Chapter 17
As the Lunar New Year approached, Liang Shi was no longer harassed by Li Junqian and had probably returned to Singapore.
Gu Feng came to her office in person, which flattered Liang Shi. She asked someone to make her a cup of coffee.
"Mr. Gu, what are your instructions?"
Gu Feng sighed: "Karsten is finally back, but unfortunately, one of the contract manufacturers in China ran into some problems, so he flew there directly."
Liang Shi was taken aback: "You two bosses don't need to explain things to me so clearly, do you? So, is there something you need me to do?"
Gu Feng liked talking to smart people: "Didn't I participate in a youth elite event a while ago? Insider information: I won first prize. Tsk, I just booked tickets to the Maldives with Zhou Yun, so I can't be there to receive the prize."
Liang Shi understood; he meant for her to go in his place.
"Time and place?"
"The day after tomorrow, Shenzhen. I see you've been quite busy lately, so this is a good opportunity to get away and relax."
Since the big boss had said so, how could she dare to refuse?
After Gu Feng left, Liang Shi realized he had forgotten to ask where the second boss had gone. After all, the Fanning Group had quite a few contract manufacturers.
If he were also in Shenzhen, Gu Feng would definitely have told him, right?
Two days later, Liang Shi, carrying a classic Goyard tote bag, boarded a first-class flight to Shenzhen. Unexpectedly, he ran into Wei Yanhang, who smiled, put away his sunglasses, and said it must be fate.
What a coincidence, the two of them attended the same event. Wow, she's quite impressive, knowing all sorts of elites.
The event was held in the evening at the hotel arranged by the organizers. Liang Shi first took the car that picked her up and went back to the hotel to rest. Wei Yanhang had worked in Shenzhen for many years, and before parting, he said that his friend had arranged accommodation for him.
It was inconvenient to inquire about their private matters, so the two parted ways, but arranged to meet at a dinner party instead.
...
Wei Yanhang took a taxi to a bar that wasn't open yet, but his old friends were already drinking inside. He went into a VIP room, and as soon as he pushed the door open, a long-haired woman wearing a sequined halter top and a short skirt pressed herself against him. He didn't refuse and even put his arm around the woman's waist.
"There's a banquet tonight, and you're all already quite drunk?"
My friend A, the second son of a leading company in Shenzhen, lifted his head from a woman's fragrant neck and said, "Wei Sheng, if it weren't for that lousy event my dad sponsored, you probably wouldn't have come back from Shanghai, would you? The women there are sweeter than the ones here."
Wei Yanhang found a place to sit and sat down. The woman took the initiative, poured him a glass of wine, and then sat directly on his lap. He smiled and did not refuse.
After finishing their erotic scene on another sofa, Friend B grabbed a handful of napkins and had the woman beneath him clean up. Finally, he zipped up his jacket, clinked his wine glass on the table, and said to Wei Yanhang, "It's rare for you to be back. We're going night fishing at nine tonight, don't break your promise. Bring your own girl, I won't bother arranging anything for you."
Wei Yanhang had a few drinks with them, and brought along the woman who had seduced him to the point of near ejaculation.
He booked a room nearby, and two hours later, he patted the woman lying motionless and barely alive on the bed, sneered, "She's really weak." After taking a shower and getting dressed, he left some money and left.
...
Before coming, Liang Shi checked the weather in Shenzhen and asked the organizers about the dress code. The event was indoors and in the same hotel. After being frozen in Shanghai for so long, he could finally relax.
She doesn't have many dresses, but she has quite a few too. When she goes out to Paris with her close female colleagues for dates, Western meals, or to the theater, she always dresses up, which has accumulated her collection of dresses.
Some are luxury items that she falls in love with at first sight and buy regardless of the price; others are custom-made by tailors she has booked through intermediaries. Tonight, she is going to wear a handmade dark green strapless dress, a gift from her friend in Paris before she left.
It was the first time she had ever worn it.
The banquet started at seven o'clock. Liang Shi ordered takeout to fill her stomach, then did her makeup and hair, before walking downstairs to the banquet hall in high heels and carrying her bag.
The hotel's banquet hall was enormous, and there were hardly any people at the registration area. She only realized she was late when she went to register.
Indeed, places with many talented young people have many business opportunities, and smart people will arrive early to network and not waste a single opportunity.
Just as Liang Shi finished signing, he saw Wei Yanhang coming out of the banquet hall, making a phone call, but he didn't see her.
In this unfamiliar city, surrounded by strangers, Liang Shi felt somewhat at ease upon seeing a familiar face and prepared to go over and say hello.
He speaks fluent Cantonese, but Liang Shi doesn't understand a single word of it.
Wei Yanhang received a call from his friend A, who was teasing him: "This girl is a stunner in bed. She was specially arranged for you, but you just showed up and you've already taken her down. I'll arrange another one for you when we go night fishing later."
Wei Yanhang scoffed: "You know my preferences. Arranging a frail girl for me? Are you looking down on me?"
After he finished speaking, he turned around and first saw a pair of fair feet wearing silver stilettos. Further ahead, he saw slender calves and incredibly beautiful ankles.
"Mr. Wei, what a coincidence."
Wei Yanhang's previously frivolous gaze instantly vanished. As he nodded to him, he cleared his throat and said into the phone, "I'll make my own arrangements for tonight. Bye."
"Miss Liang, you look beautiful tonight. Let's go inside together."
One's seating arrangement at a banquet reflects their influence within the social circle. Liang Shi was surprised to find herself at the head table. She thought to herself, "Gu Feng is truly impressive. I'll have to find out more about my boss's family background when I get back. He must be royalty, or at least extremely wealthy and powerful."
She was a little nervous going on stage to receive the award. Afterwards, she took a picture of the trophy and sent it to Gu Feng, who then suddenly sent her a picture of himself on vacation in the Maldives with his girlfriend.
Wow, the differences between people are really quite big.
Then, she received a message on WeChat from Wei Yanhang asking if she was interested in going out to sea that night, and he also sent some photos of night fishing.
"That sounds interesting?" Liang asked if he would be back too late, and the latter said he would be back as soon as he caught a fish, no later than midnight.
After thinking it over for a while, Liang Shi agreed.
She didn't know anyone and didn't need to socialize, but some people still handed her business cards or wanted to add her on WeChat. Liang Shi accepted them all, but she refused those who wanted to ask her out with ulterior motives. She found some time to go back to her room, put the trophy away, and changed into some more casual clothes.
Wei Yanhang was already waiting for her downstairs at the hotel, this time driving the latest Lingzhi electric car.
"This car is nice. If I were to buy it, could you give me an insider price?"
Wei Yanhang opened the car door for her: "Of course, half price is fine with me."
Liang Shi did have the idea of buying a car, but she wasn't in a hurry. She was currently burdened with a huge mortgage, which put her under a lot of pressure.
"Okay, I'll try driving it when I get back to Shanghai."
Li Junqian got out of the taxi and saw the silver Lingzhi car drive away. Without thinking, he got back into the taxi. Just as the driver was about to ask him if he had left something behind, the person in the back seat said urgently, "Sir, there's a big problem with the tram ahead."
Gu Feng, who was in the Maldives, was making love with his girlfriend Zhou Yun. He reached out and hung up the phone, but it rang again shortly after. He glanced at the caller ID and, though reluctant, answered it anyway.
"You really timed your call perfectly. Once you get a girlfriend, I'll call you every night and bother you!"
Li Junqian scoffed, "The sun has just set in the Maldives, hasn't it?"
One of the men, who indulged in lewd behavior during the day, cleared his throat: "Get to the point, stop interrupting my girlfriend and me!"
Li Junqian glanced at the silver car in front of him and asked coldly, "How's the person I asked you to investigate?"
"Are you crazy? I'm on vacation! Besides, didn't I tell you last time? That guy's a tech tycoon, he just arrived in Shanghai not long ago. I'll tell you the details when I get back. My brother-in-law is very busy, I don't know if he's even investigated. Besides, you have way more resources than me. If you don't investigate, why should I? It's like taking off your pants to fart!"
Li Junqian lost his patience: "Call your brother-in-law now. You have two minutes."
Before Gu Feng's lower body had even calmed down, the fire in his chest suddenly flared up: "Are you really sick? What does Liang Shi have to do with you? She's dating someone and you're calling me in the middle of the night asking all sorts of questions. You don't actually have feelings for her, do you?"
The car suddenly turned left, and the driver in front said in Cantonese, "Hey handsome, sorry, we couldn't get through if we didn't step on the gas."
Li Junqian patted the back of the driver's seat: "It doesn't matter, just stay close."
Gu Feng sensed something was off when he heard him speak Cantonese: "Didn't you go to Fujian? Why are you still speaking Cantonese? Oh my god, you didn't go to Shenzhen to see Liang Shi, did you? You and her..."
"Why do you think I made you take Zhou Yun to headquarters? Gu Feng, I'll give you five minutes at most."
Gu Feng stared at the phone that had been hung up on, yelled "Holy crap!" and, ignoring Zhou Yun's questions beside him, quickly called his brother-in-law.
Four minutes later, Li Junqian received a call back from Gu Feng.
“We found it, we found it. My brother-in-law said he couldn’t find it in Shanghai, so he asked his friend in the Shenzhen Municipal Public Security Bureau to check. He said that Wei has powerful connections, and many cases are dropped because of the presumption of innocence.”
Gu Feng paced anxiously in the room: "Brother, don't tell me that Liang Shi is with that Wei Yanhang right now."
Li Junqian was silent for two seconds: "What do you mean?"
Gu Feng breathed a sigh of relief: "Brother, please calm down!"
If he could, he really wanted to fly to the Maldives and beat up this unreliable friend: "Get to the point!"
"That Wei Yanhang is probably a repeat offender, a smuggler, but his friends have a lot of influence in Shenzhen. And it's not just about smuggling; I heard those guys are very skilled at playing the victim. Several women who were nearly killed by them reported the crimes, but it was all suppressed in the end. Brother, could Liang Shi be..."
Li Junqian clenched his fist, his eyes fixed on the car in front of him: "You'd better keep quiet."
After hanging up the phone, Gu Feng felt a chill run down his spine from those few words.
After Zhou Yun finished showering, she came out and asked him, "What happened? Did something happen to President Li?"
Gu Feng lay down on the bed: "Baby, your new best friend is actually having an affair with my brother! Right under my nose, and I didn't even notice!"
Zhou Yun was taken aback: "You mean Director Liang and General Manager Li?"
...
Li Junqian regretted it as soon as he hung up the phone. Just as Gu Feng said, if he wanted to investigate, he didn't need to beat around the bush at all, but he hesitated. Once he asked his uncle to investigate, Zhao Jiaren would inevitably find out what kind of person his mother was, and she would probably keep an eye on him and interrogate him relentlessly.
He's afraid of trouble.
But now, things are really bad. He regrets it so much he wants to punch himself.
The car stopped, and the driver leaned out and said, "Hey buddy, I can't drive past this dock. I guess they have private yachts."
Li Junqian gave the driver some money, took his luggage from the trunk, and walked into the dock.
Liang Shi was stunned when he saw the huge yacht. He thought it was just an ordinary one, but he didn't expect it to be so large.
"This is my friend's yacht. He also organized this night fishing trip. Come on, watch out."
Liang Shi was pulled up by him and followed him inside. There were quite a few people, men and women, some drinking and chatting on the deck, and some sitting inside.
Most of the time, it was a couple embracing, and the women were all dressed quite provocatively, completely disregarding the cold air of the night.
"Are they a couple?"
Wei Yanhang exchanged glances with his brothers, then led Liang Shi to the deck: "Some are couples, some... are still in the ambiguous stage, I guess. Do you know how to fish?"
Liang Shi waved her hand, indicating that she had absolutely no interest in these matters.
"No, do you fish often?"
Wei Yanhang glanced at the seawater illuminated by the light: "Not often. These are automatic fishing rods. Someone will come and fix them when we go out to sea later."
As they spoke, the boat rocked and the engine roared: "Are we setting off?"
Wei Yanhang laughed and said, "You guessed right. Thirsty? Want to come inside and get a drink?"
It was cold outside, and her coat wasn't thick enough, so she naturally didn't want to stand out in the sea breeze. Inside the ship's lounge, a man and a woman were huddled together, whispering and chatting intimately. Liang Shi frowned slightly because she saw the man's hand groping the woman's back.
Liang Shi walked to the other end, picked up a bottle of mineral water, and was about to open it when Wei Yanhang poured her a glass of white wine. She hesitated for a moment but still opened the mineral water bottle.
"The wine won't quench my thirst, I'll have a couple of sips later."
Wei Yanhang glanced at the wine glass, smiled, and without pressuring her, led her to sit on the sofa.
Liang Shi was somewhat repulsed by the couple: "Why don't we go outside?"
He shrugged: "Whatever you say."
The sea was pitch black late at night. If it weren't for the lighting, Liang Shi would probably have had nightmares. The boat stopped, and a man appeared out of nowhere, came over to fix the fishing rod, and then left.
Wei Yanhang held two glasses of white wine and handed her one: "Wine warms us up. The fish won't bite anytime soon, so let's drink and wait."
Liang Shi, holding a glass, leaned against the edge of the boat: "How long does it usually take to catch one?"
After she finished speaking, Wei Yanhang took a small sip of his wine and smiled, "That depends on our luck."
Liang Shi has little patience and mentally gave fishing a negative score, especially given the low temperature. Even though it's Shenzhen, it's freezing cold in the middle of the sea late at night.
She finished the drink in her glass in one gulp and handed it to him, saying, "Mr. Wei, I'm going to the restroom. Could you hold onto this glass for me? I'll be right back. Surely the fish won't bite while I'm in the bathroom?"
Wei Yanhang stared at the glass in his hand and chuckled, "That's hard to say. You'd better hurry back."
Liang Shi entered the cabin, but the man and woman who had been sitting there were gone. The restroom was on the floor below. She held onto the handrail and walked down. There were two rooms on either side, both with their doors ajar. She heard those embarrassing sounds and her nervous steps stopped.
The people on this ship are all too strange. Liang Shi always felt something was wrong, and now, hearing those embarrassing sounds coming from those two rooms, he felt like he had boarded a pirate ship.
She felt a bit feverish, thinking it was a lingering effect of what she had witnessed. She didn't dare go to the bathroom, so she climbed the stairs back to the deck. The sea breeze was chilly, and she felt dizzy.
She braced herself on the deck, nearly knocking her fishing rod into the sea, and touched her forehead with her other hand: "Mr. Wei, the boat isn't moving, so why can I still feel it swaying? I'm a little dizzy."
Wei Yanhang looked at the woman swaying in front of him, threw the two glasses into the sea, walked over to her, and reached out to support her shoulder: "Seasick? Let me help you inside to sit for a while."
Although Liang Shi disliked his touch, he subconsciously felt comfortable being enveloped by the heat emanating from him. After taking only a few steps, he felt his steps becoming light and unsteady, and his body grew hotter and hotter, making him feel extremely uncomfortable.
Before they even went inside, a man came up with a woman on his arm. The woman's pigtails were loose and disheveled. The man patted Wei Yanhang on the shoulder and said, "Tsk, this chick is really beautiful. Where did you find her, kid? Let your brother have a taste when you're done playing with her?"
Wei Yanhang licked his lips and smiled: "Which room is empty?"
The man pointed to the left: "This boat won't dock anytime soon, so don't go overboard, kid."
Although Liang Shi couldn't understand their conversation, her remaining rationality made her realize her situation. She could tell that she wasn't seasick, but her body was getting hotter and hotter, which meant she had obviously been drugged!
"Wei...Yanhang, let me go!"
A beautiful woman walks right into my trap; why would I turn her away? I ran into her at IKEA before; we ate and chatted together. I thought it would be a wonderful evening, but in the end, she wouldn't let him take her home. Tsk, I can tell she's a conservative person. We simply lost contact after that, and he threw that postcard in some trash can a long time ago.
He never expected to run into her in first class on a flight to Shenzhen, at the same event. Shenzhen, huh, he was confident he could win her over; after all, she was a rare beauty.
"Let go? Miss Liang, the night has only just begun. Let me help you down..."
Liang Shi tried to push him away, but her strength was gradually waning. She thought, Li Junqian was right, she should have stayed away from this man from the beginning... This is her fate, isn't it?
Wei Yanhang had barely taken a step when his friend pointed to the stern and exclaimed, "Hey, who are you?"
Liang Shi was pulled around by Wei Yanhang as he turned around. She squinted and saw the man in her mind before losing consciousness.
It must be a dream. Why am I hallucinating?
The man raised his hand and loosened his tie, untying it. The last image of Liang Shi before he collapsed was him wrapping the tie around his right hand.
I hope it's not a dream.
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