Chapter 27: Relentless Pursuit

"You're doing great. You wanted to negotiate without a word, and the time you requested was quite urgent. I couldn't make it back, so I had no choice but to invite someone else over. What did you do? You scared the person so much they ran off before even sitting at the negotiation table..."

Jian Yining had a mouth that, since childhood, possessed the ability to talk the dead back to life. Sheng Hanyu only asked one question, but Jian Yining rattled on and on, saying nothing of any useful information, and somehow it all became Sheng Hanyu's fault.

"She is not your sister." It was not a question, but a statement of certainty.

Jian Yining didn't know if he was talking about Yingzi who came to attend the cocktail party, or Yingzi who went to Ginza to negotiate. Regardless of who he was asking about, he couldn't admit to anything—that was for sure.

He reached out to touch Sheng Hanyu's forehead: "Hanyu Ge, you aren't running a fever, so why are you talking nonsense? My sister has already been dead for five years."

"She is not dead."

Sheng Hanyu stood up and faced the window, two trails of tears rolling down his cheeks: "I never saw her remains, so on what grounds do you say she is dead? The name you used to register the company belongs to two people—you and your sister."

Jian Yining scratched his scalp; this matter was a bit tricky.

He didn't know how to explain it for a moment, which only made Sheng Hanyu mistakenly believe his guess was correct.

"Where is Yixin? Why is she hiding from me?" Sheng Hanyu said.

Jian Yining was incredibly distressed. How was he supposed to answer this question?

If he told him she was dead, Sheng Hanyu wouldn't believe it, but he still couldn't reveal the existence of Yingzi.

When they first started collaborating, he had promised Yingzi that he would not tell anyone else any information about her, not even his own parents!

Of course, it wasn't that he absolutely had to keep his word like gold; the main thing was that he had taken a poisonous oath back then, so now he didn't dare to speak, and couldn't speak.

Yingzi had forced him to swear that if he broke his oath, he would end up destitute and die alone!

Both of those things could cost Jian Yining his life.

"Hanyu Ge, I have something to take care of, so I'll head out for a bit. I'll talk to you when I get back, okay?" Jian Yining had a sudden flash of inspiration and prepared to slip away.

He pulled the door open, but before he could even take a step, Sheng Hanyu's bodyguards blocked his path like door gods—the escape attempt failed!

He returned crestfallen, his face mournful: "My sister really is dead. You were there when she was buried back then, why don't you believe it?" Jian Yining regretted it so much now; he regretted why he had given Yingzi his sister's name and ID card back then.

Jian Yining and Jian Yixin were fraternal twins. Their father and his brother were two siblings, with their father being the second-born. The eldest uncle had been married for many years without children, and the eldest aunt loved the tender little girl dearly when she saw her.

She suggested to her sister-in-law to adopt her, put the girl on their household registration, and when they grew old, she would provide for them until the end and inherit their estate.

Since they had two children in one birth anyway, and the brothers lived together, it wasn't as if they wouldn't see her even if she were adopted, so the Jian Family parents agreed.

But when the two children were three years old, the eldest uncle's family decided to emigrate abroad and not return. Jian's mother realized she would be separated from her daughter and didn't know when they would see each other again, so she firmly refused to let them take the child.

Just like that, Jian Yixin was taken back and re-registered on their household account.

In that era, household registration was not yet networked by computer nationwide. Jian Yixin's registration at her eldest uncle's house was also preserved, so later she had two household registrations, and when it came time to get ID cards, she ended up with two different ID cards!

Five years ago, when Jian Yixin passed away, only the Jian Family's registration was cancelled, while the registration and ID card at the eldest uncle's house remained valid.

Yingzi needed an identity, so Jian Yining let her use it. Who would have thought that five years later, it would become the evidence Sheng Hanyu used to believe his sister was still alive!

Sheng Hanyu only had one sentence: "She registered a company with you, and there are consumption records within the country. She is still alive."

"That... maybe someone stole her ID card!" In his desperation, Jian Yining started using a foolish tactic.

"Oh?"

Sheng Hanyu raised an eyebrow slightly and said sarcastically: "Someone stole your sister's ID card to register a company with you, and you were unaware of it? Does that make sense?"

It certainly didn't make sense; this excuse wouldn't hold up anywhere.

Jian Yining hardened his heart and admitted it: "Fine, Hanyu Ge, I'll tell you the truth. I knew about this. I was the one who gave my sister's ID card to someone else to use, but that person really isn't my sister!"

"Who is she?" Sheng Hanyu pressed.

Jian Yining was speechless.

His face turned red from holding it in, and finally, he squeezed out a sentence: "I, I don't know either."

Sheng Hanyu loosened his clenched fist, his expression unchanged as he continued to mock: "Oh, you have a business partner, she didn't have an ID card, so you gave her your sister's ID card to use, and yet you don't know who that person is, right?"

"Yes, yes, yes." Jian Yining nodded like a chick pecking at rice.

Sheng Hanyu continued: "Is that woman outside? The woman who caused such a big scene just now but was completely fine herself—that's her, isn't it?"

Although he had been sitting in the room the whole time, he knew everything that had happened outside.

"Heh heh."

Jian Yining gave a dry laugh, wanting to say it wasn't her, but finding an excuse to cover it up was a problem.

"Hanyu Ge, I've been in touch with a very famous ophthalmologist abroad. Let's see when you have time, and I'll have him come over to take a look at you..." He started to change the subject.

"Is it that woman?"

Jian Yining brushed it off: "Anyway, it's not my sister. Even if you can't see, your subordinates all know my sister."

"She could have had plastic surgery."

"Plas, plastic surgery?" Jian Yining was dumbfounded.

He felt that Sheng Hanyu must have gone crazy from missing his sister; this train of thought was too wild. Not only could he imagine the dead coming back to life, he even thought about how they would live after being resurrected.

"I swear to heaven, that woman is definitely not my sister, okay?"

Jian Yining was distressed to death. On one side was his promise to Yingzi, and on the other was Sheng Hanyu's interrogation, which had backed him into a dead end.

"Is that woman your business partner?" Sheng Hanyu went in a circle, and the question returned to the starting point.

Jian Yining was helpless and could only admit it unwillingly: "Yes."

Sheng Hanyu stood up to leave, and he hurriedly blocked the door: "Hanyu Ge, what are you going to do?"

"Go see that woman and see if you've been lying."

Jian Yining immediately became anxious: "No, you cannot go see her. The moment you meet, she will definitely know it was me who told you. I swore an oath to her that I would never tell anyone else that she is a Pegasus partner."

Sheng Hanyu: "I already know."

Jian Yining: "You know... even if you know, you still can't go find her. No, anyway, I just can't let you go!"

"Move aside."

"I won't!"

Sheng Hanyu stopped wasting words with him and shouted for the bodyguards outside the door to bring that woman in!

A while later, the bodyguard returned alone, stammering an apology: "Sor-sorry, we didn't keep an eye on her, we let that woman slip away."

"Hoo—"

Jian Yining let out a long sigh of relief.

Sheng Hanyu ignored him, his expression so dark that ink could be wrung from it.

The bodyguard sent to watch that woman had been a scout in the military before retiring, most skilled at tailing and tracking, yet in plain sight, he had lost a woman!

He asked Jian Yining: "Where does your partner live?"

Jian Yining: "I don't know."

Sheng Hanyu: "What is her name?"

Jian Yining: "She uses my sister's name when she's out; I only know she is called Yingzi, I don't know her real name."

Sheng Hanyu: "How old is she, where is her ancestral home, and what is her accent?"

Jian Yining shook his head, knowing nothing at all.