This luxurious villa is exceptionally grand and spacious. It belongs to the old-timer Sun Hao, a collector of antiques, and the entire Sanya Grand Hotel is also his property. The hotel is now managed by Sun Hao’s daughter, Sun Jing, while the villa serves as Sun Hao’s private retreat for relaxation and health, occasionally doubling as a venue for meetings.
Sun Hao is a very steady and composed person. Although he calls himself a sworn brother with Qian Wanke on the surface, their actual relationship is quite ordinary.
After Li Jiazheng left, all the other bosses also departed, leaving only seven or eight people from Qian Wanke’s faction waiting for his orders.
These individuals are all billionaires, some even worth hundreds of billions.
However, they were all promoted by Qian Wanke. Without him, they wouldn’t have achieved their current status.
Due to Han Baisheng’s outburst, Qian Wanke lost a great deal of face.
Originally, Qian Wanke had intended to wholeheartedly help Han Baisheng, planning to let him pay a little money upfront, after which he would give him a few plots of land to recoup his losses. But Han Baisheng proved ungrateful and rebellious, even daring to confront him publicly in front of everyone. Therefore, Qian Wanke had no intention of continuing to support Han Baisheng.
“Go on, all of you ungrateful bastards! Now that your wings have grown strong, you don’t even respect me anymore! None of you are to interfere in this matter again—let him handle it himself. From now on, Han Baisheng and I have nothing to do with each other!” Qian Wanke angrily stormed off, deeply humiliated by today’s events.
The people from Qian Wanke’s faction shook their heads and followed him out.
Eventually, only three old-timers—Sun Hao, Jiang Zhihao, and Jiang Tao—remained seated. Among them, Sun Hao lit a cigar and began smoking casually, clearly in no rush to leave.
Jiang Zhihao fiddled with his prayer beads, bowing his head in deep thought.
The youngest among them, Jiang Tao, was playing with a pen in his hand, watching Sun Hao and Jiang Zhihao. After two or three minutes of silence, he smiled slightly and spoke, “Elder brothers, we three are on the same team. I think this incident is quite suspicious—it’s not as simple as it seems. What do you two think?”
Sun Hao exhaled a puff of smoke and smiled faintly, “Go on, tell me what’s so suspicious.”
Jiang Tao nodded, “According to normal logic, Chen Shuimiao’s actions are highly unusual. Unless he has some special, guaranteed advantage, he absolutely wouldn’t dare to bet his entire fortune against Han Baisheng. What’s strange is that he’s just a former waiter, and apparently even practices some sort of Taoist magic. That’s what puzzles me.”
“That’s right. I’ve had people investigate. They drank dozens of jin of wine mixed with Erguotou and even a bottle of 96-degree vodka, yet none of them got drunk—they acted as if nothing had happened. They cleaned out Qian Shaotai’s money—Qian Wanke’s illegitimate son—and Han Baisheng lost sixty million as well. Such a thing is truly unbelievable,” Jiang Zhihao looked at Sun Hao. “Brother Sun, since this hotel is yours, surely you have some inside information?”
Sun Hao nodded and picked up the remote control on the table, turning on a massive display screen mounted on the wall. He began playing surveillance footage. “Pay attention to what Chen Shuimiao is doing here.” On the screen, Shuimiao was seen in the lobby, closing his eyes and using his mind to sense what was happening outside. Then came the scene where Shuimiao told Director Zhang’s bodyguard about the gun and drugs on the man’s person. “Tell me, how did he know that?”
“…”
After watching the footage, Jiang Tao and Jiang Zhihao were stunned. Jiang Tao furrowed his brow, “Could he really be practicing black magic?”
“There’s another part,” Sun Hao said, opening another video. “When that Southeast Asian curse master entered the room, all the seals and talismans on the jars he carried suddenly broke. What do you think caused that?”
“And also, look at how this Madam Liu acted when she got out of the car.”
Sun Hao played several more video clips.
When Jiang Tao and Jiang Zhihao saw the footage of Madam Liu frozen in place, unable to move, they were completely shocked, their minds racing with possibilities.
At that moment, Sun Hao turned off the videos and pulled out several photographs from his pocket. “Now let’s analyze Chen Shuimiao. These are some photos I managed to get. Here’s one taken months ago when he applied for a temporary residence permit. Another was taken when he was spotted at the hotel with Lin Qing’er a few days ago—snapped by a paparazzi, but never published due to pressure from the Lin family. And this is a recent photo of Chen Shuimiao.”
“How could he have changed so drastically!?”
Jiang Tao pointed at the photo from the residence permit. “This one looks normal—just a typical laborer’s photo. In the one with Lin Qing’er, he looks slightly younger, but in the most recent photo, he clearly looks four or five years younger! Could he have had cosmetic surgery?”
“That’s impossible. He hasn’t left Shanghai since he returned,” Sun Hao shook his head.
Jiang Zhihao was growing impatient. “Old Sun, stop beating around the bush. Just tell us what you’re thinking. I’m getting a headache from all this guessing.”
“Hehe…”
Sun Hao gave a faint smile. “I just want to say that Chen Shuimiao is no ordinary man. To find out the truth isn’t difficult at all—just talk to any of the women around him.”
“Hehe, no need for you to investigate, Senior Sun…”
Suddenly, Shuimiao’s voice rang out, and he appeared inside the meeting room’s bathroom.
Seeing Shuimiao, the three old-timers were greatly startled.
Sun Hao put down his cigar and narrowed his eyes. “How did you get in here? This place is under heavy surveillance, and there are at least three checkpoints outside.”
“Just surveillance, nothing more,” Shuimiao smiled and approached the three, waving his hand. A chair flew over and landed right under him. He sat down calmly.
“Y-you… is this black magic!?” Jiang Zhihao’s eyes widened in disbelief.
Jiang Tao quickly got up to inspect the chair, suspecting it was a prearranged mechanism.
“Of course not black magic. If I used magic, would those who killed my father still be alive today?” Shuimiao shook his head lightly, nodded at the three, and said, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, seniors. I’ve seen those videos and photos too. Impressive—you’ve gathered so much information on me within an hour. That’s no small feat. And your attitudes are quite different from others I’ve encountered—you’re not malicious. That’s why I decided to come talk to you. What I’m asking you to do is simple: tell me the truth about how my father was murdered, and in return, I’ll offer you unimaginable benefits and opportunities. The benefit is that you three will become the leaders of the Shanghai Business Association, and the opportunity is… to become my disciples.”
…
The three old-timers of the business association were utterly stunned. They could tell—Shuimiao had come fully prepared.
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