Chapter 99: Liang Chaosu Discovered It
The following morning, nine o’clock.
Lian Cheng landed and entered the neighboring country, Gallicar. Up to this point, she was still using her identification.
Entry and exit information is on record; it can’t withstand investigation.
However, Liang Chaosu was unusually calm last night. Recalling it now, Lian Cheng realized those little tricks wouldn’t have held him back.
It must be something else important, like the miscarriage of Gu Xingyuan’s wife, which Father Liang mentioned.
But this is just her limited speculation based on the information she has. It could be something else.
Liang Chaosu is a meticulous workaholic. With the Liang family’s numerous and complex affairs, any one of them could make him turn back on his way to find her.
Yet, Lian Cheng felt unsettled, with a strong and ominous premonition.
Old Ghost, having sorted out the identification, pushed through the crowd. From afar, he saw Lian Cheng had changed her clothes again.
It was late winter in the domestic country, and they had set sail wearing down jackets and overcoats, both inside and out. However, as they approached the neighboring country, it became increasingly hot.
Old Ghost had previously worried that the Young Lady would be in a sorry state fleeing, unprepared and with inappropriate clothing. But along the way, as the temperature rose, Lian Cheng shed her clothes like an onion, always having a suitably appropriate one.
He had judged her wrongly.
“The fake identity is ready, and boarding the plane won’t be a problem. But once you reach Northern Europe, I still suggest you get a local identity; it’ll be more stable.”
Lian Cheng nodded. She would naturally need to change identities a few more times. The current trouble was an investment for future peace.
Old Ghost paused. “Do you want to keep the old domestic identification as a souvenir?”
Lian Cheng replied, “Dispose of it. There’s nothing worth commemorating.”
Old Ghost chuckled. “It seems you had a very difficult time in the domestic country.”
Lian Cheng didn’t intend to discuss this with him and took out a hairpin. “Can it be sold now?”
Old Ghost checked his phone. “Yes, there are two options. One, sell the hairpin and take the ten PM flight. Two, go to the airport now; there’s a flight to Greenland in half an hour.”
Lian Cheng frowned.
Before she could consider, she received a WeChat message from Liang Chaosu: “Are you at the company? I’ll come pick you up now.”
She had purchased international roaming data after entering the country precisely to detect domestic developments immediately. Delaying for two days was already the limit Liang Chaosu could tolerate.
Lian Cheng decisively pulled out her SIM card and turned off her phone. “I choose option two.”
………………
Liang Chaosu waited for another two minutes, but Lian Cheng did not reply.
He narrowed his eyes.
Dark clouds gathered on his face, a mix of surprise and anger, weaving together into a powerful, gloomy aura.
These past two days, her compliance had been extraordinary; she replied instantly and answered all questions. Every year for his birthday, she prepared gifts, but without much thought.
She asked her assistant for shirt sizes and her secretary for tie styles. She bought whatever was trendy, and her spending was stingy.
Over four years, it added up to less than twenty thousand, nowhere near the two hundred thousand she would be willing to spend.
Unless…
Liang Chaosu suddenly spoke, instructing Zhang An, “Tell Xiao Da to send people to Bai Ying’s Residence and Shenheng Company to investigate. Turn the car around immediately; I need to go back to the Liang family.”
Zhang An glanced in the rearview mirror, seeing his ashen face. He repeated the phone call.
It was so silent in the car that Zhang An could hear his own heartbeat, and naturally, he also heard the storm brewing from the phone: “The other party has turned off their phone.”
Recalling Lian Cheng’s past instances of slipping away without a word, Zhang An felt as if his lungs were filled with blood. A bone-chilling, skin-prickling suffocation seized him.
He dared not look any further and immediately relayed the instructions, changing lanes and turning around without delay.
In early January, even the deep winter of Nan Province displayed a bleak chill. On either side of the road were spring cherry trees, their branches sparse, with excess ones pruned, leaving only gray-brown main trunks wrapped in yellowish bark.
Heavy and profound, lonely and silent.
It startled the man in the back seat, and after the gale-force wind, it transformed into a vast desolation.
As the car entered the Liang family’s garage, Liang Chaosu opened the door and got out before Zhang An could fully stop.
Tall with long legs, he moved like an arrow, crossing the living room in an instant and heading for the second floor.
Father Liang and Mother Liang were sitting on the terrace, brewing tea. One spoonful of rose dew, five grams of dried tangerine peel. Mother Liang, mindful of her figure, added a small handful of job’s tears to reduce water retention.
True tea artistry involved hot water in the kettle, swirling cups, high pouring of the tea leaves, and tasting the liquor. The simpler the ingredients, the longer and more bitter the flavor. Mother Liang’s haphazard combination, with the tea’s subtle aroma, masked everything.
As Liang Chaosu’s footsteps approached, Mother Liang, still seemingly angry with him, rose with a cold face and walked past him, leaving.
Liang Chaosu turned back to watch Mother Liang walk away step by step. He then looked at Father Liang, who appeared leisurely, scooping some spring water to rinse the teapot and re-boiling white tea.
A cold smile squeezed from his throat. “Father and Mother cooperate with such tacit understanding. These past two days, one move after another, it’s been quite a show. I suppose Lian Cheng has already been sent away by now.”
Father Liang’s movements were slow but direct. “With Lian Cheng’s personality, where do you think I could force her to go?”
A faint white mist from the teapot gradually rose, creating a barrier between them. Father Liang was humble and serene, while Liang Chaosu was sharp and aggressive.
“I don’t need to investigate you and her; I can already roughly figure it out. You know it even better,” Father Liang said slowly, rinsing the tea set. “For someone you can’t keep, let her go to avoid resentment.”
“Is it to avoid resentment, or to avoid Father’s hands getting dirty?” Liang Chaosu’s voice was cold, his gaze filled with aggression, emitting a sharpness never before seen.
“With your methods, you should have ended this the moment doubt arose. But you had scruples about me, fearing you’d force me to resist, causing internal strife within the family like the Gu family and attracting outside enemies. You also feared that the Liang family’s rapid expansion over these four years had created countless enemies, making us vulnerable to opportunistic attacks. And most of all, you feared I would fly into a rage and harbor resentment, compelling you to abdicate.”
He suddenly laughed twice more, the sound burning through his heart and lungs like molten lava, yet it was a cold, mocking laugh. “You feared so much, yet you still dared to act. What are you relying on?”
Father Liang’s composure vanished instantly. Within the white mist, a peculiar face appeared. “I am your father. Gu Xingyuan fighting his uncle—the result is there in the hospital.”
He leaned forward slightly. “So, what if I have many scruples? If I go all out, at worst, I’ll retire directly, and the Liang family’s achievements over four years will become void. But you… Chaosu, do you dare to gamble?”
Layers upon layers of dark, cold undercurrents surged on Liang Chaosu’s face, threatening to erupt into a tempest, then abruptly returned to a placid calm. Beneath his expression churned a bottomless sea cave, unfathomable and unexplorable.
Father Liang couldn’t understand.
Liang Chaosu stepped forward, leaning in to let him see. “Father, if you truly dared to gamble, you wouldn’t have been so indecisive and played deaf and mute before. Why do you dare now?”
“It’s still about Lian Cheng, isn’t it? You firmly believe I won’t find her even if I search every inch of the ground, and that time will smooth over my unwillingness and anger.”
His eyes were like meticulously crafted sharp blades, piercing people’s defenses, examining every part of their body. “You know her whereabouts.”
Father Liang suddenly froze, sitting stunned.
However, Liang Chaosu did not press his advantage. He picked up the tea Father Liang had brewed and drank it in one gulp. “Good tea.”
He placed the teacup in Father Liang’s hand and strode away.
……………………
When Liang Chaosu arrived at Jade Mansion, Xiao Da had already compiled the information.
“Miss Lian Cheng these past two days, apart from meeting Feng Shien in the Old City Area—” As the man shot him a look, Xiao Da quickly corrected himself, “—most of her time was spent at Bai Ying’s Residence. She went to Shenheng but only to the ground floor and did not go up. She did not claim the two hundred thousand bonus from Shenheng.”
Liang Chaosu’s gaze deepened, his expression not exactly angry but exuding a strong, invisible danger, like the final moment of calm before a volcanic eruption.
Xiao Da stood at the edge of the volcano, coldness crawling from his heels up to his head uncontrollably.
