Chapter 40 He wasn't giving him a choice, but rather, ordering him. ...
Qian Chuan never thought in his life that one day he would receive a call from Xu Jiakai's assistant.
On the phone, the assistant directly mentioned that they were looking for the invitation letter to the Prism Auction, and also said that Xu Jiakai would be transiting in China in a few days, and there would be a half-hour meeting time at Xianghai International Airport. If they still wanted the invitation letter, they asked Zhou Jinkai to come in person.
This passage contained a lot of information. Qian Chuan was about to ask for details when the other party had already hung up the phone. If he called again, he would be busy.
The other party's attitude could be described as arrogant, but in today's world, asking someone for help is like asking a grandson. Qian Chuan quickly told Zhou Jinkai the news, but unexpectedly, Zhou Jinkai acted cautiously after hearing it.
Since Xu Jiakai already knew he needed an invitation, it made no sense that he couldn't find his number. Why didn't he contact him directly instead of having Qian Chuan pass on the message? Or, what else did he know besides the invitation?
He had many doubts in his mind, but even so, since the other party had taken the initiative to come to him, he had to go to the Hongmen Banquet whether he wanted to or not.
According to the time revealed by the assistant, before dawn that morning, Qian Chuan and Zhou Jinkai rushed to Xianghai International Airport according to the information given by Xu Jiakai's assistant, and met Xu Jiakai who was resting in a separate VIP waiting room.
After the assistant brought the two people in, Qian Chuan hurriedly went up to Xu Jiakai and handed him his business card to introduce himself as soon as he saw him. He said some flattering words and skillfully displayed the servility of an agent.
Seeing this, Xu Jiakai didn't want to lose face and asked his assistant to take it. He looked past him at Zhou Jinkai behind him and said cryptically, "It seems you trust him a lot."
Zhou Jinkai didn't understand what he meant, so he replied, "Qian Chuan is my agent, so I naturally trust him."
Xu Jiakai sat on the black leather sofa, legs crossed, and smiled: "I don't care, it depends on whether it's convenient for you."
The assistant then brought a folder and handed it to Zhou Jinkai. He took one look at it and his expression immediately changed. But he quickly calmed down and said to Qian Chuan, "Go out and wait for me."
Zhou Jinkai wasn't good with people, and his words were infuriating. Qian Chuan was worried that he might offend someone in his absence, and the invitation would be completely lost. He had wanted to fight for it, but Zhou Jinkai insisted, so he gave up and obediently left with his assistant.
After the strangers left, Xu Jiakai invited him to sit down, but Zhou Jinkai ignored him and said coldly, "Boss Xu, I don't understand what you mean."
Xu Jiakai casually flipped through the folder his assistant had left behind and said slowly, "Don't worry, I mean no harm. I don't care about what you and my wife are conspiring against. In fact, I can help you."
Help him? Why would a weasel want to pay New Year's greetings to a chicken?
Zhou Jinkai frowned and stared at him, but did not speak in a hurry.
Xu Jiakai tapped the folder cover twice with his fingertips, and the plastic shell made a dull sound. "I can give you the invitation letter, and I can also help you take down the person you want to take down, but there is a condition."
"What conditions?" Zhou Jin asked.
"It's simple. I'm glad you know her. I want you to find out what she is doing." Xu Jiakai raised his head.
He didn't believe in ghosts and gods, let alone time travel, but the amazing coincidences between dreams and reality were so bizarre that he couldn't just sit back and watch.
Xu Jiakai weighed the pros and cons and decided that instead of investigating without any clues, he should start with Gao Xing's close friends. The last time he saw them at the Japanese restaurant, he felt they were both familiar.
"What?" Zhou Jinkai was puzzled.
"You don't need to worry about the details, just record everything she does, no matter how big or small." In simple terms, it's surveillance.
"What if I say no?" Zhou Jinkai asked tentatively.
Xu Jiakai revealed an expression that said, "What a hassle!" and slowly placed the folder on the coffee table. "Then Li Siping will soon get the news, and you won't have another chance to bring him down.
"Not only that, you'll ruin yourself and those around you. If your... agent knew you were using his connections to investigate these things, would he still be so devoted to helping you?"
On the wooden coffee table, an open folder clearly stated what Zhou Jinkai had been investigating over the past few years: evidence of Li Siping Studio colluding with galleries to help the powerful and wealthy launder money, including several transactions involving Xu Jiakai.
Zhou Jinkai didn't expect that he had investigated so deeply that he even knew what he wanted to do.
He admired Zhou Jinkai's slightly twisted expression, playfully observing it as if it were his prey. "It must be hard to have your work stolen, right? All the prominent collectors in China will be in attendance at the Prism Auction. Don't you want to expose him directly and completely discredit your teacher?"
Zhou Jinkaiyuan's brows were furrowed, but upon hearing this, he finally relaxed a bit. Like a jackal confronting a lion in the wild, he exuded a dangerous aura: "Boss Xu... aren't you afraid of being implicated by me?"
Xu Jiakai smiled nonchalantly and stated the facts in an almost indifferent tone: "Those mountains that seem impossible to climb in your eyes are nothing to me."
"You should know that this society is hierarchical. In the eyes of those in power, everyone below is the same, just ants."
He was not giving Zhou Jin a choice, but rather, ordering him.
…
That afternoon, Gao Xing met Zhou Jinkai near Mingjing Lake when she was off work. She thought Zhou Jinkai was there to see the scenery, so she went up to say hello.
"Teacher Zhou? What a coincidence!"
Zhou Jinkai was dressed casually today, wearing a baseball cap with the hood of his sweatshirt pulled over the cap. His reaction was indifferent, as if he was not surprised by such an encounter.
"Unfortunately, I came to see you." He did not make any unnecessary greetings, but directly confessed his purpose.
"Looking for... me?" Gao Xing was confused.
"Is there any conflict between you and Xu Jiakai?" he asked.
Gao Xing didn't understand his intention and asked cautiously, "Why do you ask?"
Hearing her reservations, Zhou Jinkai didn't force her, but just said, "He's checking you, be careful."
"Check me?" Gao Xing chased after him, remembering Zhou Jinkai's repeated reminders. "Teacher Zhou, do you know something?"
Zhou Jinkai paused slightly, thinking about what he was about to do. He finally stopped and asked, "Gao Xing, in your opinion, what kind of person am I?"
Somehow, Gao Xing always felt that today's Zhou Jinkai was weird, as if he was explaining something at the end.
Although she didn't understand why he asked that, Gao Xing still answered seriously: "In my opinion, Teacher Zhou, you are a very good person. It is because of your encouragement that I am who I am today."
Zhou Jinkai laughed lightly, "But what if I tell you that I've never been a good person?"
He spoke in a self-destructive tone, "Back then, when I helped you at the subway station, it was only because the medicine I had been taking was taking effect. At Ruixi Hospital, I left your contact information, not to send you a picture album, but to get your personal information so I could find you more easily. And that time at the restaurant, I asked you out because I mistook you for Xu Jiakai's lover and wanted to use your relationship with him and his wife to achieve my own goals!"
"Gao Xing, I have never treated you sincerely from the beginning to the end. Even so, do you still think I am a good person?"
Gao Xing didn't understand why Zhou Jinkai was so uneasy that day, why he was so obsessed with belittling himself. It wasn't until everything reached a point of no return that she realized he was forcing her to make up her mind.
He tried hard to portray himself as a bad guy, showing his fangs, thinking that this would eliminate the weakness and hesitation in his heart. He couldn't bear the expectations of others and was afraid of all the disappointed eyes, so he simply took the initiative to destroy them.
But if Zhou Jinkai was really a very bad person as he said, then he would not have stopped the little boy from hurting others in Ruixi Hospital; he would not have stopped the man from attacking Gao Xing in the top-floor restaurant; and today, he would not have revealed all his plans and plots.
A real bad person will not advertise himself as a bad person. Even if he has done all kinds of bad things, he will feel that the whole world has wronged him.
So it is actually very easy to tell whether someone is a good person or not.
The morning after breaking up with Zhou Jinkai, Gao Xing opened his phone and saw a series of red "explosions" on the hot searches, only then did he realize how crazy he had done.
#Li Siping was exposed for money laundering#
#Li Siping's father and son#
#《Morning》Author#
#Xu Jiakai recording#
The morning in southern Beijing is the night in Brussels. Before going to bed, Xu Jiakai closed the work file on his computer, remembered what he had instructed before, and called his assistant to come to the room.
The assistant looked nervous and apprehensive. Normally, Xu Jiakai would have noticed, but he had been working non-stop for nearly a month and didn't have the energy to pay attention to such trivial matters. He said, "I've thought about it, and I still don't trust Zhou Jinkai. Just in case, I'd like you to personally monitor that area."
When Zhou Jinkai was mentioned, the assistant suddenly looked embarrassed and sweat even appeared on his forehead.
Xu Jiakai noticed something was wrong and frowned: "What's wrong?"
The assistant knew that he couldn't hide the matter, so he took out his mobile phone, opened the trending search and handed it over.
On the orange page, #徐家凯记录# is followed by a striking word “爆” (explosion).
Xu Jiakai stared at the trending search terms on his phone, his temples pounding. In the recording, his own voice was coming out of the speaker:
"Those mountains that you think you can't climb are nothing to me..."
"You should know that this society is hierarchical. In the eyes of those in power, everyone below is the same, just ants."
The next second, the phone was smashed against the wall, and the screen exploded with spider-web cracks at the moment of impact.
"Zhou, Jin, Kai!"
He squeezed out these three words from between his teeth, and the veins on his neck bulged.
The night outside the floor-to-ceiling window made his face pale. He kicked over the coffee table in front of him, and the crystal ashtray hit the carpet with a dull sound, and cigarette butts scattered everywhere.
The assistant trembled with fear: "Boss Xu, what should we do now?"
Xu Jiakai loosened his tie, breathing heavily, and suddenly sneered, "What should I do? You ask me what to do? Who the hell should I ask?"
"Li Siping is already trying to sway public opinion towards him being mentally ill. Why don't we also..."
Before the assistant could finish her words, he grabbed her by the collar: "He's mentally ill? Why didn't you tell me earlier that he was mentally ill?"
Vincent felt wronged. At that time, Xu Jiakai said that he wanted to investigate what he and his wife were plotting. After discovering his entanglement with Li Siping, the focus of the investigation naturally fell on money laundering. Who would pay attention to whether Zhou Jinkai had ever received psychiatric treatment?
Before he finished speaking, Xu Jiakai's phone, which was lying upside down next to the computer, suddenly vibrated. He turned it over and found that it was Gu Jibai calling. He immediately took a deep breath to suppress his anger, and answered the phone in a calm tone.
"Hello? Mr. Gu."
Silence spread in the dark night. There was no sound from the other end of the phone. Three seconds, five seconds, ten seconds...
Xu Jiakai clenched his back teeth, and his slightly rapid breathing revealed his current mood. He understood that this was Gu Jibai's warning.
Finally, an almost inaudible sigh was heard: "Xu Jiakai, this is the second time you have disappointed me..."
The ending tone is very long, like a blunt knife slowly cutting into flesh.
Xu Jiakai's fingertips were sweating as he held the phone, and a layer of moisture formed on the metal surface.
The last time the Guanya factory explosion was exposed, Gu Jibai was still battling those old men in Minghongli, and he needed his help to narrowly escape the disaster. But now, things are different. Gu Jibai has already grasped the power and can discard him as a chess piece at any time.
"Mr. Gu, I will return to China right now and I will definitely give you an explanation!" Xu Jiakai promised.
"There's no need to return home. The situation in Africa has dragged on long enough. Come back after you're done."
The busy tone sounded as the phone was hung up.
The fact that Gu Jibai was willing to call him meant that the group had not completely given up on him. He knew that this was probably the last chance Gu Jibai gave him.
But Xu Jiakai didn't feel relieved. On the contrary, he became even more nervous. "Vincent, you need to return to China immediately and find a foreign medical institution to transfer the old man there."
Vincent was surprised: "Transfer to another hospital? Why..."
However, before he could finish his question, he met Xu Jiakai's cold gaze and had no choice but to nod and say yes.
It’s not that Xu Jiakai doesn’t want to give the old man a chance to live, but he can’t gamble the rest of his life on him. If he hadn’t stood on the right side in the Green Home incident last year, where would the elegant Mr. Xu be now?
If anyone was to blame, it was that old man. He'd committed too many crimes while sober, and the higher-ups were investigating closely. If he lost Minghong's protection, he'd be implicated if he wasn't careful. Besides, that old man should have gotten his comeuppance long ago. For Shi Yunran's sake, allowing him to live until now was a great kindness.
"And that Gao Xing, before I come back, no matter what method you use, hold her back and don't let her cause any trouble."
Although he didn't believe in the existence of time travel in this world, he believed that the change in Shen Xingjian's memory was because of her, and Zhou Jinkai's madness and tricking him was also because of her. All the variables were because of her!
After Vincent took note, he asked cautiously, "What about the recording..."
"Don't worry about this." He frowned and lit a cigarette irritably.
Since Minghong still wants to protect him, he will definitely not sit idly by. What's more, Zhou Jinkai's target was not him in the first place, and dragging him into the water was just a side effect. The recording matter can be a big deal or a small one, depending on the attitude of the group.
When things in Africa are settled, he wants to go there in person to experience the joy!
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