"Last night?" Li Yan had already pieced it together. It seemed he hadn’t been unconscious for long, just one night and another day. "Of course, last night someone was up to no good, looking to cause trouble for me and my wife’s family. It’s my private vendetta, and we had been paying attention to it, so we dealt with those people, and then I took care of my adversary. After that... I should have gone back, but maybe I lost consciousness on the street. I thought you found me and brought me home."

Zheng Yixuan asked in a deep voice, "Are you sure this private vendetta, this adversary you dealt with, really is your enemy?"

"Of course, do I need to hide it from you? Didn’t you warn me about this last time? It’s a continuation of that matter; they wanted to mess with us..." Li Yan frowned slightly but, hearing the seriousness in his tone, explained nonetheless. The signal wasn’t completely secure, so some things couldn’t be said directly and were replaced with more subtle words.

Although he hadn’t previously told Zheng Yixuan about the specifics of Liu Yuyang’s situation, before killing Liu Yuyang, a large sum of money from the fund company he controlled was hacked, which was known to Zheng Yixuan through He Bin.

It was Zheng Yixuan’s turn to be puzzled. He initially thought Li Yan had clashed with the boss last night and that the boss had handled Li Yan as a warning to everyone through him, but now it seemed there was no sign of a standoff between the Seventh and the boss.

"I won’t beat around the bush with you, I’ll just ask you directly! Did you see the boss last night? Was there... a conflict?"

Zheng Yixuan had thrown caution to the wind; this matter needed clarity. If the Seventh relied on his skills and followers and indeed intended to challenge the boss, it would ultimately lead to watching brothers turn against each other and witnessing the fall of the Seventh!

He didn’t want that result!

At his age and with such success, he didn’t want to take risks. Accepting the boss’s support and his form of jurisdiction wasn’t a big deal; the boss didn’t meddle much, it was more of a tacit balance.

Zheng Yixuan was satisfied with the status quo, harmony was his goal. So, whether it was the early years with He Bin, He Zhengyuan, Zheng Yuzun, or middle-aged folks like Li Yan, Yu Mocheng, Guan Ziyi, or the newcomers like the Tenth, Wang Jiaqi, he never acted superior; he treated them as brothers, helping when needed, advising, and warning when necessary.

Li Yan’s previously revealed attitude had made him feel the disharmony.

"The boss? Conflict?" Li Yan couldn’t help but laugh, finally understanding why the third brother’s attitude seemed different than usual, always so serious. He thought they had had a spat!

"Heh, are you worried I’m after ’him’?" he said with a smirk.

"Hmph! You should know very well that in terms of strength, you’re far behind him!" Zheng Yixuan replied irritably.

"Alright, I don’t want to make things difficult for you. I’ll be honest with you; yesterday, ’he’ did contact me, said he would inform me to meet—hey, did you say something to him? Otherwise, how would he know I had a grudge against him?"

"..." Zheng Yixuan remained silent at Li Yan’s words, not explaining.

"It doesn’t matter, reporting our concerns to the boss is the right thing to do. Hey, I don’t mind. Speaking of yesterday, actually, it was ’his’ message that suggested I resolve my small issues first, which made me think there might be residual effects from that thing, so I decided to check it out and with Queen’s information, I managed to avert trouble temporarily."

Li Yan briefly explained and then said, "Just for this, I should thank him, right? How could I have a conflict with him? Besides, I haven’t even met him yet—haha, he’s not as willing as you to meet me."

Zheng Yixuan ignored his teasing, feeling relieved now that he knew the truth. He was more impressed with the boss. He considered himself well-informed, staying on top of family matters, like the turmoil last year when he quickly notified Yue Yao. But this time, he was in S City and noticed nothing, while the boss had everything under control.

The boss’s approach also won his approval, as he didn’t suppress Li Yan’s desire for independence but instead extended a favor, indebting him first and then having a better attitude in other areas. This approach effectively won over Li Yan’s loyalty and ensured he stayed focused on his work.

"This explains it..."

"Hmm?"

"Actually, it wasn’t me who found you, it was ’his’ people who found you. Because what happened last night, they brought you to the hospital this morning and notified your wife and me to take over. I thought after a whole night had passed, and with expert doctors at a loss, there was a conflict, and he did this to you..."

"Killing a chicken to scare the monkeys? Haha! You’re overthinking it." Li Yan couldn’t help but laugh; realizing this misunderstanding had made the third brother overthink everything.

Zheng Yixuan didn’t mind; without this incident, everyone would remain the same, without division.

"Now it seems ’he’ still cares and looks after you very much. Knowing you wanted to handle it yourself, he didn’t overstep by solving it for you but let you handle it. Yet, worried you’d suffer, he arranged for someone to support you, and when you had an accident, they immediately got you out. I guess last night, ’he’ was trying to find a way to wake you up, and not knowing what was wrong, he had no choice but to send you to the hospital."

Of course, Li Yan could hear that Zheng Yixuan was speaking well of the boss, subtly implying: see, the boss doesn’t blame you at all, he cares about you, so don’t think of leaving the organization...

Regardless, Li Yan would continue striving for what he needed to, but he would also remember this favor.

He was also curious, did the boss’s people really watch him all night? Why hadn’t he noticed at all?

They took me home for a night just to wake me up?

Wouldn’t a splash of cold water do the trick? Yurong wouldn’t bear to do it, but would they care? Did they need to watch over me until morning and send me to the hospital?

He really couldn’t fathom the boss’s mind, but he absolutely didn’t believe the boss was wholly altruistic to him; nor that the boss feared him—he was certain the boss understood all his capabilities, yet he knew nothing about the boss’s!

"Alright, I get it. I really didn’t plan to do anything to him; I just want to live my life. I won’t have any conflict with him."

"Hmm..." Having addressed his biggest concern about the boss, Zheng Yixuan had time to consider the details: "What did you do last night? Do you need me to cover your ass?"

"Heh heh... I wasn’t taking a dump, what are you covering for? I didn’t do anything!"

"By the way, what’s your deal? The hospital’s examination this morning couldn’t figure out your condition. I thought it was the boss who drugged you as a warning and expected him to give you an antidote, so I had your wife take you home first. How did you wake up?"

Li Yan, of course, didn’t want to answer that, "How would I know? Maybe I was tired and passed out, or ’his’ people knocked me out, or I really was drugged, who knows. Now that I’m awake, maybe I just slept it off or someone secretly gave me the antidote."

After saying this, he mumbled under his breath, "If I knew what was going on, would I still be unconscious?"

Zheng Yixuan thought anything was possible and didn’t ask further, advising him to rest well and hinting not to go against the boss before hanging up.

Having clarified the general situation, Li Yan returned to bed, contemplating how to handle the situation when Hai Fu and Yurong met...

(Oh yeah~~ Three updates today!) (To be continued. For more Chapters, please visit www.qidian.com, support the author, and support legitimate reading!)