Chapter 554: Number 2 11. Sorry, you recognized the wrong person (one more)

"Gu Qingzhu’s news has come." As soon as the voice on the other end of the phone ceased, Fu Chenxuan’s complexion changed.

"What did you say? Where is she?"

"Someone saw her in Beijing, on the bar street. I’ve also accessed the surveillance footage. However, I can’t be sure because it doesn’t show her front face, only a side profile, and the rest are back views. But I compared the photos you sent me, and the resemblance is high, so I want you to check it yourself. Also, I found some other things you will need to see." The tone of the person on the other end was somewhat heavy. But at this time, Fu Chenxuan was preoccupied with the news about Gu Qingzhu, barely noticing this.

"Where is the stuff?"

"I’ve sent it to your email."

"Good, I’ll transfer the money to your account. However, I need you to continue tracking her whereabouts, finding her current location would be best."

Fu Chenxuan hung up the phone and eagerly opened his email. Although the video sent was blurry, he recognized the woman in the video as Gu Qingzhu at a glance. Compared to four years ago, she looked much thinner, and her hair had grown longer, but it was her without a doubt.

Fu Chenxuan stared at the video of her, his gaze suddenly tightening as he looked towards another corner of the video. There were two more figures, though facing away, he knew from their silhouettes that they were Fu Shuyi and Fu Shuchen.

A hint of doubt surfaced in his eyes, unclear why both of them were there.

But when Fu Chenxuan finished reading the information provided, he was stunned. Was this the reason Gu Qingzhu had left without saying goodbye?

Along with the materials was a photograph, a recent one of Gu Qingzhu. The angle suggested it was taken secretly, but the photographer seemed very experienced, as the photo was very clear.

In the photo, Gu Qingzhu wore sunglasses, her hair cascading down, her pretty face devoid of any expression, dressed in a black outfit, with several burly men following her. She looked exactly like a boss from the underworld. The documents identified the woman in the photo as Song Bing, the second-in-command of an underworld organization in Beijing. Different name, different identity, but the face was strikingly similar.

Fu Chenxuan felt his heart sink.

He memorized the information about Song Bing and drove to University B, pulling Fu Shuyi out of class.

Fu Shuyi came running out, a bit bewildered, "Brother, why are you in such a hurry to find me?" She had just left the classroom in front of her tutor, who was visibly upset. Only because it was her brother looking for her; anyone else might not have received her attention.

Fu Chenxuan fixed his gaze on his sister, "Did you go to the bar street five days ago?"

Fu Shuyi’s eyes flickered, "No, I haven’t been there. If I go to a bar, it’s usually Charming Color, as you know." She denied with her lips but was internally figuring out how to settle accounts with Fu Shuchen. They had agreed not to tell their brother, but the moment he returned to campus, he betrayed her, thinking she couldn’t do anything about it because of his military school commitments, right? This wretch better not come back; otherwise, he’ll see what’s waiting for him next time he’s home.

"Fu Shuyi, I’m not in the mood for your evasions; tell me the truth, did you go or not?" Fu Chenxuan’s expression became stern.

As Fu Shuyi met his slightly chilly gaze, she immediately surrendered, "Alright, alright, I admit it. I did go, but I didn’t do anything bad. I just went to see a drag queen show, really just a quick glance, and then I went home with Shuchen."

Anxiously, she spoke, fearing misunderstanding and a scolding from Fu Chenxuan.

Fu Chenxuan pulled up a photo on his phone, "Have you seen this person before?"

After a glance, Fu Shuyi exclaimed, "Isn’t this the sister Shuchen and I met that night? Brother, how do you have her photo?"

"Did you really meet her?"

"Yes, I even spoke to her." Fu Shuyi said.

"Tell me about that night specifically, quickly." Fu Chenxuan grabbed his sister’s shoulders, not controlling his strength, causing Fu Shuyi to wince, "Brother, you’re hurting me."

Realizing his force, Fu Chenxuan let go, "Shuyi, quickly tell me what happened that night."

Although Fu Shuyi found her brother’s reaction strange, she recounted the events precisely, "That’s what happened that day."

"You said she was hurt?" Fu Chenxuan frowned deeply.

"Yeah, I even warned her, but she didn’t seem to care and went away. Brother, do you know her?" Fu Shuyi was curious, never having seen her brother so concerned about a woman before, not even Lin Jing received such treatment.

Fu Shuyi didn’t know much, so Fu Chenxuan couldn’t get more information from her, "Shuyi, I have to leave for a bit, you head back to class." After saying this, Fu Chenxuan drove away, leaving Fu Shuyi swallowing a mouthful of car exhaust, staring blankly at the departing car, somewhat unable to gather her wits. So he just left without even rebuking her for hanging around such dangerous places? This was very uncharacteristic of Fu Chenxuan; according to plot developments, shouldn’t he have held her for at least two hours for a lecture before setting her free?

However, not being scolded was a good thing. She should be celebrating, she thought with a laugh. But recalling the persistent questioning about that incident and the photo earlier, a guess began to form in her mind.

**

Fu Chenxuan drove straight to Qidian Bar, but it was barely afternoon, and the bar had yet to open; the doors were shut. Fu Chenxuan approached and knocked for a long while before someone came to open the door, "Who is it? It’s daytime. Are you looking for trouble?"

The person who arrived hadn’t seen the knocker clearly yet and spoke impatiently at first. However, when they saw it was Fu Chenxuan, they paused slightly and softened their tone. Attractive people, whether male or female, always tended to win others’ favor, "Sir, the bar only opens in the evening; you are here too early."

"I’m not here to drink."

"The performances are also in the evening." The person assumed he was here to see the drag show. Ever since the bar introduced risqué acts, business had been booming, with a continuous stream of customers.

"I’m looking for Song Bing." Fu Chenxuan stated his purpose directly.

On hearing this, the person became instantly wary, "Our boss isn’t in. Do you need her for something? I can pass a message for you."

"Tell her, someone named Fu Chenxuan is looking for her," Fu Chenxuan said gravely.

The person eyed Fu Chenxuan suspiciously. He didn’t seem like he was here to cause trouble, but the Boss had just instructed them a few days ago to be cautious as security concerns had been raised recently. This man, looking for their second-in-command out of the blue, had a strange air about him.

So, the person didn’t agree immediately but instead said, "I will relay your message to our boss, but she really isn’t here."

"When will she be back?"

"I don’t know that. She doesn’t come here often. I’m not authorized to know her whereabouts; after all, she’s the boss."

Fu Chenxuan’s expression grew distant as he stared fixedly at the person, who looked back calmly, "Understood, thank you." After speaking, Fu Chenxuan turned and left.

After watching Fu Chenxuan drive away, the person closed the door and headed to the second floor, "Sister Bing, a man claiming to be Fu Chenxuan was looking for you just now."

The woman known as Sister Bing was lounging on a couch, fiddling with a pair of small scissors she had just used for trimming her nails. Her movements paused breifly then resumed naturally, "Oh? Fu Chenxuan? Who?"

The person shook his head, "Never seen him before. Probably a new guest. But recently, Boss told us to be careful. Sister Bing, what do you think?" He gestured across his neck.

Song Bing shook her head, "Things have been tense lately; let’s not stir up trouble."

The person acknowledged with a nod, and Song Bing got up from the couch, "I’ll leave this place to you. I won’t come over for the next few days. If there’s any issue, handle it yourself."

"Alright, Sister Bing, take care," the person said respectfully as Song Bing departed.

Song Bing left through the backdoor of the bar, which opened onto an old district with intertwining alleys—an easy place to get lost if one wasn’t familiar. But just as she stepped outside, she saw someone standing there and paused momentarily. Instinctively, she glanced around, but saw no one else.

It was daytime, the nearby bars were closed, and there were hardly any pedestrians. Then she finally looked at Fu Chenxuan, her eyes momentarily registering surprise.

Fu Chenxuan stared intently at her, "Gu Qingzhu, how long do you plan to keep hiding from me?" His eyes were filled with suppressed excitement and anger.

Song Bing frowned, "Gu Qingzhu? Sorry, you’ve mistaken me for someone else." Instead of walking away, she stepped forward toward Fu Chenxuan intending to pass by him, but Fu Chenxuan caught her wrist.

"Mistaken identity? Gu Qingzhu, do you think I’m a three-year-old child? That I’ll believe anything you say?"

Song Bing’s expression darkened, "I told you, sir, you’ve got the wrong person. I’m not Gu Qingzhu. I am Song Bing." Her gaze was icy, devoid of any emotion, differing starkly from the person he remembered, almost as if she was signaling that she was not the person he thought she knew.

"Heh, you don’t even want to acknowledge my name now?" Fu Chenxuan’s expression turned ugly.

Song Bing’s gaze shifted to his hand gripping her wrist, her eyebrows furrowed tightly, "Please let go."

Fu Chenxuan, having finally found her, was not about to let go easily, "Gu Qingzhu, why did you leave without saying goodbye all those years ago?"

"I said let go." Song Bing’s tone was icy, her anger evident.

Worried she might run, Fu Chenxuan subconsciously tightened his grip, Song Bing suddenly got angry, raised her other hand, and swung at Fu Chenxuan. The force behind it would have caused injury if it had landed. His body reacted before his mind did, and he dodged the strike.

The two unexpectedly came to blows, but just as Fu Chenxuan’s fist was about to connect with her left shoulder, he suddenly recalled Fu Shuyi mentioning she had been injured. In his moment of hesitation, Song Bing’s fist hit his abdomen mercilessly, causing him so much pain that his face turned pale and his grasp involuntarily loosened.

Song Bing took the opportunity to escape, Fu Chenxuan chased after her, but the pain in his abdomen and unfamiliarity with the surroundings slowed him down. In the blink of an eye, she had disappeared, leaving Fu Chenxuan to punch the wall in frustration, feeling no pain from the impact.

Gu Qingzhu, who are you really, and what are you doing now?

For three consecutive days, Fu Chenxuan came to Qidian Bar to wait for Song Bing, but she never showed up again, except for the man he had seen that day.

At first, the man was very cautious when he saw Fu Chenxuan at the bar, but seeing that he simply sat there silently without doing anything else, and since Song Bing had said not to mind, he gradually started to treat him as if he were air.

Fu Chenxuan had waited a week, finally resigned to the fact that Song Bing was not going to show up, waiting here was useless, and besides this bar, Song Bing’s whereabouts were momentarily untraceable, she had vanished into thin air once again.

**

"Brother Chenxuan, what’s been wrong with you these past few days, you seem distracted?" Guoguo came in to deliver some documents and noticed Fu Chenxuan staring out the window, lost in thought—a frequent occurrence these days.

Fu Chenxuan snapped back to reality and met Guoguo’s concerned eyes, managing a slight smile, "I’m fine, is there something you need me to handle?"

Guoguo nodded, "Yes, there is a document here that needs your signature."

Fu Chenxuan took the document and flipped directly to the end, about to sign, when Guoguo stopped him, "Brother Chenxuan, aren’t you going to read it first?"

Fu Chenxuan then remembered he hadn’t looked at the document at all, paused, "Let me read it first and then I’ll get back to you, you go ahead with your work."

"Brother Chenxuan, are you really okay?" Guoguo couldn’t rest easy, Fu Chenxuan had been too odd these days.

Fu Chenxuan shrugged, "What could be wrong with me?"

Guoguo stared intently at him, still unable to read anything from his face; he was always good at hiding his emotions, "Alright then, I’ll go now, Brother Chenxuan, but don’t forget to tell me if you need anything."

Fu Chenxuan nodded, and once Guoguo left, the smile immediately disappeared from his face, staring expressionlessly at the document in front of him for a long time without averting his gaze.

Shen Qinglan could sense her son’s recent unhappiness. Despite Fu Chenxuan hiding it well, this was her child whom she had raised since he was small, and she could still notice even the subtlest change in his mood.

She had learned about Song Bing’s situation through her channels and had tried to probe Fu Hengyi too, but Fu Hengyi’s responses were watertight, even Shen Qinglan couldn’t obtain any useful information.

"Fu Hengyi, why didn’t you stop Chenxuan when he left the military academy all those years ago?" Shen Qinglan, having just bathed, turned to the man reading a book and asked.

Fu Hengyi looked up slightly, only to see Shen Qinglan had come out without drying her hair—after more than twenty years, she still hadn’t changed this habit. Fu Hengyi helplessly got up and fetched a towel from the bathroom to dry her hair.

"You haven’t answered my question yet." Shen Qinglan frowned.

Fu Hengyi spoke lightly, "He’s an adult. What he should or shouldn’t do is for him to decide. We’re his parents, but we can’t be with him forever. If we make all his decisions, how will he ever grow?" His answer was no different from what he had said four years ago.

Initially, Shen Qinglan was against the idea when she found out her son intended to drop out and go abroad. However, Fu Hengyi stopped her. It was strange, looking back, since in this family, it was undoubtedly Fu Hengyi who most wanted Chenxuan to join the military.

"I want to know the real reason," Shen Qinglan was not so easily fooled. In the past, she thought their son had grown up and needed space, but now thinking about it, he was still a child in many ways, and there were things they needed to involve themselves in, otherwise situations like the present would arise, where they knew their son was suffering but couldn’t help.

"Qinglan, that is the real reason. Do you think I would lie to you?" Fu Hengyi sighed, it seemed these days telling the truth was not believed.

"Did you know that he left the military academy for a person named Gu Qingzhu?" Shen Qinglan changed her questioning method. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"How come it’s Gu Qingzhu again?" Fu Hengyi feigned confusion.

Shen Qinglan, growing impatient, pinched Fu Hengyi hard on his waist. Despite being over fifty, his rigorous exercise regimen meant he bore a perfect figure with not an ounce of excess fat—the gesture was hardly painful to him.

"If you don’t come clean today, you’re sleeping in the study starting tonight," Shen Qinglan threatened sternly.

Fu Hengyi’s movements froze, "Wife, are you really going to start a fight with me over that darned kid, Fu Chenxuan?"

"I don’t want to fight; just tell me the truth, Fu Hengyi. I can’t just watch my son waste away." It had been more than half a month, and Fu Chenxuan had been in a soulless state, exactly like he had been four years ago.

A cold light flashed in Fu Hengyi’s eyes as he spoke coldly, "To be so desperate over a woman, what an accomplishment for him."

Shen Qinglan quickly caught on to the essence of his words, "You indeed know."

Fu Hengyi feigned innocence, "What do I know?"

Shen Qinglan snorted coldly, staring fixedly at Fu Hengyi, "So now you’ve learned to play tricks with me, Fu Hengyi. Have you started to dislike me?"

Fu Hengyi protested, "Wife, I swear, my feelings for you have been consistent for twenty years. I love you too much to ever dislike you."

"Heh, consistent for twenty years—now it’s been twenty-seven years, no wonder you’re tired of me."

Fu Hengyi exasperatedly responded, "Qinglan, must you really nitpick my words?"

"Do you have to hide it from me?" Shen Qinglan asked indifferently.

Fu Hengyi stared at her intently, and after a while, silently picked up his pillow. "I’ll sleep in the study tonight, remember to close the window when you sleep tonight, don’t catch a cold."

Shen Qinglan was furious.

The next morning, Fu Chenxuan got out of bed and saw his father coming out of the study, slightly raising an eyebrow, "Dad, were you kicked out to sleep in the study by Mom? What did you do to make Mom mad?" His tone was full of schadenfreude.

Fu Hengyi, with a cold face, looked at his son displeasedly. If it weren’t for this lousy kid, would he have been kicked out to sleep in the study?

"Getting up so late?"

Fu Chenxuan... He silently looked at his watch, six o’clock, how was that late?

"Dad, you just got up too."

"I am an old man, are you?" Fu Hengyi scoffed.

Fu Chenxuan... Now he was sure his dad was definitely on edge today, and only his mom could soothe him. Others were of no use, so, not wanting to become cannon fodder, Fu Chenxuan quietly went downstairs and out for a run.

Fu Hengyi glanced at his son, the chief culprit, and looked toward the still-closed bedroom door, touching his nose. Ah, having such a smart wife was sometimes quite troubling.

At breakfast, Fu Chenxuan could clearly sense that something was off. Usually, the mealtime was filled with lovey-dovey gestures, but today the dining table was unusually quiet, no, it was like a battlefield.

Fu Hengyi peeled an egg and put it in Shen Qinglan’s bowl, only for it to reappear in his own bowl a moment later. He looked up to meet his mother’s gentle gaze, "Chenxuan, you’ve been working too hard recently, eat an egg to replenish some nutrients."

Fu Chenxuan slightly turned his head and saw his father’s frosty eyes, his lips curling into a smile. "Mom, you’ve been working hard too, you should eat the egg."

Shen Qinglan spoke blandly, "I’m allergic to eggs, I can’t eat them."

Fu Hengyi: ...

Fu Chenxuan: ...

At least make the excuses believable!

Madam mother: "Allergic to eggs." Being a filial son, Fu Chenxuan naturally had to relieve his mother from her troubles. Under the intense pressure from his father, he silently finished the egg.

No sooner had he finished the egg than a glass of milk appeared. "This milk was just delivered this morning, you drink it too."

Fu Chenxuan looked up at his dad. Sure enough, Fu Hengyi’s face had turned black, while his mother was leisurely eating her food in the bowl, the very picture of elegance.

Fu Chenxuan silently shed a few tears of sympathy for Fu Hengyi in his heart. It seemed this issue was a big one, his mom was really angry.

Not wanting to become cannon fodder, Fu Chenxuan secretly decided to ask Fu Shuyi to come home for dinner that night and preferably stay at home for a few days. He was a good big brother, naturally, he should "share wealth and woe" with his sister.

Fu Chenxuan finished his breakfast at twice his usual speed, then went off to the company, one would think he was rushing to be reincarnated.

The debtor had left, Fu Hengyi looked toward his wife, "Still angry?"

Shen Qinglan’s expression was indifferent, "Why should I be angry over such a trivial matter? It’s normal to be despised when people come and go, I should learn to adapt."

While she said she wasn’t angry, her words were laced with thorns. Fu Hengyi sighed internally, it’s not that he didn’t want to talk, but he couldn’t talk, because if he did, it would be more than just sleeping in the study.

"Qinglan, you’re just too indulgent with Fu Chenxuan," he said. "I know it’s because he’s our first child and you’re somewhat biased towards him, but he’s a boy after all. He should learn to deal with the consequences of his choices."

Shen Qinglan glanced askance at him, "Keep evading the real issue."

Alright, he was seen through again; indeed, it was tough having a wife who was too smart.

Fu Hengyi stood up, "It’s getting late, I’m off to the army now. Remember to have a good lunch."

Shen Qinglan watched them, one after another, feeling incredibly frustrated.