CH 14.1

Chen Ying drives out to look for Mi Xi in person, while Wu Hao returns to his office downstairs and organizes his staff to start the search. A sixteen or seventeen-year-old young lady should not be able to run very far after chasing a motorcycle. She was going east on Cuixi Road. Wu Hao looks at the large map on the office wall, circles an area, and tells his subordinates to call the brothers who are running outside, find out whether there is anyone near to that area.

The result is ‘none’—but Wu Hao still asks those who are free to rush to that area to help find someone.

Someone suddenly remembers that a reporter they contacted today is nearby. Wu Hao asks who it is and shakes his head after hearing the name. “This person is not good at talking, so don’t use him.”

He himself calls and contacts two friends to help search in that area. Then he tells the people below to pay attention to the Internet, Weibo forums, and the like, to see if there are any relevant netizens’ reports. Searching for information and creating topics on the Internet are the strengths of their group, and everyone responds quickly. Wu Hao also asks two persons to contact the hospital and police station in that area to see if any young miss with the corresponding characteristics has been sent to the hospital or reported to the police station.

Everyone is so busy that they don’t have time to go out to eat at noon. Wu Hao asks the front desk to order food for everyone and comes back. Several people are making phone calls and searching online. Ten minutes later, a young man named Ah Huo calls out, “Brother Wu, light pink clothes, long hair, a young miss of sixteen or seventeen, right?” 

“Yes.” 

“Look at this.”

Wu Hao leans over; Ah Huo enlarges the video and presses replay. It was posted on the Internet by an ordinary netizen; it hasn’t been long since. The title is: Kung Fu Girl is Beautiful, Cold, Domineering! ! !

The video is shot with a mobile phone—the time is very short, the footage is quite chaotic, and the background looks like an alley. At first, it seems that the mobile phone is mainly taking pictures of friends talking. Just as it starts, a motorcycle suddenly slides sideways into the alley within range of the camera lens. The rider seems to be frightened and the front of the motorcycle hits the sidewalk causing the vehicle to fall down entirely. The person who took the video is clearly startled. Once the motorcycle falls, the two persons riding it get up in a panic and run farther into the alley.

It’s clear the person holding the phone and his friend don’t know anything about what’s happening, and they could be heard asking ‘what happened?’ in the video. Then someone outside the screen suddenly shouts, “Look, up there!”

The perspective of the video elevates, the person holding the phone clearly having raised it to capture what’s above. This shot is very clear: a young miss in a light pink, casual sportswear is running along the walls of the alley, with high speed and a graceful posture.     

The same voice that called out “Look, up there!” just now, shouts again, “Is that a cool run or what?”

Just as the phrase ‘cool run’ is uttered, the girl jumps off the high wall—Wu Hao and the rest of his team can’t help but exclaim and whistle for her. She lands in a half-squat, leaning forward, stable and cool. As soon as she raises her face and stands up, even the pathetic pixels of the old phone can’t stop the icy cold aura.

“Wow, wow, wow!” Several people in front of the computer screen shout along with the people outside the video screen.

“Terminator, Chinese miss version.”

“Wow, so we also have people in the Avengers?”

Wu Hao gives them a look. The video continues to broadcast: the young miss is approaching the two men who had run to the end of the alley only to find that it was a dead end. Wu Hao and his team can faintly hear the young miss say, “Hand over grandmother’s purse!” 

“Wow, the voice is also very nice,” a team member exclaims. Prince Hao1 knocks on his head and one can hear the sound of that, too. 

The following content is very short, that is to say, the fight is also short. The two men take out their daggers, but the young miss doesn’t seem to notice and shouts again, “If you don’t give it back, I’ll beat you!” After hearing this, one of the men rushes over with a dagger, but the little miss doesn’t dodge or step aside. Instead she turns around and kicks the man away with one move. It’s clean and neat, chic and stylish. It’s just simply too outrageous. 

The people who are filming have lowered their voices, barely whispering “wow”, but the spinning motion has made the young miss notice the people who are hiding in the corner with their mobile phone, taking pictures of her. She stares towards them, and the person taking the video and his friends are startled and quickly run away .

The video ends.

Several of Wu Hao’s colleagues cover their chests, as if they all felt the pain of being smacked by that flying kick just now. Wu Hao anxiously asks Ah Huo, “Where is this?”

Ah Huo quickly browses the introduction of the video and the comments and messages of netizens below. “Uh, it’s Lishu Lane. Brother Wu, this video has a lot of comments. It’s gone viral.” Because the original poster thought he had captured a rare and good material, he was very excited, and kept circling people on Weibo and forums.

Wu Hao quickly glanced at the comments and posts, making all kinds of guesses and booing. Also because the incident just happened, there are still people who want to form a team to search for the kung fu girl on the street. The ID of Kung Fu Girl was also registered immediately, and the ID left a comment: ‘Come on, come on, I’ll kick you to death.’ Then Kung Fu Girl 1, Kung Fu Girl 2, Kung Fu Girl 3, and other digital troops also came out. Everyone is getting in on the fun.

Wu Hao feels dizzy, so he quickly calls Chen Ying. Chen Ying is still on the road, and he’s about to reach Cuixi Road. The traffic jam on the road makes him swear. Wu Hao tells him that Mi Xi appeared in Lishu Lane and was filmed by a mobile phone and now posted on the Internet.

“Now I know you’re not joking when you said she will beat up people,” Wu Hao says.

Chen Ying understands the meaning. The cars in front of him are stuck and he honks his horn in frustration. He asks, “Can it still be stopped?

“Now, I can’t clean it up even if I ask the team to contact them, so I can only try to suppress it so that she doesn’t become too popular.” Wu Hao pauses, “Boss, this video has all the elements of a viral video: it’s short, watchable, and it’s fast. It’s explosive. It’s only a few seconds, and my brothers and sisters here were already screaming. Your family’s young miss, um—” He thinks about the words, “If it weren’t for how shitty the video resolution was, and how that guy’s hands trembled a little, this short clip would look like it’s cut out of a blockbuster movie. Can you imagine the Terminator coming out?” 

“I don’t need to imagine.” Chen Ying rubs his forehead—he had frickin’ seen this ‘Terminator’ with his own eyes. It landed on the roof of his car and left footprints on the metal. The car could only be sent to the repair shop to be fixed.

Chen Ying lets out a sigh, knowing that it’s useless to be anxious—the most important thing is to suppress the matter. “Ah Hao, you should deal with this matter first. This young miss just came from another place, from far out of town, way into the mountains, and she can’t even speak well here. She is very simple and doesn’t understand many things. I can’t let her be exposed. She hasn’t adapted yet to life here at all.”

“OK. I understand.” Wu Hao is very experienced. “I’ll take care of it here, but you have to take note of a few points yourself. First, the location of the video is too clear, and there are already people clamoring on the Internet to team up to find her—we can only keep our eyes open for new videos. If you see her, don’t approach her right away, you know what I mean? You can’t be filmed with her. If all the videos are only of her—she is just a special passer-by. But if she is photographed having a connection with you, then she will have something to do with the company, and things will be complicated.”

Chen Ying frowns, he understands. If she has a connection with the company, then she has a connection with the entertainment industry. No matter how high the popularity of a passer-by is, it will still pass quickly. But if you add in the Crown Prince of the Lingyu Group, and the Crown Prince comes to pick her up in person, then it opens the door for a lot of speculation. Either she’s a small artist of the company or maybe a young playmate—in short, the matter deserves the paparazzi’s long-term attention. 

Chen Ying can’t help but swear in his heart. His residence is very quiet, he doesn’t want to get involved in any scandal and have the paparazzi squatting at the gate of the community every day waiting to take pictures of Mi Xi and following her life. Then after prolonged stalking, the whole world will realize: hey, there is a time-traveling girl—let’s catch it and study it.

Wu Hao on the other end of the phone continues, “Lishu Lane and Cuixi Road are separated by two streets, which is not too far away. If the robbery at the bank gate is exposed, it will easily be co-related to this video. Please contact the housekeeper and tell her not to say anything in the hospital, just in case. By the way, have you put tint on your car windows?”

“No.” He wasn’t afraid of people peeking in, so he never put on any tint.

“Okay, that is to say, it’s not too safe for her to sneak into your car. Her clothes are too eye-catching. The color and style are just on the market, and it’s a big brand, so it’s easy to recognize. I’ll let Xiaowen meet up with her—she will take clothes to her and a hat. Find the young miss and pick her up first, then ask her to change her clothes, hairstyle, and hat in the car, and then hand her over to you after leaving that area.”

The car in front finally starts to move, and Chen Ying continues down the road, keeping an eye on the side of the road while continuing to talk to Wu Hao with the headset. “Your strategy is good, but there is one thing.”

“What?”

“Mi Xi is not like the artists you usually deal with—you have no idea at all, okay? I can’t find her now. I called her many times, and she’s not answering. I don’t know if she didn’t bring the phone or forgot how to answer it—I only taught her once. Also, she may not be willing to go with someone she doesn’t know. She’d probably be too wary. So your Xiaowen may not be able to deal with her if she goes out.” 

And you want her to change clothes in the car? Chen Ying feels completely hopeless at the thought. He doesn’t even know if the clothes they’ll bring her are the kind that’s tightly wrapped—there’s not much hope of that!

FOOTNOTE:

1The author’s likes to give characters funny, situational nicknames, like Yue Lao was previously called ‘Old Granny Yue’ because he was fussing with Mi Xi.