Chapter 237 — Half of the Other Party's Terms

"Who exactly are you looking for?" Wei Zhao asked.

"I'm looking for Mr. Wei Zhao, the great thief..." Sun Jingyan could not understand why Wei Zhao refused to admit it.

"And you are?" Wei Zhao was breaking out in a sweat. So the call really was for him — but since when had he become a great thief?

"I'm Sun Jingyan. Do you remember, that day at the Geli Fuyun Bar..." Sun Jingyan rattled it all off in one breath, afraid Wei Zhao would hang up on her again.

"Oh... so it's you..." Sun Jingyan's elegant, mature figure surfaced before Wei Zhao's eyes. "What is it?"

"I'd like to ask you to come out of retirement..." Sun Jingyan said cautiously.

"Come out of retirement? Don't tell me it's to play your boyfriend again?" Wei Zhao was taken aback. This Sun Jingyan was a rather amusing sort, dredging up a phrase like "come out of retirement." Still, the girl was foolish enough — he had spun her a tale about being a great thief, and she had swallowed it whole?

"No... it's something else I want your help with." Sun Jingyan said, "I want you to steal a set of files from a company for me."

"Steal files?" Wei Zhao was dumbfounded. So the girl really had taken him for a great thief? Stealing files, no less?

"Yes, Wei Zhao. Can you help? I can pay a very high fee!" Sun Jingyan said.

"Oh?" Wei Zhao had been on the verge of refusing, but at the words "a very high fee" he changed his mind. "What files? How much are you prepared to pay?"

Wei Zhao was desperately short of money just now. Gu Pengzhan had given him a credit card with unlimited overdraft, but Wei Zhao could never shake the feeling of being a kept man, and there were times when he could not freely spend that money either.

Paying Xiaofen's medical bills, for instance — spending his own money was one thing, but if he used the credit card and Uncle Qing happened to ask, the explaining would be a nuisance. So Wei Zhao meant to earn a sum of money as quickly as he could.

Besides, his own business plan required a great deal of capital. Even with a few formulas in hand and Guan Xuemin's name behind him, opening a company and building a factory was no easy matter; the startup funds required were far from trifling.

"A video of one of my company's employees paying a kickback to an executive at a certain company," Sun Jingyan said. "You know my company is in trade. Kickbacks and rebates are hardly a secret in this industry, but a competitor filmed it and is preparing to hand it over to the news media..."

"Oh, and then?" Hearing Sun Jingyan's explanation, Wei Zhao had a rough grasp of the situation. It was nothing complicated.

"If that happens, the company will face penalties and damage to its reputation..." Sun Jingyan said.

"Then they must have some demand to hold over you, surely? Rather than agree to their terms, you would pay a high price to have me steal the files back. Doesn't that strike you as taking the long way round?" There was one more thing Wei Zhao left unsaid: do you imagine that hiring me to steal the files will cost you less than their terms?

Lin the Great Thief's rates had never been low. Did Sun Jingyan really think it would be like last time, a matter of a thousand yuan?

"Their terms..." Sun Jingyan gritted her teeth. It was not that she had never approached the other company, but their boss had made his position plain: spend one night with him, and the whole affair would be dropped, the video returned to her. But how could Sun Jingyan possibly agree?

"How about this: whatever their terms are, I take fifty percent. My rates are fair — no cheating the old, no cheating the young!" That said, Wei Zhao went on, "I have things to do. Call me once you've made up your mind!"

Seeing Sun Jingyan hesitate, Wei Zhao hung up without more ado. They had met only once — did the girl take him for hired labor? Coming out of retirement came with a fee, you know...

Zhong Yongliang limped into the classroom, his eyes brimming with hatred, and when his gaze fell on Wei Zhao's seat it was full of chill.

Yet he dared not let a trace of that hatred show. Brother Black Panther had actually been sent to prison by Wei Zhao a second time! And beaten half-crippled into the bargain! Zhong Yongliang had learned the news the night before. Zhong Fabai was a man of considerable renown in the Songshan area, and naturally had friends in the police station.

Though he did not know how Wei Zhao had beaten Brother Black Panther half-crippled and thrown him into prison, Wei Zhao's strength was absolutely not to be underestimated. Brother Black Panther's power had already reached the peak of the late Yellow rank — he could leap across eaves and run along walls — and yet he had fallen at Wei Zhao's hands again. So just how formidable was this creature Wei Zhao?

Not to avenge this would be unworthy of the name of man! The humiliation Zhong Yongliang had suffered last night was something he could not bear to look back on for the rest of his life! And all of it was thanks to Wei Zhao!

Wei Zhao, the moment I, your young master, find an opportunity, I will make you regret ever being born into this world! Zhong Yongliang clenched his fists.

"Boss, I'm truly sorry about last night. I failed to look after Sister-in-law Tang Yun..." Kang ** said, blaming himself.

"It's not your fault. That taxi was probably rigged from the start!" Wei Zhao said. "By the way, how are you? Nothing the matter, I hope?"

"I'm fine. They weren't after me, I think!" Kang ** said. "By the way, boss, what happened after you had dinner with Zhong Yongliang yesterday? Why is he limping today? Hemorrhoids acting up?"

"Pff..." Wei Zhao's eyes went wide with astonishment. Could it be that Zou Ruoming really was blind as a bat and had taken Zhong Yongliang for Tang Yun? How else could such a result have come about? Wei Zhao speculated, none too charitably...

"Who knows. Yesterday Zhong Yongliang brought Black Panther to deal with me again, but I sent him to the police station once more." Wei Zhao gave a brief account, and glossed over the business of Tang Yun being taken in a single phrase. He did not want to say much about Tang Yun.

Kang ** could tell that Wei Zhao did not wish to speak of it, and so asked no more. The most important thing was that Tang Yun was safe and sound.

"By the way, boss, do you think Xiaofen and I... are really suited to each other?" Kang ** had been turning this question over for days, and it left him somewhat at a loss.

If it was love at first sight, then it would be truer to say that Kang ** had taken a fancy to Xiaofen's beauty. Though she could not compare with Tang Yun, to Kang ** she was already a peerless beauty.

After learning of Xiaofen's ordeal, Kang ** had felt from the bottom of his heart a tenderness for the girl, a sympathy for what she had suffered! Especially when he saw Xiaofen's helpless, pitiable look, it stirred in Kang ** a *** to shelter her for a lifetime!

This, too, was why Kang ** had been so eager to help these past days! Eighteen is a *** age, an age when one would go through fire and water for love! But once the *** had passed, Kang ** could not help but consider more deeply the future between him and Xiaofen.

Xiaofen's leg was bad. Even if it could be cured, the medical expenses would be no small sum — could he bear them? And would he, in the years to come, still like Xiaofen as he did now, still cherish and protect her?

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