Chapter Ninety-Three - The Cold Future Father-in-Law, Part Two

It was already after ten o’clock at night, and inside the headquarters of the largest police station in the central district of Capital City, I was seated beside the three girls, including Susan, on a row of chairs. At an angle nearby, Masato Tendo and Huang Qi were glaring at me with gritted teeth.

Seeing the worried look that had remained on Susan’s face ever since she entered the police station, I had not found the heart to blame her. After all, she did not know my true abilities, and second, because she was worried about me, she had no choice but to call her father. I understood that she had never truly wanted to do this.

“Sigh... Susan, when your father gets here, don’t act too close to me. I don’t want him noticing anything.” That was all I could say, because I knew that if her father realized what kind of relationship we had, the matter would surely turn in a direction I did not want.

Susan looked mildly surprised at my words, then said unhappily, “What are you afraid of? You’ve met my father before, haven’t you? Am I supposed to just stand by while you’re being bullied?”

“That’s not what I mean, it’s just...” I knew she was merely trying to steel herself. In truth, she had no idea that Chusen had already told me everything about the Susan family.

“Only that Xiao Qiang is afraid your father might misunderstand things, and that would be bad for you.” Before I could finish, Casey Chu, sitting beside us, cast me a quick glance and voiced the very words I had meant to say.

“Misunderstand? What is there to misunderstand? My father isn’t some unreasonable brute.” Susan was deliberately trying to sound tough. In truth, she did not want me to know that her father had taken her to the capital, nor did she want me to know that her father had long since regarded her as a pawn, a pawn to be manipulated at will.

“I’m afraid he isn’t that kind of man, but he’s forced into playing that kind of man anyway.” Seeing Susan trying so hard to act calm, Casey Chu seemed even more intent on exposing the truth. “Susan, why are you still hiding this from Xiao Qiang? Rather than suffering like this, why not just...”

“Kaytlin, have you said enough? Shut up.” Seeing Susan’s face grow paler and paler, I shot her a hard glare. It was plainly a warning not to interfere any further. Casey Chu glared back coldly, snorted in displeasure, and turned her head away.

The police investigation had already made the matter largely clear. In truth, it had been a minor incident to begin with: some people trying to hit on a beauty, an argument that escalated into a group brawl. If it had involved ordinary people, even the police would not have cared all that much.

But because the mix now included the daughter of the city party secretary, the head of Tianlai Group, the beloved daughter of the president of the Imperial Dynasty Group, and a Japanese businessman, Tendo Masato, who had come to Capital City for investment, along with the two ninjas already in the hospital, Huang Qi, and those gang henchmen, the whole affair had become so complicated that no one at the station dared touch it.

The junior officers did not dare offend any side. They could only call their superiors and hope for a solution. Yet after the station chief arrived in a flurry, he did not even say a word before hurrying off to his office to make more calls. So this time, I finally understood: this matter would have to be handled by the city leaders.

As expected, just as I told Casey Chu to shut up, the station doors were shoved open in a rush, and a large group of people stormed in. From afar, I saw several police officers bending over backward to salute them, and I knew the real figures of the night had finally arrived.

Chusen, Guohui Su, and Guomin Xia, along with a whole host of municipal officials whose names I could not even remember, came in together. Among them, I also saw the bureau chiefs, department heads, and others that Jing Zhang had managed to pull in. It no longer looked like a police station at all; to be exact, it was as though the police station had, in an instant, turned into the city government.

“Dad!” Susan and Casey Chu cried at the same time.

Chusen and Guohui Su quickly spotted us sitting against the wall and strode straight over. Meanwhile, Guomin Xia hurried toward Tendo Masato, with a large crowd of officials following behind him. At once, the city government officials in Capital City split into two groups, though from any angle it was obvious that the group trailing behind Guomin Xia far outnumbered the one behind Guohui Su.

Chusen pulled his daughter into an embrace and asked worriedly whether she had been injured. When Casey Chu shook her head, he turned to glance my way and gave a slight nod, enough to count as a greeting.

But Guohui Su’s side lacked that tender father-daughter warmth. The moment he reached Susan, his face darkened as though someone owed him millions. Susan lowered her head in some fear and said nothing. The scene was eerie enough to chill the heart.

“What is going on here?” At last, after sweeping a look at me and Jing Zhang still seated nearby, Guohui Su spoke. “How old are you already? Why are you still causing such a ruckus? This is sheer nonsense!”

“Dad, we didn’t want this. That guy was the one who came to bother us...” Susan lifted her head and was just about to explain when Guohui Su cut her off with a wave of his hand.

“I don’t care what the reason was. In any case, this time it was your fault! Look at all of you. Apart from Miss Zhang, the rest of you are still high school students. Don’t you know that bars are off-limits to high school students? And you actually went to such a place to drink? Susan, I think your courage is getting bigger and bigger. Who exactly taught you to be like this? Tell me—who spoiled you?”

“Old Su! What kind of way is that to speak? They’re all just children. Going to a bar once in a while is only out of curiosity, and they didn’t even get drunk. Clearly it was the other side that was in the wrong. Why blame the children?” Jing Zhang’s tone sharpened with dissatisfaction after hearing Guohui Su’s words. She was just about to speak when Chusen’s voice rang out.

“Hmph, Old Chusen, you’re the only one who pampers children. You don’t know that the more you indulge them, the more willful they become! What do you know? The one they tangled with today was a representative sent by the Japanese company Paradise, here to take part in the redevelopment plan for the old city, planning to invest more than a billion to build factories! The money itself is one thing, but Capital City is an inland city, and foreign investors have never really taken a shine to us. This Japanese investment is a real opportunity, do you understand? An opportunity! The first step is always the hardest. If this one goes well, the rest will follow. But look at what our daughters have done—they’ve practically ruined the chance for us...”

“Paradise Company?” Hearing Guohui Su say that, I suddenly felt that the name was strangely familiar. After thinking it over, well, wasn’t that the same Paradise Company that had spent five hundred thousand to buy the Game Boy Advance technology from me? So after all this time, Tendo was actually a representative of that company? If I had known, I would never in a million years have sold technology to those shameless Japanese bastards!

Once Paradise Company came to mind, everything became clear. At the beginning of the month, I had seen news in the papers about the launch of the Game Boy Advance, and for a period of time the vice president of Paradise Company, the fellow named Ichiro Sato who had once been in charge of contacting me, had kept phoning me, hoping I would introduce him to the relative who developed the Game Boy Advance so they could meet. I had only brushed him off with a casual remark that if Paradise Company was willing to invest in the Republic, then it could be considered.

How could they have known that I had no such technological relative at all? The true developer of that technology was me. It seemed that Paradise Company’s sudden decision to invest in Capital City was surely because of my half-serious, half-empty promise. I could not help feeling both amused and exasperated. It looked as though the representative they had sent really did have some skill—before the investment had even begun, he had already made contact with me. Unfortunately, now that we had finally met, he had become my opponent. I truly did not know whether to laugh or cry. This world really was rather small...

Susan seemed to have sensed the seriousness of the situation and could not help glancing at me with quiet worry. I smiled at her indifferently, as if to tell her not to fret. Joking aside, the phone number of Paradise Company’s vice president was saved right there in my cell. If I called him, Tendo Masato would be in for a world of trouble. But the matter had not yet reached the point of no return. Unless there was no other choice, I did not want to owe Sato that favor.