Blank Charge

Randomly made up an excuse and sent it via WeChat.

【Jin Zhou: Today is Sun Yi’s birthday.】

【Jin Zhou: I’ll come back later tonight.】

Yang Shiyu was probably busy and didn’t reply immediately. However, after about ten minutes, he called.

“What time will you be back tonight?” Yang Shiyu asked.

“Around nine,” Jin Zhou replied vaguely.

“Where are you going?” Yang Shiyu asked again.

“Just the nearby Hai Di Lao,” Jin Zhou gave an accurate location.

“Be back before 8 o’clock,” Yang Shiyu said in a casual tone, “No drinking allowed.”

After saying that, Yang Shiyu hung up the phone, clearly displaying an uncompromising attitude.

However, Jin Zhou didn’t pay any attention to his words at all. He went out and wandered around for a while. At six o’clock in the evening, he arrived at Hai Di Lao right on time.

That day was not Sun Yi’s birthday, but it didn’t stop them from having a meal together.

Hu Zi had to go to work at the bar and couldn’t make it, so Jin Zhou only invited Sun Yi, Yu He, and Xiao Wu.

The service at Hai Di Lao was indeed very enthusiastic. The staff served Jin Zhou and his group non stop throughout the meal. Whenever they wanted to discuss private topics, the waiters would come and ask if they needed towels or water, always interrupting their conversation.

It had to be said, that was the downside of Hai Di Lao – the waiters were too strong while serving a meal.

But Jin Zhou didn’t go to Hai Di Lao that day for a chat.

Halfway through the meal, he pretended to go to the restroom, stood up and glanced around. In no time, he spotted a man sitting not far away, eating hot pot alone.

The reason he could confirm that that man came alone was that there was a giant doll placed opposite him by the Hai Di Lao staff, accompanying him while he ate.

That was also the considerate aspect of Hai Di Lao – when someone came alone to eat hot pot, the staff would bring a doll to accompany them.

The man eating hot pot alone was in his early twenties. Perhaps to avoid Jin Zhou’s gaze, he slightly lowered his head and focused on the food in his bowl. From Jin Zhou’s perspective, he could only see his full forehead and straight nose bridge.

But even so, Jin Zhou still recognized that person as the young handsome guy who had come to his rescue on the night he was attacked by Wei Jie.

He was wearing a tight black turtleneck sweater with a loose dark green pilot jacket on top. The open jacket faintly revealed his well-defined chest muscles, clearly indicating that he was someone who exercised.

If it weren’t for the cute doll sitting across from him, Jin Zhou would have thought the young man was really cool.

However…

He glanced at the doll again, and Jin Zhou almost burst out laughing.

He quickly averted his gaze, afraid that he wouldn’t be able to hold back his laughter. After having a great time with Sun Yi and the others, they finished at Hai Di Lao, Jin Zhou checked the time and it was exactly 8 o’clock.

If he went home immediately, he would be there before 8:15, but Jin Zhou didn’t plan on that.

“Jin Zhou, where are we going now?” Xiao Wu asked, following the lines written in the “script.”

Jin Zhou glanced somewhat indifferently behind him and saw the young handsome guy following them out of Hai Di Lao. He said, “Let’s go to the Paris Temple.”

“Are we going to find Zhang Rui?” Sun Yi asked.

“Yes,” Jin Zhou deliberately raised his voice, “Let’s go beat him up and see if he’s still be uncooperative.”

While chatting, they walked downstairs on the escalator. However, in less than two minutes, Jin Zhou’s phone vibrated.

Looking at the caller ID, he couldn’t help but curl his lips in amusement.

“Hello?” Jin Zhou answered the phone.

“Why aren’t you back yet?” Yang Shiyu’s voice came from the other end, a calm tone but with a hint of urgency.

“Isn’t it still early?” Jin Zhou lazily replied.

“Come back immediately,” Yang Shiyu’s voice became stern.

“It’s our brother’s birthday, why are you rushing me?” Jin Zhou complained in a pretentious manner, “You really are annoying.”

“Jin Zhou!” Yang Shiyu’s tone intensified, and Jin Zhou could almost imagine his furrowed brow.

“I’ll be back before twelve.” With that, Jin Zhou hung up the phone.

As expected, five seconds later, Yang Shiyu called again.

“There’s news from Wei Jie’s side.” Yang Shiyu must have known that Jin Zhou wouldn’t listen, so this time he changed tactics and threw out a bait.

“Oh?” Jin Zhou had no choice but to take the bait, after all, Wei Jie was obviously more important than his brother’s birthday. If he showed no interest in Wei Jie’s news, it would definitely arouse Yang Shiyu’s suspicion.

“Come home now,” Yang Shiyu said, “and I’ll tell you everything.”

As the saying goes, if you act, act the whole way. Jin Zhou had to pretend to be eager and said, “I’ll be back soon.”

“Jin Zhou, are you going home?” Xiao Wu asked cooperatively.

“You guys continue to the Paris Temple,” Jin Zhou continued the act, “and beat Zhang Rui half to death for me.”

Strolling back home at a leisurely pace, Jin Zhou changed into slippers and shouted towards the house, “Wife?”

At that moment, Yang Shiyu was sitting on the living room sofa, looking at files. When he saw Jin Zhou, he put down the materials in his hand and expressionlessly said, “Didn’t I tell you to be back before 8 o’clock?”

“I already said, it’s my brother’s birthday, how could I leave so soon?” Jin Zhou casually brushed it off and changed the topic, “What about Wei Jie?”

Yang Shiyu didn’t respond.

“If you’re not going to talk, then I’ll go out again” Jin Zhou pretended to change his shoes.

Yang Shiyu frowned, seemingly helpless, and said, “Wei Jie has been caught.”

“When did it happen?” Jin Zhou put on a surprised expression and sat down next to Yang Shiyu.

“A couple of days ago,” Yang Shiyu answered sparingly.

“And you’re telling me now, a couple of days later?” Jin Zhou asked unhappily, this time he didn’t pretend, because he was genuinely a little unhappy.

“I just found out too,” Yang Shiyu said.

Jin Zhou didn’t believe it at all and asked again, “Then what? Did he confess?”

“He did,” Yang Shiyu said.

As expected, it was the same as always, like squeezing toothpaste. Jin Zhou asked a little, and Yang Shiyu would only answer a little.

But this further confirmed Jin Zhou’s speculation that the young handsome guy was the person Yang Shiyu assigned to follow him.

That person timely informed Yang Shiyu about Jin Zhou’s plan to beat someone at the Paris Temple, and Yang Shiyu, in order to stop Jin Zhou from causing trouble, had to find ways to make him go back home.

Otherwise, Yang Shiyu wouldn’t have brought up Wei Jie on his own, but after Jin Zhou returned home, he showed an unwillingness to say much.

“So what?” Jin Zhou was already used to squeezing toothpaste, so he asked patiently, “What’s your plan next?”

“I don’t know,” Yang Shiyu said.

Upon hearing this, Jin Zhou really wanted to argue with Yang Shiyu. As a judge, how could he always lie like this?

He was already sitting in Wang and Tai’s Maybach, yet Yang Shiyu said he had no plans?

Forget it, it’s not like it’s the first day he’s known the rigid guy beside him.

Helplessly, Jin Zhou took out his phone and was about to ask about Sun Yi’s situation when Sun Yi sent a message at the right time: Caught him.

Actually, Jin Zhou didn’t let Sun Yi and the others go to the Paris Temple. Instead, he had them lure the young handsome guy to a remote area and find a way to catch him.

It seemed that the plan had succeeded, and Jin Zhou didn’t have to hide it anymore.

 Jin Zhou put away his phone and looked at Yang Shiyu, “Your little informant brother has been caught by me, do you have any other little brothers i should know of?”

The living room fell silent for a second, and Yang Shiyu subtly raised an eyebrow and calmly asked, “What little brother?”

“I found it strange the first time,” Jin Zhou rested his elbow on the armrest, his tone both casual and somewhat serious, “when we went to the KTV to find Chun Jie.”

Yang Shiyu lowered his eyes and pondered for a moment, then calmly looked back at Jin Zhou.

“Just by looking at your phone, you knew the police were coming. At that time, I guessed that you must have someone helping you,” Jin Zhou continued, “After thinking about it, I remembered when we caught Wang Darong.”

“At the back alley of the bar, you didn’t interrogate Wang Da Rong at all. I knew you were planning to interrogate him alone after I left, but what if I didn’t have an argument with you? What if I insisted on going home with you? The police would have arrived within five minutes. How could you be sure that you could take Wang Da Rong away in such a short time?”

“If Wang Da Rong was taken away by the police, you wouldn’t be able to interrogate him thoroughly, which would be a wasted opportunity. I was always curious about how you remained so calm. But if you had someone helping you, then the situation becomes simple. You deliberately took me away, and your little helper took Wang Da Rong away.”

“If I remember correctly, it was raining at that time, and you were constantly looking at your phone. It should have been to notify your little informer brother, right?”

“But what you didn’t expect was that Wang Da Rong’s girlfriend was also in the casino and took him away before your informer could. If my guess is correct, your little informer arrived a step late and just saw Chun Jie taking Wang Da Rong into the car. He couldn’t catch up, right?”

Jin Zhou spoke a lot, but Yang Shi Yu remained unresponsive, neither refuting nor admitting.

“Your little informer brother started lurking around me,” Jin Zhou continued “it should have been after that incident. You noticed that I had many lovers at the bar and had your little brother inquire about my romantic history.”

At that time, Liu Yongchang told me that a young handsome guy was asking about me. I thought it was just another pursuer, but it turned out to be a spy from my own wife. But why, Yang Shi Yu, I know you love me, but is it really necessary? Really, none of my lovers can be more important than you”

Yang Shi Yu’s lips twitched, his speechlessness written all over his face, and he was too lazy to refute Jin Zhou.

“Then came the attack by Wei Jie.” Jin Zhou continued, “At that time, I didn’t immediately realize that the person was your informer. I just thought, that young man was really handsome—”

Yang Shi Yu glared at him.

“Cough, cough,” Jin Zhou cleared his throat, “but the person who was with me in the ambulance turned out to be you. I believe he is the one who informed you. I don’t believe it was just a coincidence. I had just passed out, and you happened to show up. So it must have been that young handsome guy who informed you.”

Yang Shi Yu pursed his lips and asked with a faint expression, “What if it was just a coincidence?”

“Maybe all of this can be considered a coincidence, but the moment you revealed yourself was when I went to the Paris Temple to cause a scene,” Jin Zhou said, feeling a bit tired from leaning on his elbow, so he changed to sitting cross-legged on the sofa, “When you returned home and found that I wasn’t there, how did you know that I had caused trouble outside?”

“Actually, that day I was wearing your coat and cap. I vaguely felt that you might have arranged someone to follow me, so I wanted to slip out unnoticed. But you still caught me. When you called, what was the first thing you said?”

“You told me to ‘come back.’ Normally, shouldn’t you have asked me where I was? What if I just went downstairs to buy some melon seeds and soda? I often go out to buy melon seeds, but you immediately knew that I was causing trouble outside. It can only be because someone told you.”

“And then today.” After saying so much, Jin Zhou took a breath and concluded, “You were so eager to call me back because you were afraid I would beat up Zhang Rui in the Paris Temple, right?”

The living room fell quiet again, and after a while, Yang Shi Yu’s indifferent voice sounded, “So you were setting a trap for me just now?”

“Yes,” Jin Zhou smirked, “Didn’t expect your husband to be so clever, did you?”

Yang Shi Yu showed no embarrassment at being exposed, maintaining his calm and composed demeanor. 

 Jin Zhou continued, “I know you were just worried about my safety, and didn’t think it through. In any case, you rushed to be by my side as soon as possible.”

Yang Shi Yu didn’t respond, tacitly accepting Jin Zhou’s statement.

“After that, I didn’t pursue this matter further, so you thought I didn’t care.” Jin Zhou smiled again and asked, “So, who is that young handsome guy? Why don’t you introduce my lifesaver to me?”

Yang Shi Yu opened his lips to speak, but at that moment, his phone suddenly vibrated, interrupting the words that were about to come out.

He looked at his phone and asked, “You said your people have captured my informer?”

“Mm-hmm,” Jin Zhou said, “Don’t worry, my brother knows how to handle such situations.”

“Well, that’s a problem.” Yang Shi Yu lifted his gaze from the phone screen and said, “Your brother was knocked unconscious just now.”