Chapter 65: Scum Gong Begs for Forgiveness — Egg-y Crisis part 1
“Why?” Gu Jiang’s understanding of Shen Yunqian had been refreshed. “You’ve already seen the report, and you still want to keep me here?”
Mindful of Guo Yi’s presence, he didn’t speak openly. Lowering his voice, he threatened, “Illegal detention is a punishable offense.”
Shen Yunqian turned to Guo Yi. “I bought a gift for Niu Niu this time. It’s in the first guest room to the left of the elevator on the third floor. Guo Yi, why don’t you take her to see it?”
“Alright.” Guo Yi knew they wanted to speak alone. She lifted Niu Niu down from her high chair, coaxing the little girl who had just recovered from her illness. “Let’s go see what gift Big Brother Xiao Shen bought you, shall we?”
Niu Niu nodded obediently. “Okay.”
Guo Yi took Niu Niu’s hand and walked a few steps, looking back worriedly. “Talk things through. Don’t get angry.”
Once only the three of them remained in the dining room, Shen Yunqian looked up at the fuming man. “I think Mr. Gu has forgotten about the time you committed arson by burning down my family’s warehouse.”
“As for illegal detention…” He sneered. “Baseless. I am clearly being kind enough to let you stay in my home to recover from your injuries.”
Gu Jiang was stunned by his shamelessness. “You!”
“Whether you stay here to recover or I send you away to spend a few years behind bars,” Shen Yunqian said nonchalantly, “Mr. Gu is a smart man.”
The clump of rice on Lu Xunye’s chopsticks fell through the gap. He was utterly shocked, staring wide-eyed at the two in their state of hostility. He instinctively wondered if he should also step out to avoid the crossfire.
So Shen Yunqian… could be this fierce?
“I’m asking you to get things straight.” Gu Jiang directed his spear at Lu Xunye. “I did what I had to do to save him. Those people were armed with guns.”
Lu Xunye was confused. “Me?”
“Whether it was to save someone or for other motives, you know best in your heart.” Shen Yunqian laid his phone flat on the table and pushed it into the center. “Furthermore, if it weren’t for that fire, Lu Xunye wouldn’t have been in danger, would he?”
Gu Jiang’s fingers tightened. He wanted to argue, but he was interrupted by a name Shen Yunqian spoke.
“Pei Huaizhi.”
Only then did Gu Jiang realize the other was speaking to the phone. The call duration ticked up second by second, but no one responded from the other end. Impatience flashed across Shen Yunqian’s face, and his voice deepened. “Speak.”
Pei Huaizhi was silent for a long time before finally giving a reluctant “Mm.”
Lu Xunye bit the tip of his chopstick and was startled by the sound. He bit down too hard, catching his tongue, causing him to grimace in pain.
Pei Huaizhi didn’t hear a reply from Shen Yunqian, so he spoke again. “I’ve already promised you that I won’t lay a hand on Lu Xunye. I will keep my word; you don’t need to call me to confirm. Likewise, don’t forget what you promised me—keep him from interfering in the affairs between me and Feng Chengyu.”
“Mm.” Shen Yunqian hung up. He was in no mood to play the role of the mild-mannered painter. His cold gaze drifted between the two. “Did you both hear that?”
A meal that left everyone feeling as though they were sitting on needles. Gu Jiang looked at Shen Yunqian with a complex expression, but Shen Yunqian ignored him even though he knew he was being watched.
The study was once again the scene of a verbal bombardment.
“Shen Yunqian, don’t tell me you’re holding another meeting today! Ordinary employees are already on Chinese New Year break. Only I and a few local executives—aside from New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day—have been working overtime. If you don’t even offer a gesture of appreciation, then don’t bother assigning us more work.”
It turned out that no one liked working overtime, not even for triple pay. Su Zhuo was fuming but was cut off by Shen Yunqian. “Fine, you’ve all worked hard these past few years. Have finance issue a bonus to everyone. Everyone gets the afternoon off and returns on the twenty-second of the first lunar month. Compile a list of those who want to go on a trip; the flights, meals, and accommodation won’t come out of finance but will be paid by me.”
“Are you… for real?” Su Zhuo felt like he had worked so much overtime he was hallucinating. He said in disbelief, “Would you really be this kind-hearted?”
“In that case, everyone else can have a holiday while you stay behind to work overtime,” Shen Yunqian said. “Are you satisfied?”
Su Zhuo grew anxious: “You promised!”
Shen Yunqian: “I’m going back to Haishi tonight.”
Su Zhuo, whose head was spinning from overtime, suddenly woke up and remembered something important: “…Is this Gu Jiang really not your brother?”
“The diagnosis report shows he isn’t.” Shen Yunqian looked weary. “We’ll talk about it later. Tell the people looking for my brother that they don’t need to look anymore.”
“What do you mean? Do you still think Gu Jiang is Shen Yunjie?”
Seeing his persistence, Su Zhuo had to pour cold water on him. “Shen Yunqian, even though we found out your brother didn’t board the plane back then, isn’t it possible the system data was wrong and he actually did board? And the person we found before was just a coincidence and not your brother? After all, by the time we got there, that person was gone; no one saw him with their own eyes.”
“Have you considered that if your brother were still alive, why wouldn’t he come back? Back then, Si Jin’yan publicly announced he was going to take revenge on you and locked you up for two years just because he was certain Shen Yunjie would show his face for your sake. Back then, you didn’t believe your brother was dead, and neither did Si Jin’yan.”
“I didn’t understand why Si Jin’yan hated your brother and you so much until you told me yourself that Si Jin’yan claimed he was locked in a basement and beaten by your brother when he was a child. It wasn’t until we followed the trail and found that psychologist…”
“You all thought that if Shen Yunjie were alive, he would definitely appear. Everyone knew your brother adored you the most and wouldn’t just ignore you. But he still didn’t show up. You never tell me about the decisions you make. Back then, I always thought Si Jin’yan had just taken a ‘canary’…”
At this point, Su Zhuo found it difficult to continue, but he did anyway. “I really didn’t expect that you would actually be locked in a basement for two years just to investigate your parents’ car accident and force your brother to appear.”
In the end, Su Zhuo sighed. “Shen Yunqian, what can I say about you… you’re truly ruthless to yourself.”
Shen Yunqian knew the other meant well and joked, “It was nothing, really. I just watched a live-action ‘spring palace play’ for two years.”
Su Zhuo hesitated. “Forget it. What are your plans next?”
Shen Yunqian: “Have you found the person who performed hypnosis on Si Jin’yan? I suspect this person might be the one behind Uncle Zhang.”
“No. That psychologist has been extremely protective of his patients’ privacy since he started practicing. He won’t say a word. I was afraid that asking too much would alert the person behind him, so I didn’t push further. We’ve staked out Si Jin’yan a few times; it’s just normal consultations and prescriptions.”
Su Zhuo gave a short laugh. “If it weren’t for Pei Huaizhi’s little schemes, who would believe such a hypnosis method actually exists in this world?”
Shen Yunqian was lost in thought for a long time. “Don’t stake him out anymore. Go investigate the affairs between the former chairman of the Si family, his ex-wife Jiang Qingran, and Si Jin’yan’s mother, as well as the cause of the fire at the Si family’s ancestral home twenty years ago.”
“Are you kidding me?” Su Zhuo seemed to find it absurd and couldn’t help but sneer. “Leaving aside the fact that news of the fire back then was wiped clean by the Si family, it’s been twenty years. Who could still find anything?”
He continued venting until he heard a very faint, sigh-like sound from the phone: “Su Zhuo, thank you.”
Su Zhuo paused, then continued to scold him: “Do you know how much effort it took to investigate one Jiang Qingran last time? How many sources I had to find and how many people in the know I had to ask to get anything.”
The response was another: “Thank you.”
“…”
A heavy snort came from Su Zhuo’s nose. “I must have been a mass murderer in my past life to have become friends with you. Scram.”
The original plan was to return at night, but Shen Yunqian bought the return tickets right after lunch. By the time they returned to Haishi, it was already evening.
Gu Jiang, that unlucky fellow, had been “soft-mined.” Thinking of the five or six burly men guarding the villa, Lu Xunye couldn’t help but click his tongue.
The setting sun looked like molten gold through the glass of the café.
At a table, a glamorous woman rested her chin on her hand, smiling as she appraised the newcomer. “Mr. Lu is certainly not easy to book.”
“Miss Wen is too kind. Why did you call me here?” Lu Xunye set several bags on the table and sat down across from the woman.
Miss Wen saw the receipts in the transparent plastic bags—beef, red dates, duck blood, pig liver. She raised an eyebrow and teased, “Mr. Lu came to discuss a transaction with me while also doing the grocery shopping?”
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