Zhao Chen stopped.
He didn't look back.
Zhang Qingxue's eyes lifted from the document and landed on Zhao Chen's back.
Fang Wentao's breathing relaxed for a moment. Li Weize's hand pushing his glasses stopped in mid-air.
Zhao Chen didn't look at them.
He just turned his face slightly and nodded very lightly.
Zhang Qingxue understands.
She closed the briefcase, stood up, and said to Fang Wentao:
"Mr. Fang, there are still some implementation details of the agreement. We will communicate externally."
Fang Wentao glanced at Zhao Jianguo, then at Zhao Chen.
He didn't say anything, got up and followed him out.
Li Weize hesitated for two seconds.
He is Zhao Jianguo's lawyer, so he should stay.
But Zhao Chen still turned her back to him.
That figure from behind didn't say anything, but it was more unquestionable than any eviction order.
Li Weize also stood up.
The door closed softly behind them.
The footsteps gradually became distant.
The corridor became quiet.
Separated by an iron fence, the guard stood far away at the end of the corridor, looking down at his cell phone without looking this way.
There are only two people left in Meeting Room.
Zhao Chen turned around.
He didn't sit down.
He just stood there, looking down at the old man with gray hair in uniform across the glass partition.
Then he laughed.
The smile was very light and short, lasting less than a second at the corner of his mouth.
But Zhao Jianguo saw it.
It wasn't any expression he was familiar with - it wasn't the smile when a child raised his face and called "Dad" when he was a child, nor was it the polite and distant smile when father and son faced each other as adults.
It was the kind of smile where the prey is finally in the urn and the hunter can finally put away his crossbow.
Strange.
Terrible.
"When did you start preparing?" Zhao Jianguo's voice was very soft, as if he was afraid of disturbing something.
Zhao Chen looked at him.
"Very early." He said, "It was earlier than what happened to you."
Zhao Jianguo was stunned.
"At that time... nothing happened to me." He said,
"Henglong is still mine, you are still studying. What are you preparing for?"
Zhao Chen has no answer.
He remembered Previous Life.
I remember that winter, my father was sitting in the chair of Board of Directors, listening expressionlessly as Lin Wanqing read out his list of "illegal operations".
I remember those avoidant looks in the corridor when I was kicked out of the company.
I remembered the sound of Detention Center's iron door closing heavily behind me.
He will never say those things.
"Nothing happened to you," Zhao Chen said in a calm voice, "It doesn't mean you haven't done those things."
He looked at Zhao Jianguo:
"Flies don't bite seamless eggs. If you and Lin Wanqing hadn't been sucking blood from Henglong for more than ten years, all my plans--"
He paused:
"They won't succeed."
Zhao Jianguo opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but no sound came out.
Zhao Chen looked at him.
"And those three children."
His voice was very soft, as if he was stating something insignificant:
"I knew it a long time ago."
Zhao Jianguo raised his head suddenly.
"You--"
"I know their names, where they go to school, and how much money Lin Wanqing takes from the gray channel of Henglong every year to support them."
Zhao Chen said, "I knew it a long time ago."
For Zhao Chen, it was indeed known very early.
In the last life, it was very early, wasn't it?
He paused:
"But I haven't thought about how to use this."
He lowered his head and looked at Zhao Jianguo:
"I didn't expect Lin Wanqing to explode it himself."
He smiled, and there was no warmth in that smile:
"She helped me out of nowhere."
Zhao Jianguo leans back on the chair.
He looked at the man across the glass partition.
This is his son.
For the first time, he felt that he didn't know this person.
Twenty years old. Still a college student.
When did it start?
From the day I forced him to pledge his shares? From the day he forced himself to transfer Voting Rights? From the day he worked step by step and cut off the cash flow of Lin Wanqing one by one?
Or earlier?
As early as when he was still studying and Henglong was still speaking out on his own - this young man had already been weaving this web bit by bit in the dark.
Zhao Jianguo I don't know whether I should be angry or proud.
What makes me angry is that I have personally pushed my son, whom I have raised for twenty-two years, into the abyss.
What he is proud of is that the person who pushed him into the abyss is his seed.
He opened his mouth and had many questions to ask.
When did you find out? How did you find out? How much more do you know?
But Zhao Chen didn't give him a chance to speak.
"That 100 million," he said, "Originally I didn't even want to give you a dime."
His voice was calm, as if he was stating a decision that had been made long ago:
"But my thoughts are with my father and my son. I will leave it to you to take care of yourself in old age."
He paused:
"If you give this 100 million to Lin Wanqing--"
He didn't finish.
But Zhao Jianguo understood.
"Don't blame me for being cruel then."
Zhao Chen said, "I'll beat you to pieces and you won't be able to keep a penny."
He turned around, took two steps toward the door, and put his hand on the doorknob.
The door opened a crack.
The wind in the corridor came in through the cracks, bringing with it the unique smell of grass in the suburbs in the evening.
Then he stopped.
There is no looking back.
But Zhao Jianguo saw his profile - the outline cut by the setting sun, with alternating light and dark.
Zhao Chen turned around slowly.
He walked back to the glass partition.