CH 59

Edited by: Dust Bunny

When the company director heard Si Yu, he immediately nodded. He made a gesture of invitation toward Gu Xizhou and Fang Zhi, eagerly attentive. “Please follow me to a meeting room.” 

“Thanks.” Gu Xizhou wasn’t polite, immediately following him into the conference room.

Soon after, the director put two bottles of mineral water on the table, and he said courteously, “Police officer comrades, please take a seat.”

“En.” Gu Xizhou unscrewed the lid of the water bottle and casually asked, “How long have you known Xu Wei?”

“For more than ten years. I’m not cultured. In the beginning, I also worked a temporary position for Xu Wei. After he became a small chief labor foreman, I followed him up,” the director replied. “I saw this company built from scratch; I also have some shares in the company, but very few.” 

“Do you know this person?” Gu Xizhou put Zhou Yiguang’s photo on the table, pushing it in front of the director.

The director carefully scrutinized it for a moment, then shook his head: “I don’t know.”

“He didn’t come to the company to look for Xu Wei?”

“No. In any case, I haven’t seen him. Maybe other employees have,” the manager replied after thinking about it. “How about this, ba. I’ll call over Chief Xu’s former secretary for you. She should know. She’s been together with the boss longer than anyone else.”

“Secretary.” Gu Xizhou raised his eyebrows, asking straightforwardly, “Is it Xu Wei’s mistress?”

The director smiled awkwardly and nodded, saying, “You could say that. Anyway, she’s still in the company. During that time, Chief Xu liked to seek her out the most.”

“Good, you have her come over.”

The director took out his cell phone and made a call. The sound played through the speakers to let Gu Xizhou and Fang Zhi both hear. The call quickly connected, and Gu Xizhou heard a pleasant female voice. With a slightly suspicious tone, she asked, “Director, what’s the matter?” 

“Come to conference room one on the twenty fourth floor.”

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“Ah…” the director was embarrassed and said, “Actually, this is the first time I’ve seen the big boss. Previously, we never saw him in person. It was always his assistant who came over. Even when he acquired our company, he didn’t come over. You seem quite familiar with the big boss, ah?”

Gu Xizhou agreed, then said, “Xu Wei disappeared last year over winter vacation. Which property was he at when he disappeared?”

The director rubbed his bald head and recalled, “It’s Shallow Water Garden, just over the viaduct. When he was reported missing, the police officers also went over to the construction site to look for him, but they didn’t find a trace.

“It gets dark very early during winter, and it was the beginning of the year at that time. There weren’t many people at the construction site. He drove over alone to patrol, and no one saw how Chief Xu disappeared. To tell the truth… Chief Xu always had too many mistresses outside. No one thought he actually went missing at that time. He had several families. We noticed that he hadn’t come to work for a week, so we called him, but his phone was turned off, and no one answered. 

“It was then we realized he might have had an accident, so we told his wife, Deng Mei. Then, the company also asked people to look for several days, but it was useless, so we called the police.

“After we called the police, our company’s stock plummeted. The company’s projects were also at a standstill. At that time, the company almost shut down. Finally, Deng Mei sold her shares, and the big boss injected funds into the business until it rose from the dead.

Gu Xizhou nodded. Then, someone knocked on the door, pushing it open and peeking their head in. The person was a woman around 30 years old, and she was very beautiful. “Director, you were looking for me?”

The director beckoned the woman forward and said, “Xiao Shan, you come in. These two are police officers; they want to ask you about a few matters.” 

The woman called Xiao Shan hesitated when she heard this. After she came in, she rubbed her hands together in discomfort before taking a seat.

“There’s no need to be nervous. I only want to ask about Xu Wei’s business,” Gu Xizhou said softly. He took out the photograph and passed it to Xiao Shan. “I heard the director say that before Xu Wei went missing, your relationship with him was the best. Did you ever see this man when you two were together?”

Xiao Shan took the photograph Gu Xizhou handed to her, looking at it carefully. She shook her head: “I haven’t seen him.”

After hearing Xu Wei’s mistress’ reply, Gu Xizhou and Fang Zhi obviously felt very disappointed. They proceeded to call forward other old employees of the company to ask about the matter. None of these people had ever seen Zhou Yiguang. 

“Let’s just go to Shallow Water Garden to try our luck.” Gu Xizhou looked at the time. He said to the director, “It’s already 11 o’clock. You’ve worked hard. We’ll go out to eat a meal first. Could I trouble you to ask an employee who knows about the affairs of the construction site to accompany us to Shallow Water Garden in half an hour?”

“No problem!” the director said, rejuvenated.

After Gu Xizhou left the conference room, he went to the restroom. Standing at the mirror, he heard ke ke ke laughter from the women’s restroom——

“Did you hear?! They say the big boss came over today to patrol!” 

“The big boss? Isn’t he another bald, greasy old man, ba?”

“Right, ah, like that one Chief Xu before was so bothersome, ah! Every day, he wanted to use the unspoken rules in the company with the beautiful girls with that sort of appearance! Sleeping with him… thinking about it makes me sick! What’s the difference between that and sleeping with lard! I don’t know how Shan Jie endured it.”

“Hahaha, you people’s mouths are too poisonous! Lard, ah… I think it’s all greasy. It’s so disgusting, ah.”

“According to your words, the company’s big boss is even bigger lard than Chief Xu!” 

As soon as Gu Xizhou heard the voice, he knew that she was the first girl to speak. The girls inside laughed together, and Gu Xizhou could help snickering. The girls left the restroom just in time to see Gu Xizhou and were stunned.

“Did that man just see? Is he from our company?”

“Is he new, ba? Wheat colored skin, and he looks quite handsome~”

Gu Xizhou left the washroom. He had just turned the corner when he saw Si Yu, dressed in casual attire with both hands in his pockets. Baffled, he said, “Why are you here? Aren’t you here to patrol the company?” 

Si Yu said, “Annoying. If they weren’t always inviting me, I wouldn’t bother to come.”

“Would you doing this really not…result in a failed investment?” Gu Xizhou asked bluntly.

“Can’t you speak like a person?” Si Yu raised his eyebrows and glared at him.

Gu Xizhou spread his hands and said, “Fang Zhi and I were going to go out for a meal. Do you want to go together?” 

Si Yu nodded in reply and said, “Fine.”

As they were talking, the four girls walked by and happened to see Gu Xizhou and Si Yu. The four of them immediately slowed their steps.

Contrariwise, Si Yu didn’t pay attention to this and walked side by side with Gu Xizhou to the large doors. At the doorway, he said to the receptionist, “Tell your director I went out to eat with a friend. If anything happens, tell Xiao Yu directly.”

“Yes, boss.” The young lady receptionist nodded with a red face. Si Yu put his hands on the front desk and bowed slightly. His delicate jawline extended straight down to his clavicle… 

What a pity I can’t see what’s below that. The young receptionist was a little disappointed.

Gu Xizhou and Fang Zhi noticed the look of disappointment leaking from the young lady’s eyes. They looked at each other in tacit understanding and snickered.

“What are you laughing at?” Si Yu asked after he returned.

Gu Xizhou shook his head, pressing the elevator button. He took another glance at the receptionist before the three entered the elevator. 

Just as the elevator door closed, four girls bounced in energetically. They went over to the receptionist, eager for gossip, and asked, “You see, our little flower receptionist is blushing like a monkey’s butt! Quickly tell us, who were those three people just now?”

“The one who spoke with me was the big boss. The other two are police officers,” said the little receptionist.

“Hold on.” The four girls’ faces looked dumbfounded. “You’re saying the handsome brother wearing the white T-shirt and the black sweatpants is the big boss?”

The receptionist looked at the girls with a puzzled expression. “That’s right! What’s the problem?” 

“Fuck!”

The four girls spoke in unison, “That handsome man just heard us say that the big boss is lard! Fuck! We’re gonna die; we’ll die!”

The author has something to say: Two minutes late~

Crooked: Midterms… dying…