“A deal? There’s no making deals between us.” Jiang Yu spoke without hesitation.
“We will.” Qiao Mo said, pulling out a pile of documents from his pocket and handing it to him. Seeing that he didn’t respond, he placed it on the sink next to him.
Someone knocked on the door outside, so Qiao Mo put on his sunglasses and mask again, then quickly said, “Come find me anytime after you finish reading this.”
After speaking, he opened the door and went out.
Someone entered the restroom from outside, and Jiang Yu hesitated for a moment before reaching out to look at the documents Qiao Mo had left on the sink. His eyes shot open.
Qin Shen was driving down the road when his assistant called to tell him that Qiao Mo had gone to the airport. After hanging up, he immediately called Jiang Yu.
After hearing about how Qiao Mo searched for him, he asked Jiang Yu to wait at the door of the restroom. Qin Shen rushed over, took the documents from his grasp, and flipped through two pages. “Notify them on the way; we’ll talk about this after we get back,” he said solemnly, frowning.
With the suitcase in hand, they went to where the car was parked. On their way back, Qin Shen called Gu Yang, while Jiang Yu called Lu Qing and asked them to go to the villa.
After they arrived, Qin Shen sent the nanny out to get groceries. Qin Shen sat on the sofa and flipped through the pile of documents, while Jiang Yu absentmindedly hugged the little cub he hadn’t seen in a week. Later, he put him in the swimming pool to play by himself, and went downstairs. Qin Shen placed the documents on the table and waved to Jiang Yu after seeing him.
When Jiang Yu approached, Qin Shen drew him to sit on his lap, encircled him in his arms, and embraced him. Jiang Yu glanced at the table bearing the pile of documents. He shivered a little despite the fact that it was already the end of May and the temperature was already very hot. Qin Shen tenderly held his cheek with one hand while caressing his shoulder with the other. With their foreheads pressed together, the tips of their noses touched, and their breath intermingled. “It’ll be okay. I’ll find all the people behind this,” Qin Shen reassured him gently.
Once he finished speaking, he lowered his head to capture his lips and gave him a comforting kiss.
After a period of kissing, Jiang Yu’s long eyelashes fluttered as his fingers held onto Qin Shen’s shirt in a loose manner. Qin Shen let go of him when he eventually stopped quivering and caressed his tender cheek with the palm of his hand.
Jiang Yu couldn’t resist rubbing against Qin Shen’s warm, dry palm as he lightly leaned in his arms and fiddled with the buttons on his shirt close to his chest.
The two hugged each other for a while, but when the doorbell at the gate rang, it was then that they stood up and parted ways. The person who came was Gu Yang; he was alone since Lin Cheng was out of town for his concert. When he came in, he hurriedly asked, “What’s going on?”
Qin Shen only briefly explained a few words to him during the phone call while they were in the car. Gu Yang was given the documents that were on the table by Qin Shen, and he was left to read them on his own.
Jiang Yu went to the kitchen and brought tea. After some time, Lu Qing also arrived, bringing An An with him. Jiang Yu led An An upstairs to the swimming pool and played with him, then went downstairs and sat next to Lu Qing.
Lu Qing flipped through the stack of documents in his hand, his face becoming paler the more he looked. Jiang Yu held his cold hand and cried out worriedly, “Brother Qing…”
Lu Qing set the stack of documents down, clutched Jiang Yu’s hand tightly, shut his eyes, and uttered the somewhat bumbling question, “Where did this come from?”
Jiang Yu told him about Qiao Mo.
Lu Qing learned that Pei Yun and Qiao Mo grew close over the two months he was away, but there was little expression on his face. “What kind of deal is he going to make with you with this information?” Lu Qing said. Their conflict had long since been resolved when he let Xiaosha consume Pei Yun.
Jiang Yu responded, “I don’t know, he didn’t say anything, he just told me to read the information and find him.”
Qin Shen sat next to Gu Yang and tapped on the documents, then looked at Lu Qing and said, “I found out that Pei Yun has a secret laboratory before, and these materials…”
Lu Qing took a sip of the hot tea, his pale lips finally showed a trace of color, and then said, “That laboratory is located in the basement of the Pei family house, there are only three people in charge. This information was acquired through their daily tests, which they conducted on me while I was imprisoned in the basement. The three of them gathered when I arrived in Linghai City, and they vanished after Pei Yun passed away. I returned to Pei’s home’s basement to take a look, but all the instruments and equipment were either already destroyed or Pei Yun had someone transport them out. I have been sending people to look for those three people since Pei Yun steadfastly concealed the laboratory and I was unsure of the origins of those three individuals, so it will take some time to locate them.”Gu Yang cursed, “This damned Pei Yun left so much trouble even after death. What experiments did they do on you, and did they obtain any results?”
Lu Qing shook his head, “I don’t know. When I was in the basement, I was unconscious most of the time. But there shouldn’t be any results, because the night before coming to Linghai City, Pei Yun went to the basement and I was taken out. The effects of the anesthesia was quickly dissipating so I vaguely heard Pei Yun scolding them and smashing things.”
“Since no results have been produced…” Gu Yang stretched out his hand to flip through the stack of materials and added, “This is just a pile of waste paper; even if it is taken out, it can be said to be fabricated, and no one will believe it. Qiao Mo wants to make a deal using this? He’s too naive.”
Qin Shen took the document from his hand and concluded, “I will deal with Qiao Mo’s side. Those three people in the lab must be found as soon as possible.”
Those three people often wore masks, and because Lu Qing was always under anesthesia in the laboratory and was completely unconscious other than the fact that there are two men and a woman—one man and the woman were younger, and the other man, called Professor Wu, is a little older and has a noticeable burn scar on his wrist, no further details are known.
Following their discussion, the four of them decided to start with Pei Yun’s relationships with others. The Lu Qing still evokes some aversion in the Pei family. It just so happened that Gu Yang’s power had been taken away by his brother, and he had nothing to do. So he simply returned to the Pei family with Lu Qing and took advantage of the relatively cordial relationship between the Gu family and the Pei family to find Pei Yun’s close elder cousins and inquire. They might just be able to learn something.
The nanny returned from grocery shopping after they finished their discussion. The four of them went upstairs while the nanny cooked in the kitchen.
In the swimming pool, Jiang Naonao and An An were chasing each other and frolicking around the rockery and the mossy wood. The two little cubs scared the fish into the corner of the aquatic plants, shivering and afraid to come out.
When Gu Yang saw the swimming pool, his eyes lit up, and he rubbed his hands together in anticipation to learn from Qin Shen. The fish eggs within Lin Cheng were about to hatch. He wanted to build a swimming pool like this so that his son could play in it.
An An swam quickly and nimbly through the water as Jiang Naonao trailed behind him and just submerged his body chest-deep. He groaned and caught up with An An after vigorously flicking his little tail and paddling with his tiny arms.
Jiang Yu was a little upset to find that his son seemed to be a little fat and that he couldn’t swim well in the water after seeing An An’s flexible and strong physique compared to Jiang Naonao’s plump body and chubby tail.
When Gu Yang and Lu Qing left in the afternoon, Jiang Yu brought Jiang Naonao to the bedroom. After giving him a brief glance, Jiang Yu asked Qin Shen, “Don’t you think Naonao’s a little bit fat?”
“Fat?” Qin Shen said, looking at the little cub who was rolling on the bed, trying to catch his little feet. His gaze sweeping across his lotus root-like limbs and plump chin, and said adamantly, “Where is the fat? It’s obviously just right.”
How cute and beautiful, at a glance you know it is his son.
Jiang Yu said, “He’s really fat, he can’t swim fast in the water. Look at how hard he is chasing An An today.”
“An An is more than a year older than him, it’s only natural that he can swim faster.” Qin Shen said as he reached out and grabbed the little one who had almost rolled off the bed, repositioned him in the middle, and watched as the little one happily grabbed his feet and rolled to the other side of the bed, his tooth aching. It doesn’t matter if you’re fat or not, but can you be more sensible and less silly?
Qin Shen’s men were keeping constant surveillance on Qiao Mo and knew where he lived. The next day, Qin Shen and Jiang Yu set out to find Qiao Mo together.
They rang the doorbell at Qiao Mo’s residence downstairs, and the hallway door quickly opened. They entered the elevator and ascended to the floor where Qiao Mo lived.
Qiao Mo resided in a large apartment in an upscale district with one unit per floor. Jiang Yu and Qin Shen got out of the elevator and walked directly into the only open door.
There was no one in the living room, only a few suitcases. Jiang Yu frowned, Did Qiao Mo intend to leave?
“You guys are a little late; I thought you’d come to see me yesterday,” Qiao Mo said as he came out of the bedroom on the right and nodded to them, “Have a seat.”
The three of them sat on the sofa. Qin Shen took out the stack of information and placed it on the table, pushing it in front of him, and asked directly in a cold voice, “Where did you get this?”
Qiao Mo looked at him, his fingers clenched tightly, a little nervous, “Once, Pei Yun was drunk and said that his son was snatched back into the sea. He also said that Jiang Yu and Lin Cheng were both mermaids. Since then, I’ve been paying close attention to it, and this was secretly found out from his study.”
Jiang Yu asked, “What kind of deal do you want to make with me with this information?”
“Let me leave the country, and I won’t say anything about you and Lin Cheng,” Qiao Mo replied.
“Based on this information, do you think someone will believe you if you tell it?” Qin Shen asked as he looked at him coldly, “This condition is not worthy of making a deal with us.”
Qiao Mo choked in his heart and deduced that Qin Shen must have already known Jiang Yu was a mermaid. The one who set him up in the same manner he did, to have him chastised by the fans and audience, and then kept him hidden, was all Qin Shen’s means of retaliating for Jiang Yu.
Jiang Yu is different. How can he be so kind to Jiang Yu without caring at all? Qiao Mo felt envy and loathing as his nails dug into his flesh, but he could only grit his teeth and endure it. He expected Jiang Yu not to tell Qin Shen about being a mermaid after what occurred with Pei Yun, but he didn’t expect Qin Shen to not only know all about it but also treat Jiang Yu as well as ever. He seriously underestimated the feelings of the two, and now that everything had gone wrong, he could only save himself first.
“Of course, I know this information is far from enough.” Qiao Mo smiled, stood up and went into the bedroom, then emerged holding a silver box. He carefully opened it, and there was a tube of potion lying inside.
“After Pei Yun died, I quietly went to his place and met three people, and I stole it from them,” Qiao Mo stated as he reached out to pick up the potion. “From what those three people said, this is the result of their two-years of experiments, and this is exclusively used on the mermaids,” he added.
The author has something to say: Little fat fish~
Thank you for reading! Apologies for the delayed chapter. I couldn’t really manage to focus on this while babysitting. I’ll release what I can in the upcoming days.
If you can, please support me on my ko-fi! (ㅅ´ ˘ `)♡
It means a lot and is deeply appreciated.
For 3 ko-fi’s I’ll release an extra chapter!
