Chapter 123

Wu Shanqiu stuck out her tongue with a thick-skinned look.

"I heard that President Qi wouldn't talk about the situation related to Ying Shuigen until I came. I hope you can really provide valuable clues." Qi Fei stared at Qi Dongjun's face, his expression still that of the son who was holding a grudge. His knuckles pressed against the edge of the table and turned white, and the warm light of the chandelier cast Qi Dongjun's shadow on his face, the outline overlapping and tearing with the father of his childhood.

"Oh, you are talking about the Golden Snake Immortal, right? I am still more used to calling him Immortal, don't mind, right." Qi Dongjun said, closing the file folder in his hand. "I met him through a friend."

"Make it clear which friend." Qi Fei's tone was hard, even more severe than interrogating a criminal.

Qi Dongjun suppressed his temper and cooperated: "I met the Immortal through Huang Daqiu. Doing business requires strength and luck. I hope you understand this. Three years ago, Huang Daqiu hit several good projects in a row. During our idle talk, he said he knew a friend who was very effective in opening luck and asked if I was interested in knowing him. I went to Jiangting Island with him and met this Golden Snake Immortal.

This person is very low-key. He is as his name suggests, and he is good at communicating with snakes. He raised many snakes in his building. When I first met him, he personally performed the stunt of letting snakes listen to his dance."

"Heh, isn't this just an acrobat?" Qi Fei couldn't listen anymore and couldn't help interrupting.

"Qi Fei, you don't know why I am looking for him." Qi Dongjun blurted out, then looked at Lu Man and put away the short-lived unwilling expression. "He has his own merits. People like Huang Daqiu will not really believe in the so-called Snake Immortal. The reason I agreed to see the Golden Snake Immortal is just to know why Huang Daqiu is looking for this person. There are no real friends in the business world. My relationship with Huang has always been both enemies and friends. Knowing more about his background is no loss to me.

I don't think you will be interested in those parts of pretending to be a ghost. Let's get straight to the point. It's very simple, just two words—transaction."

Qi Fei didn't expect Qi Dongjun to be so direct.

"The Golden Snake Immortal fortune-telling is just a gimmick. Behind it is to connect people from different circles in the name of fortune-telling. You know, outside, how many people are queuing up to know us." Qi Dongjun's outspokenness surprised even Wu Shanqiu. He said meaningfully, "The humidity on Jiangting Island is heavy, and the surveillance lens is easy to fog."

A cloud of gloom flashed in Qi Dongjun's eyes, and then he showed his iconic humble smile: "Of course, people like Huang Daqiu are running for beauties. There are many people at the dinner party, and it is easy to have side branches. Jiangting Island is far away from the crowd and is not easy to be followed. Of course, it is the best meeting place. There are also many people who really come here by name. After all, people only see the successful results, and as for the reasons, it doesn't matter."

Qi Fei looked at Lu Man standing in the distance and asked Qi Dongjun: "Then what about you? Giving Ying Shuigen so much money is also to find beauties?"

Qi Dongjun looked at him, his eyes cold, and said word by word: "Believe it or not, I only have your mother in my heart." He stroked the withered jasmine sealed in the crystal paperweight—that was the flower Qi Fei's mother loved most before she died.

Qi Fei smiled contemptuously, pointing at Lu Man full of hatred: "If what you said is true, then what about her? If there is no true love between you, what is she? A tool for you to escape guilt?"

Lu Man wanted to speak but stopped, looked at Qi Dongjun, and then stopped talking. She retreated into the shadow of the curtain, and the emerald earrings shook a line of cold light with her trembling cheeks.

Qi Dongjun seemed to be used to Qi Fei's attitude, pushed his glasses, and said: "I said I went to find the Golden Snake Immortal to better understand Huang Daqiu's background. Huang Daqiu gave the Immortal a lot of money. You must have seen this, but Huang Daqiu didn't worship God, but an offshore account. You can check. In August 2019, he transferred 5 million to the Immortal in the name of praying for blessings, and at the same time, his shell company in the Cayman Islands received 700,000 US dollars in 'consulting fees'."

Lu Man timely called up the projection, and the red circle of the laser pointer locked on a certain financial statement. "This is the income and expenditure of the charity foundation under the name of the Golden Snake Immortal." She switched pages, and the expenditure of a certain column "Releasing Life Dharma Meeting" was exactly the same as the invoice amount of the entry of the building materials company under Huang Daqiu's name. "In fact, what they are handing over at the pier is smuggling rosewood."

Wu Shanqiu chewed the wolfberry in the teacup and muttered: "Isn't this just using the incense burner as a POS machine!"

Qi Fei listened silently. He didn't forget the old notebook found in Ying Shuigen's house and said to Qi Dongjun: "Don't forget, you also gave the Golden Snake Immortal a lot of money. If Huang Daqiu is for money laundering, then what about you?"

Nancheng, which was sunny in the morning, was pouring rain at this time. The heavy rain outside the glass curtain wall wound into snake-shaped water marks, splitting Qi Dongjun's shadow on the wall into two—half was a business giant in a suit and leather shoes, and half was a gray outline that was difficult to distinguish between good and evil.

"These money are nothing compared to gaining Huang Daqiu's trust." Qi Dongjun picked up the hot towel he always kept by his side, wiped his hands, and said easily.

Qi Fei took a deep breath at the sky, and the warm light of the chandelier couldn't warm his eyes: "In order to bring down Huang Daqiu, you can spend nearly ten years making friends with him and giving money to his white gloves. You also knew about his relationship with Hong Mei from the Golden Snake Immortal, right? You knew that Hong Mei was flamboyant and easier to deal with than the cunning and shrewd Huang Daqiu. At that time, you started to set a trap for Hong Mei, hired people who had a grudge against her, helped Lan Die take advertisements, and used these chess pieces to bring down the most profitable female stars and projects of Huang Daqiu in the film and television industry."

"Son, the business world is like a battlefield. You can say I am unscrupulous, but I haven't done anything illegal. Huang Daqiu's death has nothing to do with me. I told Xiao Wu about this. I just came back from Italy to attend the exhibition. It was the police station that called me and I knew about this." Qi Dongjun said, folding the hot towel into a standard surgical square towel, with the edges aligned with the longitude and latitude lines of the table. "I hope that Huang Daqiu's money laundering through the Golden Snake Immortal can help you investigate the case. For public and private reasons, I will cooperate with you."

The car's windshield wipers moved back and forth frantically in front of the windshield, unable to drive away the rain curtain, falling on the car window, winding like the shape of the rain on the floor-to-ceiling windows of the Qi family.

"Brother Fei, do you believe what your father said?" Wu Shanqiu broke the silence of the whole way and asked carefully.

"If I believed him, I wouldn't be a policeman!" Qi Fei held the steering wheel, letting the car drive over the stagnant water. The splashing water blocked their sight and also covered the water mist that appeared in Qi Fei's eye sockets.