WWY Chapter 34

Chapter 34: Private Kitchen – The sound of the door locking was somewhat jarring…

[Qing Gu, are the police investigating your accounts?]

[How do you know?]

[Oh dear, I’m so sorry, my dad called the police, insisting that I was being scammed by criminals! I tried to explain it to him, but he wouldn’t believe me. Later, the police came to the house to give feedback and explained everything clearly to him!]

[Oh, damn it, so it was you, kid!]

[I’m really sorry! Haha, Qing Gu, the police said your family is really rich. You should have seen my dad’s face!]

[Did the police reveal my identity?]

[No, how could they? They just said it casually. My dad told me to spend more time with you, haha!]

[Ha, are you free to hang out now?]

[It’s my grandma’s birthday today, and I have to go out soon. How about tomorrow?]

[Okay, we’ll talk then.]

[I’m leaving then, bye-bye!]

As if scalded, Xiaoxu quickly closed the platform, beads of cold sweat dripping down, and went to pour himself a glass of water. Tuxi Ling patted him on the shoulder, indicating he had done a good job.

Shengbo Xia looked dejected: “What do we do, Ling team? Where are we going to get a million from?”

Tuxi Ling glanced at the time, it was 7:30 AM.

“Let’s all go get breakfast first!”

People in the office gradually left, and he stopped Shengbo Xia: “Still no leads on Suspect Number One?”

“They’re hiding too well, Ling team, still nothing!” Shengbo Xia said, wincing in pain, “Not to mention this person’s strong anti-reconnaissance awareness, if they just did what they did at the Comic-Con last time, casually wearing a celebrity frog costume or something, even if they were walking all over the streets, we wouldn’t be able to do anything!”

“You’re right, but as long as they’re still in this city, they’ll eventually slip up.”

After having breakfast with his colleagues, Tuxi Ling walked out of the building. Shengbo Xia called out to him: “Where are you going, Ling team!”

“Going for a walk! You guys do what you need to do!”

“Then since there’s nothing to do today, Wuli Wu and I will go to Renchao Village again to see if Chief Sun has found anything new!”

“Go ahead, thanks for your hard work!”

The woods after the rain were muddy. The elderly and aunties had moved their morning exercise location to the park’s walkways.

Tuxi Ling stepped on the bluestone slabs by the edge of the woods and wandered aimlessly for a while. When he was sure no one was around, he called Lan He.

Lan He on the other end seemed to be still asleep and had a strong case of morning grumps.

“What is it!”

“…”

It was the first time he’d encountered such an impatient Lan He.

“Beep beep beep—”

The call was immediately hung up.

The courage he’d painstakingly mustered disappeared at that moment. He felt that he shouldn’t have dragged Lan He into this. He sighed and decided to go to Bureau Chief Liu to lay out the facts and reason with him, and apply for more funding again.

But according to rumors, that ten thousand was only extorted after he’d sacrificed his pride and squatted at the Chief Bureau’s office for three days.

Unexpectedly, a few seconds later, the silent phone vibrated. It was Lan He calling back.

He hesitated for a moment and answered.

“Officer Ling, good morning!” The voice was as bright as the sunlight overhead, perhaps a little too bright.

Tuxi Ling: “…”

What a quick change of face!

“I accidentally pressed the wrong button just now. Is something wrong?”

“I… it’s nothing really, it’s just…”

Lan He turned over in the big bed, lay on his pillow, and scratched his upright hair: “Officer Ling, would you call so early if there wasn’t something? Spill it, don’t beat around the bush.”

Tuxi Ling thought about it and realized that their relationship wasn’t close enough that he could borrow a million with just a simple phone call. He had been too impulsive.

“How about this, are you free tonight? I’d like to invite you out.”

“Oh, where?”

“Where…”

Lan He smiled, his eyes crinkling: “You haven’t decided yet, Officer Ling?”

Tuxi Ling was embarrassed: “Yeah, it was a spur of the moment decision…”

“Then you get busy. I’ll choose the place and send it to you later!”

“Okay.”

After hanging up the phone, Lan He found the private restaurant he liked and sent the name and location to Tuxi Ling’s WeChat. Even he himself didn’t notice that his lips were constantly curving upwards.

With a toothbrush in his mouth, he made specific arrangements with Tuxi Ling about the time. Lan He continued to stare at himself in the mirror while brushing his teeth.

The ordinary mirror seemed to have its own beauty filter, and the person inside looked better and better the more he looked.

He used the skincare products today with extra care, and even tried the most expensive perfume. It’s just that his hair was too short, not much room to style it.

After changing into sportswear, he was satisfied with the overall effect.

The call just now made Tuxi Ling a little frustrated. He felt he had been too impulsive.

He stood with his hands on his hips, looking up at the treetop. Dappled light scattered down from between the leaves, dazzling him so he had to squint.

What was all this? Too melodramatic!

Returning to the criminal investigation team, he ran into a few colleagues from the Economic Investigation Unit. He greeted them and asked, “Got a case?”

“Ling team!” One of the officers was very familiar with him, stopped and greeted him, “Isn’t it the Gu Corporation case? While investigating, we found a mistake. Their accountant said they made a mistake earlier. There was a sum of money stored in an overseas account. It was foreign payment not recovered in time, ridiculous right? Can they forget a payment of eighty million? Who are they kidding? This is how they are trying to fill the loophole. We are going to check the accounts now!”

“If there’s no problem with the accounts, it’s fine?”

“At most, we’ll say the internal management is bad, not enough for criminal or economic charges!” Outside the door, a car pulled up to the entrance, and the man waved and ran outside, “If there’s really no problem, we’ll withdraw the case first. If there really is a problem, something will happen sooner or later! I’ll go first!”

The two cars slowly drove away. Tuxi Ling watched his colleagues coming and going outside the door, his brow gradually furrowing.

It was almost obvious that the Gu siblings, even Jia’an Gu, were big trouble. All that was missing was that final piece of evidence.

–

Before going out in the afternoon, Lan He took a shower and got himself ready again according to the morning procedure. He was extremely satisfied.

He didn’t used to care about appearance, but recently he felt that making himself look good was also one of the important social etiquettes, of course, only if the other party was a certain someone.

He left in a good mood, with two hours to go before the appointment, but he really couldn’t sit still.

The weather was clear today, the air warm and balmy, the highway was surrounded by a thick green, everything made him feel good.

On the way, he received a WeChat message from Tuxi Ling.

[Ling Baozi: I might be late.]

[Lan He: /OK Waiting for you.]

Without even a polite remark, he must be dealing with an emergency, but it was good that he would still be coming.

Since there was nothing to do anyway, Lan He went straight to the destination.

It was really quiet.

In a district of bungalows, several old houses had been combined to create a large courtyard for the private kitchen restaurant. Each table was in a separate room, equivalent to a private room. There weren’t many of them in total, which was exactly what Lan He wanted.

He found the table that the owner had specially reserved for him.

The environment was really nice, with a Chinese-style antique decor, red lanterns adorning the windows, and a screen separating the door from the table. The walls were covered with calligraphy and paintings.

He sat alone in the room and played with his phone for a while. He looked at all the calligraphy and paintings on the wall and confirmed that they were all replicas. Bored, he started looking at the menu.

He liked the menu even more. It was full of meat dishes that looked appetizing.

They had agreed to meet at six o’clock. The guests at the other tables had come and gone, and the waiter had come several times, subtly indicating that he had been occupying the table for too long. Lan He got rid of him with the power of money, but Ling Tuxi still didn’t come, no matter how long he waited.

He looked at his watch and realized that it was already past eight o’clock. He thought his hopes were probably slim today.

Being stood up wasn’t a good feeling. If the other person wasn’t Ling Tuxi, he would immediately end the friendship.

Just as he was about to call to ask about the situation, the door behind the screen was slowly pushed open.

The resentment in Lan He’s heart disappeared instantly, and he consciously smiled. He had already prepared his opening line, which would surely be to offer his concern and comfort to the Officer Ling who had been busy all day.

But the person didn’t come in right away, but turned around and closed the door. After that, he stood quietly outside the screen.

The sound of the door locking was somewhat jarring. A feeling of unease suddenly welled up in Lan He’s heart, and his smile gradually disappeared.

He stared fixedly at the huge landscape painting screen. With the light from outside, he suddenly realized that there were actually two people who had come in.

One tall and one short.

The tall one was about 190 cm tall, which was consistent with Ling Tuxi, but his figure was much more burly. Even with just a silhouette, he could recognize him, it was Qi A.

And the shorter one…

“Thump, thump, thump…”

The sound of his heartbeat suddenly filled his ears. It was only then that he realized he had forgotten to breathe for a long time. He grabbed his chest hard and looked for medicine in his pocket. Because he was moving too frantically, he accidentally knocked off the chopsticks.

The slight sound of the chopsticks hitting the floor seemed to trigger a switch, and the two people moved.

They slowly walked around the screen and appeared in front of him.

Qi A leisurely had his hands in his pockets, coldly looking at him, while Da Sang in front of him had a loving smile on his face, as if admiring a small animal struggling to death.

“My little Lan He, long time no see. You’re really getting more and more beautiful. Did you like the little pet I sent you last time?”

The voices in the courtyard seemed to have disappeared all at once.

Lan He felt as if a poisonous snake had bitten his throat. He didn’t dare to move his hand that was searching for medicine in his pocket, his face as white as paper.

Da Sang opened his mouth with a smile: “So impolite, why don’t you greet me? Did I teach you that?”

The last time he showed this smile to Lan He, he was holding the hamster he had secretly kept in his hands, its corpse.

Lan He desperately moved his lips, his chest heaving violently, but he didn’t call out the name that gave him nightmares.

“Did you think you had run to the safest place in the world?” Da Sang looked around the room and spread his hands, “Wishful thinking. Look, the police here can’t find us at all. We can still do whatever we want.”

“Is it acting up again, my child? Actually, you don’t need to be nervous. I’m just here to see how you’re doing.” He looked at Lan He again, “I feel sorry for you. Your biological father really didn’t want you, leaving that kind of will… Heh, you actually agreed to marry a woman and have children? Do you know how heartbroken Qi A is?”

Lan He covered his chest and looked at Qi A behind him, but he turned his head away. He couldn’t see his expression at that moment.

His vision was blurred, and his heart ached so much that he wanted to die quickly. He gritted his teeth and leaned against the back of the chair, telling himself not to lose consciousness at this time, or it would probably be forever.

Jiu Ya is outside, he should make some noise…

Ling Tuxi should be here soon too, just delay them…