Du Zhaohui felt himself sinking.

It was as if a net pulled him up again. He instinctively reached out to grab something beside him but caught nothing.

Then he lost all consciousness.

It felt like a century had passed in the dark abyss.

Du Zhaohui struggled to open his eyelids which felt as heavy as a thousand pounds.

The first thing he saw was a flawlessly beautiful face.

Was he dead?

No, no, no – even if he died, Xia Xiaolan shouldn’t be dead.

“Xiao… Xiaolan…”

Xia Xiaolan put down her book and stood up, “Du Zhaohui, you’re awake? Don’t speak yet. I’ll call the doctor to examine you. You have a broken rib that almost punctured your lung, and you also have a concussion…”

The fact that he woke up so quickly proved the old saying that the wicked live a thousand years.

“Hey—”

When Du Zhaohui got anxious, his chest hurt, his head ached, and he felt nauseous.

He guessed he was in a hospital but couldn’t remember how he got there.

He wanted to understand the situation, but Xia Xiaolan wouldn’t let him speak.

The frustration was truly painful.

Soon the doctor came in. The fact that they didn’t address him as Young Master Du, and the bed was so basic, meant this probably wasn’t a Hong Kong hospital – was he still in mainland China?!

Xia Xiaolan exchanged a few brief words with the doctor.

“…Doctor, thank you. I understand. I’ll make sure the patient gets proper rest.”

After the doctor left, Xia Xiaolan cleared her throat: “You heard it too, the doctor says you need rest. But I’ll briefly explain the situation.

You’re still in Fujian Province. It’s been three days since you went out to sea. Today is October 10th!

I don’t know what you and Zhou Cheng planned, but his operation seems successful. Du Zhaoqi was arrested, and your Du family’s smuggling business was mostly taken down. The Fujian authorities need your ‘testimony’ – you should think carefully about what to say.”

Though Du Zhaohui had done bad things before, he had always stayed far away from the Du family’s smuggling business.

He had previously reported Liu Tianquan, and this time acted as an inside informant. He probably wouldn’t face consequences.

“Liu Tianquan is dead, and Liu Keying couldn’t be saved either. You didn’t kill them—”

Du Zhaohui suddenly interrupted her:

“What about the old man? Is he dead?”

He had broken his rib and gotten a concussion from jumping into the sea. The old man, at his age, having been shot and then dragged into the sea with him – the chances of survival should have been slim.

Du Zhaohui had wanted to kill Du Chengrong many times, but now thinking about the old man being dead gave him an indescribable feeling.

Creak.

The hospital room door opened.

Zhou Cheng, looking especially handsome in his uniform, walked in.

“Whatever you want to know about the situation, I’ll tell you. I know more details!”

“…Fuck!”

Du Zhaohui didn’t hold back at all, grabbing the water cup from his bedside and throwing it at Zhou Cheng. The movement pulled at his injuries, making him grimace in pain.

Zhou Cheng didn’t even dodge, letting the cup graze his face before hitting the wall and clattering to the ground!

“Zhou, you bastard, you did this on purpose, trying to get me killed. Lucky I’m hard to kill—ouch—”

Even talking hurt his chest, making Du Zhaohui more furious.

Zhou Cheng’s eyes held a trace of apology, “There was an unexpected situation. Your brother was more ruthless than we anticipated. He had almost consolidated all the smuggling ships in Hong Kong. When we tried to ambush him, we were ambushed ourselves, which delayed us by a few minutes.”

Du Zhaohui wanted to keep cursing but remembered Xia Xiaolan was still there.

If he cursed, wouldn’t he just look more like a clown compared to Zhou Cheng?

“Xia Xiaolan, could you step out for a moment? I need to talk with Zhou Cheng… Hey, just for a moment, don’t go far. I’m injured and need someone to take care of me, how pitiful!”

He still wanted Xia Xiaolan to care for him.

Zhou Cheng frowned but said nothing.

Xia Xiaolan looked at the two of them: “You kept this whole thing from me anyway, so you might as well resolve it yourselves.”

Zhou Cheng was injured too.

But Zhou Cheng was an official, while Du Zhaohui was a civilian.

Du Zhaohui could lie in bed throwing water cups, while Zhou Cheng had to drag his injured body around dealing with the aftermath.

Xia Xiaolan sighed and stepped out.

As soon as she left, Du Zhaohui’s expression darkened, and he spoke without restraint:

“You said the whole plan was foolproof. I lure the old man to Fujian, then bait Du Zhaoqi out – you call this foolproof?”

Damn it, he almost lost his life. The Du family might have plenty of money, but he wouldn’t have lived to spend it!

“Du Zhaohui, is there ever such a thing as a foolproof plan in this world? Fortune favors the bold. Though you faced danger, you gained quite a bit. Liu Tianquan and Liu Keying are dead, Du Zhaoqi is arrested – you’ve won this inheritance battle… You paid a price, but I paid one too!”

No operation could ever be truly foolproof.

There were always injuries, even deaths – no commander, however capable, could avoid these two things. A flash of grief passed through Zhou Cheng’s eyes.

Du Zhaohui was left speechless.

He had known the plan would be dangerous; Zhou Cheng had never hidden this fact.

Not only were mainland authorities constantly cracking down on smuggling activities, but from Du Zhaohui’s perspective, he did need external help to break the three-way deadlock in the Du family.

As Zhou Cheng said, his risk this time brought great rewards.

The Liu siblings were dead.

These two opponents who had entangled with him for years were dead, and Du Zhaohui felt no regret – only satisfaction!

Perhaps because Liu Keying’s rise to power hadn’t been clean – among Du Chengrong’s concubines, Du Zhaohui hated her the most. Over a decade ago, she had successfully climbed into bed while posing as a family tutor. Hadn’t she been proud then? After enjoying wealth and luxury for over ten years, to be killed by the old man’s own hands – how fitting, haha!

Then there was Du Zhaoqi’s arrest.

The length of his sentence was uncertain, but the Du family wouldn’t want a criminal as an heir.

Even if the old man were still alive, he would distance himself from Du Zhaoqi.

Thinking of Du Chengrong, Du Zhaohui’s breathing grew heavy:

“What else? You still haven’t mentioned you-know-who—”

“You want to ask about Chairman Du?”

Zhou Cheng grabbed the hospital bed, “I can push you to see for yourself.”

Du Zhaohui thought Zhou Cheng would push him to the morgue, but instead, they went to another hospital room. Du Zhaohui wasn’t allowed inside, only able to look through the window.

Du Chengrong was covered in tubes, looking very serious, but still alive.

“Not dead?!”

Zhou Cheng nodded, “Not dead. We had no intention of killing him and brought in the best doctors to save him. The doctors say he has only a 15% chance of regaining consciousness. He’ll likely spend the rest of his life like this until he passes away. Perhaps this is a decent ending for him – if he wakes up, he’ll face murder charges. By the way, did you know that Chairman Du actually—”

A group of people rushed past in the hallway.

“Eldest Young Master, you’re awake!”

The first person was Du Chengrong’s lawyer, whom Du Zhaohui had dealt with when taking over 5% of the shares.

“Lawyer Cheng.”

“Eldest Young Master, you and Mr. Du are both Hong Kong citizens. I’ve already protested to the authorities, demanding that you and Mr. Du be transferred back to Hong Kong for better treatment!”