Chapter 161 : Chapter 161
Chapter 161
Lin Changqing said, "Then I went back to Mortar's place for a cup of coffee to calm my nerves."
Bai Xuechao thought to himself, you still need to calm your nerves?
"Mortar was almost grinning from ear to ear when I told him I had sent Alex and his brother's two families to heaven—oh, that's just an exaggeration, but he was genuinely happy." Lin Changqing was still holding Bai Xuechao's arm, his gaze shifting to Yuan Lan at the side, as if reporting on his work, "When I left, his family was busy carving up Alex's territory. I guess it won't be long before the other families find out about Alex and the others' deaths. I was originally planning to tell you this afternoon after Mortar had more or less handled things."
Yuan Lan asked calmly, "Is everything cleaned up?"
"Aren't you reassured when I do things?" Lin Changqing smiled, his long and narrow phoenix eyes curving slightly, his black pupils looking as if they were drawn with ink, "I've cleaned up the traces, destroyed the surveillance footage, got the gun from Mortar, the bullet caliber is the most common one used by the Country Y's Mafia family, and there's no family mark on the bottom, so anyone could have used it. Unless Mortar has a brain fart and sells me out, they won't be able to trace it back to me."
"Mm, Mortar will take care of the rest." Yuan Lan smiled faintly, "The Apocalypse Society lost an order, but Mortar's family has expanded its power, which is not bad."
His gaze slowly swept over Bai Xuechao, who was staying out of it, and he continued to smile, "From the looks of it now, the only one who lost out is the Dark Organization."
Bai Xuechao thought, so you were waiting for me here.
If it weren't for Lin Changqing's overly "innocent" expression while he was narrating just now, he would have suspected that this was a play Yuan Lan had long arranged with Lin Changqing for him.
Yuan Lan wanted to see his reaction upon learning that the Dark Organization's interests had been damaged.
To see if his body was in Cao's camp, but his heart was with Han.
"Oh?" Bai Xuechao's expression was very calm, with only a hint of curiosity, purely out of curiosity about a matter, very ordinary, "How did they lose out?"
In fact, he had already guessed.
Liu Jingchun was sent abroad for half a year by the Old leader, and the so-called "abroad" was Country Y.
He hadn't contacted Liu Jingchun too many times in the past six months, but he still had a general understanding of the situation. Liu Jingchun wouldn't deliberately hide what she was doing from him.
He knew that Liu Jingchun was going to Country Y this time to expand the overseas market. In addition, she was to get a shipment of goods from a private merchant.
This private merchant didn't do business with just anyone, he had a habit of treating people differently based on who they were. Yet, he exclusively controlled the channels for procurement and transportation, effectively monopolizing the market. If others wanted his channels, they could only get rid of the private merchant and replace him.
Liu Jingchun had initially used a new type of toxin to open up the overseas market. As an up-and-comer, she had successfully made contact with this private merchant. But before they could finalize the deal, Yuan Lan's serum came out, and the private merchant ignored her. It took her a lot of effort to get in touch with him again. Bai Xuechao didn't know anything more than that.
Presumably, this private merchant was Alex.
The last time Liu Jingchun called him, she said she would be back in a week. If he wasn't mistaken, it should be after he arrived at A Port. Her ability to return meant the deal was successful, and if there were no surprises, a deposit was also paid. Besides, she had only been back for a few days, so she definitely hadn't received the goods yet.
But now that Alex, his wife, and his brother were dead, no one could fulfill the contract for him, so his deal with the Dark Organization was void.
In other words, the Dark Organization gave away money for free and got no goods in return.
Here, Yuan Lan had a faint smile on his face, his attitude casual, as if he were just telling a piece of gossip, "I mentioned before that this Alex was playing both sides, and the sides he was playing were the Dark Organization and our Apocalypse Society. He was supposed to sell that batch of goods to only one of us, but not only did he sell to both, he even raised the price at the last minute. Speaking of which, I heard the Dark Organization sent a woman, is her name Liu Jingchun?"
Bai Xuechao remained calm, "Yes."
There was no point in denying it; Yuan Lan already knew their information.
There was no annoyance of having lost out on Yuan Lan's face. He shrugged his shoulders with an indifferent attitude, as if talking about someone else's business as he continued, "We've already paid our deposit, and the Dark Organization must have done the same. Alex chose to supply us first. We haven't even received the goods, so it's even more impossible for the Dark Organization. So—do I still need to say it?"
Bai Xuechao just gave a faint "Oh."
Even if Yuan Lan hadn't said it, he had already guessed the outcome.
The Old leader was probably going to be furious.
This was equivalent to going to great lengths to get to know someone, and after giving a bunch of gifts, finally getting the opportunity to go through the back door, only for that person to be gone before you could even go through it.
When the Old leader got angry, he wouldn't care if Liu Jingchun was his daughter. He would definitely punish her.
Tsk, why isn't that old man dead yet?
"Little Xuechao, what are you thinking about?" Yuan Lan suddenly brought his face close.
Bai Xuechao calmly pushed Yuan Lan's face away and said, "I was imagining what that old man would look like when he's angry."
Yuan Lan smiled, "You've seen it, right? I'd love to see it too."
"Um..." Lin Changqing still had one arm around Bai Xuechao's, and slowly raised his other hand, "Does anyone remember that you're helping me analyze why I'm being haunted by a ghost?"
Yuan Lan said without even thinking, "It must be the wronged souls of those under you!"
Lin Changqing was speechless, "Which one of them counts as a wronged soul?"
"The wife's younger sister?" Yuan Lan said.
"What's so wrong about the wife's younger sister being a mistress!" Lin Changqing roared, "And I didn't even kill the wife's younger sister! It was her brother-in-law's brother's wife who killed her!"
This tangled web of relatives really had the feel of visiting relatives during the Xia Country's New Year.
Yuan Lan threw his hands up, "Maybe she saw you take out the others, which counts as avenging her. She was so moved that she's preparing to devote her life to you, maybe have a ghost marriage with you."
Lin Changqing's expression was dazed, "Huh?"
What's this, do they also believe in ghost marriages abroad?
Bai Xuechao pursed his lips to hold back a laugh.
Yuan Lan stroked his chin again, saying thoughtfully, "But it's not certain. Maybe it's Alex and his brother's whole family. After all, they were the ones you personally took care of."
Lin Changqing looked at Yuan Lan with a complicated expression and mercilessly complained, "That's not right, boss. When it comes to wronged souls, you have n times more than me, don't you? Go back and ask those brothers and sisters in your collection room, which one of them doesn't want to become a vengeful ghost and seek revenge on you? You're clearly so much more excessive than me, so why have you been fine all these years, but I'm the one being haunted!"
Bai Xuechao suddenly interjected, "Because you didn't hand out Yuan Lan's business card."
Lin Changqing was stunned for a moment.
Yuan Lan seemed to have instantly grasped the humor in this sentence and started to laugh in a low voice, "Hahaha, then let's print a stack of my business cards for A-Qing. I'm not afraid of ghosts."
Only then did Lin Changqing react, and he couldn't help but break into a smile, but he didn't laugh out loud.
After laughing, he asked, "So what do we do this time?"
He hadn't forgotten about this matter yet.
"Aren't Little Xuechao and I still here?" Yuan Lan's hand rested on Lin Changqing's shoulder and patted it, "You'll just continue to stay with us later. Whether it's the wife's younger sister or Alex and his family, if they dare to touch you again, Little Xuechao and I will catch them on the spot!"
Lin Changqing: "..."
Lin Changqing: "Are you trying to coax a child?"
"Oh, then forget it." Yuan Lan immediately withdrew his hand from Lin Changqing's shoulder and called out to Bai Xuechao, "Little Xuechao, let's go!"
Lin Changqing immediately chickened out and reached out to stop them, "Wait! Don't go!"
Yuan Lan deliberately asked, "Is there anything else?"
Lin Changqing raised his hand and wiped his face, saying tragically, "Count me in, I'm scared..."
Yuan Lan scoffed at him without holding back.
Lin Changqing: I'll endure it.
Bai Xuechao said, "I'm hungry, let's go eat."
"I'm a little hungry too." Yuan Lan glanced at the old-fashioned wall clock on the piano room wall, "It's about time for lunch, let's go."
Actually, Lin Changqing had already eaten at Mortar's place, but seeing that the two were going to eat, he quickly followed behind them, finally catching up to Bai Xuechao and walking to his other side, holding onto his arm as before.
This gave him a sense of security!
As they walked, Yuan Lan sent a message to the kitchen while asking, "Little Xuechao, what do you want to eat?"
"Let's have noodles, any kind of noodles will do. I feel like having noodles." Bai Xuechao said clearly, "And two glasses of watermelon juice, add honey to one of them, a lot of it."
"Watermelon juice with honey?" Yuan Lan turned to look at Bai Xuechao, probably finding the combination a bit strange.
Bai Xuechao's magnificent red eyes just looked at him quietly, his snow-white, thick eyelashes fanning slowly, as if he were deliberately winking at him.
Yuan Lan instantly understood something and looked down at his phone, "Hmm... how about Pasta?"
Bai Xuechao replied, "Sure, I'm sick and my mouth has no taste anyway, and I'm craving some tomato sauce too."
"Then I'll have the kitchen give you extra tomato sauce," Yuan Lan said.
Lin Changqing, who was walking on the other side of Bai Xuechao, was completely unaware of their exchange of glances. He was still holding Bai Xuechao's arm, his nerves highly tense, jumpy as he walked, and he would even turn back to look from time to time, as if on guard for something coming from behind.
Bai Xuechao noticed Lin Changqing's state and quietly poked Yuan Lan.
Yuan Lan followed Bai Xuechao's gaze to Lin Changqing.
He saw Lin Changqing abruptly turn his head to look, only to find nothing behind him, and he let out a relieved sigh.
At that moment, the wind blew through the window, making a soft whistling sound. Lin Changqing shivered and held onto Bai Xuechao's arm tightly. Realizing it was just the sound of the wind, he laughed awkwardly.
Bai Xuechao pursed his lips and turned his head away, silently snickering with Yuan Lan.
There was not a single bit of guilt.
Not only that, they were going to scare him even more later.
Yuan Lan asked, "A-Qing, what do you want to eat?"
"I'm not eating, I've already eaten." Lin Changqing was still on guard against what was behind him, "I'll just have something to drink."
"Alright." After Yuan Lan said that, his fingertips tapped on the phone screen and he sent another message.
The three of them arrived at the dining room and unexpectedly ran into Yu Ruolan, who was sitting and waiting for her meal.
Bai Xuechao had inquired earlier that Yu Ruolan usually ate around twelve-thirty. It was almost one o'clock now, and she still hadn't eaten.
Bai Xuechao and Yuan Lan exchanged a glance.
This was unexpected.