Chapter 13: Group Chat

Liang Jinguo’s assistant thought for a moment, then tentatively asked, “Are you referring to CEO Chen of Guangda Home Furnishings? Chen Daguang?” Fearing that his boss might not remember, he added a description, “The one who’s quite portly and likes to wear linen.”

“Yes, that shameless fatso!” To fawn over a young girl, and in front of his son, no less.

The assistant didn’t know how this CEO Chen had offended his boss, so he made a mental note to keep his distance in the future. Meanwhile, he responded to the task Liang Jinguo had given him: “Okay, I’ll contact him right away. If the case is under investigation, the police might not reveal too much information, so I’ll also try to find out from other channels.”

“Mm. Do it as soon as possible.”

Today was simply exhausting.

Back home, Liang Jinguo called his son, Liang Jian, and asked, “Tell me in detail about the process of meeting that fortune-telling girl you mentioned the other day. Don’t miss any details.”

Liang Jian was puzzled. Hadn’t he already talked about it that day?

But he saw his father sitting there, frowning and pursing his lips, as if expecting to gain something from him. This matter had been on Liang Jian’s mind for a long time, so he simply organized his thoughts and slowly recounted the details of their chance encounter during the mountain climb.

“I paid special attention to the time. Her prediction about Lu Yang’s girlfriend breaking up with him was accurate to the minute. Lu Yang immediately believed she was a master.”

Liang Jian frowned, his expression identical to Liang Jinguo’s at that moment: “I checked later, Liu Yang broke up with him because her childhood sweetheart returned to the country, and they’ve been together these past few days. From the current information, it’s impossible to deduce that her decision to break up and the timing of her call were instigated by someone.”

Liang Jinguo raised an eyebrow: “You checked?”

Liang Jian averted his gaze from his father’s scrutiny, staring at the pattern on the carpet as he quickly and softly said, “I hacked Liu Yang and her childhood sweetheart’s personal communication devices and checked all their recent chat records and account activity. There was nothing unusual.”

After a moment of silence, Liang Jinguo only asked, “Anything else?”

Liang Jian quickly looked up at his father, who didn’t seem to be questioning his methods. His stiff shoulders relaxed, his long legs stretched out, and his tone became a little lighter.

“Anyway, she’s not going to change her mind, and she’s doing great with her childhood sweetheart, so I didn’t tell Yangzi. That fool, being dumped, will at most be sad for a while and then continue to be carefree. If he knew there was another man involved, he definitely wouldn’t be reconciled, and who knows how long it would take him to let go. Liu Yang was indeed unkind…”

Seeing Liang Jinguo’s impatience, Liang Jian changed the subject, not dwelling on other things, and focused on the fortune-telling.

“I’ve been cramming related knowledge these past two days and consulted some people. In the theoretical system of Folk Metaphysics, fate prediction can accurately estimate the time of an event. But those are great masters in the field, and the premise is if metaphysics truly exists in this world. So, there’s a bug here: in the theoretical system of metaphysics, those who can calculate time are all branches like astrology, Plum Blossom Divination, Purple Star Astrology, Eight Characters of Birth Time, etc. But according to her, she uses Face Reading, and Face Reading theoretically cannot deduce time.”

The more Liang Jian spoke, the more his own brows furrowed: “Continuing the deduction, this leads to another bug. If it was a setup, why leave such obvious loopholes? Any old man with a white beard outside Baiyun Temple could fool people better than her.”

Liang Jinguo made a note and then asked, “You didn’t investigate her personally?”

Speaking of this, a fierce fighting spirit ignited in Liang Jian’s eyes: “This is the most suspicious part of the whole incident. She, or someone close to her, is a very powerful computer expert. I actively added her contact information, intending to investigate her. Since adding her, I’ve launched several attacks, but none were successful…”

“Computer expert…” Liang Jinguo: “Very strong?”

“Very strong! So strong that it doesn’t seem like existing offensive and defensive technology. Let alone loopholes, I can’t even find the ‘door.’ Theoretically, this is impossible because it’s like locking himself in. Every time I try to attack, it’s like circling an infinitely high city wall.”

“Hiss…” Liang Jinguo, “You were discovered?”

Liang Jian’s frown deepened: “This is another very strange thing. Despite my frequent attacks, the other party didn’t even attempt a single counter-tracking. Some of the preparations I made for myself were useless. It’s like…” He hesitated, saying a comparison he was unwilling to admit, “It’s like my attacks on him are no different from an ant tickling an elephant’s leg. It’s not enough to make him react. He might not even have noticed…”

“I couldn’t get information through abnormal channels, but her WeChat nickname is her own name, so I did find out some things. I didn’t expect Qin Qing to be my senior from the same school. There are photos of her participating in activities on the campus intranet, confirming it’s her. In the accessible archives, her resume is unremarkable. She’s no different from any other student who just scrapes by for credits, often skipping classes and being late, resulting in deductions from teachers. The only noteworthy thing is that, despite this, she somehow managed to pass with just enough credits every time, without a single make-up exam.”

Liang Jian, despite his rebellious past, was very diligent in fields he loved and learned quickly, so he didn’t understand many of his “slacker” schoolmates. Speaking of Qin Qing, he couldn’t help but complain again, “She’s about to get her graduation certificate, and her classmates from the same batch have all found their paths, but she’s the only one who hasn’t submitted her employment feedback form yet.”

In short, from the information available, Qin Qing was a very simple person. If she was a pawn, the person behind the scheme was too reckless.

But if she really was a metaphysics master, why were there no traces of it before?

The more they deduced, the deeper they investigated, the more complex and tangled the mess became.

The more they tried to untangle it, the more tangled it got!

Father and son sat opposite each other, sighing, with identical expressions of headache.

“Dad, did you find something new?”

Liang Jinguo didn’t hide anything. His son was smart, and while he used to be rebellious, that problem was now resolved. He no longer treated him like a child. He roughly recounted his observations and experiences from going to see Qin Qing today.

Liang Jian: “I don’t think Guangda Home Furnishings would leave obvious loopholes. Since they dared to put it out in the open, there’s actually not much to investigate.”

Liang Jinguo nodded.

“Dad, what… what’s your plan?”

“What about you?” Liang Jinguo prompted his son.

Liang Jian said seriously: “Since we can’t figure out the other party’s motives and methods right now, it’s best to enter the game ourselves and lure them into making a move. The land in Nancheng isn’t something we can’t afford to lose. Instead of letting the hidden danger remain in the dark, it’s better to use a project as bait. The more moves they make, the more likely they are to reveal their true colors.”

Liang Jinguo smiled: “You truly are my son, you have courage.”

Clearly, father and son were on the same page.

Liang Jian: “I’ll contact her.”

“Mm.” Remembering something, Liang Jinguo couldn’t help but instruct, “Meet her outside. Her little stall is no place to discuss business.”

He never wanted to experience sitting on that small stool again, nor did he want to be squeezed and wrinkle his clothes with a large crowd of people!!!

Qin Qing received Liang Jian’s message asking to meet.

Ha, she seemed to see a considerable commission waving at her.

The next day at noon, Liang Jian personally took his driver to Baiyun Temple to pick her up.

With Chen Daguang’s 100,000 advertisement from yesterday, plus his fast-talking, dramatic storytelling, business at Qin Qing’s stall was exceptionally good today.

Although she didn’t encounter any customers with major misfortunes, she collected money hundred by hundred, telling some trivial but uncannily accurate small details, which made the onlookers believe in her even more. In total, she collected almost two thousand yuan. By lunchtime, there was still a queue, so Qin Qing had to give out numbers and tell people to come back tomorrow.

Liang Jian took her to a rather high-end restaurant, which seemed to specialize in Huaiyang Cuisine judging by its name. In a private room overlooking the lake, Liang Jinguo was already waiting, and his assistant greeted her with a smile at the door.

After ushering her to her seat, the assistant went out to notify the kitchen to start serving.

Liang Jinguo gestured for the waiter to hand her the menu, smiling politely: “This Huaiyang Cuisine restaurant is quite good, but some of their specialty dishes are time-consuming, so we had them prepared in advance. I wasn’t sure what you’d like, Miss Qin.”

Qin Qing had intended to let the host decide, but then she saw the restaurant’s executive chef and head chef’s introductions, complete with names, surnames, and photos, on the first page of the menu the waiter was holding.

She became interested and changed her mind.

After gesturing for the waiter to place the thick menu beside her and step back, Qin Qing pulled out the notebook from System Panel that she carried with her. On the blank first page, she wrote the names of the executive chef and the head chef.

She had verified multiple times that only she could see the writing in the notebook, so it didn’t affect using it in front of others. At most, it would just make people think her behavior was strange.

As a charlatan, wouldn’t strange behavior fit the persona better?

Any problem? Absolutely no problem.

The executive chef’s displayed Skill column had no cooking-related skills. But his Talent column showed:

[Talent1: Taste – 75]

This meant that this person’s cooking skills weren’t that great, but he knew how to eat! He had a good palate and could oversee the dishes.

Sure enough, the head chef’s abilities complemented the executive chef’s.

[Skill1: Huaiyang Cuisine – 62]

A comprehensive score of over 60 for a cuisine was already very good. It seemed they wouldn’t have a bad meal today.

Such incredibly high Skill scores like Daoist Wutun’s weren’t something one encountered easily.

“Eh…”

Qin Qing found something interesting in the head chef’s Relationship Map.

Under the puzzled gazes of the other three at the table, she called a waiter over and asked, “Is your head chef’s apprentice also working here?”

“Uh…” The waitress hesitated, “The head chef does have an apprentice working in the kitchen, surnamed Yang. I’m not sure if he’s the one you’re referring to.”

Qin Qing: “That’s him. It’s great that you know him. Are there any dishes on this menu that he’s particularly good at?”

The waitress thought, “Not just know him, that Mr. Yang is my boyfriend. It’s not strange that I know him, but who are you?”

“Are you a relative of the Yang family?” She took a look, didn’t recognize her, then looked again, still unfamiliar.

“There are no dishes made by him on this menu.” A customer’s words must never be ignored. The waitress maintained a perfectly measured smile: “Mr. Yang’s current position in the kitchen is ‘da he’ (a type of kitchen assistant), only preparing ingredients. He’s not yet allowed to cook.”

“I see. Then, could you please ask the head chef if he could let him cook two dishes: a soy sauce fried rice and a rice soup with greens. Nothing else.” Seeing the three people at the table focusing their gazes on her, she added, “Enough for four people.”

That apprentice surnamed Yang had Skill scores of over 80 for these two dishes! So why wait? They had to try them! And they had to share!

The waitress was secretly grinding her back teeth at this point.

Her boyfriend often boasted that his soy sauce fried rice and rice soup with greens were his mother’s true legacy, incredibly delicious, and would definitely sell out if offered to customers.

These two dishes were choices made out of necessity during childhood when resources were scarce. Who still ate that now?

She had always scolded him for being unrealistic, not even mentioning whether he could actually make them well. Such things, let alone offering them to customers, were too low-class and didn’t even qualify for the menu. Their restaurant wasn’t a street-side diner.

Her boyfriend wasn’t an outgoing person; he only chattered in front of her. In front of a bunch of seniors in the kitchen, he wouldn’t dare say a peep! So no one else knew about this.

So, how did this person in front of her know?

Especially, this woman was also young and prettier than her!

Was this a mistress showing up to cause trouble? So arrogant, daring to make a scene at her workplace?

Regardless of what she thought internally, she was a professional waitress.

She bowed slightly, maintaining her smile: “Okay, customer, please wait a moment.”

Yang, you’re dead!