“A year ago, a batch of face masks produced at a Fu family factory was found to contain carcinogens. The cause was that the batch had been made with expired raw materials. We investigated at the time and found that a junior employee had mistakenly changed the production-date labels on the raw materials. Although it was an individual mistake, the person was still a Fu employee, so the Fu family couldn’t escape responsibility and had no choice but to take the loss. The matter eventually ended with that employee resigning. Chang Jian, as the purchasing department manager, was also dismissed for bearing some responsibility. At the time, no one paid much attention to what role Chang Jian had actually played in the incident. It wasn’t until this time, when I heard that your company was having problems with its cash flow…”

At this point, Fu Yan glanced at Gu Zhan, his expression cautious.

“I didn’t mean to investigate you. I just know what you’re like. Even if you desperately needed help, you probably wouldn’t ask me. I don’t want Slungshot to suffer any major damage either. I was just worried about you and wanted to help…”

“Enough. Just get to the point,” Gu Zhan interrupted his rambling.

“Oh.” The corners of Fu Yan’s lips involuntarily curved upward. “Chang Jian used his position to collude with Chen Lang and set a trap for you. If he’s working for Chen Lang now, then he may have already been working for him a year ago. I had someone investigate him and discovered that his pregnant wife is actually a distant cousin of Chen Lang’s. We retrieved the surveillance footage from a year ago, when he was on duty, and found that a section of footage was missing several days before the defective masks went into production. Chuyin managed to restore the footage. Sure enough, Chang Jian had altered the production date of the raw materials. That junior employee was simply pushed forward to take the blame for him.”

Gu Zhan ground his teeth in anger. “So Chang Jian really is Chen Lang’s lapdog. He’s probably done plenty of dirty work for him.”

“Should we report him to the police now?”

“If we report him, even if the police investigate Chen Lang, he can still hold up the Japanese brand’s shipment. Slungshot’s problem still won’t be solved.” Gu Zhan frowned and rubbed the back of his head. “The priority is finding Chang Jian. If he can testify against Chen Lang, we can use that as leverage to negotiate with him.”

“Mm. That’s what I thought, too. I also asked an employee at the Fu family who used to be close to Chang Jian. He said that once, when Chang Jian was drunk, he let something slip. Apparently, the head of Chenglang has some kind of leverage over him.” Fu Yan’s eyes flickered. “My guess is that Chang Jian kept evidence whenever he did Chen Lang’s dirty work.”

“That’s very possible. Anyone who’s dealt with Chen Lang can see what kind of person he is. Naturally, Chang Jian would have to guard against Chen Lang turning on him someday. Keeping some dirt on him as insurance would be sensible.” Gu Zhan frowned. “Unfortunately, Chang Jian has gone into hiding. The people I sent to his house couldn’t find him.”

Fu Yan’s phone buzzed. He glanced at it. “I might know where he is.”

“How did you find him?”

“Chuyin tracked his phone, personal computer, car… Basically, anything that could be located, he located. He just sent me an address.”

“Do you people realize that tracking someone without permission is illegal?” Gu Zhan gave him an exasperated sidelong glance. He was becoming increasingly suspicious that Fu Yan might have tracked him before, too.

“Of course I know. Don’t worry. If the police want to arrest someone, they’ll arrest me. They won’t implicate you.” Fu Yan paused, then studied his face. “Gu Zhan, if I got arrested, would you come visit me?”

“You’re unbelievable.” Gu Zhan rolled his eyes at him. “What I said to you at the hospital last time had absolutely no effect on you, did it? I swear, the older you get, the thicker your skin becomes.”

Fu Yan laughed and joked at his own expense. “Xiao Wang gave me some advice. When you’re chasing your wife, you’ve got to be shameless.”

“Oh my fucking god!”

If they hadn’t had more important things to do, Gu Zhan really would have found a ruler and measured exactly how thick President Fu’s skin had become.

“Okay, I’m done teasing you.” Fu Yan smiled and handed over his phone. A map showed a blinking red dot somewhere on the outskirts of Beijing.

Gu Zhan leaned closer and swiped across the screen with his long fingers. “Judging from the location, it looks like a wooded area. Is that the villa district in the western suburbs?”

For a moment, Fu Yan didn’t answer.

He was a little dazed.

In all this time, this was the first time Gu Zhan had voluntarily moved closer to him. Gu Zhan’s soft fingertips had accidentally brushed against the fingers holding Fu Yan’s phone twice. His upper body leaned toward him, and his hair brushed lightly against Fu Yan’s jaw, making it itch. Even his voice was gentle.

Fu Yan had missed this version of Gu Zhan terribly.

“Hey, I’m talking to you. Why are you spacing out?” Gu Zhan turned his head toward him.

Fu Yan looked straight into his eyes.

Their gazes met, and neither spoke.

Fu Yan quickly came back to himself. “Huh? What did you say?”

Gu Zhan also realized they were sitting a little too close. He straightened up and returned to his seat, putting some distance between them.

“I need to go to the western suburbs.”

“I’ll go with you,” Fu Yan blurted out.

Gu Zhan glanced at him twice before avoiding his gaze. After thinking for a moment, he said, “After you left Suzhou, my mom told me some things. I know you’ve done a lot for me and my mother over the past year. I’m planning to reconsider our relationship. But you know me to some extent. I have a lot of concerns. Even if I reconsider things, I may not be able to give you the answer you want. So you don’t need to help me this much, Fu Yan. I really haven’t made up my mind. Maybe I… maybe we…”

“Gu Zhan, you’re overthinking this.”

Fu Yan reached out and hooked a finger beneath his chin, lifting his lowered head. The gesture was a little too intimate, but Fu Yan only brushed his chin lightly before quickly withdrawing his hand and maintaining a polite distance.

His voice was gentle. “You don’t need to feel burdened. Chen Lang has done so many shady things. I was never going to let him off anyway. Right now, he’s our common enemy.”

Gu Zhan met those dark, gleaming eyes.

There was sincerity, trust, and a willingness to entrust himself to him in them.

He hadn’t seen that look in a long time, yet even now, it could still draw him in.

Putting the outcome aside, deep down, Gu Zhan had always enjoyed fighting alongside Fu Yan. Because when he did, he felt that he was no longer alone.

“Okay. We’ll go together.”

Gu Zhan looked at him and spoke seriously.

The two of them drove for nearly two hours before finally reaching the western outskirts of Beijing.

There were a few scattered villas on the mountains there, but the area had never been fully developed and was almost completely uninhabited.

Following the GPS, Fu Yan parked on a secluded road not far from where Chang Jian was staying. He unfastened his seat belt, reached into the back seat, and pulled out a backpack. From inside, he took out a 4K binoculars and handed them to Gu Zhan.

“Take a look. It should be that pointed-roof villa to the southeast.”

Gu Zhan took the binoculars and weighed them in his hand. “Not bad. You even brought equipment. You came prepared.”

“I didn’t expect you to come back from Suzhou so quickly. I’d already planned to come find Chang Jian today. Before I left, I found out you were going to meet Chen Lang. I was worried, so I went to find you.”

Fu Yan was wearing a dark-colored outdoor jacket today, which was indeed quite different from his usual style.

Gu Zhan gave an awkward laugh. “Hmph. Worried? Worried about what? I’m a grown man. It’s not like he could bully me.”

“Who knows?”

Fu Yan lowered his voice for the second half, mumbling with a mixture of insecurity and determination.

“Anyway, I’m the only one allowed to bully you. No one else even gets to think about it.”

Gu Zhan pursed his lips and gave him an enormous eye-roll.

Fu Yan lowered his head to hide the smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

“Is that Chang Jian? The room on the far west side of the second floor, by the window.” Gu Zhan watched through the binoculars for a while, then handed them to Fu Yan.

Fu Yan leaned over to look carefully.

“That’s him. Looks like we found the right place.”

Gu Zhan continued observing through the binoculars. “His wife just came in. She’s heavily pregnant. Looks like she’ll be giving birth soon. Wow, you have this too?”

Fu Yan reached into his backpack again and pulled out something resembling a tablet. It was an old-fashioned device with a low-resolution screen, but it seemed to work quite well. It was displaying a live feed of Chang Jian’s location.

Most of the screen was occupied by a huge bookshelf. Chang Jian was sitting at the desk, talking to his wife. They were making small, agitated movements, apparently arguing about something.

Gu Zhan stared at the footage for a while.

“You hacked into the camera in Chang Jian’s study?”

“Mm. Chuyin made this thing for fun when he was in middle school. I brought it along to make do.”

“Impressive.” Gu Zhan joked, “Is your cousin enjoying working at the Fu family? Would he mind changing jobs?”

“President Gu is poaching people now? Didn’t you just say this was illegal?”

“That depends on who your cousin works for. If he’s willing to work for me, I’ll make sure he puts his intelligence to proper use.”

Fu Yan’s lips curled halfway upward. “Are you saying I’m not proper?”

“Are you?” Gu Zhan sneered. “President Fu must not have looked in the mirror properly.”

Inside the enclosed car, the two of them were already sitting fairly close together.

Fu Yan leaned toward his ear and whispered, “Then I’m only improper in front of you.”

His deliberately slowed speech and deep, rich voice were enough to inspire endless imagination.

“Get lost!”

Gu Zhan jabbed an elbow into his chest and frowned in disgust.

“The older you get, the more greasy you become.”

Fu Yan wasn’t offended. He rubbed the spot on his chest where Gu Zhan had elbowed him and stared at Gu Zhan with a silly grin for a while.

After watching the camera feed for a moment, Gu Zhan analyzed the situation.

“The camera is pointed directly at the bookshelf in Chang Jian’s study. Look at this spot on the second shelf. Isn’t that a safe? Could the dirt Chang Jian mentioned be inside that safe?”

Fu Yan’s expression turned serious again.

“Very likely. Chang Jian deliberately installed a camera aimed at the safe. There must be something important inside.”

“Then should we ask Chang Jian to come out and talk?” Gu Zhan rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Ah, no. That’s too reckless. We don't have any leverage in our hands.”

Just then, the tablet began buzzing.

On the screen, Chang Jian quickly reached into his pocket for his phone.

Gu Zhan stared at Chuyin’s creation in amazement.

“Don’t tell me this thing can listen in on phone calls too?”

Without missing a beat, Fu Yan pulled a pair of earphones from the side pocket of his backpack. He plugged them into the tablet’s headphone jack, put one earbud in his own ear, and handed the other to Gu Zhan.

Gu Zhan hesitated before reluctantly taking it. He leaned toward Fu Yan and complained, “Why is it still a wired headset? I’d like to formally submit a user request: it needs to be upgraded to Bluetooth.”

He lowered his head to put it on, but accidentally bumped heads with Fu Yan.

“Ow. And the cable is so short.”

Two tall, well-built men were hunched together in front of the tiny screen, their heads practically touching. The sight was rather comical.

“Come on, Chuyin made this thing years ago. Just make do with it.”

That was what Fu Yan said aloud.

But inside, he was giving Fu Chuyin a massive thumbs-up.

This was an excellent product. It absolutely met the user’s needs.

He loved it.

Fu Yan couldn’t stop his Adam’s apple from bobbing.

Because all he had to do was turn his head slightly, and he could practically brush against Gu Zhan’s face only inches away—the sharp bridge of his nose, his soft, faintly red lips…