“You better give me a reasonable explanation.” Yan Cheng knew that unless it was extremely urgent, Ah Tai wouldn’t call him repeatedly like this. He answered the phone, gently closed the door, and walked quickly to the floor-to-ceiling window in the living room.
His beautiful phoenix eyes narrowed slightly as he gazed expressionlessly at the night view below. A distant, unclear commotion could be faintly heard from the other end of the call.
Ah Tai took a long breath, paused for a moment, then calmly stated: “Boss, Zhou Chao is dead.”
Perhaps because Ah Tai had followed a ruthless path in his early years and was used to such things, when he announced Zhou Chao’s death, he was impossibly calm, as if facing a dead fish. If possible, he might have even wanted to discuss whether to braise or steam this fish.
Like boss, like subordinate.
Yan Cheng’s first reaction to Ah Tai’s words was: How is this my business?!
In fact, he raised an eyebrow and said exactly that. His sleepy voice carried no hint of aggression.
He had cut ties with these troublesome people from his past ages ago. Besides, Zhou Chao was just an insignificant person – whether he lived or died made no difference to Yan Cheng. “Ah Tai, since when did you become such a gossip?”
There was no moonlight tonight. When the moon is bright, stars are few; when the moon is dim, stars fill the sky.
Yan Cheng lifted his head in a poor mood, looking at the twinkling starlight. He suddenly had the urge to wake Chen Jinyao to watch the stars together. But this thought passed quickly – they would be heading to Mount Putuo early tomorrow morning, and he hadn’t lost his sense of priorities yet.
“…” While Ah Tai was considering how to phrase his words, this joking response broke down his mental defenses. He spoke gravely, laying out everything at once: “Boss, Zhou Chao visited Er Guan before he died.”
Yan Cheng frowned, switching his phone to the other ear, pressing his lips together without speaking.
The night outside seemed to add a rich color to the surroundings. In just over two hours, dawn would break.
Ah Tai’s face was solemn: “The police came to check the surveillance footage. Zhou Chao came alone but left with a woman…”
He paused, then continued emotionlessly: “He died in his own apartment bed. Yes, he was having quite a good time before death. According to Officer Deng, the killer might be the woman Zhou Chao took with him.”
“Dying under a peony flower, a romantic ghost even in death?” Yan Cheng yawned lazily, clearly not yet realizing the severity of the situation.
He had no interest in any of this and wanted to deflect the conversation. Ideally with something that would let him say “if there’s nothing else, I’m hanging up.”
Obviously, that possibility didn’t exist.
Under Officer Deng’s increasingly cold and impatient gaze, Ah Tai finally got to the crux of the matter: “Because it’s a murder case, and the last woman who had relations with Zhou Chao left from Er Guan, Officer Xing wants to talk to you about the situation.”
After several seconds of silence, Ah Tai looked up and met Officer Deng’s eyes.
He said flatly: “Oh, to be accurate and precise, they’re requesting you to come back to assist with the investigation.”
Yan Cheng: “……”
This finally scared away all traces of sleepiness from Yan Cheng.
Because those four words “assist with the investigation,” though easy to say, instantly transformed him from an uninvolved spectator into someone potentially entangled in the mess.
His face darkened as he freely expressed his displeasure. It was the same phrase as before, but this time it was thrown back aggressively, without any of the gentleness and politeness of the first time: “How is this my damn business!”
Even so, he still controlled his voice.
He turned slightly, his gaze occasionally glancing toward the bedroom.
Finally getting away for a trip, thousands of miles from the capital, and still getting caught up in trouble – truly unlucky.
Yan Cheng suddenly felt irritated and wanted to smoke a cigarette.
Ah Tai’s phone was taken by Officer Deng.
Just as it reached his ear, he heard the exasperated content.
He stepped back two paces and said in a deep voice: “As I understand it, you have some old grudges with Zhou Chao?”
Almost immediately, not giving Yan Cheng a chance to question or refute, he lowered his eyelashes and reminded: “For example, eight months ago, the prostitution allegations against Er Guan were reported by Zhou Chao, and you were falsely accused.”
“People heard you say at the time that you would definitely kill him when you got the chance.”
“Moreover, Zhou Chao’s last prostitute came from your Er Guan.”
Yan Cheng casually leaned against the railing, looking down at the tree shadows swaying below, his tightened jaw causing his lip line to tighten as well. After a while, he asked: “Officer, what are you trying to imply with such biased insinuations?”
“Nothing in particular.” Deng Chuan’s expression was bland, then he added ambiguously: “In the end, we just hope you can cooperate with the investigation.”
“As police officers working on a case, we naturally want to gather the most useful information for catching the real killer by questioning all relevant persons.”
Yan Cheng sneered coldly: “I think I would welcome Officer Deng calling me anytime, rather than disturbing people’s sleep in the middle of the night with alarming words to rush them back.”
Though separated by such a great distance, they seemed ready to clash.
Deng Chuan had a hot temper, and Yan Cheng’s wasn’t good either.
But in the end, someone had to compromise first. Deng Chuan probably held some prejudice against Yan Cheng, but after calming down, his tone naturally softened somewhat: “Fine, we request Mr. Yan return to the capital tomorrow morning to assist the police.”
Afterwards, Deng Chuan asked several more questions about Zhou Chao.
Yan Cheng suppressed his dissatisfaction and cooperated reasonably well.
As the questioning was about to end, becoming more alert and driven by curiosity, he asked an extra question: “Is that woman the killer?”
Deng Chuan vaguely replied “not certain yet.”
After a pause, he brought up issues with Er Guan’s business practices.
His words seemed to carry implications.
Yan Cheng laughed: “The woman isn’t an Er Guan employee, so whatever she did with Zhou Chao has nothing to do with my establishment.”
After several seconds, he added: “Officer, I’m a law-abiding citizen.”
He definitely had to go back now.
Before hanging up, Ah Tai said the same thing, unusually dropping his calm facade to joke ominously: “I’m afraid things aren’t that simple.”
“It’s fine, the innocent have nothing to fear,” Yan Cheng said optimistically.
Ah Tai: “No, Boss, mainly because it’s affecting Er Guan now.”
…
The night had passed.
After the beginning of summer, the days naturally grew longer.
Dawn came earlier, with a faint white light appearing where the dark clouds met the horizon. The city’s colorful nighttime lights began to fade as the morning star appeared.
Yan Cheng squinted as he witnessed these changes, lost in thought.
His craving for cigarettes had never been so unbearable as at this moment.
The irritation was gone now.
He still maintained his attitude of treating it as someone else’s problem.
But this didn’t mean he could ignore it completely.
After all, he was involved, and cooperating with police investigations was within his civic duties.
Zhou Chao’s death was too sudden.
Vaguely, something seemed fishy about it.
Because it was murder, even though Er Guan wasn’t the primary crime scene, once stirred up and called out by those with ulterior motives, it could create a negative image.
And now, according to Ah Tai’s report, this was already happening.
The current situation, or what must be considered, was that no matter how capable Ah Tai was, some things still required the owner’s personal attention to resolve.
Yan Cheng slumped his shoulders, feeling he had a businessman’s selfishness – the death of someone who was practically a stranger, and even someone he disliked, meant nothing to him. If he hadn’t been forcibly involved, he wouldn’t have cared at all.
Most importantly, it affected Er Guan’s business.
The quiet morning was slowly arriving, and in a while, the city would wake up.
Even this brief tranquility wouldn’t last much longer.
He thought carefully and thoroughly, considering all necessary factors, and finally booked a 7:12 AM flight from Hangzhou back to the capital.
And it was just a ticket for himself alone.
He returned to the bedroom to pack his clothes.
Then he changed out of his pajamas, got dressed, brushed his teeth, washed his face, and got ready. Even the smallest movements, one after another, eventually woke Chen Jinyao.
Yan Cheng watched Chen Jinyao for a while, then after much hesitation, finally climbed back into bed, held her, and buried his head in the crook of her neck, whimpering and grunting as if suffering a great grievance.
Chen Jinyao smiled and patted his head, playing along to comfort him.
“Why are you up so early?!”
Yan Cheng didn’t answer her at first.
After several dozen seconds of silence.
He finally said gloomily: “I can’t go to Mount Putuo with you.”
Chen Jinyao: “Huh???”
“I need to go back to the capital, something came up there.” He sighed deeply, unsure whether to tell her about this matter, feeling it would only make one more person worry, “Leaving soon. The airport is too far from here, I was afraid it would be too tiring for you, so I only booked a ticket for myself.”
“As for Mount Putuo…”
“Wait in Hangzhou for two days, I’ll have Jin Lin come keep you company.”
Chen Jinyao frowned, feeling something was off about this atmosphere. “I’ll go back with you.”
After a moment’s thought, she asked: “What happened?”
“Nothing,” he whimpered again, “Don’t. Go to Mount Putuo for me first, I’d feel unfulfilled not paying my respects.”
“Your sister will come over this afternoon.”
Chen Jinyao rolled her eyes, ignoring the latter part of his words, only addressing his pitiful “nothing”: “Come on, just look at your unhappy face.”
“…”
Chen Jinyao: “Tell me quickly.”
Yan Cheng gave a low “Oh” and then directly explained, very concisely summarizing the situation.
“That’s how it is, I don’t know why they insist I return to the capital.”
The scariest thing is when the air suddenly becomes quiet, as if frozen.
“……”
They truly were a married couple – their first reactions to this news were identical.
Chen Jinyao’s face was expressionless as she shared his indignation. She narrowed her eyes and slowly said four words: “How’s it your business.”
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