Chapter 48 Chapter Forty-eight

Still, he was rather complacent.Although he was uncomfortable with Gilbert's bad attitude, Zhang Naichi was confident that the Jews were tempted.Zhang Naichi had heard from Li Weilian a long time ago that Gilbert's family was inextricably linked to the Mafia organization in Sicily, Italy, and had tried to use the chemical trade in Greater China as a platform to launder money for the Mafia to get commissions.In view of Li Weilian's status and ability in this field, Gilbert secretly tried to recruit him to start a company as a partner, but of course Li Weilian refused. Gilbert has become even more jealous of Li Weilian since then. Discord, and later tried everything possible to get Li Weilian to step down as a hidden reason.Now that Li Weilian's biggest obstacle has been removed, Zhang Naichi has taken the initiative to throw the hydrangea again. The Jews have no reason to refuse. His hesitation now is just his usual suspicion and caution, and it's just a posturing in order to gain a more favorable negotiating position in the future. .

The more Zhang Naichi thought about it, the more he felt more at ease, and the more he thought about it, the more complacent he became. The snoring sound in his ears was like a lullaby, and he also slowly fell asleep.When I woke up, the stewardess had already started to check the plane before landing. After getting off the plane, Dai Xi found Gilbert and Zhang Naichi as promised, and went to the Beijing office of West Bund Chemical in their car.The Buick commercial vehicle drove onto the airport expressway. The wide and straight road was lined with pines and cypresses, and the sky above was blue. It was already five o'clock in the afternoon, and the sun was still dazzling. Compared with Shanghai's humidity and heat, Beijing's climate in June was quite pleasant.

Dai Xi was let into the front passenger seat by two gentlemen, while Gilbert and Zhang Naichi sat in the back seat talking and laughing happily, constantly discussing the delicious and fun places in Beijing, and the mood couldn't be any better.Dai Xi was rejoicing that they didn't have much time to pay attention to her when the cell phone rang. The call came from Shanghai, from Professor Higgins' home. "Hello, professor?" Dai Xi was a little nervous. Ever since Li Weilian's accident, she had been busy with work and hadn't contacted the professor for a while.In the current state, talking about "consultant x" with anyone was unbearable for Dai Xi, especially since she couldn't be sure of Li Weilian's attitude towards it, and she didn't dare to make a mistake.Dai Xi felt that she had made an unforgivable mistake. If she could not get Li Weilian's approval, she would no longer have the right to be involved in his case. Even if she had to give up her master's degree research, she would not hesitate.

"Daisy, it's me, how are you?" Dai Xi breathed a sigh of relief, it was the professor's Chinese wife Jane. They exchanged a few words, Jane's voice sounded muffled, and Dai Xi couldn't help asking: "Jane, what's wrong with your throat?" "Oh, I've had a cold these past two days." Jane was indeed a little tired when she spoke, "Daisy, do you have time recently? I want to ask you to meet." Dai Xi was very sorry: "Oh, Jane, I'm so sorry, I'm on a business trip in Beijing." "When are you coming back?"

"At least two weeks... Jane, what's the matter? Are you in a hurry?" "It's not in a hurry..." Having said that, Dai Xi could still hear obvious anxiety and...sorrow?what happened?This is not like the elegant and calm woman in Dai Xi's impression. "Jane, can we talk on the phone?" "Maybe..." She seemed to be getting more and more uneasy, "Actually, I want to ask about your company's, uh... company colleagues?" "Company? Colleague?" Monk Dai Xizhang was puzzled. "Yes. Dai Xi, is there a West Coast Chemical where you work... Well, the president... is called Li Wei..."

"William?!" Perhaps Dai Xi yelled a little louder, and the laughter from the back row suddenly stopped. In the eerie silence that suddenly fell, Dai Xi heard hesitant words coming from the phone: "I'm sorry, Dai Xi... Maybe it's not convenient for you to talk like this? Or wait until you return to Shanghai." "Okay, Jane, if you're in a hurry, call me in the evening." Dai Xi hung up the phone, and a moment later, Zhang Naichi's pretentious voice sounded from the back of her head: "Dai Xi? Is there any news about William? We all miss him very much."

Dai Xi turned her head back: "No, it was a college classmate who asked me about something that happened in our company some time ago." She smiled sadly at Zhang Naichi's suspicious gaze: "Everyone likes to listen to gossip, so there's nothing I can do about it." The car continued to drive on the highway, and after a while, the setting sun had already dyed the dark green treetops into gold, and the sky was still bright and brilliant.But in Shanghai at this time, the drizzle that had only stopped for most of the day began to drift up one after another, and the dusk gradually deepened.

If Dai Xi could see Lin Nianzhen's face full of tears at this time, she would understand the real origin of her weird voice.She picked up a photo from the table. Although she was very careful, tears still dripped on it, and she gently wiped it away with trembling hands.The slender fingers slid across the slightly yellowed black-and-white image, and the four fuzzy portraits were like reflections quietly floating on the water surface, rippling, separating, gathering, twisting, and deforming in the ripples of time... That is an entanglement that even death can't take away, and one day they will find them again.

Just yesterday evening, Tong Minghai and Tong Xiao were solemnly waiting for a guest at home.For this meeting, the father and son prepared for a long time, and specially chose the day when Tong Xiaoma was on duty at the neighborhood committee, lest her curiosity and sympathy overflow, any conversation that should be calm and rigorous would be turned into a Korean soap opera of. The evening breeze in early summer is still slightly cool. In the small yard of Tong Xiao’s house, a small round table and three bamboo chairs are set up. On the table are a purple sand pot and several purple sand cups. The pot is filled with brewed fragrant tea.Mosquito coils were still lit on the ground next to it, and mosquitoes were already rampant in the old Shikumen house in early summer.

Tong Xiao has always liked this summer night to enjoy the cool air since he was a child. Of course, tonight is extraordinary, which can be seen from the gorgeous set of porcelain cups on the table.The father and son finished their early dinner and sat in the yard waiting. Just after seven o'clock, there was a light knock on the iron gate. Tong Xiao rushed over to open the door, and he immediately recognized that this was the female guest who passed him by a few months ago.The faint twilight shone on her face, Tong Xiao's heart was pounding, such a beautiful and elegant face would make a man nervous.

She sat down on the bamboo chair.Tong Minghai brought out the kettle from the house and was busy making Nescafe coffee.Tong Xiao saw that her father was also nervous, so she couldn't help but feel a little funny.The initial slightly awkward atmosphere passed, and Tong Minghai cleared his throat: "Cough, cough, Ms. Lin, I'm sorry to invite you here for a visit." "What's the matter, I asked you for help, I should be embarrassed." "Well, let's stop the gossip." Tong Minghai and his son looked at each other, "Ms. Lin, we have found the whereabouts of the Zhang Huabin you are looking for." Tong Xiao put two photos side by side on the table, one is Zhang Huabin's high school graduation photo he found in Huahai Middle School, and the other is a photo of Zhang Naichi walking into the office building, which Tong Xiao took from the street with his mobile phone a few days ago candid. She only glanced at the enlarged old photo, then moved her gaze to the recent photo.She stretched out her left hand and gently picked up the photo. Tong Xiao noticed that the white hand was trembling imperceptibly.After a while, she put down the photo again: "It's him." Tong Minghai said, "His name is Zhang Naichi now." "Zhang Naichi..." She repeated the name in a low voice, raised her eyes and smiled, "Judging from the photos, his current life should be pretty good, right?" Tong Xiao and his son exchanged glances again, and it was still Tong Minghai who said, "That's right. Zhang Naichi is currently working as a senior executive in a large American company, and his daily life is quite luxurious." "Well," Lin Nianzhen nodded, hesitated for a moment and asked again, "What about his... family?" "In 2002, Zhang Naichi married Xue Baoling, the daughter of Xue Zhifan, a well-known tourist in Shanghai and Hong Kong." Tong Minghai spread a newspaper on the table, "Xue Lao just passed away a few months ago. Coverage of the memorial service." This report took up a quarter of the newspaper's page, and in the middle was a large photo of the memorial service: Zhang Naichi and Xue Baoling stood side by side under the huge elegiac couplet and in front of the overlapping wreaths. Tong Xiao concentrated and held her breath, not daring to relax for a moment to observe Lin Nianzhen.When he saw her skimming through the text of the report, his eyes fell on the photos, scanning the faces of Zhang Naichi and Xue Baoling in turn. She looked at them again and again, her face remained calm. "Looks like they're a pretty good match," she finally said. "Hehe, yes." Tong Xiao interjected, "It's a pity that this Miss Xue is congenitally deficient. I heard that she has a genetic heart disease. She looks so weak that she hasn't given birth to a child after all these years of marriage." "...I don't have any children." Lin Nianzhen was obviously touched, and couldn't help muttering, but then smiled gently, "Thank you so much, this information is very precious, you must have spent a lot of time and energy Bar." Tong Xiao jumped ahead of his father again and said, "Ah, it's nothing, it's nothing. In fact, it's not too difficult to check, hehe, I have dealt with this President Zhang before, and I know him very well..." "Tong Xiao!" Tong Minghai couldn't bear it anymore.Lin Nianzhen smiled and asked, "What a coincidence? You two know each other very well? Is it because of business or personal business?" Tong Xiao immediately replied: "Of course it's business! West Bund Chemical, where Zhang Naichi worked, held an annual meeting in 'Yiyuan' at the end of last year. A Japanese died suddenly on the spot, and he had a very close relationship with him!" "Yiyuan?!" Lin Nianzhen's expression changed drastically. "Well, Ms. Lin, haven't you heard of this?" "...I've heard about it, but not in detail." Lin Nianzhen lowered his eyelids, "Actually, I already knew that 'Yi Garden' is not an auspicious place, which company would use it as its headquarters office?... But what about the violent death of the Japanese, how could it have anything to do with him... Zhang Naichi?" Tong Xiao glanced at his father. Although Tong Minghai had a tiger face, he didn't intend to stop him.Tong Xiao decided to go straight to the point. "The Japanese committed suicide. This has already been settled. However, the cause of his suicide is indeed closely related to the West Bund Chemical Company, and not only with Zhang Naichi, their former company president Li Weilian involved too.” Lin Nianzhen's eyes widened, she opened her mouth, but no sound came out. The courtyard suddenly fell silent.From outside the gate came the loud talking and laughing of the neighbors in the alley enjoying the cool air, the barking dogs barking non-stop, and the children barking joyfully practicing their bicycle skills... These sounds crept into the small courtyard and were mixed with it. The buzzing of two or three fearless mosquitoes.The ordinary, lively and lively life in the market is just separated by a wall, but what they have to face at this moment is a completely different life. The father and son waited for a long time, but Lin Nianzhen remained silent, as if he was thinking or remembering. Tong Minghai said in a low voice: "Ms. Lin, the last time you came to ask me to help find Zhang Huabin's whereabouts, you said that you were entrusted by a friend. I didn't ask much at that time. Can I ask Ms. Lin to tell me today that this friend Who is it?" Lin Nianzhen finally raised his eyes, there was something vague in his eyes—is it questioning?Tong Xiao thinks not, he thinks it is more like a kind of hesitation and hesitation, just like the state of dilemma and worry when people uncover the most precious collection in their hearts. So Tong Minghai asked directly: "Ms. Lin, does the friend you mentioned have anything to do with 'Yi Yuan'?... She should also be a lady, right?" Lin Nianzhen smiled: "Mr. Tong, you guessed it." Tong Minghai let out a sigh of relief: "Yuan Jia, is she... okay?" "very good." Her answer was simple and clear.Tong Xiao was surprised to find that there was a rather warm smile on his father's serious old face, and he could only hear him muttering: "That's good, that's good."