Chapter 309 — How Did You Get In

So Qing Bo seemed to Wei Zhao rather unfathomable. To have stayed at Gu Pengzhan's side all these years, he was certainly no fledgling like Wu Chengtian, not someone to be mentioned in the same breath. Just how formidable was Qing Bo, really?

Presumably, before Wei Zhao's arrival, he had not only guarded Gu Pengzhan's safety but also seen to the safety of Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu on their way to and from school. His skill must be considerable. Whether anyone had ever wished Gu Mengyao harm, Wei Zhao had never looked into, but judging merely from the fact that both Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu were alive and unharmed to this day, Qing Bo was impressive indeed.

Qing Bo seemed to sense Wei Zhao's gaze upon his back. He was silent a moment, then spoke. "Your guess is right. I am Mr. Gu's bodyguard. And there is a fine hand at Director Xie's side as well, one whose skill is no lesser than mine. Only, what I cultivate now is the external school; he is an inner-school expert."

"Now"? There was something behind Qing Bo's words, and Wei Zhao's interest was all the more roused. What did this "now" mean? Had he once cultivated the internal school? But why could Wei Zhao sense nothing at all?

"I'll be careful." Wei Zhao did not much mind. A fine hand, was he? Well, so was Wei Zhao himself.

With that, Wei Zhao got out of the car, meaning to drive his beat-up van straight to Xie Guangbo. Now that he knew where the problem lay, there was no reason to keep waiting.

"Wait, Xiao Yi. That car of yours—there's nothing on it that could be traced, is there?" Gu Pengzhan glanced at the battered van, then at its license plate, and asked.

"Heh... Uncle Chu, what do you take me for?" Wei Zhao unlocked the door with his key and made to get in. "I'm going to talk to Xie Guangbo face to face. I'm not afraid of him recognizing me."

"Is that so..." Gu Pengzhan nodded, then said, "Why not take Yao Yao's car? Everyone living in that compound is wealthy. A car like yours might well be stopped at the gate."

"That works. I'll take Xiao Shu's Beetle—I happen to have the key right here, so I won't have to trouble Yao Yao." Wei Zhao nodded, locked up his beat-up van, and went to the villa's garage to fetch the car.

The Qianhua Waterfront compound was one of the most upscale luxury residences in Songshan City. It was hailed as the symbol of Songshan's elite; every unit was a duplex, and there were villas and garden houses besides.

Each unit started at ten million, and a villa could sell for over thirty million. Only the rich and the powerful could live here. Qianhua Waterfront was known as Songshan City's wealthy district.

Not every rich person necessarily lived here, but whoever did live here was certainly rich. Gu Pengzhan had not bought a house here because his current residence was even more luxurious than this.

As the third-largest shareholder of the Gu Group, one of the nation's top five hundred enterprises, Xie Guangbo having a villa here was hardly surprising—especially since the Qianhua Waterfront project had been developed by the Gu Group itself.

Security at Qianhua Waterfront was strict indeed. Outside vehicles were all halted at the gate; only cars of sufficient class were let through, or those bearing a compound pass—and only after the guards had confirmed the occupant was a resident.

Wei Zhao's Beetle was not an expensive car, but whoever could afford such a car generally did not make it the family's first vehicle.

So Wei Zhao's Beetle was waved through readily by the guard. Wei Zhao did not bother asking anyone for directions; he drove once around the compound and found Zone F. Zone F was in fact easy to find—row upon row of villa houses, visible at a glance.

Wei Zhao parked in front of Villa No. 6 and swaggered out of the car. But instead of ringing the doorbell, he stepped onto the transformer box beside the villa and vaulted up onto the second-floor balcony...

Though Xie Guangbo lived in a grand villa, he was not a man fond of extravagance. He lived here entirely on account of his status as a shareholder—there were times, in many situations, when a man could not afford to lose face. Live too shabbily, and business partners would begin to doubt your substance.

Widowed in middle age, Xie Guangbo had never remarried. He was a man of few material desires and little interest in women, so after his wife's death he had not brought any dubious women home to live with him. If Xie Guangbo had one great wish, it was that his son might take over his business and make a name for himself in the world.

But what he had never expected was this: he had sent his son abroad to study out of good intentions, hoping the boy would learn something and come back to help him—and instead the boy had fallen into gambling and drugs...

Gambling was not so bad—a little wagering was harmless diversion, and Xie Guangbo himself occasionally played a few rounds with old friends. But drugs... that was a bottomless pit. No fortune, however vast, could survive being poured into it.

This time, his son had actually run up a debt of a hundred million to a foreign gang... Furious as Xie Guangbo was, this was his only son. He could not simply wash his hands of him.

Xie Guangbo had just finished a call with his son. Looking at the sorry sight of the boy, face bruised and swollen from a beating, Xie Guangbo's heart ached. He wished he could charge to his son's side and free him from there.

"Xie Guangbo?" A voice sounded in front of Xie Guangbo. He started, and instinctively raised his head—only to see a sight that left him astonished.

"You... who... who are you?" Xie Guangbo stared at Wei Zhao as though he had seen a ghost, his face full of disbelief. He had just finished talking with his son online, sat in a daze for a moment, and somehow a person was now standing in his room.

What shocked Xie Guangbo was not that Wei Zhao had appeared soundlessly in his room, but how Wei Zhao had gotten in. While on the call with his son, Xie Guangbo had deliberately locked the door from the inside to prevent the household's nanny and guards from overhearing, and every key to the room was in his own hands. So how had this man gotten in?

The crucial question was: how had he gotten in? There were nannies and guards downstairs. If Wei Zhao had come in, it was impossible that he had not alerted them. Had it been a normal visit, the nanny should have come up to announce him; had it been an unauthorized intrusion, the guards should have stopped him!

Yet this man had somehow walked in and stood right before him, while Xie Guangbo himself had not noticed a thing.

This bodes ill. That was Xie Guangbo's first reaction. He was a man who had seen enough of the world, and he recovered his composure at once. "How did you get in?"