Chapter 65: Someone is Trying to Swoop In
Ji Hanmo acted as if he didn’t see Fu Yue’s subtle reaction and continued:
“I put out a massive bounty for your return, originally fearing that Jiang Ying had kidnapped you. As it turned out, it worked in our favor. We relied on that reward to ‘buy’ you back from them.”
Fu Yue’s expression soured.
“Tourists have accidentally wandered in there before and never came back out.” Ji Hanmo’s words hit Fu Yue’s heart like a heavy weight.
“Could you get me a glass of water?” Fu Yue asked, looking up.
Ji Hanmo gave him a meaningful look and walked over to pour the water.
Fu Yue immediately opened his messaging app and found that name—Jiang Ying.
He placed a voice call.
Ring— Ring—
No answer.
Once, twice, three times… it was the same every time.
Ji Hanmo handed him the water glass, but Fu Yue didn’t reach for it.
Fu Yue guessed that Jiang Ying was likely in danger.
Because he had saved him, Jiang Ying was now in a precarious situation.
He looked up at Ji Hanmo.
Fu Yue realized that perhaps only Ji Hanmo had the power to get Jiang Ying out.
“Chairman Ji,” Fu Yue looked at him seriously. “Could you do me a favor? You can name any condition you want.”
“What’s the favor? Tell me first,” Ji Hanmo asked.
A week later, Fu Yue saw Ji Hanmo again, this time at his family’s villa in Haicheng.
His leg injury wasn’t too severe.
The brace had been removed, but he still couldn’t bear weight or walk for long periods.
The drama on Menglan Island seemed far away now.
Ji Hanmo had come to visit, bringing the desserts Fu Yue liked.
The two of them sat in the quiet living room.
“I rescued him,” Ji Hanmo said calmly. “And he’s been sent back to Haicheng. Now, can you tell me the full truth?”
That day in the hospital ward, when Fu Yue revealed that Jiang Ying was the one who saved him, Ji Hanmo had been surprised.
But he had quickly accepted the fact and composed himself.
Afterward, Ji Hanmo had kept his word and pulled the man out, making the process sound effortless.
But Fu Yue knew it couldn’t have been simple.
It took Ji Hanmo five full days.
To get that village—one that even the Pei family couldn’t handle—to release a prisoner, one could only imagine how much power and networking had been utilized behind the scenes.
Ji Hanmo’s condition was for Fu Yue to tell him everything he had been hiding.
Yesterday, Jiang Ying had been safely returned to Haicheng.
Today, Ji Hanmo was here to collect his payment.
Fu Yue took a deep breath and revealed the secret he had kept buried for a week.
“Jiang Ying told me that back then, he didn’t jump into the river for me.”
Ji Hanmo was slightly taken aback. “Oh?”
Fu Yue’s expression was grim. “He was pushed.”
“The person warned him before he hit the water that if he ever dared to get close to me again, next time, both of us would die together.”
Ji Hanmo’s expression turned solemn, and his hand holding the teacup paused.
As clever as he was, he had already connected the dots.
Jiang Ying’s distancing, Fu Yue’s fall from the cliff… events that seemed isolated were actually linked by a suspicious culprit.
Silence fell over the living room.
After a long while, Ji Hanmo spoke. “So all these years, his terrible attitude toward you… was all an act?”
Fu Yue gave a silent nod.
“I understand.” Ji Hanmo put down his teacup and looked at Fu Yue. “This matter ends here. Stay away from Jiang Ying. I’ll handle the rest.”
Fu Yue was stunned.
He hadn’t intended for Ji Hanmo to continue helping with this.
He couldn’t just sit back and accept this arrangement.
“No.” Fu Yue looked up and met his gaze, his eyes determined.
Ji Hanmo frowned. “Fu Yue, I’m not discussing this with you.”
Fu Yue didn’t back down. “Jiang Ying was pushed into the water because of me. I have the responsibility to find this threat and eliminate it.”
“I know you want to protect me, but I can’t spend my life hiding.”
“Hmph, fine. Don’t hide then. Regardless, Jiang Ying promised me he won’t see you again,” Ji Hanmo dropped the bombshell.
“What? On what grounds?” Fu Yue was shocked.
“On what grounds? On the grounds that I fished him out from the hands of the indigenous people.”
“I thought we made an even exchange for that,” Fu Yue questioned.
“I’m a businessman,” Ji Hanmo reminded him. “A competent businessman must know how to sell the same goods to multiple buyers.”
Fu Yue was completely speechless.
Ji Hanmo sighed, his tone softening. “Fu Yue, I just don’t want to see you get hurt again. One fall from a cliff was enough.”
Before his voice even faded, his well-defined fingers reached for his collar, slowly and deliberately unbuttoning two buttons.
The slightly open collar revealed the sharp lines of his collarbone.
Looking further down, the lines of his chest muscles were faintly visible.
He looked at Fu Yue with burning eyes, his gaze full of seduction.
Fu Yue: “…”
Who taught you to make peace like this? That’s cheating!
But he had to admit, Ji Hanmo looking like this was hard to resist.
Fu Yue grit his teeth and squeezed out a sentence: “Chairman Ji, that trick won’t work.”
On the polo field, the crisp sound of hooves trotted in an elegant rhythm.
Shen Junnian, dressed in sharp riding gear, had just finished a lap.
He dismounted, and Su Zhefei, standing nearby, tossed him a bottle of orange juice.
Zhou Fengjun leaned against the railing, staring at his phone, looking distracted.
Su Zhefei said in a low voice to Shen Junnian, “There’s some news you might be interested in.”
Shen Junnian looked at him curiously. “What news?”
“Word is leaking out from the Ji Group. Lately, the atmosphere between Fu Yue and Ji Hanmo is extremely stiff.”
Shen Junnian raised an eyebrow, signaling him to continue.
“The exact reason is unknown, but they are communicating entirely through secretaries. Ji Hanmo’s permanent ‘iceberg face’ is cold enough to scrape off three pounds of frost right now.”
Shen Junnian’s eyes flickered, but he quickly composed himself. He thoughtfully screwed the cap back on his bottle.
At that moment, Zhou Fengjun snapped back to reality from his own world. “Huh? Well, that’s interesting. But with Fu Yue’s temper, it’s not surprising he’d fall out with anyone.”
Su Zhefei glanced at Zhou Fengjun, said nothing, and walked away to talk to the stable hands.
Shen Junnian took a gulp of juice and glanced at the departing Su Zhefei.
“What’s up with him today?” Shen Junnian asked.
“Ghost only knows. He’s moody all day long,” Zhou Fengjun complained before changing his expression. “Ai Ke is back in the country. I heard she’s coming to the class reunion next week.”
Shen Junnian finally understood why Su Zhefei was unhappy.
Zhou Fengjun was completely oblivious to Su Zhefei’s mood. He asked Shen Junnian, “Will Fu Yue go to the reunion?”
“Him?” Shen Junnian shook his head. “Probably not.”
“That’s a shame. Otherwise, things would have gotten really interesting,” Zhou Fengjun laughed.
As soon as he finished speaking, Shen Junnian’s hand came down on him. “You just love watching the world burn, don’t you?”
As the two chased each other, Su Zhefei turned back and watched Zhou Fengjun, worried he might trip.
The news about the cold war between Fu Yue and Ji Hanmo was indeed true.
The disagreement over how to handle Jiang Ying’s situation was the fuse.
Later, this cold war had somehow spiraled into a “Glacial Age.”
Fu Yue’s leg was finally healed.
When he walked into the top-floor office of the Ji Group in a sharp suit with a steady gait, the chairman’s assistant, Monica, felt that a new disaster was imminent.
If the “cold war” between the two ancestors during Fu Yue’s recovery was just a “long-range magic attack” via phone and video…
Now that Fu Yue was officially back, the war would escalate into “indiscriminate area-of-effect damage” affecting the entire floor.
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