Deep in the Night - Chapter 13

The moment the words left his mouth, he had anticipated every possible reaction from Gu Mingzong: rage, coldness, amusement, or perhaps dismissiveness, treating it as a joke. However, just as the final word was uttered, the mobile phone on Gu Mingzong’s table rang.

He immediately made a stopping gesture, rose to answer the call, and walked toward a spot slightly further away.

“Hello?”

“…”

Fang Jin’s expression subtly changed—

In the moment they brushed past each other, he had heard the voice emanating from Gu Mingzong’s phone.

Fang Jin was highly sensitive to sound. He had practiced piano as a child, possessing a good musical ear and long fingers. Gu Mingzong’s original intention in sending him to Germany was to have him study music, but Fang Jin had refused. Growing up in the Gu family, a place that required constant vigilance, a mere flower vase who played the piano and painted could never protect himself. To survive, one had to learn the means to do so.

But his foundation from childhood piano practice remained, and his ability to discern human voices was still acutely fine-tuned.

He must have recently interacted with the person calling Gu Mingzong.

Gu Mingzong stood with his back to him, near the floor-to-ceiling glass window. Fang Jin stared at the flickering candlelight on the table, his mind flashing through a series of recent conversations. He mentally compared various people he had talked to, and the unsettling premonition within him grew stronger.

Yes, he had definitely heard that voice. It was…

His own phone suddenly rang, sharply interrupting Fang Jin’s train of thought. He looked down and saw it was Gu Yuan.

“Hello?” Fang Jin quickly answered the phone, rising from the dining table.

“Where are you?”

“Out having dinner. What is it, Mr. Gu?”

The sound of rustling papers came over the line. A moment later, Gu Yuan’s calm, concise voice spoke: “Come back to the company. There’s been an issue with our ten-million-dollar project with Mingda Shipping.”

Fang Jin asked, surprised: “—What kind of issue?”

“Mingda has gone bankrupt.”

Fang Jin faced the glass window, clearly seeing his own reflection whose pupils suddenly dilated.

At the same time, not far away, Gu Mingzong ended his call and was walking back toward the table.

“…I understand.” Fang Jin spoke into the phone, his voice surprisingly composed: “I’ll see you at the company in half an hour.”

Fang Jin hung up and turned to see Gu Mingzong holding out his chair for him, asking, “Gu Yuan’s call?”

Gu Mingzong’s tone and actions were utterly normal, betraying no sign of anything amiss. But Fang Jin knew that something was wrong in a place he couldn’t see—that acute intuition for danger had saved his life countless times and had never failed him.

Fang Jin replied noncommittally: “Yes.”

He slipped the phone into his trousers pocket, walked to the table, but did not sit down. Instead, he proactively raised his crystal wine glass to clink lightly with Gu Mingzong’s, then tilted his head back and drained the red wine in a single gulp.

“Mr. Gu,” he placed the empty glass softly on the table, looking sincerely into Gu Mingzong’s eyes: “I apologize. There’s an issue at the company. Young Master requested I return immediately.”

The atmosphere remained enchanting, the nocturne still floating gracefully. In the distance, the sky was brilliant with stars, the city nightscape was bustling, and this supremely luxurious revolving restaurant atop the high-rise felt like a dreamlike, opulent fairyland.

Yet, in this small space, the air was taut, ready to explode at any moment.

Gu Mingzong looked at Fang Jin, then suddenly smiled and asked: “—What did you ask me before you took the call? I didn’t quite catch it.”

“Nothing.” Fang Jin replied smoothly without the slightest hesitation: “There was nothing to ask. I must have been mistaken.”

The smile in Gu Mingzong’s eyes deepened slightly.

—This was Gu Mingzong. When he wanted to be, he could be a charming, even extremely attractive man. One would never associate him with those bloody, chilling events.

“Then you should go.” He leaned forward and pressed a kiss, lightly scented with tobacco, onto Fang Jin’s forehead, smiling: “Don’t stay too late. Your stomach is sensitive; remember to eat.”

—

A quarter of an hour later, Fang Jin drove his silver Lexus back to the company tower and went straight up to the top-floor General Manager’s office.

The blinds were up, offering a view of the downtown nightscape through the floor-to-ceiling windows, where most office buildings were still lit up with scattered lights. Gu Yuan sat behind his large desk, his tie already yanked loose, a small patch of his chest exposed at his collar, and his shirt sleeves casually rolled up to his strong elbows.

Fang Jin knocked on the door. “Young Master.”

“Come in,” Gu Yuan finally lifted his head from behind the computer, saying flatly: “Sorry to interrupt your dinner date with your girlfriend.”

“…I don’t have a girlfriend,” Fang Jin said helplessly, thinking, Why would you assume that? “What’s the situation with Mingda Shipping?”

Gu Yuan seemed to have just mentioned the girlfriend comment in passing, not pursuing the matter. He pointed to his computer screen:

“Our project with Mingda was originally slated to recover ten million dollars, but news broke this afternoon that their ship, fully loaded with cargo, sank on the high seas half a month ago. The company concealed the news and transferred assets until now, where they are left with only the paperwork. They immediately declared bankruptcy while facing huge claims.”

Fang Jin immediately asked: “How much of our capital can be recovered?”

“Based on the estimated proportion of bankruptcy liquidation, at most thirty percent. But that’s not the main issue.”

Gu Yuan paused, but Fang Jin had already grasped it: “—The liquidation timeline!”

“You are much more reliable than those idiot directors,” Gu Yuan said coolly. “You’re right, the liquidation timeline. Mingda Shipping has government backing, and the investigation will face significant resistance from related parties. It’s impossible for us to get a single cent back for at least six months… But we signed a contract with the German shipbuilder for another ship purchase, and the payment is due next week. It’s too late to apply to the bank for an increased loan amount.”

Fang Jin’s breathing hitched slightly.

He instantly understood the critical juncture.

Mingda Shipping’s bankruptcy liquidation would repay debts according to a priority sequence. If the company was an empty shell, the ten million dollars was most likely a complete loss—even with all of Gu Yuan’s leverage and pressure, recovering three or four million would be a fortunate outcome.

Gu Yuan’s original plan was to immediately transfer the funds recovered from Mingda Shipping to pay the initial installment for the German supplier’s ship purchase, with the rest coming from bank loans. The problem now was the severe lack of liquid capital. They couldn’t even afford the down payment, which meant they faced the serious threat of being forced to breach the contract!

With less than a week until the payment to the German party was due, where could they conjure up tens of millions of dollars in cash in a matter of days?!

“Business is war. One false step and the whole board is lost.” Gu Yuan took a cigarette from the pack, but just held it, saying flatly: “It was my mistake.”

He didn’t sound particularly discouraged or remorseful. In the first place, no decision in the world is infallible. Business, like gambling, involves risk. The bigger the bet, the higher the profit, and conversely, the higher the risk of total collapse.

Victory and defeat are common in battle, and maintaining composure is the first element, whether a tower is built on flat ground or collapses completely in an instant.

Fang Jin, however, felt a faint pang of sadness. He walked over and offered a lighter to Gu Yuan from his pocket.

Gu Yuan didn’t take it: “Don’t you not smoke?”

“It’s for you.”

“I know, but I said I wouldn’t smoke in front of you if you don’t smoke.”

“…” Fang Jin was taken aback, then smiled faintly: “Go ahead.”

Gu Yuan leaned back in his boss’s chair, tilting his head back, squinting as he looked at Fang Jin. The company’s top floor was nearly empty. The spacious office was silent. The city lights in the distance converged into a bright flood, reflecting inward from the floor-to-ceiling window, all captured in Fang Jin’s bright eyes.

His eyes always seemed to hold a pool of water, looking perpetually innocent and gentle, as if nothing could ever make him angry.

…No matter what mistakes I make, will he never leave me?

Gu Yuan subconsciously entertained the thought, but then immediately dismissed it as self-mockery—the situation was already extremely bad; was he not miserable enough to fantasize that even Fang Jin might abandon him?

“It’s a wonder someone like you wasn’t bullied to death growing up,” Gu Yuan took the lighter and laughed: “Your parents must have been very dedicated.”

Fang Jin paused, saying: “That… depends on how you look at it.”

Gu Yuan snapped the lighter open. Just as he was about to light the cigarette, he sniffed, detecting a faint trace of tobacco on the hand Fang Jin had extended.

Not only did Fang Jin not usually smoke, but this scent was very different from regular tobacco—it was more like a high-quality cigar subtly mingled with a hint of absinthe, barely noticeable unless one paid attention. Gu Yuan’s first reaction was that he had imagined it, but he paused his hand mid-air for a few seconds, confirming it wasn’t a mistake. It was indeed a scent lingering on Fang Jin’s cuff.

“You said you were having dinner with your girlfriend just now?” Gu Yuan lit his cigarette and asked with a chuckle: “Surely you didn’t get a boyfriend?”

“…” Fang Jin’s expression shifted slightly before he replied: “You’re joking, Mr. Gu… it was an old classmate.”

Gu Yuan casually said: “Well, your classmate must be doing quite well. He smokes good stuff.”

Since he confirmed it wasn’t a girlfriend, Gu Yuan didn’t pay any more attention. He pulled a stack of documents from the desk and handed them to Fang Jin: “These are the relevant documents for Mingda Shipping. Help me prepare. Tomorrow, I need to assemble a professional legal team to battle them—pay attention to this person,” he flipped open the first page of the documents, pointing to the photo of an unremarkable middle-aged man: “This is Lu Wenlei, the registered legal representative of Mingda Shipping. He completely disappeared after the incident. I used the remaining power from the Gu family’s original operations to look for him, but haven’t seen a shadow. He might even be dead.”

The reason the missing person might be dead was that Gu Yuan had mobilized some of the remaining connections and personnel from the Gu family’s transition out of the underworld. Province G was already a volatile area, rife with gangs. The Gu family had extensive power in the criminal world in the past. Although 90% of it had been completely laundered, the remaining network of connections was not to be underestimated.

If even the Gu family couldn’t find a trace, the person had either sprouted wings and flown away, or was indeed dead.

Fang Jin leaned in and looked at the photo in Gu Yuan’s hand, his pupils instantly constricting the next second.

Lu Wenlei, legal representative of Mingda Shipping.

The train of thought that had been interrupted earlier in the restaurant suddenly connected. He finally remembered whose familiar voice he had heard over Gu Mingzong’s phone—

It was this person!

Fang Jin took the documents from Gu Yuan. In that moment, his expression and actions were no different from usual, but his heart was pounding fiercely, sending rapid surges of blood to his fingertips.

Mingda Shipping had defrauded Gu Yuan of tens of millions, acting with ruthless precision and perfect timing. After securing the funds, they immediately declared bankruptcy, instantly crippling the company’s entire cash flow.

And the man Gu Yuan couldn’t find, even by mobilizing his underworld connections, was in contact with Gu Mingzong half an hour ago.

What did this imply?

All the evidence pointed to a chilling yet logical answer—

Mingda Shipping and Gu Mingzong had an unknown relationship, and Gu Mingzong himself was very likely the mastermind behind the entire incident!

In a flash, the scene in the restaurant replayed in Fang Jin’s mind. He was holding his phone, facing the floor-to-ceiling glass window, with Gu Mingzong turning and walking toward him just behind. In the reflection, Gu Mingzong seemed to be in high spirits, staring at his reflection through the glass with a subtle smile.

Fang Jin finally realized the source of the unease he had felt then.

—Gu Mingzong’s smile.

He had seen that look many times before. It was clearly the expression of a hunter whose prey had fallen into their grasp, waiting only to deliver the fatal strike!

But why would Gu Mingzong turn on Gu Yuan?

Gu Yang was frivolous and inconsistent. Gu Yuan, the legitimate eldest son, had always been the unspoken heir to the commercial empire. This maneuver by Gu Mingzong could be seen as one move to crush most of Gu Yuan’s foundation, with the potential to annihilate him completely.

Fang Jin’s nails dug deeply into the flesh of his fingers, a physical action to suppress the icy dread surging from his core.

Why, exactly, would Gu Mingzong launch such a deadly attack against his own heir?