Chapter 49: When he entered the game, he had no time to think about people he shouldn't think about.

“…Sister Zhiwei.”

Zhui Lian took a step forward, stood in front of Pei Zhiwei, and called her calmly.

"Want to talk?" Pei Zhiwei looked at her with a smile and pointed in the direction of the curtain. "We can go inside and talk."

*

It was still the same small room of a few square meters, with an old desk, two computers, and several packed filing cabinets.

"What did you want to ask Ayu just now?" Pei Zhiwei sat down on the chair naturally and asked Zhui Lian calmly.

Zhui Lian also sat down next to her. She couldn't react for a moment who the "Ayu" Pei Zhiwei was talking about was. It took her a moment to understand.

Ayu——

More than white.

White eye patch.

She took a deep breath and decided to start with the most conclusive point: "I want to know what the Crown Club has to do with the changes in Qiao Xunli's family?"

Pei Zhiwei raised an eyebrow, not too surprised that Zhui Lian could accurately ask the name: "Have you met Qiao Xunli's mother?"

Zhui Lian hummed and nodded, then held up the page she had just searched on her phone and showed it to Pei Zhiwei.

It showed a candid photo. In the dim light, the man's stern profile was faintly visible.

The caption reads: Someone spotted the famous director Ge Wu appearing in this club, and he is suspected to be the boss behind the scenes.

"Sister Zhiwei, do you think this person..." She stared at Pei Zhiwei and asked, "looks familiar?"

"The Crown Club is part of the Fu family's business." Pei Zhiwei glanced at the photo and caption on the screen and laughed, "And Fu Dongli..."

She paused, lowered her head and took out a USB flash drive from her handbag.

The small black USB flash drive was held between her fingers. Pei Zhiwei stood up and walked to Yu Bai's computer. She turned it on skillfully, entered the password, and then inserted the USB flash drive.

"It is indeed Kakugo."

The moment the USB drive was inserted, she finally uttered these words softly.

A folder popped up and a video was opened by her hand.

It was a surveillance video clip. In the dim light, the background was extremely luxurious, and at the top of the casino, there was a huge crown logo.

Qiao Xunli's father was standing stiffly beside the huge gambling table, surrounded enthusiastically by several well-dressed waiters, and the chips in front of him were being added pile by pile.

"It's okay, it's okay, just play a game!"

The leading waiter was all smiles, enthusiastically encouraging Mr. Qiao, "Boss Qiao, you look so radiant today, you must be in great luck! Let's play a little, just to test our luck and share in the good fortune!"

Father Qiao hesitated, still somewhat refusing: "No...no...forget it, I'd better go back."

He turned around and wanted to leave, but even as he said this, his eyes unconsciously stuck back to the pile of chips, and his Adam's apple rolled.

"Just one hand. If you win, we'll leave, okay? If you lose, it's mine!"

The leader saw what Mr. Qiao was thinking at the moment, reached out to hold Mr. Qiao, and encouraged him even more enthusiastically.

"OK!"

Father Qiao gritted his teeth, as if he had made up his mind, "I'll just give it a try! It's agreed, just one!"

At first, his face was just a look of anxiety, but then it turned into unbelievable excitement when he first won money.

But the video skipped forward frame by frame, and he won again and again.

The chips piled up like a mountain before him, reflecting the golden light of the chandelier and the ever-brighter eyes of Mr. Qiao. His initial restrained excitement quickly spread like wildfire, giving way to naked desire. He began to move forward, his breathing becoming heavier, and he no longer hesitated when placing his bets, occasionally letting out a smug laugh.

"Come again! Come again!"

After a rare loss, Mr. Qiao's eyes turned red. He slammed the table suddenly, almost lying on the gambling table, and kept leaning forward.

The sound of the table being slammed came through with a "bang".

Penetrating into Zhui Lian's eardrum.

She was frightened by this beast-like loss of composure, as if she saw how this huge casino alienated people, and she quickly looked away as if suffocating.

Seeing that Zhui Lian was still in shock, Pei Zhiwei temporarily pressed the pause button.

"The Fu family has a lot of businesses. Fu Dongli has an older brother who follows a legitimate path. As for these shady businesses, they are all managed by Fu Dongli."

Pei Zhiwei said calmly, "He and Ayu are friends who grew up together and have always had a good relationship."

The play button of the video was pressed again, and the camera was now aimed at the leading waiter.

He whispered a few words into the headset and then headed towards a corner.

It was very dark in that direction, and one could only see a person standing there in the dim light. The person had his back to the leading waiter and seemed to be talking on the phone, so he gestured to wait a moment.

The content of the phone call came out:

First came Fu Dongli's voice: [I've taken the bait, I've made the bet, but... don't ask me to help you do this kind of thing again. It's too immoral and will shorten your life!]

The person on the other end seemed to be laughing, a light laugh that sounded exceptionally cold: [What's wrong with that? I was just helping him recognize his own desires.]

After a brief silence, Fu Dongli's voice was filled with confusion: "Ayu, I really don't understand. Just for a woman, why would he go through so much trouble and drag his entire family into this?"

The man's voice was still lazy, but it revealed a hint of unquestionable coldness and hardness: [As for.]

He paused, his tone filled with obvious impatience and disgust: [That Qiao Xunli always hangs around where Lianlian might be, like a lingering fly. It's annoying to see him.]

Let him have some trouble at home, keep him busy and worried, so he won't have time to think about other things or to worry about people he shouldn't be thinking about. That way, he can completely disappear from Lianlian and me. Do you understand?

This sound.

This sound.

The familiar lazy tone, the rising ending sound, the arrogance towards everything as if crushing ants, who else could it be except Pei Zhiyu?

Zhui Lian closed her eyes, and a chill spread from the bottom of her heart. No wonder Qiao Xunli had never contacted her in those three years... those three years.

It's not that he doesn't want to contact her, but he has no time and can't contact her. With his personality, you can imagine how much he would be afraid of causing trouble for her.

After a while, Zhui Lian finally came to her senses and spoke again: "Sister Zhiwei, these evidences, you are..."

Pei Zhiwei seemed to have guessed what she hadn't asked yet, and before she finished speaking, she clicked on one of the recordings in the folder.

The background noise here is a bit noisy, like a private club.

[…Ayu too, is it necessary to commit such a huge sin just for his little girlfriend?] This was Fu Dongli's voice, completely different from her usual cold demeanor. Even her sighs were slightly tipsy from being drunk.

[Oh? What did he ask you to do?] Pei Zhiwei's voice sounded casual, with a hint of lazy interest.

[Nothing much, just... asked the people at Crown to look after that old man named Qiao.]

[How did you take care of me? Tell me about it.] Pei Zhiwei's tone was indistinguishable from her emotions.

[It's in the Crown's surveillance... didn't I... give you permission to view it... Oh, by the way, Zhiwei, Zhiwei, I bought this for you yesterday. Take a look, take a look, do you like it...]

Pei Zhiwei stopped the recording at this point.

"That's it," she said.

Zhui Lian was silent for a moment.

She suddenly felt her brain was in a mess, and she had to say something irrelevant to dilute the confusion. She stared at Pei Zhiwei and suddenly said, "Sister Zhiwei, you said that your marriage with Mr. Fu was a business one, but Mr. Fu...actually, he likes you, right?"

Pei Zhiwei was also silent for a rare moment, and then nodded lightly: "Yes."

"So men are sometimes very simple." She looked at Zhui Lian with a smile, "Especially a man who loves you but can't get you, then it's even simpler."

This sentence seems to have a hidden meaning.

A man who loves you but cannot get you...sometimes it's very simple...

Zhui Lian looked at Pei Zhiwei who was smiling at her. Even though she was smiling, she was still very calm.

This calmness seemed a little cold at this moment, so cold that she felt it was no different from when Pei Zhiyu was lazily directing Fu Dongli on the other end of the phone to drag Qiao Xunli's family into an abyss of no return.

"And one more important thing—"

Pei Zhiwei smiled, her smile a little blurry in the dim light of the small room. "Do you want to see it?"

Zhui Lian didn't answer immediately.

She looked at Pei Zhiwei, at her all-seeing eyes.

She knew that these bloody truths were bait, meant to lure her in. It wasn't the first time she'd noticed the same red rope.

She had long guessed the relationship between Pei Zhiwei and Yu Bai.

But she still came.

She had clearly chosen to join voluntarily from the very beginning, so why did she feel a little confused at this moment?

Pei Zhiwei looked at Zhui Lian. The other party's silence seemed to be something she had expected, but she did not urge him. She just waited patiently.

"Listen to this."

Her finger moved to the last audio file, and her voice became softer, almost coaxingly. "After listening to this, you'll know that some people don't deserve any forgiveness or...the so-called fresh start."

She pressed play.

The recording was blurry yet clear.

What was fuzzy was the sound quality, with a slight hissing sound of electricity.

What was clear were the two voices.

An old look, yet filled with depression and madness.

A young, yet arrogant and naughty person.

The old voice was the first to sound, and it was obviously Pei Qianhuang:

[That guy named Qiao the other day is just like your mother's lover back then. Just looking at him is disgusting! I want him to disappear!]

There was a brief silence.

Then, there was a very light, almost mocking sneer.

It was Pei Zhiyu's voice, low and extremely calm, forming a cruel contrast with his father's agitated emotions:

[You called me for no apparent reason...] His tone was even a little lazy. [Just for this?]

He did not refute the suggestion that Qiao Xunli should disappear, but instead acted as if he had heard an insignificant anecdote.

Pei Qianhuang's voice was filled with anger and a hint of temptation: [You won't stop me?]

Pei Zhiyu's reply came lightly, as if discussing the life and death of an ant: [Why should I stop it?]

He paused, his tone revealing a nonchalant indifference: "He's just an insignificant person. Since he insisted on coming up to you and getting in your way, it's your business to do what you want. Just don't get my hands dirty."

Zhui Lian suddenly covered her mouth, her body shaking uncontrollably, and she held on to the edge of the table with her other hand to prevent herself from falling down.

Her face turned pale in an instant, and even her lips lost their color.

Pei Zhiyu did not offer any suggestions or add fuel to the fire.

He simply drew a clear line—

He doesn't care and is too lazy to care.

This was even more cruel than Zhui Lian had imagined.

She thought she would hear a conspiracy, specific instructions, and how Pei Zhiyu deliberately planned to kill Qiao Xunli.

But no.

The other person in the recording showed complete indifference, and left Qiao Xunli's life and death to his mad father, a tyrant who didn't care how unreasonable his hatred was.

He didn't even need to do evil himself. Just a glance or a word like "an eyesore" was enough to kill someone with a borrowed knife and push Xun Li into an abyss of no return.

This kind of indifference is more chilling than any malicious plan.

The recording was still playing. Pei Qianhuang on the other end seemed stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter. "Okay, okay! Son, consider this a gift from me. A gift to... eradicate the problem!"

He certainly didn't lie to her.

Pei Qianhuang said this to him, but he chose to avoid talking about the specific context.

cold.

It's so cold.

This coldness that penetrated deep into her bones climbed up along her spine little by little, making her body colder and colder, and the blood under her skin seemed to be frozen and solidified.

Pei Zhiwei looked at Zhui Lian quietly, watching her shaky appearance, watching the last ray of faint light in her eyes completely extinguished.

She knew the time had come.

"Now, do you understand?" Pei Zhiwei's voice was calm. "He really does love you, and he really... has been lying to you."

Zhui Lian slowly raised his head.

At some point, my eyelashes stuck together.

They are stuck together by a hanging, clear drop of water.

She blinked, and the tear fell unconsciously, but the sound of it falling was so light that it was almost inaudible.

She knew clearly that Pei Zhiwei was using her, but she had no choice.

Things had come to this point, and she had no choice but to join in.

"Go ahead." Zhui Lian's voice was hoarse, but unusually clear. "Pei Zhiwei, what do you need me to do?"

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The author has something to say: (lights a cigarette) Pei Gou has done many things that are not human