Chapter 166: Arrest
The first program of the second half was Lou Cheng’s, which made Yan Guanglei quite satisfied.
During the intermission, he hadn’t been able to find Jiang Youwei and could only reluctantly give up.
Especially after learning that Jiang Youwei had already watched his daughter’s performance and left early, Yan Guanglei immediately lost any intention of staying longer.
However, Director Xu Hanhai approached him and said that after the artists finished performing, he would like Yan Guanglei to give a speech as a representative of the program’s partner.
Thinking it over, Yan Guanglei agreed. After all, Jinding had two artists participating—he was indeed the appropriate representative.
Since that was the case, he decided to stay a little longer and leave after giving his speech.
But once Lou Cheng went on stage, Yan Guanglei realized something didn’t match his memory.
Although he hadn’t paid much attention to “Walking with the Light,” he at least remembered that Lou Cheng’s partner was supposed to be male.
Yet the student currently on stage—despite having short hair—was clearly female.
What was going on?
A bad feeling rose in Yan Guanglei’s heart.
Standing on stage, Su Lin took a light breath.
Bai Hanshan was taller than her, so she couldn’t wear his costume. Lou Cheng’s spare outfit also didn’t suit her role in the recitation.
But that didn’t matter.
She had the most suitable outfit for this stage.
As the stage lights shone down, the moment Mingde’s school uniform appeared in the students’ view, it immediately drew warm applause.
The recitation lines were already displayed on the screen behind them, allowing every student to follow along.
Su Lin truly deserved her reputation as the school’s top student. She had only silently read the script a few times before memorizing it perfectly, word for word.
As for the recitation techniques Lou Cheng taught her, she could grasp the essence from just one explanation and apply it broadly.
What was originally expected to take half a day took less than three hours to reach performance level.
After that, the two spent their time refining their coordination, polishing this five-minute recitation to perfection under the watchful eyes of the livestream audience.
In the early part, Su Lin’s recitation was slightly weaker than Lou Cheng’s—not just in technique, but also due to the limits of her own understanding. She couldn’t clearly imagine her future.
She knew she had strong academic ability, but what would she do later? Scientific research? Entrepreneurship? Something else?
This didn’t fully align with her role in the recitation.
However, as the exchange between her and Lou Cheng’s roles deepened, she began to strongly display her own style.
Resolute. Unyielding. Proud. Confident.
Her ability and willpower were her strongest weapons. No matter how many hardships she faced, no matter how deep she fell, she could always climb out of the muddiest swamp.
This was the kind of burning ambition every student longed for—fearless, unstoppable, invincible.
In three words—it was absolutely explosive.
By the later part, their joint recitation became like a spreading flame, the emotional intensity rising higher and higher, until it resembled lava capable of engulfing everything, igniting the passion of everyone present.
[Oh my god, I have a feeling Su Lin will become someone incredible in the future.]
[She already is… some netizens analyzed that brief glimpse of rankings—she’s at least twenty points ahead of second place.]
[I underestimated recitation… kneels slowly]
[What “Walking with the Light”? This is clearly “Walking with Nuclear Bombs.” These students are all monsters—I’m losing confidence in myself.]
When the recitation ended, thunderous applause filled the venue and lasted for a long time, only gradually subsiding when Director Xu Hanhai stepped onto the stage.
Yan Guanglei sensed something was wrong.
Why was Xu Hanhai coming up now?
Le Yi, Bai Qingyin, and Lou Cheng—only three artists had performed. What about the last one? Ye Weiyu, whom Jinding had just poached from Jinxiu Culture?
Shouldn’t Xu Hanhai only come up after all the artists had finished performing to announce the completion of all groups?
The ominous feeling grew stronger. Just as Yan Guanglei was about to stand, his hands were suddenly pressed down onto the armrests from both sides at nearly the same time.
“President Yan,” the person who had earlier spoken with him about Ning Fu said with a faint smile. The grip on his arm was so strong that Yan Guanglei suspected his bones might break. “Where are you planning to go?”
Still clinging to a last shred of hope, Yan Guanglei forced a stiff smile. “I just remembered I have something to take care of…”
“There’s nothing left that requires your attention,” the person on the other side said calmly. “Not at Jinding, nor anywhere else.”
“If you cooperate honestly and help us catch a few more fish that slipped through the net, perhaps your sentence could be reduced from death to life imprisonment.”
The word “death sentence” drained all strength from Yan Guanglei.
He collapsed back into his seat, his eyes turning vacant.
All these years, he had always won his bets. Why had he lost this time?
When exactly had he come under surveillance?
He couldn’t accept it. He refused to believe that he would fall so quietly. Even an ending—this was far too humiliating.
Lowering his head, he muttered to himself, repeatedly replaying everything in his mind. The nearby plainclothes officers felt goosebumps rise on their arms.
One of them couldn’t help but message in the operation group chat:
[Did Yan Guanglei go crazy?]
[Crazy? No—he just can’t accept failure.]
[Does he think he deserves a grand finale or something?]
[Please, who makes a big show out of an arrest? That’s just asking for the suspect to escape.]
[Honestly, this is grand enough—we’ve got so many people here.]
[We even organized a whole program for this—this alone could fill three years of publicity reports!]
[Not gonna lie, the show’s pretty good!]
Seeing the commotion below, Xu Hanhai realized that Yan Guanglei had given up resisting and finally let out a sigh of relief.
To be honest, when Yan Guanglei tried to leave earlier, everyone had been startled. It was only thanks to her quick thinking—using the speech segment as an excuse—that they managed to keep him.
They couldn’t arrest him during the first half of the show—it would have frightened the students.
During intermission, people were gathered in small groups; if he had rushed into the crowd or taken a hostage, it would have been dangerous.
But now?
As Xu Hanhai stepped off the stage, the two plainclothes officers beside Yan Guanglei lifted him to his feet and calmly escorted him out.
Some students and invited parents found it a bit strange, but when they recognized Yan Guanglei, they quickly lost interest.
The boss of Jinding, after all—he must have finished watching his artists’ performances and decided the rest wasn’t worth staying for. What was so strange about that?
As for the people beside him, they were probably his bodyguards.
Soon after, as the lights dimmed again, the plainclothes officers seated in that row quietly left. At the same time, Assistant Director Wu Changxiao brought staff members to fill in the seats.
Several laptops were set up, opened to the program’s online streaming platform, along with the voting interface.
The audience immediately understood—
Since Yan Guanglei had left, they simply cleared that row for the production team, allowing the audience to see real-time voting results on the screens.
How thoughtful!
Everyone was curious about the results anyway, but it would be rude to check their phones while students were still performing.
Now, with a row of laptops, they could just glance at the screens—so convenient!
Whoever came up with this idea truly understood the mindset of onlookers.
Gu Qinghuan, who had been tentatively asked by Xu Hanhai and suggested this solution, was currently filled with regret.
The cameras hadn’t been aimed at Yan Guanglei’s row at all—the livestream completely missed the arrest.
She might as well have stayed in the hall!
