Chapter 397: A Bargaining Chip

Uh…

The warm dining room had suddenly cooled down.

The fragrance of the hotpot drifting about could not conceal the heavy atmosphere in the dining room.

Abdul’s expression kept changing that it was actually interesting to watch.

He went from showing a shocked expression to that of a frightened one. Then he calmed down in the next instant.

“Mr. Bai… I… have my reasons too…”

To operate a restaurant in a place like Nanmu where illegal activities were rampant was no easy feat. Abdul was certainly not a simple person.

Abdul had quickly adjusted himself in just an instant and immediately confessed to him.

“Lima is indeed my adopted daughter.” At this point, he seemed to have thought of his unhappy past. His expression was like that of an old man who raised a child without his wife. “I didn’t go around telling others about this for the sake of the well being of my daughter. If others knew she’s not my real daughter, she would have to put up with all kinds of weird gazes from others while she’s already so pitiful. Don’t you agree that it would be too cruel to do that?”

Bai Muchuan nodded, he seemed to have believed him.

Then he looked up at the two waitresses standing outside the dining room.

“Please leave us alone for a while.”

Both waitresses looked at Abdul for confirmation.

When he moved his mouth—a sign to go ahead, they left and even closed the door.

There was now only Abdul as well as Bai Muchuan, Xiang Wan, and the rest inside the private dining room.

The hotpot on the electromagnetic cooker was still bubbling and the aroma of cooked food was filling the room.

However, what Bai Muchuan said after this would end up making everyone lose their appetite instantly.

“You’re such a great person. Do you want me to commend you with a pennant?” He remarked sarcastically with a tepid tone. When he looked at Abdul, derision filled his gaze. “You adopted a daughter but did not want to let others know about it, just so you can do whatever you want to her and nobody would suspect you, right?”

This stunned Abdul. He was unable to react.

He looked at Bai Muchuan in a daze.

Bai Muchuan’s eyebrows scrunched tightly together. His handsome face was full of disdain. “She calls you ‘dad’, yet you use her as a tool to relieve your sexual desires. You even used her as a bargaining chip to get what you wanted by making her sleep with all kinds of men… She was the key to why you could do well in Nanmu. Abdul, it’s been so many years, surely you’d nightmares about this before, right?”

What?!

No!

How was this possible?

Was this a novel plot?

Or a movie plot from elsewhere?

Xiang Wan suddenly felt her stomach churning.

She felt as if what she had eaten earlier was filthy.

The first time she met Abdul, he had brought Lima along with him.

Lima was a charming and beautiful ethnic beauty standing beside this middle-aged man. That day, he dressed like a gentleman, but he had a knavish and shrewd look, like that of a businessman.

Back then, Xiang Wan thought that if the people of Dark Clan could control a small noodle house, why didn’t the Dark Clan seek to trouble a hotpot restaurant like this?

Only then had she understood.

She got what Bai Muchuan was talking about.

She also got what Bai Muchuan had left unsaid as well.

Prior to coming to Nanmu, Bai Muchuan had said a sentence.

He said Ye Lun and the dead Dark Clan boss, “had the same woman”—

He had put it in a very subtle way!

However, Xiang Wan could link it up with her acute sixth sense.

The reason Abdul’s hotpot restaurant could boom in Nanmu was because they had the Dark Clan’s protection.

The price he paid was his “daughter”, Lima.

So that meant Ye Lun… also had a fling with Lima before?

Did that happen before they chose Lima to cast in “The Grey List” or after they chose her?

Furthermore, how did Abdul get Lima into the film set then? How did Meng Chi become his friend? What was the deal between them? Was it Lima’s young body?

That’s filthy!

Xiang Wan felt her stomach convulsing involuntarily.

She felt like she was extremely hungry, yet she didn’t want to eat anything.

Nothing could ever fill that empty feeling.

Morality! All lost.

What was behind the sunlight was a set of torn values…

She did not want to delve deeper—

Behind these bright and glamorous appearances, in places where others could not see, exactly how much evil had not been exposed under the light… as well as all the sins?

How many people looked at the sky hopelessly that they needed to exhaust all their courage if they were to continue living?

Lima! That woman she disliked.

She was always staring at Bai Muchuan with her eyes filled with admiration.

Frankly, Xiang Wan did not like her at all.

It was like an innate ability to dislike her. From the angle of a woman, she would never like Lima.

However, since both of them are women, she knew about the difficulties women had to face in a male-dominant society.

Lima might not have been willing to take such a path. Nonetheless, fate had pushed her, step by step into the dark… and she got used to it! She got used to such “transactions”, playing up to one man after another, which could help elevate her social status and live a more comfortable life… At that time, she might have viewed Bai Muchuan as her redemption—someone who could get her out of that vicious cycle!

“Abdul! Steamed bun with human blood—does it taste nice?”

He was laughing.

It was a chilly sneer.

The color of Abdul’s face started draining slowly.

His face turned ashen, and he looked panicked.

Reflexively, he kept denying that he had done something wrong.

“Mr. Bai, I don’t know what you’re talking about… I treat Lima as my daughter… Our relationship is just like any father and daughter. The reason I didn’t want to tell anyone about the fact that she’s an adopted child was exactly because of this fact. You should know that a widower adopting a daughter might invite gossips. I love this child a lot and she respected me as well…”

Bai Muchuan sneered, “Mr. Abdul, there’s a limit to my patience.”

Bai Muchuan did not have that much patience and time to listen to his nonsense.

He had already gotten hold of substantial evidence to prove this. Hence, there was no need for him to listen to any explanation at this moment. “When you arrived at the police station, you can tell the detective-in-charge there. There’s only one thing you need to answer—”

He paused for a moment.

His gaze was focused but grim.

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Abdul spoke haltingly, “Mr. Bai, plea-please say it!”

Bai Muchuan took out a picture from a document bag and placed it on the table. “Is this person, Cui Ming?”

When Abdul saw the picture of the dead man, he shuddered out of reflex. “Well… this…”

Bam! Bai Muchuan slammed his fist on the table. “Talk!”

When there was a need to do so, he would behave in an intimidating manner.

Abdul quivered at that sound and shrank his neck. “Yes. He’s Cui Ming.”

He confirmed the identity of the corpse.

He looked on powerlessly at the tableware before him. “I… I have a business relationship with him. There’s nothing else more. Mr. Bai, you can investigate it yourself. My business is always clean and free of illegal activities… I’m only an owner of a hotpot restaurant… I’ve done nothing that breaks the law…”

Hur! Bai Muchuan laughed.

“Clean!? You don’t deserve to use this word!”

He got up from his seat slowly and looked at the dispirited Abdul sitting at his seat before tilting his head at the two Xi City detectives.

“Bring him away!”

With a cold snort, he looked at the startled and shocked Abdul.

“Your daughter should be in the interrogation room by now. When you’ve reached there, you can hear what she has to say about this.”

This round of interrogation was rather simple.

It was not the usual process where a big group of detectives led people into the questioning or interrogation rooms.

However, all of those who were present felt heavy-hearted after listening to all these.

…

The two detectives brought Abdul back to the Nanmu Police Station.

Over there, there was another round of interrogation waiting for him.

However, Bai Muchuan did not follow them there.

The three of them, Bai Muchuan, Cheng Zheng, and Xiang Wan went to Nanmu Hotel.

Mm, that was a familiar place.

The three of them remained silent.

Bai Muchuan got two rooms and passed a room card to Cheng Zheng.

Although there was no change in Cheng Zheng’s expression, his eyes seemed especially dim.

From another perspective, such a scene—could be considered a torture.

He had to watch the woman he liked staying with another man in a room.

Cheng Zheng clasped the room card as he looked at the cool Bai Muchuan in front of him. “What is the official business you want me to do by getting me to come here?”

Cheng Zheng was the Forensics Captain.

However, he was not taking him to a crime scene, nor was he told to conduct an autopsy on a corpse or do an analysis on some material evidence. Finally, questioning suspects were not his responsibility.

If the purpose of calling him here was to feed him dog food, then Bai Muchuan had successfully done so.

“Hur!” Bai Muchuan laughed, he seemed to have read his mind. “Let’s rest for the day. You’ll be very busy tomorrow!”

“Mm?” Cheng Zheng looked puzzled and his expression was somber.

“We need to make a trip to the film set!” Bai Muchuan said, “The place where Ye Lun and Yu Ning came to blows!”

After that, he walked towards the elevator. “Don’t think about anything else tonight, just rest!”

Cheng Zheng followed. “But looking for traces at places like this had no meaning.”

For every scene, the film crew would use different backgrounds. Even if it was the same set of equipment used, whatever traces left that day would have been gone by all the handling. How was it possible to find anything?

Cheng Zheng’s tone was unfriendly.

It sounded like he was being forced to make a meaningless trip and felt that Bai Muchuan was playing him.

However, Bai Muchuan did not change his expression. “Just follow the instructions!”

Cheng Zheng said nothing more. “…”

He kept quiet and sped up when he walked past Bai Muchuan.

As Bai Muchuan watched his back view, a half-smile appeared on his face.

“The location where Yu Ning and Ye Lun fought was not on the set but over at the Props!”

Cheng Zheng halted his steps.

A few seconds later, he walked faster and disappeared before them!

…

Throughout that episode, Xiang Wan did not utter a word.

She just followed quietly beside Bai Muchuan.

Ever since they left the hotpot restaurant, both of them did not exchange any words.

They didn’t wait for a long time when the elevator arrived.

Cheng Zheng was not there.

He had gone up first.

Now they were alone together.

Xiang Wan paused for a second. “What’s the relationship between Lima and the Dark Clan boss, Cui Ming?”

Bai Muchuan spread a hand, indicating her to get in the elevator.

That exasperated Xiang Wan.

Usually, he would hold her waist or take her hand into the elevator.

What’s with the sudden distant behavior?

Xiang Wan’s expression was stiff as she walked into the elevator without another word.

Bai Muchuan looked toward the elevator door. “Cui Ming’s death is very fishy. Cheng Zheng’s final report concludes that the time of his death is before your abduction at Wen Xin Nunnery. If that was the case, the one you saw and the one who died are two different people.”

“There’s nothing wrong with this. And?”

“If the one who died is really Cui Ming, then the one who pretended to be him is the murderer we’re looking for.”

“Nothing wrong with this either! Continue!”

“Starting with Brother Steel then to Eye-patch guy, and finally, Cui Ming. That person is the one who led us to exterminate Dark Clan!”

“Nothing wrong too, and?”

“All the important Dark Clan members are dead. The only clues we have are Yu Ning and Ye Lun’s bloodstains on the robe of Cui Ming. It’s very important to know how the bloodstains got onto the robe.”

“Is that really important?” Xiang Wan’s glance at him had a tinge of mockery. “Have you ever thought that the bloodstains could have been left there deliberately for you? After all, don’t forget that if he’s willing, he can always do a clean and perfect job!”

“Nope!” Bai Muchuan’s eyes were cold and firm. “Cui Ming left the bloodstains as a clue for the police! A clue that can lead us to that person!”

“Why are you so sure?” Xiang Wan said a little sarcastically, “Did Sherlock Holmes possessed you or something?”