CH 46

At 7:30 in the evening, at Fu Yuan Lou Restaurant.

Zhou Qingbo had finally agreed to attend the dinner, and Liu Xin seemed to be taking this last chance seriously, arranging an extravagant feast with dishes like lobster, abalone, king crab, making it look like a nouveau riche’s wedding banquet.

When Pei You and Zhou Qingbo arrived at the restaurant, the public area in the lobby was processing a wild giant yellow croaker. Zhou Qingbo curiously glanced at it for a moment and saw the reserved private room number placed under the fish.

“Tsk, he’s really going all out,” Zhou Qingbo returned to Pei You’s side from the crowd and sighed, “Someone might think it’s a grand banquet.”

Pei You followed his gaze and looked at the crowd. He understood immediately, “Ordered by Liu Xin?”

Zhou Qingbo nodded and made a gesture, joking, “It must have cost at least five thousand yuan. I wouldn’t dare to order such a thing even in Beijing.”

“Maybe it really is a grand banquet,” Pei You said with a smile.

“That 5,000 yuan fish wouldn’t be enough to buy me,” Zhou Qingbo blinked, jokingly, “it should cost at least 20,000 yuan.”

The two of them continued to joke as they walked past the crowd and entered the private room. Inside, besides the two of them, all the other guests had already arrived. Zhou Qingbo took a quick glance around and saw that besides a few vice presidents and other company executives invited by Liu Xin, there were also two unfamiliar young girls sitting at the table. At first glance, they appeared to be no older than twenty-five, with bright eyes and light, delicate makeup, looking just right.

Liu Xin said they were department managers who had just returned from a business trip, but Zhou Qingbo had a keen eye and knew he was just making it up.

“Come in, Zhou,” Liu Xin smiled as soon as he saw him, gesturing for him to take the main seat facing the entrance and leading him to the side of the two young girls, “Please, take a seat over here.”

“It’s a round table; it doesn’t matter,” Zhou Qingbo said casually, dealing with the unwritten “protocol” of such social occasions, and laughed as he sat down in a nearby vacant seat with Pei You.

Zhou Qingbo’s actions were swift, leaving Liu Xin no room to refute. Liu Xin’s outstretched hand fell empty, and he paused for a few seconds before regaining a smile and calling for the dishes.

The atmosphere at the dinner table was similar to that of most business gatherings. First, there was the exchange of compliments, followed by the unspoken probing of each other’s intentions.

Zhou Qingbo had worried that Pei You might feel uncomfortable in such a situation of ineffective socializing, but he realized that Pei You was more accepting of such occasions than he had imagined. Besides changing alcoholic drinks to yogurt under the pretext of being allergic to alcohol, Pei You adapted quite well to the subtle probing and testing.

“I thought you might feel uneasy coming here,” Zhou Qingbo sent a message to Pei You through WeChat, declining the toasts from the two young girls several times, and then used the table’s cover to hide the conversation, “I was worried.”

Pei You replied with a smiley face, showing that he was fine.

As the dishes kept coming, the atmosphere at the table gradually warmed up, with everyone chatting and laughing. Liu Xin tried to bring up some topics related to the public welfare projects, and Zhou Qingbo seized the opportunity to inquire casually about the construction progress.

Liu Xin’s answers were quite vague, but he didn’t expect Zhou Qingbo to ask in detail about this matter. Instead, he thought Zhou Qingbo was just making polite small talk, so he didn’t think much of it.

While they were dining, Zhou Qingbo and Pei You exchanged messages through WeChat without attracting anyone’s attention.

The dinner proceeded smoothly, and Liu Xin took every opportunity to toast Zhou Qingbo and Pei You, hoping to create a harmonious atmosphere. As the night went on, the alcohol took its toll on him, and he became more talkative and relaxed.

In the midst of the toasts and laughter, Zhou Qingbo and Pei You kept their focus and continued to pay attention to Liu Xin’s behavior and words. They were determined to find any clues or hints that might expose his questionable actions.

Amidst the seemingly sociable banquet, they were well aware that it might very well be a grand banquet in disguise, concealing potential traps and hidden motives. They had to tread carefully and not underestimate the situation.

The phone placed on the table in front of Pei You lit up and then went dark. He glanced at the screen and casually picked up the phone to reply to a message from Zhou Qingbo, who was asking if he’s okay.

“It’s alright,” Pei You said, “When I first started in this business, I had all sorts of clients.”

Pei You had said this more than once, but Zhou Qingbo still raised an eyebrow, finding it hard to imagine what Pei You was like when he first started.

After a few rounds of drinks, the conversation at the table gradually shifted away from personal matters. The vice presidents brought by Liu Xin also quieted down and subconsciously glanced at Liu Xin.

Liu Xin was not easily affected by alcohol; the more he drank, the paler his face became, combined with his skeletal-like appearance, he looked a bit like an ancient, aged zombie. He wore a smile on his face, but his eyes were dark and inscrutable. He stood up, tapped the shoulder of the person next to him, and changed seats to sit next to Pei You.

“Mr. Pei, you’ve been working hard these days,” Liu Xin said, “If there’s anything that’s bothering you at work, just let me know, and I’ll do my best to cooperate.”

“Everything’s fine,” Pei You replied calmly, “Everything is going smoothly.”

“Oh… that’s good to hear,” Liu Xin touched Pei You’s cup of yogurt with his wine glass and casually said, “A few days ago, our accountant mentioned that auditors from Beijing are very professional, and they can understand every detail of the accounts, and their efficiency is much higher than ours.”

After a pause, Liu Xin smiled again and said, “If you don’t mind, after a few days of work, you can teach them a thing or two.”

“We’ll see,” Pei You said, “It depends on how the work progresses.”

As they continued talking, Zhou Qingbo noticed that Pei You had a set of tactics for dealing with such probing questions.

If Liu Xin subtly asked about the details and progress of his work, Pei You would pretend not to understand and only answer the obvious questions. But if Liu Xin asked directly, Pei You would respond with official phrases like “I’m not sure for now,” “I’ll report later,” or “Qingshan will send a notice.”

Pei You remained vague, not yielding to any pressure, and dealt with the situation in a stable and effective manner.

Zhou Qingbo found himself curiously observing Pei You, almost as if he were collecting different, vivid, three-dimensional versions of Pei You. Whenever Pei You revealed a new facet of himself, Zhou Qingbo felt excited and curious, like he had stumbled upon some treasure.

Zhou Qingbo didn’t know where this curiosity came from, but he found himself silently exploring the whole person of Pei You in this “collecting” process.

Liu Xin chatted with Pei You for a while and seemed to realize that he couldn’t get any meaningful information from him. So, he shifted his attention to Zhou Qingbo.

“Oh, by the way, little Zhou,” Liu Xin said with a smile, “I reserved a private room at the nearby club. After dinner, we can go there, sing some songs, and relax.”

“That sounds nice,” Zhou Qingbo had already decided to go all out that night and see what tricks Liu Xin had up his sleeve. He put down his chopsticks and smiled with a hint of meaning, “Singing is fine, but I’ll pass on the rest.”

“Of course,” Liu Xin quickly got the hint and said, “We’re all law-abiding citizens. We won’t engage in any shady activities.”

Zhou Qingbo didn’t know if he was being overly suspicious, but he felt that Liu Xin’s tone had a somewhat ambiguous meaning when he said that.

The club Liu Xin had arranged was right next to Fuyuan Building, just a three-minute walk away.

Before moving to the next location, Pei You was unfortunately caught up in some urgent work, so he stayed downstairs to take a phone call, letting Zhou Qingbo and the others go upstairs first.

Having drunk two bottles of beer at the table, Zhou Qingbo was now deliberately pretending to be drunk. He stumbled into the private room and acted as if he had a low alcohol tolerance and was already a bit drunk.

The private room was already prepared in advance, with everything ready inside. Upon seeing Zhou Qingbo’s state, Liu Xin had someone open two bottles of XO, a high quality aged brandy and started to chat with Zhou Qingbo.

“Speaking of which, it’s been several years since I last saw General Zhou,” Liu Xin poured him a glass and smiled, “Over the years, you haven’t changed at all.”

“Why address me so formally? Just call me by my name,” Zhou Qingbo looked at the clear liquor in front of him, seeming to want to take it, but hesitated a bit. He furrowed his brows in annoyance and pushed the glass away.

“No thank you,” Zhou Qingbo said, “My older brother told me not to drink too much outside.”

His annoyance and dissatisfaction were evident in his tone, causing Liu Xin’s gaze to darken slightly as he probed, “Do you still let him dictate everything about you?”

“Well he is my elder brother after all?” Zhou Qingbo complained half-jokingly, “From work to personal life, there’s nothing he doesn’t meddle in—I could spend a bit more on my credit card one day, and the next day, he would have to ask me about it.”

Zhou Qingbo said while fiddling with his tie, “Living at home, it’s just so difficult to do as I please.”

“In that case, why not start your own business?” Liu Xin continued the conversation, “Creating your own business will give you a sense of freedom.”

“You make it sound so easy,” Zhou Qingbo sneered, “Starting a business from scratch? It’s not that simple.”

“Just find a partner,” Liu Xin suggested with a hidden meaning, “In the business world, it’s like that. If you have someone to support you, everything will go smoothly.”

Zhou Qingbo knew nothing about auditing and accounting, and he had been able to dodge all of Liu Xin’s questions. He thought Liu Xin would stop bothering him, but unexpectedly, Liu Xin’s mind worked quickly, and he learned to be cunning.

“I happen to know two friends who are into investment, and they are good,” Liu Xin made a gesture to Zhou Qingbo and said, “Their annual returns are about this much. If you are interested, I can introduce you to them.”

“Oh…” Zhou Qingbo seemed a bit drunk, he lowered his eyes, but still couldn’t resist reaching for the glass of wine. He habitually twirled it with his fingertips and said slowly, “Such a great opportunity, and you are not keeping it to yourself but sharing a piece of the pie with me?”

“It’s not entirely accurate to say that. In business, there’s always give and take,” Liu Xin’s voice lowered slightly as he said, “I do have some difficulties on my end. If you could help, wouldn’t it benefit both parties?”

“What kind of difficulties?” Zhou Qingbo asked knowingly.

“It’s just the small matters under my control,” Liu Xin softened his tone a bit, unable to resist saying, “In Dongjiang, it might not be a big company, but there are plenty of people to support. With various family businesses, it’s hard to manage everything properly.”

Liu Xin paused for a moment and continued in a low voice, “I know that in the city, big companies have standardized management, everything is straightforward. But it’s different here in our small place; we all have to make a living, right?”

Zhou Qingbo understood that Liu Xin was trying to intimidate and lure him into cooperating, hoping that after he returned to Beijing, he would speak well of Liu Xin in front of Zhou Cangshan to cover up his mismanagement.

If it were only about the high prices of materials in Dongjiang, Zhou Qingbo would not care much, as he could simply order Liu Xin to refund the money after he returned to Beijing.

However, the issue of manipulating the cost of materials, embezzling public funds, and falsifying public welfare expenditures had already touched Zhou Qingbo’s bottom line. He didn’t want to, and couldn’t simply let it slide.

Considering this, Zhou Qingbo lowered his head, smiled ambiguously, and said, “Can I really be of any use?”

“You’re right,” Liu Xin was cautious and deflected the question, “Dongjiang is indeed different. You  have seen it with your own eyes. Seeing is believing, and of course, the truth speaks for itself.”

Zhou Qingbo took a slow sip of his drink, seemingly contemplating and weighing the situation. After a while, he spoke meaningfully, “I’ve suddenly remembered something. Before coming here, my father told me that if it’s possible, I could visit the school that Uncle Liu donated to and make a donation for underprivileged students.”

Liu Xin’s face briefly changed, and for a moment, Zhou Qingbo thought he looked even paler than before, but the change was short-lived, and when he looked again, Liu Xin had returned to his original appearance.

“Sure, I can arrange that,” Liu Xin took out his phone from his pocket and smiled as he gestured, “By the way, I almost forgot, there’s something I need to attend to. I’ll make a phone call outside.”

Without waiting for a response from Zhou Qingbo, Liu Xin got up and walked toward the door, coincidentally brushing past Pei You.

As they passed each other, Pei You slightly stepped aside to make way, and in that moment, he couldn’t help but glance back at Liu Xin.