Secretly Seducing the Third Female Lead Behind the System’s Back - Chapter 49

Chapter 49: Lost and Found

“Take two people and come with me,” Bai Chu whispered as she passed by Zhang Tao.

Zhang Tao immediately grabbed two bodyguards and followed behind Bai Chu.

“You won’t find her. By now, she’s already been pushed into the operating room,” Wang Shan laughed maniacally, bl00d streaming from her teeth and soaking her chin.

Yu Mushan rushed to her, tears and sweat dripping from her nose. She grabbed the woman’s collar and pressed the butterfly knife against her eye, ready to plunge it in at any moment.

“Where is my daughter?” Yu Mushan’s voice was hoarse and desperate, her teeth biting so hard her gums bled.
“Say it!”

Wang Shan spat bloody saliva in her face.
“Yu Mushan, what gives you the right?” Her eyes burned with resentment.
“In school, I had better grades than you, I was kinder, more likable. So why did you have so many friends? After graduation, why did your startup succeed while I had to work for others? Why did your marriage go smoothly while mine was full of suffering?!”

Yu Mushan gasped for breath, her eyes red.
“You can have all of that. I don’t care. I just want my Shengsheng.”

Bai Chu sprinted out of the villa, with Zhang Tao and the two bodyguards following behind.

That woman had been stalling for time, deliberately drawing everyone into that room. Even if they turned the whole house upside down, they wouldn’t find Jiang Yisheng.

She had mentioned her son needed a heart transplant soon.
The roads in this villa area were poorly maintained and bumpy. Transporting a heart disease patient would be risky. So the surgery most likely took place in the house nearest the paved road.

Bai Chu made her deduction.

She returned to the house, panting as she stood in the dim, spacious living room, scanning the area.

She had searched this house already—every room upstairs and downstairs—without finding a single clue.

Bai Chu forced herself to calm down, trying to control her breath.

She searched every room again. Still nothing.

Then she stepped into the study. The cramped, narrow space didn’t feel right.
All these villas had similar layouts. The study shouldn’t be this small.

Bai Chu slowed her steps, moving carefully.

Suddenly, one of her steps sounded hollow.

She crouched down and knocked on the floor with her knuckles.

Sure enough, it was hollow.

She stood up and scanned the bookshelf for some sort of mechanism.

The books were stacked messily, cobwebs clinging to them.

Her heart pounded loudly in the silence. Sweat dripped from her lashes as she looked up.

Just then, Zhang Tao and the bodyguards rushed in. As Bai Chu turned to look at them, she noticed a gleaming white switch next to Zhang Tao’s shoulder. It stood out starkly against the worn, grimy wall.

Without hesitation, she stepped forward and pressed it.

Sure enough, the bookshelf split open from the center, revealing a faint light within.

Zhang Tao’s eyes widened in surprise, barely reacting as Bai Chu bolted inside.

With each step, the hidden passage lit up one light at a time. The pathway was smooth, not hard to walk through, and just wide enough for a single hospital bed to pass.

Bai Chu jogged down the path until she reached an iron door.

It required a password. She had no tools to break in, and couldn’t risk kicking it in case she startled those inside—yet time was of the essence.

She quickly pulled out her phone and called Jiang Hang.

…

The bodyguards had already searched the room top to bottom—there was no space to hide anyone, much less perform surgery.

Yu Mushan collapsed, her eyes losing focus as she fell limply to the floor.

Jiang Hang rushed over and held her in his arms, whispering something in her ear.

Yu Mushan took a deep breath and slowly raised her head, her voice full of despair.

“Do you love your son?” she asked, staring at Wang Shan.

“Of course. I’d give anything for my son,” Wang Shan said without hesitation.

“But isn’t Shengsheng also your daughter? Why must you trade her life for your son’s?” Yu Mushan asked, confused.

“Shut up!” Wang Shan snapped. “It’s not the same. It’s different.”

She murmured to herself, head down.

“How is it different? Didn’t you carry both in your womb for ten months? Didn’t you talk to Shengsheng? Did she respond to your voice, move her hands to your belly?” Yu Mushan saw a flicker of conscience in Wang Shan’s eyes and pressed on.

“Stop! Don’t say another word!” Wang Shan shouted, clutching her head, trying to block it out.

“Do you remember when she was born?” Yu Mushan asked softly.

Wang Shan stayed silent.

“January 28. That’s the day you gave birth to her. Since then, when everyone else celebrates the Lunar New Year, I look forward to celebrating my daughter’s birthday,” Yu Mushan said, her voice calm as she recalled Jiang Yisheng’s childhood.

“I should thank you. If not for you, I wouldn’t have become Shengsheng’s mother. Yes, I’m selfish. I never wanted her to know the truth.”

Tears shimmered in Yu Mushan’s eyes.

“And you—do you remember your son’s birthdays?” she asked.

Wang Shan’s lips moved, but she didn’t reply.

“Children are cutest when they smile. Their little hands are soft and wet, but those sharp nails always scratch their own faces instead of others. So well-behaved,” Yu Mushan said gently.

Wang Shan stared into the distance. Slowly, a faint smile appeared.

“My son was born on the summer solstice. He had thick hair at birth and big eyes. He just lay there, staring at me, soft and quiet on my chest.”

She recalled fondly.

Bai Chu heard this through her phone. She quickly entered “0621”.

Wrong.

“Shengsheng was quiet too. Slept through the night. Only cried a little when hungry, then fell asleep again after eating. So well-behaved,” Yu Mushan went on, gripping the butterfly knife so tightly her palm turned white.

Wang Shan’s expression shifted again and again. Her gaze flickered with hesitation.

Time ticked by. Bai Chu dared not guess randomly. Sweat dripped from her forehead.

Suddenly, she heard a scream from inside the room.

Her pupils shrank. That voice—she knew it too well.

“Shengsheng!” Bai Chu banged on the door, shouting.

But after that scream, there was silence.

She kicked at the door. All four of them kicked together, but the iron door didn’t budge.

Bl00d seeped through the bandages on her right hand. Tears rolled uncontrollably down her cheeks. Still, she pounded the door with all her strength.

Then, over the phone, she heard—

“Why did you name her Yisheng?”

Bai Chu’s eyes snapped open. Fingers trembling, she entered the code:

0128 — Jiang Yisheng’s birthday.

A mechanical click. The door opened.

Bai Chu didn’t stop to think why the password was Yisheng’s birthday—she rushed inside.

The room was carved out from between two adjacent houses, so neither layout appeared unusual at first glance.

Inside were medical reagents and instruments. A large glass pane showed a man in a white lab coat preparing an injection.

On the bed—Jiang Yisheng lay bound and gagged.

Bai Chu burst through the door. But the bed was a distance away.

The man turned immediately, aiming the syringe at Jiang Yisheng’s carotid artery.

In the same instant, Bai Chu lunged and grabbed the throat of a boy lying on another bed.

“Don’t move! Or I’ll strangle him!” she shouted, chest heaving, eyes locked anxiously on Jiang Yisheng.

Her hands and feet were bound, mouth sealed with tape. She looked at Bai Chu, whimpering, tears pouring down her face, trembling in fear.

Bai Chu’s throat tightened, heart aching at the sight. But her grip on the boy didn’t loosen.

“Be gentle. His lungs are weak. He’ll suffocate,” the man warned, glancing nervously at the boy in her grip.

The boy looked about seventeen or eighteen but was painfully thin, bones showing through skin, face contorted in pain from being choked.

Jiang Hang heard everything through the earpiece and immediately dragged Yu Mushan toward Bai Chu’s direction.

Wang Shan lay on the floor, laughing hysterically as they left. Bl00d still trickled from her lips. She looked up at the dusty chandelier, tears sliding down her dirt- and bl00d-stained face, leaving a dark crimson trail.

Bai Chu loosened her grip slightly but remained alert.

“You’re just one. We have many. Let Yisheng go—we’ll do everything we can to find a matching heart donor for your son. He can recover,” Bai Chu tried to reason with the man in the white coat.

“Bullshit! Do you know how long it takes to get a match? Even if we find one, how could poor nobodies like us ever get it in time?” The man’s yellowed eyes were wild, cheeks sunken beneath his mask, his hair a mix of black and white.

“He’s your son?” Bai Chu asked.

The man’s gaze softened at the boy but he said nothing.

“I understand how scared you are to lose your child. But you can’t take another innocent life to save him. That girl is loved too,” Bai Chu said, her voice trembling, eyes fixed on the needle.

“I don’t care about anyone else. I just want my son,” the man growled, veins bulging on his forehead.

“Look at this situation. What do you think you can still do?

“If you let Yisheng go now, we’ll find your son the best treatment possible. Your family still has hope. But if you don’t, and you both go to jail—do you think your son can survive on his own?” Bai Chu let go of the boy’s neck so he could breathe.

The man hesitated. The syringe dipped—but then he aimed it back at Yisheng.

“You’re lying. The police are already here. I’m done for anyway. I might as well try to save my son,” he said, panicked, the needle inches from Yisheng’s artery.

“I’m not lying. I swear. But if you kill someone in front of your son today—do you really think he’ll ever live in peace again?” Bai Chu, drenched in sweat, pushed her exhausted body to its limit.

The man glanced at his son again.

Just then—a butterfly knife flew through the air and struck his nose bridge. He recoiled instinctively.

Bai Chu lunged forward and snatched the syringe from his hand.

Moments later, several bodyguards rushed in and pinned the man to the ground.

Bai Chu hurried to untie Jiang Yisheng, carefully removing the tape from her mouth.

“…Bai Chu,” Jiang Yisheng sobbed, calling her name in a choked voice.

Bai Chu gently wiped the tears from her face and wrapped her tightly in her arms.

Lost and found. A treasure reclaimed.