Chapter 168 — Flamboyance Unmasked [Chapter 6 Update, Begging for Monthly Tickets]

"Oh?" Gu Pengzhan was slightly taken aback; he had not expected Wei Zhao to speak up in defense of Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu.

Gu Mengyao, too, lifted her head in surprise and looked at Wei Zhao. In her memory, even if Wei Zhao would not kick a man when he was down, he would never say a good word for her — after all, her attitude toward him today had been truly dreadful, dreadful beyond measure.

"There is something strange about today's business, Uncle Chu. Shall we talk it over in my room?" Wei Zhao did not want Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu to know too much; it would do them no good, only pile on needless worry.

Gu Pengzhan nodded, glanced at Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu, and said, "Yaoyao, Xiaoshu, go upstairs and rest. Today's matter ends here. Xiaoyi and I have a few things to discuss."

"Oh..." Gu Mengyao was not an unreasonable girl. Hearing Wei Zhao's tone, she understood that he must have discovered something at the bar afterward — something, most likely, to do with her father's business rivals. Recalling Wei Zhao's odd behavior at the bar earlier, she grasped it too: the man who had targeted her and Xiaoshu might well have done it on purpose.

Gu Mengyao took Shen Yushu by the hand and went upstairs, while Wei Zhao sat down on the sofa where Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu had been sitting earlier.

"Xiaoyi, if you have something to say, say it," Gu Pengzhan said, gesturing for him to go ahead.

"Uncle Chu, have you ever heard of a man named Li Cihua?" Wei Zhao saw no need to beat around the bush with Gu Pengzhan; he could say exactly what was on his mind.

"Li Cihua..." Gu Pengzhan frowned. "I know him. Honghua Real Estate — one of the Gu Group's main competitors in Songshan."

"Heh. That bank kidnapping case — he was behind it," Wei Zhao said.

"Him?" Astonishment rose at once on Gu Pengzhan's face. "True, our two houses are competitors, but we both have connections in the city. When it comes to land and projects, we generally split things down the middle. What would he gain by kidnapping Yaoyao? It makes no sense."

"Heh. According to him, there is someone behind him as well — and he is only one of the interested parties. There should be partners too," Wei Zhao said.

Gu Pengzhan had heard the saying that someone stood behind Li Cihua, though precisely who that someone was, he did not know. A man once released from prison who, in a mere dozen-odd years, had risen so spectacularly — building the Honghua Land Group from nothing, with several hotels, bars, and entertainment clubs under it — that scale of success could not have been bought by sheer drive alone.

Had it been a few years earlier — starting a business in the eighties, riding the great tide of people plunging into commerce — such a scale might have been possible. But Li Cihua was only released in the late nineties and did not enter real estate until two thousand. Without a powerful backer and backing, he could never be what he was today.

"How did you dig all this up?" Gu Pengzhan sank into thought. What Wei Zhao had told him today was too shocking. He had originally assumed that the men who kidnapped Gu Mengyao were no more than a few shareholders within the company, and he already had his suspects — but now it seemed there was more to this than met the eye.

"Li Cihua told me himself," Wei Zhao said.

"He told you himself?" Gu Pengzhan found it hard to believe.

"He wanted to win me over — to have me work for him, or play mole on Miss Gu's side, a regular Infernal Affairs," Wei Zhao said.

Gu Pengzhan nodded and did not ask whether Wei Zhao had accepted Li Cihua's offer — because the very fact that Wei Zhao could tell him this proved that he had refused.

"To think he has his eye on the Gu Group too..." Gu Pengzhan heaved a deep sigh. "Originally I thought it was merely internal strife within the group, and out of consideration for my father's face I never set things in order... But some people have actually begun colluding with outsiders to move against the group... To think it had grown this complicated..."

As he said this, Gu Pengzhan looked utterly helpless, and bleak with sorrow.

Wei Zhao could feel it, and he understood the man's mood. He had said it before: most of the company's shareholders were the sons and nephews of the old comrades who had once fought alongside Old Master Chu to build this empire.

"Is there anything you need me to do?" Wei Zhao raised his head and looked at Gu Pengzhan.

"Li Cihua is a man of very complicated background, walking the line between the black and the white. Unless it is absolutely necessary, I do not want to make an open enemy of him," Gu Pengzhan said, somewhat helplessly. "It seems we can only start from inside the company. Xiaoyi, you just protect Yaoyao and Xiaoshu. Leave these matters to me."

"Uncle Chu, actually, I can help share some of the burden." Wei Zhao smiled. "Li Cihua — even if we do not provoke him, he will come looking for trouble with us. Just as when I refused his offer, he turned right around and sent two fine hands after my life."

"Li Cihua sent people to hunt you down?" Gu Pengzhan started, staring at Wei Zhao in shock. He had not expected Li Cihua to make his move so soon. Li Cihua had a reputation for heavy-handedness, but Gu Pengzhan had had little to do with him; Gu Pengzhan was a legitimate businessman and kept his distance from anything shady.

"Yes. Two Yellow Rank experts." Wei Zhao did not know whether Gu Pengzhan understood the ranking of martial ability, but from his expression, he guessed not. Yet a flicker of something passed across Uncle Qing's face — there and gone in an instant, impossible to catch unless one had been watching closely.

Wei Zhao had kept his eyes on Gu Pengzhan and Uncle Qing all the while he spoke, and from Uncle Qing's expression he knew the old man must understand something of the rankings. But now was not the time to ask.

"So you — you shook them off?" Gu Pengzhan asked, regarding Wei Zhao with some concern.

"I led them onto the national highway, used a little trick. They took the bait without meaning to and drove straight into the ravine." Wei Zhao shrugged. "Their bad luck, really."

"Dead?" Gu Pengzhan's eyes went wide. Killings were hardly unknown in the struggles of high society, but Gu Pengzhan rarely did anything against his principles, and hearing that Wei Zhao had lured two experts who meant to kill him into a ravine left him badly shaken.

"I doubt they'll live." Wei Zhao smiled bitterly. "Uncle Chu — this won't bring you any trouble, will it?"

"Trouble? No, I shouldn't think so." Gu Pengzhan was shaken only for a moment before recovering himself. Wei Zhao had run into this trouble on account of his family's affairs; never mind that the two men had meant to kill Wei Zhao and been lured into the ravine by his trick — even if Wei Zhao had walked up and killed them outright, Gu Pengzhan would still have found a way to clear him. "Without evidence, who can prove you did it? Hmph. In Songshan City, it isn't so easy to touch anyone under Gu Pengzhan's protection."

Only now did Gu Pengzhan's domineering air come to the surface. Before Wei Zhao and Gu Mengyao, Gu Pengzhan had always worn the manner of a gentle, kindly elder; never before had he been so furious.