Wang Qiu Gets Beaten

Over the meal, Guo Yuan asked Xun Haoran about his company's staffing structure and the current technical details of Unreal Engine.

Although Xun Haoran had decided to work with Guo Yuan, that would only happen after the company declared bankruptcy.

So when faced with Guo Yuan's questions, Xun Haoran only answered those concerning the company's personnel structure and did not reveal any technical details about Unreal Engine.

Guo Yuan was not upset. On the contrary, he felt that Xun Haoran's behavior showed that he stuck to his principles. People like that were more reassuring to work with.

Over the next two days, Guo Yuan and Xun Haoran had many discussions and essentially finalized the details of their collaboration.

After achieving his goal, Guo Yuan bought a plane ticket and returned to Bingzhou.

There was no point in him staying in Hangcheng now. Everything would have to wait until the company over there went bankrupt.

Today was Wednesday, August 17, 2022. The weather was overcast with light rain later. The low was 16°C, the high was 29.4°C, and the current feels-like temperature was 21°C. Good for barbecues and gatherings; avoid karaoke and card games.

The moment Guo Yuan opened his eyes, he heard the narrator's voice.

"Well, looks like I can't play Fight the Landlord again today," Guo Yuan muttered before turning to wash up in the bathroom.

Knock, knock, knock~ Before Guo Yuan had even finished washing his face, someone knocked on the door.

He hurriedly rinsed the foam off his face and ran over to open it.

The one knocking was Xue Ruoyi. She was not wearing her police uniform today. She had on a blue printed short-sleeved T-shirt, denim shorts that fell just past her knees, and spotless white canvas shoes—a standard college girl outfit.

But Xue Ruoyi did not look like a student at all. Some people looked like students no matter how they dressed or carried themselves, and the moment they opened their mouths, it became even more obvious.

Others were exactly the opposite. No matter what they wore or what accessories they put on, they simply did not look like students.

Xue Ruoyi belonged to the latter group. She had entered the police station right after graduation and had experienced quite a few big and small incidents over the past two years. She seemed extremely composed. At the very least, when she stood next to Guo Yuan, people would think she was far more mature than him.

"Oh, you just woke up?" Xue Ruoyi asked as she looked around the room.

"Yeah. By the way, how did you know where I live?"

"In my line of work, finding out a home address is easy, isn't it?"

"Isn't that abusing your authority for personal gain?"

"I'm making reasonable use of resources."

As they bickered, Guo Yuan ushered Xue Ruoyi inside.

"So this is the place you bought? Not bad!"

"It's alright. Want something to drink?"

"No. I came to see you about something serious," Xue Ruoyi suddenly said in a solemn tone.

"Something serious? I haven't done anything illegal, have I?"

"Enough nonsense. Let's get straight to the point. Guo Yuan, I came to see you because you met with Wang Qiu, the owner of Longcheng International Publishing House, five days ago, right?"

Upon hearing Wang Qiu's name, Guo Yuan froze for a moment before instinctively nodding.

"Something happened to Wang Qiu. We found that you met with him, and that meeting apparently did not go very pleasantly."

The night before last, Wang Qiu had been heading alone to a club to find young models when someone pulled a sack over his head and beat him badly. Even his nose was broken.

The attacker had deliberately chosen an alley without surveillance cameras. It was also late at night, and there were no witnesses. The police could only use the most cumbersome method: checking everyone who had conflicts with Wang Qiu one by one.

It was Wang Qiu's secretary, Su Yurou, who said that your meeting with Wang Qiu had been unpleasant.

After hearing the narrator's words, Guo Yuan understood what had happened.

Guo Yuan thought it over and felt something was off. According to the narrator, Wang Qiu had merely been bagged and beaten. His valuables definitely had not been taken, or the narrator would have said he had been robbed.

In other words, the person who beat Wang Qiu had most likely held a grudge against him and was retaliating.

The police clearly thought so as well and had focused their investigation in that direction.

However, Guo Yuan felt the police were looking at it the wrong way. Wang Qiu had gone alone to a club to find young models. He definitely would not tell his family or ordinary friends about that sort of thing. The only people who would know were those he especially trusted, or those who had gone to the club with him.

And the attacker had been able to lie in wait beforehand and even knew where the surveillance cameras were, avoiding them in advance. Clearly, someone had told him Wang Qiu would pass through there.

Therefore, Guo Yuan felt there was an eighty to ninety percent chance that the attacker had been instructed by someone close to Wang Qiu.

Of course, there was another possibility: the police simply did not know that Wang Qiu had gone to the club to find young models. Unless someone had something wrong with their head, who would tell the police about something like that directly?

If the police did not know, they naturally would not consider that angle and would only investigate it as an ordinary assault case.

"Guo Yuan, what are you thinking about? Did you hear my question?" Xue Ruoyi's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Uh, no. When I heard you mention Wang Qiu, I remembered our meeting that day. What did you ask just now?"

"I asked where you were at ten o'clock the night before last."

"I was in Hangcheng!"

"Hangcheng? What were you doing in Hangcheng?" Xue Ruoyi asked, stunned for a moment.

"I was discussing the acquisition of a company with a friend."

"Do you have a plane ticket or any other records?"

"Yeah!" Guo Yuan then fished his torn-up plane ticket from the trash can and opened his phone to show Xue Ruoyi.

Xue Ruoyi took out her phone and photographed the evidence, then let out a slight sigh of relief. Personally, she believed Guo Yuan, but it never hurt to be careful.

With this evidence, Xue Ruoyi was finally completely at ease.

After sorting through the evidence, Xue Ruoyi changed the subject. "Alright, this is enough. As long as it wasn't you."

"You came all this way just to make sure it wasn't me?"

"Mm."

"What if I had been the one who hit him?"

"Then I'd definitely urge you to turn yourself in! Enough about work—are you free tonight?"

"Yeah! I'm free anytime now."

"Shi Ze is free today too. Let's grab a meal together!"

Guo Yuan agreed without hesitation.

"Then I'll be going. See you at the usual place tonight."

"Alright!"

A little after six in the evening, Guo Yuan scanned a shared bike and headed to the usual place Xue Ruoyi had mentioned.

The so-called usual place was the food street behind the middle school the three of them had attended together.

That street sat at the boundary between Second Middle School and Third Middle School, with the back gates of both schools opening onto it.

The high school sections of Second Middle School and Third Middle School were together, and every day, who knew how many middle and high school students came to eat on that street.

The three of them had once been regulars there too. But Xue Ruoyi's family had moved away during middle school, Shi Ze had tested into First Middle School after graduating middle school, and Guo Yuan had gone to Fourth Middle School. None of them had returned since.

Before going abroad, Guo Yuan had made a special trip to this street. Back then, he had walked around once and left without buying anything. Even the dazzling array of snacks no longer seemed particularly appealing to him.

Only then did Guo Yuan suddenly understand. It wasn't that he had become too lazy to go out for food. What he couldn't forget wasn't the street-side snacks, but the people who had eaten them with him.