Since they needed to be separated from each other in the end, they should say goodbye to each other first. After all, taking French leave was not appropriate.

At noon, Qin Sheng said goodbye to the group of people that included Chang Baji and Hao Lei. At nightfall, he bid farewell to another group of people, including Ms. An, Yu Fengzhi, and Lyu Yuan. He had known these people for a pretty long time, who also trusted him pretty much and had been by his side for a long time. Since Qin Sheng intended to leave Hangzhou now, even if they would feel unhappy about it, he needed to say goodbye to them first. In addition, he should do so in front of them personally.

The group of people that included Ms. An all knew about what had happened to Qin Sheng in the past two days, since Cao Da had notified them in advance. Consequently, Ms. An was fully in charge of all of the company’s business. After all, back at that time, Cao Da had been ignorant of when Qin Sheng would be released. As a result, he had made such an arrangement to make sure the company could operate normally as well as stop those people including Ms. An from being in a state of anxiety.

In a gaudy yet cozy dining booth of a matchy-matchy Hunan Cuisine Restaurant, there were four people— Qin Sheng, Ms. An, Yu Fengzhi, and Lyu Yuan. Ms. An and Yu Fengzhi sat on Qin Sheng’s left and right side respectively, while Lyu Yuan sat across from Qin Sheng. When they saw Qin Sheng this time, they felt at ease, more or less.

Yu Fengzhi had some feelings for Qin Sheng. The relationship between them was ambiguous. However, ever since Yu Fengzhi had arrived in Hangzhou City, they had not made any progress at all because Lin Su had been by Qin Sheng’s side and both Yu Fengzhi and Qin Sheng had been busy attending to their own works. However, after Qin Sheng met with a mishap, of course Yu Fengzhi had been worried about him. As a result, when she saw Qin Sheng again, she could not help asking, “How is it going with the issue in the past two days…”

Qin Sheng interrupted Yu Fengzhi’s words smilingly as he said, “I will elaborate on what happened in the past a few days. It is related to what had happened in Shanghai during that time. However, what happened this time was far more serious than that one. Though I am free now, it is not over yet. That is also the reason why I invited you to have lunch today.”

Yu Fengzhi felt surprised and asked, “Has it gone that far?” Back when Ms. An had told her that a group of people including Qin Sheng and Chang Baji had all been arrested and confined in the bureau, she had been so astounded that she could not come to her senses for the whole afternoon.

Meanwhile, Lyu Yuan had been with Song Wei in the past a few days. Back when the issue had taken place, he had not been with those including Chang Baji, and had basically escaped by the skin of his teeth. However, it was not until he got the information from Song Wei saying that nobody could save Qin Sheng this time that he had finally figured out how serious the issue was.

Knowing Qin Sheng’s temperament quite well, Ms. An understood that Qin Sheng would not have gathered them together if nothing had happened. At worst, he would just call and notify them. Obviously, something was troubling him now. Consequently, she spoke up. “Qin Sheng, if you have something to announce, you can just tell us directly.”

Qin Sheng let out a sigh as he said, “All right. In that case, I will get to the point directly. Due to the issue that happened a few days ago, I must stay away from trouble. Consequently, I have no choice but to leave Hangzhou City for a while. I called you over today to say goodbye.”

Yu Fengzhi felt surprised again and asked, “Are you going to leave Hangzhou City again? You just got here.” Obviously, it was somewhat difficult for her to accept the decision that Qin Sheng had made.

Qin Sheng smiled bitterly as he said, “As the saying goes, things happen for a reason. I have no choice but to do so. However, I already talked with Mr. Cao and made an arrangement that even if I would not be Hangzhou City in the future, Ms. An would be fully in charge of the subsidiary and Mr. Cao would support the development of the subsidiary as usual. All you need to do is be obedient to Ms. An’s orders. If you want to leave here, I won’t force you to stay. I hope you can understand me.”

Yu Fengzhi questioned him closely and asked, “Is there any more room for negotiation?”

Qin Sheng shook his head and made his meaning clear. Yu Fengzhi looked pretty disappointed.

Since Qin Sheng had said so, obviously there was no other way out. Ms. An accepted his decision gladly as she said, “Well, in any case, you should be vigilant and watchful outside. You don’t need to worry about the situation going on in the subsidiary of Hangzhou City. I will not leave here unless the job does not fit me one day in the future. At that time, I will make my own decision.”

Qin Sheng looked at Lyu Yuan and Yu Fengzhi, then asked, “What about you?”

Lyu Yuan shook his head and said, “I have no problems and will be obedient to your order. I hope you can come back soon.”

Though Yu Fengzhi felt unhappy, she had no choice but to say, “Well, I will stay and wait for you to come back.”

Qin Sheng smiled happily as he said, “All right. Let’s stop talking nonsense. The food is getting cold. We should start dealing with it soon. The way I see it, we are all so hungry that we can eat a horse, right?” He did not want to make them feel so sorrowful. At least he had the chance to say goodbye to all of them this time, while he had not been able to do so last time.

In a food stall located on Dengyun Road, Gongsu District, Gu Xiaobo was drinking sullenly with Gu Qingyang. It was unknown what Chang Baji and Hao Lei had been up to. Feeling somewhat depressed, Gu Xiaobo had no choice but to ask Gu Qingyang out to drink with him.

Gu Xiaobo said, “Qinyang, what’s your plan? Could it be that you will really leave Hangzhou City?” He was not really reconciled to be obedient to Qin Sheng’s order.

Gu Qingyang, who was quite honest, said in a low voice, “If Brother Qin leaves Hangzhou City, Senior Uncle definitely will leave here too. In that case, why should we continue staying here? What if the ones on our enemies’ side would not spare us? It would simply be more dangerous for us to stay here.”

Gu Xiaobo drank up a glass of wine, snorted, and said, “Since it is Qin Sheng’s own issue, why should we be involved? Supposedly, they won’t take it out on us.”

Gu Qingyang frowned and said, “It’s better if we are more careful.”

Upon hearing Gu Qingyang’s words, Gu Xiaobo inquired, “Then, where are you going? Are you going back to Mount Tianmu?”

Gu Qingyang nodded as he said, “Yes. The way I see it, we can lead a quieter life in the mountains. This bustling city is too flighty and rash, which does not fit us at all.”

Gu Xiaobo replied straightforwardly, “I don’t want to go back to the mountains. I think it suits me quite well to be here. What can we do on Mount Tianmu? We are all grown up and need to plan for our future.”

Gu Qingyang was hesitant for a while. After that, he said, “Then, you should talk with Senior Uncle. Even if you don’t plan to go back to the mountains, the way I see it, you should not stay in Hangzhou City. I remember Brother Qin gave you 500,000, right? You can travel around the whole country. If you don’t have enough, I can lend you some first.”

Feeling disturbed, Gu Xiaobo replied, “I will think twice about it.”

After drinking up the last drop of wine in the glass, Gu Qingyang said, “I won’t drink anymore since it is late now. If we don’t go home now, I am afraid that Senior Uncle will be angry.”

“You go home first. Since I have something to attend to, I will be home a while later.” As a matter of fact, he did not intend to go home at all. He planned to meet a girl whom he had just met just recently. This was also the reason why he had been unwilling to leave Hangzhou.

Gu Qingyang was hesitant for a while then said, “All right. I will go home first. You should go home early.”

After they paid the bill and left the food stall, Gu Qingyang ordered a car and went home first. After he made a call, he went to a bar located on Nan Shan Road, which was a pretty quiet one. He had asked a girl to meet him there, who should be addressed as his girlfriend to be more exact. However, everybody was ignorant of this piece of news.

Sitting in the taxi cab, Gu Xiaobo stared at the bustling night view of Hangzhou City. After that, he thought of the girl whom he liked. To be honest, Gu Xiaobo was somewhat reluctant to leave Hangzhou City. In his own opinion, it would be more suitable for him to live in a big city instead of going back to the deep mountains and forest. Additionally, he knew very well that his mind had been changed and he was no longer an innocent man.

In a pub located on Nan Shan Road, a pub singer was humming an unknown country music song. The urban youths were chatting affectionately in twos and threes in the corner. All the beauties were dressed in sexy and beautiful outfits and all the men looked charismatic and graceful. Gu Xiaobo ordered a cocktail, waiting for his beloved girl.

About 10 minutes later, a tall, slim girl with long hair walked into the pub, dressed in a coat and wearing high heels. The bag she carried was the latest edition of the Saint Laurent brand. There was a classic Four Leaf Clover of Van Cleef & Arpels on her neck. She looked completely outstanding.

All the men in the pub could not help eying this beauty up and down. The beauty looked around and saw Gu Xiaobo, who had been sitting nearby. After that, she walked over to Gu Xiaobo slowly as she smiled. All the men surrounding her looked pretty disappointed except for Gu Xiaobo, who enjoyed the vanity and the sense of accomplishment very much.

After the beauty sat beside Gu Xiaobo, she pouted as she said, “I am sorry, I went to the wrong place before. Sorry for keeping you waiting for such a long time.”

Gu Xiaobo shook his head and said, “It’s fine. I just arrived here a short while ago. What do you want to drink?”

The beauty put her arms around Gu Xiaobo directly and said in a flighty manner, “What I want to drink is you.”

Upon finishing her words, before Gu Xiaobo could reply, she kissed him directly. Though Gu Xiaobo was somewhat surprised, he missed her somewhat because he had not seen her for a pretty long time. Consequently, he kissed her back right away. They kissed each other as if nobody were nearby, which made all the men in the pub feel jealous.

It was not until they finished a touching French kiss that the beauty said prettily, “What have you been doing in the past a few days? I called you, only to be informed that your mobile was powered down. You have no idea how much I felt worried about you.”

Gu Xiaobo found a random excuse to justify himself. Consequently, he said, “I accompanied the boss to deal with some issues in the past two days, which should be kept confidential. I left in a hurry. So I forgot to notify you.”

The beauty held Gu Xiaobo’s arms as she said, “Oh, no wonder. However, you can’t do that in the future. Whatever the issue is, you should notify me in advance so that I won’t feel worried about you.”

Gu Xiaobo pulled the beauty into his arms, nodded smilingly, and did not say anything at all.

The girl was called Tang Yi, who came from Lishui City, Zhejiang Province, and graduated from a foreign language institute this year. Her family had been engaged in business activities before. Due to the failure of his business, her father got heavily in debt and ran away. Her mother was unhealthy. In addition, she had a brother who was studying in high school. Consequently, she had gone to Poly International to take a part-time job there. However, she had not dealt with any sex trade.

Back when Gu Xiaobo had seen her for the first time, he had fallen in love with her. He had helped her out several times in Poly International. Consequently, they got to know each other well. Besides confessing his feelings to her, meanwhile, he had stopped her from doing the part-time job at Poly International. In addition, he had found another decent job for her. He also gave her money for living expenses monthly to help her take care of her family members well, for example, speaking of the bag she carried and the necklace she wore, they were gifts from Gu Xiaobo. Because Gu Xiaobo seldom spent money lavishly and all of his living expenses were well taken care of, he gave most of his money to this beauty.

Since Gu Xiaobo really liked this girl and did not intend to deceive her, he said quite straightforwardly, “Tang Yi, I have to tell you one thing, I will probably leave Hangzhou City.”

Upon hearing what Gu Xiaobo had said, Tang Yi was at a loss subconsciously. She stared at Gu Xiaobo and didn’t know what she should say at the moment. After she came to her senses, she said through tears, “Oh, I see.”

If she had encountered the same situation before, she definitely would have asked why. However, after she went through domestic calamity and her boyfriend’s abandonment, she had gotten pretty tough. Since Gu Xiaobo had said so, he had to have his own reasons. She did not want to ask further.

Gu Xiaobo saw Tang Yi crying. Feeling sick at heart, he said, “If you are willing to wait for me, I will come back again and you can turn to me at that time.” Following that, he took a bank card out directly that Qin Sheng had given him, and said, “There is a balance of 500,000 on this card. Take and use it first. If you run out of funds, you can come to me.”

Tang Yi smiled in a self-mocking manner and said, “I just want to find someone who truly loves me, loves me dearly, and places me under his protection. If you really leave Hangzhou City, I will not take your money. If I want to make money, I can go on doing a part-time job. Though it will be somewhat exhausting to make money in this way, I will feel at ease.”

When Gu Xiaobo heard what Tang Yi had said, his brain went blank in an instant. He knew the kind of place like Poly International better than anyone else. Though Tang Yi could conduct herself virtuously and keep herself clean and pure, it was unknown what would happen to her in the future. The reason why he had asked Tang Yi to leave Poly International was that he would like to stop her from being associated with those girls there.

If he really left Hangzhou City in the end and Tang Yi went back to Poly International without his protection, it was unknown what would happen at that time. Upon thinking of the scene that his beloved girl would be pulled into other men’s arms, Gu Xiaobo felt so heartbroken.

He gritted his teeth as he said, “Take it easy. I will find another way out.”

After they left the pub, Gu Xiaobo intended to take Tang Yi back home. However, Tang Yi, who had felt heartbroken, insisted on going home by car on her own. Gu Xiaobo had no choice but to watch her get in a car and leave.

After Tang Yi left, Gu Xiaobo sat on the street distractedly. Though it began to sprinkle, he did not have time to bother with it.

His future was gone. His love was gone. Everything was gone. Could it be that he should just let it be?

At this time, an inconspicuous Toyota Camry stopped by Gu Xiaobo’s side. A man got out of the car and asked in a deep voice, “Are you Gu Xiaobo?”