Yan Feifan and Wang Chuan waited at the cocktail party until 10:30 PM, but the artist they had an appointment with never showed up, so they headed home.
The cocktail party was by no means a wasted trip. They had finalized two surgeries and met quite a few potential clients.
Yan Feifan, in particular, had even booked a corrective surgery for a congenital heart defect a year from now.
He was confident that when the time came, as long as the pretty boy hadn’t gotten a heart transplant or kicked the bucket, he would come looking for him.
The guy might have seemed carefree and indifferent to matters of life and death, but the terror that lies between them is immense. How many people can truly transcend that?
The vast majority of people still cherish their lives and fear death.
「The next morning」
Tian Yu, who had received T-shirts signed by numerous film and television stars, was shouting and screaming with delight, absolutely ecstatic.
She immediately put on a T-shirt to take photos and videos, then posted them all over her social media and to her friends from school, showing off nonstop...
During breakfast, Yan Ziruo asked, "Feifan, we’re planning to go shopping today. Do you want to come with us?"
"We’re also going to see a movie," Yu Suye added.
"And eat all kinds of delicious food," Tian Yu chimed in eagerly.
Yan Feifan glanced at the already blazing sun outside the window and quickly shook his head. "I’d rather stay home and read."
"Besides, our uncle is coming back today."
Yan Ziruo gasped and exclaimed, "Oh no! How could I have completely forgotten about our uncle?"
"I guess we can’t go shopping today then."
Seeing the disappointment on Yu Suye’s and Tian Yu’s faces, Yan Feifan tried to persuade her, "Sis, our uncle isn’t leaving again after he gets back this time. It’s enough for me to wait for him here at home."
"You guys haven’t been shopping in a long time. You should go relax."
Yan Ziruo nodded gently. "You have a point, Feifan. In that case, we’ll just come back early in the evening."
"I’ll call Mrs. Du and ask her to come back early this afternoon and prepare a big meal to welcome our uncle home..."
After breakfast, the three women—Yan Ziruo, Yu Suye, and Tian Yu—got all dolled up and left the house in high spirits.
Back home, Yan Feifan spent his time reading the latest medical journals...
「A little past 1:30 in the afternoon」
His uncle, Shu Lei, finally returned, pulling a large suitcase.
This time, Shu Lei hadn’t returned alone. With him was He Pengfei, the chief of the Dacheng Street Police Station.
Seeing his uncle looking so crestfallen, Yan Feifan couldn’t help but ask with concern, "What happened?"
"Uncle, you didn’t get into trouble again, did you?"
"Mr. Yan, he’s not in any trouble. He’s just taken a bit of a blow."
He Pengfei explained, "This morning, your uncle came to the station to supplement his police report. He brought up the matter of his so-called friend, Rong Bin."
"According to the information and evidence we’ve gathered, that Rong Bin character was actually working with the gang, helping them find new targets."
Shu Lei, who was sitting on the sofa, buried his head in his hands and said in a wounded voice, "I only found out today. That bastard went to them on his own and told them I was an idiot and an easy mark."
"We were friends for more than ten years!"
Learning that Rong Bin had played such a role, Yan Feifan was at a loss for words.
’You can know a person’s face, but you can never know their heart!’
Seeing his uncle in this state, he couldn’t help but feel frustrated by his naivete. "What kind of ’friends’ are those? They’re nothing but a bunch of leeches you partied with."
"My sister had the foresight to tell you to stay away from them."
He Pengfei continued, "After that, Rong Bin became a full-fledged member of their crew, specializing in finding targets and befriending them."
"Then, he’d let them win some money before making them lose it all, until they were completely cleaned out."
"With insiders like Rong Bin, the crew basically knew their targets inside and out."
"They did have some semblance of a bottom line, I suppose. They didn’t completely destroy them. They’d let the target lose just enough and then stop in time."
"Because they never pushed things to an extreme, and because they had someone providing cover for them, this crew has managed to operate outside the law until now."
It finally dawned on Yan Feifan. "Mr. He," he asked, "you closed the net?"
He Pengfei grunted affirmatively, his voice tinged with excitement. "Late Friday night. The sub-bureau launched a unified operation and caught them red-handed."
"After nearly twenty hours of successive interrogations, they all confessed, one after another."
"Their backer—the ’protective umbrella’—has also been detained."
"Just this morning, the City Commission for Discipline Inspection and the Municipal Public Security Bureau took over the case."
Yan Feifan murmured an "oh" before asking with concern, "And Rong Bin... his becoming mentally incapacitated, was that an accident, or something else?"
"Serves him right!"
Shu Lei cut in resentfully. "That’s the most gratifying and welcome news I’ve heard all day."
Yan Feifan ignored his uncle and looked at He Pengfei.