"Are they all dead?" asked the young man sitting on the sofa in a deep voice.
Gloomy. Handsome.
He held a glass of whiskey with ice in his hand, and the amber liquid swayed in the transparent glass.
A football match between Poland and Argentina was being played on the big screen. There was no sound on the TV, and it was like a pantomime of intense and skillful pursuit.
An old man in a well-dressed suit stood behind the sofa and said softly, "They are all dead."
"Has the body been found?"
"Found it." The old man said, "They were not treated unfairly. They all died peacefully."
The young man raised his head and drank the wine in the glass in one gulp.
He turned the empty cup in one hand and said sarcastically: "They are heroes who appreciate heroes."
"That Fang Yan's strength is indeed unfathomable. It's not something that ordinary people can deal with." The old man said. "They are too weak."
"You are still too impatient," the young man said. "If you had waited a little longer, you might not be so passive. This gamble has cost you half of the dragon map. What a pity."
"It's just a beautiful empty shell. If you lose, you lose. Young Master will always have a chance to turn the tables." The old man advised gently.
"That's true. But I still feel a little uncomfortable in my heart-----"
"This is what I have always advised you, young master. Draw your sword and draw blood. If you cannot draw blood, then don't let anyone know that you have a knife in your hand. Young master, after learning this lesson, I believe you will think more thoroughly and thoughtfully in the future. This is not a bad thing."
"How do I compare with him?" asked the young man.
The old man was silent.
"You can speak frankly."
"Hard to say."
"Why is it hard to say?"
"Master, I understand it. But I can't see through it. Fang Yan, I thought I understood it, and I thought I saw through it -- but in fact, I neither understood nor saw through it." The old man said. "I saw him standing there, and I stabbed him with a knife, but I found that I only stabbed his shadow."
"What a difficult guy." The man smiled bitterly. "Tell me, is this what is called fate? Why did he appear when the time was right?"
"This is fate," the man said.
The sound of a car horn rang outside. The old man glanced at the man and said, "Master, the master is here. Secretary Li called just now."
"What is he doing here?" The man frowned. He drank the whiskey in the glass in one gulp and said, "Go out and answer it."
The car stopped in the yard, Jiang Zhuliu walked over quickly and opened the door. He smiled and said, "Dad, why are you here? Can't you talk about it when you get back?"
"Your mother is nagging at home, and it's not easy for us to have a heart-to-heart talk." Jiang Longtan said. "Come on, accompany me to play a few rounds."
Bend over. Swing.
Snapped!
The white ball flew away and went straight onto the green.
"Good shot." Jiang Zhuliu praised loudly. "Dad, you are still as skilled as ever. You almost hit a hole in one."
"A hole-in-one depends on technique, but more on luck. It can't be calculated." Jiang Longtan said, holding the golf club and walking towards the landing point of the golf ball.
He stood on the green, gently pushed the ball into the hole with a putter, and said, "I would rather putt one more stroke to make sure the ball goes into the hole. The ball that goes into the hole is a good ball. Otherwise, no matter how beautiful your swing is, you won't score."
Jiang Zhuliu knew there was something else behind his father's words, so he nodded and said, "Dad, I understand."
"You don't understand." Jiang Longtan shook his head and said without giving his son any face.
Jiang Zhuliu smiled bitterly and said, "It seems that I have done something to displease you again? You couldn't wait for me to go home, so you came here to teach me a lesson."
"Do you know who has been hiding behind our Jiang family and opposing us?" Jiang Longtan handed the golf club in his hand to Secretary Li behind him, took the towel to wipe his palms, and asked.
"Dad, if I don't even know this, you must be very disappointed in me, right?" Jiang Zhuliu said with a smile. "The Liu family established the earliest energy company in Huacheng. Our Longtu Group came later and surpassed us. It's natural for them to do some tricks behind the scenes. We have also used tricks on them, right? We are all the same, and we all know it well."
"Then do you know that they have much more information than we imagined?" Jiang Longtan said.
"What do they have?" Jiang Zhuliu asked.
"Lu Mingtu." Jiang Longtan said these three words in a cold voice.
"What?" Jiang Zhuliu was shocked.
"It seems that we, father and son, should have a good talk. Now the situation has suddenly changed, and the Jiang family's winter is coming."
"That incident happened overseas, nobody knew about it, how could he possibly know the truth?" Jiang Zhuliu said. "Besides, the people who did it were foreigners, and now they are all dead. Even if they investigate, they can't trace it back to you."
Jiang Longtan's expression was grim, and he said, "What if Wang Li is not dead?"
"Lu Chaoge's aunt? Wang Li is not dead? How could she be-----where is she?" Jiang Zhuliu looked at his father in surprise and said, "Did you fail?"
"I was too careless. If I had used a different method, this wouldn't have happened." Jiang Longtan said with a little regret. "However, it's a good thing that she survived. If she died, there would be no hope. Those things would have become secrets forever. What a pity."
"I don't understand." Jiang Zhuliu said.
"I have to admit that Lu Mingtu is a genius scientist. Twenty years ago, his research in the field of energy was at the forefront of the world. Even now, the magic cube technology is still a difficult problem that energy research laboratories around the world are trying to overcome."
"At that time, I had a disagreement with him. I wanted to militaryize the Rubik's Cube technology, so that we could get huge orders from the military. But he wanted the Rubik's Cube to be used for civilian purposes. He didn't want the things he made to be used as tools for killing people or participating in wars. He was such a smart but pedantic guy. My opinions were opposed to his, and the contradictions became greater and greater. The work of the laboratory had to be put on hold for the time being."
"Later, I found Liu Jing to replace him-----"
"Liu Jing is from the Liu family. He has a mistress who gave birth to a son. He often receives large sums of money in his Swiss bank account. I have had hackers track it and found that the money comes from an import and export trading company under the Liu family." Jiang Zhuliu said. "I warned you before."
"How could I not notice such an obvious spy?" Jiang Long said. "There must be something wrong when things are abnormal. After Lu Mingtu died, Liu Jing and I never had any contact. The strange thing is that he obviously hated me, but he didn't want to leave Longtu. So, isn't it easy to guess what he was planning?"
"Then why didn't you replace him?"
"I didn't replace him because I wanted my opponents to watch me and see what I was doing," Jiang Longtan said. "If a spy's IQ is not high enough, then who can be sure that he won't be used by us?"
"he died------"
"His death has nothing to do with me." Jiang Longtan interrupted his son sternly. "This is part of their plan. Lu Chaoge had just been involved in a car accident and murder, and everyone pointed the finger at me. When countless people were accusing and attacking me, Liu Jing suddenly jumped out and had a big fight with me, and was hit to death by a pot of water as soon as he left the house. This really put me in a dilemma, and it was difficult to clear myself of suspicion."
"The Liu family controls Wang Li, so father has not dared to push Lu Chaoge too hard for so many years?" Jiang Zhuliu asked curiously. "I always thought that she should have disappeared a long time ago. What good is the existence of such a person to us?"
"I'm fishing." Jiang Longtan said. "If you want to catch a big fish with delicious meat, you must have bait that the big fish likes. Lu Chaoge is the most suitable bait. I have been holding the rod for twenty years. When I saw the fish was about to bite the hook, you threw a stone and it ran away."
"Wang Li? She's a useless person, what's the point of catching her?" Jiang Zhuliu said disdainfully.
"I thought so before." Jiang Longtan shook his head and sighed. "So, I want to erase her from this world. Only the dead can keep secrets. The fewer people know about it, the safer and more beneficial it will be for us. After all, I was wrong about this matter. Lu Mingtu, this idiot, actually started to play tricks on me."
"What did he do?" Jiang Zhuliu asked.
"After Lu Mingtu died, I found a notebook in the crack of his desk. It turned out that he had solved the last problem of Rubik's Cube technology, allowing it to be put into large-scale civilian use----"
Jiang Zhuyan was shocked and asked, "Where is the Rubik's Cube? Is the real Rubik's Cube in Wang Li's hands?"
"That's my suspicion," Jiang Longtan said. "Wang Li is the closest person to Lu Mingtu and his wife. He often wrote about this in his diary. Moreover, Wang Li is also engaged in energy research. When Lu Mingtu was the head of the laboratory, Wang Li was Lu Mingtu's assistant. It is very likely that Lu Mingtu handed over the mature Rubik's Cube technology to Wang Li."
"The Liu family doesn't know?" Jiang Zhuliu asked a key question.
"How could they know?" Jiang Longtan sneered. "If they knew, would Wang Li still be alive today? Would Lu Chaoge still be alive today?"
Jiang Zhuliu stopped talking.
Things are too complicated. Ten times or even a hundred times more complicated than I imagined.
He knew that his father was wise and decisive, but sometimes too sentimental. He thought his father kept Lu Chaoge because he couldn't bear to kill her, and wanted to influence her to become a true member of the Jiang family. He was also willing to cooperate, hoping to win her over.
It turned out that she was her father's bait.
The father wanted to lure Wang Li into the trap and make her contact Lu Chaoge on her own initiative. Unexpectedly, Wang Li was able to hold back and didn't care about Lu Chaoge's life and death at all.
In order to prevent the Liu family from gaining access to the Rubik's Cube technology, his father had to keep the secret.
But, all of this was destroyed by myself.
"I've noticed that Wang Li and Chaoge have contacted each other - I felt it from the look in Lu Chaoge's eyes when he looked at me. I think I should give them some time, and give me some time too. We've been waiting for more than 20 years, so why should we rush for just one or two days?"
"Some talented actors, or those who think they are talented, are always impatient and always anxious to show themselves-----" Jiang Longtan looked at Jiang Zhuliu with infinite regret: "You played that night." (To be continued)