Third Young Master Jun half-dragged, half-embraced her as they made their way to the hotel.

They checked in and went straight to the room.

He knocked on the door.

Ye Lu and Ling Kong both tensed, highly vigilant. Ling Kong looked through the peephole, saw Third Young Master Jun, froze for a moment, then opened the door.

Ye Lu’s eyes were filled with astonishment, especially upon seeing him embracing a furious Mei.

With a cold shove, Third Young Master Jun pushed Mei away. She fell to the ground, her face turning pale and biting back her anger. To her spiteful astonishment, Ye Lu was still alive – quite a tenacious life she had.

It was then that Ye Lu noticed a small knife in the hands of Third Young Master Jun; it had been pressed against Mei’s waist all this time. The posture, seemingly an embrace, was actually a threat to Mei’s life.

Realizing this, Ye Lu understood the situation but became even more anxious. It meant that Jun Huang’s identity had been exposed in front of Mei, and that it would be even more difficult for him to leave and save her.

But Third Young Master Jun didn’t care about that, his face darkened as he rushed over to hold her, carefully checking her over. Only when he found she wasn’t injured did his expression soften slightly.

"What happened? Who are the people that attacked you?" He asked directly.

"The father and daughter, Ivan."

"The Ivans?" Third Young Master Jun’s expression turned grave. "Your identity has been exposed? They know?"

"I don’t know." Ye Lu recounted her experience in North America to him, utterly puzzled, "I only met my brother at the Hua residence, but I was very cautious then, my disguise was impeccable, I shouldn’t have been recognized. If she really knew my true identity and came after me, then it must have been exposed at that time. I just can’t understand how."

Third Young Master Jun asked her for more details, then looked at her hands with a helpless gaze and sighed.

"Is it because of this ring? A single oversight amidst a hundred secrets!"

Ye Lu looked down at the ring, her face changing color. She recalled not removing the ring that day, and she felt a headache coming on. She hadn’t been cautious enough; convinced her disguise was flawless, she had slipped up on a small detail.

"It seems she discovered your identity, which I can’t understand," Third Young Master Jun stroked his chin thoughtfully. "If it were simply discovering your identity, pursuing you would be possible, since you pose a threat to her position. But an open pursuit isn’t common—they wouldn’t be so blatant and desperate to the point of following you into a place like this to catch you. This isn’t the usual method to eliminate a rival." 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"It’s strange to me too, she has no need to be so eager to find me," Ye Lu said, her mind filled with doubts.

"If she is so desperate, there must be another reason, one that makes her act without delay."

Third Young Master Jun’s piercing gaze carried a flowing dark light.

"I’ve always wondered, she’s obviously taken the Hua family heir’s position, yet she’s made no moves on the family secrets. With their ambition, if they had access to those secrets, they would use them for profit, but they’ve been holding back. What’s the reason?"

Ye Lu blurted out spontaneously: "They simply can’t access those secrets."

"Right." Third Young Master Jun’s eyes blazed with an uncanny light. "Perhaps, only you can acquire these secrets, hence after learning your identity, they became so desperate to find you. Your father must have set up some kind of special mechanism, so even with the inheritance rights, she can’t unlock those secrets, it must be done by you."

Ye Lu’s heart trembled; this line of reasoning had a high probability of being correct.

If it wasn’t the case, and she posed a threat to Yiren, the latter should be trying her best to kill her, not capture her.