Chapter 756: A Score to Settle and a Deal to Strike
At Red Scorpion.
Blood relations were truly a mysterious thing. The moment Lu Chengzhou entered his father’s office and saw a woman in a navy cheongsam sitting in the reception area, he knew who she was right away.
Her long hair was exquisitely tidied and from just her side profile he could see that she had a thick layer of makeup that made her look fierce. She exuded a strong presence while sitting with her leg crossed atop the other.
Sitting on the one-seater leather sofa next to her was Lu Zhan, who was neatly dressed and pouring the woman some tea from a transparent crystal teapot containing flowers and fruits steeped in water. He usually drank Pu’er, so it was obvious that the fruit and floral tea was prepared just for the woman.
Upon noticing the figure at the doorway, he looked up and put down the teapot. “Chengzhou.”
Hearing that, Ye Junci slowly looked over and saw Lu Chengzhou languidly walking over to the sofa with a hand in his pocket. The young man tossed his jacket on the sofa opposite them before sitting comfortably down on it.
Although Ye Junci had been receiving news about her son over the years and had prepared herself emotionally, the sudden meeting left her in a trance for a second when she saw him.
“Why did you call me over?” Lu Chengzhou leaned forward slightly and rested his elbows on his knees as he poured himself a cup of tea.
While Ye Junci was collecting herself, Lu Zhan looked at her and his son. He was unsure how he should introduce the two of them to each other, so he opted to stay silent instead.
This was actually the first time the family of three had ever sat together. Lu Chengzhou was much calmer and more relaxed than his parents.
Ye Junci was maintaining her calm and composure relatively well too. She sipped a mouthful of tea before cutting to the chase. “Red Flame is starting to infiltrate Jijing Island. Are you intending to blow the matter up?”
Unlike the internationally fearsome Red Flame, Red Scorpion belonged to the country, so Lu Chengzhou could not mobilize them at will. Hence, Red Flame would always step in whenever it was inconvenient for Red Scorpion to do so.
“Can’t I do that?” Holding the teacup in his hand, Lu Chengzhou leaned against the sofa’s backrest, looking cold and unapproachable.
Ye Junci looked at him. “You never did this even when the Blood Institute’s research failed back then. So why are you doing this now?”
“You sure know a lot about my affairs,” commented Lu Chengzhou snarkily as he rested his arms on the sofa’s armrests and drummed his fingers against them.
Ye Junci stared at him, but she could not find a trace of emotion on his face. She calmly said, “You must’ve done your research on Jijing Island. Going against them won’t do you any good.”
“You came just to tell me not to go against Jijing Island?” Lu Chengzhou retorted and laughed when Ye Junci failed to answer him. He took her silence as acknowledgment. “Funny that you make a trip here just for this matter when you didn’t even think of seeing your son for the past twenty odd years.”
Ye Junci remained silent.
If outsiders were to hear their conversation, they would surely think that Lu Chengzhou had a grudge against his mother. But in reality, he was actually implying that she was being nosy.
His father had apparently detected the sarcasm and he could not help but chide, “Talk properly.”
Silence lingered in the air for a couple of seconds before Lu Chengzhou nodded. “Fine. I have a score to settle with Huo Zhi and the Elders’ Association for causing trouble on my turf.”
“Not because of the prescription?” asked Ye Junci with narrowed eyes.
Lu Chengzhou lifted his eyebrows and the corners of his lips. “Both. So…”
Ye Junci waited for him to finish his sentence.
“We can negotiate terms if you want to strike a deal with me,” said Lu Chengzhou.
Lu Zhan could tell that his son would not have bothered to come and meet his mother if not for the purpose of striking a deal with her.
…
Ye Junci left Red Scorpion’s base at 10 PM. It was only when she was back in her car that she belatedly realized that she had struck a deal with him when she was, in fact, there to dissuade him. She was not deliberately disregarding their maternal bond, but as the Ye family’s matriarch, there were things she could not do for the sake of the family’s interests.
When her butler got into the car, he noticed that her mood was not too bad. “Madam, did the young master agree to it?”
“Agree?” Ye Junci sighed. “He got me implicated as well.”
Butler Ye did not know what to say to that.
Since things had turned out this way, there was nothing more Ye Junci could say about this matter, but right at that moment, she suddenly recalled Lu Zhan telling her that their son had found himself a girlfriend and that she was a young freshman studying at Capital University. On top of that, Old Madam Lu seemed very satisfied with her.
However, it seemed that Lu Zhan had a limited knowledge of the girl, so she guessed that their son must’ve erased some of her information from public record. After some contemplation, she turned to the butler and instructed him, “Go contact Shadow League. I want them to investigate a girl named Gu Mang.”
The only intelligence organization that could compare with Red Flame was Shadow League.
The butler was surprised as he had never heard of Gu Mang before. “Who is that, madam?”
“Chengzhou’s girlfriend.” She then added, “I’ll feel at ease if I know more about her.”
“Understood.”