Chapter 169: A Troubled Night

After the triple-row Lincoln passed seven or eight intersections, a black Honda caught up. Less than half an hour later, it stopped in a quiet, one-way lane about a hundred meters away from Lin Yuxin's home. Pan Lihua knocked Lin Yuxin unconscious, and then removed the blindfold, the tape over her mouth, and the ropes binding her hands and feet.

Pan Lihua carried Lin Yuxin on her back out of the car and walked toward the side gate of the residential compound. Dong Min also got out of the car, following silently. A man got out of the Honda in the rear and drove the triple-row Lincoln away.

Ten minutes later, arriving downstairs at Lin Yuxin's building, Lin Yuxin was revived once more by Pan Lihua. She slowly opened her eyes, looking at the two women before her with a somewhat dazed expression.

"Director Lin, you were plotted against by the young lady you dined with earlier." Dong Min politely handed over some photographs. Lin Yuxin took them and flipped through a few, her expression turning slightly cold without a word.

The person in the photos was none other than Liao Tingrui, captured by the onboard camera.

"Upon noticing, the Sands Club deployed a large amount of manpower to search, and finally intercepted the vehicle on XX Road, rescuing you. Due to insufficient evidence, and because those young ladies possess rather special status, we were unable to detain her... This is your handbag; please check whether any items inside are missing."

With a face full of apology, Dong Min handed a handbag to Lin Yuxin and bowed slightly. Pan Lihua also bowed. After Lin Yuxin confirmed that no items were missing from her handbag, the two women bade farewell and left.

Lin Yuxin went upstairs. It was already past ten o'clock. She unlocked her door herself, entered her room, and opened her phone to find seven hundred and eighty-three WeChat messages, all sent by Hong Chen. She did not rush to reply, but instead carefully recalled the events: she had finished her shower, changed into casual clothes, and was just about to step out of the bathroom area when she was suddenly struck unconscious. When she woke up again, she was lying down, unable to see or speak, with her hands and feet bound. She was indeed in a car. Her mind had been groggy at the time, and she vaguely heard voices—two women. One was definitely Liao Tingrui, and the other... wasn't the other woman precisely the one who had just apologized to her? The specific content of the conversation was unclear; she only remembered that the woman apologizing to her repeatedly urged Liao Tingrui to get out of the car...

After dropping off Lin Yuxin, the two women, Dong Min and Pan Lihua, returned to that quiet, one-way lane. The Honda was still parked there, with two men standing beside the car smoking. The two women walked up and respectfully addressed one of them, a pot-bellied middle-income man: "Director Ni."

Ni Biao, the General Manager of the Sands Club!

"You were acting under Young Master Lu's instructions, so I don't blame you, but the consequences this time far exceeded expectations. Even Young Master Lu cannot cover this up anymore."

Ni Biao's expression was deeply solemn: "The Jiang family and the Hongcheng Group are jointly putting pressure on the Lu family. The old patriarch and the eldest master have both been alerted, and the second master has personally spoken—there must be an explanation for this matter."

The complexions of the two women paled bit by bit, not knowing what to say as an ominous premonition spontaneously welled up in their hearts.

"Two million in compensation will be delivered to your families. This is the compensation I was able to fight for on your behalf." With that, Ni Biao gave a glance to the other man. The latter flicked away his cigarette butt and flashed forward like a ghost in the night. Even though Pan Lihua was an inner-strength martial artist, she had no time to react at all. Appearing like a phantom behind the two women, he brought both palms down in a chop toward their necks.

"Thud!" A muffled, heavy sound echoed, and the bodies of the two women trembled as they lost consciousness.

Subsequently, Dong Min was helped into the front passenger seat, and Pan Lihua was helped into the rear behind the passenger side. The Honda started up, crossed three avenues, and came to a wide four-lane road. After driving for a while longer, a cement truck suddenly approached from the side. Although the Honda slammed on the brakes, it still failed to avoid the collision, crashing directly into the cement truck on the passenger side.

Immediately, Ni Biao and his companion swiftly pushed open the front and rear doors on the driver's side and jumped out of the car in a diving motion, tearing their clothes and scraping their skin. The cement truck's full load of cement cascaded down, and in less than ten seconds, the entire Honda was completely buried.

[...]

Sands Club.

In the lobby, Hong Chen sat waiting in the guest lounge area for over an hour, smoking ten cigarettes, until finally Lin Yuxin's call came through, placed from her home phone.

"I'm sorry, I passed out in the bathroom just now. It might be due to a lack of rest lately, leading to some anemia. The club staff sent me to the hospital for emergency care, but I'm fine now. I just got home."

Lin Yuxin sounded somewhat helpless and apologetic. Hong Chen almost burst out laughing; this was simply talking nonsense with eyes wide open. However, he could understand. Putting himself in her shoes, no matter what had happened, as long as it ended safely, he wouldn't tell Lin Yuxin the absolute truth either, because it was meaningless and would only add worry to the other person. Let's consider it a white lie born of good intentions.

As long as she was fine, the stone hanging in Hong Chen's heart could finally drop.

Hong Chen didn't expose the lie nor ask too many questions, simply saying, "Then why aren't you hurrying to bed? It's almost eleven o'clock, and you still have work tomorrow."

Lin Yuxin softly replied with an "oh."

After chatting for a few more words and hanging up, Hong Chen belatedly noticed that Jiang Ying and Liu Xinyue were staring at him without blinking. Their companions had left earlier, but the two women had voluntarily stayed behind to accompany him.

Jiang Ying snorted. "Fine now? Can you rest easy now?"

Seeing Hong Chen nod, Jiang Ying took her phone and walked aside to make a call. Hong Chen also sent text messages to Gao Tianxiong and Qi Gang, containing only a single word: Withdraw.

Liu Xinyue said hesitatingly, "Since she's fine, my suggestion is to pretend nothing ever happened. The Jiang family can only help you to a limited extent, and the Lu family is not someone to be trifled with."

As she spoke, she cast a glance not far away toward Jiang Ying, who was currently on the phone.

Hong Chen looked at her without making an immediate statement. Liu Xinyue sighed softly, looking desolate as she said, "I know that on that night at the Monarch Club, my grandfather's choice let you down. Given the decades of friendship between my grandfather and Elder Qi, the Health Hall and the Liu family shaking hands must have been your idea. Don't worry, apart from my grandfather and me, no one else in the Liu family knows your true identity. The two of us will keep your secret."

Hong Chen came to a sudden realization, smiled apologetically at Liu Xinyue, and deliberated: "People are naturally biased inward. Even if the grandson's actions weren't necessarily right, it's understandable for a grandfather to stand by his grandson. I can understand that. All I can say is that your grandfather acts according to his principles, while I have my own code of conduct. We simply lack a bit of fate when it comes to business cooperation..."

Pausing for a few seconds of hesitation, he continued, "I hope there won't be a day when we become enemies with the Liu family. Even if there is, I hope it's just normal business competition. I can give you a guarantee: as long as the Liu family doesn't touch the people around me, I won't touch the people of the Liu family."

The corners of Liu Xinyue's mouth moved as if to say something, but it ultimately turned into a silent, bitter smile at the edge of her lips. She glanced at the diving watch on her wrist, stood up, and bade farewell.

Jiang Ying returned after finishing her call and, seeing that Liu Xinyue had gone, boldly blurted out, "I thought that lesbian had finally bloomed, but it seems I overestimated your charm."

Hong Chen had black lines running down his forehead, instantly stood up, and walked outside. Jiang Ying hurried after him, gritting her teeth as she said, "What do you mean by that? I contributed both effort and time, accompanying you through all this tossing and turning, and the moment your business is done, you want to ditch me? What do you take me for..."

"My good ancestor, I'm begging you, I'm terrified of you!" Hong Chen wore a bitter expression, truly afraid. Her schemes were unfathomably deep, and she dared to say anything. Thick-skinned though Hong Chen was, he still felt ashamed. They had interacted a few times before, and this woman hadn't been like this. Could it be that as they grew more familiar with each other, her true nature was beginning to resurface?

"So pretentious," Jiang Ying scoffed, then said, "Cut the crap. I'm hungry, treat me to a late-night snack."

Hong Chen weakly suggested, "How about calling your brother along too?"

Jiang Ying rolled her eyes in annoyance: "So I can be a third wheel?"

Hong Chen was on the verge of tears. Without another word, he got into the GT-R. Hong Chen said they were going to a roadside food stall—their old stronghold with Xu Le. Jiang Ying didn't mind the low tier and nodded in silent agreement.

After driving for a quarter of an hour, just as they were about to reach the destination, a message popped up on Hong Chen's phone. He picked it up to take a look, his eyes suddenly widening in shock. He slammed hard on the brakes. Under the immense inertia, Jiang Ying, who hadn't fastened her seatbelt, knocked her forehead against the windshield.

"I'll take you home now. I have an urgent matter. Tonight's midnight snack is on credit; I'll make it up to you next time."

Jiang Ying was just about to complain when she saw that Hong Chen's face had turned serious, tinged faintly with anger. She asked, "What happened again?"

Hong Chen shook his head silently and made a U-turn right in the middle of the road. It was the first time Jiang Ying had ever seen Hong Chen display such an expression, so she didn't probe further like a gossipy girl. Hesitating for a moment, she said, "Why don't you drop me off and I can hail a cab myself."

Hong Chen shook his head again: "Enough has happened today. Drop you off in the middle of the night? If anything else happens to you, I wouldn't even have time to put out the fire."

Jiang Ying cast a lingering look at him and said nothing more.

Speeding like the wind, a journey that usually took over half an hour was completed in just over ten minutes. The GT-R stopped outside the villa area. Hong Chen didn't drive inside, waved goodbye to Jiang Ying, and lowered his head to type text messages.

The passenger door opened, but Jiang Ying didn't get out right away. Suddenly leaning over, she planted a dragonfly-kiss-like peck on Hong Chen's cheek before shaking her head and jumping out of the car.

This bold move left Hong Chen somewhat dumbfounded. Through the car window, watching her figure vanish into the night like a startled rabbit, he shook his head and smiled inexplicably, before his smile faded.

He lowered his head again to compose his message. The previous message had come from Qiu: Qi Junyuan had been executed under Qiu's single blade and was dead, and the root cause of it all was once again that troublesome Lin Yufei!