Chapter 289 — All Alone, Part 1

Yang Xu's heart gave a jolt at her words. Yang Xin and Wu Yunsheng were, after all, among Donghai's elite offspring, the kind who frequented the upper-crust gatherings. There was no way they hadn't heard that the Sun family's enterprise—the largest private conglomerate in Donghai—had changed hands. That left only one possibility: the news simply hadn't spread yet.

In other words, Tian Long still had many licenses and certificates that hadn't been transferred into his name, and for the time being he couldn't make the announcement public.

And that, in turn, made things easier for Yang Ce. If Tian Long had already established a fait accompli, it would be rather awkward for Yang Ce to move against him—the sudden disappearance of the newly installed chairman of the Sun Group would make one hell of a headline.

As things stood now, though, none of that would happen. No public opinion would be stirred up; Tian Long's affair hadn't been made known. That meant Yang Ce could use this window to deal with Tian Long and quickly bring Sun Lin back, wiping out any negative fallout for the Sun Group.

"Seems something's come up with her family, maybe?" Yang Ce couldn't show too much of his own feelings in front of Yang Xin. He gave an indifferent smile. "Nothing major—she just can't have her phone on. I'll be seeing her tomorrow. Tell you what, once I've seen her, I'll get in touch with you and our brother-in-law and we'll all go out for a meal. How's that?"

"Sounds good!" Yang Xin nodded happily. "As long as Xiaojie's all right, that's what matters. Saves me

from worrying myself sick over nothing!"

"Right, then I'll call you tomorrow." Yang Ce sighed inwardly, hoping everything would go smoothly. Still,

this friend of Sun Jie's wasn't bad at all—she clearly cared a great deal about her.

—

Wu Yunsheng was as low-key as ever. After the meal, Yang Ce took his leave of Yang Xin and Wu Yunsheng and got into the car. Wang Renping said, "Wu Yunsheng—young Master Wu. I've met him before."

"Oh?" Yang Ce was a little surprised.

"He's one of the better-known young heirs in Donghai. I met him once before, when I drove young Master Tian Yan to a party.

A very low-profile sort of person," Wang Renping said.

Hearing this, Yang Ce relaxed slightly and smiled. He'd thought there might be some secret about Wu Yunsheng. Lately he'd been jumping at shadows, suspecting everyone he laid eyes on.

Small wonder—running into an Alice out of nowhere in Europe, with everyone scheming against him. How could Yang Ce possibly feel at ease?

It was called a hall, but in reality it was just a nightclub. The "hall" of a gang was a relic of a bygone era. Tian Long was no fool—running a gang under present circumstances would only hand the police a reason to move against him.

So Tian Long merely ran and controlled a few entertainment venues. Even so, they raked in unprecedented profits.

This nightclub had been Tian Long's own project, which meant the Sun family had little control over it—and precisely for that reason, Tian Long had made it his temporary base of operations.

Tian Long had his driver park the car. Since he hadn't come from the villa today, he hadn't bothered having Wang Renping drive him. Once the car was parked, Tian Long got out and, escorted by four bodyguards, strode quickly into the nightclub, heading upstairs through the staff-only passage.

Donghai or not, Tian Long didn't believe anyone would dare cross him—but caution never hurt. Who knew whether some loyal Sun family partisan might, in desperation, try to take him down with them?

Yang Ce and Wang Renping had arrived near the nightclub early and were observing it from a distance. When they saw Tian Long go inside, Yang Ce started the car and parked closer to the club.

"The name-change paperwork still isn't done?" Tian Long looked at the documents in his hand, his tone impatient as he

addressed his office secretary.

helplessly,

"Not yet. I'm having someone see to it, but there's still no result..." The secretary was rather aggrieved too. Failing to get things done and catching an earful for it—somehow that always felt like bad luck.

"Didn't I say? Whatever it costs is fine. Just get the company's legal representative changed to my

name!"

Tian Long naturally feared complications. Sun Lin had already signed the equity transfer agreement, but until the name on the paperwork was his—Tian Long's—he couldn't rest easy.

"A name change requires both the original legal representative and the new one to be present..." The secretary hesitated. "It's a matter of principle. We've found people to handle it, but there's no result yet. Those agencies all say they can only give it a try."

"Damn it—so what if the original legal representative is dead?" Hearing how complicated the secretary made it sound, Tian Long snorted

irritably.

"If he's dead, then a death certificate and a will or authorization are required."

Tian Long rolled his eyes. He'd only been grumbling, tossing out a figure of speech—he hadn't expected the secretary to take him seriously. He waved a hand in exasperation. "Get it done as soon as possible. Tell those agencies money is no object—just get it done!"

"I'll do my best, Mr. Tian!" The secretary hurried to assent and backed carefully out of Tian Long's office.

"Brother Long, how about we just go all the way and finish it..." In the office, one of Tian Long's

underlings made the suggestion, even miming a throat-cutting gesture as he spoke.

This man was the nightclub's third-in-command, Li Xiangji. The club's nominal boss was Ma Qiang, but day-to-day operations were handled by Shen Miaotu.

Shen Miaotu frowned at once at Li Xiangji's words. Li Xiangji hadn't been given the poison, but the fellow was a pure weathervane, always turning with the wind—there was no fear of him daring any rash move. It was just that loose mouth of his. What kind of suggestion was that?

If they really killed someone from the Sun family, Yang Ce probably wouldn't give them the antidote anymore—he'd just let them fend for themselves and die! So at this moment Shen Miaotu was extremely tense, truly afraid that Tian Long might adopt Li Xiangji's proposal and do harm to the Sun family.

Yet Shen Miaotu couldn't directly oppose Li Xiangji's suggestion either—that would be too obvious, and there was no telling what other ideas Tian Long might get.

Shen Miaotu watched Tian Long nervously, waiting to see what decision he would make. If it came to it—if Tian Long really meant to kill the Sun family members—then Shen Miaotu would have no choice but to hurry and call Yang Ce and Wang Renping for help.

"That idea of yours would settle it once and for all..." Tian Long glanced at Li Xiangji and said

mildly.

"That's right!" Li Xiangji beamed the moment he heard Tian Long praise him. He had no real ability to speak of; he had risen only by flattering Tian Long and winning his favor, and so the schemes he hatched were worthless nonsense.

"But killing Sun Lin is the easy part. What will you tell the world about how Sun Lin died?" Tian Long glared and snorted. "When the police start investigating the cause of Sun Lin's death, we'll have even more trouble on our hands. They might even wreck everything I've set up! You brainless fool, go sit in a corner!"

Hearing this, Shen Miaogu could not help but breathe a sigh of relief. As long as Tian Long meant no harm to the Sun family, things would be manageable. Stall for a while, and once Yang Ce arrived, everything would be settled.

Li Xiangji's face went red and then pale under Tian Long's scolding. He pursed his lips, then said:

"It's—it's—well—"

"Shen Miaotu, tell me, do you have any good ideas?" Tian Long turned his gaze to Shen Miaotu.

tu.