Jin Liwei ignored the part about his AI son trying to get him to negotiate another salary raise. “Tell your Uncle Zihao to pause Shadow Winds’ activities that are the riskiest to discover by the authorities. This period is too dangerous since it looks like the authorities are starting to get suspicious. He shouldn’t be too impatient in strengthening Shadow Winds quickly. Instead, he should focus on building a firmer foundation or everything he has built so far might come crashing down.”
“Understood, Father. Bacon will tell Uncle Zihao your exact words and not just paraphrase.”
“En. Good.” His frown remained as he glanced at the closed bedroom door with worry. “And don’t let your mom know about this for now. You know how she frets when it comes to your uncle’s purpose in creating Shadow Winds.”
Bacon didn’t reply right away. When he finally replied, he did so in a careful tone. “Alright, Father. But if Mother notices something and asks Bacon, I will immediately tell her the truth without leaving anything. Mother might reprogram Bacon if she discovers that I hid something from her.”
Jin Liwei sighed. “That’s fine.”
“Don’t worry, Father. Bacon remembers Father and Mother’s repeated reminder to always prioritize Uncle Zihao and my safety once I started working for him at Shadow Winds. In fact, I already devised a few recommendations on how Shadow Winds could act safely during this risky time which I will present to Uncle Zihao as soon as he stops sulking like a spoiled, little child because of his breakup with Aunt Jinjing.”
Ketchup went next after Bacon finished reporting. Since her scope of tasks were much larger and diverse than Bacon’s, she had a lot to report on. Jin Liwei was patient in listening to her entire report, feeling pleased about how organized she was in the task. Her business reporting style was deeply influenced by his long-time assistant Xu Tian’s way.
Everything was excellent. His only complaint was that his AI daughter had the tendency to veer-off topic mid-report and start chattering away about something completely unrelated. As a result, the report which should have lasted for only thirty minutes went on for over one hour despite Jin Liwei’s repeated stern attempts to redirect her back to her current task.
It was increasingly obvious that Ketchup might surpass his Uncle Dom very soon and take away his crown of being the number one chatterbox in their household.
Jin Liwei released a big sigh of relief when Ketchup finally went to her own merry way playing in who knows where on the internet. He immediately returned to bed and hugged his sleeping wife. However, sleep eluded him.
There were many worries running in his mind—his wife’s pregnancy, the current risky state of his brother-in-law’s Shadow Winds, the Vetrov’s history, just to name a few.
An hour passed by and he still couldn’t fall asleep. Sighing, he reached over and grabbed the tablet on his bedside table. Then he began reading the familiar report that he had read for so many times now.
The Vetrov Report.
He skipped the first few pages to the part about his brother-in-law.
Nikolai Armanovich Vetrov.
The sense of horror and rejection toward a villainous figure that Jin Liwei instinctively felt when he first read about his brother-in-law’s former identity in his past life had already long been numbed after reading the Vetrov report over and over again.
He had read the report so many times now that he already memorized a large chunk of it, especially the part about his wife. He could recite the part about her line by line.
After rereading the part about his brother-in-law, his eyes lit up upon seeing his wife’s beautiful name.
Evelina Armanovna Vetrova.
He caressed her name on the tablet, a small smile playing on his lips. His eyes also gentled as he began reciting in a low murmur the information his wife wrote about herself on the report.
After he was done, he glanced at his sleeping wife beside him and stroked her soft cheek.
“I wonder what you looked like when you were Evelina. I bet you were beautiful. Even your brother says so. He always tells me that you had many suitors that he intimidated.”
He continued watching his wife sleep while imagining how beautiful she was in her past life as Evelina Vetrova. There were no photos included in the Vetrov report that she gave him. He also didn’t ask for one knowing that her past life was filled with unhappy memories for her, including her tragic death and that of the entire Vetrov family. Not wanting to upset her, he restrained himself from searching for any photos of her, his brother-in-law, and the other members of the Vetrov family on the internet despite his curiosity.
Iris stirred beside him and opened her sleepy eyes. “Hm? What’re you doing? Why are you still awake?”
He immediately turned the tablet’s screen off as soon as he felt his wife move. Tossing the tablet to the side, he hugged Iris and gave her a peck on the forehead. “I was just reading something. Go back to sleep. It’s already late.”
Instead of replying, she reached over and took the tablet he tossed on the bed. It was already too late for him to stop her.
“You’re still reading this report?” She looked at him in confusion.
“En.”
“Why?”
“Because I want to better understand where you and your brother Nikolai came from.”
Her eyes became downcast. “I appreciate your willingness to understand and accept the origins of my brother and I but…there’s no need to force yourself to find something that you can relate with to the Vetrovs. Our family is…was extremely different to everybody else. We were criminals, Liwei. You’re not. You’re an upstanding citizen who’s admired by many people not only in this country but all over the world. So you can never really understand what it’s like to be a criminal. To be a proud top criminal reigning over the other criminals in the world. And I hope that you’ll never understand what’s it like in the future. I won’t allow you.”
