Elsewhere, at the police station.
"I already told you it wasn't me!"
"Get your chief in here! You think you can pin this on me with that stuff? Fucking useless, all of you!"
Yu Song, the officer sitting across from him, remained unmoved. "Your words don't carry any weight. The evidence does."
"Fuck! Get your chief in here. I'll have you fired!" Jiang Gechen was furious.
Jiang Gechen hadn't been afraid of anything when he drugged the drink, because he had the Jiang family backing him. No one dared touch him. A few words from him, and they would let it slide.
But for all his careful planning, he hadn't expected Yan Zhiyi to intervene and pressure them into a thorough investigation. With Yan Zhiyi weighing in, what did the Jiang family even count for?
And so Jiang Gechen was now sitting in the police station, raging without understanding why.
Yu Song picked at his ear. This guy was so deep in his own little world that he couldn't understand plain language.
"Calling the chief won't help. We're only asking you to cooperate with the investigation, not convicting you. What exactly are you so worked up about?"
"Once we've cleared things up, we'll let you go. Who are you trying to impress with that ready-to-die act?"
Those words only made Jiang Gechen angrier.
These people were doing this on purpose! Otherwise, why would they handcuff him for a simple questioning?
"Fucking let me go already! Why else would you put me in cuffs?!"
Yu Song was truly speechless. He hated uncooperative people like this more than anything. "Buddy, you're suspected of intentional assault. Who knows whether you'll get violent? The cuffs are to keep everyone safe, okay? Quit acting like everyone's out to get you. Nobody at this station wants to hurt you, and nobody knows or cares that you're some young master of the Jiang family. Stop yelling!"
Besides, with the way he was flying into a rage right in front of them, did he really not know why he was in handcuffs?
Jiang Gechen didn't calm down. Instead, he grew even more agitated, as though he were having some kind of episode. "I want to see your chief!!!! I want to see your chief!!!!"
"Fuck..." Yu Song rolled his eyes. What a lunatic.
He left the interrogation room and looked at the young, newly appointed chief, utterly exasperated. You sent me in instead of dealing with him yourself, and he's going crazy asking for you!
Yu Song said, "Song Jing'an, he's fucking asking for you. He's driving me deaf, you know!"
Song Jing'an said, "Thanks for your hard work."
Yu Song said, "Damn right I've worked hard. I was on the night shift yesterday. I should be off duty by now."
Yu Song, the champion of eye-rolling, rolled his eyes at his newly appointed boss and left.
Song Jing'an entered the interrogation room, and Jiang Gechen fell silent for a moment. That face almost made him think he was looking at Song Dimu. Certain features looked especially alike.
But the silence lasted only a moment before he started shouting again.
"I want to see your chief!!!! I want to see..."
"Shut up!" Song Jing'an finally understood why Yu Song had rolled his eyes. "I'm the chief."
"?"
Jiang Gechen thought, Do you take me for a fucking idiot?
"I know your chief."
"He's been removed from his post."
"?"
Jiang Gechen thought, Clearly, I was born at the wrong time.
"Cooperate with the investigation."
Jiang Gechen's eyes shifted. He had already prepared a fallback.
And so, half an hour later, Zhou Anyang arrived at the police station right on time.
Zhou Anyang was timid and hesitant. "What did you want me for? I haven't done anything bad!"
Song Jing'an said, "Mr. Jiang Gechen says you're the principal offender..."
Song Jing'an recounted Jiang Gechen's statement and the entire sequence of events.
Jiang Gechen said the packet of drugs belonged to Zhou Anyang. Footage from one surveillance angle showed Zhou Anyang taking the packet out of his pocket.
The bartender changed his story at the police station, saying Zhou Anyang had instructed him. And the one-million transfer had indeed come from Zhou Anyang's account.
Zhou Anyang couldn't defend himself, because Jiang Gechen had given him the drugs a week in advance and told him to bring them to Old Mr. Yan's birthday banquet. As for the transfer, Jiang Gechen had said he'd hit his transfer limit and asked Zhou Anyang to send it for him.
But... all those instructions had been verbal. He had no evidence. He'd trusted Jiang Gechen, so he hadn't recorded anything either.
Zhou Anyang was so distraught that his eyes reddened. How could Brother Jiang do this to him?!
No wonder. No wonder he hadn't carried the drugs himself after getting them from his father. And as the Jiang family's young master, with tens of millions passing through his accounts every week, how could his limit possibly be one million?
"It wasn't me, waaaah! It really wasn't me! I was only an accomplice. He was the mastermind!" Tears spilled down Zhou Anyang's face as he spoke.
But now, no one was listening to his explanations anymore. Song Jing'an had originally come to deal with Jiang Gechen, but Yan Zhiyi had warned him that Jiang Gechen might well escape the charges. He hadn't expected it to actually happen...
"He's gone. The one named Zhou took the fall."
"Got it."
Yan Zhiyi hung up. Xia Shule had been straining to listen, almost pressing his face against Yan Zhiyi's. When the call ended, Xia Shule lost his support and stumbled, nearly falling onto him.
"Oof..." Xia Shule turned around and walked toward the floor-to-ceiling windows as though nothing had happened. "Nice view."
"Heh." A low, languid chuckle spilled from Yan Zhiyi's throat.
It sent a shiver through Xia Shule. Fuck, had this stupid body decided to make trouble for him these past two days?!
And why had the call been so short? He hadn't heard a thing before it ended. What kind of stupid phone was that good at stopping eavesdroppers?
"If you'd said you wanted to listen, I'd have put it on speaker." Yan Zhiyi swiveled his office chair around and looked up at Xia Shule, who was playing dumb.
That pretty little face was still pretending to study the view intently. All the buildings outside looked just like this one. What was there to look at?
"Well, it's not like I wanted to hear it that badly. I just wondered how things turned out in the end." Xia Shule was spectacularly casual.
A mischievous impulse struck Yan Zhiyi. "Come here."
"What for?"
"Come here, and I'll tell you."
Xia Shule really did want to know, so he walked over without thinking. "What is it? You want to whisper it to me?"
Once again, yet again, Yan Zhiyi was amused by the way this kid's mind worked. He beckoned with a finger, and Xia Shule happily leaned closer.
His thin lips parted slightly, and his low, husky voice reached Xia Shule's ear.
"Call me big brother, and I'll tell you."
Boom!!!!
Xia Shule's ears instantly turned scarlet, as though they'd caught fire. He hurriedly slapped at them, then tugged on them, as if he wanted to pull something out from inside.
"How could you...?!"
"Hm? How could I what?" Yan Zhiyi looked completely innocent, as though asking whether Xia Shule really wouldn't grant him such a simple request.
Xia Shule said, "..."
I seriously can't with you. I just can't...
Why did Yan Zhiyi suddenly seem a little flirtatious? Could someone please explain? Xia Shule's ears felt like they had an upset stomach.
The youngster before him grimaced, apparently wrestling with himself. Yan Zhiyi watched at his leisure.
Hmph. Either Jiang Gechen had been arrested, or he'd been released. Fifty-fifty odds. No way was he falling for this!
Xia Shule said, "..."
"B-big..." Xia Shule hummed out the sounds as if by accident.
Oh, whatever. He was still pretty curious.
"What? I didn't hear you."
"Big brother, tell Lele, please!" Out of options, Xia Shule grabbed Yan Zhiyi's arm and swayed it back and forth, as though wheedling.
Now it was Yan Zhiyi's turn to fidget. He raised a hand to his mouth and gave a light cough to cover it up-if one overlooked the vivid red of his ears.
"Ahem. All right, sit down. Big brother will tell you."
Xia Shule sat obediently. "Go on!"
"Jiang Gechen got Zhou Anyang to take the fall for him. By now, Jiang Gechen has probably already left."
"Hmph. I knew it."