CH 38

My mind was elsewhere, and before I knew it, a sharp set of dog teeth was headed straight for my eye. In a split second, I felt a powerful force knock me back before I could even cry out for help. 

When I regained my senses, a friendly yellow-haired dog was licking my wrist. “Did you save me?” I asked, still dazed from the impact. The owner was sweating profusely, understandably worried about the potential consequences if his dog had blinded me. 

“Are you okay, buddy?” he asked, crouching down beside me. “

I’m fine, no need to worry,” I replied, trying to stand up. Suddenly, my wrist felt numb, and I looked down to see the same dog continuously licking a particular spot on my wrist, clearly interested in it. 

“I seem to have a strange connection with this dog…wait a minute!” A bolt of lightning struck my mind. 

“The spot that the dog is licking is the wound left by the Plum Blossom Gu from the underworld show interview!”

In a panic, I quickly pulled my arm back, ignoring the owner’s attempts to calm me down. I knelt down on the ground and locked eyes with the yellow dog. “Do you know what this is?” 

The owner was confused by my sudden reaction. “Why are you kneeling? Ar you trying to extort me?” 

“Listen, I want this dog,” I said firmly.

“Huh? What’s going on?” the owner asked.

“I said, I want this dog!”

“No, brother, this dog is not for sale. That 500,000 estimate is probably just the drunken ramblings of an old Taoist.”

“What’s its name?”

“Why are you so stubborn, brother? This dog has been waiting for its owner to come back. Even if you buy it, it will sneak back. ” 

“Tell me its name!” 

“It’s called Bai Qi.” 

“Bai Qi? The fierce general of the Great Qin who killed 400,000 people?” 

“The characters may be the same, but…” 

“What a domineering name, so heavy with killing intent! No wonder it’s impervious to joy and anger and immune to disturbance by ghosts and demons! I’m buying this dog for sure!” Standing up, I pulled out my black card given by the underworld show, “Boss, here is 500,000 yuan, not 1 yuan less.” 

“Brother, calm down…” The owner was completely dumbfounded, wondering what was going on. 

“No need to hesitate anymore. It’s exactly what I want!” I reached into my pocket and took out two hundred Yuan, stuffing it into the owner’s hand. “I’ll pay in installments. You take these two hundred first. Bai Qi! Let’s go!” Jogging all the way, Bai Qi was attracted by the plum blossom pattern on my shoes and followed closely behind me. 

After we ran out of two streets, we finally heard the owner shouting. He was waving the two hundred Yuan and running after us in his slippers: “Hey, that dog is not for sale!” 

“I’ll give you back the missing 49,800. You don’t have to chase us anymore!” We ran out of the pet market and got into a taxi. I quickly instructed the driver to start driving. 

“Take a quick tour around the city before coming back here.” 

“Okay, okay.” When I returned to the pet market, I found that the owner had not called the police and was still doing business as usual, which put my mind at ease. 

“He probably thought you would sneak back on your own the next day.” I petted the fur on Bai Qi’s neck, and the dog lay very humanely on my lap, sniffing the wound on my wrist incessantly. 

“Do you know about the underworld show?” That was where the nightmare began, and I could never forget it. I had an uncontrollable fear of the place, and although I didn’t want to admit it, not daring to re investigate the no lights road again was proof enough. 

I returned to the “Peak of Happiness” store with Baiqi, and Xiao Feng had already prepared the meal, sitting at the table, earnestly reciting the names and prices of various products. 

Seeing her recite names that were embarrassing made me smile. “The meal is really good today. I could smell it before I even entered the door.” “

You’re back!” Xiao Feng greeted me happily, but she didn’t expect to see Bai Qi beside me. She let out a sharp “ah” and then quickly retreated back into the shop.

“Gao Jian! Wh-what is that?” 

“He’s called Baiqi. From now on, he’s a member of the shop.” We entered the house, and Baiqi wagged his tail, slowly circling around Xiaofeng. 

The girl in question, though, was trembling and dared not move. Baiqi seemed very pleased with Xiaofeng’s reaction. He barked three times at her and then ran into the house to play with his tail. 

“Xiao Feng, make three portions of food from now on, and make sure there’s meat in every meal. This dog is very human-like; don’t mistreat him.”

“I feel like you’re treating him better than you treat me.” Xiaofeng, who was frightened, felt a bit aggrieved. I quickly sat down next to her and said, “You work hard, and I’ll give you a raise. Let’s go buy some suitable clothes tomorrow…” 

After saying these words, I silently criticized myself in my heart, “Why am I acting like a con artist?” 

Looking at Xiao Feng, who was happy and still continuously picking food for me, there were some things that I could only keep to myself and couldn’t say out loud. 

After being full and satisfied, drowsiness came over me. I let Xiao Feng sleep on the second-floor bed while I made a bed on the first floor. 

The next morning, I was abruptly woken up from my sweet dreams by a rapid knocking on the door. 

“Who is it?” When I opened the door, it was a strange person dressed in a trench coat and wrapped up tightly. 

“Hey buddy, going to an adult store to buy something is not a shameful thing, but do you really have to dress like a secret agent?” 

The person’s tone was cold and detached, “Let’s talk inside. I have some business to discuss with you.”

“Business?” We entered the room, and I asked Xiao Feng to go outside and watch the store while I made a cup of tea for the man in the trench coat. “What kind of business?”

The man didn’t say anything, but simply placed his briefcase on the table and opened it. “A business worth a hundred thousand yuan.”

“That’s a big deal.” Compared to Xia Qingzhi’s small-scale dealings, this was the real deal. “When you haven’t opened up shop for three years, when you do, you’ll have three years of success. Tell me more.”

The man stood up and positioned himself at the door, making sure no one was eavesdropping. He took off his hat and sat back down. “Good day, Mr. Gao. I am Zhang, the personal secretary of 

Director Huang from Qian Ding Pharmaceutical Company.”

“So, it’s trendy to hire male secretaries now, huh? Nice to meet you.” My gaze didn’t leave the bundle of one hundred thousand yuan notes on the table. They looked so pretty, with their bright red color.

“Mr. Gao, this one hundred thousand is just a deposit. If the results of your investigation satisfy Director Huang, we will give you another one hundred thousand.”

“Two hundred thousand in total. What do you want me to do? Steal trade secrets from a rival company?”

“Well, it’s like this. Director Huang has three children, two daughters and one son. The eldest daughter works in another province, the second daughter is bedridden with a serious illness, and the only son, Huang Guanxing, just turned twenty but spends most of his time lazing around and getting into trouble.”

“Wait, are you asking me to investigate your boss, Director Huang?”

“How is that possible? The person who commissioned this job is Director Huang himself. He met you at the Jiang family’s wedding and thought you were capable, so he sent me to communicate with you,” the secretary explained.

“I’m sorry, my mistake. Please continue,” I said.

“Although Director Huang’s youngest son, Huang Guanxing, is not productive and only spends his time indulging in pleasure, he is still Director Huang’s only son and the only one who can carry on the Huang family bloodline.”

“That’s why Director Huang has always secretly protected him, even though he gives him a headache most of the time, for fear that something might happen to him.”

“But even with all the protection, Huang Guanxing still died,” the secretary continued.

“Died?”

“Yes, the police investigation concluded that it was an accidental car crash, and that it was caused by Huang Guanxing driving under the influence of alcohol. He is fully responsible,” 

“He has only himself to blame for drinking and driving,” I lit a cigarette and asked, “Do you mind?” 

Secretary Zhang waved his hand and said, “Although Mr. Huang’s son was promiscuous and ill-behaved, he had a medical condition—alcohol allergy. There was no possibility of him driving after drinking.” 

“In addition, the presence of alcohol was only detected through the autopsy, which made Mr. Huang suspect that someone had murdered his only son and made it look like an accident.” 

Secretary Zhang sat up straight, “There are many groups that have conflicting interests with our Qian Ding pharmaceutical company. It is difficult to determine the killer, and Mr. Huang is the face of our company. There are some things that he cannot handle personally, so he wants you to investigate in secret.” 

After a moment’s thought, i nodded my head in understanding. Usually, private detectives do not accept commissions for murder cases, but the stack of bills on the table was too tempting.

“Okay, I accept your commission,” I said, stubbing out my cigarette and straightening up. “I will need you to provide me with some information, including all of Huang Guanxing’s communication tools and social media accounts from before his death. I need to screen everyone he had contact with one by one.” 

“No problem, I understand your procedures,” Secretary Zhang took out a file folder from his coat. 

“Both of Huang Guanxing’s phones are in here, along with his social media account information and passwords. This is my business card. If you need anything else, please feel free to contact me at any time. I will do my best to assist you.” 

****

After seeing Secretary Zhang off, I locked the door to the second floor and opened the file folder. 

“A deal for two hundred thousand yuan, looks like I’ll have to give it my all,” 

I took out Huang Guanxing’s used phone and logged into his WeChat account. As I scrolled through his contacts, a familiar username caught my eye. “Girl who loves handsome and talented men? Isn’t this…”