After washing up at the hotel, Cheng Lele began searching for information about Chen An.
She had searched for him several times before. Given that Chen An was a fairly common name, she’d filtered through many irrelevant news links and could only make tenuous connections in some investment news articles. After all, none of these news pieces had photos of Chen An.
This time, she found nothing either.
Then she began searching for Chen Tao. After Cheng Dong passed away, no one in the family had ever mentioned the Chen family’s circumstances again. She’d gone to Beijing and been constantly dealing with her own problems, barely keeping her head above water. Combined with her awkward relationship with Chen An, she hadn’t contacted her godfather and godmother again.
There were many search results for Chen Tao. The top few articles were enough to frighten her. “Deputy Minister of Organization Chen Tao taken away by the Disciplinary Inspection Commission today on suspicion of bribery…” “Breaking News: Former Deputy Minister of Organization Chen Tao Falls from Grace…” “Trial Opens Today for Former Deputy Minister of Organization Chen Tao’s Embezzlement and Bribery Case…”
Each headline made her heart jump.
When she clicked through to read carefully, it had happened four years ago. Her godfather had been sentenced to six years for accepting bribes.
Cheng Lele continued searching for Wang Liting. She vaguely remembered her godmother’s company name. After a precise search, she discovered that the latest news about that company was all from four years ago. She then checked the Industrial and Commercial Bureau website and verified that the company had been deregistered three years ago. Judging by the timeline, it was likely a chain reaction caused by losing her godfather’s protection.
Perhaps… perhaps her older brother’s company had also been implicated? Or perhaps the family’s continuous troubles had left him unable to focus on running his company?
Cheng Lele didn’t dare speculate further. She only knew that in the years since she’d left Chen An, Chen An had been through very hard times.
She lay on the bed and closed her eyes lightly, her slender fingertips rubbing her forehead. After the third circle, she reached a conclusion—her older brother was probably on the verge of bankruptcy.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t be haggardly keeping watch over a cinema about to close down in a declining eighteenth-tier city, sleeping there.
However, these past few years had been tumultuous for her as well. This year had only just started to stabilize a bit. Running into her older brother in his current state, she didn’t know who should be saving whom.
If she’d known that after separating, each would have their own miseries, they might as well have stayed together for warmth back then.
But people don’t have eyes in the back of their heads. There was no point in such hindsight. What was more important right now was how to revive this mess of a cinema.