novelraw Chapter 262 : The Truth is Revealed
Chapter 262 : The Truth is Revealed
Chapter 262: The Truth is Revealed
"It seems like someone is watching us."
Ding Dian went straight to the point without any pleasantries.
Chen Fan took off his down jacket and hung it on a nearby coat rack before turning around and asking, "What have you found out?"
Ding Dian frowned, "The people who came yesterday were indeed from the fire department, I just had someone look into it. They said someone had reported that our club's fire safety measures were extremely inadequate."
"And they received multiple reports like that over several days."
Chen Fan said calmly, "Did they inspect our place yesterday?"
"Yes."
"Then they should be well aware that our fire safety is up to code."
Ding Dian walked over and sat down, "That's the problem."
"I personally designed and supervised the renovations here, and no one knows better than me about the fire safety measures in this place."
"If even our club fails to meet the standards, I dare say there are hardly any establishments in Yunhai that would qualify."
Hearing this, Chen Fan smiled slightly.
"What do you make of this?"
Ding Dian sneered, "Do you even need to ask? Someone is targeting us, deliberately trying to harass us."
Chen Fan shook his head, "They're coming after me."
Ding Dian was taken aback for a moment before realizing.
"Did you provoke someone you shouldn't have? Could it be from the time you called out Feng Pojun and the others...?"
Chen Fan shook his head again, "No, not that time, but I think I can guess who's behind this."
"Who?"
Chen Fan glanced at her.
"Just a guess for now. I'll tell you once I've confirmed it."
He stood up, "I'm going to find Old Feng and discuss something with him."
Seeing Chen Fan keeping her in the dark, Ding Dian became even more displeased.
"So what about the club? Are we going to stay closed indefinitely?"
Chen Fan's voice came from the doorway as he was leaving.
"Tell them to open for business."
"But what if those people..."
"It'll be fine, open first and we'll deal with it later."
Chen Fan met up with Feng Pojun downstairs. Feng Pojun drove them out of the club to a rundown small hotel in the city area.
"Why are you staying at a place like this?"
Chen Fan looked curiously at the dilapidated little inn in front of them.
"Didn't you pay him?"
Feng Pojun smiled and explained, "He chose this place on purpose. For people in his line of work, it's easy to offend others, so he can't reveal his personal information."
"Staying at a place like this doesn't require any ID registration."
Chen Fan nodded, thinking to himself that professionals indeed did professional work.
Soon, Chen Fan met Old Feng's comrade, the private investigator, in a small single room.
The man was slender with an ordinary, non-descript face typical of the masses.
"Let me introduce myself, Chen Fan, Old Feng's boss."
"Li Yang."
Perhaps due to the nature of his profession, this guy didn't seem too talkative, his voice rather low and gruff.
"So, tell me, what have you found these past few days?"
Li Yang reached for a DSLR camera next to him.
"I've identified the person."
"You were right, this person is indeed connected to the Zhao family of Yunhai. I've photographed him multiple times entering and leaving Zhao family entertainment venues, and the people inside all seem very familiar with him."
The camera contained photos Li Yang had secretly taken while tailing the subject.
He handed the camera to Chen Fan and pointed at one of the photos.
"This is the arsonist."
Chen Fan glanced at the man in the photo, someone he didn't recognize.
"Can you confirm it's him?"
Li Yang took back the camera, clicked through a few times, and found another photo.
"This man is the eldest son of the Zhao family, the older brother of the Zhao Longqi you mentioned."
Chen Fan looked, and in the photo, the arsonist was standing right behind Zhao Longqi's older brother, appearing to be a very close bodyguard or confidant.
Seeing this, it was basically confirmed.
Chen Fan pondered for a moment, then looked up at Li Yang.
"Good work."
Li Yang remained expressionless and aloof, "Getting paid for a job, it's my responsibility."
Chen Fan smiled.
"You don't need to keep tailing that guy anymore. Can you help me investigate this Zhao Longqi instead? I need all his information, the more detailed the better."
Li Yang glanced at Old Feng beside him, then nodded at Chen Fan.
"Sure. But that counts as a second case."
Chen Fan smiled, "No problem."
Li Yang continued, "For the second case, I can give you a discount, 20% off."
Chen Fan laughed, "As long as you can dig up everything on him, I'll pay the original full price."
"But I hope you can do it quickly."
Li Yang nodded, "Got it."
As they exited the motel, Feng Pojun spoke up, "Boss, should I find some guys to..."
Chen Fan raised his hand, cutting off Feng Pojun's words.
"Old Feng, you need to understand one thing, we're in business, none of this fighting and killing nonsense, it's uncivilized."
"We should win people over with virtue."
Feng Pojun forced an awkward smile.
"Then...what should we do?"
Chen Fan pondered for a few seconds before slowly replying,
"Let's wait a bit longer, wait for the investigation on that guy to complete. In the meantime, I also want to see if it's really him causing trouble at the club."
Since the boss had given orders, the club reopened for normal business. Old Feng increased security personnel, dividing the guards into two shifts for day and night. He was worried about an arson case like the internet cafe incident.
However, in the following days, all was calm and the other side made no moves.
On the first day of the new semester, Chen Fan went to pick up Su Ruochu from the station, and then had a reunion dinner with his dorm mates that night.
Everything seemed to have returned to normal and peaceful.
But just as the first month of the new year was about to end, trouble came knocking again.
First it was the fire department showing up, then the health department, industry and commerce bureau...
These people would make a show of inspecting the premises, then point out a slew of issues, demanding either fines or temporary closure for rectification.
Ding Dian was furious and tried to argue with them a few times, but in the end Chen Fan ordered her to just pay the fines.
However, the club was eventually still ordered to close for rectification.
This time the stated reason was that the facilities in the haunted house experience area were too dangerous and did not meet operating conditions.
This justification was too vague, even if the club wanted to dispute it, they had no grounds.
With the authorities citing regulations, whatever they said was deemed valid.
Chen Fan decisively told Ding Dian to shut down the haunted house and temporarily suspend operations.
Just as Chen Fan was still waiting for Li Yang's investigation results, someone actually took the initiative to approach them.
Hearing what Ding Dian said over the phone, Chen Fan even wondered if he had misheard.
"He...what did he say?"
"He said his name is Hai Laosi, known as Fourth Master Hai in the underworld circles."
Ding Dian was so angry on the other end of the line that she almost started cursing.
"He said all those people who came before were sent by him."
"He also said that if he wanted to, he could keep our club closed indefinitely for rectification."
"Finally, he made a demand."
"He wants us to sell the club to him. Otherwise, the club will never be able to operate normally again."
Chen Fan was dumbfounded for a moment.
Hai Laosi?
Who the hell was this guy?
He didn't even know him at all!
Wasn't it supposed to be Zhao Longqi behind this?
Could he have guessed wrong earlier?