Chapter 157 - Threats
Chapter 157: Threats
Translator: Lonelytree
The police were at the door, but Zhou Hongwei walked into the house to call his uncle.
As soon as the call was connected, he said anxiously, “Uncle, what’s going on? Why did the people from the police station come to my place? Why didn’t you inform me?”
The voice said chillingly, “Deputy Chief Zhou is in the bathroom.”
Zhou Hongwei frowned and asked suspiciously, “Who are you? How dare you answer Deputy Chief Zhou’s Call? Who gave you the guts?” He was harsh.
“I’m Jiang Tao!”Jiang Tao’s cold voice sounded, “Chief of the police station!”
Zhou Hongwei’s face turned pale, and he quickly hung up the phone. At that instant, he felt a little uncertain. However, he quickly calmed down.
After all, he only invited Xiao Lingyu over as a guest, and he had not done anything to her.
He glared at Xiao Lingyu and warned, “Xiao Lingyu, you are brave to call the police. But I’ll see what you can do even if the police are here. After this is over, we’ll settle this score.”
“Open the door! This is the police!” The officers were still shouting.
“Ol’ Three, get the door!” Zhou Hongwei ordered one of the men.
“Yes, Boss!” Ol’ Three replied.
The moment he opened the door, four policemen rushed in. They pointed their guns at them and shouted loudly, “Raise your hands!”
Zhou Hongwei and his two subordinates raised their hands.
Zhou Hongwei asked in puzzlement, “Officers, what’s going on? We aren’t doing anything. We are good citizens who follow the law.”
As soon as he said this, another three people walked in. The first was a young man in a police uniform; the second was an officer in his forties; and the last… it was someone Zhou Hongwei would recognize anywhere. He knew all three of them.
The first was Jiang Tao, the police chief; the second was his uncle, Zhou Tanxiong, the deputy chief, and the last was…
He gritted his teeth and shouted, “Gu Ziye, why are you here?”
Then, he looked at Jiang Tao. When he met Jiang Tao’s cold and merciless eyes, he looked away in panic. He shot his uncle a gaze as if asking, ‘What is going on?’
He had threatened other people before to do business with him. There were some who called the cops on him, and every time only the junior officers would come. Most of the junior officers knew Zhou Hongwei because he would find excuses to visit the police station. Over time, people knew he was the deputy chief, Zhou Tanxiong’s nephew.
Therefore, when people received a report about him, most officers would just go through the motion.
Furthermore, Zhou Hongwei rarely had to rely on actual beatings. His threats were enough to make people bend to his favor. Therefore, the police couldn’t touch him without physical evidence. He never thought that it would fail one day.
Regardless, with his uncle around, Zhou Hongwei slowly calmed down. He asked very calmly, “Chief Jiang, why did you bring so many police to my place? I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong.”
Zhou Tanxiong looked at Xiao Lingyu, who had been standing there calmly, “Chief Jiang, this has to be a misunderstanding. Hongwei invited this miss over here as his guest.”
Then, he shot a sharp look at Gu Ziye and questioned him sternly, “Gu Ziye, I know that you have always had a bad relationship with my Hongwei. Hongwei stole your business a few times, and you were angry. However, you shouldn’t misuse police resources. You told us there was a kidnapping. Does this look like a kidnapping to you?” Xiao Lingyu looked too calm. There was not a hint of fear on her face. She definitely didn’t look like a kidnapping victim.
Moreover, she was pretty. She matched Zhou Hongwei’s taste. With that in mind, Zhou Tanxiong said, “This is my Hongwei’s girlfriend. They are getting together. Do you need to call the police for that?”
However, once he said that the expressions of everyone present changed, especially Zhou Hongwei. He hadn’t notified his uncle earlier, and it had caused a huge mistake. Xiao Lingyu worked with Gu Ziye, so they had to know each other. Gu Ziye would know if Xiao Lingyu was Zhou Hongwei’s girlfriend.
‘Wait. But I can go with this!’ Zhou Hongwei suddenly had a flash of inspiration. He nodded and said, “That’s right. She had just agreed to be my girlfriend.” Then, he looked at Xiao Lingyu and said, “Lingyu, you said you’d bring me to visit your brother. So you can’t go back on your words.” Zhou Hongwei turned to Zhou Tanxiong and said kindly, “Uncle, you may not know this, but Lingyu’s younger brother, Xiao Lingye, is very good at his studies. He is the top student at No One High School. He is the best student in the entire county in the latest mock exam. He’ll definitely get into a good university… assuming nothing happens to him.”
Xiao Lingyu’s sharp eyes flashed.
‘This Zhou Hongwei is disgusting. Even now, he is using Ye ‘Er to threaten me. If I don’t cooperate, Ye ‘Er will be in danger.’
Zhou Tanxiong knew his nephew well. He caught the hint immediately. He had said something wrong earlier.
If only Jiang Tao weren’t here…
Zhou Tanxiong knew Jiang Tao very well. He was cold-hearted and impartial. He would never tolerate evil and bad deeds. If he started to doubt Zhou Hongwei, he would look into his past. Once his past deeds were dug up, it would be a huge problem. Therefore, the most important goal was to dispel Jiang Tao’s doubt. He needed to make Jiang Tao believe that Gu Ziye was using them to come after Zhou Hongwei.
After hearing his nephew, he knew Xiao Lingyu’s cooperation was extremely crucial. He smiled sinisterly, “Is that so? That’s wonderful news.” Then, he turned to Xiao Lingyu, “Lingyu, next time, you should bring your little brother along. Let us see the future top scorer.”
Gu Ziye’s pupils contracted. He cursed in his heart, ‘How shameless is this pair of uncle and nephew? They are threatening Lingyu with Lingye!’
But, Gu Ziye was not worried. He was smiling instead. Other women might be threatened by them, but did they forget who they were dealing with?
This was someone who knew the police chief and managed to draw out the gentleness from him.
Zhou Tanxiong and Zhou Hongwei’s plan was doomed.
“Lingyu, when did you agree to be his girlfriend?” Jiang Tao was anxious. When he heard Xiao Lingyu agreed to be someone else’s girlfriend, his brain was blank, and his heart was a mess. Naturally, he didn’t spot the loopholes.
Gu Ziye wanted to roll his eyes. ‘I have no idea Chief Jiang can be so flustered. Hello! Is that the point here?’
However, Gu Ziye grinned when he noticed the expressions on Zhou Tanxiong and Zhou Hongwei’s faces. Gu Ziye couldn’t deal with Zhou Hongwei because he had Zhou Tanxiong supporting him. However, they didn’t expect that Jiang Tao and Xiao Lingyu actually knew each other. More importantly, Chief Jiang was also interested in Xiao Lingyu. Zhou Hongwei had openly claimed Xiao Lingyu as his girlfriend, which wouldn’t put him in Jiang Tao’s good book.
When Zhou Tanxiong threatened Xiao Lingyu with her younger brother, she was furious. The young one was shameless, and the old one was worse.
‘They want to threaten me? Two can play at that game!’
Seeing the sinister smile on Xiao Lingyu’s face, Zhou Hongwei immediately felt that something was wrong.
Then, he heard Xiao Lingyu say to Jiang Tao, “Chief Jiang, you’ve misunderstood. I was forcibly dragged here by the two of them, and I’m not Boss Zhou’s girlfriend.”
Xiao Lingyu pointed at the two strong men with bare arms, and then she said,
“They told me that their boss wanted me to talk business with them. However, I have no interest in talking business with rude people. Regardless, they refused to let me go. When I went to my room to get my files, I sent a message to President Gu, telling him that I was being kidnapped. I asked him to call the police!”
Gu Ziye chuckled and told Zhou Hongwei, “Zhou Hongwei, now you know why I’m here?” At this point, he looked at the man contemptuously and said, “Zhou Hongwei, you’re really despicable. Lingyu doesn’t want to do business with you, but you forced her to come here. If this isn’t kidnapping, then what is?”
Zhou Tanxiong glared fiercely at Gu Ziye, but the latter was not afraid because Jiang Tao was there. Furthermore, the Gu family and the Zhou family had been enemies for decades, so what was one more conflict?
Zhou Hongwei gritted his teeth and looked at Gu Ziye, and shouted loudly, “Gu Ziye, I didn’t kidnap anyone. I just… wanted to do business with Miss Xiao. It was too dark, so I had my men protect Miss Xiao as they brought her here.” There was probably no one else who could disguise a kidnapping as protection.
“Zhou Hongwei, if this is a normal business meeting, why have it way before dawn?” Gu Ziye asked sharply.
“Erm…” Zhou Hongwei was stumped. Then, he said, “This is my habit. I need to talk business with people very early in the morning.”
“But is that the other party’s habit?” Gu Ziye pointed out sharply, “You’re going around handing out ‘protection’ without asking for the other party’s wishes. If that is not kidnapping, what is?”
“Gu Ziye!” Zhou Tanxiong shouted sternly, “You’re not a police officer. You don’t have the right to speak here!” If Gu Ziye continued, he would only cut more holes in his nephew’s story. What Zhou Tanxiong needed to do now was to neutralize Xiao Lingyu and then bring his nephew back to the station. When he was back at that station, he’d have ways to clear Zhou Hongwei’s name.
However, Zhou Tanxiong didn’t expect his loud rebuke would help Jiang Tao snap back into focus. Jiang Tao focused on Xiao Lingyu, “What is going on?”
Xiao Lingyu walked up to Jiang Tao, opened the folder in her hand, took out a recording pen, and handed it to Jiang Tao, “Chief Jiang, Zhou Hongwei threatened my family and me. There’s a recording here to prove it.”
When Zhou Hongwei saw the recording pen, his expression changed drastically. He didn’t expect the woman to be so cunning. The two men also shivered when they saw the recording pen. When Xiao Lingyu went back home to get her ‘business contract’, she had done so many things.
Zhou Hongwei gnashed his teeth and told Xiao Lingyu, “Xiao Lingyu, just say so if you don’t want to cooperate with me, why do you have to resort to such despicable means?”
Xiao Lingyu sneered and said, “Boss Zhou, a person in a glass house shouldn’t throw stones. I have already rejected you, I didn’t want to work with you, but you used my younger brother’s safety to force me to come. How can I not come? I knew you had bad intentions, so I came prepared.”
Gu Ziye clapped his hands.
Zhou Hongwei liked to threaten people. Now he would have a taste of his own medicine.
Jiang Tao held the recording pen and said coldly with an expressionless face, “Take them away!”
Then, he looked at Xiao Lingyu and said, “Lingyu, you also have to go back to the police station to make a statement.”
Xiao Lingyu said, “Okay!”
After saying this, she suddenly thought of something and said to Jiang Tao, “Director Jiang, if something happens to my brother in the future, can I sue the Yi Family? Boss Zhou did say he is the purchasing manager of the Yi Family Hotel!”
Everyone, “…”
Zhou Hongwei glared at Xiao Lingyu with hatred in his heart. He had underestimated this woman. He thought that she was just a weak woman. Once he threatened her, she would immediately cooperate with him.
But Xiao Lingyu was an iron maiden. She had turned her target to the Yi Family.
…
Zhou Hongwei was temporarily arrested. Zhou Hongwei’s other uncle was the general manager of the Yi Family Hotel, Zhou Huaming.
The Zhou Family had three sons, and only the second son gave birth to a grandson. The rest were granddaughters. The grandson was Zhou Hongwei. Therefore, Zhou Hongwei was the sole heir of the Zhou Family.
The Zhou Family treated boys better than girls. Zhou Hongwei was doted on by all the elders.
Now that Zhou Hongwei was caught, the Zhou family naturally had to help him.. And they knew the key was Xiao Lingyu.