Chapter 81: Treacherous; Opening the Heart part 1
“Aren’t you supposed to be at the hospital?”
Su Zhuo had no time to waste on him. With a sharp click, he reached over and unbuckled Lu Xunye’s seatbelt.
He asked point-blank, “Has something happened to Shen Yunqian?”
“He’s fine.” Lu Xunye pulled the belt back across his chest and buckled it again.
“Hey?!”
He blocked Su Zhuo’s arm as it reached out again and countered with a question of his own.
“Aren’t you investigating Shen Qizhao and the person behind him? As it happens, I have some entanglements with that person as well. Since we have the same goal, why not let me hitch a ride?”
Su Zhuo stared at him calmly, unmoved.
Lu Xunye simply shrugged and leaned back.
“You wouldn’t want Shen Yunqian to wake up and find out you acted on your own, right? He probably wouldn’t want you making such a reckless move.”
As he spoke, he pressed Su Zhuo’s hand back toward him and looked up at the driver in the front. “Drive.”
Su Zhuo hadn’t expected Shen Yunqian to tell Lu Xunye about such matters. He had no idea the other was just making things up on the fly.
The driver was also caught off guard by Lu Xunye’s take-charge attitude. He stole a glance at Su Zhuo’s expression through the rearview mirror. “President Su?”
Su Zhuo sighed in resignation. “Let’s go.”
The scenery outside the window blurred past. Lu Xunye propped up his head, leaning lightly against the car glass.
His gaze drifted toward the countdown in the air, which was growing paler and thinner. For a moment, he stared at it in a daze.
Seeing him so distracted, Su Zhuo reminded him, “You just mentioned the person behind Shen Qizhao.”
The man cast a searching look out of the corner of his eye and asked, “Do you know who kidnapped you this time?”
Lu Xunye paused for a moment before speaking. “I don’t ‘know’ exactly, but it should be someone who has a grudge against Jiang Qingran.”
Su Zhuo’s expression turned surprised. Keenly sensing something, he turned his head toward Lu Xunye. “What is your relationship with Jiang Qingran?”
“Maybe,” Lu Xunye’s tone was questioning, as if he were asking himself, “She’s… probably my mother?”
Su Zhuo: “…”
Seeing the other man’s speechless look, Lu Xunye curled his lip. His hand, which was supporting his head against the window, tapped aimlessly at his temple as if trying to recall something. After thinking for a while, he only offered one sentence.
“All I know is she’s a woman surnamed Fu. she claimed to be a friend of my mother’s. I don’t know much else.”
Hearing that surname, Su Zhuo dazed for a split second. “…Fu.”
Lu Xunye found his reaction strange. He sat up straight and asked, “What is it?”
Su Zhuo blinked a few times to regain his composure. “Nothing. I’m probably overthinking it.”
“I’ll believe you for now. But if I find out later that you have some ulterior motive, don’t blame me for being ruthless.”
Lu Xunye closed his eyes and gave a silent eye-roll.
Yaohui Hotel Underground Parking Lot
“President Su, it is naturally our greatest honor that you have come to attend my son’s adulthood ceremony. My wife and child are waiting for me in the hotel upstairs, so you…?”
Shen Qizhao shifted his shoulders, but was immediately pinned back by the bodyguards behind him, causing him to grimace in pain.
Su Zhuo narrowed his eyes with interest upon hearing a certain word in the other’s sentence.
“There’s a bit of a problem with the elevators today. I’m afraid you won’t be able to go up from here.”
He cast a fleeting glance toward a piece of clothing peeking out from behind a parking pillar nearby, then quickly returned to his usual demeanor. He turned his head, his gaze sweeping toward the car window behind him. “Aren’t you coming out yet?”
The person inside the car let out a light cough before pushing the door open.
Shen Qizhao still hadn’t grasped Su Zhuo’s meaning. Hearing the sound, he also looked over.
A long, straight leg wrapped in denim hit the ground first, followed by a figure ducking out of the car door.
The moment Shen Qizhao saw Lu Xunye’s face, his pupils shrank. He blurted out in disbelief, “How are you here? You didn’t—”
As if realizing something, he cut himself off. Lu Xunye took a few steps forward and pressed, “Didn’t what?”
He stood still beside Su Zhuo, tilting his head slightly.
His gaze landed on the prayer beads on Shen Qizhao’s wrist. He looked up playfully, asking a question he already knew the answer to: “Uncle Shen… are you surprised to see me?”
A chill ran down Shen Qizhao’s spine. He stopped struggling against the bodyguards and reflexively hid his hand behind his back, causing the two men holding him to exchange a confused look.
Su Zhuo was puzzled by the subtle tension between them. He was about to ask when Lu Xunye spoke again.
“I heard about a Taoist who claimed to be all-knowing, a master of Feng Shui and divination, specializing in solving people’s doubts and changing their luck. He was arrested recently for swindling people out of countless fortunes. What’s even more surprising is that fifteen years ago… he was in prison.”
“Ten years ago and four years ago, he received two large transfers from the same account. The remitter was a certain Mr. Zhang. If I recall correctly, your secretary is also surnamed Zhang?”
Shen Qizhao’s eyes flickered with panic for a moment before he steadied himself. He straightened his back and forced a roar of anger.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about! You think you can just frame me with random accusations? Do you think I’m still afraid of you!”
As Lu Xunye spoke, Su Zhuo stared at him in astonishment. “How do you know so much?”
Had Shen Yunqian even told him about these groundless rumors?
“Don’t you know as well?” Lu Xunye gave a nonchalant smile. “Time is almost up.”
His voice was very soft, almost inaudible.
In Su Zhuo’s few encounters with him, he had never seen this man look so serious yet tinged with a hint of loneliness. Without thinking, he asked, “What time is—”
The next second, the bodyguard restraining Shen Qizhao frowned and said, “Understood.”
Then, with a panicked expression, the guard looked up. “President Su, the person was rescued.”
“News came from the hospital. Young Master Shen is also missing.”
Su Zhuo looked at Shen Qizhao and realized instantly. “I underestimated you.”
He took a few steps forward in disbelief, and Lu Xunye followed him silently.
Shen Qizhao had dropped his act of humble ignorance. He yanked at his arms, and after realizing it was useless, he gave up and roared out all his suppressed frustration.
“So what? You think I didn’t know you and Shen Yunqian were plotting against me in secret? You forced my hand! If someone is willing to help me deal with you, why would I refuse?”
Su Zhuo: “You!”
Lu Xunye grabbed his arm before he could act. “Shen Yunqian is fine. The person who took him wasn’t sent by that woman.”
He spoke in a volume only the two of them could hear. “You don’t have to believe me, but you’re already here. It’s better than going back empty-handed and finding no one.”
Su Zhuo remained silent.
Taking advantage of the other’s softening attitude, Lu Xunye applied a bit of pressure to hold him back, his eyes fixed on the middle-aged man in front of them.
“As for you, do you really think that woman surnamed Fu is sincerely helping you?”
Shen Qizhao was dismissive. “If you’re trying to use provocation to get information out of me, don’t waste your breath. To be honest, I don’t know either.”
The emotion in his eyes was replaced by a look of impending triumph. “But one thing is for sure—you aren’t leaving.”
As soon as he finished, the others immediately grew alert, scanning their surroundings.
The bodyguards looked toward Su Zhuo after finding nothing. “President Su?”
The air grew still. Suddenly, a faint cry of pain echoed through the dark, empty basement, breaking the heavy atmosphere.
A flash of light was reflected in Shen Qizhao’s wide eyes.
In that light, Su Zhuo calmly brushed off Lu Xunye’s touch and turned his glowing phone screen around. He asked leisurely, knowing the answer, “Is your trump card them?”
Lu Xunye peeked over to look at the screen facing Shen Qizhao.
He saw a filthy, abandoned room where several men in black, covered in dust and tattered clothes, were lying on the ground with their hands and feet bound, looking utterly wretched.
Although Shen Qizhao hadn’t been hit, his face turned a dark, bruised shade as if he’d been struck. He gritted his teeth.
His aged, sunken eyes bulged terrifyingly due to his emotional state.
He looked up with difficulty, his gaze moving from the screen to Su Zhuo. “Wh—when did you find out?”
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