A few minutes later, Lu Zihao recovered enough to regain his ability to talk without struggling to breathe. He still continued cursing, though. “Fuck, I hate that. I really fucking hate that! Shit.”
Jin Liwei watched him, trying to find any signs of his fifth brother but to no avail. The Lu Zihao cursing in front of him right now was no doubt his brother-in-law Nikolai, not his happy-go-lucky fifth brother. The difference between their characters were too stark that Jin Liwei couldn’t mistake it.
He said, “Evelina didn’t mention anything like this to me when she was talking about Long Xiulan’s remnant.”
Lu Zihao removed his shirt, revealing his scarred, muscled body. He intended to use the shirt to wipe his sweat but it was already soaked and useless to dry his body. He clicked his tongue and threw the shirt on the floor in disgust before plopping himself back on the ornate bench.
He closed his eyes and appeared weary. However, he still replied to Jin Liwei. “It’s no use trying to copy how my sister dealt with Long Xiulan’s remnant. That girl’s remnant was filled with pure grudge for the way Long Xiulan died. I’m assuming that once she got her revenge, everything should’ve been resolved already.”
“Hmmm.” Jin Liwei thought about it. He didn’t sit beside Lu Zihao, choosing instead to maintain some distance between the two of them while leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest.
With his eyes still closed, Lu Zihao started to massage his head with his hands. “Do you know if Evelinka is still interacting with Long Xiulan’s remnant?”
“She believes that it’s gone. She hasn’t felt it since it got its revenge last year.”
He sighed. “Good for her.”
Jin Liwei’s expression became tight. “Does this mean that my fifth brother’s remnant will also disappear someday?”
Lu Zihao finally opened his eyes. “I wish that’s the case.”
Jin Liwei’s entire body became tense. His expression was filled with unwillingness.
“If the situation between your fifth brother’s remnant and me were as straightforward as that between Evelinka and Long Xiulan’s remnant, then I’d be extremely glad. But the problem is that it’s not.”
“What do you mean?”
“Long Xiulan died with a huge grudge while Lu Zihao died without any grudge at all. In fact, your fifth brother passed away pretty happy given how stupid he died.”
Jin Liwei didn’t notice his sigh of relief. “What are you planning to do with my fifth brother’s remnant then?”
“I’m fucking tired,” Lu Zihao said instead of answering his question.
Jin Liwei was no fool. He knew that the other man was trying to avoid answering his question. However, he didn’t give up just yet and asked another question. “If it’s not about grudge, do you know why my fifth brother’s remnant is still staying in his body?”
“Hell if I know,” was what Lu Zihao said. But he lied. He knew the reason—well, at least he thought he did.
The remnant was probably a manifestation of the original Lu Zihao’s attachment to his sworn brothers and grandfather which was totally different from Evelina’s experience with the original Long Xiulan’s remnant. This was why Nikolai had no idea how to deal with Lu Zihao’s remnant in order to make it go away. It wasn’t as straightforward as his sister’s where she only needed to resolve the remnant’s grudge.
Silence descended in the piano room as the two men became preoccupied with their own respective thoughts. It was already past midnight but neither of them felt sleepy at all. They both felt exhausted but their minds and emotions were in hyperdrive after everything that happened tonight.
Jin Liwei was still reeling from all the revelations about the Vetrovs earlier, and of course, from meeting his fifth brother’s remnant. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you’re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It’s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please support the original author, ArriaCross. Thank you! Also follow me on Instagram @arriacross]
Similarly, Lu Zihao was also affected by the Vetrov report, though he didn’t want to admit it even to himself. He told himself that he didn’t give a fuck if Jin Liwei thought of him as the devil because he was already used to it, anyway. Then afterwards, the alarming episode with Lu Zihao’s remnant not being able to disconnect right away from their body and causing the two of them to suffer backlash had utterly drained him.
It was Lu Zihao who broke the silence. “You called me out here to talk about something before we were interrupted by that monkey.”
“Right. I almost forgot.” Jin Liwei straightened. “I haven’t finished reading the report that my wife prepared for me yet, but I have read enough to gain an understanding of what kind of businesses the Vetrovs were involved in.”
Lu Zihao smirked. “The Vetrovs are…were the number one criminal organization in the underworld. If you already knew that before, then you don’t need to read the rest of the report to know what kind of businesses we operated. So? What about it?”
Jin Liwei chose to ignore the man’s challenging tone. There was not much intimidating power left in it, anyway. It was obvious that his brother-in-law was exhausted.
“I want to know more about your Shadow Winds,” he said.
Lu Zihao raised an eyebrow but didn’t speak, waiting for him to say more instead.
“Are you dealing with illegal drugs?”
“Not interested.”
“How about human trafficking?” Then Jin Liwei added, “Child trafficking?”
“No.”
“Firearms?”
“Yes.”
Jin Liwei exhaled a long breath. “Prostitution?”
“To some extent. But generally, no.”
Jin Liwei frowned. “Explain.”
Lu Zihao sighed in annoyance but still explained. “I ordered my group to wipe out gangs and triad groups across the country so that we can take over their territories and resources, including their existing businesses. Most of them include prostitution rings. I originally wanted to dissolve those rings but some of the prostitutes, both females and males alike, wanted to continue working in the trade. Since they insist on continuing, then I allowed them. As long as they don’t cause trouble or betray my group, then we’ll provide them with better protection than what they got from their previous bosses. Also, I don’t allow my group to recruit new prostitutes. I don’t have time for that shit.”
