Chapter 2425 — Who Have You Come Looking For?

"Oh? How so?" Kang Zhaolong's interest was roused at once. He dared not confront Wei Zhao openly—that was the sort of thing that got a man beaten, and he was not about to do it—but from what Huang Mao was saying, it seemed there was no need to go head-to-head with Wei Zhao at all. A roundabout approach might get the job done, and that would be all the better.

"Brother Kang, we don't have to lift a finger ourselves. All we have to do is this..." Huang Mao lowered his voice and laid out his scheme.

"Good, good!" Kang Zhaolong turned it over in his mind and saw that it really could work. He nodded. "Then I'll leave it to you, Brother Huang Mao. Once it's done, dinner's on me!"

"No need to go to any expense. It's this kid's honor to serve Brother Kang. Now hurry along!" You Panhu, for his part, wanted to see Wei Zhao take a fall too—for no other reason than that Wei Zhao had burned him several times already.

Wei Zhao gave a faint glance at Huang Mao as he left the booth, but said nothing. These few were sitting well out of the way, and Wang Xinyan and the others had not yet noticed they were there.

It had been agreed that the meal was to be for Shen Yushu's sake, so Wei Zhao let her order first; once she was done, it was the turn of Gu Mengyao, Wang Xinyan, Han Jingyi, He Meiyue, and Chai Xiaoling. Bai Weituo and Zhao Shengji, for their part, did not take the menu—those two would eat anything and enjoy it.

A phone rang. Wei Zhao picked it up and glanced at the screen—unexpectedly, it was Qiu Lingshan!

"Lingshan." With so many people around, he could not call her "little silly girl," though to be honest, every time he did there was a certain feeling to it. Wei Zhao did not know whether he had some perverse streak in him; all he knew was that whenever he called Qiu Lingshan "little silly girl," a sense of satisfaction rose in him for no reason at all.

"Wei Zhao, thank you. The kidnapping case is closed. It really was the Fire Wolf Gang—a minor boss from their ranks came in and confessed..." Qiu Lingshan trailed off there, because she knew perfectly well that this minor boss was almost certainly a scapegoat. As things stood, gathering evidence to take down the Fire Wolf Gang was very difficult. That much was plain from the fact that the gang could attend the hidden-family assembly: their connections and strength were enormous.

"Ha, it's good that it's closed." Wei Zhao had expected as much. An Jianwen was probably the mastermind, but the man was shrewd enough to leave no loose ends, and he would never have taken the field in person.

The one time he had lost his head over Gu Mengyao, he had personally put Wei Zhao on the operating table—and in the end it was not Wei Zhao's kidney that was cut out, but one of his own.

"Didn't we agree that once things were settled here you'd come find me?" Qiu Lingshan asked.

Wei Zhao paused a moment, then said, "Mm. I happen to be free this afternoon. Come over now—we're at the Little Chef Restaurant in the university district."

"Now? All right." Qiu Lingshan was a little taken aback, but she agreed.

He hung up and looked at his classmates, whose faces were full of questions. "A friend of mine is coming to join us. Qiu Lingshan—Yaoyao, Xiaoshu, Xinyan, you all know her."

"Oh. Sister Lingshan." Gu Mengyao nodded, though she found it a little odd that Wei Zhao should call her over to eat at this hour.

Before long, with the food not yet served, Qiu Lingshan came in, dusty from the road. She was a cultivator too, and her eyes were sharp; she spotted Wei Zhao at once and came over with a smile. "Wei Zhao. Yaoyao. Xiaoshu, Wang Xinyan."

"Lingshan, sit down. How did you get here so fast?" Wei Zhao was a little surprised at her speed.

"I was nearby. Most of the victims are students from around here, and Xinyan happens to be here too, so it saves me a trip to look for you." Since she had to close the case, she naturally had to interview each victim in turn.

"So that's how it is..." Wei Zhao nodded.

Bai Weituo, though, was surprised. He had assumed Qiu Lingshan was about Wei Zhao's age, but from the sound of it that was not the case. He gave her a curious look. "This sister is...?"

"Oh, I forgot to introduce everyone. This is my good friend Qiu Lingshan. She's currently the captain of the criminal investigation team at the East Sea City Police Bureau—if any of you run into trouble in the future, you can go to her." Wei Zhao said.

"Ah! So you're Captain Song?" Bai Weituo's eyes went wide. He had not expected Qiu Lingshan to be so formidable at such a young age—and more to the point, she seemed to be on very good terms with Wei Zhao. That settled it: in the future, if they ran into the likes of Li Biaohan shaking people down for protection money, they could go straight to Qiu Lingshan.

A flicker of something strange passed through He Meiyue's eyes, and her gaze toward Wei Zhao grew a shade different. She had always thought Wei Zhao capable, but she had never imagined his connections ran so wide.

Bai Weituo, Zhao Shengji, and the others were introducing themselves when a heavily made-up young street girl came running over. She looked Wei Zhao, Bai Weituo, Zhao Shengji, and the rest up and down, then abruptly threw her arms around Wei Zhao and cursed him in a voice thick with outrage: "Wei Zhao, you heartless bastard! You got me pregnant and then you just left me alone—I'm still a high school student, you know! If I hadn't found out you were a student around here and staked out this place every day, I'd never have tracked you down..."

At the sudden appearance of this girl, everyone's expression turned exceedingly strange. No one could make out what play she thought she was putting on.

Kang Zhaolong and You Panhu, watching from where they sat—and Huang Mao, just back—smiled with great smugness, and Kang Zhaolong in particular gave Huang Mao a thumbs-up! The job had been done beautifully. Whether or not Wei Zhao could defuse it, whether or not he could explain it away, a nail had been driven into Wang Xinyan's heart.

In matters like this, many people would rather believe it than not. What did they say—there's no smoke without fire? If Wei Zhao really had nothing to answer for, would the girl have come looking for him?

And even if Wei Zhao explained, it made no difference, because Huang Mao had said he had a follow-up. Even if Wei Zhao smoothed things over today, tomorrow Huang Mao would spread the word, embroidering the tale as it went, until it became a story of how Wei Zhao had been forced to hand the girl a sum of money before he could just barely get rid of her.

By then, with repetition making the lie seem true, even if Wang Xinyan did not believe it, under the weight of so many voices she would probably keep her distance.

But just as Kang Zhaolong was gloating, Wei Zhao suddenly spoke.

"I say, Brother Lin, this one's looking for you, isn't she?" Wei Zhao's gaze went to Bai Weituo. "I have to say, you're a bit out of line. You've already got a girlfriend, and here you are asking me to introduce my girlfriend's roommate to you..."

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