Chapter 108: Something Happened

Lin Jian was in no rush to ask Ye Ziqiu about replacing him as her driver. It obviously wasn’t her idea, and he felt there was something fishy about the whole situation.

Administrative Director Ms. Chen Li hadn’t discussed the matter with him; she had simply notified him, ordering him to select a new driver for the CEO from the motor pool as quickly as possible. Anyone else would have assumed they were an incompetent driver, that the CEO wanted to replace them, and had ordered the administrative director to do the dirty work. However, he had just had a firm grasp on Ye Ziqiu this morning, and the two had flirted all the way to the office.

Therefore, there could only be one answer. Someone was spreading gossip. Rumors were circulating in the shadows of the company, and upon hearing them, the administrative director naturally felt compelled to deal with the situation immediately—even without notifying Ye Ziqiu. Perhaps in Chen Li’s eyes, a toad like Lin Jian was entirely out of Ye Ziqiu’s league. Replacing him promptly was just a way to quell the rumors.

By the time Lin Jian stepped off the elevator, he had already figured out the entire situation, tossing Chen Li’s orders to the back of his mind. At a critical time like this, how could he possibly separate from Old Ye?

Right as he exited the elevator, the caller from last night finally rang him again.

"Done with your meeting?" the person asked in a low voice over the phone.

Lin Jian was instantly amused. "You know my whereabouts like the back of your hand!"

"I’m in a silver-gray car in the hotel parking lot. The license plate is Jiang A-66A2C. Come over and give me the medicine."

After saying that, the other party hung up.

Lin Jian had indeed prepared a small paper packet containing only three pills. A moment later, he strolled over to the hotel parking lot at the northeast corner of the plaza. At a glance, he spotted a silver-gray Mazda 6. There was only one driver in the car, bundled up tightly with a baseball cap, sunglasses, and a face mask.

Lin Jian walked up to the car and knocked on the window.

The other party rolled down the window. "Where is the stuff?"

Lin Jian reached out and dangled the paper packet in front of him. "What’s your name?"

"There’s no need for you to know my name." The man spoke without any emotional fluctuation, and Lin Jian couldn’t see his expression either.

"That won’t do. You know my name, but I don’t know yours." Lin Jian smiled playfully, sizing up the masked and sunglass-wearing man. "Ouch, who beat you up? Why is your eye socket bruised?"

The man in the car froze. He was wearing sunglasses! He wondered if this guy could see right through them, or if the sunglasses were of such poor quality that anyone could see through them at a glance.

"You can call me Qin San’Er."

"Oh, Qin San’Er, is it? Alright, a pleasure doing business with you!" Lin Jian didn’t waste his breath. Qin San was likely a fake name anyway. It didn’t matter; he was going to use this guy to find the Second Master.

He tossed the paper packet into the car and turned to leave!

Qin San’Er didn’t say anything more and quickly drove away.

Just as Lin Jian returned to the office building’s security room, his phone rang once again. It was an unfamiliar number.

Lin Jian pressed the answer button and waited for the other party to speak first.

A woman’s voice immediately came through the phone. "Lin Jian?"

Lin Jian paused. The voice sounded familiar, and then it hit him. "Wan?"

"Yes, it’s me." Dongfang Wan laughed. "I thought you wouldn’t recognize my voice. Do you have time the evening after tomorrow?"

"Wan, is that really necessary?"

Last week in Modu, Dongfang Wan had mentioned treating Lin Jian to dinner this weekend. Today was Friday, and tomorrow was the weekend. He had completely forgotten about it, but Dongfang Wan hadn’t.

"Weihong took a special leave just to come back. Are you really going to stand us up?" Dongfang Wan sounded very affectionate over the phone, as if she truly considered Lin Jian her younger cousin.

"Weihong is coming back? Alright then. What time the day after tomorrow, and where?" Lin Jian felt too embarrassed to refuse again. Given such a formal invitation, turning it down repeatedly would be ungrateful.

"Six in the evening, the day after tomorrow. At the Chinese restaurant on the third floor of the Rejuvenation Hotel."

"Got it."

Lin Jian nodded in agreement. It turned out to be at his own company’s property, which made things much easier.

"Yes, be there or be square. Youngster, quickly say goodbye to Uncle..." Over the phone, Dongfang Wan was coaxing her two babies.

Hearing their mother’s words, the two babies clumsily mumbled, "Un... cle... bye-bye!"

The two children were still too young and had just learned to speak. However, Lin Jian could tell that Dongfang Wan was typical of Jiangsu and Zhejiang People. The term ’Youngster’ was an affectionate pet name used exclusively by the older generation in Jiangsu and Zhejiang for their children.

Hanging up Dongfang Wan’s call, Lin Jian couldn’t help but smile. He truly hadn’t expected anything in return for saving the two children; anyone else in that situation would have done the same. It was just that Dongfang Wan and her husband’s family were incredibly grateful and knew how to repay a favor.

From what Dongfang Wan implied, Zhang Weihong worked in the military. Moreover, Dongfang Wan’s background was quite formidable; even Ms. He Yuehua treated her with a great deal of respect.

After having a quick lunch at the staff cafeteria, Lin Jian went to inspect a few other departments. He needed to understand more about the situation in the company, no matter what.

However, at 1:40 in the afternoon, Wang Qinglong called him.

"Mr. Lin, something happened."

As soon as the call connected, Wang Qinglong’s voice was low and grim.

Lin Jian quickly slipped away to a secluded spot. "What’s wrong?"

"Hui took some men to collect a debt today, but the other party detained them and is refusing to let them go. They told our company to come and get them!"

"Where are you? Where are they?"

Lin Jian didn’t ask for the reason; bringing his people back safely was the top priority at this moment.

"I’m almost downstairs at your office building. Just come outside!"

"Wait for me!"

Lin Jian hung up and headed out. By the time he got outside, Wang Qinglong was already waiting in his car!

Ruyi Company didn’t have any company vehicles, but Wang Qinglong had his own Toyota Prado. It was only after Lin Jian got into the car that he realized he hadn’t changed clothes; he was still wearing his security guard uniform.

Wang Qinglong, on the other hand, was full of sighs. Lin Jian had previously swindled eight million from Chen Zhiyuan. With eight million in hard cash sitting in his bank account, he was actually working as a security guard somewhere else! He wondered if all rich people were this low-key.

Naturally, he knew this wasn’t the time to marvel at such things, so he quickly explained.

"For the past two days, Hui and the other two have been pestering that developer. But this money is seriously hard to collect. Otherwise, the client wouldn’t have hired us to collect the debt and given up ten percent of the profit just for that.

"Yesterday, the three of them spent the entire day badgering the developer and didn’t come back until midnight!

"They went back again first thing this morning.

"But just now, the other party called me using Hui’s phone. They told me to come and get my men, or else I’d face the consequences."

"What’s their background?" Lin Jian asked curiously.

Wang Qinglong shook his head. "Their background isn’t that big. If you asked Master San to put in a word, they’d pay back the money in minutes."

"Why should I ask Master San to say anything?" Lin Jian glared at him. "Paying back debts is a matter of natural justice. Why would we need someone else to speak for us?"

"Yes, yes, yes." Wang Qinglong broke into a cold sweat. He only wanted to help improve the relationship between Lin Jian and Master San. However, it was obvious that Lin Jian didn’t want to rely on Master San; he wanted to develop independently.

"Keep talking. What’s their background?" Lin Jian said in annoyance.

"He doesn’t have much of a background. He’s just an old hoodlum in Jiang City who realized that building houses makes money, so he partnered up with others to develop commercial real estate. But he didn’t have any capital of his own, so all the construction materials used to build the houses were bought on credit. Now the houses are built and pretty much sold out, but he just keeps telling everyone to wait a few more days. Every time you ask for the money, he tells you to wait. After all this waiting, the debt is already two years old."

Lin Jian understood. The other party was a classic deadbeat.