Silence lasted for five seconds in the living room. Chen Shiming glanced at Chen Qizhao and cautiously uttered two words: "Sleepwalking?"

Chen Qizhao: “…”

Neither of them spoke to each other anymore. The living room was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. The housekeeper who happened to be nearby couldn't help but look between the two of them, as if he was ready for the quarrel that would happen in a few seconds.

When Chen Qizhao was about to speak again, Chen Shiming said calmly, "It seems he is not sleepwalking."

Then he continued, "The last time you called me that was four years ago when you asked me for pocket money to buy limited edition shoes."

Chen Qizhao sat down on the sofa on the other side with an expressionless face, closed his eyes slightly and continued: "Are you disappointed that I didn't sleepwalk?"

Chen Shiming's eyes stayed on the document, and he just said, "Not bad."

Chen Qizhao didn't look at Chen Shiming again. He flipped through the pills on the table in the living room and picked out the painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs.

Zhang Yazhi probably didn't know her eldest son well enough, but he actually had the patience to believe what Zhang Yazhi said. Chen Shiming is a picky person who never holds back when speaking. He is never in a good mood to talk. Chen Qizhao still remembers that when he was in college, he and his classmates in the same major had a sudden idea to set up a studio. After he let it slip at the dinner table, Chen Shiming asked him about his preparations, his plans, and his technology. In just a few words, he criticized his idea as worthless, and the two of them started arguing on the spot.

There has never been a good time to talk to Chen Shiming. As he thought this, he was already thinking of other ideas in his mind, but suddenly he heard a question in his ear.

Chen Shiming: "Send the file over."

Chen Qizhao paused and turned his head to look at him.

Chen Shiming still kept looking at the document without moving, but he seemed to know Chen Qizhao's doubts, and continued: "Since you want me to help you, at least you should send the document to me first, right?"

The atmosphere seemed to stagnate briefly for a second or two, and then moved forward quietly.

Chen Qizhao retracted his gaze, opened the shell of the anti-inflammatory medicine, and said in an unnatural tone: "Then I'll send it to you later."

Chen Shiming glanced at the boy next to him. The boy was wearing pajamas, and the medical gauze on his arm was still noticeable. Chen Qizhao never speaks so politely. His words are always direct and demanding. The silent Chen Qizhao lacks the aggressiveness, but it's always better to be a little better.

Chen Shiming continued to look at the documents. "Since you want to find a project to try your hand at, you should concentrate on doing it."

The housekeeper thoughtfully brought over some hot porridge. Chen Qizhao just stirred the porridge and turned on his cell phone.

Hearing the voice, Zhang Yazhi's words of advice, "Just be good," seemed to come to mind, and he controlled his tone: "Oh, okay."

Chen Shiming was just feeling a little satisfied when he suddenly heard a series of text message alerts.

In the relatively quiet living room, the sound suddenly broke in.

Chen Qizhao lowered his head.

The cell phone that had just been turned on lit up with a bunch of text messages, all of which were reminders of missed calls.

It is conceivable that someone called him at least 20 times in a row while he was sleeping and turning off his phone.

The sound rang too many times.

Chen Shiming asked: "Fraudulent text message?"

Just as Chen Qizhao was about to speak, his cell phone rang, and the contact number displayed was "Yan Kailin".

With people watching him, he couldn't hang up and had to answer the call.

As soon as the call was connected, the loud voice on the other end of the line pierced through the receiver.

"Brother Zhao! I'm back home! Where are the people? We are short of one person. I'm waiting for you!"

The shocking music was accompanied by the boys' shouts, mixed with other noisy background sounds such as "have a drink" and "cheers", which showed how intense the situation was on the other side.

Chen Shiming looked at Chen Qizhao.

Chen Qizhao hung up the phone, cutting off the deafening voice, and said calmly, "It's a scam call."

After he said that, he blacklisted the phone number in front of Chen Shiming.

-*

Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, tall city buildings stand tall, and a man in a suit in front of a desk opens a briefcase.

"We have investigated it thoroughly. All the information is on it." Special Assistant Xu continued seriously and rigorously: "The people who met with the Second Young Master that night were all acquaintances. The person who handed the project to the Second Young Master was also there. His name is Qin Xingfeng."

"The Qin family's illegitimate child?" Chen Shiming flipped through the information. "How is Chen Qizhao related to him?"

Special Assistant Xu said, "They have been in contact several times. It was the young master of the Wang family who arranged the connection."

Chen Qizhao seemed to be very enthusiastic about Qin Xingfeng's project and sent the documents over very quickly last night. He took a quick look and found that the outline material was not a plan, so the project was not good, at least on the surface.

The Qin family has only gradually expanded to S City in recent years, and had previously been in the neighboring J City. He had heard a little about the Qin family. As an illegitimate child, Qin Xingfeng was not welcome in the Qin family. However, he was also a capable person. Later, he took some money to start his own business. In just a few years, he became very successful. Now he is fighting openly and secretly with other heirs of the Qin family.

"It's not without reason that Qin Xingfeng would approach Chen Qizhao. The Qin family is in a serious internal struggle, and he wants to use this project as a stepping stone to the Chen family." Chen Shiming threw the document aside. "Chen Qizhao is inexperienced and it's easiest for him to fool and deceive. Qin Xingfeng has a lot on his mind."

Special Assistant Xu bowed his head slightly: "Boss, do you want to explain this to the Second Young Master?"

"No need. Since he took the initiative to find me, he is obviously very interested in this project. I won't interfere with his decision. Even if I suffer a loss, he will learn a lesson. I'll just give him some practice." Chen Shiming flipped through another file again, and seemed to be ready to continue working on other things. He said in a light tone, "I'll leave this to you. If he has any needs or problems, please report to me in time."

Special Assistant Xu nodded to indicate that he understood, and when he was about to leave, Chen Shiming called him again.

Without even raising his head, Chen Shiming simply said, "If he needs help, give him some convenience."

-*

In a club in S City, several young people gathered together, many of them with hangovers on their faces.

"What? You were blocked too?"

"I guess it's blocked, so I can't get in."

"Try another card."

"Is Chen Qizhao really being sanctioned by his big brother? There has been no news from him in the past two days, and he hasn't spoken in the group."

The young people gathered together, with different expressions on their faces, and seemed a little confused. Although he knew that the Chen brothers did not get along, their quarrels in the past would only last one night, and the next day Chen Qizhao would still contact them as if nothing had happened. Yesterday was the day Yan Kailin returned to China. They were well prepared to welcome him and even made time to contact Chen Qizhao. However, no one answered the call and in the end the phone was turned off.

Now, let alone contacts, their phone numbers have basically been blocked.

It is even more unreliable to find people online, and the messages you send will fall on deaf ears.

Cheng Rong held the phone with a frown on his face.

He knew very well what kind of person Chen Qizhao was. He was always available upon call and generous with his money. Although he had a bad temper, he was always easy to control and not that smart. This is the first time he has seen a situation like this. He doesn't think Chen Qizhao would take the initiative to block someone.

"Linzi, you have been blocked too?" Cheng Rong suppressed his doubts and turned to ask another boy.

The boy has a baby face and looks young, but he has a buzz cut and some tattoos on his exposed skin, and he seems to have a bad temper. At this time, his fingers kept dialing the number repeatedly, but when the call was connected, there was only a mechanical female voice. He said impatiently: "Is his phone bill out of balance?"

Yan Kailin looked surprised: "I returned to China, and he didn't even come to greet me."

"Is his personal freedom restricted? Chen Shiming is so angry this time that he directly asked people not to go out?"

"Could it be that all the phones are with Chen Shiming? This is indeed a bit strange. Have you contacted him in the past two days?"

"Why don't you go over and take a look?"

"Forget it. I don't want to meet Chen Shiming."

A group of people were talking at once, but no one really dared to go over to see what was going on.

"I didn't even reply to the message I sent. Oh, I seemed to hear from Brother Xingfeng yesterday that he and Xiaozhao were planning to discuss a project."

"Qin Xingfeng was able to contact him? That's strange, why didn't he reply to our message?"

Cheng Rong said: "Since we can get in touch, let Qin Xingfeng find out what the situation is and see if we can get him out."

Yan Kailin didn't say anything and continued to bombard the Internet.

After a while, the message he sent turned into an exclamation mark.

"..." Yan Kailin: "Fuck!"

-*

Chen Qizhao was not surprised to receive the text message from Special Assistant Xu.

After all, his network of contacts is limited after his rebirth. If he wants to investigate Lin Shizhong's affairs without arousing other people's suspicion using Ruizhen Electronics as an excuse, then the best way is to seek help from outside forces. Anyway, he is a corrupt person at heart, and he never exaggerates in anything he does. He uses the excuse of wanting to make investments, and it is only natural that he should borrow Chen Shiming's people to help him, which can save time and effort.

Chen Shiming is so busy that he doesn't have time to argue with him about this every day. The most likely possibility is that he will send someone to help him.

He hadn't expected that Chen Shiming was so easy to communicate with. He even planned to ask Zhang Yazhi for help.

Zhang Yazhi is not in charge of the group's affairs, but it is still possible to pass some information to his father or elder brother through her, although it is a bit troublesome.

Chen Qizhao seemed to be thinking about something. Thinking of Chen Shiming's attitude yesterday, he murmured, "I never realized that he would fall for this in my previous life."

"Yes, we talked nicely."

"What did you say..."

"But now the relationship is not as bad as before, so it's not surprising that he is a little patient."

Halfway through the conversation, a new message notification appeared on the phone screen.

Chen Qizhao came back to his senses and suddenly realized that he was talking to himself. "It's a bit strange, but it's not impossible to communicate."

The person who sent the message was Qin Xingfeng, who said that Cheng Rong had organized a dinner party and would bring him a paper version of the plan.

I had so many bad friends when I was young, but after something happened to the Chen family, I cut off all ties with them. It’s good enough to remember one or two people. I have some impression of Cheng Rong, or maybe it was because he called him enough times yesterday and I have some impression of his name.

It goes without saying that the dinner was organized by Cheng Rong.

In order to get him through, I even used the project plan as an excuse.

A good reason to let him pass.

Various web pages were open on the large screen of the computer in the room, and several pages presented private websites. The document on the left half of the screen was already filled with densely written information. Chen Qizhao picked out two of the sorted files, packaged them together with a series of files sent by Qin Xingfeng later and sent them to Special Assistant Xu.

The surroundings were quiet, and the mobile phone on the table lit up from time to time.

He didn't reply, and Qin Xingfeng sent a few more messages.

Chen Qizhao left Qin Xingfeng alone for more than half an hour before slowly picking up his phone.