CH 83.2

The day before Shen Yuhuai’s birthday, Chen Qizhao went back to the Chen house.

After arriving home, he went to the kitchen to look at the tea and coffee that were originally placed in the cupboard. Then he asked the housekeeper about Chen Jianhong and Zhang Yazhi’s recent medicine taking. It was only after receiving a positive reply that he relaxed and left the kitchen.

The housekeeper carefully watched him walk away and instructed the servant beside him, “The next time the young master comes to the kitchen, remember not to let him open the second cabinet.”

The servant was puzzled. “Brother Zhang, is there something inside?”

“It’s nothing.” The housekeeper’s face was expressionless. “Just tea and coffee.”

It was the private collection of the master and eldest young master. He was afraid that the second young master would be in a bad mood and would directly throw them into the garbage can.

Zhang Yazhi and Chen Qizhao sat in the living room. The noises of the drama were raised but this didn’t affect the dialogue between mother and son in the slightest.

Zhang Yazhi said, “This actor’s acting skills aren’t good. His eyes don’t move at all.”

“Maybe he is a vase,” Chen Qizhao commented. “His part will be over in a while.”

Zhang Yazhi commented on the plot and characters of the drama while Chen Qizhao responded from time to time.

After a while, Zhang Yazhi asked, “Has Xiao Zhao been in a good mood recently?”

“Why do you think so?” Chen Qizhao paused for a moment and tilted his head to look at Zhang Yazhi.

Zhang Yazhi looked at the child sitting next to her. She seemed to feel that the burden on the child was a bit lighter. Unlike the past when he was always on his phone playing when he went home, this time, he wasn’t distracted when talking to her. “It is good to be happy. Don’t frown.”

Chen Qizhao didn’t speak. He watched the content of the drama while wondering if he should cast some dramas for Zhang Yazhi to have fun. During this time, Zhang Yazhi loved to watch dramas very much. As long as he was home, she would pull him to watch dramas together. After several times, he was already familiar with the faces that often appeared in some dramas.

He was thinking this when Zhang Yazhi started to gossip with him.

“Do you still remember the Gu family who came to us last time?” Zhang Yazhi changed the channel and continued, “Didn’t your father want to talk to the Gu family about business recently? I heard from your father last night that the second child of the Gu family has an illegitimate child and that there has been a lot of trouble regarding this recently.”

Chen Qizhao snorted, not very interested. “How much trouble?”

“The relationship is stiff. Your Uncle Gu has also gone back. Originally, their family planned to attend Yuhuai’s birthday party but now there is no other way.” Zhang Yazhi said this and continued, “Have you prepared a gift for Yuhuai? He helped our family a lot previously when you were sick. Don’t forget.”

“I’ve prepared it.”

When Chen Jianhong and Chen Shiming returned home, they saw the mother and son sitting in the living room watching TV.

The time was already a bit later. After dinner, Chen Qizhao and Zhang Yazhi stayed in the living room. At 10 o’clock, Chen Shiming came out of Chen Jianhong’s study and called out to Chen Qizhao.

The two of them went to Chen Shiming’s study. Gu Zhengxun and Gu Zhengsong were fighting so fiercely that Chen Shiming couldn’t help thinking of what Chen Qizhao said when he was in the office. In addition, there was the news he had received from Shen Yuhuai during this period. Combine this with Chen Qizhao’s previous speculation and he had basically determined that the Lin family was involved with Gu Zhengsong.

Chen Shiming asked Chen Qizhao if he knew about this.

“How can I take care of the Gu family’s affairs?” Chen Qizhao sat on the sofa in the study, leisurely flipping through the documents on the desk. He said in his usual tone, “What’s wrong? Is Gu Zhengsong furious?”

He continued, “But it is true. Gu Shen is the child he values the most. Gu Zhengxun is acting so aggressively. Based on the situation of the Gu family, he can only put aside his relationship with Gu Shen if he wants to fight with Gu Zhengxun.”

Chen Shiming frowned. “It really has nothing to do with you?”

“How can it? You think too much of my ability? Isn’t it Gu Zhengxun’s idea to do this?”

Chen Qizhao looked at Chen Shiming. He had just tactfully made a suggestion in the email. Whether Gu Zhengxun did it or not was the other person’s choice.

He just added fuel to the fire and didn’t do anything.

Now it just so happened that the fire was burning on the Gu family’s side. As long as the fire burned strongly enough then Gu Zhengsong wouldn’t be able to spare time to help Lin Shizong.

Chen Shiming hesitated slightly. However, he still chose to believe in Chen Qizhao and said, “Regarding what you told me before, Gu Zhengsong might have something to do with Lin Shizong. Shen Yuhuai sent me a message when he went to B City.”

Chen Qizhao paused for a moment when Shen Yuhuai was mentioned. Shen Yuhuai told him that he had something to do when he went back to school in B City. Recently when they occasionally chatted, Shen Yuhuai said he was dealing with some private matters.

Chen Shiming didn’t notice Chen Qizhao’s expression and repeated what Shen Yuhuai had told Chen Qizhao before.

Chen Qizhao paused when he heard about this matter.

Then after a while, Chen Shiming said again, “But he seems to have found several institutes on the outskirts of the capital. He said that Gu Zhengsong might be engaged in illegal drug or food smuggling with Lin Medical but he has no evidence for it.”

Chen Qizhao’s expression changed slightly. “When did this happen?”

Shen Yuhuai didn’t tell him this.

“In the past few days, he went to the capital and asked some local friends. These people are very cautious and won’t say things if they aren’t sure. This time, he should’ve investigated this matter for a while.

Chen Shiming continued, “According to his investigation, it basically confirms your original statement. He said he will give me some evidence of Lin Medical’s business dealings with the Gu family in a few days. If this is the case, we will have more evidence against Lin Shizong.”

Chen Qizhao didn’t listen to the second half of Chen Shiming’s words. His attention was on the matter of drug or food smuggling. He had previously identified a potential transaction between Lin Shizong and Gu Zhengsong from Shen Yuhuai’s words but in just a few days, Shen Yuhuai had already found this…

It showed that Shen Yuhuai didn’t tell him everything at the beginning but continued to investigate a lot behind his back.

“When did he tell you?” Chen Qizhao asked.

Chen Shiming replied, “Just yesterday, but he said there was no evidence. Once the evidence is confirmed, he will tell me. He has his own channels over there and what he has found are things that we haven’t found before.”

In addition, it wasn’t just something that hadn’t been found but confirmed evidence. What Shen Yuhuai was holding was a piece of evidence that could hammer both Gu Zhengsong and Lin Shizong at the same time.

Chen Qizhao’s brain was spinning rapidly. According to the news from Chen Shiming and Shen Yuhuai, it gradually converged into a straight line.

Gu Zhengsong and Lin Shizong had illegal transactions. This was a potential business transaction involving illegal drugs and food. It was likely that Lin Shizong and Fang Chengjie’s illegal drug smuggling business was related to this.

In a certain sense, Lin Shizong and Gu Zhengsong were allies. So in his previous life, Gu Zhengsong didn’t just protect Lin Shizong due to the jade necklace. Most importantly, it was to protect the industrial line in Lin Shizong’s hands. Gu Shen might be the one who connected with Lin Shizong’s people.

If it was connected in this way then the things he didn’t understand in his previous life were actually strung together.

Chen Qizhao wondered, “Doesn’t he know the danger?”

Chen Shiming replied, “Lin Shizong and Gu Zhengsong don’t seem to have noticed him so his investigation went smoothly. I’m not sure how extensive his connections are but the things he found out are indeed things we haven’t discovered.”

“I’m going back to my room,” Chen Qizhao said suddenly.

Before Chen Shiming could stop him, he left the office in a hurry. Chen Shiming looked at the document next to him out of the corner of his eye. They had found some evidence of illegal transactions from Lin Shizong’s arrangements left behind in the Chen Group. According to Shen Yuhuai’s train of thought, he might be able to find the Gu family if he checked down this line…

If this was the case, he would need to contact Gu Zhengxun.

At this time, Chen Shiming’s phone rang.

“Boss, you asked us to conduct an inspection on the health care products and medicines collected before. We found that Jiang Yuze acted on Chairman Chen’s health products as early as two years ago.”

Special Assistant Xu continued, “These drugs aren’t substantially harmful. They have a sedative, tranquilizing and sleep aid effect. Long-term use will cause people to lose concentration. The reason why Chairman Chen was sleepy some time ago likely wasn’t just due to blood pressure. It might’ve been from taking these drugs.”

Chen Shiming’s eyes sank slightly. It wasn’t quite right.

The room was dark. Chen Qizhao couldn’t control the trembling of his palms as he closed the door.

Chen Qizhao stood in the darkness and took out his phone from his pocket. He opened the chat interface with Shen Yuhuai and found that the chat between them was still stopped on this morning.

His eyes sank slightly. His hand stopped on the chat interface but he didn’t know what to send.

Shen Yuhuai wouldn’t say things without evidence. The controlled substances, the extraction equipment and the hidden businesses learned from Chen Shiming… they were all information told after Shen Yuhuai had confirmed it.

He understood Shen Yuhuai’s personality and knew his considerations.

Due to this, his mood was complicated. Shen Yuhuai must’ve taken a long time to find these materials but he talked lightly when it came to Chen Qizhao.

It was just like going to B City this time. Obviously, he wanted to check other things but when it came to Chen Qizhao, it became a sentence of going back to school to deal with things.

Didn’t he know the danger?

Lin Shizong and Gu Zhengsong. Both of them weren’t good enemies. How dare Shen Yuhuai do this?

In the Shen house, Shen Yuhuai came out of the study.

His phone suddenly rang as he returned to his room.

Seeing the contact that popped up on the voice chat interface, Shen Yuhuai’s eyes softened and he pressed the connect button. “Why call at this time? Aren’t you resting?”

It was after 11 o’clock and the night outside seemed exceptionally dark.

Chen Qizhao’s room was very dark. He was sitting on the bed and a lot of cigarette butts had accumulated in the ashtray next to him.

He had many things to ask but once he heard Shen Yuhuai’s voice on the phone, he instantly calmed down. Something seemed stuck in his throat and eyes and he couldn’t seem to say a word.

“It is time to rest and I wanted to hear your voice.”

Chen Qizhao’s voice was a bit hoarse. Shen Yuhuai could hear it right away.

Shen Yuhuai asked, ‘Have you caught a cold?”

“No.”

The room was quiet and Shen Yuhuai’s voice came from the receiver. As usual when the two of them went out, Shen Yuhuai could always find a topic to continue chatting with him.

Chen Qizhao listened to Shen Yuhuai’s voice and suddenly found that he liked Shen Yuhuai more than expected. At this moment, he really wanted to see Shen Yuhuai.

Time passed minute by minute until a certain hour arrived.

Chen Qizhao suddenly said, “Brother Huai, happy birthday.”

Shen Yuhuai paused and there was laughter in his voice. “Thank you. Did you speak for so long to say happy birthday to me?”

Chen Qizhao lowered his eyes slightly. “Yes, and… thank you.”

He added, “Brother Huai, rest early. It is midnight.”

Shen Yuhuai was silent for a moment before saying, “Yes. See you tonight?”

“See you tonight.”

After hanging up the phone, Chen Qizhao stared at Shen Yuhuai’s name for a while.

He hadn’t said this sentence in many years. Ever since Shen Yuhuai died in his previous life, this was his first time saying happy birthday to Shen Yuhuai after so many years.

One sentence seemed like a world away and everything was hard won.