CH 153

Joe’s steps immediately screeched to a halt on the landing between the first and second floors, looking up at his own father.

After standing at odds for so many years, this father and son duo was on the brink of developing conditioned reflexes. 

One habitually wore a face as dead as a coffin, whilst the other habitually hardened his neck.

In an instant, the atmosphere was charged, with daggers drawn.

This tit-for-tat atmosphere, to lawyers, was all in a day’s work. Each of them was completely self-assured—except for the two assistants ushering them.

They had stayed at the villa to handle some miscellaneous affairs, never expecting to encounter the father and son butting heads, and immediately slapped themselves like scrap paper on the banister, doing their best to lower their sense of existence. 

“Old what?” Devore Yves pressed his knuckles against his visioncare glasses, studying Joe condescendingly from his higher vantage. “Go on, I’m listening.”

He had long changed out of the sporting clothes that he had worn for the press to see and was now in a tailored dress shirt and pants.

Despite being father and son, Mr Yves and Joe were polar opposites to each other.

The young master’s face was a billboard all year round, every emotion unapologetically displayed on his forehead like a rolling screen. His happiness or unhappiness, like or dislike, irritation or apprehensiveness didn’t have to be guessed—it was visible at a glance.

But when Mr Yves’ grey-blue eyes gazed quietly at them, no one could read what was on the man’s mind—what he planned to do, whether he welcomed their arrival.

“I’ve already told you that the idiot isn’t here to piss you off today.” A voice was heard even before the person came into sight.

Eunice turned around the corner from the left side hallway of the second floor, plainly plodding along in plush slippers, yet strutting it like she owned it.

But when she approached Devore Yves, her imposing manner drew back. She winked at Joe and the others across the stairs, mouthing, ‘I’ve spearheaded the charge for you guys.’ 

It was rare to see Eunice being this sincere, yet it made Joe tense further.

Spearheaded the charge?

How did that turn out?

Was it good or bad? 

However, he couldn’t care less at this point. They were already here; they couldn’t just up and leave now, right? He received the look that Eunice was sending him, then said to Yves, “I’m not here to fight today, but to consult you on some matters.”

Mr Yves nodded. None of his thoughts regarding this could be gleaned from his expression alone.

He straightened his cuffs and, instead of answering Joe, told one of the assistants, “Put away any movable objects from the terrace.”

The assistant started. “Ah?” 

Yves deadpanned, “Lest they all end up shattered later.”

The assistant, “…”

Joe, “…”

Only after did Yves look at him. “If my memory isn’t failing me, the last time you said that cost me two crystal pen holders, and then the time before that it was an ashtray.” 

Joe, “…”

Just when he thought that Old Fox was going to use this as a pretext to launch an offensive, Yves inclined his body to the side.

It meant that he was allowing them to go upstairs.

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Based on the present situation, Devore Yves seemed unaware as well. However, Old Fox’s thoughts were truly inscrutable; no one could tell apart his truths from falsehoods.

Gu Yan deliberated for a moment before saying, “This is Mr Ruan. You can take him as my intern for the time being.” 

With an expression of elucidation, Devore Yves nodded, gentlemanly extending his hand to Yan Suizhi. “I’ve heard of you and watched a recording of the trial on Tian Qin.”

While Old Fox’s attention wasn’t on him, Joe whispered to Eunice, asking with a frown, “What did you tell him? How did he react? Is the game on?”

Eunice shot a look at her father and flapped her hand at her idiot brother.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Joe said. “No go? Or no problem?” 

“It means that I don’t know,” Eunice said quietly. “He didn’t have any reaction. He only nodded and didn’t say a word.”

As soon as the words were spoken, she silently shut her mouth, for Yves had already turned around, heading for his office suite, while the others followed behind him.

There was a set of meeting sofas on the terrace of the villa. A cup of coffee still rested on the coffee table, as well as an afternoon tea platter. It was apparent who was using this area before.

Clearly, Yves wasn’t very concerned about the Mansons’ infection treatment centres—at first glance, he looked like an extremely accommodating elder. 

The assistant hastily took those items away, even sensibly closing the glass door for them.

Yves sat on a sofa and gestured. “Please, take a seat.”

This was a treatment that Joe had never received when he came alone. As such, hope budded in the little young master. Getting a wink from Eunice, he took a seat and immediately said, “I won’t beat around the bush, I’ll get straight—”

Devore Yves, however, motioned for him to stop. He said, “First, give me a reason to take the time to hear you out.” 

Joe, “…”

The little young master glared at Eunice, his whole face broadcasting—’There, you see. It’s not me this time; he’s the one making trouble.’

Eunice silently held her forehead.

Joe inhaled deeply, pointing casually into the distance, “Half of the reporters in the alliance are camping outside your door to catch you. Are you just going to deliver yourself to them and let them ambush you? Now that you’re done with all the necessary theatrics, do you still have the patience to continue answering their questions?” 

He pointed to one of the rooms in the villa. “I’m sure that the photon computer in your office is still on, right? The video conference is filled with an endless stream of morons chasing you for answers like the sky has collapsed, right? Do you have any interest in entertaining them?”

“You can’t step out of the door, can’t enter your office, and are done with your afternoon tea. Even before this, you were just loafing around; do you still have to specially make time to talk to us?” Fearless, Young Master Joe’s voice was sonorous and forceful as he tossed his argument out.

As Eunice facepalmed, she reached out to quietly shift the ashtray on the coffee table towards herself instead.

Devore Yves glanced at her and pressed down the ashtray, looking right on the verge of picking it up. 

In a twinkling, Young Master Joe almost reflexively used his elbow to shield his face.

Everyone, “…”

But Yves simply picked the ashtray up to move it back to its original place.

The clink of glass against marble caused Joe to flinch, then set down his elbow to look at Yves. 

“That is a just barely acceptable reason.” As Yves spoke, he slid a look at Joe, saying dismissively, “Not so hopelessly stupid after all.”

Joe felt like he was listening to a tall tale. He had complete faith that he was going to get blasted out of the villa as soon as he was done.

However…

He glanced at Gu Yan and the rest, and, with a hand blocking his lips from others, mouthed, ‘Good start.’ 

Gu Yan didn’t utter a word, only raising an eyebrow, whereas Yan Suizhi directed an encouraging smile at him. As for Laura, wholly on the same battlefront as him, pumped a fist at him.

Lil’ Young Master Joe was at once brimming with confidence.

“I don’t know how much Eunice has told you, so I’ll just go by my own logic.” Joe rubbed his palms together and picked a place to begin. “Before, we came across some past case files…”

Even if he had a hundred guts, he would never, ever dare say that it was the result of deliberate investigation. 

More importantly, today’s Old Fox was unusually humane. Carrying hope to clear up misunderstandings, he didn’t want to ruin the mood right off the bat.

As such, he stressed after that, “…came across completely by chance.”

Devore Yves snorted, mercilessly exposing him. “The result of painstaking investigation. Go on.”

Joe, “…” 

“Coincidentally came across during investigation.” Joe struggled, then carried on, “Those cases spanned almost thirty years back, involving people of all walks of life—businessmen, professors, doctors, etc. The cause of their deaths was initially declared natural, but now, decades later, linking them up exposes a lot of curious similarities and questions. We found a… running thread, a figure who probably has a sweeper-like role and is also inextricably linked to the Mansons.”

Devore Yves listened quietly, but whether or not he had long been in the know about this, he didn’t reveal any of his shock, surprise, or lack thereof.

Joe glanced at him. He wetted his lips, and he continued, “Many of them had attended the Mansons’ social gatherings, but it was more than just a connection to the Manson family. We’d… for a time, I’d even thought that it was connected to our family. To you.”

Devore Yves’ eyebrows lightly plucked up, but this was his only and most obvious reaction thus far. His gaze was lowered, and, as before, the emotion represented by this reaction was elusive to all. 

“Following this, I asked many contacts to help me look into many things. It’s quite mishmashed, but it began to accumulate. Medicinal mines, the contagion… The Mansons’ latest foray into the medical field is also very questionable, and now this has even involved Ke Jin. The more we find, the worse my migraine gets.” Joe said, “Honestly speaking, it’s like we’ve collected a big bag of odd puzzle pieces right now. We’ve pieced together quite a bit, but we’re still missing the core so they can’t fit together cohesively.”

With that, he raised his eyes to look at Devore Yves. “But we found another linchpin. He should know that which we lack…”

As Joe spoke, he turned on his smart device and projected many documents from within, spreading them out, laying them one by one before Devore Yves.

“A letter of gratitude from Wine City’s government.” 

“A transfer receipt.”

“A news report on infrastructure works in Wine City.”

“An internal document on the misuse of grant funds.”

“A document regarding the clean-up of Wine City’s government.” 

“A notice of cessation of funding from the consortium.”

“There’s also information provided by a director of a welfare institution, that the reforms and personnel changes in Wine City and De Carma were due to the actions of a consortium.”

“Here are the signatures of the two founding parties of the consortium.”

Joe paused, then unveiled the data analysis, pushing it in front of Devore Yves. “This is the handwriting comparison results. Your handwriting and one of the founding parties’ have close to a 100% match.” 

This time, finally, Devore Yves wasn’t unresponsive.

His lowered gaze scanned across those electronic documents individually, finally settling on the document containing the two signatures, never saying a word.

Joe didn’t hurry him, waiting for his response with bated breath.

After what felt like an age, Devore Yves finally shifted his gaze from the documents to look at Joe. “What about them?” 

“What…” Joe blanked. He didn’t expect that Old Fox would actually give him such a reaction and was a little taken aback. “What do you think? We want to know what’s going on.”

Devore Yves’ gaze turned from Joe, brushing over Ke Jin, Gu Yan, Laura, and finally, Yan Suizhi—before impassively averting. “And for this, you dragged along a whole entourage of respectable children to help bolster your courage?”

Joe, “???”

Devore Yves tugged the holographic pages in front of him back and forth, sliding them around as though toying with them. “How will it benefit me to disclose the intricacies of it to you? Or rather, how will it help the issue? I know basically everything that you’ve uncovered in your investigation. I have all of the information you have. You can’t fill in anything new, yet you expect me to share mine with you, and I’d even have to worry that you’ll lack discernment and run your mouth. So, explain to me why I should tell you. Give me a worthy reason.” 

That’s right. How could a businessman accept what was clearly a skewed deal?

If he did, he wouldn’t be Old Fox.

Joe rationally knew this… yet his flush still travelled from his neck to his cheeks.

Ticked. Off. 

He wasn’t even sure what was the cause of his anger, but this suffocating feeling still engulfed him.

By the time he recovered from the surge of anger, he was already on his feet, holding the glass door of the terrace with one hand, as though he was going to slam it and leave.

Eunice winked at him, mediating, “Go to my place for afternoon tea first. I haven’t had a thing before coming over. We can discuss the rest later.”

As she spoke, she nudged Joe’s shoulder, possibly nervous that they’d end up coming to blows on the terrace. 

Laura and Ke Jin stood up as well, heading to the door as well.

Behind him, Devore Yves remained seated there, seemingly enjoying the breeze on the terrace.

Surprisingly, across from him, two others didn’t rise either, sitting as unmovingly as mountains.

Devore Yves relaxed into the sofa, examining them unfazed for a while, before leisurely asking, “The rest are all on their way out, so why aren’t you?” 

At this, those about to open the door paused in their step, turning their heads over.

Yan Suizhi smiled calmly at him, abiding by his identity as an intern, not in a hurry to speak.

Besides, there was a Mr Gu who could always help him get the words out at the right time.

Devore Yves’ gaze landed on Gu Yan. 

Gu Yan evenly said, “Because you hope for my intern to stay behind. Naturally, it’ll be inappropriate for us to decline.”

“Oh? When did I say that?”

“It’s obvious, so it doesn’t bear mentioning.”

Devore Yves’ grey-blue eyes narrowed meaningfully behind his lenses, and after a long moment, he suddenly laughed and said to them, “Let’s move to my office.”