"Miss Ye’er, my name is Zhang Chaoyong. Young Master arranged for me to come pick you up." Only after the car had driven for a while did the driver finally speak up and state where he came from.

Luo Ye gave him a cool glance. "Which Young Master are you talking about?"

"Young Master said that, um, you’ll be able to tell if it’s real or fake." Zhang Chaoyong took a business card from his pocket bearing the Ye Family’s unique seal and handed it to Luo Ye. It had a serial number, name, and the person’s photo on it.

She took it, studied it carefully for a few seconds, then grunted an "Mm" and handed it back.

"Young Master arranged a total of nine cars. During the time Miss Ye’er is in Yuanzhou, we’re all taxi drivers here in Yuanzhou City. Only when the license plate and the driver both match exactly can Miss Ye’er trust it. May I first take Miss Ye’er to meet the other eight drivers?"

"Okay." Luo Ye nodded in agreement.

The driver quietly let out a breath, and the car clearly picked up speed.

Luo Ye glanced at the license and certificates on the dash. "All the paperwork’s in order, right?" It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Ye Xuan, but arranging all this properly in such a short time really wasn’t easy. Better to be cautious.

"The cars were bought last night, and we transferred the registrations first thing this morning. The drivers’ work permits are all real too. The few of us will take turns waiting outside the Cultural Troupe’s main gate. Don’t worry, Miss Ye’er—spread out like this, we definitely won’t attract attention." Zhang Chaoyong answered in detail.

"Luoluo, h-he’s talking about your fiancé, right?" Zhao Qianqian couldn’t help asking, her eyes full of unconcealed shock, with a hint of envy mixed in.

"More or less." Luo Ye nodded slightly. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

"He really thought of everything." Zhao Qianqian sucked in a breath. "Teaming up with you on this mission, I’m really riding your coattails."

Luo Ye curled her lip. "Director Lei must have known about Ye Xuan’s arrangements long ago. Old Fox."

"How so?" Zhao Qianqian looked completely puzzled.

"He wants us doing secret investigations. How could that work without drivers we can trust?"

"Oh, oh, oh..." Zhao Qianqian nodded repeatedly. "I thought Director Lei was worried it’d look illogical for us to have our own car, so he deliberately didn’t assign one and made us take taxis."

Zhang Chaoyong quickly chimed in, "In a little place like this, you’re lucky if a taxi comes by every fifteen minutes on a normal day. When it’s rainy and overcast, going an hour without seeing a single cab is totally normal. That’d hold up all kinds of things."

The car pulled into a remote courtyard and stopped. Inside, eight taxis were parked in a row along the wall. Eight drivers climbed out of their cars in unison. "Hello, young mistress!"

"What, are you all afraid I won’t get into trouble?" Luo Ye glared at them fiercely. "Whose idea was this?"

"The idea... the idea was mine!" A sturdily built man, about one-sixty-five in height, raised his hand.

"How did you arrange the shifts?" Luo Ye looked at Zhang Chaoyong.

"I’m on the first day, Li Songjie the second day, Zhang Guangbei the third..." Zhang Chaoyong listed them one by one. The sturdily built man who came up with the idea was this Zhang Guangbei.

"All right, Zhang Guangbei gets moved to the last day. Seven days of self-reflection behind closed doors, one day off, and he reports for duty on the ninth day." Luo Ye said as she turned to walk out. "Zhang Chaoyong, drive us around a bit and help us get a feel for the place first."

"Yes, ma’am!"

"You—Miss Ye’er, p-please have mercy on me..." Zhang Guangbei hurriedly chased after her. He wanted to grab Luo Ye but didn’t dare, so he could only angle his body, trotting alongside and chanting, "Miss Ye’er, Miss Ye’er..."

"Okay, okay, stop chanting already..." Luo Ye helplessly stopped in her tracks. "You’ll still be on the last day, but don’t just sit around these next few days. Go around and ask about how things are developing.

Different people pick up on different information. When you go back, tell the others too—when you’re not on shift, drive around picking up passengers and fishing for news. That’s the best way to gather intelligence."

"Yes!" Zhang Guangbei snapped to attention, his face lighting up. "Don’t worry, Miss Ye’er, this is exactly my area of expertise."

Zhang Chaoyong nodded. "It really is. He’s the best at this sort of thing. He can chat with an eighty-year-old granny till she’s all fired up and confiding her entire family situation to him."

"Boss, that makes me sound so shady. Anyone who didn’t know better would think I’m some career criminal who specializes in getting people to spill their family secrets so I can pick the right moment to rob them." Zhang Guangbei muttered as he shuffled two steps forward.

Zhang Chaoyong hurriedly pulled the car out of the courtyard, took a glance in the rearview mirror, and let out a breath. "Miss Ye’er, you’re really too smart. Putting him at the back of the schedule was absolutely necessary. With that mouth of his, he could totally go toe-to-toe with Tang Seng. He’ll talk people to death."