CM | Chapter 28

In the blink of an eye, the next day arrived.

Gu Yao had barely slept a wink all night. She had too many things weighing on her mind, and it was only when the sky was beginning to lighten that she finally closed her eyes and slept for a little while. Even then, the sleep was shallow. She kept waking over and over, tossing and turning, until nine in the morning.

When Gu Yao got up, she leaned back against the headboard and felt weak all over, but her mind was strangely overexcited. She soon went to the kitchen and made herself breakfast, black coffee with a ham sandwich and two boiled eggs.

Then, as always, she turned on the TV and switched to the news channel.

Today’s lead star was Zhu Shengxi again.

The reporters were extremely diligent, following him all the way from the hospital to Lixin Orphanage, filming the entire time.

First came footage of Zhu Shengxi rushing into the hospital and reporting his blood type, AB Rh-negative, which matched the blood type of the Lixin child who had just been rushed in and needed emergency treatment. He had also donated a full 800 cc in one go.

After several hours of rescue efforts, the child’s life was saved. The surgery was successful, and he was sent to the intensive care unit for observation.

At the same time, Zhu Shengxi himself collapsed on the spot.

When Zhu Shengxi woke up in the ward early that morning, Director Fang from Lixin Orphanage and several children came to see him. In the footage, Zhu Shengxi could clearly call each child by name, smile at them, and even remind two of them to work harder on their studies, and so on.

Just then, the media reporters broke through layer after layer of obstruction and reached the bedside for an interview. The first thing they wanted to ask about was a rumor circulating in investment circles that morning, that a certain securities company was preparing to take on the preliminary counseling work for Jiangcheng Gene’s next listing plan?

At the word “listing,” Gu Yao’s expression tightened as well.

With all those bombs hanging over Jiangcheng Gene right now, how could they possibly be thinking about going public?

Zhu Shengxi frowned, as if he did not want to talk about it, and quickly changed the subject. “More than that, I have a more important plan right now. It has to do with Lixin Orphanage.”

The reporter froze, then hurried to press him for details.

Zhu Shengxi said, “The child I helped rescue last night and I both have panda blood. In fact, I had already intended to push this plan forward a few months ago, but it was delayed by various things. Today just happens to be the right opportunity, so I’ll put it forward here. I’m going to establish a special public welfare fund for panda blood, dedicated to serving the minority group with panda blood. I hope that if anything similar happens again in the future, people in the minority group can also find support and organization, and won’t be left isolated and helpless.”

Zhu Shengxi’s words were quite intriguing. He did not deny the reporter’s question about the “listing plan,” but he also did not admit it, leaving room for both the reporters and the audience to fill in the blanks. Then he brought up the special panda blood fund, which would undoubtedly provide convenience and hope for this group. It was absolutely a good deed that benefited society.

Seeing this, Gu Yao set down her coffee cup and picked up her phone to go online.

She scanned through forum posts from both the medical and finance circles, as well as trending topics on Weibo.

The news that the president of a certain gene company had donated blood overnight to a panda blood child had already climbed to the hot search. When she clicked in, it was exactly the content about him mentioning the creation of the Jiangcheng panda blood special fund.

But at the same time, that article also mentioned that Jiangcheng Gene had recently been implicated in the case of an executive who took medicine and died suddenly, and that the matter had already been submitted to the procuratorate and was preparing for public trial.

Below it, many netizens had replied, each with their own opinion.

Some said this was just a businessman putting on a show to whitewash himself, that donating blood and establishing a fund were nothing to him at all, not worth mentioning, but that it would score him points in front of the government and the public.

Others shot back, saying enough with the moral high ground, it was easy for people to talk standing up. There were plenty of rich people, but how many actually did good deeds with their own hands? There were many who grew rich without a shred of kindness. Now that someone was willing to do something good, people had to call it whitewashing. If that kept up, who would still bother doing good deeds? Even if they did, they would get no credit.

Still others said that whatever the case, if Jiangcheng could have its own panda blood fund, then if anyone ever needed help in the future, they would at least know who to turn to. AB Rh-negative blood was especially rare among the rare. If someone could spend the money and effort to gather all of Jiangcheng’s panda blood donors, that would definitely be a good thing that benefited society.

Gu Yao scrolled through a few articles and read hundreds of netizen comments before finally closing her phone and leaning back on the sofa, motionless for a long while.

– The news that Jiangcheng Gene was going public had definitely been leaked by one of their own. The timing was perfect, definitely no coincidence, and this matter must be related to her father, Gu Chengwen. Zhu Shengxi was also in the know.

– The blood donation might have been a coincidence, but the media’s follow-up interview had definitely been arranged on purpose. Everything lined up just right, almost perfectly.

Gu Yao still remembered that the day after the awards ceremony held by the Investors Association, because of a speech her father Gu Chengwen had given, the media’s stance had suddenly flipped, and the flood of troll posts blackening Jiangcheng Gene online had been deleted in large numbers.

Although Gu Yao understood very well how outsiders viewed these little “moves,” she had not really cared at the time. Instead, she had told herself that as long as they were fine, everything else did not matter.

Now, the same arrangement had happened again, and on top of that, there were the photos and the third diary entry she had seen last night. Her emotions at this moment were even more complicated.

Too many mysteries were closing in, almost swallowing her whole. But she knew very clearly that these mysteries had actually been there all along. They had not suddenly appeared. The reason she felt confused was only because she had always been inside the game. Those in the middle could not see clearly, and only by standing from an outsider’s perspective would she have a chance to figure some things out.

For example, what was going on with those three women Yan Zhen?

For example, Zhu Shengxi had acted like he was not close to Du Tong at the boutique, so how had the two of them gone to watch the match together?

And for example, Zhu Shengxi’s younger sister had once been adopted by a man, so where had she gone later?

Gu Yao was very certain that she would find the answers to all her questions in that diary, but Xu Luo would absolutely not give them to her easily.

So right now, she had to take the initiative, and Xu Luo was the only breakthrough point.

Having made up her mind, Gu Yao immediately drove to Mingluo Law Firm.

Halfway there, Gu Yao contacted Xu Luo on WeChat first, but he did not reply.

She did not know if Xu Luo was deliberately playing hard to get. After waiting a while and growing impatient, Gu Yao simply started “talking to herself” in the car. “Xiao Chuan, I don’t care what method you use, you have to find your brother right now. I’ll be at your office in ten minutes. If I don’t see him, I’ll skin you alive. I mean it.”

Gu Yao actually was not sure whether there really was surveillance in her car, but she would rather gamble on it. In any case, ten minutes later, everything would be clear.

On the other side, Xiao Chuan was suddenly singled out by Gu Yao, and his heart jumped. How could he dare to delay? Without another word, he called Xu Luo.

Xu Luo was on the road. When he answered, his voice was lazy and irritated. “What.”

Xiao Chuan said shakily, “Bro, how much longer until you’re back?”

Xu Luo said, “Ten minutes or so.”

“Can’t you go faster?”

“There are red lights all along the way…” Xu Luo paused halfway through, then suddenly got annoyed. “Fuck, what do you mean faster? You’re the one who’s fast!”

Xiao Chuan said helplessly, “It’s fine, red lights aren’t a problem. I’ll make them green for you right away.”

Xu Luo: “…”

Xiao Chuan talked while working, and let Xu Luo have a completely unobstructed ride.

Xu Luo said, “You brat, you can even play with traffic lights now. Why are you in such a hurry for me to go back?”

“That woman is coming. She said if she doesn’t see you in ten minutes, she’ll skin me…”

Xu Luo laughed. “A grown man scared of a woman.”

Xiao Chuan said, “She’s not just any woman. Last time she even cursed me to get testicular cancer! These past two days, I don’t know if it’s just psychological, but… when I pee, my balls hurt a little…”

Xu Luo: “…”

Ten minutes later, Gu Yao stormed into Mingluo Law Firm.

Xiao Chuan received her nervously, seating her down with trembling hands, and even went to the pantry himself to make a cup of coffee, which he placed on the coffee table.

Gu Yao folded her arms and looked at Xiao Chuan coldly.

Her gaze was extremely aggressive, sweeping from top to bottom, then from bottom to top. Xiao Chuan shuddered instinctively and quickly clenched his legs together.

At this point, Gu Yao said, “Where’s your brother? Tell him to come out and receive guests.”

Xiao Chuan swallowed hard. “He’ll be here any minute…”

Seeing this, Gu Yao said with a fake smile, “Look at how scared you are now. So you really did install surveillance in my car.”

Xiao Chuan shuddered again.

Gu Yao suddenly changed the subject and asked, “How did you and Xu Luo meet? Why are you willing to work so hard for him, and even dare to touch illegal things?”

Xiao Chuan was stunned for a moment, then said quickly, “I used to be immature. I relied on having a bit of technical skill and hacked other people everywhere. Once I got caught red-handed, and they almost crippled my hand. It was my brother who saved me…”

Gu Yao raised a brow. That was a little unexpected. So the Xu guy actually had a time when he saved someone from danger?

While they were talking, the front door suddenly rang.

Xu Luo strode in with long legs, all lazy and unhurried, still yawning. He had his suit jacket in his hand, two buttons of his shirt collar undone, his hair messy, eyes half-lidded with sleep, looking completely unreliable. On top of that, he was wrapped in a thick smell of alcohol.

Gu Yao instinctively held her breath, and disgust flooded her eyes at once.

When Xu Luo saw Gu Yao, he feigned surprise. “Miss Gu? What a rare guest.”

What nonsense.

Gu Yao stood up with a cold laugh. “Lawyer Xu really is busy. I wonder which nightclub has kept you so entertained, and even let you walk away with your money.”

Xu Luo looked every bit the libertine. “Oh, you probably don’t know me very well. Nightclub girls aren’t my type. I like decent women, the fake-honest kind.”

Gu Yao: “…”

Xu Luo casually tossed his suit over one shoulder and said, “Sorry, Miss Gu, I still feel a little weak in the legs. Please sit here a while longer. I’m going in to wash up and make myself presentable first, then I’ll come out and do business with you.”

With that, Xu Luo stepped off on his long legs and headed to his office.

Gu Yao closed her eyes, picked up the coffee on the table, and took a sip before forcibly swallowing down the disgust in her chest.

Xu Luo’s so-called “washing up and making himself presentable” lasted half an hour. By the time he walked out of the lounge, he was clean and refreshed, in a new suit, once again looking like a beautifully dressed beast. His beard was shaved clean, and his hair was still a little damp, fluffy on top of his head.

When Gu Yao finally grew impatient and stormed into the office, Xu Luo was standing before a full-length mirror, styling his hair with pomade, his tie hanging loosely around his neck and swaying slightly with his coquettish movements.

Gu Yao found it blindingly annoying and simply sat on the sofa, looking elsewhere.

Xu Luo caught her stiff-faced expression in the mirror, smiled faintly, then pressed a button that made the full-length mirror retract automatically into a wall compartment. He turned around while tying his tie.

“Why is Miss Gu so fired up? I have honeysuckle here. Want me to brew you some?”

Gu Yao looked at Xu Luo and brought up something else instead. “That diary, you should have read all of it.”

Xu Luo’s nimble index finger quickly tied the knot, then he pushed it up beneath his Adam’s apple and adjusted his collar. He took a lip balm from his pocket and applied two layers back and forth over his lips.

“Mm, and more than once.”

Gu Yao said, “I’m guessing that diary must have mentioned some clues worth tracking down, like the girl’s name or surname, which high school she attended, and who her adoptive father was.”

Xu Luo sat down across from Gu Yao and poured himself a glass of water. “Yeah, all that information’s in there.”

“Then you should have followed those clues and investigated. What was the conclusion?”

Xu Luo took a sip of water and smiled. “Why are you in such a hurry, Miss Gu? When you read a novel, do you always peek at the ending first?”

Gu Yao said coldly, “You’ve kept me from seeing the full diary the whole time, teasing it out page by page. Isn’t that just to stir up my curiosity? You know that once I see all of it, I’ll definitely read something different. I’ll find the answer myself, and then you won’t have any reason to keep me in check.”

“‘Keep you in check’ sounds so unpleasant. You can totally think of this as a collaboration. Take the case of Tian Fang, for example. If you and I work together, maybe we’ll create some sparks.”

“Collaboration?” Gu Yao let out a scornful laugh. “There’s still surveillance your people installed in my car, and you’re talking to me about collaboration?”

Xu Luo let out an “oh,” then raised a hand and slapped his forehead. “The surveillance, right. If you hadn’t mentioned it, I would’ve forgotten. Easy fix, I’ll have Xiao Chuan disable it for you right now…”

As he spoke, he stood up and walked to the desk, picking up a very retro-looking phone. Then he came back and placed it on the coffee table in front of Gu Yao.

“But just in case you can’t find me, you need to take this phone.”

Gu Yao frowned and picked up the phone, pressing a few buttons. It was an old assembled phone, quite worn out, with a black-and-white screen, not even having Snake on it.

Xu Luo explained, “Relax, this phone has been modified. Any signal-blocking device is useless against it. Even if you called me from the desert, I’d still get some signal here. It’s definitely high-performance.”

Gu Yao opened the phonebook inside. There was only one unfamiliar number. She pressed it, and another old phone on the desk rang.

Gu Yao asked, “Do we have to use this?”

Xu Luo smiled. “Yeah. I’m way too concerned about privacy, so this is safer. Also, if you run into danger and it’s inconvenient to call me, then press button one, let it ring twice, and hang up. I’ll track your signal immediately and get to you as fast as possible. Of course, personally, I’d rather Miss Gu have great fortune, stay safe, and live to a hundred.”

Gu Yao did not respond. She flipped the old phone over and over for a long time, thinking that even if she accepted it, it was no big deal. After all, when it came to tech tracking, she could not stop Xu Luo anyway. One more old phone made no difference.

Having made up her mind, Gu Yao tossed the old phone into her bag and said, “I’ll take your gift. Let’s talk business.”

But Xu Luo stood up first and headed for the door. “Sure, let’s talk while we walk.”

Gu Yao was stunned. She grabbed her bag and followed. “Where to?”

Xu Luo leaned against the doorframe, showing off a mouthful of white teeth, like a freshly minted gentlemanly scumbag. “The crime scene.”

– The crime scene?

Gu Yao left with Xu Luo, but she had a bit of a cleanliness obsession when it came to this man. She did not want to ride in his car, and she also did not want him in hers, so in the end they each drove separately.

Xu Luo in front, Gu Yao behind, the two of them driving all the way toward the suburbs.

After only a few minutes, Gu Yao asked him over WeChat voice call, “The crime scene you mentioned is the place where Jiangcheng Gene’s Lian Qiyun died suddenly?”

Xu Luo said lazily, “Yeah.”

“What are we going there for?”

“To inspect the scene, reconstruct the case, simulate what happened that day, and collect evidence while I’m at it.”

Gu Yao said coldly, “So much time has passed. The forensic doctors, technical investigators, and criminal examiners already collected evidence long ago. The scene may have been contaminated by now. What can you even do if you go there, look for a miracle?”

Xu Luo said, “Have you ever heard this line? ‘Wherever one passes, traces remain. Whatever one seeks, one can find.’ From before the incident until the police arrived, Tian Fang and Lian Qiyun stayed there for a total of seven hours. Tell me, how many traces and how much evidence can seven hours leave behind? Maybe I really can find something, like hair, bodily fluids, drug residue, bloodstains, and the like.”

Gu Yao was a little surprised. “That line you just said was by Edmond Locard, the father of forensic science. I didn’t expect you to know that.”

“Oh? Wasn’t that said by Dayo Wong? You know, Forensic Heroes, have you seen it?”

Gu Yao: “…”

They really had nothing to say to each other. Gu Yao suddenly lost the urge to ask questions.

However, just as she was about to hang up the voice call, Xu Luo’s voice came through again. “Right, did you watch the news this morning?”

Gu Yao did not answer.

“Your boyfriend Zhu Shengxi is really something. Staging a show, shaping public opinion, giving charity, buying praise with money… I’m really curious what he’ll do next. Oh, by the way, once Jiangcheng Gene goes public, will the stock shoot up? Should I get in early on the internal offering?”

Xu Luo’s voice was smiling, but full of mockery.

Gu Yao felt a wave of irritation hearing that. She took a deep breath and deliberately held back her emotions. “In 2012, a professor at the University of Caen in France named Séralini wrote a paper about genetically modified crops inducing tumors. After it was published, it caused widespread attention. Although the matter was eventually settled by a retraction, many people are still repeatedly attacking genetic modification technology as a ‘major bombshell’ that will bring disastrous effects to humanity. To eliminate the impact, Europe launched three projects in succession to prove its innocence, spending a total of 113 million yuan. But what was the result? Genetically modified corn is still rejected and misunderstood by many people to this day. That is the destructive power of rumors. It’s like a seed taking root in people’s hearts, impossible to eradicate, and with the slightest breeze it can stir up a new storm of public opinion.”

Xu Luo only dropped three words lightly. “So what?”

Gu Yao said, “‘Jiangcheng Gene’ is the same kind of case. Because of some bored people spreading rumors, what kind of consequences does Jiangcheng Gene have to bear? How much money and how many things does it take to prove its innocence? That period might be ten years, twenty years, or even longer. From now on, whenever Jiangcheng Gene brings any new drug to market, it will have to face public suspicion. The seed of doubt has already been planted. You think staging shows, giving charity, and buying praise can do anything? It’s just a drop in the bucket. It’s precisely because there are so many bored haters, one saying this and another saying that, that innocent people end up burdened with a bad name.”

In truth, Gu Yao had not wanted to get angry so easily. But hearing Xu Luo speak with nothing but sarcasm, she really could not hold back, and in her fury, she instinctively defended her own side.

Who would have thought that after hearing this, Xu Luo only smiled faintly, as if he saw through something, and said, “Miss Gu, I think you’ve misunderstood. I’m just asking a couple of questions purely from the standpoint of a partner, out of concern. And compared with Jiangcheng Gene’s new drug, what I’m more curious about is you.”

Gu Yao paused. “Me?”

“Zhu Shengxi made a high-profile appearance before the media, your father Gu Chengwen publicly backed him at the investors’ awards ceremony, Zhaoyang Law Firm used female subordinates and major clients for sexual transactions, and on top of that, those diary entries, those photos, and this morning’s news, tsk… Does the Zhu Shengxi pieced together from all these puzzle pieces look like another person to you?”

Gu Yao fell silent, but for no reason at all, her chest tightened. It felt as if someone had jabbed at her fatal weakness.

That was exactly the reason she had not slept well last night, and the source of the trouble that had been haunting her for days…

Each individual straw seemed insignificant, but when countless straws piled up, they would eventually crush the camel.

With a soft laugh, Xu Luo lightly tossed out another line. “Hey, when the person sleeping next to you feels this unfamiliar, are you really not afraid at all?”

He was trying to undermine her mentally.

“Anyone can become familiar or strange. Some people spend their whole lives and still can’t understand themselves, let alone other people. What a fuss over nothing.”

As soon as Gu Yao finished speaking, unwilling to give Xu Luo any more chance to question her, she cut off the WeChat voice call on her own.

Xu Luo laughed softly, then stepped on the gas, sending his car fishtailing onto the highway and frightening the vehicle beside him into slamming on the brakes and stalling on the spot.

Gu Yao refused to be outdone. She shifted gears and sped up, closely pursuing that flashy Land Rover.