Zhao Jinchuan left the apartment and returned home.
As soon as he stepped through the door, he heard Zhao Dongsheng’s furious voice coming from the study on the second floor, “What a bastard you raised! What else can he do besides causing trouble? A worthless piece of shit!”
Zhao Jinchuan paused in his steps, a vicious chill flashing in his eyes. He had inherited his mother’s looks, which were naturally refined and handsome. Unfortunately, after spending too long indulging in debauchery, he had picked up a certain air of wantonness. Although he still gave off a sinister and ruthless vibe when he was stern.
He slowly ascended the stairs and heard his mother, Fang Huiyun, softly pleading beside Zhao Dongsheng, “Why do you get so angry? Jinchuan is still young; everyone makes small mistakes. Why get so worked up over this?”
“Small mistakes?” Zhao Dongsheng was furious, “Idiot! The Eldest has been struggling for so long with that Shen family over a position, and he’s finally about to make it—do you have any idea how many eyes are on the Zhao family right now? And at such a critical moment, your good-for-nothing son actually dared to hire someone to commit murder! Absolutely lawless!”
Perhaps because they knew the topic was confidential, all the servants in the house had been sent away, and only Zhao Dongsheng’s personal secretary Yue Zhong was waiting at the door. Zhao Jinchuan pushed the door open and walked in. Fang Huiyun was afraid he would face Zhao Dongsheng’s wrath. She rushed forward and said, “There’s food downstairs, you should…”
“I’m not hungry,” Zhao Jinchuan plopped down on the sofa, brushing his still damp hair back, “You called me back just to scold me, right? Go ahead.”
This attitude choked Zhao Dongsheng so much that he threw a teacup from the table at him in anger, spilling tea all over Zhao Jinchuan. The cup rolled to the ground and broke into pieces.
“Oh!” Fang Huiyun exclaimed in shock, wiping the tea off her son while glaring at Zhao Dongsheng with teary eyes, “It was freshly brewed tea! What if he gets burned?”
Zhao Dongsheng scolded, “Look at his arrogant attitude! I’ve warned him repeatedly—running a company requires discretion, and the formula of health care products must be carefully examined. You assured me nothing would happen, but how many times has this been now?”
Zhao Jinchuan brushed off his trousers nonchalantly and said slowly, “You’ve seen the annual report. For my first venture into business, this profit is pretty good. Health supplements go into people’s stomachs; it’s normal for a few with weak constitutions to react badly. That old man wouldn’t let go, so I just gave him a lesson. If he can’t take a hit, that’s his own bad luck, not my fault.”
“Bullshit!” Zhao Dongsheng cursed, “Do you even know what time it is? The whole family has to think twice before moving a finger, and here you are, causing such a huge mess! Look at all the messed-up news online!”
Zhao Jinchuan gave a disdainful laugh, “Those who jump around online are cowards who didn’t dare to even fart loudly in real life. Have the cyber police arrest a couple, and they’ll quiet down. As for impact, don’t worry about it. They’re like fish, one second they’re all for justice, the next they forget it all for some celebrity gossip. If you scatter some fish food, it will spread from one person to ten, and then to a hundred, and they’ll chase it around for a while. What waves can they make?”
Zhao Jinchuan said dismissively, “I’ve already dealt with the guy who did the hit-and-run. The police won’t catch anyone, nor will it trace back to the Zhao family. Since it’s already happened, if you find it troublesome… what was that phrase? Oh, ‘sacrificing personal relationships for the greater good’. You can just send me to jail, earn a good reputation for being law-abiding, and help my uncle out. The Zhao family won’t miss me.”
He extended his arms as if ready for handcuffs.
Zhao Dongsheng snorted coldly, “So you’re playing the part of the broken jar now?”
“Aren’t I just a broken jar? The old man can’t stand the sight of me, and neither can you. You both think I’ll never measure up to the one she gave birth to. I heard you even needed a paternity test before acknowledging me—am I wrong?”
“What nonsense are you talking about!” Fang Huiyun quickly tried to stop him.
Zhao Jinchuan leaned back on the sofa and tilted his head to avoid her hand, “I know exactly which shameless cowards have been egging you on behind the scenes for today’s scolding. This isn’t a big deal—I can handle it myself, which is why I didn’t bother coming to report it to you. If you still feel like yelling, go ahead and yell a bit more. If not, I’ll be on my way.”
“You…” Zhao Dongsheng’s anger flared up again.
Fang Huiyun poked her son’s head hard and said preemptively, “Don’t always talk back to your dad. He’s just worried about you. Go change your pants, they’re wet.”
Zhao Jinchuan stood up, looking at Zhao Dongsheng.
Zhao Dongsheng didn’t say anything, his face stern.
He turned and left.
Zhao Dongsheng was still angry, and scolded Fang Huiyun, “You make a great shield!”
Fang Huiyun glared back, “What else should I do? Let you scold him, let those two belittle him? He’s my son, if you won’t cherish him, I will. I might not have taught him well, but who told you to keep him hidden for so many years?” Her eyes reddened before she finished, murmuring, “If you had spent more time with him when he was young, he wouldn’t be causing trouble all the time.”
“Alright,” Zhao Dongsheng rubbed his brow in frustration, “Every time I say something, you have a pile of words waiting.”
“You provoked me,” Fang Huiyun wiped her eyes and refilled a cup for him, “Jinchuan is still young, inexperienced. He’ll mature with more experience. Don’t always scold him in anger; he respects you the most, it’ll hurt him.”
“Respect my ass,” Zhao Dongsheng cursed and took the the teacup, “You spoil him too much, and it’ll lead to trouble.”
“He’s straightforward and wears his heart on his sleeve—out of all the kids, isn’t he the one most like you?” Fang Huiyun touched his temples, “Don’t get upset over these small things; you’ll get more wrinkles. How about I stew some ginseng for you?”
“If your precious son doesn’t cause more trouble, I’ll stay young,” Zhao Dongsheng’s anger was finally dissipated by Fang Huiyun. “Call xiao Yue in, I have some things for him to do.”
Fang Huiyun knew this meant her husband was going to help their son clean up the mess, and she felt relieved, smiling as she opened the door for Yue Zhong.
After Xiao Chengzong’s death, a self-operated news account broke the story of ‘The mysterious poisoning case of Baolijian and the plaintiff’s lawyer dying in an accident’, which quickly went viral, garnering significant media attention.
Baolijian already had a bad reputation, and now it was linked to a premeditated murder. It didn’t take long for indignant netizens to uncover the identity of Zhao Jinchuan’s identity as a major shareholder, exposing the Zhao family’s extensive influence across politics and business.
However, this wave of outrage was soon quietly quelled by an invisible net.
Comments were prohibited, reposts were rendered invalid, topics disappeared, and hot searches were removed.
In just three hours, all information related to Baolijian and Kuangmu evaporated, leaving only a few brave self-media outlets stubbornly keeping the issue alive, like small waves in an ocean after a stone has sunk.
Qin Mu arrived in J City by ten in the morning. It had just rained, leaving the ground wet. Gangzi rented a car, navigating to the address in the old city district in the east.
The houses here were built in the 1980s. They were generally low and cramped, making the area feel crowded. Because a leader was due to visit a key project in the eastern suburbs and might pass through, the district had spent considerable effort painting the walls white near the road. These old buildings looked like painted ghosts with pink faces but gray backs, which looked quite bizarre.
Zhang Wenhua lived in one of these mismatched tube-shaped buildings. Going up the stairs to the second floor, there were torn Spring Festival couplets pasted outside the iron door, and the ‘0’ in the doorplate ‘205’ was leaning weakly to one side.
Qin Mu knocked, but there was no answer. Calling led to a message that the phone was off.
He furrowed his brows.
Uncle Zhang lived alone. His wife had passed away long ago, and he only had a daughter he rarely saw. He was not very mobile and seldom left home, yet he had proactively contacted Qin Mu earlier to sign the power of attorney. Now, his phone being off was clearly a sign of trouble.
Gangzi leaned against the door and listened. He then checked outside the corridor window before agilely climbing out, using the wall for support.
Qin Mu was startled, peering out to watch.
Gangzi climbed the external water pipe, stepping on the protruding edge of the wall to peer into the window of room 205, then climbed back in. His movements so silent for such a big man. Qin Mu now understood why Chu Yu insisted he bring Gangzi; his skills were indeed impressive.
Gangzi typed ‘there’s someone’ on his phone to show Qin Mu, but loudly said, “No one’s here, let’s go. We’ll come back once we contact him.”
Qin Mu understood, replying, “Alright.”
They went downstairs, left through the front, then circled back from behind. They hid at the corner of the third floor of the building opposite to watch.
Soon, they saw three people in suits emerge from room 205, talking as they left the courtyard and got into a black Audi.
Gangzi took photos with his phone, saying, “I’ll send these back for checking.”
“No need,” Qin Mu said, “They’re either from Baolijian or Kuangmu, here to silence him.”
“Then we…”
“Wait.”
They waited a bit longer. Qin Mu’s phone received a message saying the number he had called was now in service. He called again, and it was answered after two rings.
“Lawyer xiao Qin…” Zhang Wenhua’s voice was weak, like a flickering candle in the wind, “I’m not doing this lawsuit anymore.”
Qin Mu showed no particular emotion and seemed surprisingly calm. He said slowly, “Uncle Zhang, I’m not here to force you into the lawsuit. Regardless of whether we proceed, I wanted to see you because Teacher Xiao was working tirelessly for you right up until his accident; he was always very concerned about you.”
A series of coughs came from the other end, the old man struggling to speak, “I am very sorry for him.”
Qin Mu said, “I want to see you. Can I?”
The old man was silent for a while before agreeing.
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