Chapter 123: Seeking Forgiveness
Translator: _Min_ Editor: Yukira_
w.a.n.g Zhiyong was ushered to the third floor, but Zhou Zihao didn’t go with him.
w.a.n.g Zhiyong knew his friend disdained those types of girls, so he didn’t invite him. LIkewise, Zhou Zihao knew what type he preferred, so he pulled out his phone.
They were all smart people, it’s just that they were pursuing different things.
w.a.n.g Zhiyong only wanted to spend his days as a second generation officer. To gain harmless, small benefits from his friends—no need to be powerful—just to live free and comfortably.
But Zhou Zihao was different. He was the second son in the family. Honestly, he didn’t have the best relations.h.i.+p with Zhou Qiangwu, but his father clearly preferred his brother over him. Zhou Family’s influence was in Shangjin, but he came to w.a.n.ghai city partly because of this.
Although he always looked indifferent on the outside, the fact was he longed for power more than anyone else. He desired recognition. The reason why he started this private club with a bunch of silk trousers was a way for him to establish connections.
Did w.a.n.g Zhiyong really bring Jiang Chen along because he wanted to play with women? Did he really just casually brought up the conflict between Jiang Chen and one of his dogs? In fact, w.a.n.g Zhiyong was very clever. He clearly knew Zhou Zihao wished to befriend Jiang Chen so he deliberately mentioned it.
“Call Liu Changlong.” He commanded Little White as Zhou Zihao patiently waited for the call to get connected.
“h.e.l.lo? Boss, what’s going on?” The fawning voice of Liu Changlong came from the other side.
“Did you offend a man called Jiang Chen?” Zhou Zihao said leisurely.
Liu Changlong’s heart immediately thudded as he cursed in his mind. Although he didn’t know why his boss was asking this, the tone did not sound good at all.
“No, no, one of my worthless underlings had a conflict with him. I already kicked him out. It has nothing to do with me.”
Hearing this, Zhou Zihao did not have the slightest intention to let this go. His face did not have the same amicable expression when he was chatting with Jiang Chen and w.a.n.g Zhiyong.
“Hoho, everyone else knows what you were plotting, but you’re pretty smart and know when to back down.”
To say it plainly, Liu Changlong was only a dog raised by the people above.
When Changlong heard this, he sweated coldly as he deliberated the intention of his boss.
Did he want him to do it or did he acknowledge him for being smart enough for not doing it?
“Let’s put it this way, I want to get to know this person. Can you think of a way for me?” Zhou Zihao was laughing but the tone was filled with cutting coldess, “Someone has to take the knife, right?”
This sentence almost frightened Liu Changlong to death. He finally realized that his boss wanted to sell him out as a favor.
“Boss, boss, I, I—”
“Stop talking nonsense, I’ll give you a chance. You have half a minute to think who you’re willing to throw under the bus.” Zhou Zihao chuckled.
Liu Changlong’s hand that was holding the phone uncontrollably trembled while his underlings dumbfoundedly looked at their frightened boss. They didn’t understand why their normally glamorous boss would be quivering like a dog.
That’s right, just like a dog.
Liu Changlong secretly complained. He didn’t even do it yet. If Jiang Chen didn’t know he was plotting against him, it would be okay but somehow he figured it out.
Somone had to be thrown under the bus as a favor.
What to do? Use Liu Anshan as a scapegoat?
A fierce glint flashed in Liu Changlong’s eyes. Although it was his brother, there was no way he could care about family now.
But just as he was about to say Liu Anshan’s name, another name popped into his head.
Fang Yuanyuan.
He remembered his son, br.i.m.m.i.n.g with confidence, took a bunch of hooligans to extort someone called Jiang Chen. He heard from the sl*t he played with before that it was a rich guy without any background. Fortunately, his son asked him before he actually did something. If they had already done something, there was no way this could be resolved.
Although when he first plotted against Jiang Chen, it had nothing to do with Fang Yuanyuan; however, she did call his son so she could be the scapegoat.
“Have you thought of someone?”
“I, I did! Boss, there was this girl—this is what happened.” Liu Changlong submissively held the phone and explained the story about Fang Yuanyuan.
Once a former crush, now a sl*t provoked the gang to make a move on him.
Zhou Zihao captured the three key concepts and gave it a thought.
He only needed a favor as a stepping stone. Maybe Jiang Chen would be the key to defeating his brother. Based on Liu Changlong’s description, this woman seemed to have fit the criteria.
Also, when he heard it was a woman, he suddenly had other ideas.
“Bring that person here. You know what I’m talking about.” Zhou Zihao’s smile was peculiar.
“Yes, yes!” Liu Changlong held the phone while his back was completely drenched with sweat.
Liu Changlong hung up the phone and glanced at the thugs around him.
The thugs were all silent and afraid to look at their boss in the eyes.
“Diaozi, go capture her back, I’ll give you one hour.” Liu Changlong said emotionally. He regained his tyrannical bearing as if the submissive conversation never happened before.
“Yes.” Diaozi nodded and hastily left.
Liu Changlong leaned against the chair and rubbed his tired forehead. A smile appeared on his face.
–
After comfortably leaving the room, Jiang Chen twisted his neck and felt his entire body’s weariness was washed clean.
It was already 5:30, the staff was waiting at the door and led him to the dining hall.
Once he arrived, Jiang Chen saw that w.a.n.g Zhiyong and Zhou Zihao were already waiting there.
“Yo, did you have fun?” w.a.n.g Zhiyong waggled his eyebrows.
“Not bad, I fell asleep in the latter half.” Jiang Chen smiled and pulled a chair to sit down.
“Such a shame, the best way to enjoy it is to close your eyes and relax your body—” Zhou Zihao was still the with same squinting eyes as he picked up a cup of tea and took a sip.
“Enough enough, don’t bring your good living philosophy here. Waiter, bring out the dishes and alcohol,” w.a.n.g Zhiyong called out.
“Do you take this for a hotel?” Zhou Zihao was speechless and then signaled the waiter on the side to bring out the dishes.
The dazzling dishes were placed on the table and the gorgeous staff slightly leaned forward to pour a gla.s.s of wine for each one of them.
“Wine can help with blood circulation. This is a good stuff. Is Mr. Jiang okay with it?” Zhou Zihao smilingly raised his wine gla.s.s for a toast.
Based on the purity of the color, the wine must have been very expensive, but Zhou Zihao did not mention the year and brand; his shrewdness truly ran deep.
“Pretty good, but I don’t drink much.” Jiang Chen smiled and raised and clank his gla.s.s with him.
“Zihao had always like these fine things. Who would drink this sour wine?” w.a.n.g Zhiyong jested but his hand was still on the wine gla.s.s.
After a couple rounds of drink, the three started coversing with one another. w.a.n.g Zhiyong was surprisingly quiet and Zhou Zihao was talking a lot more.
Jiang Chen had a feeling that Zhou Zihao was trying to befriend him. His att.i.tude made him feel wary. Logically speaking, his artificial intelligence was almost overlapping with Zhou Family’s craft. In other words, Zhou Zihao was not popular at home? So he wanted to form a relations.h.i.+p with me?
Jiang Chen was not repulsed by Zhou Zihao’s friendly gesture. After a few gla.s.ses of wine, they started calling each other brothers.
“Brother Jiang, I’ll have to offer you a gla.s.s one more time. This gla.s.s counts as me not controlling my subordinates and causing problems for you.” Zhou Zihao suddenly stood up, smilingly offered a toast and drained the gla.s.s of wine.
To drink wine like this was a waste of a luxury.
Seeing this, Jiang Chen also hurriedly stood up and smiled wryly.
“There is no need, Brother Zhou. I don’t really mind and he hadn’t done anything yet.”
Zhou Zihao waved his hand and then signaled the server on the side. The waiter courteously nodded and walked out in haste.
After a while, the door opened.
Jiang Chen saw a strange man came in.
The person was sporting a buzz cut. His face had a certain kind of resoluteness but also had a terrified expression on his face. Age wise, he was at least 10 years older than Zhou Zihao.
Jiang Chen’s eyes narrowed slightly as he guessed the ident.i.ty of this 30-year-old man.
Liu Changlong, the leader of Hongyi Gang and the man who plotted against him.
w.a.n.g Zhiyong watched while he carried his gla.s.s with a gloating expression. Zhou Zihao didn’t look at Liu Changlong and only stared at Jiang Chen with the same smiling expression. Jiang Chen glanced at Liu Changlong and then questioningly looked at Zhou Zihao.
“Ahem.” Zhou Zihao lightly coughed.
There was a “pudong” sound as Liu Changlong, a man 180 cm tall, dropped to his knees and knocked his head on the ground.
“I, Liu Changlong, was blinded and listened to wrongdoers’ incitement and planned to kidnapped your parents. I hope Sir Jiang Chen to forgive me and let me go like a fart.”
Jiang Chen was stunned. He really did not expect Liu Changlong was planning to abduct his parents outside of the province. He also didn’t think that before he even made a move, Zhou Zihao had already brought him here to apologize.
w.a.n.g Zhiyong looked at Liu Changlong who was kowtowing and seemed to wear an expression that this was to be expected.
Zhou Zihao still didn’t spare a glance at Liu Changlong and remained his focus on Jiang Chen while smiling.
“Is Brother Jiang satisfied with this result?”
Jiang Chen’s throat moved and laughed awkwardly, “Very satisfied.”
He didn’t know what to say, and though he disdained these sc.u.ms of society and was enraged by the fact that Liu Changlong planned to use his parents to threaten him, he did back down.
Zhou Zihao with his squinting eyes was a ruthless character and not at all easy to deal with. In any case, he owed him a favor.
Jiang Chen thought to himself but his expression remained the same.
When Zhou Zihao saw that Jiang Chen had relented, he then waved his hand.
The beautiful waitress on the side, holding a bottle of about 1 liter of Baiju, came over and place it in front of Liu Changlong with a smile.
“You know what to do,” Zhou Zihao said casually.
A cold sweat rolled across Liu Changlong’s forehead but when he thought of Zhou Zihao’s intention, he gritted his teeth, opened the lid with his teeth and began drinking.
That was 1 litter of Baijiu. The alcohol concentration would certainly not be low.
Jiang Chen who was watching on the side was secretly scared.
Zhou Zihao was watching on coldly while w.a.n.g Zhiyong was still showing an interested expression.
As soon as Liu Chonglong had finished the bottle, he immediately fell unconscious on the ground. The waiter nearby looked at Zhou Zihao and after seeing him nod, he carried the unconscious Liu Changlong outside.
Liu Changlong was going straight to the hospital; he was definitely biting the bullet on this one.
Jiang Chen was secretly speechless but did not have an ounce of sympathy, though he was more and more scared of Zhou Zihao’s ruthlessness.
This man is ruthless!
“Zihao, you should pay extra care to those people under you. Are you not afraid of dirtying your own hands?” w.a.n.g Zhiyong said and chuckled.
“Ahem, even a rat has a rat’s value,” Zhou Zihao said then turned to look at Jiang Chen, “I hope you won’t mind what happened today. Brother Jiang, I truly value our friends.h.i.+p. If this rat dares to dirty your shoes again, I’d throw him into the Huangpu River.”
“No need for that, Brother Zhou is really a great friend. It’s my honor to become your friend,” Jiang Chen said.
Thankfully, they were not enemies.
“There is no need to go back today. Why don’t stay for the night? Zihao prepared you another fun show. Hehe.” w.a.n.g Zhiyong burst into laughter.
“Ahem, Brother Yong, spoiler is not good.” Zhou Zihao lightly coughed.
“What type of show?” Jiang Chen asked casually.
“Trust me, you will love it.” Zhou Zihao smiled mysteriously after continuing, “Would Brother Jiang give me this chance?”
It would be impolite to refuse.
Jiang Chen only debated for a second before quickly replying, “Then, I’ll listen to the host.”
There was nothing to it but say yes.
After dinner, it was still the same smiling waitress. Jiang Chen was led into a quiet room on the third floor under her guidance.
“The noise insulation here is excellent. Enjoy yourself.” The staff smiled ambiguously and backed out of the room.
Jiang Chen touched his nose shyly, stood at the entrance for a while before finally going into the room.
[Looks like I am not going home tonight.]
Thinking of this, Jiang Chen pushed the exquisitely decorated door open, but after entering the room, he was surprised to see someone he didn’t expect.
“It’s you?”
Jiang Chen’s expression could not be more strange.