Chapter 154: and translation of chapter title, then ===GLOSSARY=== with list of named entities appearing in these lines

On the way to Ye Lou, Wei Leng still didn't shut up. Zheng Tan also learned from his mouth that A Jin and the others have now entered the South District from the most ordinary North District, which is a good progress, not in vain for them leaving their hometowns to come here, and also proved their ability. Now the few of them have much looser finances, they rented a bigger apartment, and even the stray dog that A Jin picked up has gotten fat, full of energy all day.

A Jin and the others now have enough enthusiasm and drive; among the people who often go to Ye Lou, there are already supporters of their band, and the person in charge at Ye Lou also looks favorably on them, and Zheng Tan is also happy for them.

Now the person in charge at Ye Lou has changed; Long Qi and Baizi have been sent by Ye Hao to take charge of several important engineering projects, such as the plot of land near Chu Hua Da Xue. Therefore, Ye Hao has also transferred someone to replace Long Qi's position.

The nights at Ye Lou are still as lively as ever.

When Zheng Tan followed Wei Leng into the third-floor private room, besides Ye Hao, Baizi, and Long Qi, there were two other people. One of them Zheng Tan had met before; that person was Liang Hu, whom Ye Hao and the others call Hu Zi, and he is also now the person in charge at Ye Lou. As for the other, Zheng Tan didn't know them, but anyone who can stay here is surely a confidant of Ye Hao or someone trustworthy, and tight-lipped.

Knowing Ye Hao and Wei Leng's ways and methods, Zheng Tan doesn't need to worry too much; he just carries on as before, doing what needs to be done.

No, there is still another difference: that single sofa seat has something lying on it.

On the way here, Wei Leng also mentioned Jueye's affairs. It's said that Jueye recently made another achievement. During the New Year period, Jueye stayed by Tang Qiye's side. As Tang Qiye, even though he has retired behind the scenes and still wields considerable influence, he is not idle during the New Year, and it just so happened that someone took advantage of an opening to plot against Tang Qiye, and was directly scratched by this big cat, losing half his life.

For this, Tang Qiye even felt relieved, and also raised Jueye's status at home to a new high.

After the New Year, Tang Qiye doesn't come out much anymore; safety is assured, so he let Ye Hao take Jueye out, possibly to be of some help. Thus, today Zheng Tan saw Jueye again at Ye Lou.

He glanced at Jueye, who was lying on the sofa seat with eyes closed, resting; Zheng Tan then looked at Long Qi. Indeed, that guy's seat was the farthest from Jueye among the few people.

Moreover, when he saw Zheng Tan, Long Qi's face visibly stiffened for a moment. As usual, Long Qi feels ill at ease all over whenever he sees Zheng Tan and Jueye.

Zheng Tan is already used to Long Qi being like that, and doesn't mind. He jumps onto the coffee table to start looking for food. These people have their own topics; after Zheng Tan arrives, he just concerns himself with eating his fill, drinking enough, then sleeping, and when he wakes up he returns home. In short, it's just killing time.

After Wei Leng entered, he naturally pulled over a chair and sat down; he knows everyone inside, and they know him, they're all insiders, so nobody was particularly formal.

"What should we talk about?" Wei Leng asked. As he spoke, he dragged over the plate holding the peanuts.

There are many nuts on the coffee table, and everyone knows Wei Leng's preference, with no objection to his habit. Wei Leng quite likes the peanuts here; although peanuts are somewhat common, the flavor of roasted peanuts varies somewhat from place to place, and Wei Leng prefers Ye Lou's peanuts, so Zheng Tan ends up eating more peanuts each time he comes here. Anyway, he just needs to wait at the side.

He shelled a peanut and placed it in front of Zheng Tan, then shelled another for himself, waiting for Ye Hao's answer.

Ye Hao didn't say much, handing over a folder from his side to Wei Leng: "Let's look at this first."

Zheng Tan was also curious, and leaned over to take a look.

On top was a photograph of a young woman in her twenties. It was likely taken at some bar; the woman in the photo is caught mid-dance, her curves fully displayed, her flying hair unable to hide her gorgeous face.

"Yo, this isn't Lai Er's little white flower, is it?" Wei Leng snorted, his tone full of disdain, "What trouble has this woman gotten into again……"

The "Lai Er" that Wei Leng mentioned is also considered a rival of Ye Hao, and the woman in the photo is one of Lai Er's followers, who occasionally runs to Ye Lou to cause trouble.

He put the photo aside, and Wei Leng looked at the report below, his brows immediately furrowing. The report is a clipping from some newspaper; nowadays newspapers often carry such content, and ordinary people are used to it. But since the subject is this woman, Wei Leng really finds it strange.

"Suicide?" Wei Leng stared at the report's content, utterly disbelieving, "With the money Lai Er gave her, enough to squander for a long time, this woman who loves enjoyment so much—how could she possibly commit suicide?"

Zheng Tan looked for a while, feeling bored; he had no interest in these matters, and was about to leave when Wei Leng flipped through another file, which also contained a photo. The photo shows four people: three fat men, and a fourteen- or fifteen-year-old girl wearing a princess dress who looks quite clever and cute.

The two men inside, even if they aren't 1.8 meters tall, are considered of average height in Chu Hua Shi, but looking at this father and son, they each seem to weigh over two hundred jin, completely fatty, and standing next to their parents they indeed look like a family.

Zheng Tan roughly glanced at the photo, his gaze resting on the girl in the princess dress for a moment, then shifting to the fat man standing farthest left.

He just felt that the fat man was a bit strange……

Over there, Ye Hao had already lit a cigarette, raised his hand and pointed at a middle-aged fat man in the photo, "This person is Chen La; back when I came to Chu Hua Shi and followed Seventh Master, Chen La still had some reputation in Chu Hua Shi's business circles, and Lai Er rose to prominence by stepping on him, receiving heavy use from the then Lei Tou. Times have changed, ten years have passed—who still remembers that plump merchant named Chen La? Who still remembers Lei Tou, a contemporary of Tang Qiye and Nie Shijiu?"

Wei Leng raised his eyebrows at Ye Hao, didn't interject, and waited for Ye Hao's following words. He knew that Ye Hao's words weren't entirely just for nostalgic sighing.

Zheng Tan also kept his ears perked up at this time, every so often stuffing two peanuts into his mouth, eating while listening.

After Ye Hao sighed for a while, he said to Wei Leng, "Take another look at the bottom report."

When Wei Leng was flipping through the materials, Zheng Tan leaned over and glanced; that too was a newspaper clipping, the matter of which Zheng Tan also knew, and he had even heard several aunties in the residential community where La Mei Shu lives discuss it.

"Back then, Chen La had a loyal aide who one day suddenly went missing, and later was found in the lake," Ye Hao said.

Wei Leng looked at the report in his hand, "Is it the same situation as above? Same lake, same manner of death?"

Ye Hao nodded and continued, "Back then, a few days before the Chen family's incident, Chen La's little daughter jumped off a bridge to commit suicide. At that time, Chen La doted on his little daughter; the girl dreamed of being a musician, and to seem more Western, Chen La gave her an English name, Alice."

Upon hearing Ye Hao's words, Zheng Tan, who was chewing peanuts, choked; coughing toward the coffee table wasn't good, so he turned his head the other way to cough. After coughing, he noticed Jueye lying over there, and while coughing he also spat out some peanut fragments.

Jueye half-opened his eyes and glanced at Zheng Tan, flicked his ears, shook his fur, shaking off the peanut bits stuck to his fur, rested his chin on the sofa, closed his eyes again, and continued to rest with eyes closed.

Everyone else's attention was mainly on Ye Hao and Wei Leng; nobody paid attention to whether a cat was choking, and Wei Leng only glanced at Zheng Tan, saw that he was just choking on peanuts, not a big deal, and then turned his gaze back to the materials in his hand.

Wei Leng turned the materials in his hand to the earlier woman, "This woman……"

"The same bridge, the same spot on the bridge." Ye Hao said.

"It seems there are still many things here unknown to people." Wei Leng said after finishing reading the materials.

They don't know the people involved in the incident, so for them it's just listening to a story.

"According to the information we've gathered, this woman spoke a lot of nonsense before jumping off the bridge, appearing mentally abnormal." Baizi said.

"She must have taken drugs; lately that woman has been partying hard."

"She definitely took drugs; it's just that a few local magazines haven't exposed it, probably suppressed by Lai Er." Someone said.

"Those drugs can make her excited, but also make her more susceptible to suggestion." Long Qi said.

Psychological suggestion? Suggestion to commit suicide?

"When I previously investigated some information, I learned that this woman indeed dislikes bridges and such; sometimes, to avoid a large bridge, she would have people take a detour. If she really is related to the past incident, then what Long Qi said is indeed possible." Baizi said.

"No matter how you say it, it's indeed true that someone wants to deal with them." Wei Leng concluded.

"So Wei Leng, when you have time, ask your senior brother about the investigation progress on this matter, so we can act as soon as possible." Ye Hao's own investigation isn't that he can't find anything, but He Tao's side can uncover more, faster.

"Okay, I've noted it. What suspects do you have for this matter?" Wei Leng asked Ye Hao.

Ye Hao shook his head, raised his hand and pointed at the ceiling, "There's someone up there who wants to deal with Lai Er; that guy doesn't know how to restrain himself, and the people up there aren't all buying his act. But if it's people assigned by those up there, it wouldn't be worth going to such trouble to deal with those two people in that way. Originally I had another suspect, but I've never been sure. Back then, Chen La and his wife perished in a fire, Chen La's little daughter jumped off the bridge, but Chen La's son was sent away, and his whereabouts are unknown."

Saying this, Ye Hao pointed at the fat man standing farthest left in the family-of-four photo, and the four people sitting around the coffee table also leaned over to take a look.

After Zheng Tan just coughed and sprayed peanut fragments onto Jueye's body, he hastily changed position to squat; at this moment he also leaned over to look at the photo inside the folder. And here Zheng Tan happened to block Long Qi's line of sight, so Long Qi could only see a side or back view of a black cat.

Long Qi raised his hand, wishing he could directly sweep that black cat on the coffee table aside, but he lifted his hand then put it down, took a few deep breaths, and still changed position to lean over to look. (To be continued…)

ps: (supplement 2.6)