CH 70.1

Inside the moving car, Lin Shizong was talking on the phone to someone.

“The nearest line should be closed and it won’t be moved again during this period of time,” Lin Shizong said. “I know that the people of the Gu family are here. It can’t be exposed during this time. The capital side hasn’t been simple recently. All the lines that can be closed have been closed, so that this side’s affairs won’t get involved with that side.”

He looked a bit solemn after hanging up the phone. Then he thought of something and became a bit angry.

If there were no problems at the charity party back then, why would he need to be careful like this? He would’ve already hitched onto that line a long time ago. Now he had to close some things to avoid being impacted and the Chen Group’s matter was also full of problems. He used time to spread big problems in the Chen Group and originally, the Chen Group’s bankruptcy was a smooth matter. Who knew that it would become the current situation?

These days, he had inquired with Chen Jianhong many times. Chen Jianhong’s attitude was similar to before, but in fact, he was a bit suspicious of Lin Shizhong.

This feeling of being out of control made Lin Shizong feel very uncomfortable… If he really couldn’t control the situation then he could only give up something and sink the huge ship of the Chen family as much as possible.

Now that these things had happened, the Chen family could no longer stay.

Them staying would affect him too much.

Lin Shizhong was silent for a moment and asked, “I asked you to investigate Chen Qizhao last time. What are the clues?”

The assistant heard these words and reported the results of the investigation in an orderly manner.

“How did you find the person?” Lin Shizong frowned. “Chen Qizhao found him? How was he discovered?”

“Originally, he wasn’t discovered. Chen Qizhao just regarded him as a peeping Tom. He beat him up and let him go.” The assistant stopped talking before continuing, “The reason why he was exposed was because he was discovered by Shen Yuhuai of the Shen family. Shen Yuhuai was with Chen Qizhao and probably found this person following him. He directly contacted the security office of the school and they sent him to the police station.”

Chen Qizhao and Shen Yuhuai were considered friends and their relationship was good.

Lin Shizong knew this information. He had suspected Chen Qizhao once before but he hadn’t found any problems with Chen Qizhao. “So everything is gone and the person was exposed?”

The assistant looked embarrassed. “There might be no photos but we learned from his oral account that Chen Qizhao’s recent itinerary is similar to the situation we investigated before. Apart from class time, the other times he interacted with Yan Kailin and the other rich second generation people. He also occasionally goes to the company. Overall, no problems were found.”

In other words, no other problems were found from Chen Qizhao himself.

“What about the people he interacts with?” Lin Shizong continued to ask while taking the report from the assistant’s hand.

“It is still those rich second generations who aren’t good students.” The assistant continued, “Our people in the company aren’t able to move around obviously. They are all being closely watched by Chen Shiming. Therefore, we had to contact the person arranged by that gentleman. The other person said that Chen Qizhao has indeed received attention from Chen Jianhong recently, but he didn’t participate too much in the management of the company. It is his assistant who is working diligently.”

“We followed this clue to check the assistant. He has a simple resume and no other complicated relationships. He is honest and has a strong ability to do things. There are many things that have happened within the Chen family recently and it is said that Chen Shiming has taken a fancy to this Assistant Zhou and plans to promote him. It seems that Chen Qizhao argued with Chen Shiming due to this matter. The argument was very unpleasant and he hasn’t been in the company for the past few days.”

The assistant finished explaining the situation and looked cautiously at Lin Shizong. “Chairman Lin, this matter…”

Lin Shizong looked over the list of people who appeared on Chen Qizhao’s network. “He is close to Qin Yunxuan?”

The assistant said, “It seems to be due to Cheng Rong of the Cheng family. Chen Qizhao has met Qin Yunxuan several times at drinking parties and it is said that their relationship isn’t bad.”

“Keep watching.” Lin Shizong threw the report back to him. “There are no problems right now but it doesn’t mean that this person is okay.”

—

That night, the Shen house was a bit lively. It was late when Mrs Gu left.

Mother Shen and Father Shen went to the side to talk about the Gu family. Shen Yuhuai left the living room and saw Shen Xuelan drinking on the balcony, so he walked over.

Shen Xuelan was dressed in a suit. He leaned against the railing and the ice cubes in the whiskey glass in her hand shook. She saw Shen Yuhuai coming over and said in a relaxed voice, “It is rare that you didn’t leave early tonight.”

“I’m curious about the Chen family.” Shen Yuhuai didn’t hide it and spoke directly. “I want to ask you something.”

Shen Xuelan asked, “Have you been investigating the matter of the controlled substances recently? Do you want to borrow someone from me?”

“It isn’t necessary to borrow someone. I have an idea.” Shen Yuhuai looked sideways at her. “I want to ask about the Chen family. Has the Chen family encountered problems recently?”

“You are asking about this? It isn’t easy to say but something has happened on the Chen family’s side. You know about the aromatherapy not long ago. This matter hasn’t become too loud but those who should know about it know about it.” Shen Xuelan frowned. “Someone is targeting the Chen family.”

Shen Yuhuai didn’t speak.

“You are asking because of Chen Qizhao, right?” Shen Xuelan looked up slightly. “It is rare to see you interested in these things. When Yan Kaiqi returned to China to develop, you only asked him a few questions. Meanwhile, you seem to be personally involved in the Chen family’s affairs.”

“Yes.” Shen Yuhuai reached out and took the whiskey from her hand, his tone flat. “Drink less.”

“You really aren’t interesting. I will let the assistant send you the Chen Group’s information later. If you are so curious, why don’t you come to the company to do things? How is tinkering with your little research useful?” Shen Xuelan snatched the alcohol back and said with a smile. “By the way, this year, we happen to be in S City and Dad plans to hold a birthday party for you. What do you think?”

“We can talk about it later.”

Shen Yuhuai didn’t communicate with Shen Xuelan too much. Not long after returning to the room, he received a relevant email from Shen Xuelan’s assistant in the inbox.

He downloaded the email and caught a glimpse of the photo album on the desk out of the corner of his eye.

He didn’t know when it was taken out, but he didn’t place it back after looking through it.

Shen Yuhuai opened the photo album. His gaze stopped on his young self inside. Then he turned back and saw the child standing beside him.

The relationship between the Shen family and the Chen family was very good. Shen Yuhuai remembered that when he was 11 or 12 years old, he often attended parties with his parents and saw the children of other families. However, the one he was most impressed by was Chen Qizhao.

As a child, Chen Qizhao was actually cuter than now. He had baby fat on his face and a small dimple when he smiled. He was the most outstanding of the young children. He might be a bit playful but he was like a little sun. He often made the elders laugh.

Shen Yuhuai had seen him several times from afar and his impression of Chen Qizhao had always been very good.

The Shen family encountered some problems when he first entered middle school. For a while, he followed Shen Xuelan in the Chen family’s car and stayed at the Chen house for a while. He waited until night when someone would pick them up. Occasionally, he would stay at the Chen house for the night under special circumstances. Shen Xuelan and Chen Shiming were classmates and often discussed homework together. The atmosphere of the two of them seemed to be surrounded by a barrier and they had no time to talk to Chen Qizhao, who was still a child.

In the end, it was up to him to stay with Chen Qizhao.

The place where he studied was Chen Qizhao’s bedroom. The table was very long. As he read, Chen Qizhao practiced words on the other side.

Shen Yuhuai didn’t know on which day his relationship with Chen Qizhao improved. Maybe it was when the child handed him the homework book and asked a math problem in a low voice and he noticed the child’s clumsy approach.

The math problem that day was simple and he had seen Chen Qizhao answer even more difficult questions.

Even so, Shen Yuhuai patiently explained the question to him and left his handwriting on the clean book of the other person.

There was one time, so there were two and three times.

Chen Qizhao started to like to talk to him, no matter whether it was asking questions, curiosity about what book he was reading or taking him to the Chen family’s garden.

This was until later when the matter in the Shen family came to an end.

However, he also went to study in a different place due to his studies.

Once they met again, Chen Qizhao had already changed into another appearance.

Shen Yuhuai withdrew from his thoughts. A notification box popped up on his phone, reminding him that someone had replied to his message.

—

Chen Qizhao was a bit busy after arriving at school. He first went to the counselor’s office to make up for the leave slip. Then he sent it to the teacher. In the evening, there was a temporary spot check for a big class. By the time he returned to the dormitory after being busy, he noticed the message that Shen Yuhuai sent him in the afternoon.

The moment he replied to the message, Yan Kailin came to knock on the door and said he was going to play at night.

“Brother, what time will we go out?” Yan Kailin came to the dormitory, his voice loud. “Cheng Rong said that everything is ready for us over there. They are just waiting for the two of us. I would’ve skipped class if I had known. Didn’t you say that you took leave today?”

It was common for Cheng Rong to organize parties. He had organized it many times recently.

Cheng Rong came to invite him yesterday and Chen Qizhao didn’t refuse. After all, there were many people following him and too many people wanting to observe him. He had to cooperate with the performance.

However, acting needed to pay attention to skills. Too often would seem deliberate and too little would seem abnormal.

“Did you call a car?” Chen Qizhao put down the school bag. He walked to the closet and took out a few clothes. “I’ll take a shower first.”

“I called it.” Yan Kailin swiped on the screen of his phone. “Everything is ready. We are just waiting for you to take a shower.”

Chen Qizhao: “……”

Yan Kailin was about to say something more to Chen Qizhao. The moment he spoke, he saw the bathroom door snap shut.

The things in the bathroom were left at random. Chen Qizhao put the contents in his pocket onto the sink and turned on the shower, waiting for the hot water.

The sound of water covered Yan Kailin, who was being noisy outside the bathroom. He stared at the water gushing from the shower head with some fascination.

The water was hot. Chen Qizhao’s mind returned and he entered the shower. The water wet his hair.

Soon, a sound rang by the sink. Chen Qizhao squinted and came out of the shower. He wiped his wet hands on his dirty clothes and picked up his phone without looking.

“Hello? Who is it?”

“Are you busy?” Shen Yuhuai’s voice came from the phone.

Chen Qizhao was stunned. He moved away his phone and looked at it, only to find that it was Shen Yuhuai.

“It’s okay,” Chen Qizhao said. “…Why did Brother Huai suddenly call me?”

Shen Yuhuai asked, “Can’t I call you?”

Chen Qizhao paused. “Yes, you can call me directly.”

“You didn’t reply to the message I sent you, so I wanted to call and ask.” Shen Yuhuai’s voice was as usual. Then halfway through his words, he seemed to hear a crackling sound on the other side. “The sound from your side… are you taking a shower?”

“It is okay, tell me.” Chen Qizhao paused after speaking. He listened to the silence on the other side of the phone for a moment. Suddenly, he felt that his words were a bit strange. Then he changed his words. “What information?”

In the room, Shen Yuhuai looked at the chat interface on the computer but his mind was focused on his ears.

The boy’s voice seemed to be separated by a layer of fog. it was a bit hoarse amidst the rustling water.