Blank Charge

In the group, messages were quickly deleted, and Jin Zhou sent another gentle smile.

Sun Yi took the lead in kneeling down, and the subsequent expressions of kneeling flooded the chat box.

[Jin Zhou: Stop fooling around.]

[Jin Zhou: Quickly find out who that man is for me.]

[Sun Yi: Okay.]

Looking at the time, it was about time to drive back from the five-star hotel to the old street.

Jin Zhou casually put on a jacket, slipped on flip-flops, and leisurely strolled from Yang Shi Yu’s apartment to the intersection.

The late autumn night was not as hot as summer, and the cool autumn breeze made Jin Zhou shiver.

He lit a cigarette by the roadside, and before long, a low-profile luxury car approached the intersection. The black streamlined body of the car exuded a unique model.

After glancing at the license plate, he lowered his head and sent a message to Sun Yi.

The previous three photos were not very clear, so he could only recognize the brand and model of the car. But now, it should be possible to identify the owner of the car given he sent clear pictures of the license plate.

After a while, Yang Shi Yu got out of the car, and the luxury car quickly turned around and left.

Yang Shi Yu raised his wrist and checked the time, hastening his pace back home. However, in Jin Zhou’s eyes, it was clearly a sign of guilt.

“Working overtime?” Jin Zhou emerged from behind a pole and walked alongside Yang Shi Yu.

Yang Shi Yu turned his head, showing obvious surprise in his eyes, but he immediately returned to normal and said casually, “Yeah.”

” just ‘yeah?” Jin Zhou was amazed by Yang Shi Yu’s ability to act dumb, “Who was that person just now?”

“Which person?” Yang Shi Yu countered.

“The person who drove you back,” Jin Zhou gritted his teeth with anger, “In a Maybach.”

“Oh,” Yang Shi Yu replied nonchalantly, “My baby.”

“Huh?” Jin Zhou stood still.

Yang Shi Yu’s steps didn’t waver at all, continuing to walk in the direction they were going. Jin Zhou had to catch up and looked at Yang Shi Yu from the side, asking, “What baby?”

“My baby,” Yang Shi Yu repeated, and at that moment, his phone received a WeChat notification. He continued walking while replying to the message. Jin Zhou couldn’t help but squeeze in to take a look, but all he saw were the words “Thank you.”

The meaning behind Yang Shi Yu’s actions was clear. Replying to the message was more important than talking to Jin Zhou.

“What baby are you talking about?” Jin Zhou’s tone became more aggressive, even he, wasn’t aware of it.

“The same as your babies,” Yang Shi Yu calmly put away his phone and glanced at Jin Zhou, then walked into his apartment, saying, “Don’t you understand? You’re familiar with it, aren’t you?”

“I…” Jin Zhou was momentarily speechless, paused for a moment, and asked in return, ” how is it the same?”

Yang Shi Yu didn’t respond further and went straight upstairs.

“All those are just acting. I haven’t touched them at all,” Jin Zhou followed Yang Shi Yu upstairs, “Besides, you don’t allow me to go out at night. It’s been a long time since I’ve contacted those ‘babies,’ okay?”

In fact, Jin Zhou himself was too lazy to contact those “babies.” When Yang Shi Yu had previously helped him cum with his hand on the bed, he jokingly said that among his “babies,” Yang Shi Yu ranked no more than 108. Of course, it was just a joke.

“It’s just acting for me too.” Yang Shi Yu still didn’t react, he opened the door, changed his shoes, and took off his jacket.

“Yang Shi Yu!” Jin Zhou’s heart was ignited, he didn’t bother changing his shoes, kicked off the flip-flops he wore outside, and walked barefoot behind Yang Shi Yu, grabbing his wrist, “Explain clearly to me, what kind of game are you playing?”

Jin Zhou didn’t like this feeling. He didn’t want Yang Shi Yu to see others . Even if it was just a social event, he didn’t like being in a situation where he didn’t understand what was happening around Yang Shi Yu.

“What about you?” Taking advantage of Jin Zhou’s grip, Yang Shi Yu used his other hand to loosen his tie, “You have too many ‘babies’ to count.”

“I told you, it’s different.” Jin Zhou stubbornly held onto Yang Shi Yu’s wrist, not thinking too much about it, and said straightforwardly, “I’ve only had you as my ‘baby’.”

“Oh?” Yang Shi Yu raised an eyebrow unexpectedly, with a barely noticeable hint of pleasure at the corner of his mouth.

At that moment, Jin Zhou belatedly realized something . He frowned and said, “Are you trying to change the subject again?”

That was already a common tactic used by Yang Shi Yu. Whenever a topic he didn’t want to discuss came up, he would say things to provoke Jin Zhou and divert his attention.

Last time it was him who brought up the topic, and this time it was him who mentioned the “babies.”

Was Jin Zhou that foolish to fall for it every time?

“That’s an old classmate.” Yang Shi Yu pulled his wrist back from Jin Zhou’s grip, took off his shirt, and threw it into the laundry basket.

Jin Zhou looked at the strong back and slender waist, couldn’t help but swallow, and absentmindedly asked, “What old classmate?”

“Just an ordinary old classmate.” After saying that, Yang Shi Yu took clean clothes and went into the bathroom.

 Jin Zhou snapped back to his senses from the sound of the shower. Only then did he realize that Yang Shi Yu was using his charm to divert his attention again.

Would he need to lie about working overtime to have a meal with an old classmate? Who would believe that?

“You have quite a collection of tricks up your sleeve, old fox.” Jin Zhou couldn’t help muttering.

While Jin Zhou was pondering how to make Yang Shiyu submit, he suddenly received a message on his phone from Sun Yi.

【Sun Yi: Jin Zhou, are you sure about this license plate?】

【Jin Zhou: What’s wrong?】

【Sun Yi: It belongs to Wang Hetai.】

Jin Zhou narrowed his eyes.

No wonder Yang Shiyu had kept his dinner a secret. It turned out he was acting behind Jin Zhou’s back.

But Jin Zhou clearly remembered that Wang Hetai wasn’t that young. So who was the person having dinner with Yang Shiyu earlier?

【Sun Yi: The person in the photo should be Wang Hetai’s secretary.】

【Sun Yi: His name is Zhao Qing.】

Jin Zhou instinctively read the second character as “Qing” instead of “Jing,” and he found it strange. How could it be a girl’s name?

【Jin Zhou: Did you make a mistake with the name ?】

【Sun Yi: no It is indeed that, read as Qing.】

Jin Zhou searched for the name on Baidu, and the photo that came up was indeed that of a well-dressed man.

Yang Shiyu had already established a connection with Wang Hetai’s secretary, and he didn’t even think to inform Jin Zhou.

There was a mix of emotions in Jin Zhou’s heart. He and Yang Shiyu shared a close relationship, or so it seemed. But now he discovered that Yang Shiyu had so many secrets hidden from him.

Directly asking Yang Shiyu wouldn’t work. Should he really resort to using seduction to get information?

It seemed like a challenging task…

Before Jin Zhou could decide how to approach Yang Shiyu, the judge in charge of the wrongful retaining  case, Chen, called him. He informed Jin Zhou that the application for the investigation order had been approved.

That surprised Jin Zhou because he hadn’t mentioned the matter to Yang Shiyu at all. The approval of the investigation order went smoother than he had imagined.

But on second thought, when the case was filed, Yang Shiyu had already informed him about it. It seemed that Judge Chen didn’t want to cause him too much trouble.

With the investigation order in hand, Jin Zhou went to the Agricultural Bank the next day.

This time, he placed the investigation order in front of the branch manager. The manager called the supervisor, who then called their superior. After a while of back and forth, finally someone with actual authority came forward and agreed to let Jin Zhou investigate Zhang Rui’s bank account.

The transaction records for the past three months were printed out, with numerous income and expenditure items, even including supermarket purchases as low as five yuan.

It seemed that Zhang Rui had decent spending habits. His salary was deposited in the bank account and not transferred to WeChat or Alipay.

Many young people were not accustomed to keeping money in the bank, but in reality, bank statements were essential for visa applications, loans, and other purposes.

Zhang Rui’s daily expenses weren’t too high, mostly below one thousand yuan, and there was still a balance of several hundred thousand in his account.

However, Jin Zhou immediately noticed something suspicious.

Zhang Rui’s salary was only three thousand yuan, and Jin Zhou didn’t believe his income could be that low. It was clearly a means of evading taxes, and if reported, it would surely be investigated.

But that wasn’t the key issue.

As someone with a monthly salary of only three thousand yuan, it was highly abnormal for Zhang Rui to have several hundred thousand yuan in savings.

Jin Zhou began searching for large inflows in the dense transaction records. He quickly discovered that every few months, a person would transfer a large sum of money to Zhang Rui under a private name, and Zhang Rui would then transfer a portion of that money to others.

Jin Zhou immediately thought of the only possibility—besides working at the Temple of Paris, Zhang Rui had another side business.

Just as he was thinking about it, a familiar voice rang in his ears.

“Brother, don’t you ever get tired?” Zhang Rui, with his messy hair, appeared in front of Jin Zhou once again, clearly having received insider information.

“You haven’t returned the watch, so how can it be considered done?” Jin Zhou neatly organized the A4 paper in his hand and was about to put it in the document bag when Zhang Rui held him back.

“How can you take my personal information away?” Zhang Rui asked anxiously.

Jin Zhou couldn’t help but find it funny. “This is evidence for the case. I have to present it in court. Why can’t I take it away?”

“Are you crazy?” Zhang Rui became completely agitated. “I didn’t sell any watches, and there’s no such income in my bank account. What’s the use of submitting it to the court?”

“If we’re investigating, we should do it thoroughly,” Jin Zhou calmly put away the documents. “Today, I can investigate this account, and tomorrow, I can investigate your other account. If I don’t find anything, I can also apply for a search warrant for your home. No matter where you hide, I can dig you out.”

In reality, lawyers could only apply for investigation orders, not search warrants. But Jin Zhou wanted to create the impression that he had unlimited power.

However, Zhang Rui proved to be more difficult to deal with than Jin Zhou had imagined. He changed his anxious expression and furrowed his brows slightly, saying with certainty, “Don’t think you can fool me. I consulted a lawyer, and you can’t search my home.”

Jin Zhou subtly raised his eyebrows. That was basically an admission of guilt.

If he didn’t have the watch, why would he consult a lawyer? Jin Zhou believed that after consulting the lawyer, Zhang Rui found out that he wouldn’t face any consequences, which made him act so arrogantly.

“Well, you should have also asked your lawyer if I have the authority to investigate your bank account,” Jin Zhou believed that Zhang Rui’s response would be something like “it’s unlikely.” “But here I am, investigating it. It shows that I have my ways.”

Zhang Rui’s expression changed, and Jin Zhou knew he hit the mark.

“No need for further nonsense,” Jin Zhou tapped Zhang Rui’s chest with the document bag. “See you in court.”

In the parking lot outside the Agricultural Bank, Jin Zhou sat in the driver’s seat and looked at Zhang Rui’s bank statements once again.

Initially, his plan was to use some indirect means to pressure Zhang Rui psychologically and force him to return the watch. If Zhang Rui returned the watch, Jin Zhou wouldn’t bother going to court.

But now, as he looked at the bank statements in his hand, Jin Zhou suddenly changed his mind.

He had to go to court, and he had to win the case. That way, he would have an extra bargaining chip.

The person who frequently transferred money to Zhang Rui under a persona name was the same person whose pronunciation Jin Zhou had confirmed earler—Zhao Jing.