Chapter 41
It's already the third day.
Chu Ci remained seated on the fishing boat, unwilling to leave.
Huo Junyan's men searched the water day and night, even pulling up large trucks, but they couldn't find him.
The driver's identity has been verified; he is a villager from the neighborhood who transports stones. He has no assets and has not received any large sums of money recently.
The conclusion was that the truck's brakes had failed.
Those who attacked Huo Junyan in the water took advantage of the chaos to leave, and there has been no news of them for some time.
On the day Huo Junyan disappeared, news reached China, and Huo Chaojiang and Meng Huizhou rushed to the scene immediately. At the same time, Huo Chengxun signed a contract with Aokun. On the same day, the domestic high-end supply chain defected and fully cooperated with Huo Chengxun, making it almost certain that he would take over the Huo Group.
Meng Huizhou fainted several times and later fell into a coma. Huo Chaojiang had no choice but to take him back to China first.
"Have some water."
Chu Ci's pupils darted around frame by frame, as if he didn't recognize Secretary Wu.
Secretary Wu unscrewed the cap of a mineral water bottle and held it to her lips, saying, "Your lips are all chapped."
She only stared at Secretary Wu with her eyes.
“We’ve searched all the nearby waters. There’s no need for you to sit here. We’ll let you know as soon as we have any news. If President Huo comes back and sees you like this, he’ll be heartbroken.”
Ignoring the Chu Ci, I suddenly stood up upon seeing the figures on the shore.
Secretary Wu saw it too and immediately ordered the boat to dock.
No one expected to see Zhou Yubai here.
And there was a boy of about twelve or thirteen standing next to him, barefoot, with messy hair. Chu Ci’s pupils suddenly contracted. It was the boy he had seen in the coconut tree outside the mansion. No, he wasn’t a boy. He was an adult, but he was short and he was mistaken for a child.
Huo Junyan once said that there is a type of dwarf in the area who often disguise themselves as children to gain the trust of others.
Why do you look so pale?
Zhou Yubai couldn't believe that the woman in front of him, with her peeling face, chapped lips, and dry, tangled hair, was the same bright and proud "Chen Que".
He admitted that the rescue team had mistaken him for someone else, and he chose to play along and protect Yao Shengjie in front of her, not just to get the Zhou family's money.
At the time, he didn't know her identity, background, or abilities; he only saw her face and couldn't say he had no other thoughts.
Chu Ci, however, stared intently at the dwarf.
Countless possibilities surged through her mind. She didn't believe in coincidences, but she couldn't connect Huo Junyan's accident with Zhou Yubai. They were focused on guarding against Ao Kun and Huo Chengxun, and hadn't considered Zhou Yubai at all.
"Are you injured?"
“Your wounds seem to be infected,” Secretary Wu also noticed the blood seeping from the wounds on her arm and back, the blood was very pale and mixed with a watery liquid. “Doctor.”
Chu Ci was forcibly pushed into the temporary medical room for re-cleaning and bandaging.
"Wound infection, low-grade fever, hospitalization is necessary."
Stepping out of the medical room, Secretary Wu was glaring warily at Zhou Yubai and Master Qin, who had just returned from searching for someone at sea.
He glanced at Zhou Yubai, his sharp gaze sweeping over Chu Ci, and without a word, he removed his equipment and reported the latest situation back home.
“You should rest now, Chen, Chu Ci,” Zhou Yubai sighed softly. “I heard about what happened here. Luckily, you’re alright.”
Chu Ci's eyes changed slightly. "Zhou Yubai."
When she opened her mouth, her voice was hoarse and rough, as if she had been roaring all night and had damaged her throat. In fact, since Huo Junyan disappeared, she hadn't cried a single word, but had gone into the water again and again, probably because she had swallowed too much seawater.
Upon hearing her voice, Zhou Yubai's eyes showed a look of sorrow.
Chu Ci was somewhat annoyed by that look, and stared coldly at the dwarf. "Have you been spying on us?"
"What makes you say that?"
Zhou Yubai glanced at the dwarf. "You mean him?"
Chu Ci had no patience to argue with him and turned to look at Master Qin, "I'll leave this to you."
Mr. Qin looked at her and handed her a ring.
It was a self-defense ring. She gave it to Huo Junyan to break the window in the water. Even though Master Qin found the ring, there was still no news of Huo Junyan.
"Go back to China."
She strode forward, and Zhou Yubai immediately followed. "Chu Ci, I was just worried about you when I heard about what happened here. You suspect it was me? Don't you think too highly of me? Ever since the AI medical project resolution failed, I have almost no foothold in the Zhou family. How could I possibly have the ability to go against Huo Junyan?"
Secretary Wu scoffed, "That's not necessarily true. You launched your software first and are now competing with us. People who have no foothold in the market are not qualified to compete with us."
This is a very complex problem.
Because of Chu Ci's revenge, Zhou Yubai missed the opportunity to completely control the Zhou family company. Yao Shengjie's people immediately targeted him. Zhou Yicun hated him and Chu Ci for their deception and hated his stupidity even more. He chose to stand by and watch, but this did not mean that Zhou Yubai would have no place in the Zhou family.
It can't get any worse than it was five years ago.
Why should I go against the Huo family?
“Who knows?” Secretary Wu’s emotions had long been building up to a breaking point. In the past, he would never have dared to offend someone of Zhou Yubai’s caliber, but now he didn’t care about anything. “Your presence here proves something. I think you’ve never had any good intentions from the beginning.”
Zhou Yubai glared at Secretary Wu in anger, too lazy to waste words with him, and quickly took a few steps to block Chu Ci's path, then walked backwards.
“I really want to help you. I want to make up for what happened five years ago. I have a video from five years ago on the ship.”
Chu Ci stopped, "What are the conditions?"
Disappointment flashed in Zhou Yubai's eyes. He took out his phone, tapped a few times, and said, "I've already sent it to you."
Chu Ci's phone was already waterlogged and unusable, so Secretary Wu immediately handed him his phone. Chu Ci logged into his account and saw a blurry video:
In the video, she is running in the cabin, but her posture is a bit strange, as if her body is very uncoordinated. Her "running" is slow, somewhat like a drunk person, staggering and falling. There seems to be something like a charging cable on her body, but it is not clear whether it is a charging cable or not. She runs to the deck, picks up the coat draped on the chair, and puts it on as she walks.
That coat was the one the rescue team wore when they pulled her out of the water; it contained Chen Que's passport.
After watching the video, Chu Ci lifted his eyelids and glanced at Zhou Yubai.
"I'm sorry, I know I should have taken it out sooner."
She didn't say anything, walked around Zhou Yubai, and got into the car. She had no interest in dwelling on what happened on the ship five years ago.
“Chu Ci,” Zhou Yubai clung to the car door, “have you ever considered that the people who attacked you five years ago might be the same group that attacked you this time?”
Chu Ci stared at him blankly, her brows furrowing lower and lower, and reached out to stop Secretary Wu from forcibly closing the door.
Zhou Yubai looked at the Chu Ci for a while, then asked incredulously, "Didn't you notice?"
He knew Chu Ci to be perceptive and alert; she should have spotted the problems in the video immediately, given how many issues it contained.
"Think about it, why did you take someone else's clothes? This video was taken before the shipwreck, before the ship hit the reef, but you were running away."
Escape.
Chu Ci's pupils contracted, and his mind cleared instantly.
She just watched the video mechanically, without engaging in any critical thinking.
She ran out of the cabin, and judging from her physical condition, she seemed to have suffered some kind of injury. She took someone else's clothes to disguise herself.
Lanny.
Her first thought was Lanny.
What was Lani going to do to her five years ago? I can't remember. Whatever she was going to do to her, it seems she escaped and then the shipwreck happened soon after.
This time, it's Huo Chengxun again, it's them again.
What Lani intended to do to her five years ago remains unknown, but this time their target is Huo Junyan, and their intentions are crystal clear.
"I'll contact you again," Chu Ci said.
Zhou Yubai's eyes lit up, but before he could say anything, Secretary Wu had already closed the car door.
We arrived at the airport and boarded the plane.
Chu Ci's head felt increasingly heavy, but her thoughts became clearer. She took her medicine, turned on Huo Junyan's computer, and spent the entire flight of several hours reviewing documents.
When the plane landed, the Huo family sent a car to pick them up.
"You don't believe President Zhou, do you?" Secretary Wu, who had been holding back all the way, finally asked.
Chu Ci's lips curled into a sarcastic smile. At this moment, no one was trustworthy.
"The Huo family will definitely hold them accountable. You weren't in the same car as us when the accident happened, so just tell the truth and they shouldn't make things difficult for you. As for your job, you'll most likely be marginalized. Think about it yourself."
Secretary Wu's eyes widened. "You don't believe me? You don't intend to find out the truth?"
"If even Master Qin can't find it, what am I supposed to investigate?"
Chu Ci sneered. Huo Chaojiang, Meng Huizhou, and Master Qin—they all had deep roots in the Huo family, and she couldn't get any concrete evidence against them. She was going to investigate? Ha.
Why are you like this?
Secretary Wu was furious and took a deep breath, ready to unleash his fury, but when he saw her cracked and bleeding lips, he held back.
"Are we just going to let it go like this?"
Chu Ci got out of the carriage and said coldly, "I won't, and you don't need to."
Secretary Wu's eyes lit up. Seeing that she didn't intend to take her along, she became anxious. "Chu Ci, I've been with President Huo for two or three years. My relationship with him can't compare to yours, but I'm still a human being. I don't want my boss to just disappear without a trace. Otherwise, I'll be uneasy for the rest of my life."
Chu Ci didn't show much emotion. "Okay, then go back to the company. I'll assign you tasks, and you can refuse at any time."
"I won't."
Chu Ci got into the Huo family's car.
Perhaps because it was winter, the green plants in the courtyard of the Huo family's old house looked rather desolate. Cold rain dripped from the eaves, hitting the withered leaves and embedding itself into the mud little by little.
The maid pushed open the glass door, and Chu Ci smelled a strong smell of Chinese medicine. She knocked on the bedroom door, and Huo Chaojiang opened it for her personally, holding mugwort in his hand.
He looked as if he had aged ten years, with gray hair at his temples and heavy, droopy eye bags.
Lying on the daybed, Meng Huizhou was completely devoid of the elegance of a noble lady. Her body was frail and sickly, and there were moxibustion tools on her head.
Both of them stared at Chu Ci's haggard, peeling face for a few moments.
“His mother has always had headaches, and fumigating with mugwort after winter starts can relieve them.”
Huo Chaojiang went to light the mugwort again, but because his hand was shaking, he broke the incense stick. He got up to find a lighter, but stumbled and kicked the armchair.
Chu Ci avoided eye contact.
She picked up the lighter, relit the incense stick, and took the mugwort from his hand. "I'll take it. Please sit down and rest for a while."
Slowly turning the mugwort, wisps of white smoke rose, and vision gradually blurred. The quiet room was only occasionally filled with suppressed sobs.
Huo Chaojiang sat in a round-backed chair, his hand supporting his eyes, his back to them.
Meng Huizhou kept her eyes closed, tears streaming into her hair. Chu Ci silently helped her tidy up. She suddenly opened her mouth to speak, but choked up as soon as she opened her mouth.
“Junyan, he really is…”
Chu Ci put down the mugwort, his voice still hoarse and rough, yet as calm as an abyss.
"That's an inland sea, with a lower elevation than the open sea. According to tests of the ocean currents, people won't be swept into the open sea; they'll just sink to the bottom."
"What do you mean?" Meng Huizhou opened his eyes, but because he had been crying for too long, his eyelids were swollen and he could not open them fully.
Huo Chaojiang also looked at her. In the past few days, Master Qin's messages had been mostly the same, but where had he gone?
“He left the ring there on purpose; he was taken away by someone.” Chu Ci took out the ring.
Chu Ci bought this ring for self-defense. Huo Junyan wore it on his finger to save the driver in the sea, which enabled him to gather strength and break the glass.
The ring has a hidden clasp; it can be easily removed with a gentle press.
It would take a lot of strength for an outsider to pick it.
In other words, the seawater couldn't have been washed away from his hands; it could only have been a clue he deliberately left behind when he was taken away.
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