CH 69.2

Chen Shiming changed his words. “I can find you a tutor if you can’t keep up with your studies.”

“Don’t go to so much trouble. Do I still need a tutor in college? Even Yan Kailin’s brother isn’t going to so much trouble.” Chen Qizhao said in his usual tone. “Xiao Zhou has been called by you these days. I remember that he is paid at the end of the month. My assistant is very expensive. Be sure to triple his performance fee.”

Chen Shiming hadn’t expected Chen Qizhao’s topic to change so quickly and he just said, “Don’t worry, I just asked Xiao Xu to give him leave.”

Chen Qizhao: “?”

“If you give him leave, who will take me to school? I didn’t drive in the morning.”

Chen Shiming had a slight headache. “He shouldn’t have left you. I will let Xiao Xu stop him…”

Before he finished speaking, the other person hung up.

There was a beeping sound from the phone. Chen Shiming frowned and used his inner landline to call Special Assistant Xu.

In the office, Chen Qizhao stared at his phone screen after hanging up the phone. He saw that five out of ten calls in his recent calls record were calls to Chen Shiming.

In the past few weeks, they had made more calls than the two lifetimes combined.

Chen Qizhao couldn’t express this feeling. He just stared at it for a while before closing the communication interface and calling his assistant Xiao Zhou’s number.

—

Shen Yuhuai arrived home and noticed that there were guests at home.

People rarely came to visit the Shen house. Shen Yuhuai originally wanted to go back to his room to rest, but as he was passing by the living room, he was suddenly stopped by Mother Shen. It was only then that he noticed the person who came was an acquaintance. She was a good friend of his mother’s and he had met her several times.

The elegant and beautiful woman saw Shen Yuhuai. “Yuhuai, have you just returned from the research institute?”

“Hello, Aunt.” Shen Yuhuai didn’t walk away but came to sit down next to her. “Why did you come to S City?”

Mother Shen smiled. “Your aunt came on a business trip with your Uncle Gu.”

“During this time, Old Gu came here on a business trip. Didn’t you not come to the capital to celebrate the New Year this year? I thought about it and came to take a look,” the beautiful woman said. “Old Gu also has the idea of developing in S City so he will probably stay here for a while.”

The Shen family was born in S City but Mother Shen was originally from the capital, B City. Later, she followed her family to settle in S City and married Shen Yuhuai’s father. Shen Yuhuai had studied abroad in his early years and settled in B City most of the time. Even his current student status was with B College. He just came to the Ninth Research Institute of S City for practice with his tutor for an exchange study.

During his time in B City, he had met his mother’s friends several times and also visited the Gu family.

The Gu family’s development in B City was very good. Their ancestors made a fortune and there was a deep heritage, which was different from the Shen family that developed later. Mrs Gu married the eldest son of the Gu family when she was young. The husband and wife were in love and their career developed smoothly.

However, the Gu family was a well-known family and the internal competition was fierce. Shen Yuhuai remembered hearing from his parents some time ago that the old man of the Gu family was ready to delegate power. Right now, the Gu family was facing a dispute over property rights. The ones with the biggest momentum were two people. One was Mrs Gu’s husband and the other was her husband’s younger brother.

Due to the property disputes between the two people, there was currently only a superficial harmony. It was difficult for this internal power struggle to end unless the old man let go of power. It was estimated that Uncle Gu coming to S City on a business trip this time was likely related to this matter.

Shen Yuhuai wasn’t very interested in the matter of a rich family competing for power, but the situation within the Gu family had probably become more serious now. Otherwise, Uncle Gu wouldn’t have come to S City. The Shen family didn’t participate in the Gu family’s power struggle. It was just that Mother Shen was friends with Mrs Gu that they knew a bit about it.

“Why did you come back today?” Mother Shen asked Shen Yuhuai. “Will you be staying at home for dinner tonight?”

Shen Yuhuai said, “I want to talk to my sister about something. I will eat at home.”

Mother Shen found a maid and asked the other person to prepare more food. “Since everyone is here, call Old Gu to come to the house to eat. You have been in S City for so long and you haven’t come to any gathering.”

Mrs Gu smiled. “I have time but I’m not sure about Old Gu.”

There was a guest at home and it wasn’t easy for Shen Yuhuai to walk away. He sat next to them and listened to the two elders talk.

He flipped through the messages on his mobile phone, found an unsent succulents photo from his photo album and sent it to Chen Qizhao. Recently, Chen Qizhao seemed to be very busy. There were several times when he asked this person to go out but he wasn’t at school.

The employer behind the man in black following him still wasn’t known. Even if he went to the police station, he only found out that the transaction between the two was a private transaction. The hired person had never seen the employer. Every time, he received money to do things and would send the photos by email.

He had checked that email. It was a foreign email and it was difficult to check the ownership.

Someone deliberately followed Chen Qizhao and went around in such a big circle. It was difficult not to doubt the other person’s purpose.

He came back to find Shen Xuelan today because he planned to find a breakthrough from her.

Recently, the Shen family and Chen family had a business cooperation and Shen Xuelan knew some things about the Chen family.

Chen Qizhao didn’t reply to the message sent. Shen Yuhuai’s fingers moved slightly on the chat page while thinking about things. He half lowered his eyes and as he was considering the next sentence to send, he suddenly heard a voice next to him.

Shen Yuhuai was slightly suspicious and glanced sideways.

In the living room, there was only the voice of Mother Shen talking to Mrs Gu.

They chatted about daily life for a while before Mother Shen said, “Before you came, you said you wanted to find me for something. What’s the matter?”

“That’s right.” Mrs Gu lowered her eyes slightly. “When I went to a party a while ago, I accidentally saw Mr Chen Jianhong’s wife.”

“Are you talking about Yazhi?” Mother Shen smiled. “You mean the party held by the Jiang family last time. I heard that Yazhi also went. I didn’t have time to go or I would’ve introduced you to her. Yazhi has a good personality and she should get along very well with you.”

Mrs Gu said, “Mrs Chen’s personality is indeed very good. I also communicated with her at the last party and it was very relaxing to talk to her.”

Mother Shen noticed Mrs Gu’s attitude and felt that she had something on her mind. She asked with slight hesitation, “Did you suddenly ask about Yazhi for some reason?”

“In fact, this time I came to ask you for help.” Mrs Gu sighed. “You should know that Old Gu’s situation has been tense recently and his brother’s side has recently gained momentum. He has done several business deals one after another and the attitude of the old man is a bit biased toward him.”

Mother Shen had heard about the personality of the second son of the Gu family, which was different from the personality of her friend’s husband. He acted ruthlessly and disregarded feelings. In the Gu family, if they fell behind in the power struggle then her friend’s family would be directly squeezed out of the Gu family’s rights and might face an even more severe situation.

Shen Yuhuai frowned slightly as he quietly listened to the conversation between the two elders.

Mother Shen had met this person a few times and she always felt that his gloomy personality wasn’t very good. “But what does this matter have to do with the Chen family?”

“The last time when I saw Mrs Chen, I had a small impression of the jewelry she was wearing. I went back and specially had people check it. It is very similar to a jade necklace that Old Grandmother Gu lost back then.” Mrs Gu handed the phone to Mother Shen. “I saw the photo in the Gu family’s old mansion back then. If it is really that necklace then it is very important to the Gu family.”

Mother Shen finished looking at it and saw that Shen Yuhuai next to her was also interested. Therefore, she let him look at it while she continued speaking. “I know this necklace. Yazhi likes it very much and I often see her wearing it.”

“This necklace was won by Qizhao at a charity gala last year and given to Aunt Zhang. She likes it very much.” Shen Yuhuai had a deep impression of this necklace. He was present when Chen Qizhao won the bid for it. “This is the Gu family’s lost necklace? I remember that the donor at that time was Mr Xu Ziyun.”

“Not many people know about this. Only a few relatives of the Gu family know about it,” Mrs Gu said. “In the early days, the Gu family looked for it. However, there wasn’t much news and they gave up. I didn’t expect to come to S City and encounter it. I haven’t mentioned this matter to Old Gu yet. No matter whether it is the real necklace or a fake product, it can only be confirmed by the B City side.”

It wasn’t easy to let too many people know about the internal affairs of the Gu family.

Mother Shen knew about her friend’s temperament. She knew that her friend didn’t publicize this matter and didn’t want to involve the Chen family in the Gu family’s disputes. She talked to Mother Shen about it in private because she probably had other plans.

However, if it was a more valuable item then she could understand her friend’s urgency.

“I saw that Mrs Chen liked this necklace very much that day, so I didn’t say it directly.” Mrs Gu sighed. She was a bit embarrassed to say this. “After all, this matter has many things involved and it isn’t easy to let too many people know. I heard that your family has a good relationship with the Chen family, so I came to you today because I wanted to use your relationship to talk to Mrs Chen about this matter.”