Chapter 429

Chapter 429 No Move

Su Rui’s arrest was not exactly good news for Bai Wangchuan — because only Su Rui’s death could truly satisfy this second young master of the Bai family.

When Bai Wangchuan finished listening to his subordinate’s account, a playful gleam flickered in his venomous eyes.

“Bai Jiaming? That useless piece of trash — at least his death served some purpose this time.” The bruises on Bai Wangchuan’s face would probably take half a year to fade, and right now they made him look even more ferocious.

The repeated beatings had completely changed his temperament.

“Second Young Master, what do we do now?”

“We wait and watch. I’m not getting involved this time — Grandfather will definitely send someone to handle it. The Bai family lost a man, so how could this possibly be settled so easily?” Bai Wangchuan sneered: “Su Rui, you’ve offended several major families this time — I refuse to believe you can still survive!”

…………

The National Development and Reform Commission.

Bai Qinchuan hunched over as he slipped out of the conference room, speaking quietly into his phone: “What’s so urgent that you had to call me now? I’m working overtime in a meeting — the top brass is here.”

“Never mind your top brass or whoever, what kind of overtime are you working at this hour? Stop pretending to be so serious — everyone knows you’re just there for show. Let me tell you, Su Rui’s been arrested.”

“What?” Upon hearing this, Bai Qinchuan felt the hair all over his body stand on end: “I know he flew a plane into the Yamamoto Building, but arresting him over that — isn’t that going a bit too far? After all, it was an underworld affair, and it’s not easy for the government to get involved. Besides, Su Rui did vent some anger on behalf of our China.”

It seemed that when it came to flying a plane into the Yamamoto Building, the vast majority of people were on Su Rui’s side — and Bai Qinchuan was no exception.

“That’s not what this is about. Su Rui killed five people on the ship coming back from Japan, and one of them was your Bai family’s Bai Jiaming.”

“Bai Jiaming?” Hearing those words, Bai Qinchuan quickly assessed the situation, his thick brows knitting tightly together.

“Also killed were the Jiang family’s Jiang Linhao and someone from the Zhang family. Five years ago, the Jiang family and the Zhang family were already dealt a blow by Su Rui — now that a second round has come, they’re probably going to explode completely.”

Bai Qinchuan could already feel the rage rising inside him. His anger wasn’t because Su Rui had killed Bai Jiaming — it was because the Bai family had been used as a pawn.

To be honest, Bai Jiaming was just a peripheral member of the family, and Bai Qinchuan barely had any impression of him at all, let alone any real interaction. Whether this distant cousin lived or died, Bai Qinchuan genuinely couldn’t care less.

But this time was different. Because Bai Jiaming hadn’t died by accident — he had been killed by Su Rui.

Bai Qinchuan knew a little about the flamboyant nature of peripheral members like Bai Jiaming and Jiang Linhao — they frequently ran wild outside under the banner of their families. As the eldest young master of the Bai family, it wasn’t that he couldn’t manage them, he simply didn’t want to. It was purely a thankless job. He hadn’t even taken over the family yet, and if he went around offending all those close and distant relatives, that would hardly be a wise move.

Now that Bai Jiaming was dead, Bai Qinchuan couldn’t possibly do nothing. The Bai family had to seek some kind of justice for this member — otherwise, wouldn’t that chill the hearts of all those peripheral relatives?

“Who did this?” Bai Qinchuan demanded furiously.

“Su Rui — I already told you.”

“That’s not what I meant!” Bai Qinchuan kicked over a stool: “The people from the five major families wanted to take revenge on Su Rui — why did they have to drag the Bai family into it?”

On this matter, the Bai family absolutely could not swallow their anger in silence. They had to grit their teeth and go demand an explanation from Su Rui.

This time, the Bai family had been completely hijacked. There was no longer any option to sit back and watch from the sidelines.

“I don’t know who did it either. It could be anyone among the five major families — the scope is just too wide.” A helpless sigh came from the other end of the line: “No matter how much you want to stay out of it, the Bai family has no choice but to jump into this mess now — otherwise you’ll never be able to hold your head up because of this for the rest of your life.”

Bai Qinchuan’s face turned ashen and he said nothing, the veins at his temples bulging.

“Why aren’t you saying anything? What are you going to do?” The voice on the other end carried a hint of mockery: “If even at this point you, the eldest young master of the Bai family, are still unwilling to step forward, then you’re really going to be looked down upon.”

“I don’t want to go up against Su Rui.” After a pause, Bai Qinchuan continued: “At least not right now.”

“Whether you want to or not, you have no choice now. From what I know, your brother Bai Wangchuan was also left with a severe concussion by Su Rui — he nearly turned into a vegetable, didn’t he.”

“That had nothing to do with Su Rui. That idiot brother of mine just tried to sic a dog on someone and got bitten instead.” When it came to Bai Wangchuan, Bai Qinchuan seemed rather contemptuous: “A little bit of cleverness and he thought he owned the world.”

“Whatever your attitude toward Su Rui is, I’ve done my part in passing along the news.” The voice on the other end let out a sigh: “This situation is yours to face alone — I imagine the Bai family patriarch is also waiting to see how you handle yourself.”

“Thanks — I’ll buy you a drink sometime.” Bai Qinchuan said helplessly.

If anyone else had been standing nearby at that moment, they would have been shocked enough to drop their jaw. Bai Qinchuan was practically at the top tier of the capital’s young elite — so why was his tone toward the person on the other end of the line so gentle? There was even a faint trace of respect in it.

After hanging up, Bai Qinchuan let out a long sigh. He truly couldn’t figure out who was so devious — with just one simple scheme, they had forced several major families into a face-to-face confrontation with Su Rui once again.

The Bai family had no grievance or enmity with Su Rui. This time, some shadowy hand had forcibly dragged the Bai family into the game — and that had touched Bai Qinchuan’s reverse scale.

This eldest young master of the Bai family paced back and forth in his office, yet couldn’t come up with any good solution.

If he ended up being targeted by that madman Su Rui right now, that would absolutely be no pleasant matter.

From that perspective, the person pulling strings behind the scenes was framing the Bai family — which meant framing Bai Qinchuan himself.

“The Jiang family — someone died in the Jiang family too…”

Bai Qinchuan paced back and forth, his eyes gradually brightening.

He took out his phone and dialed a number.

In a vast swimming pool, there was only one woman swimming. Her graceful body glided through the water like a fish, her movements fluid and full of a beauty that was distinctly feminine.

Though she wore a modest one-piece swimsuit that revealed nothing, the figure beneath it was the kind that was hard to look away from. She wasn’t exactly slender — one might even call her full-figured — yet where she should be trim there was not a trace of excess, and where curves were called for they swept in breathtaking arcs.

Her eyes held none of the occasional coquettishness that Xue Ruyun sometimes let slip, but instead were filled with a kind of intelligence and composure. She was without question an exceptionally refined and mature woman.

Swimming for one hour every evening was an exercise routine that Jiang Qingyuan never skipped — except during the days when her body demanded rest. She had kept this up for years without interruption. Though she was already in her thirties, her figure remained in excellent shape with no trace of the years showing. If you set aside that air of mature sophistication, people might even mistake her for someone in her mid-twenties.

For certain men who had a preference for mature, sophisticated women, Jiang Qingyuan’s appeal was absolutely no less than that of Xue Ruyun, who carried the title of enchantress.

The phone sitting at the edge of the pool had already rung persistently many times, but Jiang Qingyuan showed no intention whatsoever of getting out — her one-hour swim wasn’t up yet.

After a few more laps, Jiang Qingyuan grabbed the handrail and stepped out of the pool. Water streamed down from her swimsuit, creating an irresistibly alluring effect.

Fortunately, there was no one else present, so there was no need to worry about anyone losing their self-control.

Looking at the incoming call, Jiang Qingyuan smiled faintly and murmured to herself: “So you couldn’t hold back either?”

“Qingyuan jie, I’ve come to ask for your help.” Bai Qinchuan’s helpless, wry voice came through from the other end.

“Don’t mix up the generations — call me auntie.” Jiang Qingyuan lay back in the chair, toweling her hair, utterly captivating.

“Alright, Auntie Qingyuan.”

Bai Qinchuan had no choice. Even though Jiang Qingyuan was only two or three years older than him, she was after all Jiang Tiancang’s youngest daughter. Both he and Jiang Yigang belonged to the third generation of the capital’s prominent families, so calling her auntie was entirely appropriate.

“You’re coming to me about Su Rui’s arrest, aren’t you?”

“Got it in one.”

“It wasn’t me.” Jiang Qingyuan’s thin lips parted slightly, endlessly alluring.

Talking with a sharp-minded woman was never a relaxed affair — she could always figure out your purpose with ease, and there was no point in beating around the bush.

Bai Qinchuan could only smile helplessly: “At this rate, how are you ever going to find a boyfriend?”

“The man I’d actually look up to hasn’t been born yet.”

Jiang Qingyuan said: “You came to me to ask what the Jiang family plans to do, didn’t you?”

“It’s more that I don’t know what I should do.” Bai Qinchuan said as much.

“Asking me that question is useless, because the Jiang family and the Bai family are coming from different starting points. Jiang Linhao’s death doesn’t have any real impact on the Jiang family in itself, but after Yigang lost both his legs, the Jiang family and Su Rui are already in a state of complete enmity. Whether or not this was the Jiang family’s doing is beside the point — what matters is that the Jiang family must get involved, and get involved with full force.”

Full force.

Jiang Qingyuan’s words unmistakably expressed her position.

“But your Bai family is different. From beginning to end, the Bai family has maintained a neutral stance. As one of the major families with a grudge against Su Rui, I’d say I’m quite happy to see the Bai family get dragged in.”

Bai Qinchuan’s voice was laced with resentment as he said through gritted teeth: “If I ever find out who the person behind this is, I’ll tear them to pieces.”

“My dear nephew Qinchuan, making threats right now is useless — you’d better think carefully about what you’re actually going to do.”

“So who will the Jiang family send to step forward this time?” Bai Qinchuan shook his head. It seemed the only one who could help him was himself.

“No one from the Jiang family will step forward.” Jiang Qingyuan’s voice was calm and light, a smile playing at the corners of her lips.

“No one steps forward? What does that mean?”

“I’ve already told those people — be strict, be grounded, proceed from reality, handle everything according to the law, do whatever the law requires. The Jiang family will not get involved. This is a country governed by the rule of law.”

When she reached the words “rule of law,” Jiang Qingyuan gave them just a slight emphasis.

The best move is sometimes no move at all — and sometimes it really is that simple.