When Shi Yunnan heard that the time was so close, a trace of surprise flashed across his brows and eyes.
“Yes, three days ago.” Ning De’an made up his mind to spill the bean, so he didn’t deliberately hide it.
“Although Yanchuan and I haven’t seen each other often in the past two years, we’ve always kept in touch through the internet.”
Before Ning De’an came to China, he tried to contact Luo Yanchuan, wanting to make an appointment with his long-lost friend.
However, Luo Yanchuan didn’t reply to him as usual.
Shi Yunnan replied, “It’s been almost half a month since Luo Yanchuan’s hit-and-run incident. It’s normal that you couldn’t contact him.”
He was busy running; how could he have the leisure to chat with an old friend?
Ning De’an nodded and continued his statement.
“Three days ago, I suddenly found an unfamiliar email in my mailbox, so I opened it to have a look. The sender said that he was Luo Yanchuan and briefly recounted some details of our previous time together.”
It was Ning De’an’s private email address that only his close friends knew about, and the details listed in the email were indeed difficult for others to know.
Ning De’an chose to reply after careful consideration and then received a second email confirming Luo Yanchuan’s identity.
Shi Yunnan interjected, “Does he know that you came to China to discuss cooperation with me?”
“No, Luo Yanchuan was very anxious in the email and didn’t give me any time to reminisce about the old days. I had some doubts, but I didn’t have the chance to ask.”
Ning De’an paused, looking at Shi Yunnan with seriousness in his eyes, “He only said that he encountered a little trouble in China and hoped that I could do him a favor.”
Shi Yunnan asked, “And what is that?”
Ning De’an whispered, “He asked me to help him get an underground bank account abroad, and he also said that he would transfer a huge amount of private property in a few days.”
“Underground bank account? huge amount of private property?”
Shi Yunnan reflected on the key points in this sentence, and his eyes had a subtle change.
Luo Lingsheng and he were indeed right in guessing that Luo Yanchuan just wanted to run away, and the person he thought of was his once good friend Ning De’an.
But weren’t all the accounts of the second house frozen and seized? Where did Luo Yanchuan still have private property before running away?
Ning De’an was afraid that Shi Yunnan would get the wrong idea and took the initiative to explain, “Mr. Shi, you should have known that my father’s family is in the mining business and has to handle a large amount of assets every year.”
Everyone experiences different environments and naturally has different views.
In foreign countries, a small part of the mining business belonged to the gray area, and underground accounts were often required for the temporary deposit and transfer of funds. Of course, transferring accounts in such an underground bank required a high “custodial fee” when compared to normal banks.
“I understand Mr. Ning’s meaning.” Shi Yunnan nodded slightly and asked again, “Did you promise him anything?”
“I’m sorry,” Ning De’an said, nodding. “Luo Yanchuan has mentioned to me several times that he was suppressed by the person in power in his family—that is, your husband.”
“I thought he wanted to transfer his private property and get out of the control of his family, so I agreed.”
“However, it’s not so easy to open an underground bank account. I applied for it three days ago…” Ning De’an roughly estimated the time, “I guess it won’t be successfully opened until tonight or tomorrow.”
“Luo Yanchuan also said that he would use another email to contact me, but I haven’t received his new email address yet.”
After Shi Yunnan understood the general process of the matter, he remembered Luo Lingsheng’s advice a few days ago: “Unless the other party has definite clues, otherwise, don’t get involved.”
“Mr. Ning, I wonder if you are willing to provide this clue to the police?”
“Of course I would.”
Ning De’an replied as a matter of course and added, “It’s just that I haven’t “completed” Luo Yanchuan’s request, so rashly calling the police might scare the snake away?”
“Wait until tomorrow; when I receive another new email from him, I will report to the police.”
Shi Yunnan neither urged nor vetoed Ning De’an’s proposal but agreed, “Of course, everything depends on Mr. Ning’s own consideration.”
As soon as his voice fell, a phone call came in.
Seeing the family short number1A cluster network in which a group of people can call each other with unlimited call time by paying a monthly fee. Everyone can call each other with fixed short numbers like 520 or 521. displayed, Shi Yunnan smiled and poured another cup of tea for Ning De’an, saying, “Mr. Ning, please excuse me; I need to take a call from my little baby first.”
“That cute little boy?” Ning De’an came to his senses and responded in a friendly manner, “Sure, go ahead Mr. Shi.”
Shi Yunnan got up and walked to the window. He answered the phone immediately, “Hello?”
“Little Uncle, are you busy?”
Little Goldfish’s deliberately lowered voice came from the other end of the phone, making Shi Yunnan’s smile rise again.
He asked slowly, “I’m not busy. Why did you suddenly call me? Little goldfish, are you having fun?”
Little Goldfish wore a children’s smartwatch bought for him by Luo Lingsheng, which can be used as a cell phone on a daily basis.
“Happy! Little Uncle, my teacher took us to the place where the sugar figurines are made today. I secretly spent money to buy three sugar figurines: one for Uncle, one for you, and one for me, okay?”
Shi Yunnan readily agreed, “Okay.”
Little Goldfish got Shi Yunnan’s answer, and then he softly told the truth, “Little uncle, tell uncle not to be angry, and don’t scold me when I get home; I only bought the sugar figurines and didn’t spend money carelessly.”
Little Goldfish has his own “little treasury,” but all daily expenses will be sent to Luo Lingsheng, his guardian.
No matter how rich the Luo family was, Luo Lingsheng was very strict about Little Goldfish’s private consumption. He never intended to let him become a dandy young master who spent money like water.
Shi Yunnan couldn’t help laughing, only to realize that this little darling was afraid of being scolded for spending money, so he used a roundabout tactic to ask for his help.
“Little uncle, how about it?”
The coquettish voice was like cotton candy—soft and cute.
Shi Yunnan responded without thinking, “Understood, I won’t let your uncle scold you. Are you coming back the day after tomorrow?”
“Yeah! Little uncle, I miss you very much.”
“Good baby, I miss you too. I’ll take time to pick you up the day after tomorrow.”
“Ok.”
Little Goldfish was probably afraid that the teacher would find out and scold him if he was on the phone for too long. After solving the problem of “getting scolded at home,” he happily hung up the phone.
Shi Yunnan returned to the tea table with a smile.
Ning De’an saw his expression and asked with a smile, “Mr. Shi, is that little boy your son?”
Shi Yunnan was stunned for a few seconds, but finally understood the puzzlement in Ning De’an’s words, which he then explained with a light smile, “He’s my husband’s little nephew, now being raised by us. We treat him as our own son.”
Little Goldfish lost his parents not long after he was born. His mind had always been sensitive and delicate, even at a young age. When he dared to call Shi Yunnan “Dad” in front of Ning De’an, he was in fact afraid of losing his little uncle.
Shi Yunnan could understand the child’s thoughts, so he was particularly distressed.
“No wonder.”
Ning De’an replied with a smile, and he glanced at the time, “I’m very satisfied with this tea; thank you, Mr. Shi, for your hospitality. I’ll leave first.”
Shi Yunnan thought of something, and asked, “Mr. Ning, are you leaving for Hangzhou now?”
Ning De’an understood the meaning of his words, “If it’s convenient, please help me change my flight to the day after tomorrow. I think… I’ll wait until the police report is resolved first.”
Shi Yunnan smiled and readily agreed.
…
After Ning De’an left, Shi Yunnan concentrated on staying in the office for a new round of jade design.
It wasn’t until five o’clock in the evening that he returned home according to his routine.
“You’re back?”
Luo Lingsheng’s inquiry came from the stairs.
Shi Yunnan looked up and said, “Yeah, the cooperation with Ning De’an is settled, and I stayed in the office for another afternoon of designing; my eyes and shoulders are sore everywhere.”
As soon as the two came together, Luo Lingsheng held his lover’s hand and said, “Go back to the room after eating. I’ll give you a massage.”
“Ok.”
Shi Yunnan examined their hands and couldn’t help but clasp them.
The butler who was guarding the dining room was not surprised and smiled as he ordered the maids to bring up the prepared dinner dishes.
“I talked with Ning De’an about Luo Yanchuan today; guess what he said?” Shi Yunnan took the initiative to bring up the topic after sitting down.
“What is it?”
Luo Lingsheng asked, and he took the initiative to scoop up a bowl of fish soup for his lover.
“Luo Yanchuan contacted Ning De’an and asked him to help open an underground bank account abroad, saying that he wanted to transfer a huge amount of domestic private property in the near future.”
Shi Yunnan took a sip of the soup and expressed the doubts still in his heart, “Didn’t the company under the second house seize? Do they still have savings in private?”
Luo Lingsheng frowned, “There shouldn’t be much left.”
“Luo Yanchuan shouldn’t say this for no reason…” Shi Yunnan put down the spoon in his hand. He always felt that something wasn’t right, “If he doesn’t have money, then where does he want to get it from?”
The moment those words landed, Luo Lingsheng immediately lowered his voice and asked, “Uncle Qin, where is Jinyu?”
When the butler Qin heard this, his hands trembled in fright, “Patriarch, don’t scare me. At three o’clock this afternoon, I saw the homeroom teacher post a video of the young master in the group chat.”
Shi Yunnan, who also thought of this just now, breathed a sigh of relief, “Yes, it was posted in the group, and Little Goldfish called me at noon; didn’t you secretly send bodyguards to follow him?”
Luo Lingsheng took off his glasses, and his emotions relaxed a little, “It’s good that he’s fine; I was worrying too much.”
“At six o’clock, after summer camp dinner time, shall we call Little Goldfish?” Shi Yunnan said.
Luo Lingsheng nodded, “Yeah. Let’s eat first.”
The dinner without Little Goldfish was indeed lacking in excitement.
Shi Yunnan and Luo Lingsheng finished dinner in less than half an hour. Before they got up from the table, Yuan Meng, who had always been calm and composed, ran recklessly into the house, “Patriarch! It’s not good!”
“…”
Luo Lingsheng raised his eyes, and his expression suddenly changed.
Shi Yunnan’s unexplained restlessness was maximized at this moment, “What’s wrong?”
Before Yuan Meng could say anything, Uncle Qin’s cell phone rang. The summer camp teacher’s nervous voice could be heard over the loud speaker.
“Hello? Is this Jinyu’s grandpa? Is it convenient for his parents to come to Shuilan Ancient Town? Jin-Jinyu has disappeared.”