Chapter 269: The Video Recorded in Advance

Chapter 269: The Video Recorded in Advance

“But… Hu Xilin is a stubborn man. He’ll be a nuisance about it. He’ll insist on meeting me face to face. Both times we spoke I told him to stay out of it, that it had nothing to do with him, but…” Lei Cheng turned it over as he spoke, a look of some difficulty on his face.

Hu Xilin was his friend.

In truth, Hu Xilin and Lei You were old friends.

Before Lei Cheng came to Donghai to run the subsidiary, Hu Xilin and Lei You had already been on very close terms. And where his elder brother’s friends were concerned, Lei Cheng would handle them as business required and otherwise keep his distance in private.

He had come to Donghai to keep his head down, to lie low, to play the part of a broken, dispirited good-for-nothing who cared for nothing but his own amusement.

Even so, Lei Cheng and Hu Xilin had become friends.

Hu Xilin had been the one to seek him out, more often than not. He had never looked down on Lei Cheng as the loser of a family power struggle, and by nature he liked making friends and was warm with people.

After some time in his company, Lei Cheng found that the man really was decent, so he began seeking Hu Xilin out in turn.

That was how the friendship formed.

Nothing in this world was purely black and white. To Lei Cheng’s mind, being Lei You’s friend did not make a man wicked, or untouchable, or someone to be avoided at all costs.

Hongfa Group was enormous, after all. As general manager and the man who actually ran it, Lei You had made far too many friends through business for that.

By now Lei Cheng understood Hu Xilin.

The man was not bad. He was loyal. But he was genuinely maddening. It was simply his nature: he would keep at you, keep talking, keep offering well-meant counsel in the name of friendship.

Fall out with him over it? That went too far.

Take his advice? Out of the question.

Avoid him? He really could pester a man to death.

Lei Cheng did not know what Lei You had said to Hu Xilin. Most likely he had asked a favor as a friend, and Hu Xilin had of course agreed.

And once Hu Xilin agreed to something, he would see it done. If he failed, he would go on pestering until he succeeded.

“Hah. Old Hu’s a loyal man, but he loves sticking his nose into other people’s business, and there’s only so much I can explain to him…” Lei Cheng thought aloud and sighed.

“I know him.” Wu Chen turned his head, smiled at Lei Cheng, and handed over the phone he had already prepared. “Take a look at this.”

“What is it?” Lei Cheng asked offhandedly as he took it.

Wu Chen did not answer.

Lei Cheng looked at the screen. It was already on the video playback interface. One tap would start it.

He tapped Play.

The image shook briefly, then steadied, aimed at a booth in the corner. No one was there at first. That did not last.

Less than ten seconds in, footsteps approached. A man and a woman came into frame and sat facing each other in the corner booth.

“Zhu Haobo?” Lei Cheng muttered, his brows drawing sharply together.

He recognized Zhu Haobo at a glance. Even with the baseball cap still on and the brim pulled low, a profile and a build were enough for him.

Lei Cheng was the head of Fumao Group, a Hongfa subsidiary. Zhu Haobo was its deputy general manager, second only to him in authority and standing—and Lei You’s trusted confidant, the man who had been watching Lei Cheng all along.

They saw each other every day at work. Naturally Lei Cheng knew him extremely well.

Once the two were seated, the man pulled off his baseball cap and tossed it onto the table. Lei Cheng had not been mistaken. Zhu Haobo.

Then his expression changed.

At the same moment Zhu Haobo removed his cap, the woman took off her mask.

Lei Cheng knew her too.

Hu Xilin’s wife—Qian Ruiling!

He knew Qian Ruiling well enough. His connection to Hu Xilin ran beyond business; the two were genuine friends, and since Hu Xilin was a few years older, Lei Cheng usually called him Brother Hu or Old Hu, while Qian Ruiling he addressed as Sister-in-law.

Zhu Haobo and Qian Ruiling?

Had the two come out together for a meal, or drinks?

To discuss business?

One point was worth noting. Qian Ruiling was no “woman behind the man.” She was not a pampered rich wife living in comfort. She could fairly be called a formidable businesswoman.

Hu Xilin was chairman of Xirui Electronics.

Qian Ruiling was its vice chairwoman. She was also a vice president of Xirui Electronics and head of its finance department.

The husband and wife ran Xirui Electronics together.

So there was nothing remarkable about Qian Ruiling going out to talk business. Nothing strange at all.

Nor was there anything inherently wrong with her meeting Zhu Haobo privately. Xirui Electronics and Fumao Group had worked together for so many years that if the vice presidents on either side had never made each other’s acquaintance and never met in private, that would have been the strange thing.

Business was business.

All of that was true.

But—

Lei Cheng was not blind.

From the instant the pair walked into frame, he had noticed it.

They were arm in arm.

That was the posture of lovers, or of husband and wife.

For the next several minutes Lei Cheng watched in silence.

The speaker was on. Behind the voices he could faintly hear the soothing music of the lounge, along with Zhu Haobo and Qian Ruiling’s conversation.

The music did not drown them out. It was far quieter, and their voices came through clearly.

Lei Cheng did not skip ahead at all. He watched straight through, his face growing darker.

Qian Ruiling was having an affair with Zhu Haobo.

There was no doubt about it.

Lei Cheng genuinely counted Hu Xilin a friend. His friend was being cuckolded; of course that could neither please him nor leave him indifferent. It weighed on him.

And the man Qian Ruiling was having an affair with was Zhu Haobo. Zhu Haobo was Hongfa’s man, Lei You’s trusted subordinate.

Which made Lei Cheng’s feelings about all this… rather more complicated.

Abruptly he raised a hand and paused the video.

“Brother, where did this come from?” he asked, looking at Wu Chen.

“I shot it,” Wu Chen said with a smile.

“You shot it?” Lei Cheng froze.

The video was on Wu Chen’s phone, but footage could always be transferred onto a device afterward. While watching, Lei Cheng had never once imagined Wu Chen had filmed it himself.

“Yes.” Wu Chen nodded again.

“Then when was this…?” Lei Cheng asked.

“This afternoon,” Wu Chen said.

“This… afternoon?!” Lei Cheng was thoroughly rattled.

“Yes. This afternoon, about an hour ago.” Wu Chen nodded with a smile.

Lei Cheng was starting to feel a little dazed.

Because he had just been thinking that even if Wu Chen had shot it personally rather than sending a subordinate or obtaining it through some other channel, it still had to be old footage.

Perhaps Wu Chen had investigated something at some point in the past, and that was why the video happened to be on his phone.

But Wu Chen was saying… this afternoon?

An hour ago?

Why would he suddenly look into this today?

Lei Cheng could think of no other reason. The obvious one was Hu Xilin’s attempt to talk him around. If Wu Chen had dug into Hu Xilin’s family and his wife on account of that, meaning to make trouble for him so he would have no time to interfere, it was certainly one way to solve the problem.

But that was precisely the problem.

Lei Cheng had only just mentioned Hu Xilin to Wu Chen. And the video had been recorded an hour ago.

He had only just told Wu Chen what was happening, and Wu Chen had already filmed the video in advance.

As though he knew things before they happened…

Lei Cheng did not let his thoughts drift toward anything mystical. What he thought of instead was Wu Chen’s true background, the one no one could uncover.

Had Wu Chen known in advance that Hu Xilin had called him?

Or known beforehand that Lei You had gone to Hu Xilin?

What sort of intelligence network did that take?

What sort of background?

“Brother, why would you film—” Lei Cheng started to ask why Wu Chen had suddenly recorded this. He had also allowed that his own guess might be wrong.

Otherwise Wu Chen was simply too uncanny.

Just then—

Ring-ring-ring…

Lei Cheng’s phone rang.

He pulled it from the pocket of his loungewear, glanced at the screen, frowned slightly, and answered.

“Old Hu, could you stop—”

Hu Xilin.

Only half an hour had passed since his last call. This was already the third that afternoon.

“Save it,” Hu Xilin cut him off. “I’m outside the gate of your complex. Send someone out to bring me in.”

Hu Xilin had come to his door.