Zhou Cheng also noticed that during this visit to Ji Bei, Xiao Lan kept looking at him with admiring eyes. He felt increasingly convinced that reading more books was the right choice.

All men have some vanity – who wouldn’t want their wives to look at them with admiration and approval? There was no way Xiao Lan would think him stupid… if he were truly stupid, she wouldn’t have chosen him in the first place.

Having a capable wife meant that a man needed to hold himself to higher standards, constantly maintaining progress to avoid falling behind his wife. Simply focusing on career advancement at work wasn’t enough – if they lost their common ground and couldn’t even chat easily, how could they live together in the future?

Zhou Cheng explained his thoughts to Yang Yonghong during their journey, leaving Yang Yonghong nodding vigorously in agreement.

In this atmosphere, they finally returned to the capital just after ten in the evening. Once they entered the city, Zhou Cheng let out a sigh of relief. Though he had been wary of Jiang Wu the entire way, nothing unusual had occurred.

Zhou Cheng possessed strong anti-surveillance skills – if any car had been following them, he would have noticed. Either someone had tampered with Xiao Lan’s car for long-distance tracking, or Jiang Wu was simply playing mind games!

Zhou Cheng dropped off Xia Xiao Lan and Yang Yonghong at Shichahai. Yang Yonghong couldn’t return to her dormitory at this hour and needed to stay overnight at Xia Xiao Lan’s home. Zhou Cheng envied Yang Yonghong – if he were to stay at Xiao Lan’s place, it would be an entirely different matter. Staying at his girlfriend’s house before marriage would surely spark gossip among the neighbors that would follow Xia Xiao Lan.

“Go home and get some rest. I’ll be staying in the capital tonight too. Let’s meet tomorrow!”

Grandmother Yu, being a light sleeper, had already gotten up hearing the commotion. Liu Fen had gone to Yang Cheng for goods, leaving only Grandmother Yu at home. The old lady opened the door while yawning: “Why are you all returning so late? Zhou Cheng, those two dogs you sent from Shang Du were quite good. You should send two more sometime – there’s plenty of space here for dogs to run around!”

Three women of different generations lived in this courtyard house, and Xia Xiao Lan usually stayed at school. In reality, only Liu Fen and Grandmother Yu lived there.

When Liu Fen went out, only Grandmother Yu was left to watch the house. It wasn’t that Grandmother Yu was afraid, but she worried about thieves breaking in. At her age, even if thieves entered, she wouldn’t be able to catch them with her slow movements – how could an elderly woman fight off thieves when a simple push would incapacitate her?

“Grandmother Yu, thank you for reminding me. I’ll take care of that soon. Sorry for waking you up so late – I’ll come back tomorrow to make it up to you.”

Having two large dogs would significantly improve security.

Zhou Cheng waved goodbye to Xia Xiao Lan and drove home. After such a complicated day, Xia Xiao Lan had no energy to explain things to Grandmother Yu. After washing up, she quickly went to bed with Yang Yonghong.

For Zhou Cheng, however, it was destined to be a sleepless night.

He drove back to the compound, waking his parents upon his late return.

Guan Hui’e was both surprised and delighted. “How did you get time off? Did you drive back? Where’s Xiao Lan, why isn’t she with you…”

“That’s enough, can’t you see Zhou Cheng has been driving for so long? Whatever it is can wait until tomorrow!” Zhou Guobin, though happy, keenly noticed something unusual about Zhou Cheng.

Coming home so late – did Zhou Cheng have something troubling him?

After sending Guan Hui’e upstairs, father and son went to the study. Zhou Guobin looked at his son with deep love and pride, though their generation wasn’t skilled at expressing emotions to their children – he couldn’t say how much he missed Zhou Cheng:

“Is something bothering you?”

Zhou Cheng was equally formal with his father, “Please first find someone to thoroughly inspect Xiao Lan’s car, inside and out. Today, Xiao Lan and I were eating fish by the reservoir in suburban Shijiazhuang. Right after we arrived, Jiang Wu appeared. It was a spontaneous decision to go there – Jiang Wu shouldn’t have known. It was too much of a coincidence!”

Zhou Guobin’s expression immediately turned serious: “You suspect Jiang Wu tampered with Xiao Lan’s car? Have you had recent conflicts with him?”

Regarding the previous documents, Zhou Cheng had already asked Zhou Guobin to investigate, so there was no need to hide it from him.

He explained the recent incident in Jin Ling, and Zhou Guobin frowned:

“Foolish! If you don’t act, that’s fine, but when you do act, it must be decisive. You’ve put Jiang Wu on guard, so naturally, he’s testing and provoking you. If those documents are genuine, this person is extremely dangerous. Don’t think he wouldn’t dare harm you – if pushed into a corner, he won’t care whether you’re from the Zhou family or not!”

If Jiang Wu was desperate, he might even think taking Zhou Cheng down with him would make his life worthwhile.

In that case, although the Zhou family would certainly make the Jiang family pay, once their cherished and relied-upon child was destroyed, no amount of revenge against the Jiang family could undo that regret.

Zhou Guobin absolutely couldn’t bear such an outcome. He and Guan Hui’e only had Zhou Cheng as their son. The elderly couple doted on and valued Zhou Cheng greatly – if anything happened to Zhou Cheng, not only would the old man be devastated, but the old lady would certainly not survive!

However, Zhou Cheng wasn’t one to fear death – if he did, he wouldn’t have worked on the front lines. Zhou Guobin quickly changed his approach:

“You might not value your own life, and you chose this dangerous profession. To be frank, during those two years you were on the front lines, I had prepared myself mentally for possibly losing my son at any time.

Zhou Cheng, if you sacrifice yourself for work, that’s dying for a worthy cause – it’s your duty, and I would have to accept it painfully. But dying elsewhere – is it worth it? Think about our whole family, think about how your carelessness might cause trouble for Xiao Lan. You should be more cautious in your future actions.”

Zhou Cheng’s face showed emotion:

“I understand, that’s why I’m here asking for your help. The matter with Jiang Wu needs to be resolved – we can’t let such a dangerous person roam free. He’s not even sparing Jiang Yan now. Today, Xiao Lan and I saw Jiang Yan – the marks on her neck were horrifying as if he had tried to strangle her to death.”

Zhou Guobin pondered: “Jiang Wu found out that Jiang Yan gave the documents to you and Pan Bohua!”

Zhou Guobin felt something didn’t add up about this whole situation.

How did Jiang Yan get access to the documents so easily?

Shouldn’t Jiang Wu have personally overseen the destruction of such lethal evidence?

Jiang Wu discovered Jiang Yan’s actions and tried to strangle his cousin, yet let her live, allowing Zhou Cheng to witness Jiang Yan’s injuries – there was no logic or pattern to Jiang Wu’s actions. What was his intention?

Father and son talked in the study for a long while, while Guan Hui’e lay awake in bed.

The next morning, shortly after six, Zhou Guobin had someone take away Xia Xiao Lan’s Chevrolet for a thorough inspection – not even a single screw would be overlooked. Zhou Cheng ate breakfast with his parents and then went to see his grandparents.

“Hmph, young people these days are too delicate, running home at the slightest hardship. You should stay focused at work for a few years…”

Before Grandfather Zhou could finish, Grandmother Zhou pointed at him and scolded him: “If you don’t want to see your grandson, then leave! You’ve had breakfast, so go take your walk. Don’t interfere with my time with my grandson!”

Grandfather Zhou was taken aback – when had he ever said he didn’t want to see his grandson?

If he didn’t love Zhou Cheng, why would he bother lecturing him?

Look at the useless Zhou Yi – he wouldn’t even bother lecturing her because you can’t carve rotten wood!