Chapter 41: Plan for the Long Term, Plan for the Long

A stack of documents lay before her.

Ignoring her numb and aching arms, Jiang Xiaoya opened the file. Upon seeing the amount written on it, a flash of pleasant surprise appeared in her eyes.

Compared to the reward from the Cultural Relics Bureau, she wasn't getting much less for helping the police solve this case—a full 150,000 yuan.

The bonus would take three to five days to hit her account.

Jiang Xiaoya packed her things away. Just as she stepped out of the interrogation room, someone approached her with a polite attitude. "Lady Jiang, our captain wants you to come to her office."

"Haha, alright."

In a good mood, Jiang Xiaoya didn't dwell on the title.

Besides, any woman who could enter the "palace" and be granted a title or official rank must have some level of charm. The fact that they gave her this title was a side confirmation of her beauty and capability.

It was perfectly logical and legal.

Jiang Xiaoya pushed the door open and entered. Qing Tianfeng was just about to eat. Seeing her come in, he asked politely, "Miss Jiang, would you like to join us for a meal?"

"Sure."

Jiang Xiaoya pulled out the chair opposite him and sat down without any hesitation.

Qing Tianfeng shot a glance at Yu Cuo beside him.

Yu Cuo, who had just picked up his lunch box to eat, hurriedly put it down. Realizing his mistake, he picked it up again and placed it in front of Jiang Xiaoya. "Please eat, Lady Jiang. I'll have someone bring another portion over."

With that, he went aside to make a phone call.

Miss Jiang was truly hungry, so she began eating quickly from the lunch box.

Qing Tianfeng's impression of Jiang Xiaoya was that she was money-obsessed, stingy, incredibly strong, and "spiritually beautiful."

Yet, it was precisely this seemingly eccentric woman who possessed a keen sense of detail beneath her rough exterior. She could easily dispel the suspicions of arms smugglers, pinpoint the key to a deadlocked case in the interrogation room, and despite being involved in so many earth-shattering incidents, she always remained untouched and unruffled.

The most baffling part was that every time she uncovered something, if he hadn't scoured her files until they were worn thin, he would have suspected this was all a highly calculated, top-tier scheme. Her life trajectory and personal identity showed absolutely no suspicious discrepancies.

Qing Tianfeng finished his meal quickly. Seeing that she was almost done, he had someone pour her a cup of tea and watched her with expectant eyes.

Now that she had the money, she should finally get to work, right?

Jiang Xiaoya took the last bite, wiped her mouth, and drank more than half the cup of tea before speaking in detail.

"Captain Qing, regarding this matter, we need to plan carefully."

"Oh? How do we plan?"

Qing Tianfeng perked up, looking at her earnestly.

Jiang Xiaoya finished the remaining half cup of tea, feeling completely quenched, before uttering two words: "Long-term."

Qing Tianfeng waited for a moment.

There was nothing more.

Qing Tianfeng: "..."

Was she crazy?

No, he was the crazy one. He was the one who was crazy for believing her nonsense! Who could he blame?

Of course, Jiang Xiaoya wasn't trying to fool him; she was simply tired and needed to go back for a good sleep.

There was nothing Qing Tianfeng could do but let her go back to sleep.

Jiang Xiaoya strictly followed the program's requirements: she had to keep the livestream running at all times except when absolutely necessary. As soon as she left the police station, she immediately turned on her "Heavenly Eye" livestream equipment.

Given that hotel staff had knocked on her door to deliver things last time, Jiang Xiaoya cut the livestream before checking into her accommodation this time.

After checking into a budget hotel, Jiang Xiaoya washed up as quickly as possible, climbed into the large bed, and fell into a blissful sleep.

Consequently, when the viewers in the livestream room saw the stream flicker back to life, they hadn't even been excited for a few seconds before the screen went black again.

[Waaaah, my mental sustenance is gone!]

[Sister Stupid, go to bed early and wake up early. Don't keep us brothers waiting too long.]

[...Sister Stupid really learns from her mistakes, doesn't she?]

[Who told those netizens to mess with her last time?]

[And all those contestants from the last episode went out of their way to run into her.]

[This... the victims are actually the other contestants, right?]

[Yeah, I heard a group had to be hospitalized for treatment this time. One girl was in the worst shape—she went into shock several times. The hospital had to resuscitate her; they almost issued a critical condition notice.]

[I saw that too. It trended on the hot searches several times, but it got pushed down by the arms smuggling news. People who don't follow the show really wouldn't know.]

While the viewers were discussing this, the trending topic regarding the arms smuggling had just begun to cool down, and posts about people being seriously injured during the tomb raid resurfaced on the hot search list.

At the hospital, in the restroom.

Zhou Yuyu was applying an extremely pale makeup in front of the mirror. A temporary caregiver stood beside her, holding a phone and making a fist gesture.

"Great, our post finally made it up. This time, we must create a massive explosion of interest, no matter what."

"Mhm." Zhou Yuyu, busy adjusting her makeup, replied with an indifferent expression, "Jiang Xiaoya's current popularity is very high. This trending topic is just a warm-up. Once the timing is right, we'll release the posts attacking her."

The higher Jiang Xiaoya's current traffic, the more brutal the backlash would be. Fame and fortune were always a double-edged sword, weren't they?

"But... her popularity is so high right now. If we post accusations that she's climbing to the top on the blood of others, won't it..."

The temporary nurse looked at the high ranking on the hot search list with lingering fear.

With Jiang Xiaoya's current popularity, it was no exaggeration to say that even when the industry's number one male idol first emerged, he hadn't commanded this much traffic.

Take their attempt to hit the hot searches this time as an example: they spent so much money to boost it, only for it to die out quietly in the lower ranks.

They had to wait for Jiang Xiaoya's livestream to go dark before the hot search list even left a small opening for them.

If she thought she could ride Jiang Xiaoya's traffic to rise, she truly didn't have that much confidence.

"What's there to fear? If we can ride it, it's a good thing. Being 'infamous' is still being famous. And if we can't, we won't lose anything. It would be even better if we could make her career crash and burn because of this."

Zhou Yuyu took out some dye and intensified the bruises on her neck and the swelling on her face.

In the tomb, she was the only one who had been brutally beaten by the tomb robbers. If she didn't seize this opportunity to gain popularity, wouldn't all that pain have been for nothing?

Thinking of this, Zhou Yuyu also remembered how they had fallen into the tunnel together, and both she and Jiang Xiaoya had been held hostage. Yet, not only was Jiang Xiaoya unscathed, she had even gained massive fame from it. Zhou Yuyu's teeth ached with hatred.

Just wait. How could all the world's good luck possibly belong to just one person?

Enjoy the dividends of the traffic now; when the backlash comes, you'll know true agony.

At the police station.

The leadership had left, but the criminal investigation team, having worked for several days straight, couldn't leave yet.

The suspects involved in the arms smuggling gang were still in the interrogation process, and there were a series of follow-up investigations to conduct. Most importantly, their connection to the tomb-robbing gang was not something that could be uncovered in a day or two.

But Qing Tianfeng didn't want to delay any longer; he was determined to use Jiang Xiaoya to trace this line.

In the meeting room, the criminal investigation team held a routine small meeting.

Hearing Qing Tianfeng's intention, Yu Cuo hesitated to speak.

Qing Tianfeng glanced up at him, signaling him to speak his mind.

"Captain, this... ahem, this Jiang Xiaoya isn't exactly an expert at investigating cases, is she?"

They really didn't know what Qing Tianfeng was thinking, actually wanting to lead Jiang Xiaoya to solve the case.

Uh, while they were quite grateful to Jiang Xiaoya, they really didn't want to work any more overtime.