Deadly Trap.

Chapter 57. After the torrential rain

Hearing Dai's exclamation, Gu Mufeng's expression gradually grew heavy, as if he were stirring mud in the dark waters of his heart:
“Yes.” Gu Mufeng’s gaze was solemn. “If it weren’t for this person, Xiao Fan and I wouldn’t have been kidnapped by the Dilong Society eleven years ago; Xiao Fan…”

"You won't die."

He took a deep breath, as if a knife had been plunged into his heart. But in that brief moment, he forcefully pulled the knife out of his chest and resolutely forced himself to continue:
"If it weren't for him, I wouldn't be like this... with Butcher's knife always at my neck."

He turned his head slightly, revealing half of the shiny scar at the collar of his snow-white shirt.

“From that moment on, I realized that as long as this person exists, I can never be safe, no matter what I do or where I go.”

He gently pulled up his collar, a fleeting look of weariness crossing Gu Mufeng's eyes. Then, he spoke again:
"Only you know our background, Dai Ze. Eleven years ago, I told you everything."

"It was because of this person that I decided to abandon everything during the day and use Friday Night as cover to secretly develop my own gray intelligence network. I just wanted to avoid repeating the mistakes of my mother and sister and dying in vain."

“Find him, keep an eye on him, and perhaps—” he coldly resolved, “deal with him myself.”

"To this day, although I have several suspects, I have not been able to find any concrete evidence. But it is too unusual that even Gu Zhipei does not know who he is."

"What about you now?"

"It's interesting." Gu Mufeng chuckled softly, "I exchanged a few words with Sheng Chunqiu at the New Year's Eve banquet."

"The president of the Sheng family? So, he's actually your...cousin?"

"Who he is is not important." As if wiping Sheng Chunqiu from his sight, Gu Mufeng waved his hand.

“The important thing is that at the time, he probably felt that I was causing trouble in Minzhou and wanted to take the opportunity to intimidate me. He casually mentioned... ‘Mr. Tang’.”

Dai was taken aback, almost jumping off the sofa: "Tang Quan, the leader of the Tianxing Gang? How could he be?"

"To be honest, I just thought it was absurd at the time."

At that banquet, he held the arm of the stunningly beautiful Su Li; she relied on him, making him feel smug. Did he care about anything else?

He wished he could hold his woman tighter in public and kick that lecherous old man Sheng Chunqiu to the bottom of the Parrot River.

But though he appeared calm at the moment, Gu Mufeng shook his head:
"But now it seems that Tang Quan and Sheng Chunqiu must have colluded."

"The four major families balance and restrain each other, each with its own monopoly, and have remained so for a century. The Sheng family wants to swallow the Gu family, but the Yi and Zhou families absolutely cannot allow it."

"But Sheng Chunqiu is a very ambitious man. He will not give up easily. I think he will have no choice but to use the underworld to secretly help him clear the obstacles."

"I see." Dai suddenly realized, "In the end, the underworld kidnapped Yiheng first."

Rubbing the stubble on his chin, Dai seemed lost in thought.
"Mr. Sheng unexpectedly discovered your old trust estate first. Because the confidentiality agreement had expired, he realized your blood relation with the Gu family."

Even if Old Master Gu's will included the Sheng family as a safety net, the principle of first-in-line inheritance is still unavoidable from a legal standpoint: the Sheng family must eliminate you.

"Ah, President Sheng must be hating you to the core right now."

"Not only that." Gu Mufeng smiled dismissively, almost imperceptibly.
"Tang Quan will definitely try to blackmail Sheng Chunqiu into signing a contract with him. There's no such thing as a free lunch, especially in the underworld."

"I can only make a rough guess, but that's roughly how they originally planned to arrange it..."

With his hand supporting his cheek, Gu Mufeng's phoenix eyes narrowed slightly in a cold manner as he comfortably reclined in the armchair, his legs casually crossed on the stool.

Gazing at the firelight in the fireplace, he calmly pondered as he spoke: "Tang Quan intervened, helping Sheng Chunqiu take over the Gu family; and Sheng Chunqiu must share a portion with Tang Quan. I would say..."

He boldly took another step forward:
"At least half."

"Even so, half of the Gu family's influence is enough to make the Sheng family the dominant force in Minzhou. At the same time, the Tianxing Gang can take advantage of the situation to annex Fri-Night and reclaim the gray area. If this succeeds, Sheng Chunqiu and Tang Quan can work together, one openly and the other covertly, to circumvent the municipal government and unify Minzhou."

"However, now that an unexpected variable has appeared, the plan may not be so simple."

Gu Mufeng, standing before him, was adept at discerning others' thoughts from afar. Although Dai Ze was familiar with this skill, he still felt a chill run down his spine.
"But this Mr. Tang is no ordinary man. He's been in charge of the Tianxing Gang for a full ten years?"

"Twenty years," Gu Mufeng sneered.

"When he was the chairman, there was only the Xinglong Society in Minzhou. Twenty years ago, the Tianxing and Dilong factions broke apart and killed each other in a bloodbath. As the former chairman of the Xinglong Society, Tang Quan actually escaped unscathed and firmly held the position of the head of the Tianxing Gang."

With his arms crossed, Gu Mufeng's face was grim: "This man is extremely cautious, rarely venturing out, and as elusive as a dragon. Without intelligence, my understanding of him is only superficial." Dai Ze nodded.
"Now that you mention it, it seems the foreign affairs team also rarely interacts with this Chairman Tang."

"In the past ten years, although the Tianxing Gang has been hostile to the Dilong Society, it has never had any problems and has continued to develop. This ability to maintain stability is simply miraculous for the underworld."

"Tsk." Frustrated, Gu Mufeng ruffled his spiky hair. He completely relaxed, sinking into the back of the armchair.

Today has been long enough, even for him.

But the story isn't over yet:

"I feel like something's not right. It doesn't make sense. Something's missing."

He pressed his brow with one hand until it turned white. Watching the flickering red and pink flames on the ceiling, Gu Mufeng slowly closed his eyes. In his mind, he pushed aside a thousand conflicting thoughts.

As Gu Zhipei said, could it be that his biological father also played a role in this conspiracy from beginning to end?
His mother never mentioned any names during her lifetime. He only had a vague recollection of that each time only one person came, his mother would greet them with great enthusiasm and arrange for him and his siblings to hide out of the house beforehand.

My sister once said, "A black uncle."

But if he wants to know exactly who this person is, does he really have to start from New York, where his mother first met him?

Su Yan.

It was out of necessity.

Gu Mufeng clenched his fist: he had been stalling for time, but things had ultimately come to this. He had no choice. He had to do it!

He will not only seek revenge for himself, but also demand blood for revenge. As a human being, one cannot run away from the consequences!

Like violently stirring up settled poison, a bitter feeling, hard to let go of, welled up inside him.

"Mu Fei, it's very late. Didn't you say this morning that you wanted to—?"

Softly and languidly, the woman's gentle voice drifted down like a feather, landing on his heart, which was filled with pain and struggle.

A pure white lace and sheer nightgown cascaded down her shoulders; her long, light chestnut hair was thick and smooth, revealing glimpses of her ears and casually curled at the tips of her chest.

With graceful steps, Su Li strolled out of her bedroom on the second floor.

The warm yellow light fell behind her, as if shining just for her. Like a fairy gently painting her feathered robes, she was ethereal and otherworldly. The whole world seemed to slow down with each step she took.

With her rounded shoulders slightly raised, Su Li smiled flirtatiously. Looking down, she realized Dai Ze was still there.

Both pairs of eyes stared intently at her. Su Li couldn't help but feel a chill run down her spine:
"I'm sorry, I thought—excuse me." She suddenly dodged backward.

"It's alright. We've finished talking." Gu Mufeng smiled gently at her. "I'll go up now."

In a flustered rush, Su Li ran into the bedroom and quickly closed the door behind her. Leaning against the door, her nightgown slipped off her shoulders.

Su Li felt inexplicably uneasy, her heart pounding fiercely, but not because she had almost been seen naked just now.

For a fleeting moment, her eyes met Gu Mufeng's.

The way he looked at her, from the very first day they met, never changed: firm, focused, and gentle, making her feel as if she were looking into an abyss.

Only tonight. Perhaps through years of playing along and being adept at social maneuvering, Su Li had developed an instinct that she always felt a strange, desperate gamble in Gu Mufeng's eyes, like black water about to burst beneath thin ice, making her inexplicably tremble with fear.

He made a certain decision.

And she...

She simply didn't want to face it.

>>>>>
Next chapter: Take care
[Author's Note | Chapter 57]

Having briefly escaped the torrential rain of family intrigue and conspiracy, Gu Mufeng returned to his apartment. Past and present intertwined; it turned out that this biological father was the mastermind behind Xiao Fan's death!

Gu Mufeng's eleven-year plan is solely to find the truth and survive!
But what is the connection between Su Li's mother, Su Yan, and this matter?
How will Gu Mufeng "go all in" this time?
We look forward to your comments and discussions in the comments section!

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(End of this chapter)