Chapter 83: Zhang Qiang Is Bribed

"Your only task is to ensure all the surveillance cameras in the hotel go blind tomorrow night. If you can do that, this money is yours!"

In the presidential suite, the Young Master smiled as he pushed the money on the coffee table toward Zhang Qiang.

Zhang Qiang had just done a quick mental calculation; it should be around 160,000 yuan. And just by disabling the cameras tomorrow, he could earn 160,000? This was too easy.

However, he didn’t agree immediately. After a moment of thought, he asked, "How do you plan to deal with Lin Jian?"

The only reason he was sitting across from the Young Master was that the latter had found out about his conflict with Lin Jian. The Young Master needed someone on the inside to pull some strings, making Zhang Qiang the perfect candidate.

"You shouldn’t ask questions." The Young Master smiled. "Take the money, do what I told you, and whatever happens next will have nothing to do with you."

Zhang Qiang nodded hastily. He was right; why was he being so nosy?

If he didn’t ask, even if they ended up killing Lin Jian, he wouldn’t be involved. But if he pried, and Lin Jian really ended up dead, he could be considered an accomplice. So, it was best to keep his mouth shut.

"Alright, I’ll do it," Zhang Qiang said, gritting his teeth.

The Young Master’s smile widened. He gestured for Da Kuan to find a bag for Zhang Qiang.

After packing the money, Zhang Qiang turned around just before leaving. "Whatever you’re planning to do, it has nothing to do with me."

With that, he strode out of the presidential suite.

Upon returning to his office, Zhang Qiang hid the money and immediately headed to the security room.

There were guards on duty in the security room, which housed over sixty monitors. The surveillance feeds for the entire Rejuvenation Square were routed here—the supermarket, the mall, the hotel, the parking lot, the office buildings, and more. Rejuvenation Square boasted an extremely high level of security, with eyes everywhere.

Seeing Zhang Qiang enter, the two guards on duty quickly greeted him. Both of them were from his faction. Being assigned to this room meant avoiding the elements and enjoying air conditioning all day, a cushy job they owed to their solid relationship with Zhang Qiang.

"Keep doing what you’re doing. I just need to check something," Zhang Qiang said.

He sat at the main computer, accessed the root directory, and deleted the footage of himself going to the presidential suite today. Finally, he emptied the recycle bin.

He didn’t tamper with the computer’s system for tomorrow’s job, knowing it would be too obvious. So, if he wanted all the hotel cameras to fail simultaneously, the obvious solution was the power supply.

Since the cameras were installed later, they ran on a separate external power line. There was no need to tamper with anything inside the security room, which would leave glaring evidence. Instead, he would simply go to the hotel’s electrical room tomorrow and cut the dedicated power line for the surveillance system.

When the guards noticed the screens going black, they would report to him immediately. All he had to do was stall using the "delay" Character Technique, holding things off for a single night, and the job would be complete. After all, he was the supervisor. If he didn’t report it to higher-ups, the rest of the company wouldn’t know the cameras were down.

At the same time, he wondered how the Young Master and the Giant planned to deal with Lin Jian tomorrow.

Meanwhile, after Lin Jian and Ye Ziqiu returned to the villa, Ye Ziqiu didn’t speak a single word to him. She went straight upstairs and didn’t come back down.

Though she remained silent, it was clearly a quiet protest.

Lin Jian had crossed the line. As the company’s security guard and her personal driver, he had completely neglected his duties, abandoning his own CEO at the office. If it had been anyone else, Ye Ziqiu would have fired them on the spot.

Therefore, Ye Ziqiu’s silence was a clear message to Lin Jian: she was very angry, and while she wouldn’t pursue the matter this time, there had better not be a next time.

Lin Jian felt incredibly guilty. He wanted to explain, but Ye Ziqiu’s expression had been far too intimidating. She hadn’t been scowling, but her quiet, indifferent demeanor was enough to make anyone cower. He was genuinely afraid this time, so much so that he didn’t even dare crack a joke.

Upstairs, Ye Ziqiu took a shower before getting into bed with a book. She was perfectly quiet, truly treating Lin Jian downstairs as if he didn’t exist. Half an hour later, she slowly drifted off to sleep while reading.

Early the next morning, when Ye Ziqiu woke up and went downstairs, a delicious aroma wafted from the kitchen.

"Old Ye, you’re awake? Breakfast will be ready in a minute!"

Lin Jian was wearing an apron, his face streaked with white flour. And was he actually boiling dumplings in the pot?

She saw the flour and the rolling pin.

"You woke up early to make dumplings?" Ye Ziqiu was stunned by the sight. Could this rough-around-the-edges Lin Jian actually know how to make dumplings?

"Yeah," Lin Jian said as he tended to the pot. "I got up early, went to the morning market over ten kilometers away to buy celery and pork, and came back to make them from scratch!

"I don’t know how to cook much else, but dumplings are my specialty. It’s just been me and my mom for years, so whenever she made dumplings, I’d always help her out. Over time, I just learned how."

"I love dumplings," Ye Ziqiu murmured.

At this moment, an indescribable feeling welled up in her heart. Lin Jian had woken up at the crack of dawn, traveled over ten kilometers to buy pork and celery, and kneaded the dough from scratch just to make dumplings for her.

It was a warmth she had never experienced in her entire life. In her mind, she had never truly had a real home.

When she was little, her parents divorced. Her father later disappeared under mysterious circumstances, and after her mother remarried, she cut all ties with her. Because of this, she had been fiercely independent since childhood. But she didn’t have a real home. Growing up, no one had ever woken up early just to cook for her.

So, seeing Lin Jian in an apron, boiling dumplings for her, made her eyes well up with tears. Not wanting him to notice, she quickly turned and walked away.

A moment later, two plates of dumplings were served, along with soy sauce, vinegar, and even freshly mashed garlic.

"I’ll pass on the garlic. I have to go to work soon." Ye Ziqiu only poured a little vinegar and soy sauce.

"Dumplings without mashed garlic have no soul. Just brush your teeth after you eat. Besides, even if you don’t brush, who in the company would dare laugh at you?"

"I’m still not eating it."

Ye Ziqiu smiled playfully, picked up a dumpling with her chopsticks, and popped it into her mouth. As she took a gentle bite, the fresh aroma of celery and the savory flavor of the pork exploded on her taste buds.

"It’s delicious! Your cooking skills are amazing!" Her eyes lit up with excitement.

"If you like them, I’ll make them for you more often," Lin Jian said, his heart swelling with pride at the praise.

"Mhm, that’s more like it. At least you have a conscience!" Ye Ziqiu began to eat heartily.

"So... you’re not mad about yesterday anymore?" Lin Jian asked softly.

Ye Ziqiu rolled her eyes at him. "I am. You pissed me off to death yesterday. I waited until eleven at night. You made your boss wait for you for five hours!

"Now I’m starting to think you’re the boss and I’m your driver."

As she spoke, she blew on the hot dumplings. At this moment, she didn’t look like an ice queen at all; she was completely like a spoiled, pouting young woman.

"It won’t happen again. Something really came up last night."

"Alright, alright, I know. Even though you’re... well, even though you’re not that great, you at least have some decent character. Otherwise, do you really think I would have waited for you?"

"What do you mean ’not that great’?" Lin Jian protested.

"You’re a pervert!" Ye Ziqiu giggled while she ate. "Just a shameless, massive pervert."