“His father’s real name is Chen Qingyu. He was selected by the public security system 20 years ago and became an undercover agent, codenamed [Nanfeng].”
~ Beijing, Lu’s residence ~
The agent pushed a stack of information to Lu Zhuonian and continued’
“During the undercover period, he used the alias Chen Nanfeng and lurked in the Yaotai Langyuan Nightclub—the largest and most lavish hotspot in Beijing—to collect information on illegal drug trafficking.”
The Yaotai Langyuan case 20 years ago caused a sensation. It was one of the landmark cases in the special campaign against organized crime and corruption. The people involved were widely implicated, and more than a dozen officials were successively dismissed.
In addition to illegal drug trafficking, the case involved more than ten charges—among them organizing and coercing prostitution, public indecency, assault, murder, illegal gambling operations, forced transactions, bribery, and corruption.
Lu Zhuonian was just born at that time and had almost no knowledge of this old case. He could only vaguely glimpse some of the bloody storms of the year from the agent’s mouth.
It was not easy to solve the case. As the biggest contributor to the case, Chen Qingyu’s personal information was protected at the highest level, and the investigation was very troublesome.
But there is no impenetrable wall in the world. After more than half a month of investigation, the agent finally locked the identity of Chen Zhe’s father through a blurry old photo.
“Lu Shao, your friend Chen Zhe is not an illegitimate child. The unknown information of his biological father is his protection.”
“The entire public security system protects him.”
“Over the years, Chen Zhe has been quietly digging into his father’s past. But with the limited connections he has, he’s found almost nothing on Chen Qingyu. All he knows is vague at best—that his father once went by the name Chen Nanfeng, worked as a henchman at an upscale nightclub, and was closely tied to a number of influential, playboy heirs.”
At those words, Lu Zhuonian’s fingers twitched ever so slightly.
In this way, the agent couldn’t help but wonder if Chen Zhe approached Lu Shao and others just to investigate his father’s affairs?
As expected of the son of an outstanding graduate of the police academy, even if he had not received a day of professional training, he still relied on his own ability to get into the second-generation circle.
And if he wanted to use these people to investigate his father, he had even succeeded.
Lu Shao did it for him.
So he… took advantage of this prince?!
Even if the agent thought of this, he didn’t dare to say it directly, and could only remind him indirectly. “Young Master Lu, Chen Zhe and his father are somewhat similar; both are good at speaking and good at dealing with people.”
Lu Zhuonian heard the agent’s implication, but he didn’t care about it. What struck him more was how difficult Chen Zhe’s path must have been. After all these years, he had been quietly searching for his biological father in secret
His father was an undercover policeman. Even with Lu Zhuonian’s power and influence, it took him nearly a month to get some vague information.
Lu Zhuonian put down the information and looked at the agent. “It’s not easy for you to find these.”
The agent immediately took credit. “Oh, isn’t it! You don’t know how many connections I had to make in order to get this information. As for the details of the case and Chen Nanfeng’s experience during his undercover period, it will take more time to get some clues.”
Lu Zhuonian said calmly, “Thank you for your hard work. I will double your commission, but you must promise that no one else can know this information except you and me.”
The agent nodded repeatedly and said, “That’s for sure. This is our most basic professional quality, but…”
Lu Zhuonian’s eyes suddenly raised. “Just what?”
The agent lowered his voice, “Besides me, it seems that there are other people who are also involved in checking for news about [Nanfeng].”
Lu Zhuonian’s eyes darkened. “Who?”
The agent shook his head. “It’s hard to say. It’s been nearly twenty years since the Yaotai Langyuan case was tried and sentenced. Aside from those who were executed, the others—those given suspended death sentences or life imprisonment—might be nearing release, assuming conditions for commutation have been met.”
Lu Zhuonian tapped the table unconsciously with his fingers, thinking, “I will pay attention to this matter. Thank you for reminding me.”
The agent said, “Lu Shao is polite, but you can rest assured that even if they find out about Chen Qingyu, it will not be so easy to find Chen Zhe.”
Lu Zhuonian asked slowly, “How do you say it?”
The agent said, “Chen Zhe’s mother is named Jiang Xianyuan. Due to her special status, few people know that she is Chen Qingyu’s girlfriend.”
“During the mission, Chen Qingyu must have met her secretly, maybe once or several times.”
“Strictly speaking, it was a violation of protocol,” At this point, the agent smiled kindly. “But Chen Qingyu was only 23 years old at the time—still a young man. How could he resist not seeing his beloved?”
“Chen Qingyu was extremely cautious. At first, even the public security department failed to uncover his relationship with Jiang Xianyuan. Naturally, those other people had no chance—without any leads on her, there was nothing they could trace back to Chen Zhe either.”
“As the undercover operation progressed, Chen Qingyu gradually began making contact with the key figures behind Yaotai Langyuan. Once he was trusted and given more responsibility, his movements became far more restricted. To protect Jiang Xianyuan from exposure, he never saw her again.”
“But he never knew that Jiang Xianyuan was pregnant.”
“Not even when he died.”
*****
Lu Zhuonian couldn’t sleep all night.
How should I tell Chen Zemian about his father?
It seems that no matter how I say it, I can’t make Chen Zemian less sad.
Based on what Lu Zhuonian knew of Chen Zemian, once he learned the truth about his father’s identity, he wouldn’t stop there. He would do whatever it took to uncover what really happened all those years ago.
There were too many unanswered questions.
Who chose Chen Qingyu to go undercover?
Who did he make contact with during the operation?
What intel did he gather—and who did he pass it to?
How was his cover blown?
Was he betrayed?
Why didn’t backup arrive in time?
How did he die?
And most of all—who killed him?
Chen Zemian will never give up until these past events are investigated clearly.
He had always been the type to seek revenge—someone who couldn’t hold back his anger overnight.
Unless the person who killed his father is dead, he will definitely find a way to avenge his father.
However, this hatred is two-way.
Chen Zemian hates the person who killed his father, and the people involved in the case also hate Chen Qingyu.
This case has been sealed for 20 years. No matter who touches the seal, it will attract attention from all sides.
If Chen Zemian hides in the vast sea of people, those people may never find out his relationship with Chen Qingyu, but if he takes the initiative to go to this old case, it will be more conspicuous.
The Yaotai Langyuan case involves a wide range of people. If the people involved know that he still has a son alive, they will definitely take revenge on Chen Zemian.
But Lu Zhuonian can’t hide his father’s information under the banner of “for his own good.”
After thinking all night, Lu Zhuonian finally called Chen Zemian.
The call didn’t go through.
Lu Zhuonian called several times in a row, but Chen Zemian didn’t answer.
*****
Of course, Chen Zemian couldn’t answer the phone. He was sleeping at the time.
Last night, he, Xiao Kesong, and others played games until the early morning. In the second half of the night, several people got tired of playing and thought they could call it quits, but Xiao Kesong was busy playing mahjong again. One round turned into another, and before they knew it, the sky was beginning to lighten.
Chen Zemian slumped forward, resting his head on his arm, weakly tossing out tiles like a soulless, card-playing machine.
After years of hunting geese, he was finally pecked in the eye. When he didn’t sleep at the appointed time at night and stayed up all night to exhaust Lu Zhuonian, he should have thought that one day he would be kept up by others.
Xiao Kesong must be a coffee addict because he was so energetic all day long.
At four in the morning, Xiao Kesong was still in high spirits and said confidently, “We’ll play for another hour, go to bed at five, and get up at twelve. When we wake up, Ye Chen and Zhuonian will be here. Isn’t it exciting to think about it?”
Yan Luo, young and energetic, echoed, “Excited!”
Xiao Kesong’s eyes swept over Chen Zemian and Xue Duo. “What about you?”
Chen Zemian and Xue Duo had dull eyes and said listlessly, “Excited.”
At five in the morning, Xiao Kesong finally let Chen Zemian go to bed.
Chen Zemian fell on the bed and lost consciousness, sleeping until noon.
He picked up his phone and saw that it was two in the afternoon.
There were several missed calls in the message notifications, all from Lu Zhuonian.
In the WeChat messages, the top message was also from Lu Zhuonian.
【Lu Shao: Call me back when you have time. I have something to tell you.】
Chen Zemian turned over and called back.
No one answered.
Haven’t you gotten off the plane yet? That can’t be right. Weren’t you supposed to be at the hotel by noon?
Chen Zemian tried calling again, but still no one answered.
Strange.
Chen Zemian called Xiao Kesong.
Xiao Kesong answered quickly. “You can sleep a lot.”
Chen Zemian sat up and asked weakly, “Have Lu Shao and the others arrived?”
Xiao Kesong sighed, “Didn’t Zhuonian tell you? He has something to do and won’t come.”
Chen Zemian asked, “What’s so urgent?”
Xiao Kesong shook his head. Realizing Chen Zemian couldn’t see, he added, “I don’t know. Ye Chen can’t come either. They’re all just wasting my good intentions.”
Chen Zemian thought Lu Zhuonian would be at most a few days late, but he didn’t expect that after three days there was still no news.
No reply on WeChat, and the phone was completely unreachable.
If it weren’t for Ye Chen passing on the message, Chen Zemian would have suspected that Lu Zhuonian had been kidnapped.
Chen Zemian was worried, but Xiao Kesong looked calm, even a little accustomed to it.
Seeing Xiao Kesong’s heartless look, Chen Zemian guessed he must know something.
On the third night, Xiao Kesong was going to the bar again.
Chen Zemian followed him and tried every means to get him drunk and get the truth out of Xiao Kesong.
Under the flickering lights, Xiao Kesong—resting his head on his arm—told Chen Zemian, “Zhuonian is sick.”
Sick?
Chen Zemian was shocked and asked what the disease was.
Xiao Kesong waved his hand mysteriously and told Chen Zemian not to worry. It was an old problem, and he refused to say anything else.
Returning to the hotel in the early morning, Chen Zemian tossed and turned and couldn’t sleep—half because of the stomachache caused by drinking, and the other half because he was wondering what disease Lu Zhuonian had.
It was so late; it was not appropriate to call Ye Chen again.
Besides, even Xiao Kesong refused to say what disease Lu Zhuonian had, so Ye Chen was even less likely to tell him.
For no reason, Chen Zemian thought of the paroxetine in the medicine cabinet in Lu Zhuonian’s bedroom.
He picked up his phone and searched for the drug’s name and its indications.
Depression, anxiety, panic disorder, social phobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Could it be one of these?
First, rule out depression and social phobia, as these two possibilities are relatively low. Mysophobia should be considered obsessive-compulsive disorder, but obsessive-compulsive disorder is a chronic disease, and an attack would not prevent you from leaving the house. Anxiety disorder may affect your ability to fly.
The most serious is panic disorder.
When a panic disorder attacks, symptoms such as palpitations, cold sweats, and tremors occur, accompanied by a strong sense of impending death or loss of control.
So, could it be panic disorder? Lu Zhuonian was kidnapped as a child, and it is possible he has some psychological trauma. When he is not having an attack, he is no different from an ordinary person, but when he has an attack, it becomes very serious.
What kind of disease is this?
Chen Zemian originally just had a stomachache, but as he thought about it, his head began to hurt. He swallowed a pill and lay back on the bed, hoping to fall asleep from the drowsiness caused by the side effects of the drug.
Twenty minutes later, Chen Zemian kicked off the quilt and sat up from the bed.
So annoying! Lu Zhuonian is so annoying!
He didn’t tell him what disease he had, and he lost contact for such a long time, which made his stomach and head ache.
Is there any friend like this? He really wanted to go back to Beijing and scold him.
Yes, he would go back to Beijing and condemn him.
Condemn him severely.
Chen Zemian seemed to have found a reasonable, legitimate, and appropriate reason. He immediately picked up his phone to check flights.
There was a flight at 5:40 in the morning, flying from Fenghuang Airport to Daxing.
It was now 3:30 in the morning—just enough time to rush to the airport.
Chen Zemian didn’t pack his luggage. He threw on some clothes and grabbed his ID—no bag, no packing. Just a long down jacket slung over his shoulders, and he was out the door.
*****
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Not them looking out for each other..🙌🏻