The rainy season in the capital always comes quickly and violently.
Lu Qianzhou sat in his office at Changling Company, listening expressionlessly as his subordinates reported on the progress of the investigation.
"We've checked the backgrounds of those thugs. They've all served time in prison for previous crimes. There's nothing else suspicious, and no clues that can indirectly point to the mastermind behind this."
This was already who - knows - how - many times they had returned empty - handed this month. The mastermind was extremely good at hiding their identity, leaving no trace. They were just sitting back and watching them being led around by the nose.
So far, they still had no idea what the ultimate goal of all this was.
"Recently, we've received several malicious reports claiming that many subsidiaries of Changling Group are involved in illegal black - market industries and tax evasion through overseas cooperation companies. The police have summoned several groups of people for investigation. Although the impact on the group is negligible, this is very likely a provocation from the mastermind."
Lu Qianzhou raised his hand, and his assistant immediately fell silent.
When did things start to go wrong? It seemed that ever since Yan Xia returned to the capital, they had all been in the hands of that person.
Whether it was Lan Mengfan's incident or Jiang Yue's assault, they were all clearly the work of that person.
But he really couldn't figure out who, after all these years, still had the motive and the ability to stir up such a mess, and what their purpose was.
If it was targeted at him, then all the things the other person had done in the early stage must have been a provocation, and the people who got hurt were just collateral damage.
A moment later, another assistant entered the office with a mysterious black box. He handed the box to Lu Qianzhou and whispered something in his ear.
Lu Qianzhou opened the box. There was a piece of paper on top, with the name Fang Jiangyi clearly written on it. Lu Qianzhou frowned, threw the paper aside, and below it was a sealed small glass device. Inside, there was a bloody finger, cut off cleanly at the palm, and the blood hadn't even coagulated yet; it was very fresh.
Seeing such a bloody scene, the assistant beside him couldn't help but gasp. He stole a glance at Lu Qianzhou's expression, but Lu Qianzhou didn't even blink an eye before throwing the glass device aside.
He said in a cold tone, "Send it for DNA testing."
It felt like an unboxing video. As the mysterious box was opened layer by layer, no one knew what was going to be revealed next.
At the bottom of the box were several photos. There were naked bodies intertwined, and a woman with a pained expression. The dim yellow light made her fair skin look spotless, like a flawless piece of jade.
The photos were obviously taken from that video, and the image quality was not very clear.
Almost from the moment he saw those photos, Lu Qianzhou's expression darkened. A chilling aura emanated from him, so palpable that no one dared to look at him a second time.
He was like a stone sinking to the bottom of the sea, completely silent. No matter what others said, he didn't respond.
The assistants all kept their eyes down, not daring to say a word, afraid that they might say something wrong and anger Lu Qianzhou, who was already suppressing his anger.
The flame of the lighter flared up, instantly igniting those pornographic photos. Lu Qianzhou expressionlessly threw the burning photos into the ashtray.
That person had sent such things again. At first, there was only a bloody piece of paper with Fang Jiangyi's name on it. Now, there was a bloody finger and pornographic photos from the video he least wanted to face. Clearly, the other person had bigger cards up their sleeve but just hadn't shown them yet.
That person had been provoking him, reminding him to deal with Fang Jiangyi.
Originally, in his plan, getting rid of Fang Jiangyi was one of the items. But then Yan Xia came back. She protected Fang Jiangyi so much and had a close relationship with him, so he had kept delaying the matter. Later, when Lan Mengfan had an accident, everything changed, and he completely forgot about it.
It seemed that Fang Jiangyi also had that video. He had never known that this thing, which should have disappeared completely long ago, was still in the hands of several people.
...
Since the last incident, Yan Xia had been closely following the news from the hospital. Although she hoped that Lu Qianzhou would be punished for his own actions, she definitely didn't want him to be punished for saving her.
He had saved her many times. She believed in separating gratitude from grudges and didn't want to owe him anything.
So she had been secretly praying in her heart, hoping that the person would be okay. If he died, Lu Qianzhou would be charged with murder. When the time came for sentencing, he would not only be convicted of being involved in gray - market industries but also of murder.
In the afternoon, Shangguan Yao finally sent a message. He called her personally to tell her,
"Lu Qianzhou injured his heart. The hospital tried to save him but failed. He's dead now."
Yan Xia's heart sank. He was really dead...
She urgently asked, "How could this happen? Wasn't he saved when he was taken to the hospital yesterday? Why did he suddenly die?"
Now, Lu Qianzhou really had a life on his hands.
She couldn't describe her feelings at that moment. There was just a very strange feeling, and she was very afraid that Lu Qianzhou would be sentenced too heavily.
Shangguan Yao said, "He was already very weak. The hospital tried to save him more than ten times. It was a miracle that he lasted this long."
Yan Xia fell silent.
Seeing that Yan Xia was silent and remembering her eagerness about this matter, Shangguan Yao suddenly asked,
"Are you so concerned about this because you're afraid of being held responsible?"
As soon as Yan Xia heard this, she understood what he meant. Shangguan Yao was clearly testing her to see if she had been following the situation of the undercover agent because she was afraid that Lu Qianzhou would be held responsible.
She couldn't help but let out a soft laugh. "Shangguan, please don't forget our current relationship. You don't need to use such veiled words to test me. I really don't want anything to happen to him because Lu Qianzhou did all this for me. One thing is one thing. I don't want to owe him anything."
"Okay." Shangguan Yao didn't say anything more. He just said, "I've started investigating the incident from many years ago that you mentioned. Just wait for information about Long Tao. Once Lu Qianzhou participates in their next operation, we might catch them red - handed and wipe them all out."
Yan Xia was more interested in the incident from many years ago that he mentioned.
"Have you found any leads about that incident? Can you give me some insider information?"
Shangguan Yao curved his lips and teased her, "You're really interested in Lu Qianzhou's affairs now."
"It's not just because of him. More importantly, the mastermind told me that my father was also involved in that incident back then. Including my sister's matter, there are too many stakes involved."