Chapter 331: An Invisible Hand Controlling Everything from the Shadows!

Chapter 331: An Invisible Hand Controlling Everything from the Shadows!

How could this possibly have anything to do with Jiang Chuan?

“It was Jiang Chuan,” the man confirmed. “Young Master, I checked. On the day Jiang Chuan disappeared, before he left the company, he took a call from an unfamiliar number. It was this same number.”

Ding Ruilong’s expression shifted again and again.

Before Jiang Chuan vanished, he had been in contact with the number behind the frame-up. Before Jiang Hongguang vanished, he too had been in contact with that number. Both men were gone, and both were tied to it.

Coincidence?

Of course not.

Ding Ruilong felt, faintly, that an invisible hand was controlling all of it from the shadows. The thought chilled him.

And that was not even the crucial part.

Not right now.

The crucial part was that the trail had gone cold. Jiang Hongguang had disappeared, alive or dead no one knew, and without the man there were no answers.

Following Jiang Hongguang pointed to a possible connection with Jiang Chuan. But Jiang Chuan had disappeared some time ago.

How was he supposed to investigate?

Every suspect in the affair was one of the Ding family’s own men. And every one of them had disappeared.

“Keep digging. Chase down anything that looks wrong,” Ding Ruilong said at last.

“Yes, Young Master.”

He hung up, still wide-eyed, his expression shifting uneasily.

Sun Yongzhang and Tang Jingbin sat on the sofa against the wall. Li Ruotai occupied a chair in the corner.

All three were watching him.

When Ding Ruilong said nothing after the call, Li Ruotai shot to his feet, pointed at him, and shouted, “Ding Ruilong! Talk! Give me a fucking explanation, right now!”

Ding Ruilong looked at him without expression.

“Ruilong, did you find any leads?” Sun Yongzhang put in, easing the tension slightly.

“Not yet…” Ding Ruilong shook his head.

“Cut the fucking act! Fuck you!” Li Ruotai pointed straight at his face and launched into another tirade. “What was all that about Jiang Chuan just now? Do you take us for blind, or deaf?”

Li Ruotai had been on the verge of eruption the whole time. He was cursing, but he had a point.

Sun Yongzhang and Tang Jingbin both looked at Ding Ruilong with troubled faces. They had seen how his expression changed during the call. Now he claimed he had found nothing, which was plainly a lie.

He was trying to hide something.

“Ruilong, this Jiang Chuan… is he connected to it?” Sun Yongzhang could not help asking.

Since Sun Yongzhang had asked, Ding Ruilong had no choice but to explain. Refusing would only deepen their suspicion.

“Jiang Hongguang made two calls yesterday afternoon before going into Room 1029. The number is unregistered. We can’t find any valid subscriber information. But there have only ever been three calls involving it. Besides the two yesterday, there was one several days ago. To Jiang Chuan.”

His face was grim. After a pause he added, “We still don’t know what connection whoever used that number has to Jiang Chuan. It needs further investigation…”

“Jiang Chuan.” Sun Yongzhang frowned slightly. “Wasn’t he the one who arranged the business last time, when Bingbing was nearly hurt?”

“He failed to arrange it properly,” Ding Ruilong said with a nod.

“Heh. Ding Ruilong, you’re something. What a performance.” Li Ruotai laughed coldly. “What’s left to investigate? If Jiang Chuan’s involved, why the fuck don’t you have him come to Donghai?”

Ding Ruilong looked at him without expression and fell silent.

“What the fuck are you looking at? Call him, damn it!” Li Ruotai swore again.

“A-Tai!” Sun Yongzhang cut in. “Until we know what happened, could you please calm down?”

“Uncle, how am I supposed to calm down?” Li Ruotai shot back, badly agitated.

He looked frightening. His eyes were bloodshot, and there was an extreme intensity to his haggard face.

Not all of it was acting. He genuinely had not slept all night.

“Third Uncle, why do you keep taking his side? What’s so special about the Ding family? He burned down my club and I’m supposed to swallow it?” Li Ruotai shouted at Sun Yongzhang, pointing at Ding Ruilong again.

Sun Yongzhang was finding it increasingly difficult to restrain his furious nephew.

His face darkened, but he could understand how Li Ruotai felt. Rather than say anything that might provoke him further, he turned to Ding Ruilong.

“Ruilong, since this may involve Jiang Chuan, call him now and ask him what’s going on…” He said it as a man who believed Ding Ruilong.

Ding Ruilong looked at him. Another silence, then he began hesitantly, “Jiang Chuan…”

“What about him?” Sun Yongzhang asked.

“He disappeared several days ago,” Ding Ruilong admitted.

Sun Yongzhang and Tang Jingbin both froze, and their expressions changed.

Li Ruotai exploded.

“Fuck you! Do you think you’re handling idiots? Do you? Jiang Hongguang’s missing, and now Jiang Chuan’s fucking missing too? Are you kidding me? You think this all goes away if there’s no one left to testify? Fuck!”

That was precisely why Ding Ruilong had wanted to conceal it. The coincidence was too neat. He had known that admitting Jiang Chuan’s disappearance would only enrage Li Ruotai further.

It sounded far too convenient.

Even as he cursed, Li Ruotai’s hand went searching over his own clothes. In his agitation he seemed to have forgotten his uncle had taken the gun. Only when he came up empty did he remember. His eyes swept the room, and when he turned and saw a vase on the cabinet, he snatched it up.

“Fuck! You bastard!” He hurled the vase at Ding Ruilong.

Crash!

It missed.

Ding Ruilong had flinched aside on instinct. The vase struck the wall above his head and burst into countless fragments, some of them spraying into his face.

“I’m going to fucking kill you today!” Li Ruotai seized a chair, swung it up one-handed, and started straight for the bed.

He had lost all control.

“A-Tai! A-Tai, don’t! A-Tai, stop! Listen to your uncle, just stop!” Seeing how far it had gone, Sun Yongzhang rushed in, wrapped both arms around him, and hauled him bodily backward.

—

Half an hour later.

North District, Zunrong Donghai Huafu.

Wu Chen, Zhuang Xiaodie, Tang Xinbao, and Guo Qiqi had finished lunch. The table had not even been cleared. All four sat together on the living-room sofa, watching television.

The live broadcast of Huancai Fashion’s new-product launch.

The whole event was being streamed online, with media outlets driving the buzz at the same time. With Tao Manying as the brand’s endorser, buzz came easily. Tao Manying attracted attention simply by being herself, and the major online media platforms were happy to carry the livestream.

“Tao Manying is so beautiful. Such presence. Gorgeous—almost like a fairy,” Guo Qiqi said, eyes on the screen.

“Yeah,” Tang Xinbao agreed.

“Brother Xiaobao, then tell me…” Guo Qiqi turned toward him, leaning into his side, and delivered the ultimate question. “Who’s prettier, Tao Manying or me?”

“Y-you, obviously!”

“Why are you stammering?”

“Was I stammering? I wasn’t.”

“Tch! Hmph.”

When it came to handling his girlfriend, Tang Xinbao was no different from any ordinary young man. His family might be powerful, but Guo Qiqi’s was every bit as prominent.

Zhuang Xiaodie sat beside them, smiling behind pressed lips, then glanced at Wu Chen almost without meaning to.

He caught her look, glanced over, and smiled, raising a hand to beckon her.

She leaned sideways into his arms. He put one arm around her and gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze.

The four watched the stream and talked. Before they noticed, an hour had gone by.

Ring, ring…

Wu Chen’s phone. He picked it up and saw Li Ruotai’s name.

“Hello.”

“Brother-in-law, we’re coming over to your place now. My Third Uncle and Second Master Tang too. Is that all right?”

“Sure. Come on over.”

“All right. We’ll talk when we get there.” Li Ruotai hung up.

He had not explained much. Probably there were people beside him and it was not convenient to talk.

“A-Tai and your Second Uncle and the others will be here shortly,” Wu Chen said, turning to Tang Xinbao.

Half an hour later.

The sound of a convoy came from outside the villa. They had arrived.

The villa had originally been Li Ruotai’s, and he knew every corner of the place. He had most likely driven the convoy straight into the complex and right up to the door.

With everyone coming to Wu Chen’s, they were obviously here to discuss Tang Xinbao’s situation.

It was time to settle that matter.