Chapter 9
Edward Quan ·
“And then?”
“Then she had the accident.”
The room fell silent.
I looked at Gu Mingzhe.
He looked at me.
Finally, I asked slowly:
“Do you know how many shares your wife owns?”
He answered:
“Fifteen percent of Gu Group.”
I swallowed.
“How much are they worth?”
He thought for a moment.
“About three billion yuan.”
Me: “…”
Three billion.
Yuan.
Suddenly, my eighteen-yuan sausage felt very small.
But what he said next was even more alarming.
“If Siyu is gone, those shares will be handled according to her will and the inheritance laws.”
I immediately asked:
“Who has the will?”
Gu Mingzhe fell silent.
Then answered slowly:
“My father.”
Me: “…”
All right.
This story was starting to smell very wrong.
Chapter 10: The Safe Reveals a Twenty-Year-Old Secret
The next morning, as soon as I arrived at work, the secretary invited me up to the thirty-sixth floor.
I checked my watch.
8:30.
Not late.
No lost children.
No police.
A perfect morning.
But the moment I stepped into the office, I saw three men in suits waiting.
One was Gu Mingzhe.
One was a lawyer.
The third was an elderly man with silver hair and a sharp gaze.
Gu Mingzhe stood up.
“Ms. Song, this is my father.”
I immediately bowed.
“Hello, sir!”
The old man looked me up and down.
“You’re the one who got the police to send a tactical team yesterday?”
Me: “…”
I bowed even lower.
“Yes, but it was a misunderstanding.”
He asked coolly:
“You also nearly made my son pay twenty million in ransom?”
I answered weakly:
“Yes…”
“And you refused?”
I nodded.
The old man fell silent.
Then suddenly laughed.
“Interesting.”
I looked up.
He looked at me.
“Do you know how much you could do with twenty million?”
I thought for a moment.
“Buy a lot of sausages.”
Gu Mingzhe immediately coughed.
The lawyer lowered his head.
The old man looked at me.
For a long time.
Then he burst out laughing.
“Ha ha ha!”
Me: “?”
He slapped the table.
“Good! This girl is interesting!”
I breathed a sigh of relief.
He didn’t seem as difficult as I’d imagined.
But right after that, the old man suddenly asked:
“Ms. Song, what do you think about my daughter-in-law’s accident?”
I paused.
Gu Mingzhe immediately frowned.
“Dad!”
The old man raised a hand.
“I’m only asking.”
I looked at him.
After a long while, I answered seriously:
“I think the police should investigate.”
He smiled.
“Is that all?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t suspect anyone?”
I thought about it.
Then answered honestly:
“I do.”
The smile on his lips faltered slightly.
“Who?”
I looked him in the eye.
“Whoever doesn’t want Ms. Siyu to wake up.”
The room suddenly went quiet.
The old man’s eyes changed.
But only for an instant.
Then he smiled again.
“You’re absolutely right.”
I nodded.
“Yes. I think so too.”
Gu Mingzhe: “…”
Lawyer: “…”
Old man: “…”
For some reason, I felt I’d just said something I shouldn’t have.
The meeting ended twenty minutes later.
The old man left.
But as soon as the door closed, Gu Mingzhe suddenly turned to me.
“Ms. Song.”
“Yes?”
“Did you notice anything?”
I thought about it.
“Your father is very rich?”
He closed his eyes.
“No.”
“Your father likes to laugh?”
“Not that either.”
I frowned.
“Then what?”
Gu Mingzhe took a folder from his desk drawer.
“This is the file on Siyu’s accident.”
I took it.
Inside were photographs from the scene.
A technical report.
Witness statements.
And a copy of a share-transfer agreement.
I turned to the last page.
Then stopped.
The agreement bore Xia Siyu’s signature.
The date it was signed—
Was the very day she had her accident.
I looked up.
“President Gu…”
He looked at me.
“Yes?”
“Are you sure this is your wife’s signature?”
He fell silent.
I pointed at the paper.
“Because…”
I paused.
“The person who signed this contract spelled her own name wrong.”
Gu Mingzhe stood up at once.
Chapter 11: One Brushstroke Shakes the Entire Gu Family
I pointed at the signature.
“Look here.”
Gu Mingzhe leaned down.
The three characters Xia Siyu were written on the paper.
At first glance, they looked perfectly ordinary.
But the final stroke of the character Yu was a little different.
I explained:
“Yesterday, when I looked at the photo of your wife, I noticed a painting in the background.”
“She had signed the painting.”
“The character Yu in that signature was written with a distinctive connected stroke.”
“But this signature on the contract doesn’t have it.”
Gu Mingzhe looked at me.
“You remember that detail?”
I nodded.
“Yes.”
“From one look?”
“Yes.”
He fell silent.
I hurriedly explained:
“I wasn’t deliberately snooping! It’s just that my mother made me practice calligraphy a lot when I was young, so I tend to notice people’s handwriting.”
Gu Mingzhe immediately called the lawyer.
“Have the contract examined.”
I checked the time.
9:10 a.m.
I’d only been at work for forty minutes.
Yet I was already involved in an investigation into a property dispute worth billions.
I was beginning to think a monthly salary of eighteen thousand yuan was a little low.
But before I could think further, my phone vibrated again.
An unknown number.
I looked at the screen.
Then turned to Gu Mingzhe.
“President Gu, should I answer?”
He nodded.
“Put it on speaker.”
I did as he said.
A man’s low voice came through the phone.
“Song Ruoxi?”
“Yes. Who is this?”
“You don’t need to know who I am.”
I frowned.
“Then how do you know me?”
Silence on the other end.
Then the man said:
“You’re meddling in something you shouldn’t.”
I sighed.
“You’re the second person to say that.”
“Aren’t you afraid?”
I thought for a moment.
“Of course I am.”
“Good.”
I immediately asked:
“Could you be more specific about what I should be afraid of?”
The man paused.
“What?”
“Your threat is too vague. I don’t know how to prepare.”
“…”
“For example, if you plan to wreck my car, there’s no need. I don’t own one.”
“…”
“If you plan to get me fired, that’ll be difficult, since the president is sitting right beside me.”
“…”
“And if you plan to hit me, I should warn you that I’m very weak. A little push would knock me over, so please don’t use too much force.”