Chapter 397: Mom and Dad Fighting For Favor

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

“Can two houses heal your sadness?”

“Three!”

“Deal!”

Qin Wan slammed the table, “Boss lady, another bowl of rice noodles!”

Jiang Junlin was speechless.

Zhang Qiang hesitated, wondering if he should tell the secret guards to say that the master had gotten used to solving conflicts with money, and they should learn from Qin Wan’s shamelessness too.

Blame it on their reserved nature as men; they didn’t manage to score this many houses.

Jiang Junlin said, “Let the secret guards get one house each for their year-end bonus this year.”

Zhang Qiang suspected that the master could read minds, “Alright.”

When Qin Wan returned to the Blue Fields Villa, it was almost dawn. Dr. North had stayed up all night waiting for her. Qin Wan took a shower, then went straight to bed without explaining anything. Dr. North saw this and didn’t disturb her.

Gu Cici had a free weekend. Early in the morning, she took Gu Ziyu to see a movie. Gu Ziyu had originally planned to paint with Lu Zhiyuan. He asked innocently, “Mom, can we bring Dad to the movie with us?”

“No, you can’t.”

Gu Ziyu sighed with the wisdom of a young child, “Okay, I’m a child of divorced parents.”

“If you want to learn painting from Dad, I can take you there. We don’t have to watch the movie,” Gu Cici was feeling a bit jealous. Her precious son seemed to really like Lu Zhiyuan. She hadn’t expected him to get along so well with Gu Ziyu. Was this the magic of blood ties?

“No, I want to watch a movie with Mom. I don’t want Dad,” Gu Ziyu decisively gave up on his dad, “I like Mom the most.”

Gu Cici pinched his nose. Lu Zhiyuan had actually planned to teach Gu Ziyu how to paint last week. Gu Cici was supposed to watch a movie on Friday. Lu Zhiyuan even had Li Jiang buy a lot of paints, but he ended up getting stood up.

Ji Chi said, “Third Master, when Mom and Dad vie for your affection, it means they have no self-awareness.”

Lu Zhiyuan asked, “You’ve been quite free lately. I heard from Rong Li that you often have dinner with Jiang Junlin?”

“People are like iron, and food is like steel. We must eat,” Ji Chi had the skin of a dead pig and was not afraid of boiling water. Love on the government’s dime—everyone would love that.

“When did you break up?” Lu Zhiyuan asked.

Ji Chi didn’t respond.

He really had to bring that up.

Ji Chi replied nonchalantly, “Soon!”

Rong Li had just walked in and heard this conversation. He scoffed, “If you haven’t talked about it, it doesn’t count as a breakup.”

Ji Chi gave Rong Li the middle finger, but he ignored him and handed a report to Lu Zhiyuan. “Third Master, a batch of goods was robbed last night.”

Lu Zhiyuan’s brow furrowed as he took the report and quickly scanned it. Ji Chi leaned over to read the report as well. Rong Li added, “It’s a batch of cultural relics that we were entrusted to transport back.”

Black Hawk had a wide range of business operations, not limited to just the financial sector.

Ji Chi was puzzled, “Four cultural relics missing? There are jewels in the safe, why not steal those? What’s the point of stealing cultural relics? They can’t be easily circulated, so they must be smuggled.”

Lu Zhiyuan replied calmly, “That’s not the focus.”

Rong Li added, “The focus is that these four items are insured for three billion US dollars with our insurance company. They were in our cargo hold and have disappeared. We’ll have to pay for it.”

“Why do we seem like the ones getting the short end of the stick? The oldest of these four items is just calligraphy and paintings from the Song Dynasty. It’s not like they belong to everyone. Why insure them for such a high price?”

Rong Li was responsible for this matter, and she explained, “The value of cultural relics can’t be measured in terms of money. The other party quoted their price, and that’s what we insured them for. If you think a sculpture head is not worth a billion, but they ask for ten billion, you’ll see if a museum will sell it to you.”

Ji Chi quipped, “All this talk, and it boils down to us being too confident in our own shipping lanes and escorting. The higher the premium, the better. Premiums are a momentary pleasure, but claims are like a crematorium.”

Lu Zhiyuan looked thoughtfully at the four cultural relics. This seemed like an ordinary case, and if there were no complications, Rong Li could handle it herself. But the fact that it was presented to him meant there was definitely something unusual. Ji Chi also sensed that something was off.

“One calligraphy and painting, a painted koi vase, a golden armor, and coral beads…” Ji Chi raised an eyebrow, “These are all small items, easy to take. The other party went to great lengths for this. There are much more valuable items in the safe. So… out of these four items, only one is important.”

Losing money was one thing, but they couldn’t afford to tarnish Black Hawk’s reputation.

Lu Zhiyuan asked, “Any clues?”

“We only found two sets of footprints. The escorts were on a 24-hour rotation and never left. The security cameras were malfunctioning, so we didn’t capture anything valuable. There are no traces nearby,” Rong Li explained calmly. “Private collectors?” Ji Chi inquired.

Rong Li nodded, “Coincidentally, these four items were all scheduled to be handed over to Chen Liangyou. But now, we can’t produce a single item.”

Ji Chi raised an eyebrow, “This looks a lot like we stole them ourselves.”

“Tell Chen Liangyou the truth and investigate the origins of these four items. Find out which hands they passed through in the last twenty years. Did Chen Liangyou buy them, or were they gifted to him? There might be some connection we haven’t thought of yet,” Lu Zhiyuan suggested.

Ji Chi pondered, “I’ll have someone look into the projects Chen Liangyou has recently been involved in. If these items were gifts, he surely wouldn’t have received them for nothing.”

Lu Zhiyuan nodded, “Go ahead.”

Rong Li, with a layer of concern, presented the case to Lu Zhiyuan, “Third Master, what if he misunderstands and tries to use this against you deliberately?”

“No one cares about what he thinks!” Lu Zhiyuan said, indifferently and firmly. “Send someone to explain the situation to him. You don’t need to go. Follow the procedure!”

“Understood!”

“Third Master, your recovery is almost complete. Mr. Jiang will be available the day after tomorrow. Where would you like to meet?” Ji Chi asked. “He asked me to arrange this.”

Lu Zhiyuan replied with a smirk, “You arrange the location, and I’ll go there.”

Ji Chi was speechless.

He had a feeling that Third Master’s smile held a hint of mischief. Was it just his imagination?

Rong Li rolled her eyes. “Brother, trust your instincts!”

Qin Wan had a restful sleep and woke up feeling refreshed. The house was quiet. When she went downstairs, Dr. North had prepared breakfast. Gu Cici had yet to hire a housekeeper, and Dr. North didn’t visit often. On weekends, Gu Cici would occasionally cook, but most of the time, they ordered takeout.

Dr. North had cooked two bowls of rice noodles and prepared three side dishes. Qin Wan’s stomach rumbled with hunger, and she felt a bit uncomfortable. Dr. North was also nervous, saying, “Come and eat.”

“Where are Gu Cici and Ziyu?” Qin Wan asked.

“They went to the movies,” Dr. North replied.

Qin Wan knew very well that Gu Cici and Ziyu must have deliberately gone to the movies, leaving her alone with Dr. North for a private conversation. Qin Wan had complex feelings about this. She had known since childhood that she was adopted, and she didn’t care whether her adoptive parents liked her or not. She had once wondered what her life would have been like if she had grown up with her biological parents. She had also thought about whether her parents had any reasons for abandoning her. She had even felt resentment at times for why they had brought her into the world only to reject her. However, as she grew up and spent time with Jiang Junlin, her perspective broadened, and she became more open-minded and carefree. Gradually, she let go of those feelings and found that living without burdens was quite enjoyable..