Wei Jun’s butler walked through a corridor filled with famous paintings in the Wei family manor, located at the south of the city. He stepped on the thick carpet until he arrived in front of a study.
The servant standing in front of the doors opened one side and whispered, “Mr. An, the master has been waiting for you.”
An Feng smoothed out his clothes and gingerly walked into the meticulously decorated study. Then, he bowed to the elderly man reading the newspaper inside. “Master.”
Wei Hang, Wei Jun’s father, was nearly ninety years old, but he had taken good care of himself, so he still had a head full of neatly combed black hair, though there was some graying on his sideburns.
His face showed no signs of sagging, and he had a neatly trimmed beard. He was thin and looked full of life. At most, he appeared to be around fifty years old. The medicine Central City had been providing to him had allowed him to maintain his health.
He showed no emotion on his face, and no one could tell that he had just lost a son. Slowly, he set the newspaper down and looked up. “You’re back. Have you retrieved Xiao Jun’s body?”
An Feng bowed his head. “The Cult Investigation Bureau said that they’re still looking into the cause of his death, so they will need to keep his body for some time.”
“Is that so? Then let them keep him for a few days. Once this matter comes to an end, they’ll return his body intact,” Wei Hang said slowly.
“Master, it might not be so easy to remove ourselves completely from the Two-Faced Cult,” An Feng said uneasily.
“Yes. Since we used their ritual, it won’t be easy to wash our hands off this matter,” Wei Hang agreed.
Their greatest problem with the abandoned factory case was the ritual.
The Great Shun Republic’s government was particularly sensitive about cults and their rituals, so the Cult Investigation Bureau had a lot of power. Even their budget was independent of the other departments. They also rarely had any contact with the other governmental departments, so it was difficult to influence their decisions.
If they became sure that a ritual was involved and decided to dig deep, they could cause a lot of problems. The higher-ups might even use this incident to break the fixed political and economic structure that had been maintained for years in Yangzhi City, thereby shaking the embankment they had built to keep the middle- and lower-class from reaching their circle.
A breeze blew in. Even though it was summer, Wei Hang felt a chill down his spine. “Lao Feng, isn’t the window open a little too wide?”
“I’ll shut it right away,” An Feng quickly said.
“Don’t be in such a hurry. The room is stuffy. Getting the occasional ventilation is pretty good.”
“You’re right, Master.”
“Have you looked into what I asked you?” Wei Hang asked.
An Feng came forward and removed the stack of documents he had under his arm, then set them respectfully on the table. “It’s all here, Master... But I wasn’t able to find any information about Chen Chuan’s parents.”
“You couldn’t?”
“His father isn’t from Yangzhi City, and his mother left Yangzhi City a long time ago. Later, she sent her son to live with her sister. That was all I could find.”
“If you couldn’t find anything about them, that’s fine. It’s not important.” Wei Hang didn’t mind. As long as he could be sure that Chen Chuan didn’t have a powerful family behind him, that was enough.
“But we found something worth noting.” An Feng walked over and retrieved a document from the envelope he still carried. He handed the paper over.
Wei Hang took it and grabbed a pair of glasses from An Feng. After reading it carefully, his expression turned grave.
“The Meng family’s heiress is close to Chen Chuan?”
“Yes, and everyone in his high school knew this. Miss Shu never denied it either. When she went to Central City, she even wanted to bring him along, but he rejected the offer. She then gave him a business card. Everyone saw it, so this is true.”
Wei Hang pondered over this before saying, “But he needs to die, or we won’t ever be able to regain our footing in Yangzhi City. The embankment we’ve built will fall.”
The most important person in the whole ordeal was Chen Chuan. As the sole survivor of the abandoned factory incident, the center of the conflict, and a key witness, he was the linchpin. Once he died, they could twist the truth however they liked and stop the Cult Investigation Bureau from digging deeper.
Wei Hang looked at the swaying branches outside. “If the Meng family takes action, I’ll ask someone from Black Orchid to negotiate with them. They won’t cause us trouble for one dead person.”
He cast a glance at the mantle clock. It was five minutes from 7 p.m. Wei Hang shut his eyes and leaned back, as if to rest. An Feng did not bother him and just stood still.
After five minutes, the clock struck, and the servant outside said, “Master, your guest is here.”
“Lao Feng, my legs aren’t good anymore. Welcome them for me,” Wei Hang said as he opened his eyes.
An Feng nodded and went out. After a while, a young man in an employee’s uniform came in. Wei Hang grabbed a cane and stood up from the chair.
The young man stopped in front of him and said with a smile, “Good evening, Mr. Wei. Mr. Luo asked me to wish you well on his behalf.”
“Thank him for me. Come, take a seat,” Wei Hang replied.
The young man sat down in the chair next to Wei Hang. The smile remained on his face as he said, “Mr. Wei, Mr. Luo would like to express his greatest sympathies for your loss and that of the other parents.”
Wei Hang bowed in thanks.
“Mr. Luo has heard the partners’ demands and promises to help you get through these difficult times,” the young man said.
Wei Hang’s expression eased a little, and he said politely, “Please thank Mr. Luo for me. We’ll work together with your company to apply pressure on the Department of Administrative Affairs during the next governmental meeting and achieve your requests.”
“We’re thankful for your contribution, Mr. Wei. Mr. Luo has said that he will be there tomorrow. Mr. Luo is waiting for me to send him word, so please excuse me,” the young man said and stood up.
Wei Hang, too, stood up with the help of his cane. “Please tell Mr. Luo that Wei Finances will always be his friend and partner.”
“I will send your message to him. You don’t have to send me out, Mr. Wei.”
“Lao Feng, see him out.”
The young man left the study and went out of the manor to a sedan parked outside. He opened the car door and went in. Once he was inside, he said to the person sitting in the back seat, “Mr. Luo, Wei Hang said that he’ll cooperate with us.”
“Wei Jun’s death is a good thing. We haven’t been able to get him to say yes for such a long time. This time, we might just be able to do it,” Mr. Luo said.
“Once these two puzzle pieces merge together, our setup in Yangzhi City will be complete,” the young man stated.
“It won’t be easy. Azure Floodworks is owned by the Water Management Department, and it’ll be difficult extending our claws into them. We need to be patient with it. As for private security companies, we can use this chance to get Martial Valor University out of the picture.” He made a motion for the young man to start driving. “Let’s go.”
The car left the Wei family manor.
***
Chen Chuan sat in a spacious room at the headquarters of the Constabulary in the Quanzhou District. He was reading a book.