20 years of restarting life

Chapter 3609 Open and Frank at the Seaside

"During the summer vacation after my third year of junior high, my brother came to my bedroom one day and mysteriously handed me an envelope. He said that I had gone to a hair salon to fool around and got caught, and they even took pictures of me. At that time, I had no idea that photos could be faked. Later, my brother said that my behavior had ruined the reputation of the construction engineering program and aroused the anger of the kids in the compound. They taught me a lesson, but they didn't beat me. They just kicked me into the water to wake me up. At the time, I thought, you can swim, and the water is cool in the summer. You got a free bath."

Xia Wenzhuo gazed at the turbulent waters of the strait, a deep, dark blue that seemed to possess a chilling, dangerous depth: "It wasn't until much later that I learned that the water was a stinking ditch from a pig farm. During my first winter break in college, after learning about the incident at Laozhuangpo, and that my brother and uncle had been tricked by you, I specifically went to find that stinking ditch. Even in winter, without flies or mosquitoes, the smell of that ditch was suffocating from a distance, let alone seeing what it was like up close."

“That day I stood in front of the stinky ditch for a long time. Later I squatted down and submerged my hands in it. Just my hands made me vomit many times when I got back, to the point that my mother suspected that I had gotten pregnant from messing around at school.”

Xia Wenzhuo turned around, walked up to Zhao Chang'an, took Zhao Chang'an's hand with the hand that wasn't holding the conch shell, and looked at him.

“I know some people are bad, like my dad, my brother, and my uncle, but there has to be a limit to how bad people can be. They can’t be bad without limits.”

Xia Wenzhuo calmed himself down and said, "I never thought your revenge was excessive; on the contrary, it was very lenient. That time at Laozhongpo, my brother and his men wanted to run you over and kill you, to make it look like you were drunk and passed out on the road. But you didn't plant more bamboo poles in the pond below the calculated path, otherwise, the chances of killing him would have been very high."

Zhao Chang'an nodded in acknowledgment, pulled Xia Wenzhuo into his arms, and kissed her soft little mouth: "I did think about it at the time, but that would have blown things up, and it's not impossible for it not to be found out. Although Xia Wuyue and Qiao San are hated and want to put me to death, they can do that, but we can't. It's like the saying 'don't let porcelain clash with earthenware pot,' and we can't let this get us and our brothers into trouble."

"Actually, to a veteran criminal investigator like Zhong Jianguo, these things are obviously fake. At such a low temperature, the ice on that muddy road wouldn't melt until noon. The terrain where the ice is located is not normal to begin with, so it's easy to guess that it was water that was deliberately poured and froze. Moreover, we spread a very thin layer of fine soil on the ice, so the reflection of the moon can make it visible. This makes it 100% man-made."

"It was just a rollover accident with injuries, a normal car accident. At most, it would alert the traffic management department. In fact, your father didn't even think about reporting the accident, so naturally no professionals went to the scene to check. As for the bamboo in the pond, it was planted to prevent people from setting nets to steal fish at night. Although the pond owner can't remember the location of every bamboo, any significant changes or excessive concentrations are noticeable."

Zhao Chang'an explained, "At that time, we were only on the defensive, not retaliating in kind. In the end, we may have used some borderline methods, or even resorted to underhanded and cunning tactics, but all of this was done in an effort to stay within the framework of the law and to try to move closer to commercial competition."

Xia Wenzhuo turned around in Zhao Chang'an's arms, looking at the strait. The sea breeze blew through her long hair and caressed his face.

Zhao Chang'an still had his arms around her slender waist, with his hands on her lower abdomen.

Although Xia Wenzhuo was wearing a wig, it was actually a custom-made wig made from her own long hair that she had cut off. The hair length was exactly the same as her short hair, a perfect fit.

"You must have spent a lot of time and effort to keep Zhang Shun out of those things, right?" Zhao Chang'an knew Zhang Shun's nature, and the bigwig from Luzon that Bai Feifei found for him at the beginning was a tycoon involved in these gray industries and even arms trading.

After Zhang Shun joined that big boss, he was in charge of a gambling den in a certain area. Later, when he went to Malaysia to start his own business, most of the henchmen he brought with him were his former underlings from that area.

In terms of making money and living a carefree life, as well as being familiar with one's old profession, it is definitely more profitable than high-quality wood, gemstones, and antiques.

Although the goods he's buying now are also of dubious and questionable origin.

"This was Zhang Xiubing's doing. At first, even Zhang Shun was unwilling. But what makes Xiubing so great is his resourcefulness. He's always the first to charge into a fight. He's learned martial arts, and if it's a real fight, whether it's a real fight or a fake one, several Zhang Shuns wouldn't be a match for him. He didn't persuade Zhang Shun first, but rather his group of men. After all, only a few are truly crazy. Even if they don't care about their parents, brothers, or sisters, they still think about marrying a woman, having children, and settling down in the future."

Xia Wenzhuo said, "If they had a choice, they wouldn't be stupid. Once they're here, they can consider their past in Luzon as closed and start over. They'd definitely be willing to do it. Now, these people are slowly realizing that they used to be too afraid to even have a real relationship, but now they are."

"This kid is really going to use Zhu Ling to the extreme."

Zhao Chang'an shook his head: "But this Zhu Ling isn't as naive as she seems. Being the top courtesan of a wealthy family isn't easy, just look at Xie Yimiao."

"Actually, you men sometimes think in a strange and unreasonable way. Your logic is that Zhu Ling wronged Zhang Shun and deceived him, but if Zhu Ling never liked Zhang Shun from beginning to end, how can there be any betrayal or deception? Since she was willing to go to Dafuhao, as a long-time person, she knew that she would encounter those things sooner or later. She did it for money, and she did make money."

Xia Wenzhuo said, "Zhang Shun takes Zhu Ling with him all the time, always showing off in conspicuous clothes, and acting as if he loves her so much. I don't know how many enemies want to kidnap her to vent their anger and coerce Zhang Shun. This happened once last month."

“He’s playing with fire, but I warned Zhu Ling. She still cares about her mother and two younger sisters, so she should be fine.”

Zhao Chang'an nodded: "Maybe I didn't do this properly, but I didn't have many options. I could have just gotten rid of her and been done with it, but as you said, when did Zhu Ling ever say she liked Zhang Shun? And as I said, we are businessmen, and business is business. We can play it safe and use some tricks, but unless absolutely necessary, we should try to keep our methods within the scope of business negotiations."