Chapter 627 — Tip-Off

With that he rose and walked out of the private room.

Wei Zhao's hearing was extraordinary, yet even he could not make out what was being said on An Liwen's phone; he caught only the faintest trace of the words "police car." He had been keeping an eye on An Liwen all along, so his instincts told him there was something wrong with this call.

After An Liwen left the room, Wei Zhao also stood up. "I'm going to the restroom."

Su Taizao had no idea that An Liwen had taken the call out of others' earshot; he assumed An Liwen simply thought it rude to talk on the phone inside the private room and was deliberately maintaining his image as a refined gentleman before Gu Mengyao. So he paid no mind at all to Wei Zhao leaving right after—he did not even glance over.

In his eyes, Wei Zhao was nothing but a lowly bodyguard, utterly beneath notice. The only reason he was polite to Wei Zhao was to make use of him as an inside man, to help An Liwen court Gu Mengyao.

Wei Zhao had broken Young Master Bing's legs and even torn down Young Master Bing's building—Su Taizao had seen that with his own eyes. He and An Liwen had been at Young Master Bing's completion ceremony that day, and he had found it almost unbelievable. How could Wei Zhao possibly still be alive?

After offending Young Master Bing, he could still stroll about at his leisure and dine with Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu? Had Young Master Bing not taken his revenge? Yet strange as it was, when he had spoken of these things to An Liwen, An Liwen had only smiled faintly and offered no explanation.

Su Taizao did not understand, but An Liwen did. Li Cihua had let it slip: the two Yellow-rank experts at his side had both met their end at Wei Zhao's hands—was that any ordinary man? If Wei Zhao were merely a common bodyguard, why would An Liwen still be paying him? To suffer losses at his hands time and again and still call him brother—would that not be a brain full of water?

An Liwen's own bodyguards were not yet in place, so naturally he would not go out of his way to provoke Wei Zhao for fun. As for why Young Master Bing had not struck, perhaps he too had his misgivings? After all, Wei Zhao and Li Cihua had already become sworn enemies.

Of course, none of these grudges had anything to do with An Liwen. All he cared about was the family business and whether he could win Gu Mengyao—the rest did not matter.

Once out of the private room, An Liwen swayed step by step to the end of the corridor, to a place where no one was around, before continuing his call. Though somewhat drunk, he remained cautious; certain things must never be known to others!

He had already begun to regret cutting out one of Zhong Yongliang's kidneys! The regret, of course, was not that he had offended Young Master Bing and Li Cihua on Zhong Yongliang's account—what he regretted was cutting out Zhong Yongliang's kidney at all. Crippling him at random, or even stomping his balls to burst, would have been better than taking a kidney!

Was this not asking to expose himself? Fortunately Zhong Fabai had not called the police, and Li Cihua was a business partner of his, so the matter had been suppressed for the time being. Otherwise, who knew what might have happened.

"You have to ask me about every little thing? If they're watching closely, ease off—can't you wait a while and bring it up later?" An Liwen was eager to get back and confess his feelings to Gu Mengyao, so his tone with the tattooed man was impatient.

"Brother Wen, the Fire Wolf Gang is pressing hard over there, and the supply on that end is really tight... How about we spend some money to buy a few? Some of those farmers are desperate for cash. If we pay for kidneys, we should be able to get some," the tattooed man said cautiously.

"Buy, my ass—where's the money?" At the thought of one meal today having cost him several hundred thousand, An Liwen's heart bled. How could he bear to spend money buying kidneys? How many kidneys would he have to cut out to cover the cost of tonight's dinner?

"This..." The tattooed man had not expected An Liwen to be in such a temper, and he did not dare make another sound.

"Useless thing. If Gaya Village is no good, can't you go to another village? I hear Bianjia Village up north is very poor too—lots of people there are unregistered, not even on the household rolls. Can't you go there?" An Liwen snapped.

"Yes, yes! We'll go to Bianjia Village next!" the tattooed man hurriedly answered.

"All right, don't call me unless it's important. I have proper business to attend to here!" An Liwen hung up, cursing under his breath, put away his phone, and turned to head back to the private room.

Wei Zhao slipped into the restroom nearby in a flash. Naturally, An Liwen had not seen that Wei Zhao had just been behind him, eavesdropping on his call.

If Wei Zhao's guess was right, this An Liwen was most likely the mastermind behind the kidney-harvesting ring. But whether he harvested kidneys or not mattered little to Wei Zhao; as long as the knife never fell on himself or his friends, Wei Zhao truly could not be bothered with him.

But since Qiu Lingshan had come begging to him, and Wei Zhao had promised to help her, he decided to help her this once. Seeing that no one was in the restroom, Wei Zhao dialed Qiu Lingshan's number.

In fact, this whole floor consisted of luxury private rooms, each with its own washroom, so the public restroom was all but deserted. Apart from the waitstaff, the guests almost never went out of their way to come here.

"Wei Zhao!" Receiving Wei Zhao's call, Qiu Lingshan felt an inexplicable surge of delight. Though she did not know what he wanted with her, her intuition told her it must be something good!

"There's a Bin Village north of the city - it deserves close attention." Wei Zhao wasted no words, passing straight to Qiu Lingshan what he had overheard from An Liwen.

"Bin Village?" Qiu Lingshan was taken aback, but the meaning behind Wei Zhao's words dawned on her in an instant! Could this be the kidney-harvesting syndicate's next target? A jolt of excitement shot through her. Though she found it rather strange how Wei Zhao had come by the information, Qiu Lingshan was far too shrewd to ask.

Wei Zhao's extraordinary nature was something Qiu Lingshan had witnessed with her own eyes. Playing the part of an obedient, endearing dimwit, she also knew that Wei Zhao would certainly not appreciate being peppered with questions day and night like a walking encyclopedia.

"All right, I've got things to see to - I'll hang up now." Hearing faint footsteps coming down the corridor, Wei Zhao told Qiu Lingshan swiftly.

"Thank you! Your dimwit girl will treat you to a meal another day - you've really done her a huge favor!" Qiu Lingshan said in a voice so gentle and sweet it could melt stone.

Wei Zhao made no reply at all and simply cut the line.

Staring at the call-ended prompt on her phone, Qiu Lingshan was so furious her teeth ached. When had she ever groveled like this? And Wei Zhao couldn't even be bothered! But then, just as quickly, her spirits deflated again - who was there to blame but herself? She was the one in need of Wei Zhao's help.

Forget it - just chalk it up to a lover's coquettish little act. Thank heavens no third person ever knew about it! Qiu Lingshan consoled herself.

Only by thinking this way could she salvage a shred of balance. Otherwise, what right did she have to humble herself so completely?