Shencheng Industrial Bank.

After spending a few days sorting out the paperwork in Shanghai, the bank’s affairs proved not too troublesome and were handled smoothly.

With the official documents from Shanghai in hand, the coal mine in Liu County legitimately became the private property of their bank. The bank president treated him with utmost deference, sporting a beaming smile for days on end.

Zhou Xiao stayed in an apartment building in the city center.

That evening, the section chief in charge of land affairs invited the newly appointed Vice President Zhou to dinner. Lately, he had quite a full calendar of social banquets.

With his background of studying abroad, a prestigious degree, and tremendous ambition, he intended to build a railway the moment he took office—who wouldn’t sing his praises upon hearing that?

The day before yesterday was the president’s welcome banquet; yesterday it was the wealthy tycoons of Shencheng’s mining industry; and tonight it was Section Chief Wang from the Land Administration Department.

Mines were land, after all. If one wanted to transport coal out in the future, the officials overseeing the real estate naturally wanted to skim off some profit.

In their eyes, this wet-behind-the-ears Vice President Zhou was simply an easy mark—a wealthy scapegoat ripe for the picking.

Shencheng enjoyed an advantageous location, backed by mountains and controlling rich mines. Why was it that over a decade had passed since the founding of the Republic, yet no one had ever proposed transporting the coal out?

Others had harbored such ambitions in the past. With a mine this vast, building a railway to haul coal was practically minting raw cash. But building a railway required taking out bank loans, issuing approvals, and signing promissory notes—every step demanded someone’s authorization.

As long as someone sat in the vice president’s chair, those approval slips had to be signed away like running water.

The mine had originally been the private property of wealthy local families in Shencheng, only to be converted into public property with a single piece of paper. If they refused to cooperate and wouldn’t mine it, the authorities would simply detonate explosives in a couple of spots and bury a few workers. When the promised coal couldn’t be shipped out, the debts would come due.

Once pushed into a corner with no way out, the owner would slit their own throat, and the ledger would be balanced in death.

Now that another gullible fool had arrived to write blank checks, everyone was scrambling over one another to pounce on him.

Zhou Xiao had spent years studying in France; how could he possibly understand the treacherous twists and turns of this game?

Tonight, Section Chief Wang took Zhou Xiao to a nightclub.

On the stage, the singer crooned melodiously. Inside the private box, Section Chief Wang bowed slightly to light a cigarette for Zhou Xiao. “When it comes to this matter, no ordinary man would have the audacity to build a railway to transport coal like you do.”

Zhou Xiao was naturally reserved. Though he had frequented dinner tables and drinking parties over the past few days, he never called for hostess companions. Sitting opposite him, Li Yuanjing had already called over a beautiful hostess who was feeding him cherries amid bursts of laughter.

Zhou Xiao played along and asked, “How so?”

“Back in the day, Boss Ruan actually came here once. He also claimed he wanted to build a railway, but he couldn’t put up the cash. He only said he could offer a third of the Baizhou Port’s trade in the future—what an utter joke! It was the first time I’d ever seen someone write an empty check like that.”

“Hahaha, lucky thing we didn’t collaborate back then,” the accompanying bank president chimed in. “Now that the Chamber of Commerce has taken over, the Ruan family isn’t as formidable as they used to be.”

“Isn’t that the truth?” Section Chief Wang brought up the past as a piece of amusing trivia to ridicule. “I’d never seen business conducted that way. Do you know the name of the person who came?”

Zhou Xiao shook his head. “I have been away for many years and know very little about the Ruan family.”

“Ruan Yuqing. Do you know him?” When Section Chief Wang mentioned the name, he exchanged a knowing grin with the president and deliberately lowered his voice. “Never heard of him?”

A momentary flicker of confusion passed through Zhou Xiao’s eyes. Why could people here in Shencheng utter a name that even Li Yuanjing—a native of Baizhou—had never heard?

“He was breathtakingly beautiful. He came along with that Boss Ruan. Back then, when the business deal with our vice president fell through, he was sent straight into the vice president’s bedroom that very night.”

Section Chief Wang let out a rather lecherous chuckle.

“I heard he was a son. Who on earth sends their own son into another man’s bedchamber?”

The president chimed in, “The Ruan family had more than a dozen concubines. He was just good-looking, someone to flaunt around as eye candy.”

Nevertheless, Ruan Yuqing had been delivered as a gift.

Section Chief Wang reminisced, saying that this Yuqing had an exquisite figure. What a pity he hadn’t been sent into his own room; otherwise, gifting him some coal wouldn’t have been out of the question.

Boss Ruan had taken a fancy to the coal mines here all those years ago, but constructing a railway required at least hundreds of millions in silver currency.

Even for a wealthy clan like the Ruans with countless assets under their name, coughing up that much money to build a railway for coal transport while sharing the profits with banks and real estate authorities was a difficult bargain to strike.

Section Chief Wang continued, “Later, they even invited us to Baizhou to inspect their port, saying the port could also ship coal outward. That night…”

Zhou Xiao held the cigarette between his fingertips, inhaling it with deliberate slowness.

“Though his son wasn’t offered, his mother certainly proved delightful. Ah, and that Ruan Yuqing played the Liuqin remarkably well.”

While his mother entertained the guests inside, Ruan Yuqing played the lute behind a folding screen.

Such was Boss Ruan’s brand of hospitality.

It was only a pity their deal never went through; otherwise, Boss Ruan would have agreed to send Ruan Yuqing to Shencheng to serve as a kept plaything.

That was ten years ago.

Zhou Xiao was from Baizhou. In their search for amusement and shared conversation, the only things they could recall were a woman with an alluring figure from a decade ago, and her delicate, pretty son.

Section Chief Wang said, “Boss Ruan was quite a ruthless character. I heard he raked in a fortune smuggling opium through the port. President Zhou, you hail from Baizhou—do you happen to know whose bed Ruan Yuqing ended up in? Have you ever seen him?”

Zhou Xiao stubbed out his cigarette and offered a faint smile. “I have never seen him.”

Section Chief Wang clicked his tongue in lingering reminiscence. “What a shame!”

Zhou Xiao did not know Yuqing’s exact age, but Yuqing had a youthful, delicate face; ten years ago, he must have been nothing more than a child.

Even as a child, was Yuqing already subjected to their lewd amusement and mockery?

Regardless of what Yuqing’s past held, he was now his lawfully wedded wife, recognized before the ancestral shrine.

He had known nothing of Yuqing’s past, let alone these sordid affairs.

The men made awkward small talk to find conversation. Seeing Zhou Xiao’s lack of interest, they assumed he was merely a Western-educated scholar accustomed to such bedchamber trivialities—after all, the West was far more open in these matters.

Glasses clinked in mutual toasts, each person in the private room harboring their own sinister motives.

Section Chief Wang and the president were merely waiting for Zhou Xiao to assume office and play the scapegoat—to borrow money from outside into the bank, only for them to kill him afterward to balance the books.

Sitting at the table, Deng Yongquan listened with a pounding heart, wondering: Could the person they were just talking about be their family’s Young Mistress?

Hostesses from the nightclub entered the box, urging drink after drink upon the guests.

Section Chief Wang, already over fifty with a paunchy belly, slung an arm around Zhou Xiao, declaring that the bank needed fresh blood like him to serve the nation and the people!

Dressed in a sharp black suit, Zhou Xiao stood tall on long legs. Even with a fair amount of alcohol in his system, his footing remained steady as he supported Section Chief Wang out of the room.

Section Chief Wang was hopelessly lost in his sweet reverie of imminent riches.

By the dead of night, the bank president was slumped against a chair, hiccuping drunkenly.

“Section Chief Wang, have you had too much to drink?” Zhou Xiao supported him. “Do you feel like throwing up?”

Section Chief Wang nodded, stumbling as he was led into the restroom. At this hour, the nightclub restroom was a den of chaotic spectacles—shrill cries echoed from the stalls, some yielding and others resisting.

Reeling unsteadily under Zhou Xiao’s support, Section Chief Wang leaned against the edge of the washbasin, vomiting uncontrollably.

Zhou Xiao rested a hand in his pocket and signaled for Deng Yongquan to wait outside the door.

Of course Zhou Xiao knew why they were so delighted: the wealthy scapegoat had arrived. He quietly lit another cigarette; in truth, he had never been fond of smoking.

Yet ever since leaving Baizhou, his mouth always felt as if it lacked something. Whenever he saw someone smoking, an itch rose in his throat.

He had never smoked a traditional pipe, and this cigarette was not menthol-flavored.

Thoroughly drunk, Section Chief Wang’s vision swam. Looking up into the mirror, he saw the tall young vice president approaching from behind. Assuming Zhou Xiao was coming to support him, he was about to wave his hand in refusal.

Just then, a few crisp clinks of metal rang out, and a chilling, sinister glint flashed across the mirror.

A hole was violently carved into his obese back as a short blade plunged deep into his flesh.

The dulling effect of the alcohol was so heavy that before he could even process what had happened, a second strike drove straight in.

“So fat,” Zhou Xiao couldn’t help but frown. Twisting the hilt of the blade with open disgust, he drove it in once more.

The faucet remained turned on, water rushing down with a continuous roar. Zhou Xiao’s large hand seized the back of Wang’s head and shoved it directly into the basin.

Air bubbles gurgled through the clear water. Section Chief Wang tried desperately to thrash, but the blade had likely pierced his kidney; the slightest movement radiated agonizing pain throughout his entire body. He opened his mouth to cry out for help, only to have freezing water surge down his throat.

He choked violently several times, eyes bulging wide. Amid the bubbling water in his ears came a faint, chilling whisper:

“Yuqing… is my wife.”

__

Author’s Note:

Zhou Xiao: You’re talking about my wife [angry]

Tomorrow: Zhou Xiao seeing his wife be like:

Yuqing: Were you terrified? How could there be a murder over here…

Zhou Xiao: Terrified to death, but first, drug me.