Zhou Rong had many businesses. Besides real estate, his second industry was automobile sales.
He had opened dozens of automobile four-S stores in several surrounding cities. In his home base of San Jiang Kou, he was even more dominant. He had opened San Jiang Kou’s first automobile four-S store and later obtained exclusive regional dealership qualifications for multiple automobile brands. Automobile four-S stores faced fierce competition in large cities, and it was common to see certain stores close down due to poor management. Conversely, in small cities like this, competition was minimal and profits were especially good. Zhou Rong attached great importance to his four-S stores and would inspect several each month to check on their operations. Today he went to the Mercedes-Benz store.
The car he most frequently rode in was an S-Class Mercedes worth over three million yuan. The car stopped in a vacant spot at the four-S store entrance. He got out, his face showing a trace of displeasure, and strode quickly upstairs. Hu Jianren followed behind him, constantly on the phone.
They arrived at the office. Hu Jianren had just hung up when Zhou Rong anxiously asked, “What did they say?”
“Brother Rong, I confirmed with people at the hotel. The criminal investigation unit really did go looking for Lu Yibo.”
“When did this happen?”
“Yesterday.”
Zhou Rong frowned and murmured, “Why hasn’t Yibo told me about this yet?”
“Not only didn’t he tell you, but he told the criminal police that he knew nothing about Ye Jian’s death and had them come ask you instead. I can’t understand Lu Yibo’s approach at all.”
Zhou Rong was silent for several seconds, then said, “Perhaps the police are deliberately trying to drive a wedge between us.”
“Then why didn’t Lu Yibo tell you the police came looking for him? Because he didn’t dare. He was afraid that if you asked him, he’d let something slip.”
“He was probably a bit nervous at the time and spoke carelessly. You know how it is—the police have a whole set of techniques for questioning. Yibo has no experience dealing with them. Afterward, he didn’t dare tell me because he was afraid I’d become suspicious. We can’t really blame him for this.” Zhou Rong explained on Lu Yibo’s behalf.
Hu Jianren sneered. “But last time when the criminal police came looking for Zhou Qi, didn’t he also not tell us?”
Zhou Rong’s cheek twitched slightly. He sighed deeply. “Don’t go around suspecting people. Yibo is an honest man.”
“Precisely because he’s an honest man, if he gets scared and tells them about our affairs, I’m afraid…”
“There’s nothing to be afraid of. Besides running a club, Yibo hasn’t been involved in anything else we’ve done.”
“But after all, he is aware of certain matters…”
Zhou Rong frowned and looked at him. “What do you want to do?”
“Bowen and I discussed this before. We both feel that Lu Yibo is unreliable.”
Zhou Rong raised his hand horizontally and said coldly, “Don’t you two act on your own initiative. I trust Lu Yibo. I knew him when Lang Bowen was still a street punk constantly coming to collect protection money from me every other day.”
“But if he—”
“There are no ifs. If he were unreliable, we wouldn’t have waited until now. I’m warning you—if you move against Lu Yibo behind my back, I’ll turn on you!” Zhou Rong was relatively a man who valued loyalty. He always considered Ye Jian a brother and Lu Yibo his subordinate. Although Lang Bowen was his business partner, Zhou Rong always remembered how Lang Bowen bullied him when they were young, so he was more willing to protect Lu Yibo.
Hu Jianren wanted to say something more, but seeing the boss’s attitude, he could only swallow his words and change the subject. “Brother Rong, after going through several channels to find the source for buying the bronze bells, we finally found it. The other party is a mainland person who has resided in Hong Kong for many years, named Zhu Yifei. Nobody knows his real name. Zhu Yifei is very famous in antiquities circles. Many major buyers have to go through him. He only does big deals. His business has one advantage—his goods are always genuine. I contacted Zhu Yifei. He indeed has a set of bronze bells in his possession. He said trading bronze bells with mainland buyers carries great risk, so he wants to meet you face-to-face first to discuss it in person.”
Zhou Rong nodded. “Then let’s meet as soon as possible.”
“He’s already arrived in the country and could come to San Jiang Kou at any time. He said he’ll notify us two hours before the meeting and asks that we accommodate his schedule.”
“Notify us two hours before the meeting—does he think I’m so free that I wait around for him every day?”
Hu Jianren explained, “I think Zhu Yifei must be afraid that mainland police will set up a trap to catch him, so he wants to investigate and scope things out first. He does completely underground business. Once the police arrest him, he won’t get out. So I think accommodating his schedule is reasonable. Their line of work is full of all kinds of people. Mr. Zhu’s reputation in the industry speaks for itself—his goods are definitely genuine. If we don’t buy from him, we won’t be able to find other reliable sources on short notice.”
Zhou Rong snorted coldly. Given his current status and position, frankly he didn’t want any involvement with underworld figures like Zhu Yifei. But Fang Yong didn’t accept money, only cultural relics. If he openly acquired a set of bronze bells through an auction, first, the prices of bronze vessels auctioned through proper channels had skyrocketed, and second, items sold through auctions were well-known in the industry—Fang Yong probably wouldn’t dare accept them. It seemed he could only do this deal with Zhu Yifei.
While they were talking, someone knocked on the office door. The four-S store’s after-sales manager walked in and looked at him apprehensively. “President Zhou, your car… your car was scraped by someone.”
“My car is parked at the entrance. How could it get scraped?”
“It is… parked at the entrance. Today there were quite a few cars at the store entrance. A female customer was test-driving a vehicle, didn’t control it properly, and… and scraped it.”
“This is really—troublesome.” Zhou Rong suppressed his temper. After all, it was a customer from his store who scraped the car. The customer is king.
He followed them downstairs. The car was still in its original spot with a small test-drive car parked next to it. The damage wasn’t serious—just a patch of paint scraped off the rear, slightly exposed. Although repairing paint on such a luxury car was also very expensive, this was his own four-S store, so the repair cost didn’t matter.
“President Zhou, she’s the driver.”
Zhou Rong’s gaze followed and his eyes immediately lit up.
This female driver was about five feet five inches tall with a slender figure. Her face showed she was clearly a young woman in her early twenties—a delicate palm-sized face, a pert nose, thin lips, wearing light makeup. Her entire face was all natural without any chemical fillers, like a fresh graduate who had just started working, while also carrying a hint of heroic spirit.
The first impression was very good. He squinted slightly and used the X-ray vision men naturally possess to assess her again. Mmm, yes—pencil-thin legs, firm buttocks, no excess fat at the waist, chest… a bit flat, but nothing can be completely perfect.
He nodded to himself inwardly. This girl—she had class.
This girl with class was none other than Li Qian!
Ever since no one in the criminal investigation unit would take her to crime scenes, the only thing Li Qian could do was check surveillance footage at the office. She watched Zhou Rong’s, Lu Yibo’s, Lang Bowen’s, and others’ movements every day. She knew where they lived, what time they went to and from work, and where they liked to eat—these trivial matters—better than their own mothers did. But what use was knowing? Checking surveillance couldn’t uncover evidence of these people’s crimes at all.
If cases could be solved by sitting in front of a computer and moving a mouse, why would criminal police need legs? Might as well saw them off for cleanliness! She believed that if they truly wanted to get to the bottom of these people’s criminal evidence, they had to make close contact.
Today when she was checking surveillance to track Zhou Rong again, she saw Zhou Rong take a large Mercedes first to Rongcheng Group’s headquarters building. After staying there a while, he drove to a Mercedes-Benz four-S store. This store was only one intersection away from the Public Security Bureau. Nobody at the office was managing her anyway, so she took advantage of the lack of attention, changed into plainclothes, left the office, and walked to the four-S store, planning to observe up close what kind of person Zhou Rong really was.
When she arrived at the four-S store, Zhou Rong had already gone upstairs. Li Qian saw the large Mercedes at the entrance but didn’t see her target, so she could only pretend to look at cars in the store. At that moment, a salesman named Du Cong came over to serve her. After chatting for a few sentences, he enthusiastically invited her to test-drive. Li Qian demurred that she was a novice female driver who hadn’t properly driven before and was afraid of damaging their cars, so she wouldn’t test-drive.
When Du Cong heard that a novice female driver had come to look at Mercedes cars, this clearly meant she intended to buy a car. So he even more enthusiastically invited her to test-drive, patting his chest loudly to assure her that all test-drive vehicles were insured. If there was an accident, the insurance company would fully compensate and the customer would bear no responsibility. He urged her to definitely give it a try.
After hearing this speech, Li Qian confirmed with him repeatedly, glanced at Zhou Rong’s large Mercedes at the entrance, and a plan formed in her mind. She signed a safety agreement with Du Cong and got into the test-drive car. When the car left the underground garage and passed the entrance, she suddenly turned the steering wheel slightly and the car directly scraped Zhou Rong’s Mercedes.
Although accidents occasionally occurred when customers test-drove vehicles, this was the first time someone had scraped the big boss’s car. Du Cong didn’t know how to handle it and could only report to leadership. Li Qian stood in place repeatedly apologizing to the staff while waiting for Zhou Rong to come downstairs.
Zhou Rong came forward to look at the car. The after-sales manager said the base paint was scraped through and it would take several days to repaint. He turned to Li Qian and said that although the accident wasn’t major, this car cost over three million yuan and repainting would cost five thousand. She would have to pay this money.
Li Qian immediately exclaimed that Manager Du had said the test-drive car was insured and she didn’t need to compensate.
The manager frowned. He wanted to curry favor with the big boss, so he immediately changed his tune—the car damage could be claimed through insurance, but this Mercedes was less than six months old and depreciation was unavoidable. The insurance company wouldn’t compensate for that.
Zhou Rong watched this high-class girl argue with the manager and smiled faintly without speaking.