Chapter 596: Falling into a Trap

"Ahem..."

Cai Xiaotang gave a light cough, then hurriedly found a random excuse to brush it off: "The two of them had something urgent come up yesterday, so they didn't follow me. Today, the matter was resolved, so they swapped back..."

"I see..."

Jiang Baobao nodded and didn't say anything more, though she felt a bit puzzled inside.

If that bodyguard had been following Xiao Tang the whole time yesterday, why would Li Xiao have been so nervous when he came looking for her?

And besides...

It was one thing for Xiao Tang not to be able to answer her phone, but why didn't that bodyguard answer his phone either?

Jiang Baobao was full of doubts, but it wasn't easy to ask directly, so she had to temporarily put it to the back of her mind.

The two of them strolled for a while longer, and only then did they roughly decide on the direction for the gifts.

The three little ones would naturally get the holiday-limited Legos and dolls.

As for Li Beijue and Li Xiao, the two of them planned to wait a bit longer.

After wandering aimlessly for another morning, both Cai Xiaotang and Jiang Baobao felt a bit hungry.

"I'm the one who dragged you out today, so lunch is on me! Tell me, what do you want to eat!"

Cai Xiaotang very generously pulled a card out of her wallet.

Jiang Baobao immediately cooperated very well: "Wow! Third Madam is so generous! Then I won't be polite! But..."

She stopped mid-sentence and pulled Cai Xiaotang toward a corner not far away.

"I want to go to the restroom first, so would Third Madam mind accompanying me!"

Cai Xiaotang felt her scalp tingle from the way she was addressed, and she immediately pinched Jiang Baobao's waist in annoyance.

"You'd better just call me by my name! Stop using those weird titles!"

"Why? You don't like it? Third Madam?"

Jiang Baobao deliberately refused to change how she addressed her.

Cai Xiaotang immediately switched to tickling her: "Are you still going to call me that! Hmm? Let's see you call me that again!"

The two of them went into the restroom while playing and bickering, leaving behind a trail of laughter.

Just as they went in—

The door to the utility closet nearby was pulled open from the inside.

A man walked out from inside and calmly swept a glance toward the direction of the restroom.

Two minutes later—

Jiang Baobao was the first to walk out of the restroom.

She had washed her hands at the sink and was just about to go outside to wait for Cai Xiaotang when she saw a cleaner walking toward her.

"Miss, could I trouble you for a favor?"

The man's voice was a bit hoarse and sounded as if he were advanced in age.

He was wearing a standard uniform and also wearing a hat with the mall's logo and a large face mask.

"Have you run into some trouble?"

Jiang Baobao didn't suspect anything and hurriedly asked.

Immediately after, she heard the man say with some difficulty: "I want to go to the small storage room over there to move some cleaning supplies, but I sprained my arm a while ago. Could I trouble you to help me carry them together..."

"Of course I can."

Jiang Baobao hurriedly agreed.

"Thank you so much. The small storage room is right in the hallway. This way I can move the remaining half-box over, and I won't have to run back and forth so many times. You really are doing me a huge favor..."

As the man spoke, he turned around.

"Wait a moment!"

Jiang Baobao suddenly spoke up to stop him.

The man's footsteps paused, and a flash of sharpness instantly crossed the pair of eyes exposed outside.

Immediately after, however, he heard Jiang Baobao say: "My friend is still waiting for me inside. I'm going to go tell her."

"Fine."

The man nodded and stood where he was.

Jiang Baobao then turned and went back into the restroom, where she saw Cai Xiaotang touching up her makeup in the mirror.

"Xiao Tang, there's a cleaner outside who wants to move some things. I'm going to go help him. It's in the storage room in the emergency stairwell. You wait for me here, okay?"

"Moving things? Why doesn't he find a man to help?"

Cai Xiaotang subconsciously asked one more question.

Jiang Baobao, however, didn't suspect anything and replied casually: "Maybe there's no one in the men's restroom nearby. I'm going now, I'll be back soon."

As she said this, she turned and walked out of the restroom.

The man was indeed still waiting there.

Seeing her come out, he nodded and walked toward the direction of the emergency stairwell.

Jiang Baobao followed behind him.

Although she didn't have much suspicion in her heart, once she entered the quiet space, she still subconsciously became a bit more vigilant.

The two of them walked down the long corridor, but they still hadn't seen the storage room.

Jiang Baobao couldn't help but ask: "Is the storage room still very far?"

"We're almost there."

The man replied in a low voice, his hoarse tone carrying a trace of inexplicable eeriness in the quiet space.

Jiang Baobao stopped her footsteps and calmly took a step back.

The man seemed to have sensed her movement and suddenly turned around.

"Miss, are you worried that I am a bad person?"

He pointed out Jiang Baobao's current worry in one sentence.

Jiang Baobao was stunned for a moment, suddenly not knowing how to answer.

If the other party were really just an ordinary cleaner...

She was just thinking this—

When her peripheral vision caught the man suddenly approaching her in two steps, holding something in his hand!

"Mmph!"

Jiang Baobao could not dodge in time; she only felt someone cover her mouth and nose, and she violently inhaled some kind of gas.

She instinctively wanted to hold her breath, but it was already too late.

The scene before her eyes blurred in an instant; she struggled hard, but her hands were gripped tightly by someone, and she slid down against the wall in a sorry state.

In just a few seconds, she completely lost consciousness.

"Heh..."

The man gave a cold snort and retrieved the sack and cart he had prepared long ago from the corner.

He then took out his phone to check the time.

Originally, he had wanted to find a way to catch the other one as well...

Now it seemed he only needed to wait for her to jump in herself.

Inside the restroom—

Cai Xiaotang finished touching up her makeup, only to find that Jiang Baobao had not yet returned.

She checked the time and realized that nearly five minutes had already passed.

"It's just getting something... does it really take this long?"

Cai Xiaotang walked out of the restroom, looked around, but still did not see a shadow of Jiang Baobao.

Then, she suddenly thought of something.

Baobao said just now... she was going to the storage room by the emergency exit?

Cai Xiaotang took out her phone and sent a message to Jiang Baobao.

【Baobao, are you still in the storage room?】

The message was sent, and she quickly received a reply.

【Still here, there are quite a lot of things, can you come and help?】

Seeing this, Cai Xiaotang felt a bit more at ease and hurried toward the direction of the emergency exit.

She pushed the door open, only to hear that it was completely quiet inside.

"Baobao, are you inside?"

Cai Xiaotang instinctively called out.

But she did not hear a sound.

She hesitated a bit, took out her phone again, and intended to call Jiang Baobao.

But before she could even dial, she suddenly heard a "clack" sound from ahead.

It sounded like footsteps.

"Baobao?"

Cai Xiaotang could not care about anything else and hurried over with large strides.

Just as she turned a corner—

Her footsteps came to a sudden, violent halt!

She widened her eyes, looking at the man dressed as a cleaner in front of her.

And at Jiang Baobao, who was lying unconscious at his feet.