After finishing the call with Brother Peng, Qi Yun got up from the sofa, intending to visit Liu Meng's house.

But just as he reached the door, he noticed the navy blue jacket he was wearing and felt it was a bit inappropriate, so he returned to the bedroom to change into a black one.

When he arrived outside Liu Meng's yard, he happened to meet Liu Meng and his wife preparing to leave.

Both of them looked quite unwell, especially Liu Meng's wife, Li Cuixia, her eyes were swollen from crying, visibly saddened by her brother's death.

Liu Meng was not much better off, looking very weary, but upon seeing Qi Yun arrive, he still pulled himself together to greet him.

"Why are you here?"

Qi Yun first offered his condolences to Li Cuixia, then turned to Liu Meng and replied, "Brother Peng called me earlier, I came to see if there's anything I can help with."

Liu Meng patted Li Cuixia on the back, "You go ahead and get a taxi, I'll have a chat with Qi."

Li Cuixia nodded and left first.

Once his wife had walked away, Liu Meng took out a cigarette and handed one over, saying, "Hey, they are the only child in the Li family, the father-in-law was urging to have grandkids before the New Year, and now this happened..."

Qi Yun took the cigarette between his fingers, also sighed, "Has the body been brought back?"

Liu Meng shook his head, "Yesterday the police reported from the construction site, the body was taken away. They said they need to do another autopsy to determine the cause of death. They called this morning to ask family members to claim it."

"Burials are not common here, it'll be sent directly to the funeral home later."

Qi Yun nodded slightly upon hearing, "What's being said about compensation?"

Though it's a bit inappropriate to talk about money at this time, with the person gone, the living elderly need to secure pension money.

Speaking of this, Liu Meng's face turned even worse, angrily saying, "From the accident till now, no one in charge from the site has shown up. I plan to go to the site this afternoon to find them."

Qi Yun was a bit surprised, feeling that this attitude was inappropriate, even if not talking about compensation, a death occurred at the site, there should at least be consolations to the family, right?

However, it's possible they feel the family is emotionally unstable now, wanting to avoid for a couple of days.

"Alright, I won't hold you up, if you need help, just call me anytime." Saying this, Qi Yun patted Liu Meng's shoulder.

Liu Meng nodded, took a deep drag on his cigarette, discarded the butt, and rode away on his motorcycle.

Qi Yun watched his departing back, sighed, and then moved toward the parked car next to him.

In the car, Chen Wei turned and asked, puzzled, "Something happened at Liu Meng's house?" He hadn't gotten out of the car but overheard pieces from inside.

"Yes." Qi Yun immediately recounted the situation with Li Jie.

Upon hearing, Chen Wei also sighed, perhaps as someone in a similar high-risk profession, he could better understand the feeling of living dangerously.

...

Half an hour later, outside a ward in the city hospital.

Ah Jiao was resting on the bench, while Lao Hei was alert, constantly scanning the corridor on both sides.

Seeing Qi Yun and Chen Wei approaching, he raised his hand intending to wake Ah Jiao, but was stopped by Qi Yun with a shake of his head.

Looking through the window of the ward, he glanced inside then pushed the door to enter.

On the bed, Lao Gui, after a night's rest, finally had his exhausted state somewhat relieved, though the bruises still limited his movement.

Qi Yun sat on a chair beside, glanced at the drip hanging by the bed, and asked, "Was the injury serious?"

Lao Gui shook his head, "It's not much, a few days of rest will be fine."

Hearing this, Qi Yun felt relieved, continued, "Tell me in detail what happened."

Lao Gui propped himself up on the pillow, his Adam's apple moving as he spoke, "That night... later they took me to a community house to interrogate me, trying to find out who hired me."

"I didn't say a word."

"Afterwards, they just let me go."

Qi Yun nodded slightly upon hearing, Lao Gui's account was basically what he suspected.

Though he didn't mention details from those days in captivity, the bruises on his face clearly showed he had suffered.

Shi Feng had said more than once that Lao Gui would never sell him out, and he had always wanted to believe him, thankfully, the outcome did not disappoint.

"Though they released you, it was due to me leveraging other forces. Later on, there might still be people looking for you."

Lao Gui's face showed no change upon hearing, "I earn my living this way, not afraid of being targeted."

Qi Yun chuckled, knowing he meant it.

"How about not taking jobs in the future, work with me instead?"

Lao Gui glanced at him, asking, "Do what with you?"

Qi Yun pointed to the door, "Like those two, normally you don't have to do much. I'll contact you when you're needed."

"The treatment can be discussed, should anything happen I can get you out, likely safer than taking outside jobs."

He thought he had shown sincerity, assuming the other wouldn't refuse.

But unexpectedly, Lao Gui smirked, "Yeah right." He gestured with his needle-free hand towards Qi Yun, "Five years!"

"I haven't had any trouble for five years! Just finished working for you and got nailed..."

Qi Yun showed a bit of embarrassment, "Are you saying I'm bad luck for you?"

"Bad luck or not I don't know, but your job indeed carries considerable risk." Lao Gui said blandly.

Qi Yun didn't argue, patiently persuaded, "Risk and rewards are equivalent, and I never stingy treating friends."

Lao Gui kept silent for a moment before saying, "Talk again when I'm healed, let me think it over."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.