Chapter 23 Remember, the person beside you right now is me...
The lobby of Jianyun Private Hospital was clean and orderly, with a faint smell of disinfectant in the air.
Zhou Yingchen entered the hospital accompanied by the hospital's president and senior management.
The man walked with a steady gait and had a cold expression.
His gaze swept across every corner of the hall without him noticing, taking in the expressions of every staff member, and even the promotional posters and signs on the walls.
Zhou Yingchen was wearing a perfectly tailored dark gray suit and a patterned tie today.
She has a powerful aura that makes people hesitant to look directly at her.
"Mr. Zhou, welcome, welcome. Our Jianyun Hospital has always been committed to providing high-end clients with the most private and top-notch rehabilitation and recuperation services."
The dean was a refined man around fifty years old, with a perfectly warm smile on his face, who personally accompanied and introduced us.
Zhou Yingchen nodded slightly, occasionally raising a few professional questions about medical resource allocation, client privacy protection procedures, emergency response plans, and so on.
His tone was indifferent, yet every word he uttered hit the nail on the head, perfectly embodying the image of a meticulous investment investigator.
Several hours later, when Zhou Yingchen returned to the top-floor office of the Zhou Group in City A, it was already late at night.
The city's dazzling lights spread out outside the window like a shimmering galaxy, yet they could not illuminate the melancholy between the man's brows.
Following behind Zhou Yingchen, Chen Xu reported the initial feedback from the inspection: "President Zhou, the hospital appears to be very cooperative, and the reception is quite thorough. However, when it comes to core patient data and specific financial statements, they cited the need for time to investigate the feasibility and compile the information, citing the need to protect client privacy and internal audit procedures."
"In addition, our technical team detected that in the past eight months, there have been at least three instances of abnormal data encryption processing on the internal network of Jianyun Hospital, and the access logs of some key nodes have been obfuscated and cleaned up."
"This shows that we are on the right track."
Zhou Yingchen walked to the floor-to-ceiling window. His tall, imposing figure stood out against the cold floor. His voice was icy: "The more obscure the traces of their cleanup, the more it proves they have something to hide. Follow these abnormal data flows and the previously identified suspicious funding chains, dig deep into their territory. Don't overlook any anomalies."
Just then, Zhou Yingchen's phone rang; it was Zhou Shiye.
He pressed the answer button, and Zhou Shiye's voice, barely containing his excitement, immediately came from the other end of the line.
“Brother, we’ve made a major discovery. We’ve gotten one of the crew members on the ship we were tracking into talking. He confessed that more than eight months ago they did transport a young woman who was very badly injured and had been in a coma ever since.”
"Later, as they approached the inland waterway, a speedboat appeared and took the man away. He said the people on the speedboat were efficient and quick, and seemed very professional. He was hiding nearby at the time and vaguely heard them mention the words 'Boss' and 'make sure it's clean' in their conversation."
"Boss?"
Zhou Yingchen frowned, his eyes sharp.
After a moment, the man spoke: "Can you confirm the speedboat's exact destination or if it has any distinctive features?"
"The crew member said that there was a lot of fog at sea at the time, so he couldn't see the speedboat's number clearly. Also, the speedboat was a regular model with nothing special about it. He only remembered that it was pure black, very fast, and the direction was... southeast by south. I have used all my connections to check the records of all speedboats with similar characteristics that entered and exited the relevant sea area during that period."
"Southeast by south?"
Zhou Yingchen slowly repeated this direction, his gaze once again turning to the pitch-black night outside the window.
That direction points to a foreign country with many hidden private docks and upscale seaside communities.
It is indeed an ideal place to hide someone.
So, Haicheng...
Could it be that he's going in the wrong direction?
Regardless of which direction he looked from, Zhou Yingchen was certain of one thing at this moment: Wen Yu's disappearance was not an accident, but rather seemed to be a premeditated and professional transfer.
Their goal was to make Wen Yu disappear completely from their world.
And now, he is peeling back the layers of the fog.
Although the truth remains unclear, the outline of the adversary is becoming clear: a cautious, powerful, and well-resourced figure in hiding.
Who could it be?
Who could that person be?
Zhou Yingchen's eyes were deep and somber.
After a moment of silence, he instructed Chen Xu: "Use all the maritime monitoring resources and satellite data we can mobilize, cross-reference them with the time and coordinates provided by the crew members that Shi Ye investigated, and at all costs, track down the final destination of that black speedboat."
"And we must continue to investigate the background of Jianyun Hospital, regardless of the cost."
He would no longer give the other party any more time to cover up the traces.
With each passing day, Wen Yu might become more deeply involved with that person, or... drift further away from him.
The latter situation is exactly what Zhou Yingchen fears and least wants to see.
If Wen Yu is determined to leave them, then even if they find her, what can they do?
He must bring Wen Yu back into his life before she becomes strong enough.
Meanwhile, Wen Yu and Shen Jinhuai had already returned to the island.
As dusk settled, only the last vestiges of orange-pink sunset glow remained where the sea met the sky.
Wen Yu sat on the large rooftop terrace of the villa, facing the sea, with a newly bought picture book open on her lap.
The sea breeze caressed her hair, feeling slightly cool and pleasant.
In the study on the first floor,
Shen Jinhuai had just finished a serious executive meeting.
He rubbed his temples, looking slightly tired, before picking up his personal phone, whose screen had been lit up for a while.
Immediately, a message from inside Jianyun Hospital caught their eye: Zhou Yingchen of the Zhou Group personally inspected the hospital.
Zhou Yingchen is professional and perceptive, and the questions he raised were highly targeted, especially regarding the hospital's financial processes in recent months, cash flow during specific periods, and the handling of abnormal data.
Zhou Yingchen did not give up as expected.
Moreover, his methods were more cunning and difficult to deal with than Shen Jinhuai had anticipated.
Zhou Yingchen avoided overt and blatant searches, opting instead for a more covert and difficult-to-prevent systematic review, directly examining operational and financial vulnerabilities.
He was like casting an invisible net, which was quietly tightening.
Shen Jinhuai's eyes darkened, and his knuckles became distinct from gripping the phone tightly.
The light from the screen reflected off the man's glasses, highlighting the coldness in his eyes, and even more so, the lingering fear of that overcast evening more than eight months ago.
At that time, Shen Jinhuai'an's informant, who was planted at the racetrack where Zhou Shiye frequented, sent a message when Zhou Shiye led the clearly unwilling Wen Yu into the garage.
He was dealing with a particularly important cross-border merger and acquisition at the time.
Upon seeing the message from his informant, Shen Jinhuai immediately dropped everything.
He knew how crazy Zhou Shiye was, and he also knew how afraid Wen Yu was of racing.
So Shen Jinhuai immediately drove to the suburban racetrack and activated an emergency plan that he had prepared since the moment he met Wen Yu again, but hoped would never be needed.
The informants at the racetrack were relaying alarming news in real time: Zhou Shiye was pushing the car to its maximum speed.
His braking system may have been tampered with, making it unable to slow down, but it's uncertain whether that's actually the case.
Shen Jinhuai's palms were sweating as he gripped the steering wheel, his foot was pressed hard on the accelerator, and his body was tense.
He dared not think about the worst outcome, but he had to prepare for the worst.
The next moment, a piercing crash came unexpectedly.
Shen Jinhuai's heart tightened, and he made a sharp turn, taking a little-known side road directly into the middle of the racetrack, heading straight for the finish line.
When he arrived, he saw a twisted race car stuck among the rocks, with white smoke billowing from the hood.
Shen Jinhuai immediately located the passenger seat.
He saw Wen Yu through the shattered car window.
Her eyes were tightly closed, her face was as pale as paper, blood was seeping from her forehead, and she was lifeless.
Shen Jinhuai's breath hitched, and his eyes involuntarily warmed.
Without time to think, Shen Jinhuai quickly issued instructions into his headset: "Group A, create chaos on the perimeter to attract and hold back any unimportant personnel. Group B, prepare backup and medical equipment. Group C, clear my path and surveillance."
The moment he gave the order, several loud tire blowouts came from the direction of the racetrack entrance.
The vehicle malfunction blocked the entrance and attracted the attention of most people.
Taking advantage of the brief chaos, Shen Jinhuai immediately moved closer to the passenger side.
A strong smell of blood hit the air.
Shen Jinhuai forced himself to ignore the glaring blood on Wen Yu's forehead, carefully avoiding any shards that might hurt her, and lifted her out of the deformed seat.
She was so light that it seemed she might be blown away by the wind at any moment.
Shen Jinhuai blinked hard to wipe away the tears blurring his vision, then carried Wen Yu back to the back seat of the car and immediately drove away.
Throughout the entire process, he didn't even glance at Zhou Shiye in the driver's seat of the wrecked race car.
Shen Jinhuai floored the accelerator, and behind the car came the gradually rising sounds of sirens and ambulances.
Once out of the racetrack's surveillance range, Shen Jinhuai parked his car in front of an ambulance that was already waiting.
The moment the ambulance stopped, the staff next to it rushed into the vehicle and safely placed Wen Yu inside.
The ambulance sped off, and Shen Jinhuai held tightly to Wen Yu's hand as she received emergency treatment.
The recollection ends.
In the study, Shen Jinhuai's body tensed up, as if he could feel the fear again when he held Wen Yu's cold body.
He took a deep breath, slowly loosened his clenched fist, and calm returned to his eyes.
A moment later, Shen Jinhuai made a phone call: "Activate Plan B. All records related to Ms. Wen that may leave traces must be completely re-made in compliance with regulations to ensure they can withstand the most rigorous audit."
"We must drag this out for as long as possible."
Shen Jinhuai must ensure that even if Zhou Yingchen finds any clues this time with his amazing insight and resources, he will not be able to piece together a complete chain of evidence in a short period of time, let alone accurately locate Wen Yu.
After all, Wen Yu's heart is not strong enough to face the two Zhou brothers directly at present.
Shen Jinhuai never intended to hide with Wen Yu.
He wouldn't let Wen Yu hide away; that's not the kind of life Wen Yu should be living.
What he wanted was for her to be strong enough inside so that she could freely choose to leave behind everything she might have wanted to leave behind.
A moment later, Shen Jinhuai hung up the phone and put it away.
He left the study and went straight to the top floor.
At this moment, the lights on the terrace were bright, and Wen Yu was leisurely flipping through a picture book.
The sound of waves crashing against the shore filled the air, along with a faint fragrance of flowers.
Do you like it here?
Shen Jinhuai walked over, gently embraced Wen Yu from behind, rested his chin on the top of her head, and asked in a low voice.
"I like it."
Wen Yu leaned against Shen Jinhuai's chest, feeling the steady heartbeat from his chest, and felt relaxed and comfortable.
It's very quiet here.
There is freedom, there is the sea, there are paintings, and there is also Chen Jinhuai.
Wen Yu liked it very much.
"If you like it, that's fine."
Shen Jinhuai silently tightened his arms, holding Wen Yu even closer in his embrace: "From now on, let's live here forever, okay?"
The man's voice was very soft, as if he was longing for something.
Wen Yu's heart softened completely.
She turned away from his embrace, meeting Shen Jinhuai's gaze in the bright light, and nodded earnestly: "Okay."
“We’ve always lived here.”
At this moment, amnesia and the past no longer matter.
What's important is the warmth of his embrace at this moment, the strength from Shen Jinhuai's palm, and the softness in his eyes that makes her want to drown in it.
Wen Yu knew that this was what she wanted.
As Shen Jinhuai caught the complete trust and reliance in Wen Yu's eyes, his expression softened completely.
The man lowered his head and placed a warm kiss on Wen Yu's lips.
Wen Yu tilted her head back, welcoming the kiss.
Unlike the previous passionate and uncontrolled kiss in the train carriage, this time the man's kiss was tender and delicate.
He traced Wen Yu's lips little by little, patiently guiding her awkward response.
Wen Yu gradually closed her eyes, feeling the soft warmth of Chen Jinhuai's lips.
Their crisp breaths mingled, and the man's embrace felt incredibly secure.
Wen Yu liked it very much.
When the kiss ended, both of them were breathing somewhat erratically.
Shen Jinhuai pressed his forehead against Wen Yu's forehead, and their noses touched.
At extremely close range, the man stared directly into Wen Yu's misty eyes, his voice hoarse: "Xiao Yu, remember this feeling. Remember that the person beside you right now is me, okay?"
Wen Yu's cheeks flushed red, and her heart pounded like a drum.
They were even amused by Shen Jinhuai's serious demeanor.
"Of course it's you."
Wen Yu playfully wrapped her arms around Shen Jinhuai's neck for the first time and planted a kiss on his lips: "Shen Jinhuai, not only are you by my side now, but every day in the future, you will be by my side."
The night was gentle, and the waves were soft and caressing.
The man lowered his eyes and kissed Wen Yu's lips again.
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