The sky was clear, the sun was shining, and there was a charming golden beach. A group of handsome men in swimming trunks and beautiful women in bikinis were playing in the clear blue water. Lin Zhou, covered with sunscreen, showed off his well-proportioned muscles. He was lazily leaning on a lounge chair under a parasol, drinking juice leisurely.
Suddenly, the cell phone on the table rang. He slowly put down the juice cup, picked up the phone, looked at the caller ID, raised his eyebrows, and pressed the call button.
"Hey, Mr. Rui, when did you become so concerned about me that you called me for several days in a row?" he asked jokingly.
On the other end of the phone, Lu Feng's voice was cold and straightforward, "Su Ling transferred 10 million to your account."
Lin Zhou straightened his upper body, crossed his legs and sat on the chair, not in a hurry. "Recently, our company has developed a new project. Su Ling is very interested in it and has invested 10 million. I have the project details here. How about I send it to you?"
Ten million is not a small number. As long as Lu Feng checked the bank details, he would know where the money went. So why would he be so stupid as to hand over the bank card directly to Su Ling and let Lu Feng track and check a single account? Of course, the money was invested in the company's projects and became the engineering payment with clean accounts, breaking the whole into small pieces so that Lu Feng could not get it.
As for the 10 million in Su Ling's hands, she opened another account and used the money from her husband Fu Heng's account.
If Lu Feng wanted to check Fu Heng's account, he would have to spend some time and take shortcuts. Fu Heng was no rookie, so how could he be bullied? Lu Feng, I guess, would not bother to do anything despicable, so calling him directly was the simplest and clearest way.
As a good friend of Su Ling, Lin Zhou has the responsibility and obligation to cover for him. As long as Su Ling doesn't let go, he can't betray him.
There was silence on the other end of the phone for half a minute. Lin Zhou thought the other party had given up and was about to hang up when Lu Feng suddenly asked in a low voice, "Is he... okay?"
Lin Zhou was startled by this affectionate question and replied subconsciously: "He is fine."
After saying this, he pulled his hair in annoyance. Isn't this just confessing himself?
I was actually tricked by this sullen and cunning guy!
Lin Zhou looked depressed, and he simply threw the can and said frankly: "I know where Su Ling is, but I won't tell you unless Su Ling thinks it through and takes the initiative to contact you. Otherwise, you have to find him on your own and ask for his forgiveness. Of course, I don't know what went wrong in your relationship, and I have no right to blame you, but from the standpoint of a friend, I still have to say, Master Lu, haven't you been on too many business trips this year? Husband and wife are together less and apart more, lack of communication, isn't it a matter of time before the relationship breaks down?"
"Click——" The sound of the phone being hung up responded to him.
Lin Zhou shrugged and complained in his heart. With such a temper, it was a miracle that Su Ling had lived with him for three years without being suffocated to death.
"What's wrong?" Fu Heng came back with two large cups of ice cream in his hands and saw his lover staring at the phone and pouting.
Lin Zhou looked up when he heard the voice, his eyes lit up when he saw the ice cream, he reached out to take it, and licked it with his tongue like a cat.
"Lu Feng called me again." he said vaguely.
"Looking for Su Ling?" Fu Heng put another cup of ice cream on the table, a smile on his handsome face, and looked at Lin Zhou tenderly.
"Su Ling wants to divorce him, so of course he's anxious." Lin Zhou nudged him on the waist with his elbow and said, "The Lu Feng family is very powerful. Lu Feng can't find any information from me, so he will definitely take some detours and start from you. You have to hold on and don't let him coerce you!"
The couple went through thick and thin for their friend and provoked a big devil. Fu Heng not only did not blame them, but instead looked doting on them.
"I can only hold out for three months at most." He held up three fingers.
Lin Zhou bit the spoon and asked, "Is the difference so big?"
Fu Heng patted his shoulder and nodded affirmatively: "Big."
This is not because he is self-deprecating, but because the gap between the two sides is there. Fu Lin Group is engaged in the electronic technology industry. It has been established for three years and its market value is as high as hundreds of billions. It has emerged like a sudden force and has a place in the technology field of Country Z.
The Lu family has a history of hundreds of years. They have experienced turbulent times and not only escaped unscathed but also preserved their strength. They made a contribution in that war and are truly a prominent family.
In the past two decades, the Lei Group has grown stronger and stronger, involving many fields, and has established a huge business empire, playing an important role in the international arena. If the Fu Lin Group wants to compete with the Lei Group, it would be like hitting a rock with an egg.
After hearing Fu Heng's analysis, Lin Zhou was confused. "What should I do? I think I have caused you trouble?"
Fu Heng smiled and soothed: "Don't worry, Fu Lin Group will be fine."
Lin Zhou asked: "What if?"
Fu Heng shook his head: "I have some understanding of Lu Feng's character. He is not the kind of unreasonable person. You and Su Ling are friends. If he touches you, what will Su Ling think? I am afraid that the relationship between the two of you will be even more irreparable."
Lin Zhou touched his chin. "That's true."
Fu Heng said: "So, don't worry about it."
——————
Lai's Private Hospital——
Xu Yunzhuo secretly looked at the man on the hospital bed.
After finishing the call, Mr. Rui remained silent for ten minutes. There was no expression on his handsome face and no emotion could be seen.
Is this a failed negotiation?
After hesitating for a moment, Xu Yunzhuo asked cautiously: "Mr. Li, does Fu Lin Group want to..."
"No need." Lu Feng put down his phone and said calmly, "No need to make trouble."
Xu Yunzhuo understood immediately. "Yes."
Mrs. Lu's disappearance is still a secret for the time being. Mr. Lu even kept it a secret from the old man and the old lady because he didn't want too many people to know. However, for Xu Yunzhuo, it was a pity to cut off the line of Lin Zhou. Fortunately, without this line, he found another clue.
"Mr. Rui, your wife's first flight is heading to City H." Xu Yunzhuo opened the folder in his hand, took out a piece of paper, and handed it to Rui respectfully.
To be honest, when I got the copy of Mrs. Luo's ID the day before yesterday and saw the identity information and photo on it, Xu Yunzhuo was shocked.
He had been Mr. Lu's assistant for three years and knew that Mr. Lu got married at a young age, but he never knew that Mrs. Lu was a man! And a handsome and elegant man at that!
Even her ID photo looks so good, how good is her appearance in real life?
No wonder Mr. Rui kept his wife hidden so strictly and never brought her to any banquets, for fear that she would be coveted by others.
Ru Feng held the thin piece of paper and looked at the ticket information printed on it. He found that after Su Ling arrived in City H, he also bought flight tickets to City A and City D.
"Is there a boarding record?" He pointed to the flights to City A and City D.
Xu Yunzhuo said: "Yes."
The flights to City A and City D were only half an hour apart, but Mrs. Lu boarded both flights. This was unexpected! Mrs. Lu obviously knew that Mr. Lu would track down his whereabouts, so she deliberately threw a fog bomb to confuse others. Now he couldn't be sure whether Mrs. Lu was in City H, or went to City A or City D.
Rui Feng put down the paper, picked up Su Ling's phone, pressed the power button, and the phone screen lit up, but without the password and fingerprint, it could not be unlocked.
Xu Yunzhuo said: "Madam's mobile phone number has a senior customer service password, and the DX sales office refused to print the call records."
After finding out this, he actually admired his wife a little. Her whereabouts were so confusing that no one could find her. Was she determined to get a divorce?
Feeling a little guilty, Xu Yunzhuo asked tentatively: "Boss, can we... take another approach?"
Xu Feng stared at him deeply, which made Xu Yunzhuo's back cold. After a while, he said, "Not for the time being."
Xu Yunzhuo secretly breathed a sigh of relief. In fact, he didn't like to use improper means to collect information, because that would inevitably lead to him owing a lot of favors and leaving some unnecessary handles.
"Keep your eyes on H city." said Lu Feng.
Xu Yunzhuo was startled: "Boss, do you think that Madam is most likely still staying in H City?"
"Yeah." Lu Feng put away his phone, leaned back on the pillow, closed his eyes and rested.
Xu Yunzhuo knew he was tired and was about to leave. When he reached the door, he suddenly remembered something and said, "As for H City, I remember that Minister Lu bid for a piece of land there a few years ago."
This Minister is named Lu Zhiyuan, the person in charge of the company's real estate development projects and the eldest cousin of President Lu.
H City is a second-tier city, far less developed than S City. It is intriguing that 2 billion was spent to bid for a piece of land there.
Ru Feng made a move towards Xu Yunzhuo to show that he understood.
Xu Yunzhuo said nothing more, quietly left the ward and closed the door.
——————
Stoney Creek Village
The fifteen-day tea picking activity finally came to an end. The total tea output of Phoenix Mountain this time was 9,870 kilograms. The three tea merchants were very happy. They happily paid the balance and left with the tea picking team.
Su Ling sat in the village committee as an accountant, his slender fingers pressing on the calculator like playing a piano.
Apart from the tractor transportation fee for half a month, he still had to pay wages to more than 200 villagers. The second grandfather hired villagers to plant tea trees, and every tea picking season he settled wages. As soon as the tea merchants left yesterday, the villagers happily lined up at the village committee to wait for their money.
With the village committee supervising the work, Su Ling doesn't worry about someone claiming the wages falsely. As long as he uses the working hours recorded on the form, he can calculate everyone's wages.
Thanks to the popularity of smartphones, even in backward rural areas, every person has a mobile phone and can pay wages directly through WeChat or Alipay, saving Su Ling from having to go to the bank to withdraw huge amounts of cash.
In previous years, it was Second Master Su who sat in the village committee office to distribute money, but this year it was replaced by a young and handsome man. When some unmarried girls saw him, they couldn't help but fall in love with him. When they sat in front of Su Ling waiting for their wages, their faces were all blushing and full of shame.
Su Ling handled these admiring looks indifferently. The diamond ring on his left ring finger sparkled brightly, indicating the fact that he was married.
Originally, he had never thought about wearing a ring. After leaving S City and coming to Shixi Village, he took off the wedding ring he had worn for three years. But a few days ago, the matchmaker from the village walked into his house, smiling coquettishly and wanting to arrange a marriage for him. He decisively put the diamond ring that had been in the drawer back on his hand.
When the matchmaker learned that he was married, she looked regretful and left muttering to herself.
After giving money to the girl sitting in the front, Su Ling said, "Next, Zhang Cuihua."
When Zhang Cuihua heard her name, she immediately squeezed out the person in front of her and sat opposite Su Ling.
"Brother Su, I am Zhang Cuihua." She said coquettishly.
Su Ling's eyebrows jumped, but he said calmly: "Hello, your salary is 3,300 yuan in total. Check the working hours. If they are correct, sign here."
Zhang Cuihua saw that Su Ling didn't even look at her, so she curled her lips, took the form to check it, and was about to sign it when she suddenly said in confusion: "Oh? That's not right! I clearly work a full eight hours every day, why do you only count me six hours?"
This attendance form was given to Su Ling by the deputy director of the village committee. Su Ling was unable to answer Zhang Cuihua's question and could only ask the deputy director Li Yue'e who was sitting next to him.
Li Yue'e is a middle-aged woman in her forties with a high school education. She has worked in the village committee for ten years and became deputy director three years ago. She has been in charge of tea mountain supervision. When Zhang Cuihua questioned her, she was embarrassed and said in a bad tone: "Why is it counted less? You go up the mountain at 8 o'clock every morning, go down the mountain for lunch at 11 o'clock, go up the mountain at 1:30 in the afternoon, and go down the mountain at 4:30, a total of six hours a day, it's right!"
Zhang Cuihua was anxious: "I bring lunch with me every day and never come down the mountain before noon."
Li Yue'e glared at her. "You mean I remembered it wrong?"
Zhang Cuihua was stubborn and retorted, "I must have remembered it wrong! I clearly worked eight hours, why did they deduct two hours from me?"
She looked down at the table again and found that Li Guo, who was next to her, worked eight hours a day. She immediately shouted, "Li Guo is the one who goes down the mountain to eat lunch at noon. Director, did you get it wrong?"
When Li Guo, who was at the back of the line, heard this, he looked at Li Yue'e in surprise. Li Yue'e was so embarrassed that she got angry and said, "Zhang Cuihua, what do you mean?"
Zhang Cuihua bit her lip and looked at Su Ling for help.