Chapter 309 — How Did You Get In

So in Wei Zhao's eyes, Uncle Qing seemed somewhat unfathomable. To have stayed at Gu Pengzhan's side for so many years, he could hardly be mentioned in the same breath as a fledgling like Wu Chengtian. Just how formidable was Uncle Qing?

From the look of it, before Wei Zhao's own arrival, Uncle Qing had not only guarded Gu Pengzhan's safety but had also watched over Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu on their way to and from school, so his skills had to be considerable. Whether anyone had ever tried to harm Gu Mengyao, Wei Zhao had never looked into; but simply from the fact that both Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu were alive and unharmed to this day, Uncle Qing was plainly formidable.

Uncle Qing seemed to sense Wei Zhao's gaze upon his back. He was silent for a moment, then spoke. "You guessed right. I am Mr. Gu's bodyguard. And there is a fine hand at Director Xie's side as well, no less skilled than I am. Only, what I practice now is the external school, whereas he is an expert of the internal school."

"Now"? There was something behind Uncle Qing's words, and Wei Zhao's interest only deepened. What did that "now" mean? Had he once practiced the internal school as well? Yet why could Wei Zhao sense nothing at all?

"I will be careful." Wei Zhao did not much mind. A fine hand, was he... well, he himself was a fine hand too.

With that, Wei Zhao got out of the car, ready to drive his beat-up van straight over to Xie Guangbo. Now that he knew where the problem lay, he had no reason to keep waiting.

"Wait, Xiao Yi. That car of yours — nothing about it can be traced, can it?" Gu Pengzhan glanced over Wei Zhao's battered van, then at the license plate, and asked.

"Ha... Uncle Chu, what do you think I am going there to do?" Wei Zhao unlocked the door with the key and made to get in. "I am going to sit down with Xie Guangbo and talk, face to face. I am not afraid of him recognizing me."

"Is that so..." Gu Pengzhan nodded, then said, "Why not take Yaoyao's car? Everyone living in that compound is wealthy. A car like yours might well get stopped at the gate."

"That works too. Then I will take Xiao Shu's Beetle. I happen to have the key on me, so there is no need to trouble Yaoyao." Wei Zhao nodded, locked up his battered van, and went to the villa's garage to fetch the car.

The Qianhua Waterfront compound was one of the most upscale luxury communities in Songshan City. It was hailed as the emblem of Songshan's elite. Every unit here was a duplex, and there were even detached villas and garden houses.

Each unit started at ten million, and a single villa could sell for upward of thirty million. Those who could live here were either rich or noble, and Qianhua Waterfront was known as Songshan City's wealthy quarter.

Not everyone with money necessarily lived here, but whoever did live here certainly had money. Gu Pengzhan had not bought a house here because his present residence was even more luxurious than this place.

As the third-largest shareholder of the Gu Group, one of the country's top five hundred enterprises, Xie Guangbo owning a villa here was hardly surprising — all the more so since the Qianhua Waterfront project itself had been developed by the Gu Group.

Qianhua Waterfront's security was indeed strict. Outside vehicles were halted at the compound gate; only cars of sufficient class were allowed through, or those carrying a compound pass — and only after the guards had confirmed that the owner was a resident would they be let in.

Wei Zhao's Beetle was not a particularly expensive car, but those who could afford one generally did not have it as the family's first car.

So Wei Zhao's Beetle was waved through by the guard without a fuss. Wei Zhao did not bother asking anyone for directions; he drove a circuit around the compound and found Zone F. Zone F was in fact easy to find — row upon row of detached villas and garden houses, visible at a glance.

Wei Zhao parked in front of Villa No. 6 and climbed out with a swagger. But instead of ringing the doorbell, he stepped onto the transformer box beside the villa, sprang upward, and vaulted onto the second-floor balcony...

Though Xie Guangbo lived in a grand villa, he was not a man fond of luxury; he lived here purely on account of his status as a shareholder. Sometimes, in many a situation, one could not afford to lose face — live too shabbily, and business partners would begin to doubt your strength.

Widowed in middle age, Xie Guangbo had never remarried. He was a man of few material desires and little interest in women besides, so after his wife's death he had not brought any dubious women home to live with him. If Xie Guangbo had one great wish, it was that his son might take over his business and make a name for himself in the world.

Yet what he had not expected was this: he had meant well, sending his son abroad to study so that the boy might learn something useful and come back to help him — but the boy had picked up gambling and drugs.

Gambling was not so bad. A little flutter was harmless enough; Xie Guangbo himself occasionally played a few rounds with old friends. But drugs... that thing was a bottomless pit. No fortune, however vast, could be swallowed up by it.

This time, his son had actually run up a debt of a hundred million to an overseas gang. Furious as Xie Guangbo was, he had only this one son, and he could not simply wash his hands of him.

Xie Guangbo had just finished his call with his son. Looking at the wretched state of the boy, beaten black and blue, he felt a stab of heartache and wished he could rush to his son's side and free him.

"Xie Guangbo?" A voice sounded in front of Xie Guangbo. He started, looked up instinctively — and saw a sight that astonished him.

"You... who are you?" Xie Guangbo stared at Wei Zhao as though he had seen a ghost. He had finished his call with his son over the internet, sat there dazed for a while — and now there was an extra person in the room.

What astonished Xie Guangbo was not that Wei Zhao had appeared in his room without a sound, but how he had gotten in. While speaking with his son, Xie Guangbo had deliberately locked the door from the inside, to keep the nanny and his bodyguards from overhearing him, and the key to the room was in his own keeping. How had this man gotten in?

The crux was this: how had he gotten in? Downstairs there were the nanny and the bodyguards. Had Wei Zhao come in, he could not have done so without alerting them. If it were an ordinary visit, the nanny would have come up to announce him; if it were an intruder breaking in, the bodyguards would have stopped him.

Yet this man had walked right in and stood before him, and he had noticed nothing at all.

No good intent. That was Xie Guangbo's first reaction. He was a man who had seen the world, and he swiftly regained his composure. "How did you get in?"

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