Chapter 13
Just as Lin Xian was about to speak, Zhou Mubai squeezed his hand, took a step forward, and chuckled softly, which sounded unreasonably creepy to Lao Hai.
The second son of the Zhou family said, "The cargo we're transporting this time weighs a total of 40 kilograms, originally packed inside frozen fish. With thousands of containers, it's impossible for the crew and the police to easily find it, but as long as the police are willing to put in the effort, they can eventually find it."
"If I remember correctly, it was you who came up with the idea, and it was you who asked Ah Xian to escort this batch of goods." Zhou Mubai said dimly.
Hearing this, Lao Hai became anxious: "That's right, I want to let Big Brother and the two young masters see him clearly, because he is the one escorting them, so there will definitely be problems!"
Zhou Mubai put one hand in his pocket and ignored him. He glanced at the expressionless Lin Xian and continued, "But Ah Xian told me he suspected there was a traitor. Just in case, he suggested putting four kilograms of cargo on the speedboat, making a feint to the east and attacking in the west, so the police would think that was all we had. Otherwise, our losses wouldn't just be twelve million, but hundreds of millions."
"Besides, that day, Ah Xian risked his life driving a speedboat to divert the police and was shot in the shoulder. He jumped into the cold water without a word. If I hadn't sent someone to rescue him in time, he might have died there quietly, just as you wished." Zhou Mubai walked up to Lao Hai, lifted his chin with one hand, and looked at him coldly: "Tell me, should I believe you or him?"
Lao Hai looked up at Zhou Yaohui and saw that he was also looking at him coldly, his eyes like a cold reptile. Zhou Yaohui said to the black-clad henchman standing nearby, "Drag him away and deal with him cleanly."
"Big Brother!" As his men approached and grabbed him, Lao Hai cried out, struggling desperately, "I haven't leaked a single word from the beginning to the end. This is just a trick that pretty boy Lin is using on you! I've long felt that something was wrong with him. He knew I suspected him, so he wanted to get rid of me as soon as possible. If you really listened to him and got rid of me, you'd have fallen for his trick! Big Brother!"
He knew that the second son of the Zhou family was in love with this pretty boy named Lin, and that he would not side with him. He could only talk to Zhou Yaohui, hoping that he might remember their old friendship and find out the truth.
Zhou Yaohui paused, and the henchman understood and let go.
He fumbled with the anchor on his ring, thinking about how Lao Hai had protected him from enemies and police pursuits many times in the past twenty years.
If this wasn't loyalty, then what was? He'd given Lao Hai more wealth than he could spend in his lifetime, so why would he betray him? If he'd betrayed him for his rivals, that was understandable, but for the cops, it didn't make sense.
So he turned around and looked at Lin Xian, who looked normal.
He stood aside with his head bowed respectfully, looking gentle and handsome. Only a few people knew how cruel his heart was under this appearance.
"Xiao Lin, come here." Zhou Yaohui suddenly said.
"Yes." Lin Xian walked up to Zhou Yaohui, stood next to Lao Hai, lowered his eyes respectfully, and stared at the pair of cloth shoes on Zhou Yaohui's feet.
Zhou Mubai's pupils shrank. "Dad, Ah Xian risked his life for our family. There's no need to doubt him so much, right? Without him, how could we have made Blue Flame and Galan Incense?"
"When is it your turn to butt in on me? Learn from your elder brother." Zhou Yaohui said coldly, "In our line of work, one wrong step leads to another. We'd rather kill a thousand by mistake than let one go. How many times do I have to teach you this?"
Zhou Yaohui gave a look and his men came forward to search Lin Xian's body and put his mobile phone and cigarette box on the coffee table.
The old man didn't call for a stop, and the henchman continued to grope him.
When he touched the boot shaft, the henchman paused, quickly took out a dagger from it, and handed it respectfully to Zhou Yaohui.
That was the dagger that Tunqin left at the scene of the fight. It was pitch black and extremely sharp, with a coiled cobra engraved on the handle.
"Spirit Snake Gang?" Zhou Yaohui's eyes narrowed dangerously, and he suddenly looked up at Lin Xian. The thug understood and kicked him to the ground, with a dull thud of a knee hitting the floor.
Zhou Yaohui threw the dagger at Lin Xian's feet: "Xiao Lin, I'll give you a chance to explain."
Lin Xian coughed violently for a while, his amber pupils staring directly at Zhou Yaohui with a terrifying glint. "Mr. Zhou, you've probably forgotten that I risked my life to steal the Blue Flame formula from the Spirit Snake Gang. Now that you've taken over the market and made a fortune, they're naturally going to retaliate against me."
"If I hadn't happened to be with a cop today because of an interview, you probably wouldn't have seen me tonight."
Zhou Yaohui was silent for a while, then asked, "Then why do you carry it with you?"
"Of course it's to prevent the possibility of being retaliated by a traitor. I'm using it as a self-torture tactic. I beg you to show some mercy." Even when facing Zhou Yaohui, Lin Xian could still speak with sarcasm.
Zhou Yaohui smiled. He stood up and walked over to Lin Xian, caressing his face with his calloused hands. He stared into those amber eyes for a moment. "You're really brave, like me when I was young. No wonder Xin Zhang and Mu Bai both like you—get up."
After saying this, he sat back on the sofa and closed his eyes as if he couldn't bear it: "Take her away."
The henchman dragged Lao Hai into the elevator as instructed and pressed "-4".
"Lin Xian, I won't let you go even if I become a ghost! You will die a horrible death!" The curse was still echoing in Lin Xian's ears until the elevator went down.
The others, however, continued talking and laughing as if they had just swatted a fly.
"Dad, I'm a family man. It's my second brother who likes Ah Xian. How could you make up such a melodramatic plot for me? If Shuhui asks about it, I can't bear it." Zhou Xinzhang sat aside with his legs crossed, wearing a white suit and a gentle smile.
"Stop pretending, there's no one here. Your secret lover has plastic surgery to look 70% like Xiaolin, even the mole on the neck is exactly the same. Others may not know, but you can't hide anything from your father."
Zhou Xinzhang's expression changed, and even Zhou Mubai looked at him in feigned surprise: "Brother, you also like someone like Ah Xian? Then go for it. Why are you engaging in stand-in literature? That's too pathetic."
As he said that, he stepped forward to help Lin Xian up, but Lin Xian pushed him away.
Zhou Xinzhang glanced at his brother, who had been met with disappointment, and put on the mask of a smiling philanthropist again. "I see you've been pursuing Lin Xian for quite a while, but has she agreed?"
At this moment, the shackles on Lin Xian's hands flashed blue light. No one noticed it, but Zhou Yaohui noticed it keenly.
"Xiao Lin, what's that on your hand?"
Upon hearing this, the henchman stepped forward and grabbed Lin Xian's wrist, but found that the metal ring that looked like a sports bracelet could not be removed.
"Brother, this looks like an electronic shackle." said the henchman.
"Oh? Who dares to let you wear this thing? It can't be Mu Bai, right? Take it off and let me see it." Zhou Yaohui immediately became interested.
Lin Xian's heart was pounding, and a trace of cold sweat broke out on his back. Zhou Mubai said, "How could I bear to do that? He put it on himself to help him quit his drug addiction."
The henchman operated on the electronic screen for a while and said, "Brother, these shackles need a password, otherwise they won't open."
"Xiao Lin, I see the scar on your wrist. You are really cruel to yourself. You are someone who can do great things. Open it and let me see." Zhou Yaohui stared at Lin Xian, his tone full of concern, but Lin Xian felt cold all over.
Inside the shackles was a miniature camera, recording everything that happened in the room. If it was opened, he would surely die.
Lin Xian's mind raced, but his tone remained remarkably calm. "Thank you, Mr. Zhou, for your concern. These shackles are meant for drug rehabilitation. When I set the password, I closed my eyes and randomly entered it. Even I couldn't open it. Otherwise, how could it be effective in drug rehabilitation?"
After hearing this, Zhou Yaohui had to give up with regret.
Lin Xian breathed a sigh of relief, but his pounding heart had not yet returned to normal rhythm when he heard Zhou Yaohui answering a phone call.
After listening to two sentences, Zhou Yaohui turned on the speaker, intending that everyone present could hear it.
"Mr. Zhou, there's a car parked outside. I checked the license plate and it looks like it's a city bureau bus. It's been there for a while. Our people just discovered it."
"Oh? How did they find this place?"
Lin Xian became nervous again. He considered the possibility that Lu Chengtian had installed a tracking device on him.
He went back to take a shower, change his clothes, and drove another car, then changed to Zhou Mubai's car - Lu Chengtian would not move that quickly.
Who is that?
"I checked the surveillance footage, and it seems like they... followed the young master's car." The person on the other end of the phone sounded hesitant.
Zhou Yaohui stared at Zhou Xinzhang: "Xinzhang, you're being targeted by the police."
Zhou Xinzhang, who had been standing aside and watching the fun, suddenly sat up straight: "Could it be that they found out about Galanxiang? That shouldn't be the case. This matter can't be traced back to me..."
Lin Xian finally breathed a sigh of relief and saw Zhou Mubai giving him a barely perceptible smile.
·
The lights in the city bureau were still on.
Lu Chengtian looked at the transcripts of Liu Yaoyao's parents on the table, listened to the heart-wrenching cries in the corridor, and frowned.
This is a simple and honest middle-aged couple.
When Liu Yaoyao was in elementary school, her mother insisted on divorcing her father because her father's family was too poor and the whole family had to live in a shanty town of 30 or 40 square meters. She even reluctantly gave up her daughter. Now she has married a well-off family and her child is in the third grade of elementary school this year.
The man who had been eating, drinking, having fun all year round, doing nothing and relying on his sweet talk to deceive his wife, finally turned over a new leaf and made up his mind to stop asking his elderly parents for money. He went out to sea with others and became a sailor, drifting on the boundless ocean all year round and unable to return home for several years.
When the man returned home this time, he learned the sad news of his daughter's death when he docked.
The way these two people care for their daughter is to give her money every month. The total amount they give is 1,500 yuan, which is indeed not a small amount for a high school student who does not have to pay for food and accommodation.
"My daughter has always been smart and well-behaved, a good student. Why did she suddenly become so depressed? It must be you. Your family didn't take good care of her!" The woman looked exquisitely dressed, but she wasn't in the mood to dress up. A few strands of gray had appeared on her temples, and she looked haggard. Sitting on the cold bench, she cried so hard that she almost fainted.
The man was wearing a sailor's uniform he hadn't had time to change into. Years of drifting at sea made him look older than his actual age. His eyes were red and his chin was covered in stubble. He patted his ex-wife's back, trying to comfort her, but she pushed him away in disgust.
Ma Qiang, with his curly hair, tried to comfort the poor couple, but he opened his mouth in vain and could only act as a mascot.
Lu Chengtian continued to scan the transcript at a glance - due to years of hard work, Liu Yaoyao's grandmother suffered from severe rheumatoid arthritis, her hands and feet were severely deformed, and she could only stay in bed all year round and do some simple housework, while his grandfather was "optimized" by the seafood factory due to his old age and picked her up from school at home.
She also has an uncle who is her father's biological brother. He has been a bachelor for many years due to personal reasons and family conditions. He usually does odd jobs as a couriers, and basically spends the little money he has on eating, drinking, whoring and gambling.
According to the confession of Liu Yaoyao's father, he has been working outside for so many years, and his daughter mainly relies on her brother to take care of her, and his words are full of gratitude.
Lu Chengtian wrote a name in his notebook - Liu Lei.
"After that, focus on investigating this person and bring him to the police station to record his statement." He called the police officer on duty and explained the situation to him. Then he went to the corridor and saw Ma Qiang standing aside. Zhao Yiqing leaned over and said something to Liu Yaoyao's mother, and she gradually regained her composure.
Lu Chengtian stepped forward and comforted them again. Fortunately, although the two were sad, they were not the kind of people who would make a fuss.
"Don't worry, we will definitely find out the reason for your daughter's suicide as soon as possible and give you an explanation." Lu Chengtian's calm tone inexplicably made people feel trustful. The two of them were gratefully supported by Ma Qiang and left the Municipal Bureau.
After seeing off Liu Yaoyao's parents, Zhao Yiqing leaned against the wall, took a puff of his e-cigarette, exhaled softly, looked at Lu Chengtian, moved a few steps closer to him, loosely hooked his shoulders, and said in a low voice: "That shot, you didn't fire it, did you?"
Lu Chengtian's heart was shaken, but his expression remained calm. "You know this again?"
"Given your skills, it wouldn't be excessive self-defense. Besides, the shot missed—but these are just my personal speculations, there's no evidence."
Zhao Yiqing's hair brushed past Lu Chengtian's ear, causing him to feel a little itchy.
He tilted his head to avoid the attack, his handsome and sharp features blurred in the shadows. "Don't speculate without evidence. Did you find out anything at Liu Yaoyao's school and home?"
"The teacher didn't get anything out of me, but she just said that the child is quiet, has excellent academic performance, and has many admirers. There are a few students who are suspected of being involved in school bullying. I'll have Ma Qiang bring them in for questioning tomorrow." Zhao Yiqing put out his e-cigarette and continued, "We've got no leads on Galanxiang yet. We've asked the North City Branch to check the surveillance footage to see where Liu Yaoyao has been recently."
"-Also, I just received a call. Our people followed Zhou Xinzhang to a private club deep in the mountains that was not marked on the map. Guess what, they just ran into Zhou Mubai coming out of the club, and Lin Xian was there too." Zhao Yiqing clearly felt Lu Chengtian's shoulders stiffen.
Lu Chengtian took his arm off his shoulder and said, "I'll go back first."
"Go back to find Lin Xian?" Zhao Yiqing looked at him with a twinkle in his eyes. "Did you know him before, or is he your old lover?"
Lu Chengtian couldn't stand it any longer and said, "Control your imagination, Captain Zhao." Then he turned and left.
Zhao Yiqing's voice rang out from behind him: "You have to trust your gay intuition. I hope you won't be blinded by love."
The sound, neither loud nor soft, echoed in the empty corridor, and Lu Chengtian felt as if an electric current had passed through his heart. He went back to his desk, picked up the Wrangler keys, thought for a moment, and drove to Honghua Community.
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