quietly pushed open, a masked man in black tiptoed into the office.
Xu Xiangbei inwardly fretted, almost thinking of calling Jenny right away to tell her she had been exposed, but Lei Ziming’s fiery gaze was fixed on him, preventing him from making any rash moves.
The man in black moved in front of the second camera when, suddenly, a volcanic rock beside him exploded violently, sending the man flying backward and landing at the doorway, smoke scattering in the video.
Lei Ziming laughed triumphantly: "Now he knows how tough it is."
Not only was Xu Xiangbei anxious, but Ouyang Jiahui, Xiao Lin, and Dongfang Bai were also worried about Jenny, afraid she might have been killed in the explosion.
They cooperated with Xu Xiangbei in staging this birthday party, but Xiao Lin, though beautiful, was extremely poor at acting. Especially with a secret agenda in mind, her emotions were tense, expressions off, and movements stiff. If it weren’t for Lei Ziming being enchanted by her beauty, he would have noticed her ulterior motives.
Xiao Lin bit her pink lips, snatched the phone: "Let me see, let me see what’s happening."
The four were more anxious than Lei Ziming, pushing him out of the center instead.
Ouyang Jiahui, eager to see the video clearly, reached to grab the phone from Xiao Lin’s hand.
Thud, crash, during the snatch, Xiao Lin’s hand slipped, and Lei Ziming’s phone fell onto the hard marble floor, shattering into pieces.
Ouyang Jiahui looked remorseful: "Sorry for breaking your phone."
Lei Ziming rolled his eyes at Ouyang Jiahui, having anticipated this outcome. He didn’t care about the phone and hurried back: "No problem, it’s broken now, I need to get back."
Without the phone, Lei Ziming couldn’t see what was happening in the office, so he drove back.
Xu Xiangbei hurriedly called Jenny, but found her phone was off.
Seeing Lei Ziming’s car disappear into the night, Xiao Lin patted her chest, her face as pale as a flower: "That scared me, I really don’t think I’m cut out for acting, it felt like I almost gave it all away."
Dongfang Bai smiled, comforting Xiao Lin: "You did quite well considering, Lei Ziming’s gaze never left you for a moment, he didn’t notice anything amiss."
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