Chapter 2 A Storm In The City

"Dear, why are you out on the street at this hour of the night? And why do you look like a ghost? Fortunately, my eyesight is good, or I wouldn't have recognized you! Get in the car!" Instructed Ava Zhou, Vera's best friend. Vera had waited nervously for almost ten minutes before her friend finally showed up in a taxi. The window was rolled down, revealing a fair face with sunglasses. Ava Zhou was speechless at the sight of Vera standing all alone shivering in the dark.

The reason for Vera's present condition was not the weather, rather it was the fact that she was very close to the hotel where her wedding was to take place. Although she was hidden in a dark alley at the corner of the street, she was still in a vulnerable position. She was afraid to think of what would happen if she was caught.

"Did you do something bad?" asked Ava Zhou, raising an eyebrow suspiciously. She knew Vera too well. The two had been best friends ever since primary school. Ava Zhou knew what Vera was thinking just by looking at her. Vera didn't hide anything from Ava Zhou. Moreover, Vera was still fuming about the marriage arranged by her parents. She needed someone to confide in. She relayed her entire ordeal to Ava Zhou immediately.

"Stop the car!" screeched Ava Zhou after listening to Vera's story. Her sudden scream scared the driver and Vera to death.

"What are you doing?" asked Vera, patting her chest.

"Get out of the car! I don't want to be caught by the Zhang family. They will think that I tried to harbor a fugitive and then I will be thrown into the wilderness at night! My dear Miss Vera, do you know how powerful the Zhang family is in the capital city? I don't want to die. You are endangering my life!" Ava Zhou took off her sunglasses and exclaimed exaggeratedly, revealing her charming eyes.

"Ava Zhou! If you don't help me, I'll call your boyfriend now. You..." Before she could finish her sentence, Ava Zhou covered her friend's mouth and said, "Okay, you can hide at my place for the time being, but I am informing you in advance that you can stay for three months at the most!"

A sly look appeared in Vera's eyes. She smiled like a little fox and said, "Deal!"

The two girls shook hands to seal the deal.

Meanwhile, in another part of the city, there was an uproar because of Vera's daring escape. All the streets in the capital city, big and small, were swarming with black cars. Men in black scoured the hotels, airports, and all kinds of public places, hunting for Vera.

"So what are you going to do next?" Ava Zhou asked Vera seriously. They were sitting in Ava's thirty-square-meter rental house.

Vera had escaped in a hurry. Except for her ID card and some cosmetics, she didn't carry anything else in her bag, not even money! As an ordinary employee, Ava couldn't support a person like Vera in this expensive city! Ava was confident that Vera would have a follow-up plan in place as she planned her escape carefully.

"I'll hide from the limelight for some time and then I'm going to change my appearance. Only then can I make money to support myself. I can't work in a large corporation as the Zhang family has a wide network. Even if I try to get a job in a small company, I might be recognized by others..." Vera touched her chin and said shrewdly, "So after thinking about it for a while, I have decided that I will set up a stall!" Ava thought her friend would have come up with a good idea, but when she heard this, her mouth twitched and she sneered, "Dear, even to set up a stall, you need your ID card, okay? And you have to purchase goods for your stall, right? Besides, you have to go to a popular area to sell your products and someone might recognize you there as well. And the most important thing is that setting up a stall requires money. Where will you get the money from?"

As soon as those words left her mouth, Ava's scalp tingled. She noticed that Vera was looking at her with an evil expression.

"Oh, no, no, no! Let me stop you right there! I'm not rich like you. I don't have too much of my salary left this month. If I lend it to you, I'll have no money to eat!" Ava crossed her arms in front of her chest, pretending to be on guard.

"You are so mean," complained Vera, rolling her eyes. She took off her earrings and bracelets, slammed them on the table, and said in a hard voice, "I'll exchange these for money, okay?" As Vera expected, her friend's eyes lit up at the sight of the priceless jewelry.

"Really?" Ava asked happily, as if she was afraid that Vera would go back on her word. Unable to resist the temptation of trying on the jewelry, Ava bent over to the table immediately.

"I really don't know why I have such a bad friend like you!"

mocked Vera, slapping her forehead.

Unlike Vera, Ava came from a modest family. Her parents were ordinary workers. After high school, Ava didn't go to college as she needed to make money. Instead, she moved out of her parents' home. Now she worked in the human resources department of a state-owned enterprise in the capital city. She was frugal since childhood and never had aspirations to buy flashy clothes or cars. However, she was vain and wanted to find a rich husband, but she was a nice person and a good friend.

"Dear, can you be a little more elegant in bed? After all, you are a lady from a rich family!"

Ava grumbled in the middle of the night. The two women slept in the same bed. Vera had her arms entangled around Ava like an octopus. She was salivating and grinding her teeth in her sleep. But the habit that bothered Ava most of her friend was how loud Vera snored. Ava had been suffering from the insomnia the whole night.

"Dunn, I love you. Dunn..."

Listening to Vera talking in her sleep, Ava sighed. She knew that her friend must be dreaming of marrying the handsome Dunn Sun. Vera had a huge crush on the big celebrity in recent years. With the number of appearances he made in movies, TV, and music videos, he was an all-round star!

"The one who marries you must have been cursed for eight lifetimes!" grumbled Ava.

There was no way she was getting any sleep with this troublemaker next to her.

The next morning, when Vera woke up, Ava had already gone to work. After a quick wash, Vera left the apartment with the 3, 000 dollars she borrowed.

The jewelry she gave Ava was worth at least hundreds of thousands of dollars, but her friend only gave her three thousand dollars. Such a close-fisted wretch!

Vera dyed her hair, put on some cheap clothes and a pair of large-framed glasses, and got fake dentures. When she stood in front of the mirror and looked at herself up and down, she was satisfied with the final look.

The person in the mirror had grey hair, buck teeth, and thick glasses. She wore a rustic dress and a pair of flip flops. Nobody could guess that she was the same Vera of the Qiao family, who had caused a sensation in the city only hours ago!

'I'm a genius!' she thought proudly.

However, when she stepped out for a walk, she broke into a cold sweat. The street was buzzing with men in black. What alarmed her the most was the flyers about her search that were put up everywhere, and the reward was five hundred thousand dollars!

Fortunately, she was fully prepared or she would have been exposed today!

"Well, the disguise is successful. Next, I'm going to start my business!"