Qiming Chapter 30

Chapter 30

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When he received Xu Chengyue's call, he had just sent Yuan Man back and before leaving, had gone to the café in the Tianyi building, ordering a hazelnut latte and flipping through the artist's promotional booklet.

Yuan Man started her concert tour last week and has just returned to Nanpu City this week to prepare for the concert at the Siping Stadium the day after tomorrow. She now had to train in the company's rehearsal room every day, from six in the morning to ten at night, living a more regimented life than a white-collar worker.

She instructed Gu Yunfeng to be sure to attend the concert. If there weren't enough tickets, she could help get a few more, but no more front-row seats in the inner area were available.

From this angle, he could just see the security guard, Tang Zhihai, near the revolving door. When he entered today, he felt that this man's eyebrows and eyes were very familiar, so he secretly took a photo of him. This guy had an extraordinary aura and was leisurely working as a security guard, which seemed a bit of a waste.

The other party didn't notice that he was photographed. He glared at Gu Yunfeng and then directly went to check on other visitors, apparently remembering him.

"Professor Xu, what's the situation on your side? Let me guess, you didn't find any information about Yuan Man at the orphanage, right?" Gu Yunfeng sat in the café, borrowed a computer, and printed out the photo of Tang Zhihai he had taken. Holding the photo, he closed his eyes and meticulously drew the other party's eyebrows, eyes, ears, and nose.

In his mind, Yuan Man's face instantly flashed.

"Cao Yan visited Xingyu Orphanage, just over a month ago." Xu Chengyue told him: "And there's more news, she wasn't the first one to visit. A year ago, a middle-aged man in his forties also came to inquire about Yuan Man."

A year ago? That was just around the time Yuan Man and the other girls officially debuted.

He looked around, tightened his grip on his phone, and lowered his voice: "Does Cao Yan know that this man came before?"

"She knows. According to Director Wu, Cao Yan knows this person." Xu Chengyue added, "Their relationship should be special."

This man was probably Yuan Man's biological father. A year ago, when AIR hadn't yet become famous, he had gone to great lengths to find this place, he was definitely not the media or a fan.

"Can you get a sketch of this middle-aged man?"

"It's been a year, they don't remember his appearance. However, he did register his workplace, name, and contact number when he visited. I tried calling, but the number was invalid, and the name seemed fake, not like a normal person's name."

"What's the name he filled in?"

"White Knight."

Hmm... That really wasn't a normal person's name. It sounded like a middle school boy's immature fantasy of being a hero. Gu Yunfeng lowered his head, as if seeing himself from ten years ago in middle school.

"Where did he say he worked?" he continued to ask.

"The steel plant in Yuepu District, Pu Steel Group."

Pu Steel Group.

Gu Yunfeng was very familiar with this place. His father had worked there for a while when he was young, and half of the factory's surveillance cameras were installed by him. In the early years, Yuepu Steel had very good performance, but later the industry gradually declined, recruiting fewer and fewer newcomers. Fifteen years ago, there was a major production accident in the factory, causing the deaths of more than a dozen people and injuring over a hundred. Since then, the industry has experienced ups and downs, with basically the same old people staying on.

Staff turnover was slow, and salaries hardly increased. But the scale remained large, and practically the whole Yuepu District was employed by this company. Finding a nameless, faceless, likely long-departed person in such a large place was like finding a needle in a haystack.

However, why would he list this steel plant? According to his thinking, this person should be an employee of Tianyi.

"Do you remember when Chen Yu brought Yuan Man to report the case?"

"Mhmm."

"Yuan Man said she received threatening letters for several days in a row, I've never understood what the person who gave her those letters wanted." This person could sneak through layers of security to reach the twenty-eighth floor, they were definitely an internal employee of Tianyi. He inexplicably sent threatening letters, but didn't extort or harm, as if it were just a prank.

"Let's look at it from another perspective. To understand a person's purpose, we should look at the final outcome. Since Yuan Man reported the case, this person never sent any more threatening letters. So his goal should have been achieved."

"He wanted Yuan Man to report the case?"

"Mhmm, he succeeded."

The person who sent Yuan Man threatening letters and the one who inquired about her at the orphanage a year ago were the same person, her biological father. A year ago, he was still at Pu Steel Group and went to Tianyi after discovering his daughter.

"The man sentenced to death in the case eighteen years ago, Cao Yan's husband, Shen Shisheng." Gu Yunfeng sat on the soft chair, feeling the cool air, with an old photo of Shen Shisheng on his phone and a promotional booklet with Yuan Man's page open next to it. "I applied for the case files from back then. He and Cao Yan did everything in a ruthless and efficient manner, like business partners."

"But back then, Cao Yan was a stunning beauty with many admirers and a rather liberal lifestyle."

He gradually overlaid their photos and then separated them again. "I compared Shen Shisheng's photo with Yuan Man's, and they don't look alike."

Yuan Man had large, charming eyes with a playful touch, while both Cao Yan and Shen Shisheng had small eyes. Cao Yan had long, narrow phoenix eyes, and Shen Shisheng had single eyelids and an inverted triangle face. Their genetic makeup shouldn't have produced such a daughter.

"You mean..."

"Cao Yan could immediately identify Yuan Man's relationship with herself in a crowd because Yuan Man resembled her father. Shen Shisheng had no biological connection with Yuan Man." Gu Yunfeng stated slowly, "Her biological father is still alive, possibly close by, trying to protect his daughter like a hero."

He found out Yuan Man was being threatened and hoped she would report it. He realised she was being followed and tracked those trying to follow her. Yuan Man had told him that after Guan Jianhua, someone still followed her frequently, but this stopped after Cao Yan was murdered.

He clumsily tried to be a hero, walking a tightrope, and ended up killing someone.

Gu Yunfeng leaned back in his chair, crossing his hands behind his head, and putting on headphones with a mic. "After she became famous, her biological father found her, hiding in the shadows, doing everything he could to protect his daughter."

He drank the last half cup of latte, called the waiter to settle the bill, and looked up at the sky when he walked out of the building. Sunlight broke through the clouds and glass roof, illuminating the entire hall.

If his speculations were correct and all assumptions were true, what was the White Knight's mood when he first met Yuan Man?

To him, she was no longer an original sin stained with blood and tears but was instead the morning sun, illuminating the darkness.

Pu Steel plant

The rain pattered down, dripping from the green leaves to the ground, flowing into the soil and sewers. This place felt like an idyllic sanctuary, with the air not so good but the streets rare in their tranquillity.

Unlike the crowded city, no one was in much of a hurry here. The cats and dogs on the roadside were also leisurely, finding a place to hide from the rain, yawning, and continuing to sleep. Most parts of the plant area were well-vegetated, with green willows and red flowers planted along the roadside. The rain knocked down the petals, all of which floated into the soil.

He and Xu Chengyue each held an umbrella, waiting outside the closed reception room door after contacting the personnel director of the plant.

It was a Saturday, and it was raining, so apart from the shift workers, other employees were resting.

"Yesterday, I asked Shu Pan to investigate the people who joined Tianyi after March last year. There are twelve men over forty, and he sent me the list this morning."

Xu Chengyue took the list and skimmed through it: "So, among these names, the one who worked at Yuepu Steel is the person we're looking for."

He nodded.

After about ten minutes, the personnel director Li Wei, a woman in her thirties, hurried over with an older middle-aged man. She opened the door, poured tea for the two officers, and expressed her willingness to cooperate fully.

"I only came here five years ago, so I may not know everything clearly. That's why I brought Old Liu, he's been in the plant for a long time and knows a lot."

She flashed a professional smile and quickly logged into the personnel system on the computer. The middle-aged man beside her was slightly overweight, smelled of cigarette smoke, and had thinning hair with visible white strands. His silver work uniform's cuffs were blackened, looking like they hadn't been washed in a while.

"It's like this, I have a list here, and I need Director Li to check if these were employees of Yuepu Steel."

The yellowing wall still had photos of outstanding employees from the years before last, about ten of them in a straight line. Xu Chengyue's gaze swept over these once-excellent employees. One of them, a middle-aged man with thick eyebrows and dignified features, seemed familiar.

Li Wei took the list and was about to enter the first name when Old Liu loudly pointed at a name in the middle: "Hey, isn't this Old Tang?"

"Who?"

"This, Tang Zhihai." He emphatically tapped the name three times with his left index finger. "An old acquaintance, I remember he was even named an outstanding employee a few years ago." He glanced at the wall and pointed at a photo directly facing them. "That's him, his photo is still up there. He left last year, before even reaching retirement age."

Gu Yunfeng followed his direction to the photo. It was indeed the security guard at Tianyi.

They had encountered each other several times.

"When did he leave last year?"

"I don't remember, but Director Li can check."

"May twenty-eighth last year," Li Wei provided the precise date immediately after Old Liu spoke. "The reason for leaving was... health reasons, wanting to resign and rest."

"He left because of health issues, what was he suffering from?"

"This... I'm not sure." Li Wei shook her head and looked at the slightly chubby man staring at the ceiling. "Old Liu, do you know?"

"Aiyo, this matter... it's not nice to talk about." He awkwardly rubbed his hands, looking around blankly and reluctantly muttering, "There was a major production accident in our plant more than ten years ago, Old Tang was on-site and got seriously injured."

"Surviving was lucky enough. After the injury, he got compensation and was transferred to the security team. I reckon his resignation is related to that incident."

"Where was Tang Zhihai injured?" Gu Yunfeng pressed him.

"Well, that..." His old face reddened, looking down at the ground, speaking slowly, "Ai, I'm not sure... I just know that after the injury, he had issues in that area."

"What area?" Xu Chengyue asked, puzzled.

"It's just... he became infertile."

Old Liu sighed, "So he never married and lived alone. He seemed carefree on the surface, but inside, he must've felt quite miserable, especially since he liked children a lot."

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: July 8, 2024 by Angel

Edited: August 19, 2024 by Angel