Turning the Tables

"Didn't I send you a few girls' WeChat contacts the other day? Did you add them?" Frightened though she was, Song Su still thought he ought to get married and couldn't help nagging him.

Lin Fengmian, who hadn't added a single one, said, "I've been too busy to add them."

Hearing his answer, Song Su took his phone in exasperation to add them for him. But seeing how little energy he had, she realized he wouldn't be able to talk to them even if she added them now. She could only give up and leave it until he felt better in a few days.

"Why hasn't Qinghe come to see you?"

Lin Fengmian had developed a high fever the very night he returned. Whenever he had been ill before, Xia Qinghe had always been the most anxious of all, yet two days had passed this time without him showing up.

Lin Fengmian scratched his face. He couldn't exactly tell his mother that he and Xia Qinghe had gotten into a heated debate over whose hand it was and parted on bad terms.

He had his pride. He couldn't say it.

But his mother clearly knew the two of them well. "Did you have a falling-out?"

Lin Fengmian reached for a tissue on the bedside table and spat his preserved plum pit into it. "No."

With that, he slipped under the covers and pulled them over his head, leaving only the crown of his head exposed. His muffled voice came from beneath the quilt. "Mom, I took my medicine, and I'm so sleepy. I'm going to sleep."

Song Su didn't press him. The two had been close for so many years; whatever misunderstandings or unpleasantness arose, they would eventually make up. She had faith in their relationship. "All right, I won't ask. Get some rest."

Lin Fengmian closed his eyes and tried to sleep for a while, but found he couldn't. He turned over, sat up, and switched on his computer. Only after activating several layers of firewalls did he open a program in a hidden folder.

"Mianmian, Li Yang's survey hasn't been going particularly smoothly. Some officials have stepped in to stop it, but it's nothing we can't handle. We have people helping hold them off, too."

"The person behind this hasn't rushed out just because we fell out. Tsk, no wonder they've been able to fight us for so many years. That bastard really knows how to lie low."

"Don't worry. Even if we can't lure that person out, it doesn't matter. At least we can get rid of that rotten apple Feng Chuyue this time. He holds two percent of the shares. Want them as a birthday present?"

Lin Fengmian sniffed hard through his blocked nose. Once he could breathe again, he typed a reply.

"Now that Feng Chuyue is useless, that side definitely won't tolerate him. They'll get rid of him as soon as possible."

"You can't let him die. If he dies, his wife and daughter will inherit his estate, and his shares count as part of it. All sorts of complications will arise, and they'll definitely sue you. Once it becomes a drawn-out battle, getting those shares quickly will be difficult."

He had only sent those two messages when his nose became blocked again. He got up for tissues, and by the time he returned, Xia Qinghe had replied.

"Have you seen a doctor about your eye? Did you put medicine on the bruises?"

Lin Fengmian skipped right over that sort of teasing and read the next message.

"We've already reported him to the police. Feng Chuyue is implicated in more than a dozen financial crimes, including embezzlement, falsifying accounts, tax evasion, and bribery. We've submitted the evidence too. Now it's just a matter of when the police act."

Outside a villa in Lanhai, Chen Xiaohua stared at the tablet in his hands. An outrageous scene inside the villa played across its screen.

A group of scantily clad men and women were desperately plying Feng Chuyue with alcohol. Chen Xiaohua had already lost count of how many glasses had been spiked.

Several men and women surrounded Feng Chuyue. Some had their heads buried down low; others took a drink and fed it to him mouth-to-mouth. He accepted everything, his entire body already flushed red.

A man got up off him. Chen Xiaohua clicked his tongue as he watched Feng Chuyue. Yu Youyou really was ruthless, finding so many people for her own husband. She was planning to let him die among the flowers and become a lustful ghost.

Meanwhile, she herself could remain perfectly out of sight.

"Brother Hua, someone delivered a bottle of wine to Yu Youyou. She ordered it herself. It's been spiked."

"Swap it out."

"Yes."

Chen Xiaohua tapped at the keyboard with both hands. Watching Feng Chuyue, whose consciousness was already fading, he switched channels on his radio. "Where are the police?"

"Five minutes away."

"Good."

Five minutes later, several police cars arrived with a property management vehicle behind them. Fully equipped officers got out, while the property manager and several security guards stood far away, not daring to approach.

The police took up positions by the door, and a plainclothes officer stepped forward to ring the bell.

When no one came out for a long time, the captain tilted his head. The locksmith behind him stepped forward and worked on the villa's electronic lock for several minutes, and a group of officers rushed inside.

Through the tablet, Chen Xiaohua watched the room descend into chaos. A group of people were pinned in a corner, while Feng Chuyue stared at the police with bulging eyes, showing no reaction at all.

Or perhaps his brain had issued commands, but his body was beyond his control.

Soon, he was carried out and sent to the hospital.

Chen Xiaohua put away the tablet. "Follow the police car. Don't let anyone silence him."

"Yes."

"Minzhang, cut off the surveillance inside Feng Chuyue's villa and remove the cameras we installed. Clean everything up."

"Yes."

The police car headed west toward the nearest hospital. At a red light at an intersection, a van suddenly came charging out before the police could react.

Suddenly, an SUV shot out from the side, swinging its rear around to meet the van side-on.

An enormous crash rang in everyone's ears.

Some people jumped in fright and looked over. Someone was climbing out of the SUV, their foot visibly twisted out of shape.

The police car braked hard to avoid the crash ahead. "Captain?"

The captain narrowed his eyes, feeling that the crash was far too suspicious. "Keep going. Don't stop."

The wheels rolled on. When they reached the next intersection, the captain watched their surroundings warily, but spotted no suspicious vehicles or people.

Still, he didn't lower his guard until the police car entered the hospital and they took the suspect to the emergency room for the doctors to save him.

None of the three officers left. They remained beside him, keeping watch.

They even had to watch their surroundings for anyone wandering about or stopping to look their way.

Apart from those following Yu Youyou, most of Chen Xiaohua's people entered the hospital, while a smaller number spread out and took positions nearby.

They would do their best not to give anyone an opening.

Chen Xiaohua watched as an ambulance brought his subordinate and the person from the van to the hospital. As his subordinate passed someone he knew, he grinned, looking utterly relaxed.

Oh, finally, paid leave! President Xia was so generous to his people. Thinking of the compensation money he would soon receive, he grinned like an idiot.

The doctor even thought the collision had left him brain-damaged.

The van's driver was more badly injured than Chen Xiaohua's subordinate and was completely unconscious.

A few hours later, Feng Chuyue had been saved. He had been handcuffed to the hospital bed the entire time and was still unconscious.

When Yu Youyou learned that he hadn't died and that the police had rounded up everyone in the villa, her expression changed drastically. She packed her things that very night and tried to flee.

But before she could board the plane, the police stopped her and took her away.

Chen Xiaohua brought the news to Xia Qinghe. Beneath the light, a cool glow outlined his sharply defined profile.

His long fingers rested lightly against a wineglass, his wrist bones prominent. His long, narrow eyes were slightly lowered, his gaze as cold and clear as unmelted snow and ice.

His skin was fair, his jet-black hair immaculate. His pure black suit set off a figure as straight and tall as a lone pine on a jade mountain, exuding exceptional refinement.

"Keep following up. Give our injured colleague a million in compensation. Tell him to rest well and only come back to work once he's fully recovered."